The Witches of Snyder Farms (The Wicked Garden Series) Read Online Free

table, stood up, and laid a hand on Eli’s shoulder. “Hate to tell you this Eli-with-an-I,” she whispered, “but you just stepped in a pile of shit.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    Irvine , 2010s
    After Gretchel stormed off to the bedroom, Eli took his time cleaning up the kitchen. Then he moved to the living room to mess with the fire, which they kept burning off and on during the cool days of spring. Eli poked at the smoldering logs, trying to calibrate just how long he should let Gretchel seethe. He was considering the vintage portraits on the mantelpiece when Ame came bouncing down the stairs.
    “Hey, Ame-with-an-E, can you put names to these faces?” he asked.
    “Hmmm...” she said, sitting on t he arm of the storybook chair. “The first one is Bridget. She was my great-great-great grandmother. The second is Mary Catherine. I think she’s the one who built this cottage. And you already know Miss Poni and Grand Mama Elphame.”
    Eli nodded his head silently as a disappoint ed ripple worked its way through his body. No Carlin. He hated the thought of participating in his mother’s obsession, but he also knew that she would get off his back about the whole prophecy business if he could prove that Gretchel was the woman Diana was looking for.
    “Excuse me,” Ame said, nudging Eli from his reverie as she moved him out of her way with a hip bump He smiled at her and she smiled back. Then Ame’s smile dissolved into a pointed stare as she nodded her head away from the fireplace and out of the room. Eli took the not-so-subtle hint. When he took one surreptitious look back into the room, Ame was kneeling on the hearthstone and gazing at the buck’s head mounted on the wall.
    Eli was wiping down an already spotless countertop when Ame came into the kitchen a few minutes later. She reached into her backpack, pulled something out, and offered it to him. It was a wad of cash. “Here’s most of the money back from the money order you sent. This is my first payment.”
    Eli suppressed a chuckle. Ame was a never-ending source of astonishment. She was so much like her mother. She was what her mother might have been… 
    “I don’t want your money. That was a gift. I just wanted to help you and your mom get by.”
    “I have a job, and that helped us get by, Eli-with-an-I.” There was a steely note in Ame’s voice.
    Eli almost reached out to touch Ame’s shoulder. Instead, he softened his voice. “I know that you’ve worked hard to take care of your family, Ame-with-an-E. But you can’t repay a gift. And now that I’m here, you can stop worrying. I can give you whatever you want.”
    Ame’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of job do you have, Eli-with-an-I?”
    “I don’t have a job. I have an inheritance,” he explained.
    “So, you’re a trust-fund baby. That must be nice for you. But that doesn’t mean that you can come in here and start changing things.”
    “I think you and I both know that you mother could use some change.” Eli spoke as gently as he could.
    Ame still looked defiant. “I stand corrected. What I’m saying is, don’t make this into a Cinderella story, Eli-with-an-I. My mother married one man who controlled her with money, and she doesn’t need another.”
    Eli began to object, but Ame’s glare stopped him. “And I’m accustomed to paying my own way. My dad tried to make me beg for everything I got from him, and then he called me a spoiled brat. I learned pretty early on that the less I relied on him, the less power he had over me. I’ve never been poor, but Mom has, and seeing what it did to her scared the hell out of me. My parents taught me—without meaning to—that I need to take care of myself. So, Eli-with-an-I, take the money .” She held out the wad of cash again.
    Damn , she’s a pistol , Eli thought with admiration. He knew that he was walking a very fine line here. He couldn’t pull any macho