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Garden Magic
Chapter Two
Melinda puttered
around the apartment pretending to pack things up. Her thoughts were on the
events of the weekend and not on her collection of inconsequential things. This
was a pre-furnished apartment and since she was trying to fit into the mortal
world, she never bothered to bring any of her private items from the family
home. She gave up the pretense of packing; most of the stuff would fit into one
box anyway. Overnight, she had come to grips with the fact that although they
may not share a love deep enough for true love, they still loved each other and
she would continue with the wedding. She was more concerned over his comments
about what he would do with the family property if he owned it. It was their
third walk through the garden maze on Sunday afternoon.
Eric turned to her as they sat on the bench and said, “I don’t
understand why your family has kept this garden around. This might have been
nice at the turn of the last century but it’s the 21st century. You have more
than enough space for a swimming pool, tennis court, or a massive deck with a
nice hot tub in it.”
She was too stunned by the statement to even respond. She
couldn’t imagine not having the garden to come out and stroll in day or night.
Besides it was also tied into their magic – as much as they poured magic into
the property, it also provided them with power when they needed it. “I don’t
think it has occurred to any of us that we should do something besides have the
garden. It’s a part of our history.”
“You should mention it to your sister Sarah. I know she doesn’t
spend much time here what with Marcus’s house. We could hold business meetings
or outings here if there were something for the guests to do.” He smiled
brilliantly thinking of the points he could win at work having a place like to
impress the Board.
She grimaced at
the memory; steps would need to be taken to make sure Eric didn’t find out that
she owned the estate. He assumed that Sarah as the oldest child had inherited
the property. But when her parents had died, Sarah had already been married to
Marcus, who had a family home of his own to manage. Carla lived in the faery
mound with her husband Gabriel since he was a prince of the realm. Her parents
had left her sisters other things that they could use in their marriages and she
had been given the responsibility of taking care of the house and land. Sarah
would help her perpetuate the myth that the house belonged to the oldest sister,
and Melinda would make sure her will specified the house went to someone other
than Eric.
Looking at the
time, Melinda saw that it was ten o’clock in the morning. Feeling good about
life at the moment, she decided to make a picnic lunch to eat with Eric in the
office. He had told her on the trip back last night that he wouldn’t be
available to eat lunch out today, so she thought she could take it to him. With
a spring in her step, she went about digging out the basket and preparing subs
for lunch with a fruit parfait for dessert.
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