A Charming Hex (Magical Cures Mystery Series Book 9) (7 page)

“That’s right, seeester. I told them.” She waddled back to the hearse that was parked next to my El Camino in front of the cottage.

“Umhmm.” Patience hurried over to the hearse. “You told them.”

“Where are your bags?” Constance asked.

“I’ll get them.” I went back inside and Oscar had the suitcases zipped and was rolling them toward the door. I looked over his shoulder and did a quick onceover around the room to make sure he hadn’t seen the Magical Cures Book and potion bottle I had stuck in my bag. I didn’t see either, so I was confident he didn’t bother looking.

Mr. Prince Charming glared from the top of the couch.

“I know. I wish you could go.” I ran my hand down his back. He didn’t budge. He didn’t purr. He didn’t even try to bat at the dangling charm bracelet.

“He’s not,” Oscar said in a stern voice when he took the bags out of the cottage.

“I’ll make it up to you.”

“He’ll be fine.” Constance stood in the doorway. “And if you need us, we aren’t busy for a week.”

“Need you?” I asked. “You already said you’d take care of him.”

“Not the cat. You.” She pointed directly at me. “I hear that you are having them nightmares again and if you need us, me and my sister can come over there and help you out.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll be fine.” I gulped. A sudden fear gripped around my heart like there was a hand in there squeezing the life right out of me.

“Tums? Pepto? Anything?” Oscar asked. He looked a little green around the gills.

I helped him off the sea propeller plane and got him seated on the sandy beach where the plane had skidded to a stop. I dumped the contents of my bag on the beach to see if I had anything I could give him.

“Nothing,” I said sympathetically. “Maybe they have something.” I nodded to a grey-haired gentleman and a young red-headed woman next to him.

“Welcome, welcome to Tulip Island where all of your fantasies will come true.” The man and the woman both wore white suits and black flip-flops.

He clapped his hands. A young man, also in a white suit, came out of nowhere with a tray full of filled champagne flutes.

“Whoohoo!” A brunette woman nearly knocked me over as she waved down the boy. “We need all of those!”

Drinks were the last thing Oscar and I needed. From what I had heard from him, he’d been on planes several times in his life where I’d never been on any. I opened the purse and looked down into it.

“Oh!” My eyes popped open when I found something that resembled a Tic-Tac at the bottom. I picked it up for inspection. It could’ve been a piece of gum. Regardless, I glanced at Oscar and his head was buried in his hands. I looked around to see if anyone else was looking at us, but they were too busy getting a lei strung around their necks and gulping up the champagne.

I rubbed the pad of my finger and thumb together while I contemplated using the finger spell technique. I mean, it would be for the good of not only a vacation, but for Oscar to feel better. Who on Earth wants to start a vacation off sick? Especially in a place like this?

I contemplated my choices while I looked around. Tulip Island was magical in a natural way. The crystal blue and green water spread for miles ahead and to the sides of me with no other land in sight. The beach was whiter than any sand I’d ever seen and the large palm leaves swayed in the light breeze making the temperature feel comfortable.

“Cheers to the bride!” One of the girls yelled with the flute lifted high in the air. A group of four women and four men gathered around and clinked their glasses.

“Cheers,” I grumbled and took another last look at the mystery piece of candy or whatever was in the bottom of my bag. Without giving it much more thought. I did it. I touched the piece of whateveritwas with my finger and healing Oscar’s sick tummy in my mind. The little zap transferred from my finger to the candy.

 “Oh! Found a mint.” I held it up between my finger and thumb, grinning ear-to-ear.

“A mint?” Oscar’s eyes dipped down on the edges. “Are you kidding me? I need more than a mint.”

“Oh try it.” I shoved my fingers in his face. “Darla always gave me a mint to settle my stomach.”

He looked up at me with a look of uncertainty on his face.

“I don’t even like mint.” His brows furrowed.

“You don’t like an upset stomach either.” I shrugged. I put my fingers to his lips. “Open up.”

“June.” He groaned and I took the moment to shove the mint in.

“Chew!” I demanded.

“How is everyone here?” The grey-headed man walked up. “June and Oscar Park.”

“How did you know our names?” I asked in a curious, oh-my-god-did-Aunt-Helena-or-someone-tell-them-about-us way.

“I know everyone who comes to my island.” The man folded his hands in front of him before he turned toward the island and opened his arms wide doing a sweep in front of him. “Ten visitors this week. The wedding party and the two of you.”

“Oscar got a little sick on the plane over from the mainland.” I pointed to Oscar. He was getting a little more color back in his face. “It was so gorgeous.”

Flying was nothing like I expected it to be and I truly enjoyed looking down on the earth and realizing I was so much smaller than I realized.

“I’m feeling better.” Oscar stood up and stretched his neck side-to-side and brought his arms above his head. “Actually feeling a lot better. Mint must be good for the bad belly.”

“Mint?” The man looked at Oscar and then slid his eyes toward me.

“I had a mint in the bottom of my purse. But I’m sure we’d love a toast of your champagne.” I pointed to the young man who was once again surrounded by the wedding party.

With not a second to waste, the grey-haired man lifted his arms to the side and clapped two quick times. The boy that couldn’t be any more than ten years old scurried over with the tray.

“I’m Mr. Victor, your host. This is Gene, he will help you with all your needs.” Mr. Victor nodded for Gene to step ahead. “That is my daughter Violet. She will help you plan all of your adventures.”

We glanced over at Violet. Apparently she had tripped over her own flip-flops and the tray of champagne she’d taken over to the demanding wedding party had landed all down the bride-to-be’s dress. The bride was cursing under her breath and poor Violet had turned all shades of red.

“How do we do get signed up?” I asked, hoping to keep us busy all week long. I rubbed my hand around my wrist and felt the charms.

Mr. Victor’s eyes drew down to my arm. “Very nice. I hope you will be able to go to our shop and pick a nice beach charm for your bracelet.”

He smiled.

“Thank you.” Oscar put his arm around me and with the other took a flute off of Gene’s tray and handed it to me, then got himself one. “I’m sure we are going to have a wonderful time.”

“Yes.” Mr. Victor’s chin drew down and he gave a little head tilt before he walked back toward the tree line.

Oscar and I stood there sipping our champagne, watching all that was going on in front of us. The wedding group was rowdy, cheering and high-fiving.

“Welcome to Tulip Island.” Violet walked up. This time she’d exchanged the tray of champagne for a clipboard in her hand. I couldn’t help but wonder if Mr. Victor had red hair like hers and she’d gotten it from him. “I’m Violet and I will be helping you with all the island has to offer.”

I looked over my shoulder to see what Violet was staring at. She was talking to us, but paying attention to the wedding party. Granted, I knew that Oscar and I were an old married couple, and I was sure the island wedding was much more fun to be a part of, but it was our honeymoon.

“Wonderful.” I sucked in a deep breath and put the thoughts aside. Even though my nerves were still running through me like a live wire, I was stuck here for a few days and I guessed I had better make the best of it. “Do we sign up there?” I pointed to her clipboard.

The faster Oscar and I got into an activity, the sooner I’d feel safer.

“No, silly.” Violet shoo-shooed me. “You are going to go to your villa and unwind while we do it all for you.”

Inside my stomach was churning, outside my lips were smiling.

“Sounds good to me.” Oscar stood up and reached over, pulling me to him. “This is the perfect way to start out our honeymoon.”

“Great.” Violet clapped her hands and Gene came running over. “Gene, please show the newlyweds to their villa.” She used the pen to mark something off on her clipboard. “If you follow Gene, he is going to give you the guided tour to your villa and I’ll see you two lovebirds back here for lunch at noon, island time.” She winked before she went to give her spiel to the wedding group.

“Please follow me.” Gene gestured us to follow him. I slipped off my shoes and let the sand run between my toes. It was soft and warm just how I thought it would feel.

The trail was shaded by the palm trees on each side. They were the prettiest trees I’d ever seen. In fact, Tulip Island was beautiful. At first I was upset the Order of Elders had sent us here, but now I can see they picked the perfect place.

“This is our lodge.” Gene took us through the open air room. The view of the ocean was behind us and the view of a mountain was in front of us. “You will come here if you’d like the breakfast buffet as well as any sort of snacks during the day.”

There was a long table with baskets made out of the rinds of watermelons and filled with all sorts of melons. Raw shrimp skewers were stuck in an ice sculpture in the shape of a pineapple.

“Here are the offices if you should need to come see Mr. Victor or Violet for anything.” We followed him down a hallway that was open to another path at the end.

Pictures of Mr. Victor and Violet, through the years, were framed on both sides of the wall. Violet’s hair was even redder when she was a baby. The pictures depicted Violet’s life growing up on the island. I stopped when I looked at the photos where Violet had seemed to go through a little plump stage like most girls going through puberty.

We walked out of the open building and onto the path. It took us about five minutes until we came to a fork on the trail, and Gene stopped.

“This is your path to your villa and only your path. There shouldn’t be anyone walking down here but you and it’s for your privacy. There are hammocks along the trail for you to stop and enjoy the breathtaking shoreline at any point.”

He stopped and let his eyes wander in a simple gesture for us to follow. Gene was right. It was breathtaking. There wasn’t a soul around but us and the only sound was the waves hitting the beach in a whisper, though it was so close. We followed him in silence as he continued to tell us about the non-motorized water sports on the island and we should take full advantage of the snorkeling equipment in our room because Tulip Island had the best snorkeling in the Caribbean.

“We have you down for the tiki hut dinner tonight, which is the best dining experience, in my opinion.” Gene took the curve of the path to the most spectacular view.

Oscar and I stood there for about a minute and took it all in. The palm trees opened up to a small white-planked villa that stood on stilts in the middle of the ocean. There was a large wooden float anchored next to it for hours of lying around. There was a wooden bridge that extended from the sandy beach to the villa that let you cross the water, or you could swim up to the ladder of the villa.

“This is ours?” Oscar squeaked out.

“I love the reaction when I show someone this for the first time.” Gene rocked on the heels of his flip-flops with a big smile on his face. “This also happens to be the quietest spot on Tulip Island. You literally never have to leave this area.”

“But Violet said we had lunch at noon.” I reminded them after my stomach growled.

“She also said island time.” He winked just like she had.

“Island time, which means our time.” Oscar grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the bridge. “Which means we can do whatever we want.”

He dropped my hand and took off. I rubbed my wrist. No amount of trepidation I had was ever going to override the look on Oscar’s face. He was like a kid in a candy shop.

“Here is a phone for the island.” Gene handed me a small flip phone. “This will ring me or Violet for any unforeseen needs you may have, but we are pretty good at getting your needs covered before you even know what you need.”

“Thank you.” I couldn’t take my eyes off Oscar who had taken his shoes off and was running through the tide, kicking up sand as he went along. “I think I might need a shovel and pail,” I joked.

“Those are already in the villa for your pleasure.” Gene didn’t get the joke, but I simply thanked him again and sent him on his way.

“I can’t wait to snorkel!” Oscar called from the water. He motioned for me to join him. “Come on, June! We aren’t going to waste a minute.”

I bit my lip and let out a heavy sigh before I took a step toward him. No matter how much of a paradise we were in, something told me that snorkeling wasn’t going to be the thing I needed to do. In fact, my nightmare had told me. How was I going to tell Oscar?

“There is something about not being home that makes it so good.” Oscar ran his finger along my arm propping up my chin as I looked out over the water from the bed in the villa. “I love being with my wife.”

“Wife.” I grinned every time I heard myself being referred to as his wife. This time was even better. It came from his mouth. I stayed on my belly and looked out the open wall in front of me. The sheer curtains waved in the light breeze and the champagne and strawberries did exactly what Mr. Victor had intended them to do for us. Relax me.

“I love you, June.” Oscar ran his hand down my back. “Thank you for agreeing to let go of our home life even if it is for a few days.”

Next to the bed was a bottle of champagne, two flutes and a few stacked Ding Dongs that had been waiting upon our arrival.

“You’re welcome.” My heart filled with joy.  I reached over to the table and grabbed a Ding Dong. After I unwrapped it, I took a bite and offered Oscar a bite. “What do you say we get our swimsuits on and go explore the shoreline?” I stuffed the rest of it in my mouth before I got out of bed.