Beautiful Curses: Book One (6 page)

Gabriella woke to the sound of Christmas carols playing downstairs. Uncle Peter's subtle way of waking everyone on Christmas morning and signalling the family to assemble in the lounge for the traditional present opening. She smelt the aroma of fresh coffee specially bought for the occasion and blinked at the bright light streaming through the gap in her curtains.

 Rubbing the dust from her eyes she sat up in bed. Feeling the chill as the covers dropped from her shoulders, she reached for her flannel pink dressing gown and shivered as she pulled it over her thin pyjamas. A foreign cry echoed from downstairs and Gabriella scowled at her door, remembering they weren't alone as a family this year. Something she hadn’t been able to prevent, despite her best efforts.

 Still scowling at the door, she considered staying in bed, but then thought back to the previous night. Smiling, she remembered Beth’s face as she sat squirming while Gabriella kept on teasing Spencer about Lisa. She nearly laughed out loud at Beth's poor attempt to look unaffected, but she couldn't have Spencer suspecting her. He was already annoyed enough, sending her scathing looks all evening. Not that it worried her. He’d forgive her. It wasn’t possible for anyone to be mad with her. They were all well and truly under her spell.

 Kicking back the covers, at that happy thought, she stretched and got out of bed. As always, she checked her reflection in her full length mirror, admiring the fact, that even though she'd just woken up, she had no need to brush her shiny black hair, or wash the perfect complexion on her flawless face. Perfect as usual.

 After pulling on some red woollen socks she made her way downstairs to find Peter and Sarah in the kitchen making breakfast rolls. She kissed them both on the cheek. “Merry Christmas.  Smells good as always. I love Christmas morning.”

 Peter smiled admiringly, his brown eyes twinkling at her. “Right on time for the present opening. We’ve nearly finished in here. Is Spencer up yet, Sarah?”

 Sarah was in the throes of cooking. Her hands covered in flour, her makeshift bun falling out in ringlets of her auburn hair across her forehead. The oversized jumper she wore on her small frame covered in cooking stains. “No. Gabriella could you go and wake him, please.”

 “I’d love to. I'll just get my old water pistol.”

 Sarah sighed, pushing some of her soft curls from her face. “Be nice Ella, he was really tired earlier.”

 “Has he been up already?’ Gabriella asked, surprised. “I hope he wasn't peeking at his presents.”

 “He didn't sleep well, so I sent him back to bed.”

 “Oh. Poor Spencer, I better wake him gently, have you still got that gong, Uncle Peter?”

 Peter chuckled, but Sarah sighed again. “Maybe I should just do it.” 

 Gabriella twisted her lip, wondering why Sarah was so grumpy all of a sudden. She shrugged. “Just a little joke. I promise to be good.”

 She quickly made her way out of the kitchen and down the hall to Spencer's bedroom.  The door was closed and she could hear his heavy breathing from outside. 

 Opening the door softly, she went in and bent over him. “Spencer, it’s time to get up. Wakey! Wakey! ” she shouted as loud as she could.

 He didn't move beneath the mound of covers, so she poked him in the back, as she continued to shout, “Spencer, time to get up before you miss ... hot coffee ... freshly baked rolls ... bacon and eggs ...presents, Christmas dinner ... dessert.”

 He moved slightly, then rolled over and pulled the covers tighter around himself.

 Gabriella smiled. She knew exactly what would get a reaction. Settling on the edge of the bed she leaned down near his ear. “Lisa called this morning to wish you a Merry Christmas. I told her you'd call as soon as you woke up, so you can two love birds can talk and blow kisses over the phone.”

 Spencer threw the covers back with so much force they nearly knocked Gabriella off the bed. She quickly righted her feet and shuffled further onto the bed, smiling at him. “Wow, this Lisa girl has got you all kinds of worked up. Just the mention of her name gets you all hot and bothered.”

  “Gabriella, this has got to stop!” Spencer yelled, his face turning a nice shade of red.  “For the last time, I'm not interested in Lisa! I'm ... I'm with Beth.  We're together. Now leave it alone? I don't want you to mention Lisa's name to me, or Beth, again!”

 Gabriella stopped smiling and stiffened. She felt like she'd just been slapped in the face. Hard.

 
Spencer and Beth?

That didn't make any sense.

 
How did that happen? It couldn’t be true?

  She'd been positive her constant meddling had worked. Her heart raced. Her head pounded. She couldn't think clearly and needed to reflect. Quickly, she flicked the familiar latch on the casing of her ring and pressed down firmly on the pretty blue stone.

 Instantly the air chilled and an eerie silence filled the room. Spencer sat with a scowl on his frozen face, immobilised. The only movement was Gabriella, who sprung from the bed and began pacing up and down, trying to come to terms with the situation. She had to think fast. There was still time to fix things, but she needed to reassess and calculate her next move.

 She couldn't let Spencer know her true feelings. He'd expect her to be a little shocked and confused, but he wouldn't expect her to be angry about his relationship with Beth. This was how she needed to play it.  Her brother was an asset and losing him was not an option. She needed him. She wasn’t exactly sure why. But she trusted her instincts. One day she would get the answers she wanted. Patience was her ally.

 Positioning herself on the bed, Gabriella blew out a relaxing breath as a serene expression crossed her face. She looked down at the sapphire in her ring and noticed the misty white smoke beginning to swirl around inside its lovely blue depths. A sign that she only had seconds left.

 In a matter of moments Spencer's face muscles began to twitch back to life. He sat still, but his eyes were watching her now, his expression tense.  

“Spencer, I can't believe it. I would never have guessed in a million years,” Gabriella said, as she folded her arms.

 He took in a deep breath, “Look Ella, I'm sorry I shouted at you.  Of course you didn't know about us, but now you understand why I’m so annoyed with you.”

 “Of course. I thought you were just being oversensitive.”

  “I really like her, Ella. I couldn't stand the constant teasing, knowing it was hurting her. I had to tell you and the rest of the family.”

 “Everyone knows?”

 “Yeah. But I asked Sarah not to say anything until I had the chance to tell you, myself.”

 “Well I'm glad you did.  You know I didn't intentionally hurt Beth. I really had no idea you were together. I seriously thought you were holding a torch for Lisa and just needed a push.”

 “I know, but please, no more … You'll just have to find something else to torment me about.” Spencer suddenly grinned. “Mind you, that may prove difficult.  I'm pretty perfect.”

Gabriella decided to play along, glad he was buying her apologetic act.

 She scowled playfully. “I seem to recall you still have all those stupid action figures. In fact I bet you have a battle scene set up somewhere in your room. I'm sure Beth would love to know about that little juvenile secret.”

 Gabriella jumped off the bed and started flinging open his cupboards and drawers. Spencer leapt from his bed and caught her from behind, then he dragged her out of his room, slamming the door in her protesting face.

  “I'm very patient, Spencer. I’ve got all day, the foods on my side remember,” she yelled as she banged on the door.

 The next minute Sarah came down the hallway with another stern look on her face.  “What’s the hold up? Peter’s beside himself wanting to open presents. You know how he is about Christmas. Come on, you two, we're all waiting.”

 “Yeah Spencer, stop being such a baby. I promise I won't look for your stupid dolls,” Gabriella teased.

 “It’s as if time has moved backwards ten years, now come on,” Sarah said with a smile, sounding much more like her happy self.

“I'll come out when she's gone,” Spencer called out. “Oh, and they aren't dolls, they’re super hero action figures, for ages, five to sixty-five. Says so on the box.”  

 “Alright you big baby, but you have to leave for London some time,” Gabriella yelled as she walked down the hallway behind Sarah.  She was still recoiling and processing, but continued to give the outward appearance she wasn’t bothered about Spencer and Beth. They could stay together for the next two days. There wouldn’t be any harm in that. But that was the only allowance she was prepared to make. As soon as Christmas was over, the fun and games would recommence. And this time, she would make sure there would be no rekindling their short lived romance.

Jo usually hated it when Christmas ended and all the decorations came down. But this morning she didn’t have those feelings. She started humming the tune to one of her favourite new songs. It was off a CD Gabriella had discovered under the Christmas tree, labelled:

To Jo,

Merry Christmas,

From Santa.

Gabriella had given her a curious expression when she handed it to her. But Jo wasn’t prepared to elaborate. It was none of her business, and for once it was nice to have a secret she wasn’t privy too.

“What are you so cheerful about this morning?” Spencer asked, while in the process of packing the Christmas tree away in several labelled boxes spread around the room. “I thought you hated this part of Christmas.”

Jo looked up and shrugged. “I’m just glad you're helping me. I thought I'd have to do this alone, everyone else is busy.”

Spencer narrowed his eyes, as if he didn’t quite believe her. “Well I’m glad I’ve made your day. What are your plans after this? I have a favour to ask.”

“No plans,” she said, as she reached for a glass ornament and some tissue paper and began wrapping.

“You know James is coming by train today?”

Oh, she was blissfully aware of that fact.

“Yes,” she said, trying to keep her tone even.

“Would you mind bringing him down to the pub? Beth’s picking me up, my car’s running a bit rough, but we wanted to have lunch together. We only have two hours before she has to take care of Jack. Her mum isn’t keen on me being in the house while she’s at work.”

Do I mind? Is he kidding?

“Sure, what time?”

“I think he's leaving early so probably around twelve or half-past. He said he’d text from the station.”

“That'll be fine,” Jo said, as if she didn't care. She suddenly thought about Beth and her acting skills and suppressed a chuckle. Maybe she should join the Playwrites and try her hand at acting after all.

“Great, I’ll even buy you lunch,” Spencer said smiling at her.

After putting the last of the decorations in the cupboard, Jo glanced around thinking how empty the house looked. Sarah would be pleased. She liked to start the New Year with the house clean and fresh.

Jo went up to her bedroom to immerse herself in a new novel Spencer had given her for Christmas—a vain attempt to stop checking her watch every five seconds—she had at least another hour before James was supposed to call. Everyone had gone out. Gabriella was at Mason’s and Peter and Sarah had gone to buy seedlings for the hothouse. They liked to get a head start on the vegetables so they were ready to plant out in spring.

Jo punched her pillow as she lied down and rested her book in the crook of her elbow. She opened the book, about to read the first line, when the phone rang. It was only half eleven. She didn’t expect James so early and wondered why Spencer didn’t ring her mobile. Thinking about seeing James much sooner, she leapt off her bed and raced down the stairs to get it, before the call diverted to the answering machine.

“Hello, Josephine speaking,” she said, slightly breathless.

After hearing no reply, she caught her breath and repeated, “Hello … Josephine speaking,” using a much louder voice this time.

Someone cleared their throat. “Um … Hello, I was wondering if I could speak to Sarah please.”

“I’m sorry Sarah’s not here. She should be back in about half an hour. I could take your number and ask her to contact you.”

More clearing of the throat, before, “Um … That’s not necessary. I’ll ring back around one. Could you ask her to wait for my call?”

“Ah ... sure ... I didn’t catch your name?” Jo frowned at the phone.

“I’m a … I'm a um … a client and she wanted me to arrange a meeting. Can you tell her that … um ... Dan called? Thank you.” And he hung up.

Jo hesitated as she put the phone back in it’s cradle.
Weird.
Most clients called Sarah on her mobile or used the fax machine. It also seemed bizarre to call between Christmas and New Year. Most companies were closed for the holidays. Jo shrugged off the uneasy feeling, then went to the kitchen to write down the caller’s information and stick it on the fridge.

On her way back to her bedroom, her mobile buzzed with a text from James, instantly pushing the strange call from her mind as she grabbed the car keys, jumped back down the stairs three at a time and rushed out the door.

James sat waiting outside the station. He wore a navy V necked jumper and jeans, his black hair had been cut short and spiky and he was clean shaven. He smiled and waved. Jo stopped the car and he opened the door, swinging his bag onto the back seat.

“Hiya, nice to see you again,” he said still smiling as he clicked his seatbelt in place.

Jo smiled back. “Yeah, you too.”

So Nice!

Jo didn’t mind the scruffy look but this cleaner look suited him better, making him look even more handsome.

“Thanks for coming. I told Spencer I could walk to the pub, it’s not that far. Did you have a nice Christmas? Get anything special from anyone?”

Jo drove out of the station and onto the main road. “I got a load of great presents. One was a little weird though, came from some person called Santa—odd really…”

“Hmmm … A secret admirer perhaps.”

Jo chuckled, James always made her laugh. “Must be. Anyway, everyone had a good time. It was nice to have a full house. Spencer was in his element having another boy to play with.”

James grinned at her, making Jo's heart rate increase and her palms sweaty. She had to force her gaze back to the road, rather than stare into his beautiful blue eyes.

“I hope he shared and played nice. He has trouble with that sometimes.”

Jo laughed again. “How was your Christmas?” she asked.

James glanced out the window before answering. “Um … alright. I met some old school friends and we went out to the pub a few times. There’s not much to do in our village. We watched a lot of old movies and messed around on our guitars.”

“I didn’t know you played the guitar.”

“I had a few lessons when I was a kid, but didn’t stick with it. I’ve just taken it up again and I’m teaching myself. A couple of my friends let me sit in with them occasionally.”

“I tried the piano once, but only stuck at it for a term. I think I’m tone deaf. Peter plays, he’s really good.”

Arriving at the pub, Jo turned into a car park outside the front entrance.

“Are you joining us for a drink?” James asked her.

Jo took the keys out of the ignition, “Yeah, Spencer offered to buy me lunch if I collected you from the station.”

“Oh, so you weren’t just being nice, it was for a reward.”

Jo blushed and James grinned. “You better make sure it’s worth your while and order the most expensive meal on the menu, oh… and don’t forget desert.” He laughed, making her feel better, as they both got out of the car. “Shall we,” he added, standing back and allowing her to precede him into the pub.

After lunch Spencer drove Peter’s car home and Jo got a lift with Beth back to her house.

Beth lived in a semi-detached cottage, in a quiet street. Her mum had made it a nice cosy home for the three of them. Jo loved spending time there and often kept Beth company when she looked after Jack.

Jo wanted to make a list of things to take on their trip, knowing the boys would probably forget the essentials, and concentrate more on food.

“How are things going between you and Spencer?” Jo enquired as Beth sat on the floor adjusting the gas heater. “I mean, leave out the finer details, I just think it’s part of  my duty as your best friend to ask.”

Beth smiled at her. “It’s going great. I wish mum was a bit more relaxed, but she can’t afford for me to be all moody and rebellious.”

Jo sat on the sofa with Jack and helped him turn the pages of his favourite touchy, feely book. He loved the sensation, and giggled every time she put his hand over one of the various textures. “You’re too level headed and responsible for that." Jo smiled.

“Mum’s the only close family I have, and I don’t want to cause problems. She tries so hard to make a good life for me and Jack.”

“Yeah, we’ve both been lucky. Sarah’s great. It must have been a challenge to take us on, so soon after she married Peter. She always said she’d been blessed to have us three.”

Beth nodded. “Well, I hope mum comes around. I think Spencer’s plan to take Peter with us, will work. I just hope Peter won’t mind.”

“He doesn't go away very often and they have a nice pub in the village where his friend lives. And Sarah will enjoy the peace and quiet after a busy Christmas.”

Jo was suddenly reminded about the strange phone call she’d taken earlier.

“Beth can I use your phone, my mobiles out of charge?"

“Yeah. Of course. I’ll go and make Jack a snack, do you want anything?”

“Tea, would be great, thanks”

Jo went into the hall and rang the farm. Spencer answered.

“Hiya Spencer, it’s Jo, is Sarah there?”

“Yeah, she’s in the hothouse up to her neck in potting mix. Can I give her a message?”

“Can you check if she’s spoken to someone called Dan? I left a note on the fridge but she might have missed it. It sounded important.”

“I’ll go and ask.” She heard a clunk as he put down the phone.

It took a few moments before the phone was picked up. “Jo, did you take that call?” Sarah asked, sounding breathless.

Jo frowned, surprised Sarah had left her precious hot house to ask that. “Um …Yeah, he rang about half eleven. I just wanted to check you’d got the message, it sounded urgent and he seemed a little ... um ... odd.”

“Yes, I've already spoken to him ...," There was a long pause. "Did he say anything else to you?”

Jo’s frown deepened. “No. He just said he’d call at one o'clock and left his name. Why did he ring the home phone? I thought you didn’t give that number out to clients.”

“I um ... don’t usually but it’s an important project and he’s a very important client so I gave him both numbers.”

“Okay…”

“Well thanks for ringing and checking. What time shall I expect you home?”