The Witches of Dark Root: Daughters of Dark Root: Book One (The Daughters of Dark Root) (38 page)

“Well,” Eve fired back. “The next day, Merry and I...”

“No!” Merry’s hands slammed down on the table. We all stopped what we were doing, including Shane and Paul. “No,” she said again, her voice softer. “June Bug and I aren’t going with either of you. Not while you act like this.”

“Act like what?” Eve and I asked.

“I’m not a thing. You can’t fight over me.” Merry shook her head, her eyes moistening. “I put up with it when we were younger because you were both kids and needed me.” She straightened her back, wiping her eyes with her hand. “But, in case you haven’t noticed, we aren’t children anymore, and I have one of my own to worry about.”

Merry pushed herself out of the booth and dashed towards the bathroom.

“She’s going to be okay,” I said, my eyes following Merry as I tried to comfort June Bug. “She just needs a minute.”

“She cries a lot,” June Bug replied, wiping her hands with one of my swan napkins. “Ever since daddy left.”

Eve looked at me for confirmation and I nodded that it was true. I suddenly felt terrible, wishing I could take back my actions. Eve and I had been acting like spoiled children. After everything Merry had gone through, she didn’t deserve to be caught up in this.

“Can you stay here while we check on your mama?” I asked June Bug.

She nodded and pulled out a coloring book and crayons from her mother’s purse. Eve and I went into the bathroom, finding Merry sobbing over the sink.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, wrapping my arms around her. Merry had always been the strong one and our protector. I couldn’t handle seeing her like this.

“Me, too,” Eve said.

“Well, you should be.” Merry pulled away and turned towards the mirror, placing her hands on either side of the sink. I could see her reflection. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was running. “I can’t handle this little feud of yours anymore. Not now. Not when I have other things to worry about. Why do you think I left Dark Root in the first place?”

I had always assumed she had left for the same reasons the rest of us had, to get away from Mother. But now she was saying that it was because of us. Eve and I looked guiltily at one another. We had driven our beloved sister away.

“I just can’t do it anymore,” Merry said, her words breaking apart as she cried. She turned to us and buried her face in our shoulders. We put our arms around her back, smoothing her hair and telling her everything was going to be okay.

“It’s not going to be okay,” she sobbed. “My life is a mess. My husband took off to Florida with some coffee shop barista. I’m all alone.” She threw back her head, releasing a mournful wail.

My heart broke into a million pieces at the sight of my sister in so much pain––Merry, who had never done anything bad to anyone in her entire life. Eve deserved this. I deserved this. But not Merry. It just wasn’t fair.

Eve filled a Dixie cup with water and Merry drank it.

She collected herself, then began again. “Now I’m a single mom living in Kansas. The bills are stacking up and I think I’m going to lose the house. I was hoping that by coming here, I’d at least have you girls, but I’m starting to think I’m on my own.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said. And I meant it.

“Me, too,” Eve added, wrapping her arms around us both. “Everything’s going to be okay. You’ll see.”

We stood there under the dim fluorescent lights of the Dip Stix bathroom, all of us crying. Merry for the life she had just confessed, Eve and I for the broken lives we were too embarrassed to talk about. I looked up, my eyes meeting Eve’s. Maybe we would never be friends, but we would always be sisters.

“Sorry to interrupt you, ladies.” Shane’s voice said from the other side of the door. Eve opened it and he stood there with Paul by his side, a concerned look on both their faces. “Maggie, I think you have a visitor.”

He pushed open the door fully and I could see a man standing off to the side, a man with gray desperate eyes.

I stepped forward. “Michael...?”

Twenty: Go Your Own Way

“Maggie! Thank God I found you!” Michael rushed towards me with such purpose that everyone except Paul moved out of his way.

“Who are you?” Paul demanded, barricading himself between us.

Though Michael outweighed him by a good forty pounds, Paul looked ready to fight.

“Is this your boyfriend?” Michael eyed Paul, clenching his fists. “Now I know why you left. You had this guy waiting for you.”

I held my hand up to Paul. “It’s okay.” Turning to Michael with crossed arms. “That is not my boyfriend and you know the reason I left. Now why are you here?”

Michael looked from me to Paul then back again, trying to decide if he believed me. At last, his eyes softened. He moved inside the restroom with me and I stepped back at the same time. I could feel everyone watching, except for Merry who had brushed past us and was escorting June Bug out the front door.

“I love you, Maggie,” he said, almost whimpering. He shook his head and held his palms out to me. “God knows, I’m sorry for what I did. I have no idea why I did it. It was like I was possessed.”

I glanced at Eve. I hadn’t told her the details of my departure and I was embarrassed that it was coming out this way. To her credit, her face remained stoic as she hovered protectively near, along with Paul and Shane.

“Michael, you need to go,” I said, pushing him to the side as I tried to leave the restroom. “I can’t do this.”

“Can’t do what?” he said, capturing one of my hands and placing it on his heart. “Go back to the man you love?” Still holding my hand he took a deep breath and lowered himself onto one knee. “Maggie, I know I said that marriage didn’t matter to me in the past but...” His free hand reached inside his pocket.

My eyes widened as I realized what he was about to do. “Michael. No. Not now.” I turned to the others. Eve looked confused while Shane and Paul still appeared angry.

“...Will you marry me?” Michael continued, opening a box that contained a gold ring with a large pink-white diamond.

Eve let out a gasp. I motioned to the others that I needed a moment alone and they moved away from the doorway, ready to jump in if necessary.

“Michael...” I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry. All those years of wishing he had asked me, and here he was, proposing in a cramped, public restroom.

Merry returned to the restaurant without my niece. “I ran into Marion next door at the candy store. She is going to watch June Bug for a while.” She didn’t acknowledge Michael kneeling on the floor or the box in his hand.

Michael did a double-take, but was not deterred.

“I’ll be so good to you, Maggie. We don’t have to go back to Woodhaven. We could go anywhere. Get real jobs. Live like normal people. You could pursue your art or whatever you wanted. We can make it.” He lifted the ring from the box. It sparkled enticingly.
 

Images of Michael and I––riding off into the sunset in our white van––ran through my brain. We could start over. Start a family. Michael had driven all this way here and changed his views on marriage. It must mean something.

Merry came to my side. I could feel her eyes on me.

“I don’t know...” I said, running my fingers over the diamond, feeling the smoothness of the rock between its rough edges.

Michael stood up, looking down at me, his gray eyes filled with promises. I felt dizzy, lost in that wave of love and affection I had once held for him.
 

“I just...” I looked at the floor, searching for the right words. “I want to, Michael. I want to say yes so badly, but...”

“Then do. It’s that easy. You say yes, we pack up your stuff and get the hell out of here. You told me yourself how much you hated this town.”

I glanced at Merry. Her face was tight, but otherwise emotionless.

“I wish it was that easy...”

“It is.” Michael attempted to place the ring on my finger, but my hands curled involuntarily. “Dammit, Maggie!” he said, his jaw clenching. “What else do I have to do to prove that you are important to me? I spent a fortune on this ring and learned how to drive a stick shift for you. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

I nodded. He was right. The ‘old’ Michael wouldn’t have done either of those things. I started to speak, to agree that, yes, I would be his wife, when Merry finally interrupted.

“Maggie, can I have a word with you please?”

“Can it wait?” Michael said. “We are in the middle of something here.”

“Yes, I see that. But no, Michael, it cannot wait.” Merry turned and faced him directly. He towered over her by almost a foot, but she stood her ground, arms crossed. “If you give me five minutes with my sister and she still wants to marry you, I will give you both my blessing.”

Michael narrowed his eyes, turning his head slightly to the side, trying to get a read on her ‘angle.’

“Five minutes,” Merry repeated. “If you are really supposed to be together, five minutes won’t matter.”

Michael exhaled and nodded. “Okay.”

Merry grabbed me by the arm and walked me through the restaurant and out the front door, shutting it behind her. It was dark and cold and I could see my breath. I bounced in place, wishing I had brought my coat.

“You’re not seriously going to marry this guy, are you?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“I’m not sure what happened to you two down there, but I can tell you one thing, he doesn’t love you.”

As much as I adored my sister, I felt like she was crossing the line. She didn’t know anything about Michael or me. She was long gone by the time Michael had come into my life.

“Of course he loves me. He drove all the way here to get me. Besides,” I said, staring into the night, which was growing colder by the minute. “...I miss him.”

“Maggie!” Merry shook my shoulders, bringing me back. “Stop being stubborn and listen to someone’s advice for once. He––Doesn’t––Love––You. Period.”

Her words felt like a slap in the face.

“Why are you saying that?” I said. “You might be able to sense people’s emotions, but sometimes you are wrong. You were wrong about Frank, weren't you?”

She looked at me, expressionless. Now it was I who had crossed the line. I wished I could take back those words, but it was too late. I was sure she was going to really slap me, or worse, walk away. But she didn’t.

“Stop being stupid, Maggie,” she finally said, her voice kinder than her words. “I need to tell you something, so, okay here goes...” Merry drew in a long breath. “When you first disappeared, Eve called and let me know. I was so worried about you, Maggie. So, so worried. I did some research on the computer and tracked you down.”

“How...?”

Merry ignored my question. “I found you guys in Kansas. It was only two hours away from where I lived. I tried calling and I got Michael on the phone. At first he denied that you were there and finally he admitted you were, but he kept saying you were too busy to take my calls. This happened about six or seven times. Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer and I made Frank drive us to your town. When I got there, Michael answered the door. He wouldn’t let me see you or talk to you. He saw that I was worried and seven months pregnant but he told me you didn’t want to see me or any other member of our family again. I knew that wasn’t the truth. I knew you would see me, but he wouldn’t let you.”

Merry paused, giving me the chance to digest what she was saying.
 

“I never knew...” I began.

“...I came back with the sheriff three days later,” Merry continued. “But you had all already packed up and moved on. That’s the last I heard about you until Aunt Dora let us know you were alive and well in California. I didn’t try to reach you again for fear Michael would uproot you like before.”

I stared at my sister, remembering how quickly Michael had ushered us out of Kansas. He had said the locals hadn’t appreciated our form of religion and we needed to move before things got ugly. But he was really trying to keep me from my family.

Jillian’s words came back to me, too.

Real love doesn’t try and control.

I no longer had the urge to go to Woodhaven, or anywhere with Michael for that matter. I had nothing but anger––and pity––for the man, and neither emotion would make me get into that van.