Page 51 of Cowboy Wolf's Secret Baby

Taryn popped out of the woods. She was a beautiful gray wolf – a smaller version of her father. She dropped the plastic bag of clothes at Beth’s feet.

“I’ll follow the trail to the river,” Beth said. “You guys have fun.”

Father and daughter took off into the woods.

Beth picked up their bags of clothes and meandered over to the river and sat down by the bank, dangling her feet in the cold water. She laughed as a couple of minnows swam over and nibbled on her toes.

“I don’t have any bread or anything else for you,” she said. “Next time, I’ll bring some.”

She stared into the water, wishing with all of her might that a water sprite would jump out of the rolling waves and give her all of the answers to her questions. Unfortunately, the water sprites were not feeling talkative today, and Beth was left with her uncertainties.

Her brain was a messed-up mixture of thoughts. Images of Conner and feelings of overwhelming love she felt swam around in her mind for a few seconds. Then, those were replaced with the pride and love she felt for Taryn. The little girl was just rolling with the fact that her father wasn’t part of her life and then, bam, here he was.

That led to thoughts of her mother. Beth pictured the amulet in her mind. It reeked of evil. The biggest question was how her mother got ahold of it. It was genuine.

Had the gust of wind that snatched the amulet from Matilda’s neck been her mother? How could that happen? As far as I know, time travel wasn’t possible. Was it some kind of spell?

An icy hand gripped Beth’s heart and squeezed it. Although there was no real documentation, lore said that the amulet could summon demons, cause deadly storms, and even deadlier epidemic plagues.

What is your endgame, Mother?

Beth knew that there would be no way to trick her mother into thinking that she was going to join her mother’s evil coven. Matilda would be able to see right through her.

“Ugh,” Beth groaned loudly.

“What’s wrong, Mom?” Taryn asked.

Beth squealed and jumped. “Don’t sneak up on me like that. You’re going to give me a heart attack.”

“What’s wrong?” Taryn asked.

“I was just thinking of your grandmother. Here’s your clothes. Go get dressed.”

Conner appeared out of the trees, grabbed his bag of clothes in his mouth, and went back into the trees. He appeared a moment later fully dressed.

“The fish were nibbling my toes,” Beth said. “Next time, I’ll have to bring some bread to share with them.”

“Do you want me to catch one for you?” Taryn asked. “You can take one home as a pet. Or, you could snack on it.”

“No, thank you, to both offers.” Beth laughed, pulling her socks and shoes back on.

Conner growled when they got back to the truck. It wouldn’t start.

“I can feel the magic. Hold on,” Beth said.

She closed her eyes for a minute and focused on the source of the negative energy.

“Out of the truck for a minute,” she ordered.

Everyone got out and Beth reached under the driver’s seat, fishing around for something. Finally, she could feel the cotton bag with the tip of her fingers. She whispered a couple of cuss words under her breath and was finally able to capture the bag between two fingertips and drag it out.

“A hex bag designed to make you have bad luck and cause you to get sick. I’ll give you three guesses as to who is responsible for this one and the first two don’t count,” Beth said, quoting Conner from the other night.

“Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Rogers, and your mother,” Conner said, mimicking Beth’s answers.

“Give the man a cookie,” Beth said. She looked inside the bag. “Standard items. Here is a chicken bone and some hair, probably yours. Oh, look, she found some coffin nails, a piece of obsidian, and devil’s apple root. This is a tiny vial of dried blood. I hope that she hasn’t started doing human sacrifices.”

“Standard hexing items, I take it?” Conner asked.

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