Page 35 of Having the Time of My Midlife

The pretty young girl walked over and extended her hand. I could remember a handsome man telling me to be cautious.Was I supposed to be cautious of the girl? That didn’t sit right. I felt a strong pull to both of the women. Very strong.

Slowly, I took her hand, part of the fog in my brain cleared. I did know these women, but I still wasn’t sure why or how.

“Three is a powerful number,” she said, glancing over at the old woman and extending her other hand. “The past, the present and the future need to come together. The game is a riddle. Three must play to win and break the evil spells.”

“I know those words,” I whispered, doing my best to recall why.

“I know you do,” the girl said, gently squeezing my hand.

Her touch was magical and I never wanted to let go.

“Gram, please join us,” she said.

The woman she called Gram hustled over, took Onsies’ hand in hers, then extended the other to me. “Daisy girl, hold my hand. Let’s break this dang spell.”

I was beginning to think she wasn’t insane, and neither was Onesie. Maybe I was the only one who had lost her marbles. Tentatively, I took the old gal’s hand in mine. My entire body tingled as the rest of the fog dissipated. The shock of the truth hit me like a cement block thrown at my head from close range. My knees buckled, and I dropped to the floor with a thud. Onesie was my baby girl who wasn’t a baby anymore except for the unfortunate outfit she was wearing. Alana Catherine was all grown up and saving me when I should be the one protecting her. Gram was the woman who’d loved me and raised me. She was dead, but here she wasn’t. Gram was wearing the dress I’d chosen for her at her funeral. She looked gorgeous and very much alive. I was wearing shitty sweats and ugly tennis shoes because that was what Candy Vargo, the OG of badasses, had dressed me in after the binding spell to protect my daughter.

We were on the Higher Power’s plane of existence and locked in a room that had been spelled. Thankfully, the spellhad only affected me. If it had dinged all three of us, we’d be screwed. My desire to beat the Higher Power’s ass intensified. But seeing Alana Catherine and Gram kickstarted my protection instinct into high gear.

I was in it to win it. We’d somehow passed the first test no thanks to me, but that was the power of three.

The tears came unbidden and there was nothing I could do to stop them. My grandmother and daughter joined me on the floor in the cryfest. We held tight to each other and didn’t let go.

“We have to move now, girlies,” Gram said. “Tim told us that we can’t mess around.”

I squeezed both of them tighter. “What if I forget again?”

Alana Catherine touched my cheek. Immediately, I place my hand over hers. “If you do… if any of us do, we know how to beat it. We stick together and figure it out.”

I squinted at my lovely and wise daughter. “Do you understand why we’re here?”

She laughed. It remined me of delicate chimes. “Strangely, yes.”

“All of it?” I pressed, making sure I didn’t need to explain anything to her. Knowledge was power, and we needed all that we could get.

“All of it,” she assured me.

“How?” I was confused.

She shrugged. “Magic works in mysterious ways, Mom.”

I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth to keep from crying. I failed. “You called me mom,” I blubbered.

“Umm… that’s because you’re my mom,” she replied with a raised brow that was so reminiscent of Gideon it made me gasp.

“You look like your dad,” I told her, unable to stop staring at the grownup version of my child.

“Sperm has an interesting way of making that happen,” she replied with a naughty wink.

I was no longer crying. Instead, I laughed.

“She’s a spicy little thing,” Gram said with a grin. “Just like me!”

“And me,” I added. “One more question.”

“Ask,” Alana Catherine said.

“When we go back, will you be a baby again?”

---