Page 5 of Haunted Eclipse

After her test, Astra started at the Starlight Academy when she was seven. On the shores of Lake Eerie, the academy was near her home—where my grandparents still lived.

“Do you ever think about going back to Pennsylvania?” I asked. “I don’t want you to,” I added quickly. “I’m just curious.”

Astra shook her head. “No. There’s really nothing there for me. Even though your grandparents are still alive, they’ve never accepted your mother’s match with Johann. And the fact thatSara and I took Marika’s side, well, it pretty much assured that we were cast out, as well.”

Astra and Sara had visited here when my mother married my father back in 1972. Marika had met Johann on a vacation when she visited Midnight Point, and they fell in love. A year later, she moved across the country to be with him. My aunts came for the wedding, and they never left. Their fourth sister, Cassandra, had declined to show up for the wedding. My grandfather also refused to attend, and wouldn’t let my grandmother attend either, and my mother wrote them off.

The schism was formed that existed to this day. My grandparents had sent formal birthday cards to me when I was young, and a ten-dollar bill. They ignored me the rest of the year, and I finally—at fourteen—wrote to them and said to keep their money. I didn’t need it or want it.

“No,” Astra said. It’s pretty there, but I have my home, and my friends, and you.” She shrugged. “What can I say? I’m not interested in moving backwards.”

Feeling reassured, and loved, I headed to the living room to look over Brenda’s form.

A half hour later, I was staring at the screen, trying to figure out why I felt uneasy.

Brenda seemed nice enough. She’d been pleasant—I hadn’t sensed anything odd about her. A bear shifter, she worked for the city government as a clerk in the city zoning office. Her hobbies were tame enough: gardening, hiking, journaling, and baking.

The thing that differentiated her from my usual clients was that she was a widow, and had specifically asked for a man who was “different” than the man she had been married to. Given he’d been an abuser, I understood why.

“So…she’s looking for someone calm, laid back, and yet ambitious,” I said, jotting down notes. She had checked the boxfor “possibly” when asked if she wanted children, but I had the feeling she was more to the ‘no’ side, than the ‘yes.’ I needed all this information to feed into the database.

“Dinner,” Astra said, poking her head around the corner.

I set down my notes before joining her in the kitchen.

The spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad were on the table. I poured the wine, then settled at my plate. Dahlia was staring up at us, her big puppy dog eyes trying to convince us she was starving. Miss P. was sitting on the kitty condo in the corner.

Astra’s kitchen was painted a cheerful yellow, with a modern stove that looked like it was from the early fifties. Avocado colored curtains and copper Jell-o molds hung on the walls. She loved retro design, and it was all through her house. A Formica table snuggled in the kitchen nook, and the seats were basically an old fashioned booth. We ate breakfast in the nook everyday. The dining room table was reserved for dinners, parties, and dinner guests.

As Astra sliced the garlic bread, I served myself some spaghetti. As I relaxed, settling back, I had a sudden flashback.

July 18,2019…

Dan and I were in a tiny Italian restaurant we had found, sitting in a booth. It was our first anniversary, and we were determined to celebrate, even though we’d had a major disappointment the day before.

“I’m sorry,” Dan said. He reached out to take my hand. “I thought sure we’d be able to get the loan.”

I gazed into his eyes. “As long as I have you, everything’s okay.”

Dan was gorgeous—at least in my eyes. He wasn’t particularly tall, and he worked out but wasn’t all muscley. He had long red hair, which curled down to his shoulders, and his beard was well-trimmed. We’d married late, at least in society’s eyes. I was thirty-five when I met him in 2017, and he’d been nearly thirty-eight.

We met at a Halloween Party, and I couldn’t stop thinking about him. He had made me laugh, with hisA Christmas Storypink-bunny costume. The next day, we met again, both invited to a friend’s Samhain Ritual. He had a lot of magical energy, and I gravitated to him. He walked me home, and from that moment, we were inseparable.

Neither one of us had been married—and we’d both been in some dicey relationships. But rather than take it slow, we fell madly, passionately in love. Two months later, Dan proposed. We married the next year, on July 18, 2018. We scrimped and saved, and a year later, we made an offer on a house we loved. The bank turned us down the day before our anniversary because we didn’t have a big enough downpayment.

Dan brought my hand to his lips and kissed it. “I love you. I can’t believe how lucky I am?—”

“I’m the lucky one!” I laughed, ducking my head. “We’re both lucky.”

“Yes, we are. And I have a gift for you.” He pulled out an envelope and held it up. “My parents sent us an anniversary gift.”

“What is it?” I asked, frowning. Sheldon and Connie Weaver were wonderful people. They accepted me in a way that made me feel like I truly had family beyond my aunts. They’d never once complained when I kept my maiden name rather than took Dan’s.

“I’m not sure,” he said.

“Open it!” I didn’t expect much—Sheldon and Connie weren’t all that wealthy, but they were frugal and saved money where they could. But I didn’t expect them to spend their money on us.

Dan opened the envelope and pulled out a card. A check fell out of it. He glanced at it and gasped. “Oh my gods, I…” He looked up at me. “They sent us twenty-thousand dollars. What on earth?”

---