Page 4 of Her Highland Prophecy
“No, thank you,” she said and moved away.
A couple of hours later, the girls were exhausted and their purses were noticeable lighter as they headed to the main tent to rest and enjoy the music. Louisa brought over drinks while Peggy and Grace joined the dancers.
Diana was happy that they were playing jazz music rather than the Scottish songs she had been expecting. They hadn’t enjoyed much dancing while they were on the road as opportunities to join in parties were few and far between. Truthfully, she missed it. Back home in London, she regularly attended several parties per week, something they hadn’t been able to do while touring Scotland. Her mood lifted as she listened to the familiar rhythm, feet lightly tapping with the beat.
“Di, come on!” Grace urged, skirts swishing around her knees at her movement, and she beckoned her sister over. Diana drained her drink and joined the fun with a smile.
Several dances and a couple of drinks more later, the girls were once more making their way across the fairgrounds in the opposite direction. Louisa was supporting Peggy, who was wobbling on her heels and Grace was giggling madly at the sight.
Night had fallen, the moon casting long shadows as they meandered through the dark tents, and Diana lingered slightly behind the rest, slowly observing the stars above.
“I see yer fate clearly in the stars, lass.”
It was the gypsy from earlier. She stood in front of a tent still lit from the inside. Diana could see a table with two chairs and realized that it must be where the old woman practiced her trade. In the moonlight, the woman was even more uncanny than she had been earlier.
“Won’t ye let me read yer palm? Like I told ye earlier, Esmeralda knows the right path for ye.”
Diana hesitated, feeling uneasy.
What harm can it do?
She trembled, a feeling of foreboding coming over her at the expectant look the gypsy was giving her. She shook her head, admonishing herself for being silly.
It was all in good fun, after all. Fortunetelling wasn’t real.
“All right,” she said, and the gypsy smiled, revealing a gold tooth. She turned and hurried inside, seating herself on one of the available chairs.
Diana looked ahead for her sister and friends but couldn’t see them. Deciding that she would catch up with them at the hotel, she ducked her head through the flap and followed the older woman into the dimly lit tent.
After all, what did she have to lose?
2
The eeriness Diana had detected earlier permeated the entire tent. She noticed several glimmering rocks set on a counter next to a mortar and pestle, and an old-fashioned tea kettle set on a tiny end table. The gypsy sat at a table ringed with symbols that Diana didn’t recognize.
A cold frisson skirted up her back. There was nothing particularly unusual about the tent, but Diana felt deeply uneasy sitting there.
Across from her, the gypsy closed her eyes and was humming slightly as she rocked back and forth. Diana coughed slightly at the lingering smell of pipe tobacco, and the older woman opened one eye to glare balefully at her. She raised her arms apologetically and the gypsy resumed her humming.
As time passed, and the humming turned into an indistinguishable muttering, Diana was starting to regret coming into the tent. The whole thing was the ridiculous charade she had been expecting.
The gypsy’s eyes snapped open.
“Now, Esmeralda will tell ye yer fortune,” she said, startling Diana at how business like she sounded compared to the show she had been putting on for the past few minutes.
“Yer palm, lass,” she demanded.
Diana extended her hand reluctantly with her palm facing up. The gypsy grabbed it with both her own hands, carefully tracing the lines on her palm intently. Diana shuddered in disgust at the older woman’s clammy hands. Suddenly, the gypsy paled, her eyes widen. She released Diana’s hand and stood so quickly that the chair she had been sitting on clattered to the floor behind her, startling Diana, who pressed a hand to her chest in fright.
“Perhaps I was mistaken. I dinnae see anything in yer palm, lass. Ye should get going,” the gypsy said and tried to usher Diana toward the exit.
Bewildered, Diana sat in her seat, unmoved by the smaller woman’s efforts. What had she seen in her palm that disconcerted her so much?
Fear gripped her and she pulled the older woman to her by the hands.
“What is it? What did you see?” she asked, desperate to know. She swallowed heavily through her suddenly dry throat.
Diana would have been suspicious of the gypsy attempting to con her under normal circumstances, but the fear Diana could see in her eyes was all too real. Whatever put that look in the older woman’s eyes seemed like a good reason to panic.
