Page 96 of Extra Witchy

And honestly, she didn’t. Everything she had was because of her own choices. She’d managed to balance pregnancy with her seat on the city council while debating how to manage the worldwide reveal with the witch’s council. Trevor’s business had taken off in a big fashion, going a long way toward mending his shattered self-esteem. Therapy sessions helped as well.

Now that he’d established his own company, after marrying a rising political mover and shaker—she would be running for mayor in the next election—who’d inherited some money, his family was trying to patch things up. Trev wasn’t too interested, and she couldn’t blame him. Leanne didn’t subscribe to the tenet that families should always be forgiven no matter what they did or how they made you feel. Sometimes the best solution was a clean cut, but only Trev could decide that. As always, she’d support his choice.

Melanie let out an impatient cry. The baby was tired, but she wouldn’t go to sleep, no matter how long Leanne paced and bounced her.This child is more exhausting than all my other commitments combined.Thankfully, Trev came in and reached for their squirming, red-faced bundle of joy.

“What’s wrong? Mom doesn’t know how to hold you?”

Most annoying, the baby settled right down on his shoulder. “I have no idea how you do that. It’s like magic.”

He flashed her a grin. “Maybe it is.”

“You’re just in time. I have a conference call. I’ll be in the bedroom.”

With the guest room converted to a nursery, they’d compromised by sticking a desk in the bedroom. Space was a bit tight now, and they were currently looking for a bigger place. Since Leanne’s inheritance—after taxes and lawyer fees—had been sitting in the bank collecting interest for over a year, they could buy any property they wanted. But they both wanted to make sure the place was perfect, their true forever home, because moving was a pain in the ass.

Quickly, she cast the appearance-altering spell, marveling over the fact that she could do so without worrying about being caught. Living as her true self was far more liberating than she’d imagined, and she’d thought it would be great. Likewise, Danica was over the moon, being able to live freely with Titus. Word on the coven grapevine was the CinnaMan planned to propose soon. Clem had gotten her happy ending as well when the former witch hunter returned to town and pleaded for a second chance. Gavin formally applied to join their coven and received enough votes, so he was a familiar face these days.

Her laptop screen flickered to life as she tapped it and joined the witch council meeting. Most of the others were already online. Today was a special day, the agreed-upon date for Leanne to post the press release they had argued over for more than a year. Privately, she thought this was wasted effort, but since she’d gotten her way when proposing her first motion—a rarity, she later learned—she’d figured discretion was the better part of valor. Better not to agitate her peers and let them tinker with the content of the announcement to their hearts’ content.

She’d just never imagined it would takethislong to come to consensus. But witch politics had filibuster in common with nonmagical committees, and now she had far too much personal experience with the excruciatingly slow progress of both. The debate went on for nearly an hour, until she finally lost what remained of her patience.

“If I agree to all the amendments, can we finally post this? I’ve shared the short list of media sites that I’ll be—”

“Yes, yes. All in favor?”

Oh sure, interruptme.

With effort born of long practice, she held her temper. The poll went up, and at last, they reached a majority in favor.It’s really happening. Today’s the day.

Leanne clicked out of the conference chat before the fickle council could change their minds.No take backs. I’m finally doing this.

Her fingers shook a little as she copied the press release, double-checked the content, then hit send. She didn’t bother asking Clem for the viral spell, figuring it would gain traction on its own. After closing her laptop, she rushed out to the living room, where Trev was settling Melanie in her swing. That was the one baby accessory she wouldn’t trade for ten million bucks, as it soothed this difficult child like nothing else. Already, she was blinking big hazel eyes, so like her dad’s, nodding off as the seat gently swayed back and forth. A few minutes later, Trev pulled Melanie out and settled their daughter in her crib for a nap, then returned to hear Leanne’s news. He’d learned to read her well.

“I did it,” she said.

“Did what?”

“Told the world about us!”

He moved to her side and wrapped her in a warm, wonderful hug. She’d never get tired of this. “Congrats, Butterfly. You’ve been trying to come out for over a year.”

“They didn’t make it easy,” she muttered.

***

To her vast annoyance, the announcement failed to make a dent in the internet whatsoever.Nobodyfreakin’ cared. Her meticulously written press release ended up with clickbait article titles like “Good News, Magic Is Real,” and everyone in the freaking world ignored the existence of witches in favor of continents on fire, towns being wiped out by freak tornadoes, and diseases running rampant while the economy ate up the rest of humanity’s focus.

“Huh,” she said a week later after scanning the web for reactions.

Trev bit his lip, obviously trying not to laugh. “You lost to climate change.”

“Shut up, it’s not funny.”

He made eye contact. “It’s alittlefunny. Y’all lived with such care and secrecy and—”

“Fine, fine. I should have seen this coming.”

But there was comfort in that indifference as well. After the anticlimactic online announcement, Hazel Jeffords joined the coven as its first nonmagical member. Shelovedwatching their spell work and always brought her famous baked goods to each meeting to energize the rest of the group. Leanne nearly hurt herself laughing when she saw the bumper sticker on Hazel’s car—HONORARY WITCH. Goliath got a new tag on his collar with his name engraved on the front as,Goliath, Honorary Familiar. And on the back,if found, return to Hazel Jeffords, honorary witch, along with her contact info. She didn’t just attend meetings at Danica and Clem’s place these days—no, she visited everybody else’s houses too.

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