Page 14 of Under Daddy's Spell

Chapter Five

BEFORE THE BIRDS STARTEDtheir morning chirping and long before the sun came up, Tessa’s eyes popped open at 4:30 a.m.It was like that every day. Even on Sunday, when the store opened two hours later than usual.

Since she had time, and because Rufus loved his morning runs, they headed out for one. After, she sucked down a high-protein peanut butter smoothie for breakfast, showered, and tamed her wild mane. It was still a while before she needed to go in. But she went anyway because she finally had a few spare moments to finish going through the mysterious stranger’s box.

Upon arrival, she brewed a pot of coffee. Not one of Angie’s specialties, an ordinary medium roast, which she took with a tiny splash of half-and-half. Then she dug out the box from under the register counter. After removing the books she’d already gushed over, she pulled out a book of poetry by none other than Emily Dickinson.

“Holy moly!” she exclaimed as she set it on the counter and snapped a picture for her dad as requested.?

The next few titles didn’t disappoint either: Edgar Allan Poe’sTales of Mystery and Imagination,the first illustrated edition from 1853, along with several modern-day works like, Dan Brown’s,The Di Vinci Code,The Maltese Falconby Dashiell Hammett, and a signed copy of Stephen King’sMisery. There were also several foreign language books she didn’t recognize, but all were first editions.

“This collection has to be worth a small fortune,” Tessa breathed as she plopped onto her stool with a thud, utterly perplexed at how these treasures had come into her possession.

She sat up straight. “Maybe they’re stolen!”

Her shoulders slumped the next moment.

“That makes no sense. He gave me the provenance showing the change in ownership with the bills of sale. Besides, why go to the trouble of stealing them, only to essentially give them away?”

She racked her brain until it hurt trying to come up with an explanation but had to admit defeat when she heard Georgia, her sometimes weekend barista, come in the back door. She was dependable but not as experienced as Angie and would need help with the midday rush after church let out.

Tessa was carefully repacking the box to assist with setting up when she spied another book on the bottom. The hefty, old tome was almost the width and length of the box it came in. EntitledAshural’s Tried-and-True Spells and Incantations,the cover was a dark butter-soft leather showing only the slightest bit of wear at the corners. When she opened it, the pages had a hint of yellowing at the edges.

“This is the 18th century edition Victor mentioned.”

Carefully, Tessa turned to the title page and almost swallowed her tongue upon seeing the handwritten title page and the year it was written—1782. Considering it was two hundred fifty years old, it was in pristine condition.

“Amazing,” she whispered.

“Morning,” Georgia called. “You’re in early.”

“Yeah, I had a few things I didn’t get to this past week.” Including sending the pictures she just took of her ancient book to her dad along with an urgent message.Call me!!!?

On a typical Sunday, she didn’t have the early pre-work coffee rush. Instead, it came shortly after noon when church let out and didn’t wind down until close to 2 p.m. Today was different because of the semiannual sidewalk sale. All the stores participated with discounts and specials, some bringing racks outside for shoppers to browse. This was her fourth year, and sales exceeded the previous one every time.

To draw people in, Tessa offered a latte with the purchase of anything from her bakery counter, including one of the cookie or muffin boxes Angie had put together for the sale. Since free anything brought in droves of customers, she and Georgia worked nonstop from the time they opened, and Martha, who she scheduled extra for the event, had a continuous line in front of the register whenever she looked up. Things didn’t slow down until midafternoon, the first chance any of them had to breathe.

“Phew,” Tessa exclaimed as she wiped her damp brow with the back of her hand. “I didn’t think we’d ever see the end of that line.”

“Me either.” Pink-cheeked, Georgia agreed as she mopped her face with a napkin. “Is it hot in here, or is it me?”

“It’s not only you. It’s stuffy too. Isn’t it?”

Tessa loved her store location except for one major inconvenience. She shared heating and air-conditioning with the tenant next to her. Antoine had told her the story of why that was.

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