"Now there's something I can't even begin to picture-my sister on a horse."

"Yeah, I don't think we're going to see that picture anytime soon."

"Is Brianna there?" Gladys asked.

"No, she's out on a date."

"A date? My, that girl works fast. Who's she dating?"

Savannah thought for a moment and then said, "Well, maybe 'date' isn't the right word. She just went someplace with our vet tech, Bud to...do some research." She wasn't ready to tell her mother about the curse or the fact that she was trying to get pregnant-not yet. She hoped she wouldn't be sorry that she had told Brianna. This was something she felt was personal between herself and Michael, and it didn't seem right letting others in on her private life. Even though she asked Brianna to keep their secret for now, she wasn't sure her sometimes scatterbrained sister could do it. She tended to speak out of turn when it was least expected.

"Is he a nice boy-this Bud?" Gladys asked.

"He's a nice young man, Mom-he's twenty-eight or so. Same age as Brianna. She's not dating boys anymore, is she?" Savannah laughed.

"No, I guess not. It's hard to believe you girls are so...grown up."

"Thought you were going to use the 'O' word for a minute."

"'O' word?"

"Old."

"Oh no, honey. That word applies only to people in my age group and your aunt's."

"Don't let her hear you say that," Savannah warned.

They both laughed.

"Mom, call back tomorrow if you get a chance and you can talk to Brianna. We should be home from the ride by dinner time. Speaking of dinner, Michael just came in and I'd better go finish fixing ours. Love you."

"Love you, too, Vannie."

"Your mom?" Michael asked as he took off his shoes and wriggled his toes. Michael loved wearing flip-flops and wore them most of the time, but drew the line for work. He often took his work shoes off and either went barefooted or slipped on his flip-flops as soon as he got home. And this routine held true no matter the season.

"Yes, it was Mom," she said.

"She always calls on the landline phone, doesn't she? Why is that?" Michael asked.

"I don't know-old-fashioned, I guess. She calls on my cell once in a while. And she has a cell phone, but uses her landline most often." She walked over to where he sat on the sofa.

"So how was your day?" she asked, slipping down next to him, sliding her arm around his neck, and resting her head on his shoulder.

He reached over and squeezed her thigh while leaning his head down to kiss her on the forehead. "Good. No emergencies. Everything went smoothly. I missed you, though." He turned to face her. She sat upright and he kissed her on the lips. He then looked around and asked, "Where's Brianna?"

"Out with Bud, would you believe?"

"Oh," he said before taking her face in his hands and kissing her again. When he pulled away, he noticed they were not alone. "h.e.l.lo there, Miss Buffy. How are you this evening?" He reached over and petted the cat.

"You sweet thing," Savannah said smiling down into her clear blue eyes. "I'll bet you guys are hungry."

"Yes we are," Michael said. "What's for dinner? And what's up with Brianna and Bud?"

Savannah stood and headed toward the kitchen. Michael followed. "Dinner is whatever you want it to be. And I guess so are Brianna and Bud," she quipped over her shoulder.

"What kind of answer is that?"

She turned to face him. "Well," she laughed before explaining, "it's sort of a potluck dinner. I brought home leftovers from our lunch at the Bistro, we have leftovers from last night, and there are a couple of homemade chicken pot pies in the freezer, if you'd rather."

"Oh, I have to decide...after working all day?" He laughed. "Isn't that why I married you, to have someone decide what's for dinner?"

"Are you kidding me? Really?" she said playfully. "You married me for my brain?"

"Isn't that what most women want to hear?"

"I don't know if you've noticed," she said in her most sultry manner, "but I'm not most women."

"You sure aren't," he said, moving toward her and pinning her against the counter, forcing a pa.s.sionate kiss on her. "Hey, I know what I want for dinner," he said giving her a come-hither look.

She stared into his eyes, a smile on her face. "I like your way of thinking, handsome-just let me feed the gang and I'll be right there."

He pulled her to him. "Meet you in the boudoir."

The next morning, Savannah's friend and riding buddy, Bonnie, drove over with her horse trailer and picked up Peaches. Savannah and Brianna met her at the stable. While Savannah saddled her horse, Bonnie introduced Brianna to Wilson. "We used to use this gelding in a program for children with disabilities," Bonnie explained while brushing a wayward curl from one of her chocolate-brown cheeks. "He's just about the most dependable horse on the property."

"Sounds just my speed, then," Brianna said. She walked over to look the horse in the eye. "Hi, Wilson. Pleased to meet you. I hope you don't mind if I climb up on your back. I brought you an apple."

"You don't have to bribe Wilson." Bonnie laughed. "He's quite the gentleman."

"Well, you can tell what kind of guys I've been hanging out with, then, can't you?" Brianna said with a chuckle.

"Are you sure you won't join us, Bonnie?" Savannah asked.

"Naw, I have a student coming this morning and I promised my husband I'd take his horse through his paces. He needs a little tune-up in the arena."

"Sure do appreciate you coming out and picking up Peaches," Savannah said.

"It's great to see her again and I'm glad old Willie is getting some exercise. He doesn't get out much unless you bring Charlotte over."

Savannah gave the cinch on Peaches's saddle one last pull before tying off the leather strap. She led her mare over to where Brianna was brushing Wilson. "Here, let me help you put that saddle on, Sis," she said while tying the lead rope from her mare's halter to the hitching rail.

"Thanks, I'm likely to get it on backwards or upside down," Brianna confessed.

Once the horses were saddled and the riders mounted, the sisters took off down the dirt road toward the trail Savannah had ridden with Bonnie numbers of times. Bonnie's Queensland heeler, Bella, chose to trot along, so they packed her collapsible bowl and an extra bottle of water in the saddle bags. After they'd traveled for a while, Savannah suggested they stop, check the cinches, and have a drink of water. They poured some for the dog, too.

"So how was your date last night, Sis?" Savannah asked after handing Brianna a bottle of water and taking a swig of her own.

"Not a date."

"Oh, then how was your non-date?"

Brianna looked up at a blue jay in a nearby tree and said, "Really kinda fun, actually. Bud is a cool guy." She then looked over at Savannah and asked, "Have you met his family?"

"Um, well, I guess I've met his mom a few times when she has come in to get something for their cattle or dogs. That's all. Why?"

"Then you haven't met the grandma?"

"No, I don't think so."

"She's a kick," Brianna said slapping her own thigh.

"So you went to his house?"

"No, we went to his grandmother's house."

"Why?"

"Bud wanted to talk to her about your German letter and the curse thing."

"Oh really?" Savannah's interest was definitely piqued. "What does she know about curses?"

"It seems, Big Sister, that this woman either was or is a witch herself-a German witch."

"What?"

"You didn't know that?"

Savannah thought for a minute and then said, "Well, I guess I knew that the family was into some sort of unusual remedies and potions, but I didn't connect it to witchcraft."

"How's that?" Brianna asked.

"Let's mount up and I'll tell you as we ride."

"Okay, now which foot do I put in the slot...er, stirrup, first?"

"Left foot from the left side of the horse."

"Oh, okay." She looked the situation over and then led the horse to a rock. She climbed up on the rock and mounted from there. "Ah, much easier."

"You're funny." Savannah laughed.

"Yeah, don't you make fun of me, girl-you with those long legs of yours. Not everyone walks on stilts like you do, you know." She looked around. "It is so beautiful up here. Is the weather always this nice?"

"Yeah, except when it rains. It can get kinda messy. And it can get cold."

"Does it rain a lot?"

"More than in LA, I can tell you that."

"Well, I vote to have weather like this every day of the year."

"I'm with you. It is a gorgeous day for December."

"So, what about Bud's family and their potions?" Brianna asked.

"Last year, there was a calf born on one of the ranches and he was having a hard time of it. Bud was there for the birthing and I guess he got kind of attached to the little guy. We treated the calf for what we thought ailed him, but he didn't improve much. He just wasn't keeping pace growth-wise with the others of the same age. He wasn't thriving. One day, Bud asked us if he could bring something from home to use on the calf." She wrinkled her brow and shook her head a little. "...a poultice of some sort. We told him it was okay with us. We thought we were going to lose the calf anyway and what Bud had in mind wasn't going to be ingested. We said that if the owner agreed, we were all for anything he thought might work. Well, he brought this poultice. He said his grandmother whipped it up for him out of some rather unusual items, as I recall. And both Michael and I were astonished to see the calf begin to improve."

"Did you ask Bud what it was?"

"Yes, he just said it was designed to ward off evil spirits or something like that. Didn't resonate with me. I thought it was some sort of woo-woo stuff. I didn't understand it-didn't know if I wanted to."

"And did the calf live to become someone's steak dinner?"

"Noooo," Savannah said, frowning. "The owners weren't all that interested in keeping a calf that wasn't in tip-top health and Bud asked if he could take him. The little steer still lives on Bud's parents' property." She looked over at Brianna. "Doesn't Bud live on that property, too? And the grandmother?"

"I haven't been to Bud's family's ranch, but I understand that Bud has a small house on the back forty, so to speak. Oma-the grandma-lives in town in an apartment." Brianna thought for a minute before saying, "Well, it may have been that Oma cast a spell on that calf or broke one with her poultice. She knows all about curses and things. She was quite familiar with yours, by the way," Brianna said.

"Good grief, how many people know about this? I really didn't want it advertised all over town. It's private and kind of weird."

"Don't worry, Oma and Anika are sworn to a sisterhood or witch-hood oath of some sort," Brianna explained.

"Anika?"

"She's a friend of Bud's grandmother. Oma sent us to Anika along with the letter."

Savannah turned to look at her sister, who trailed behind. She rested her right hand on the back of the saddle and asked, "So what did she say?"

"Well, Bud and I had a good laugh about it afterward, because she kind of talked in riddles. She never came right out and said much of anything that you could hang a hat on."

"Was she a fortune teller or what?" Savannah asked.

"Uh, I suppose something mysterious like that. I'm not sure. But she was familiar with this curse. She said it was used a lot by gypsies in the old days. She said it is a fairly easy one to break and she...well, she was all flamboyant, you know, putting on a sort of show for us. Not only that," Brianna said laughing, "she had this bird that kept coming over and sitting on top of her head. It was hard not to bust out giggling during the session, but Bud and I sure laughed afterward. The people in the diner probably thought we were crazy or something because we couldn't stop laughing." She looked off into s.p.a.ce for a moment as she recalled the evening.

Savannah reined Peaches in so Brianna and Wilson could catch up. Once her sister was next to her, she asked, "Sooooo, how do we break it? What did she tell you?"

"She didn't tell us much. She gave us something."

"What?" Savannah insisted.

"A little piece of honeycomb and a couple of leaves."

"What? What are we supposed to do with them?"

"Heck if I know. When we took these things back to Oma, she said basically that this is something the one affected by the curse must work out. And then she repeated, 'Bees. Leaves. Bees. Leaves.' That's it," Brianna said with a shrug. "Then Bud brought me home." She twisted her body in the saddle toward Savannah and said, "He wants me to go to his place for dinner tonight. Savannah, you don't mind, do you?"

"Mind what?" she asked as if suddenly shaken out of a stupor.