"Brianna! I've never seen you like this. He really must have made an impression. I've noticed the girls in the office flirting with him, but he never shows much interest." She leaned in and said, "I think some of them kinda wonder about his s.e.xual preference."

"Whose s.e.xual preference?" Margaret asked as she appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"Hi Auntie. She's questioning Bud's s.e.xuality," Brianna explained.

"Your tech?" she asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee and joined the other two at the table.

"Yes. I never have seen him express much interest in girls or women, have you?" Savannah asked.

"Well, I can tell you that he's all man." Brianna grinned.

"Brianna, how did you find this out?" Margaret teased.

"Wellllll..."

"They had a room with a Jacuzzi tub," Savannah said with a knowing smile.

"No kidding. And you got in together? With or without clothes?" Margaret asked.

Brianna c.o.c.ked her head toward Margaret, a dark curl floating across her forehead. "I'd forgotten how blunt you can be, Auntie."

"Well, you started it-you said he is all man and I...er...we want to know how you know this."

"Experience," she said coyly.

"You mean you experienced his manhood?"

"Auntie..." Savannah said.

"Oh stop it, you want to know, too-Brianna, did you and Bud have s.e.x?"

"Boy did we..." she said. Suddenly unsure as to whether she wanted to take this conversation any further, she added, "And he saved my life."

"What?" Savannah said.

Margaret flashed a menacing smile. "How?" she asked. "Did you swoon and nearly drown in the hot tub?"

"Noooooo."

"Did you strangle in your lingerie?"

"No, Auntie," she said impatiently. "We were kidnapped by an armed robber."

Savannah gasped. "No way, Sis." When she saw the look of fear in her sister's eyes, she asked, "Really? Did that really happen?"

"It sure did. It was awful-scary." Brianna looked up at Savannah and Margaret and said, "Now I know how you two must have felt when that awful man kidnapped and almost killed you." She lowered her eyes toward Buffy, who by then, was in her lap. Brianna unsuccessfully fought back tears as she ran her hand over the cat's head and the plush fur on her back. Buffy looked up at her and softly mewed. Just then, Lexie stepped out of her bed, shook herself and walked over to sniff Buffy. The little cat reached out with a paw and patted the dog on the nose.

"Better leave her alone, Lexie," Savannah said. "Come on over here and lie down."

Margaret leaned forward and looked Brianna in the eyes. "What happened, girl?"

"We stopped to get gas and this guy was holding up the station-with a gun! His ride evidently split, so he highjacked our car-made Bud drive and Bud secretly used his cell phone to call the police." She smiled a little. "He is so clever. I still can't believe it. He says there's a GPS thingy on his phone and, just by calling 9-1-1 and leaving the phone open while he talked to the kidnapper, the police caught on and found us before anything bad happened."

"Holy cow, Brianna. How awful," Margaret said.

Savannah blinked her eyes in disbelief. She stood and walked over to hug her sister. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"Me too," she said, blotting at her eyes with a tissue she'd pulled from the pocket of her lightweight denim jacket. Then she took a deep breath, looked up at Savannah, and asked, "So how was your weekend with Adam?"

"Very nice," she said as she picked up the coffee carafe and refilled two coffee mugs. "We had a kick-back weekend and I think Adam had a good time."

"What's on the agenda for today-anything?" Brianna asked.

Savannah looked at Brianna. "What do you feel like doing after your wild and crazy weekend?"

"And s.e.xy," Margaret added. "The way she talks, she probably needs a cold shower."

"Well, let me fix us some breakfast first-how about pancakes with fresh blueberry topping?"

"Mmmm, sounds good," Brianna replied.

"Did you eat, Auntie?" Savannah asked.

"No, count me in. Sounds delish."

Savannah walked over to the counter when something outside the large kitchen window caught her eye. She turned to the others and said, "Oh, there's Antonio. You know, I want to talk to him. I'll be right back."

As she headed toward the side kitchen door, Lexie at her heels, Brianna said, "I see you have the batter ready, how about if I start the pancakes?"

"Sure. That would be great," Savannah said over her shoulder. She stepped outside in time to see the gardener heading toward the compost pile with a shovel. She called out, "Hola Antonio."

He nodded in her direction. "h.e.l.lo Senora Ivey." Lexie trotted over to him and he bent down to greet her.

"Antonio, I have a couple of questions for you."

"Si Senora," he said, giving Lexie one last pat on the head before standing and looking up at Savannah.

"Antonio, what kind of trees are those I see out beyond the corral?"

He looked out toward the old orchard. "Apple, pear, peaches, plum, I think."

"But they don't bear fruit. They look dead. Have they ever had fruit on them?"

Antonio took off his worn straw hat and scratched his head while looking out over the spa.r.s.e orchard. "No. I have not seen them grow. I once watered. No more. Maybe dirt bad."

"But how do you grow such beautiful vegetables in the same dirt?" she asked gazing toward the lush raised garden beds.

"Oh that?" he said. "Bad spirit here." He swept his arms around the yard. "Esperanza and I feel it long ago when we come here to help the Forster family. We try to make it go away. We use potions-herbs, salt. We work hard here and now we have bonito garden, yes?"

"Yes, you sure do. And the potions wouldn't work on the trees?"

"Senora Maggie no want trees fixed. Just garden."

"Interesting," she thought out loud. "So the right potion can reverse a curse-black magic."

"Bees leaves," he said with a wide smile.

"Bees leaves?" she repeated.

He nodded and walked away.

As the three women finished breakfast, Margaret said, "Brianna, how would you like to ride out with me to the old lumber mill your grandpa ran? There's an outlet mall there now; maybe we can find those designer shoes you like at a discounted price."

"I would love that. Want to go, Vannie?"

Savannah thought for a moment and then said, "You know, I think I'll stay here. Charlotte's coming over to play with Rags this afternoon and I'd like to take Peaches out for a little ride. She's been cooped up these last few days."

Brianna stood and carried her dishes to the counter. "Didn't Adam ride this weekend on that cute little saddle you showed me?"

"Oh yes, but Peaches doesn't get much of a workout with Adam, I'm afraid. You two go and have fun."

"Are you sure?" Margaret asked. "You seem preoccupied. Is everything okay with you and Michael?"

"Oh gosh, yes, Auntie. We're good. I'm just a little b.u.mmed after finding that...curse thing in the house. I'll be okay. Just want a little time to myself."

"I understand, Sis." Brianna reached out and hugged her. "We'll miss you." She started to walk away, then stopped and said, "Fantastic breakfast. Thanks."

Savannah laughed. "Well, you did most of the cooking." She watched as the two women stepped out the front door, both of them talking at once.

"Come on, Lexie, let's go for a ride."

The dog jumped up and danced around Savannah. She darted toward the side kitchen door and then back to Savannah. Just before Savannah could open the door, she looked down and saw Rags standing next to Lexie. "Oh no you don't, Ragsy. You can go out when Charlotte comes to play. You stay in with Walter and Buffy for now. And don't get in Helena's way while she's cleaning, will you?" She called out, "I'll be back in a little while, Helena."

"Yes, Ms. Ivey."

Savannah grabbed her phone and a bottle of water off the counter and she and Lexie headed out to the corral.

Soon the trio was happily traveling down the country road. The sun felt warm against Savannah's skin, although there was a cool breeze blowing in. Winter is on the way, she thought. She reined Peaches down to a walk and then took a swig of water, tucking the bottle back in the carrier Michael had bought for her. She took a deep breath and scanned the horizon, glancing from time to time at the little dog, who was bouncing back and forth across the dirt road. She waved at Harvey, one of their neighbors. And Lexie stopped briefly to play with his little corgi before racing to catch up with Savannah and Peaches. Savannah was careful not to take the dog into areas with stickers and burrs because of Lexie's long, Afghan fur.

She decided to take the orchard trail this morning-the orchardists kept the area around the trees weed-free, so it was an ideal place for Lexie to romp. She recalled a time when she had inadvertently ended up in an area heavy with foxtails, and that's when Lexie learned to ride a horse. Savannah had brought her up into the saddle with her until they'd moved through the stickers.

Once past the orchards, Savannah heard a buzzing sound. She tilted her head, trying to discern where the sound was coming from. As the buzzing grew louder and louder, she realized that what she was hearing was a bee swarm. Been there, done that, she thought, recalling the time she'd gotten caught in a swarm of angry bees and ended up with several painful stings.

This swarm was high in a tree off about thirty feet from the trail-a safe distance. And the bees did not seem angry; they were just busy. She stopped and watched them. "Bees and leaves," she said. What Antonio had said that morning was still rolling around in her mind, "Curse, spirits, potions, herbs, and salt. Bees and leaves. Or as she recalled Antonio saying, "Bees." "Leaves." She repeated it, "Bees Leaves. Bee Leave. Believe."

"Oh my gosh," she said out loud. "Believe!" That's it, she thought. Once you know there is a curse, the way to break it is to believe it is gone and to live life as if it is gone or that it was not valid to start with. Believe. She started to laugh.

She looked over at the dog, who was sitting in the shade of a tree staring up at Savannah. "We have to go home, Lexie. I have something I need to do." She reined the horse around and let her have her head. Savannah enjoyed a gentle lope for a while and then she practiced posting at a trot. She felt like she was smiling the whole way home. Believe, she repeated.

Chapter Fifteen.

"What are you doing out here in this barren orchard of yours?" Brianna asked when she caught up with her sister later that afternoon. She looked around. "You ought to have Antonio take these dead trees out."

Oh no." Savannah laughed out loud. Sounding almost giddy, she said, "I'm going to make a peach pie next summer and some plum pudding." She continued to hoe around one of the trees. Then she began applying fertilizer, using a coffee can to measure it from a large bag.

"Are you crazy?" Brianna asked. "They look dead to me."

Savannah turned toward her sister and said defiantly, "You believe what you want and I'll believe what I want. I am going to have fruit on these trees next year."

"Okay, then, Ms. Black Thumb."

As if she hadn't heard her sister's comment, Savannah handed her a large package of sunflower seeds and instructed her, "Here, plant these, will you?"

"Where?" Brianna looked around, confused.

"Everywhere." Savannah motioned with both arms. She spun around and said, "I want flowers blooming everywhere."

Brianna read from the package and then asked, "Isn't it too late to plant sunflowers?"

"Maybe and maybe not. Now use some of this fertilizer and be sure to water good." She gazed across the orchard, a big smile on her face. "Oh, this is going to be so pretty out here, don't you think?"

"Sure. I guess. If they grow."

"Believe, Brianna. Believe," Savannah said grinning widely. "Here's a spade; now make little holes and drop in those seeds. I'm going to drag the hose out here and start watering my orchard." She looked over at the trees and said, "I'll ask Antonio to prune them tomorrow. I understand that you have to prune their branches every year."

It was all Brianna could do to force herself to partic.i.p.ate in her sister's folly. She decided to humor her, however, and began planting the sunflower seeds.

"So, Brianna, what did you buy today at the outlet mall?" Savannah asked as the two women traipsed back to the house a little dirtier and a lot sweatier.

"Nothing for gardening," Brianna said. "I'm just glad I packed these old jeans and flip-flops. I didn't know you were going to make me do hard labor." She pulled her T-shirt up and wiped her face with it. "Look at me, I'm sweating. I hate to sweat." She thought about it for a minute and then said, "There's only one activity I don't mind sweating for and that's..."

"Never mind," Savannah said putting one hand up toward her sister. "I get the picture." She looked at her watch. "We just have time for a shower before Charlotte gets here."

"Oh, I'm glad I got back in time to see Charlotte. She's a neat little gal." Brianna smiled, "I love her lisp." She turned toward Savannah and said, "You know, she's just about the prettiest Downs child I've ever seen."

"Yeah, she's a delight. Fun to be with." She glanced over at Brianna, an impish look on her face, and said, "Last one to the porch is a toad."

"Croak," Brianna said as she watched her sister sprint off toward the wraparound porch.