Chapter 4

Ella finished her piece of chocolate cake that her aunt Prue had cut her after school and opened the book that she'd found in the back of the greenhouse. She was tucked away in her favorite reading corner where she went sometimes when she needed some time to herself. Savoring the last bite of the cake, which was about one of the best things left in this world if anyone asked her, she sat back to read.

The book she'd found was small and green and leather-bound and she wondered at what it could contain. There was something inside her that told her she was opening somebody's secrets, but she didn't let that stop her.

She thumbed it open and her young eye perused the pages with her momma's younger scrawling very recognizable. She felt her face redden, knowing she should close it. This was her momma's old spell book, one she'd kept when she was a young girl. Suddenly, more than anything Ella wanted a spell book of her very own.

She promised herself that she would just read one spell, just one entry, but then she just kept reading because she felt she was seeing a side of her momma that she didn't know existed. Ella loved her momma more than anything in the world besides maybe her daddy and her sister but ever since Daddy died, Momma hadn't wanted anything to do with magic.

She'd heard her whispering to aunt Maggie about the aunts. Something about a spell and how she'd never forgive them for making her fall in love.

Ella didn't know much but she knew her momma was sad. She would read just one more page. She flipped to the next page and that's when she found it.

Amitas Veritas

A true love spell.

He will hear my call from a mile away.

He will fiercely protective of those he loves.

He will whistle my favorite song.

He will be marvelously kind.

He can flip pancakes into the air.

He will have wings, large and white, like an angel.

He will be fast and swift and he will carry a bow.

This is the spell of true love and she was so confused for a moment. This must be a really old love spell that her momma had written. None of those things sounded like her daddy, except for the kind part. Her Daddy had been sheriff in their town and everyone remembered him as one of the nicest people they'd ever met. At least that's what they always told Ella when they saw her with that sadness in her eyes that Ella didn't think she'd ever get over. Momma either.

Of them all, Annie seemed the least affected, but she was just a baby.

Ella clutched the book to her chest, thankful for this glimpse into her momma's childhood when she had believed in magic.

And there were a lot of things that had happened to them, not all of them bad, but since daddy was gone, magic was gone too because Momma didn't want it around.

Ella hid the book away where she'd found it and went to tell Annie what she'd found, as all sisters do. She wouldn't understand all of what she told her but Annie agreed with her on one thing. Without magic, there wasn't a whole lot left. Magic was everything. Besides her momma and Annie, Ella thought magic was all she had left in this world.

And the aunts and their chocolate cake. That was still about the best thing in her book.


"I'm home!" Beth called out as she walked into the house.

It was summer, the sweltering Georgia heat in full swing, and the air hung heavy and but it was cooler inside the house. It was one of those old plantation houses and as such, it didn't have air, but a lot of well-placed ceiling fans made it much cooler than outside and Beth thought of apologizing to Daryl as he followed her inside her home.

The aunts were nowhere to be found and the girls had made themselves scarce as well. As big as this house was, a person could get lost for hours and never see another soul, she was convinced.

"I don't know where everyone is. My girls come home after school and it's just us and the aunts." She doesn't say the rest. Anyone else and she'd have spilled out her the whole tale of how her husband had died but she was tired of the pathetic looks cast her way from everyone and she didn't want to see that look in Daryl's eyes so she kept quiet about it.

Besides, though it still hurt, she was healing in some ways she thought. The Apothecary had helped her in more ways than one. Plus, she thought Rick would have approved of her moving on and getting on with her life and the girls' lives. This was their home now.

She led him into the back of the house into the kitchen where she began preparing the coffee pot to begin brewing. She was already looking forward to a steaming cup of coffee despite the heat outside. She thought she could drink coffee any time of the year.

Some people fancied those frozen concoctions but give her a good old fashioned cup of java any day.

"Is this 19th century architecture?" Daryl was asking her.

She shrugged. "It's been in our family for over 100 years so I am guessing that's about right." Beth said, reaching for two mugs as Daryl stood at the counter.

"It's a very nice home." Daryl remarked as Beth gestured to the seats at the counter, like this man was in her home every day. There was something so natural about him being here, though his presence was strange. He was so big, he seemed to take up all the room at once and Beth fidgeted with the cups at the sudden awareness of him as much as his words. What was it about this man that flustered her so?

"Thank you."

Ella came wandering in from outside then with Annie following close at her heels and both girls looked at the man in their kitchen and then at each other and smiled and came over to greet her.

"Hi, Momma." Ella looked up at her and she saw some of the worry lines that had etched their way onto her daughters face were smoothed out and she was grateful.

"Hi, baby. How was school?" She kissed her daughter on the forehead and then reached down and ruffled Annie's hair. "You too, munchkin. How was your spelling test?"

"Great!" Annie exclaimed smiling wide and it was then that Beth noticed.

"You lost a tooth!"

Annie beamed at her, her chestnut curls bobbing in the wake. "At lunch. It came out in my apple, just like you said."

Beth fought an urge to cry. It had been one of Rick's tricks with Ella. She'd told Annie about it this morning as she packed her lunch before school. "Remember to put it under your pillow."

"Momma, can we have pancakes for dinner?" Annie said, her brown eyes plaintive as she looked up at her.

Beth nodded. "Yes, pancakes for dinner sounds just wonderful. Ella, Annie, we have a visitor. This is Daryl. He came in to the shop to buy a gift for his niece. He's going to do some work at the store."

"Hi Daryl. Very nice to meet you." Both girls said in singsong chorus and then giggled again whispering something about true love spells and Beth smiled at them a little puzzled as they ran back outside.

"Nice to meet you." Daryl said, his voice gruff like it was at the shop. Beth couldn't get a good read on him yet but she'd already gathered that he wasn't big on words. And for whatever reason, that was okay with her.

"Kids." She said to Daryl.

Beth fixed their coffee and sat down beside him. "So do you have kids of your own or just the niece?" She instantly regret the question. That was none of her business.

But then he answered. "Never been married."

He already knew her story, so she didn't say anything to that and took a sip of her coffee. "Those are some great girls you have."

It was honestly the best thing he could have said to her. "Thanks. Ella is quiet and more like Rick. Annie is a little spitfire. She's been trying to lose that tooth for three weeks." She laughs a little and when she looks over at him he is looking at her so. She blushes before she can stop herself and brushes her hair behind her ear.

There's something so disarming about the way this man looks at her, like he can see straight through her.

Without thinking of why she was asking, Beth blurted out. "Would you like to stay for dinner? It's nothing fancy. Pancakes."

He hesitated for a minute and then he was nodding. "Sure. Pancakes sound great."

Their conversation after that is easy and not stilted at all. She tells him about The Apothecary and why she wanted to start the business. How it was the culmination of a life long dream to own a shop that carried herbal teas and botanical beauty products that were all natural.

"There's something about working with your hands and creating something from practically nothing that makes me feel good." She was stirring her coffee with her spoon like a normal human. She found she had to be very purposeful about her actions around people who weren't familiar with the craft.

"I build furniture." Daryl was saying from beside her and she looked over at him. Somehow, this didn't surprise her at all. She looked down at his hands, noting not for the first time how big they were. "Just rocking chairs and tables mostly but my friend helped me set up a website."

"Rocking chairs? I'd love to have some for the shop." Beth exclaimed. She could just imagine them. Rustic old fashioned rocking chairs in the little nook she'd set aside in the corner of the shop for people to come in for a cup of tea.

"I can make 'em." Daryl pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and fished out a card.

Beth read the inscription. "Dixon Woodworks."

"That website has pictures of samples of my stuff." She beamed at him. "I can't wait. I'll probably order them at the end of this week."

"It takes about six weeks for four. About ten weeks for two. I have a day job too." He was saying and Beth was smiling and she couldn't seem to stop.

"That sounds perfect." She sighed. "Time to fix pancakes."

He sat there and watched while she got everything out of the cabinets that she would need, mixing the flour into the bowl. She had just poured the first few onto the griddle when the girls came bursting through the back door, their faces red from exertion and Annie was holding her mouth and crying with blood streaming through her fingers.

"Oh my goodness!" Beth exclaimed, hoisting her daughter into her arms and setting her down on the counter. "Let me look, Annie sweetheart." She could hear Ella breathlessly telling her that there was a stick and Annie had tripped over it and banged her mouth on the ground.

Beth gathered a wad of paper towels in her hand, wetting them at the sink with one hand and smoothing her daughter's sweat-plastered hair back from her forehead. Once she got the blood cleaned up, relieved that there was much less than she originally feared, she could see what had happened.

Annie's gums where they'd recently lost the tooth had reopened and as well, she'd split her lip. She smiled at her daughter encouragingly. "It's okay, baby. That place where the tooth came out just got aggravated with your fall and you split your lip. Hold this paper towel on here and I'll get you some ice." She walked away from the counter, only now noting that Daryl had gotten up from his chair. She'd forgotten about him in the chaos of the last couple of minutes.

She got the ice and put it into a small baggie and sealed it looking around for him to see where he'd gone. She wouldn't blame him if he'd high-tailed it out of there at all the drama.

But as she turned she was surprised to find that he was at the stove. He'd found a spatula and had turned a couple of pancakes over already. The words were on her lips to thank him when she stopped and just stared at what he'd just done.

Before her eyes, he'd flipped a pancake into the air, catching it back on the spatula before returning it to the griddle to finish cooking.

Once again, that old spell came back to haunt her and she could only stare and wonder what in the world was happening around her.

He can flip pancakes into the air.

It couldn't be. Could it? She'd made the spell because he didn't exist and yet here Daryl Dixon was in her kitchen flipping pancakes in the air and she just didn't know what to think.


Well there it is. I wrote this in about two hours or less. I cannot believe that muse decided she wasn't done with this story and so here we are. I am really sure about the direction and where this needs to go so I hope you'll like what I am doing with it. If you are still reading this story, thanks for sticking with me. I am hoping for bi-weekly updates with this story, but more if muse strikes (hint muse might strike more if you guys let me know you're still reading and want more of it haha) Thanks again and until next time, xoxoxo