*Thanks for the wonderful feedback and response to the last chapter! Nice to hear from so many of you guys again. xx
*Let's rejoin Daryl in Nan land now...
... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ...
"Everything in the garden has a purpose." Brigid said standing beside Daryl. She pointed to some large purple and blue flowers. "Even the lush peonies protect against bad weather and motion sickness and have been known to ward off evil. I love peonies." She took his arm and led him through the fragrant greenery. He didn't pull away but walked beside her obediently. Every few feet she'd stop and harvest a stock or cut some flowers and put them in the gathering apron around her waist. "Feverfew for headaches and nervous tension. Some hydrangea, thistle and toadflax." She winked at him "For breaking hexes. Can never be too careful. " They proceeded slowly as Brigid continued to gather and describe. "We have roses and lavender for luck. And there you see my geraniums." Her voice took on a sing-song quality when she added, " Snakes will not go where geraniums grow. Always keep rosemary by your garden gate."
So this was Nana Brigid. She was the same woman in the photograph with his mother, only older. Daryl realized he had entered that in between worlds place in the same way he and Danni had gone back to their childhood homes. He'd done it without her. He wasn't shocked, just surprised and wished Danni was with him. As Brigid kept on, he realized that talking too much was definitely a Doherty family trait.
"We witches believe that all growing things are connected. People, plants and animals are all connected to the infinite spirit of the earth and of the universe. "
Daryl noticed how reverent Brigid was, almost like she was in church. He took in the plots of vegetables, flowers and shrubs. Fruit trees bordered a strawberry patch and a herb bed.
"Some things we eat, some we use for decoration but most we use for our craft. I always wanted Danni to have a proper witch's garden one day."
Daryl laughed and Brigid eyed him with a smile. "I know that girl is not a domestic goddess. She never wanted to help me out here in the garden or learn to cook." Brigid shook her head "She is a Seer though. Her talent is for the Tarot, tea leaves, and those dreams. And lessons, there she excelled. She read every book and memorized all her history and lore. She could name the Tuatha Dé Danann, all the gods and goddess and their correspondence. And in spell work. Up until she was thirteen, I'd say she was becoming a master. She is truly gifted and I thank the goddess she came back to it. To be honest with you lad, she's more powerful than I am. And I'm very powerful. She is just coming into her own."
"Thirteen, huh?" Daryl asked his voice gruff and accusatory.
"Aye." Brigid knew what he was thinking. "Much changed then lad."
They approached the porch and Daryl stopped. Brigid let his arm go. "Aren't you coming in then?"
He hesitated.
"You are a quiet one." She smiled. "Let me make you some tea."
"Ma'am no offense, I just don't think talking to you right now is a good idea is all.'
"You're angry with me aren't you?"
Daryl looked down.
"About your mother….about Danni. The two women in your life you love."
He shook his head and cleared his throat. "Yeah."
"Please, come in for tea. I have some explaining to do."
Daryl let out a heavy sigh and followed her up the steps. Her skirts rustled and her bangles clinked musically as she moved. He held open the screen door for her and followed into the kitchen.
"Sit. Sit." She ordered and he took a chair at the long rectangular oak table in the center of the cozy room. She laid her garden spoils on a wooden cutting board on the counter under the window. While Brigid boiled water Daryl took in his surroundings. She stood at an old-fashioned Aga stove with a stone backsplash where a cast iron cauldron rested. It appeared almost like a shrine the focal point of the kitchen where she did her work. He noticed a pantry to the right. The room had white glass fronted cabinets filled with mason jars and bottles full of ingredients for her magic potions. Parakeets chirped in their cage, lace curtains fluttered in the open window.
Brigid placed their teacups on the table and sat across from him. "The last time I saw you lad, you were less than a year old; just a wee baby. Now look at you." Brigid's tone was admiring. "A man." She seriously studied his face. "You know, a mole on either cheek indicates a person is strong athletically and has a lot of courage." She observed the two moles on his left cheek. He'd always hated them and felt self-conscious. "The larger the mole the faster the person tends to be physically. A mole near the lip like that means a passionate disposition; the larger the mole the more they seek sexual activity."
Daryl blushed and turned his head away.
"Now give it here." She took Daryl's hand and turned it palm up. For some reason, as with Danni Daryl didn't recoil from Brigid's touch. "Rough hands, ah…means you're healthy, sturdy and not easily offended. Broad fingernails say you have a strong character with an explosive temper." Brigid looked up and winked. She traced her index finger across the top of his palm in deep concentration. "The four major lines are the fate, life, heart and head line. Mmm, your heart line makes a steep curve below the index and middle finger. Hmmm." She said again. "You've strong sexual desire and prowess. And here because it ends under your index finger you are choosy about your partner and faithful to the end. For life." She raised her head and locked eyes with him for a second before he flicked his glance back to his hand. "Your head line is long and straight meaning your thinking is clear and focused."
Daryl listened, wanting to dismiss it as a carnival game or a parlor trick, but he'd come too far into Danni's world to really believe that. She'd shown him her conjure stuff was real. Hell, she'd made him rediscover his own long-forgotten ability.
"The lifeline does not indicate how old you will live to be. What the line reveals is the quality of your life. It is an index of how much vitality, strength and energy you have." She traced the line that began where his thumb met his hand and ended at his wrist. "Ah now you see here, where the line breaks in the middle and starts again?"
Daryl nodded.
"That signifies rebirth…a whole new way of being. It's where you met her. Danni."
Daryl felt his spine tingle.
"This sister line beside it means you have a connection to a past life and awareness of destiny. This can provide aid in times of trouble."
Daryl had thought of the ghost house, of Lorelei and John for a moment before his thoughts returned to Danni.
"Not everyone has a fate line. You do. It starts joined to the life line and that tells me you are a self-made individual who developed aspirations early on; the universe indeed has plans for you. Daryl you were made for the world you inhabit now. And Danni was made for you."
"Don't go telling me I"m gonna be the last man standing or some fool thing like that."
"I wouldn't. With Danni you'll never be left standing alone. Now, make a fist." Brigid ordered then looked at the lines that formed between his clenched pinky finger and the side of his hand. It branched in two like a wishbone. "Your children line. Twins.
"Say anything about more kids?" He surprised Brigid with his question.
"No lad. Just the two."
"Danni thought she might be pregnant again." Daryl admitted, sounding disappointed.
Brigid raised an eyebrow. Before she could comment, her sisters Maeve and Ava entered in a whirlwind of long wild red curls flowing over their shoulders and down their backs rustling skirts and shawls of velvet and patchwork, clinking metal from bangles piled on their wrists and earrings dangling and twisting into their unruly hair. Their large and knowing eyes heavily rimmed in kohl opened wider when they saw Daryl sitting at their kitchen table.
"Is this him?" Maeve asked.
"These are Danni's great aunties, my sisters Maeve and Ava. Twins don't you know."
The women continued to fuss over him as if he were a celebrity.
"Yes. It's Danni's fella. " Brigid answered.
"My he's handsome.' Maeve added taking a seat on the other side of Daryl.
"Aye." Brigid said winking at her sister.
They talked as if Daryl wasn't present. He felt overly warm like he was in midsummer all of a sudden and wore too many layers. He shrugged his jacket and vest off revealing his arms in his sleeveless work shirt.
"Oh, my." Maeve said mischievously
"Mighty fine looking lad, he is."
They cooed and clucked and fussed over him. "Needs a haircut." Ava observed.
"And a shave I dare say. What's with that beard it's neither shaven nor grown Make up your mind." They giggled like schoolgirls.
"But those eyes, what a looker Bridgie. Aww Danni's a lucky lass. "
Daryl started to shift uncomfortably and his face began to flush under his scruff but didn't say anything. He had respect for the older women. But when Ava pinched his cheek, he nearly leapt out of his skin.
"Out! Out you two, Daryl and I have a lot of catch up." Brigid could see how uncomfortable her sisters were making him.
"Fine." Maeve pouted. "Have him all to yourself."
"Don't you two have some gossiping to do? Do it somewhere else."
A wolfhound entered as the two stepped out to the back porch and sat front of Daryl waiting for him to pat his head. Daryl welcomed the distraction and focused on the dog.
"Bran likes you lad." Brigid said. "He has a sense for people."
Daryl rubbed the dog's ears.
"You are a good man, Daryl. I know sometimes you still question it. You have done right by Danni, you are doing right by her."
"More than I can say for you." Daryl rasped. "Where the hell were you when it all happened? Her dad was gone, but, you, you were there. At least part of the year. She told me." Daryl focused on rubbing the scruffy gray dog's chin unable to look at Brigid while he spoke from his heart. "Why didn't you protect her? All your conjure stuff? Seems like you coulda done something. You say you put me in her life, well why couldn't you take that bastard stepfather out of her life? Hell, why couldn't you do anything for my mom?" Finally he raised his head and faced her. "Danni made me see this witchin' stuff is real. So I don't get you. Sitting up here high and mighty not lifting a damn finger. You saw what my old man did to my momma. You had to know what was going on with Danni." The words spilled out surprising Daryl but not Brigid.
"We have a rede it states you may bind or restrain, but never harm, with magic. I can't wave a wand and make a person disappear. It's not like the fairy tales. White witchcraft is about intent and influence. We use nature and call upon forces of the universe, time and space to help things come about."
"Then why didn't you call the cops or use a shotgun? Ain't nothing magic about that but it'd get the job done."
"Aye, it would, but at too high a price. Witches do not believe that true morality consists of observing a list of thou-shalt-nots. Our morality can be summed up in one sentence, 'Do what you will, so long as it harms none.' This does not mean, however, that witches are pacifists. We also say say 'an if it harm do as you must.' Letting evil go unchecked harms everyone. I did what I could. I offered choices and influence. I called upon the goddess and gave offerings. I did all of that to help your ma but she made her bed. I'm so sorry. She made the decision not to come with us and not to continue her craft. She chose to stay with your father."
Daryl grimaced.
"Don't hate her lad. She loved you. It's just that certain things, when they change, never come back to the way they once were. Caterpillars, for instance, and women who've been in love with the wrong man for too long."
"Why couldn't you make her leave him?"
"Like I've said, magic doesn't work that way. It's about intent and influence. I can put the pieces out there, all the ingredients together in the proper way, but human beings make their own decisions. And they don't always make good ones. That's why they are human. Your mother's particular devils were like Danni's ma's."
Daryl saw it in his mind's eye like a movie playing; the haunting memories from his childhood he couldn't seem to shake blending together into one raw, aching image. His mother lying in a darkened room for days, her face swollen with tears. The inevitable overflowing ashtray and empty wine bottles.
"Charlotte refused to believe that your father wouldn't change. And then there was Danni's ma, falling hard for some man, immersing herself in romantic fantasies that were crushed when the man left. And the man always left. But not before doing his damage. Her mother's inability to get a grasp on reality had too often left Danni to care for her younger sister, to care for her mother from too young an age. No child should have to do that. No child should have to watch the way Charlotte and Deirdre had allowed themselves to be ravaged by loving the wrong man. No woman should allow that to happen."
Daryl shook his head again. "Knowing something don't make it right. All your talking and thinking. I still think you shoulda done something."
Brigid sighed. "Danni's ma was but a child herself when she had that baby. She wasn't from our clan. She's what we called a settled. I warned Kieran to stay within, but again, humans make choices. You think I just left my granddaughters to the abuse don't you? You've got to understand where I come from and my life as a Traveller. We are not much loved or respected by the law and exist on the outside of society. My family always traveled from the time I was born. We had a completely nomadic life. Then in the early sixties we came here to America mainly for economic reasons. The men took up building site work and the women went out begging or selling just as they did at home in Ireland, the intention was to save or put aside as much as you could and return to Ireland. A number of my family group stayed here though. Four or five families shared a rented house, and, like at home in Ireland the families moved from house to house when the need arose or the weather turned or they had been too long in the same place. In the summers we stayed here in the midwest but when winter came each year we migrated south to Georgia. I recognized my gift young and grew up having a way with healing and over time I became the Cailleach of our group. Townspeople would come to me for cures. It's how I met Charlotte."
Daryl looked at the tea in front of him. It had grown cold.
"What you've got to understand is that Traveller's lived outside the law. We got no help. There 's a bit of prejudice, you see we're considered shifty, always having run-ins with the police. Deirdre had legal custody of those girls; she had the law on her side and the welfare department too. If I'd taken the girls out of state Danni's mother would have had me arrested on kidnapping charges. What good would I have done them in prison? I didn't have the legal rights son. I had nothing but my claim to the girls' summers and fought for that and worried about losing it. The few times I did send the coppers around when I couldn't stand it anymore poor Danni, of course, denied anything as a she was threatened. I kept the girls with me when I could. You may think I did nothing for Danni but by god I taught her everything I know about the craft and being strong. I gave her you. I did what I could. "
Daryl narrowed his eyes and ran his hand through his scruffy hair. "Why'd you let her old man run out on her then? Danni says you sent him away."
"I did. To save his life and the lives of his wife and children. He had a mix up with the wrong people. Violent people. "
"He didn't know. "Bout the abuse. You didn't tell him and I think that's about the worst thing you done. "
"I'm afraid you may be right about that. I acted emotionally. There was no rationality to that decision. He is my son and I'd not see him dead before me. You have a son and daughter. You feel that love, I know you do. You will protect them at all costs."
"But you chose him over Danni. Ain't right."
"I hope you never have to make such choice, but if you do you'll understand."
"Doubt it.'
"I did what I know how to do. You see I can influence, but not change the course of events. I set the stage for you and Danni, but you each had to take individual journeys, make life choices that eventually put you on the same path. You ended up on that highway because of me but also because of the choices you each made. There had to be a death of sorts, for, without a few days in hell, no resurrection is possible."
Daryl still looked angry and skeptical. "Aint no excuse for what happened to her."
"Or your mother, aye?"
"Look I get it, your story and that there's other players in the game. " He sat back in his chair, making his chest broaden.
"Seems to me you and Danni consider yourself pawns in our game. Your dad used you against your mother. Danni 's mom used Danni to keep men in her life and I may have played Danni too, sacrificed her to save my son like a knight. But, looking at life like a game of chess, don't you see that you have become the King and Danni the Queen?"
Daryl winced, trying to take in Brigid's metaphor.
"Have you ever played chess son?'
He shook his head. "Nah."
"As a young girl I learned the fundamentals of life through the game of chess from my da. I practiced strategy and patience to conquer any opponent. Those rooks and knights, the pawn, is usually sacrificed because it is believed to be weak. However, it guards the front lines and can make it all the way across the board into unfamiliar territory. It can become a Queen. Think of Danni, how far she's come. Now it is she who can move any way she pleases in order to protect something that is so precious to her, something that is her's alone, her King. Think you lad, you."
Daryl tilted his head.
"Not to say the King himself is weak, for he can take out his opponents. However, when he has a strong Queen he doesn't have to. She has his back, front, both sides and will forge an army against anything that threatens her existence and the things and people she believes in. This theory can be applied to a man and woman. If you are ready to be a King you must choose a Queen, or believe you have chosen. But, in reality, it is she who does the choosing. She chose you Daryl as she was supposed to do. So you see, finding each other was merely the beginning. You better believe there is work to be done. Fights to be had, disagreements to come to pass and words that will never be said in response to daggers to the heart. Be prepared to earn your titles, not for them to just be given easily. You've experienced much of that already. You two have always been fighting to get where you are. Magic did not make destiny, only influenced it. Free will always has a say. You and Danni have made the choices that have strengthened your relationship. It prides me to see you are a good man, the man I wanted for her. You may not understand what I did or why I did it, but my greatest achievement is the two of you."
... ... ... .. .. .. ...
Danni stood on the rough wooden planks of the scaffold, barefoot, wearing the plain sackcloth frock of the damned. The coarse rope of the noose was tight around her neck. She stood on her tiptoes, the tendons of her feet arched, to relieve the tension of the rope. She could feel the rough fibers of the noose digging into the skin of her throat. The townspeople and villagers had come from miles around to witness her hanging. She felt the tight cords biting into her wrists tied behind her back and listened to the shouts of the crowd below.
"Danielle Doherty you have been sentenced to death by the Superior Court of Judicature of Essex County for the crime of witchcraft," read the court clerk from his scroll. "You have sinned against God, the Holy Bible, the King, and all of humanity. You have brought shame upon your family and your community. You are at this moment sentenced to hang by the neck until you are dead. May God have mercy on your soul. Proceed!" He nodded to the hangman.
As the hangman reached for the lever, Danni involuntarily drew a deep breath and said a quick prayer to the Goddess. She closed her eyes and awaited the inevitable. Seconds passed. The lever was pulled Danni felt her stomach lurch as the trap door below her bare feet disappeared and she plummeted earthward. She briefly felt the weightlessness of her fall, felt the rope tightening around her neck, and then - the world went away with a snap.
Danni jerked up with that sensation of falling and hitting the ground just as she woke. She hadn't had this dream since she was a kid. She had the recurring nightmare of being hanged as a witch the year that Nan died. She was reading The Crucible for school the same month Brigid passed and the recurring dream began. She reached beside her Daryl was gone. She remembered he'd left to hunt before dawn. She breathed heavily, panicked. The dream felt like a very bad omen. Suddenly she noticed her surroundings. Rather than the thin, lumpy prison mattress, she felt a soft feather bed beneath her. She looked up at the antique iron scroll headboard. She was in her bedroom at her Nan's house. She rubbed her eyes, figuring the dream was continuing. Nope, still here. I did it again. "But why? What am I doing here?"
Just as Brigid spoke the last words, Daryl smelled honeysuckle.
"What the hell Nan?" Danni entered the kitchen.
"Danni don't raise your voice to me."
Danni looked at Nan then at Daryl. "Good talk?" She asked sarcastically, angry that her Nan and husband had been talking without her.
"Hey..." Daryl put his hands up in surrender.
Nan turned to Daryl. "Would you say so?"
Before Daryl could answer, Danni asked "Why alone?"
"What's wrong lass? You're so agitated."
Danni walked over to Daryl and squeezed his hand. She sat beside him at the table. After a long silence, she admitted, "It's all wrong. My dad. It doesn't feel like I thought it would."
"I told you to be careful, that you might not like what you find." Brigid answered sympathetically.
"I don't know how to feel around him."
"You don't know how to be a daughter and he doesn't know how to be a father. These are the facts. It'll hurt less if you stop trying to put the two of you into a box."
"I have to tell him Nan. What you didn't."
"Aye. It's time. And it's your story to tell in your own way. "
Daryl shifted uncomfortably and looked down with relief noticing the dog still at his feet. "Hey boy," he scratched its head trying to stay out of Danni and her Nan's conversation. He'd have to tell Danni about what he'd said to Kieran. He didn't look forward to her reaction. "C'mon boy," he said and led the dog outside.
"Nan I forgive you, about dad. I can't understand completely, but I believe you love me. I have to forgive otherwise I'll be stuck in this chapter of my life forever. "
"I apologize lass. I am sorry for the hurt I caused."
Danni nodded and took her hand.
"It's time to give him the chance to apologize too. Explain a few things of his own."
Danni noticed Daryl's absence and headed outside. He was leaning on the porch rail, gazing at Brigid's garden, the dog at his side.
"Let's sit. It's been a long time since I've been on the front porch swing." Danni suggested. With that, the two sat down, the old swing moaning as the cables suspending it pulled tautly. Daryl put his arm around Danni and played with her hair while she placed her head on his shoulder and gently stroked his thigh. "I am pregnant." She stated.
He squeezed her shoulders while his stomach dropped. Not at what she'd said, but what Brigid said about no more kids. After a few minutes, Brigid joined them. As the winds from an approaching storm started to increase, she pointed out the oak tree in the front yard swaying with the wind. "When most people think of being strong, they think solid and thick but do ever wonder why that oak tree is really so strong?"
"No." Danni admitted. "It's been there forever though. I remember playing on it as a kid, in the summers all my cousins and me would climb on this tree. It's a strong old tree, that's a fact."
"It's strong because the tree learned how to bend, to move with the wind instead of trying to fight against it. If it tried to remain rigid, strong, and upright all the time the wind would simply tear it apart. The tree learned how to bend."
"What about when when the wind blows too hard and the limbs and branches break off?" Danni asked.
"Ah, true. Sometimes the winds become more than the oak tree can bend with, so yes, it does lose some branches. However, with some sunshine, warm temperatures and a bit of time, the oak tree will re-grow those branches it lost. The oak tree survives because it moves with the wind. Its roots, deep in the soil, hold it in place when things get really bad. Danni, Daryl, if you think being strong is akin to steel and concrete, you're wrong. You need to learn from this oak tree. You need to learn to bend with the wind. If need be, lose a few branches when times get really rough. You need to keep your roots deep into the soil so you can sprout new branches."
"Nan is something bad going to happen? " Danni asked remembering her dream.
"Bad, good…no...its about changes. Some changes are coming that's all. The two of you must be strong and must not give up on each other. You may be tested. Remember intent. Know that you can and you will succeed. And always look to the moon. I'll leave you two now. You've not much more time here. Remember though, I'm always with you." Brigid said as she went back inside.
"I love you with everything I have Daryl. Don't you ever let me go."
A flash of lightening illuminated the sky then thunder cracked. He buried his face in her hair and breathed deeply. "Never." He felt lucky. Danni loved him without any prejudice as to who he was, but for all that he'd become. He'd suffered through tough times in his life and when he'd met her he felt he was the worst version of himself, but Danni somehow brought out the best. When life had done everything it could to bring Daryl to his knees, he had found strength in her. They had built a staircase from the ditch of life to help him climb up to the light. She restored his faith when he had fallen into the deepest pit of despair. As he sat holding the woman he loved he realized when he'd fallen she had picked him up and taught him the steps of life. From crawling, to walking, to running and eventually he had learned that with her love under his wings he could fly. Daryl knew he was ready to stop listening to the screwed-up voice that had been ordering him around for a lifetime. He used to think it would kill him... and go on living without him. Now he could hardly hear it whispering.