4
I have to pause here in my tale to give a special thanks to my friend, Elegant Soul for giving me some of my ideas for Prudence!
"Who?" Duke asked.
"Josiah was my twin brother-you favor him heavily," Prudence replied.
"Duke, this is Prudence-Prudence Stillwater," Vince said slowly. "You've no doubt heard about the box that washed ashore this morning. Prudence was inside it-still alive."
"You mean-that Prudence Stillwater?" Duke gaped.
"The one accused of witchcraft, yes," Prudence finished.
"How could-how can you still be alive?" Duke said, studying her closely. She looked to be around his own age, her silvery-blue eyes observing him closely as well.
"The same as every other occurrence in Haven," Prudence answered. "You had said earlier, David, that Mara was still here, and yet not here," she went on. "Perhaps you could explain that a little more, if you would be so kind."
"She means Audrey," Dave told Duke. "That's why we didn't want her and Nathan to meet Prudence yet. Her last meeting with Mara wasn't-too friendly."
"They tell me that she is still here, terrorizing the denizens of Haven," Prudence remarked.
"That isn't true," Duke said. "I know it sounds bad that she's still here, but it's not bad, I promise," he assured Prudence. "She isn't-evil-anymore. She's changed. Her name is Audrey now-Audrey Parker. She helps Troubled people, not hurt them."
"Helping those she Troubled in the first place," Prudence observed. "A bit like closing the barn door after the cattle have run away, wouldn't you agree?"
"Audrey does help people," Duke argued gently. "If you would meet her, you'd see that. I-I know what she was like when she was Mara, and-"
"She has a way with men," Prudence answered icily. "They tend to do whatever she asks of them."
"Look, Prue, she has changed," Gloria told her. "Vince and Dave are going to explain all of it to you, right, fellas?" she said pointedly, looking over her glasses at Vince, who nodded.
"Yes," he spoke. "Time's come to stop fudging the truth."
"That time came before we all went into the lighthouse," Duke snapped. He ducked out of the door, walking along the dock.
Prudence looked bewildered. "Have I said something wrong?" she asked.
"He-lost someone," Gloria explained, sitting down with her on the couch as Vince approached them with a leather-bound book in his hands. "Just give him a minute."
Prudence nodded, and gasped, seeing what it was that Vince had.
"Captain Cabot's journal," she said, taking it into her hands. "I had not seen this in ages, even before I went into that box."
"You knew him?" Dave breathed.
"Yes, I did. He was a family friend," Prudence murmured, gently turning the ancient pages.
Duke stood out on the edge of the dock, thinking over Prudence. She certainly didn't look like a witch, but in real life, witches weren't green with large warty noses either.
He tossed a twig , watching it land on the water, the wind and the current making it drift a little ways from the dock. He felt that familiar tightness at the back of his throat as he fought down the tears.
Pooh sticks, Jennifer had called it. He missed her, so badly; but it seemed as though everyone he'd ever gotten close to, or tried to get close to, had died.
Even Mara died, he thought, flinging the remainder of the stick out over the water. Not that we were in love or anything, but even she's gone. I just have to try to get Prudence to understand that, or she's going to try to hurt Audrey.
He glanced back towards the fishing shack. Audrey and Nate would kill me if they knew I was missing out on Vince's full disclosure, he reflected. He drew a deep breath, exhaled, and headed back inside.
"What'd I miss?" he asked.
"Only everything," Gloria answered, and Duke groaned inwardly, and Gloria looked sympathetic. "Not really, Kitten-Prue was just telling us that she knew Sebastian Cabot."
"What was he like?" Duke questioned.
"A good man," Prudence spoke. "He was well-educated, very gentlemanly-for a sailor," she continued, a small smile playing around her lips. "I understand you also have a ship."
"The Cape Rouge," Duke said. "I don't actually fish for a living, though. Now I own a restaurant."
"You didn't fish for a living before you had the Gull," Gloria prodded playfully. "Your grandson was what you would have termed a pirate and smuggler."
"From pirate to tavern-keeper," Prudence observed. "I see not much has changed in our family. My father and brothers also had somewhat disreputable reputations. Father was notorious for his abilities with cards, and Josiah was once accused of being a highwayman. It was never proven, however," she finished.
"Was he one? A highwayman, I mean," Duke said.
Prudence got a sly look. "'It is bad luck to speak ill of the dead, Duke."
"Our proud heritage," Duke muttered.
Prudence lightly laughed, and then sobered.
"But they were good men at heart," she said, her hand gently touching his. "And I do not believe that has much changed in 500 years. I see it in you-Duke."
"If you say so," Duke muttered.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving," Gloria complained. "I bet Prudence could stand a bite to eat too. But nothing heavy at first-it could make you really sick," she warned her. "You might not die from it, but you may wish you would."
"I shall heed your advice-Doctor," Prudence smiled. "Just some broth or gruel to begin with."
"Gruel," Duke sneered. "That doesn't even sound appetizing."
"It isn't," Prudence sighed. "No matter how well it is prepared."
"I think I can do better than gruel," Duke replied, getting up.
"Where are you going?" Vince asked.
"To get us some food from the Gull-I'm going to show Granny Prue here what she's been missing for the last 500 years," Duke replied, and then departed.
He reached the Gull a short time later, and then went into the kitchen, finding his cook, Matty.
"Matty-make me one of everything on the menu," he said.
"Come again?" Matty asked blankly.
"I didn't stutter-one of everything on the menu, chop chop, I got hungry people to feed," Duke ordered in a friendly tone, and Matty set to work as Duke began ladling the two soups they were serving into take-out bowls.
"Do you not remember how to use a phone?" he heard from the doorway in the midst of boxing up the orders Matty was cranking out. He looked up, seeing Audrey with an annoyed expression on her face, and Nathan behind her with the same look.
"Oh-hi," Duke answered lamely. "I've been-busy."
"What's all the food for?" Nathan questioned.
"Really hungry today," Duke replied.
"Did you find out anything about what we talked about?" Audrey inquired.
"Mm-not yet," Duke said. "But I'll keep looking into it. Okay? Now I gotta go-delivery to make."
"Since when do you deliver food?" Audrey blurted.
"Since-now," Duke replied, and darted past them out the door, laden down with take-out bags.
"He's up to something," Nathan grumbled. "Give him three minutes, and then we're going to follow him. Stan said he saw Duke talking to Vince and Dave earlier today."
"You think he's in cahoots with them? That'd be a first," Audrey puzzled. It would explain Duke's need for all the take-out food, if he had a group of people to feed.
They watched as Duke drove off, and Nathan noted the direction he headed in, and after a short wait, he started the Bronco and proceeded to drive in the same direction Duke had gone.
Audrey scanned the roads, looking for a glimpse of Duke's truck, and she spotted it, making a turn onto Montebanc Road.
"There he is," she pointed, and Nathan signaled to also make the turn.
"Vince and Dave's fishing shack is out this way, isn't it?" she asked as they rode along.
"Uh-huh," Nathan replied. "And that looks exactly like where he's going," he finished, seeing Duke making the turn onto the little road that led to the shack.
He parked a little distance from the shack, and he and Audrey climbed out, observing Duke as he took the take-out bags from his truck and went inside.
In the shack, he found Gloria, regaling Prudence with a tale from his childhood. A story he'd rather forget had ever happened.
"So the last time the Troubles were here, Duke was just a kid," she was saying. "At any rate, there was an old woman who lived here then, Helen Delancey. She had a rather bizarre Trouble, and she used it on Duke."
"What did she do?" Prudence asked.
"Nothing," Duke put in from the doorway. "C'mon, Gloria, don't tell that story!"
"He was so cute and helpless," Gloria went on, ignoring him completely. "She was one of these crazy cat lady varieties, and she transformed him into a kitten, intent on adding him to her collection of cats. But luckily, Lucy got him out of it."
"Who is Lucy?"
"Lucy was Audrey, the last time the Troubles were here," Vince explained, chuckling. "I'd forgotten that had happened to you, Duke."
"I'm still trying to forget it, and I wish the rest of you would too," Duke said. "Please don't tell that story, Gloria!"
"All parents tell embarrassing stories about their children," Vince told Duke. "So do godmothers."
Duke glowered, setting down the bags on the counter. Prudence glanced up at him, smiling warmly and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
He felt a little better, and he plopped down onto a chair. He hadn't thought about that in years-that crazy old woman had somehow transformed him into a kitten. He'd run away, trying to go home, mewing frantically at his family's kitchen door, trying to let them know that he was their kid, not just an alley cat.
But Simon had been hung over and flung a brick at him to chase him away. Duke ran off, and instead, had encountered Lucy. She'd understood when he'd come up squalling to her, as though she could comprehend the pitiful yowls coming from him. She'd bundled him up next to her, and had taken him to Gloria's house, in order to keep him safe.
I've always wondered if she could actually understand me when I was a cat, Duke thought. I'd ask Audrey, but her memories of being Lucy Ripley are long gone.
"So Lucy brings me this scrawny black and brown kitten and says, "Here, I need you to look after Duke while I try to get Mrs. Delancey to change him back," Gloria was telling Prudence. "Took us the better part of the day to convince the crazy old bat that Duke would be happier being a kid than a cat, and she finally changed him back."
"And you believed her when Lucy told you that the kitten was actually Duke?" Prudence asked.
"I'd seen too much stuff in Haven not to believe her by that point," Gloria said. "And when he changed back, he was asleep in a box in my laundry room. He was so cute," she finished, gazing at Duke, who looked as though he wished he could disappear. "That's why I call him Kitten sometimes."
"And why I dislike canned tuna to this day," Duke muttered.
Nathan and Audrey came up to the door, and Nathan knocked.
Vince opened the door.
"Audrey-Nathan," he stammered. "What brings you here?"
Prudence looked up at the new visitors, and several expressions crossed her face simultaneously-shock, disbelief, and she finally settled on one-anger.
"Witch!" she screamed, and in one swift movement, was over Vince's desk and had tackled Audrey to the ground, Vince's antique letter opener in her hand.
Audrey fought back, but Prudence was surprisingly strong, and she choked off Audrey's airway with one hand, and lifted the letter opener with the other to plunge it into her heart.
Nathan, Vince and Duke grappled with her, trying to wrest both the letter opener from her grasp and her hand from around Audrey's throat. They finally managed to pull her off, Prudence kicking and screaming her anger at being thwarted in her attempt to kill Audrey.
Audrey scrambled away from her, and Gloria crossed the room swiftly to examine her.
"You okay, Audrey?" Nathan panted as he succeeded in getting the handcuffs around Prudence's wrists.
Audrey nodded, still gasping as she looked at Prudence, who was glaring at her from the chair she'd been put into, her silvery eyes blazing hatred.
"I think it's safe to say she remembers you," Duke got out. "Audrey, this is Prudence, Prudence-Audrey," he waved vaguely at her.
"Mara," Prudence said in a low voice, her body quivering with rage. "Her name is Mara."