Many Blessings

Chapter Thirteen

The coffeeshop coven group was never an advertised gathering. They didn’t need to, because they always had plenty of attendees. Tonight, it looked like anyone who’d ever been to one of the meetings was in attendance. Mandaline felt both grateful for the support and sad that Julie wasn’t there to see how many people’s lives she’d touched.

She didn’t miss how Brad freely mingled with everyone, introducing himself and getting to know people, while Ellis took up residence in a chair in the far corner.

I will cut him some slack. At least he’s making an effort.

The evening wore on. A few times she glanced at Ellis and saw him checking his phone, probably reading e-mail.

Brad, however, was a hit. When people found out he was an artist, and he showed them pictures on his phone of some of his work, he became the center of attention.

Makenzie, whose reservedness usually made Sachi look positively warm and snuggly by comparison, even seemed to react to him. “Hey, we could put some of his pieces in here to sell.” She blushed and looked at Brad. “If you wanted to,” she added.

Mandaline had to beat back a sudden and unexpected surge of jealousy over the way Makenzie responded to him. That was followed by a rush of shame. She’s my friend and my employee. And Brad is very special.

Brad, however, smiled at Mandaline. “I would like that very much. If you wanted them here.”

Mandaline felt like she was alone in the room with him, from the force of his gaze. “That’d be great.”

At ten o’clock they all gathered in the front of the store in a rough circle to talk about Julie. Mandaline was happy to see more smiles than tears from her friends. Julie would have wanted it that way. Even Ellis pried himself out of the chair to join them, standing next to Brad.

They went around the room, everyone saying a little something about Julie. When they reached Brad, he let out a sigh and looked at the floor. From across the room Mandaline sensed the shift in his demeanor. From the way Ellis draped an arm around his shoulders, she guessed he did, too. “She was a beautiful soul,” Brad softly said. “I wish I’d known her longer.” He sniffled.

Ellis nodded. Mandaline couldn’t read his expression as he spoke. “I didn’t know her well or long either, but it’s obvious from all of you who did, who loved her, that she will live on in your hearts and memories. I think that speaks highly of what a wonderful person she was.”

Mandaline waited until he met her gaze to nod and smile. Thank you, she silently mouthed to him. He nodded and returned his attention to Brad.

Once everyone had a chance to speak, Sachi clapped her hands together and stepped into the center of the room, a paper bag in her hands and a grin on her face.

Oh…crap.

She flashed a playful smile at Mandaline. “We all know how Julie was fond of playing matchmaker and trying to fix people up.” A wave of soft laughter and knowing nods swept through the room. “I was talking to Mandaline earlier and joked maybe now that our friend is on the other side, perhaps she can help those of us out who are still single and looking.”

With a flourish, she produced a large pink dildo from the paper bag. Apparently made of some sort of jelly material, it also had a suction cup built into the base. She licked the cup and then stuck the ten-inch toy to a table with a soft plop. It stuck, slowly waving back and forth.

The room erupted in gales of laughter.

Sachi, her audience’s reaction only spurring her on, wasn’t even close to being done. “I told Mandaline we needed to do a chant for guidance, for assistance.” She turned and grinned at Mandaline, pointing to her. “For getting laid.” Mandaline let out a soft groan and felt her face heat. When she glanced over at Ellis and Brad, she found Brad grinning even more broadly than Sachi, and Ellis had actually cracked a smile.

Sachi raised her hands over her head as she walked around the room, inciting others to join in with her and repeat her chanting. “Hail, Dildous! Hail, Dildous! Hail Dildous!”

It was hard to hear the chant over everyone’s laughter. Even Mandaline joined in, knowing the healing that this would incite in everyone, the joy it brought them, was worth it.

Sachi stopped in the middle of the room again, next to the table with the toy stuck to it, and sliced her arm through the air to call for silence. She raised her hands again, the consummate showman. “Oh great and mighty Dildous, we ask for your celestial vibrations to rain down upon us. OmmmMMMMMM!”

As others took up the humming, it sounded like a giant vibrator hard at work. Mandaline had a hard time keeping it up over the urge to laugh, as did many others.

Sachi took over, once again silencing them. “So mote it be!”

A chorus of, “So mote it be!” echoed through the room, followed immediately by applause and laughter.

“I hope that was a new toy,” Mandaline said with a smile as she walked over to look at it.

“Hell, yes. By the way, I took it out of petty cash.” She peeled it off the table, where the base reluctantly let go from the table with a loud pop. With regal posture, she held it out in front of her with both hands, as if passing on a sword. “I give you the celestial spirit tickler, for your safekeeping.”

Mandaline shook her head. “Oh, no you don’t. I’m not taking that thing.”

Sachi wouldn’t be refused. She slapped it into Mandaline’s hands. “Sorry, boss. Your store, your dildo.”

Her face now red, she risked a glance at Brad and Ellis. She hoped Ellis didn’t hurt himself with the wide smile he wore, and she thought Brad might just piss his pants he was laughing so hard.

Mandaline finally stuck it under the counter by the register.

For the final part of the evening, they all filed out the back door to stand in the parking area in a large circle, holding hands under the light of the full moon. In the past, Julie usually said something to close out their evening. So everyone looked to Mandaline.

She took a deep breath and stared up at the sky. “Mother Goddess, Father God, thank you for tonight. Thank you for the blessed full moon. Thank you for friends and family and love and light. Thank you for laughter and joy and the ability to smile, even as our broken hearts are hurting and healing. Thank you for bringing Julie into our lives, and thank you for keeping her spirit alive within us. Namaste. Aho.”

“Aho,” the group repeated back. They broke up, everyone hugging and bidding each other good-night. Brad gladly took part in that, apparently able to make friends wherever he was.

Ellis, she noted, stepped away from the group.

Once everyone else had left except the two men, Mandaline locked the front and back doors and pulled the shades in the front windows.

“Thank you for tonight,” she told them. “I had a great time at dinner.”

Brad grinned and enveloped her in a hug. “Thank you for letting us take you out. This was great. When’s the next one?”

“I’ll have to look at the calendar. Probably dark moon, unless there’s something else first. In two weeks.”

She turned to Ellis, who now looked uncomfortable again. She opened her arms to hug him, wondering if he’d leave her hanging.

After hesitating only a moment, he hugged her, relaxing when they didn’t share one of those sexy visions.

“Thank you for giving me a second chance, Mandaline. I appreciate it.”

She finally stepped back. “It’s the least I could do.”

He looked uncomfortable again. “I respect you have your beliefs, but in all honesty, this isn’t me. No, I don’t know what happened between us. No, I don’t have an answer. But you’re entitled to your beliefs and I don’t fault you for them.”

She folded her arms in front of her. Well, the evening was ending on a far lighter note than it had last night, but she wasn’t feeling inclined to ask them upstairs, either. “I appreciate that.”

Brad looked back and forth between them, a near-desperate expression in his eyes. “Wait, this isn’t good night, is it?”

Ellis apparently found his shoes very interesting as he looked down at them. “If you want Brad to stay, I don’t mind coming back to pick him up later,” he softly said.

She felt her heart soften more for the man. No, she didn’t want to separate the pair. Brad was right. If it was going to work, it would only work with the three of them. She needed more time rebuilding trust with Ellis before she’d be ready to accept them both into her bed.

Who am I kidding? I’ll fall in love with them even more if I sleep with them.

“I…” She sighed. “It’s been a long day and I didn’t sleep very well last night. I think it’s best we call it a night.” She brushed a kiss across Brad’s lips, then leaned in and kissed Ellis’ cheek. “Thank you for a wonderful dinner. I’m glad you both came to coven tonight.”

Brad silently fumed all the way home. Julie had remained completely silent evening. He thought for sure after how well dinner went and that Ellis came to the gathering at the store that their evening would end in Mandaline’s bed.

Not driving back to the house before eleven o’clock.

“Are you okay?” Ellis asked.

“Fine,” he shot back. “Peachy.”

Ellis apparently knew enough not to press the matter.

When they returned home, Brad started through the kitchen toward the stairs before doubling back. He took his medicine then headed upstairs. “See you tomorrow.” He changed clothes, then went into the attic, closing the door behind him.

Already, his mood felt darker. It seemed to happen more quickly every time he went up there.

Hopefully he’d have an answer tomorrow.

He sat in front of the sketchbook he’d been working on before. Then he picked up the pencil and let his mind take over.

Ellis went to his room, feeling guilty. Brad obviously had other notions about the way the night would end. To be honest, he wouldn’t have minded that, either. But it was his fault he’d screwed everything up. Mandaline was giving him another chance, sure, but it would take a while for her to feel comfortable with him again. He wasn’t a total idiot when it came to emotions. He could see it in her face.

And the abject disappointment on Brad’s when she’d called it an evening.

Can I seriously have a relationship with someone who believes in all that, though?

He wasn’t sure. Then again, he had a relationship with Brad, who strongly believed in it. Although that wasn’t exactly the same.

He undressed and lay on top of the covers with the TV on. He flipped through channels until he found a movie he didn’t mind watching.

It would be a long, lonely night.

Mandaline walked Pers one last time after the men left. She’d felt badly enough about the desperation on Brad’s face that she’d almost changed her mind and asked them upstairs for a little while.

Why torture myself?

Who even knew if Ellis would ever be able to accept her or her beliefs, or the things so obviously happening around them that were out of his control? What if he had another one of his hissy fits the next time something magickal and wondrous happened? Could she handle living walking on eggshells after she swore she’d never do it again?

She knew the answer to that.

I can’t.

She wasn’t sure at first if she’d easily fall asleep. But before long she found herself back in the dream, of chasing, or being chased, through grey and dreary woods. She felt no fear, just a tugging anxiety that there was something she needed to know, and the only way she’d figure it out was to see the dream through to its conclusion.

She emerged from the woods once again outside Ellis and Brad’s house. Again, she glimpsed the familiar shock of red hair as Julie disappeared through the side door.

Mandaline followed behind, not bothering to call out to her. She was supposed to follow her, to catch up with her.

She found her in Brad’s bedroom. “Believe,” she said to Mandaline.

Just as Mandaline stepped forward to hug her, the closet door flew open and a blizzard of paper exploded into the room, filling it and separating her from Julie.

She pushed her way through the storm of paper. “Julie!”

From in front of her, she heard Julie say, “Believe.”

Mandaline blindly headed toward her voice and found herself in the closet again, falling out into the attic. As she stumbled and headed for the attic floor, she awoke gasping for breath, her pulse racing.

Above her, rain pattered down on the roof.

She sat up in bed and found the remote control. It was 4:39 in the morning, and the radar showed the remnants of a tropical low-pressure system that was ripped apart going through Cuba drifting over them.

It would likely rain all day.

She sighed. “Great.” She curled up in bed with Pers tucked against her side and tried to go back to sleep. The shop didn’t normally open on Sundays in summer. Not unless one of the teachers had a scheduled class, which today, no one did.

She tried to go back to sleep, but found herself stuck in the dream again with similar results. This time when she awoke, grey light struggled to fight its way through the rain despite it being after seven in the morning.

She knew further sleep was futile. After getting the coffee started, she hunted up Pers’ little raincoat Julie kept for him and took him and her mug of coffee on a slow morning walk. She opted not to take an umbrella or her raincoat. She still needed a shower anyway, so it wasn’t like getting wet was a big deal, and walking through the rain might be the thing she needed to help soothe her aching soul a little. Rain pattered on her head and trickled down her arms as Pers took his sweet time sniffing around.

They walked all the way down to the library, where she let Pers sniff around the base of Julie’s tree.

“That’s Momma’s tree,” she wistfully told him. “That’s for her.”

He looked up at her and wagged, making her smile. By the vet’s best guess when Julie found him, Pers was now close to three years old. Julie, single and childless, had treated him like her baby.

And now, he was Mandaline’s baby.

Once he finished his business, she bagged it and tossed it in a nearby garbage can before scooping him up with one arm. “I’m taking pity on you, rugrat,” she teased him. “Your short little legs, you’re liable to drown in a puddle on me.”

He wagged his tail and licked her on the nose.

She was back at the apartment and had toweled Pers dry when her phone rang a little after eight. Libbie.

“Hey, cookie,” Mandaline said. “I don’t know about you, but I might need to build an ark.”

She heard the pain Libbie tried to hide in her laugh. “Might need to at that. You feel like coming over for breakfast? I wanted to make some pancakes but I didn’t want to eat alone.”

Mandaline couldn’t contain her smile. “I’ll be over as soon as I have a shower. I’ve got fruit salad to contribute.”

“Perfect. I’ll leave the downstairs door unlocked.”

She hung up and refilled her coffee. At least she wouldn’t have to keep looking at the remnants of the fruit salad in her fridge from dinner the other night. Libbie probably needed the company as much as she did.

Normally, Mandaline and Julie had brunch together on Sunday mornings. Last Sunday, she’d turned down Libbie’s offer, wanting to do nothing but curl up in bed and cry.

I need to return to the land of the living.

Brad awoke with a start on the attic couch. He wasn’t sure what awoke him at first, only that the light looked grey and weird.

Then Ellis knocked again. “You okay in there?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. His lips felt thick, dry, a scuzzy film coating his tongue and cheeks. He licked his lips and tried again as he sat up. “I’m good.” Except his throat felt sore.

“Did you take your medicine this morning?”

He let out a yawn. “Not yet. What time is it?”

Ellis opened the attic door and stuck his head in, concern painted on his face. “It’s after eleven. Are you all right?”

Was he? He wasn’t sure. He also felt a dull throbbing in his head. Maybe I’m coming down with something. “Just overslept is all.”

Ellis studied him for a moment. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Instead of leaving him alone, Ellis opened the door all the way and stepped in. “Is there anything you’re not telling me?”

Brad didn’t want to have this conversation when he wasn’t even awake yet. “You know better than to ask me stuff you might not want answers to.” He desperately didn’t want to tell him about Julie’s voice in his brain.

“Did something else happen between you and Mandaline that you haven’t told me about?”

Relief and guilt warred for supremacy, but better to spill this truth than the other. “Yes.”

Ellis stared at him. Brad knew his friend was trying to decide if he wanted to pull that trigger or not.

Brad was tired of keeping it a secret. “When you came home the other day, we’d already had two of those whatevers,” he said. “The visions. We were up here in the attic when we thought a third happened, only it went all the way.”

“What?”

Brad realized he really needed to use the bathroom. He tried to push his way past Ellis, but the other man stuck his arm out, barring the way. “Don’t make me tell it if you can’t handle it,” he said to Ellis.

“Just tell me.”

“She gave me a blow job, all right? We thought it was another of those fantasies or hallucinations. Until you walked in downstairs and we heard the door close, we thought it was happening in our minds.”

Ellis dropped his arm. Brad beat feet downstairs to the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He heard Ellis walk downstairs and stand outside the door.

“So that’s why you were both acting so flustered?” he said from outside the door.

Brad inwardly groaned. “Yes. There, happy?”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Oh, yeah. There’s a great idea. ‘Hey, dude, she accidentally blew me.’ Like I was really going to tell you that. You freaked out when you had the vision of kissing her. I suspected it wouldn’t have gone over well.” He finished and washed his hands. When he opened the door, Ellis still stood there, a dark scowl on his face. “So does it make you happier knowing that now?”

“Do you think she’s going to give me another chance?”

“I don’t know. Frankly, right now, I don’t know what end’s up. I’m in a foul mood and I’m starving and need to take my meds.”

He tried to push past Ellis, but Ellis caught his arm—

And then they were back in Mandaline’s bed, together, with her naked between them. Ellis lay on his back on the bed. Brad knew Mandaline was impaled on Ellis’ cock, too, because he could feel every stroke with his own cock buried in her ass. She let out a cry as her orgasm started and her muscles clamped down on both of them—

Ellis ripped his hand free of Brad’s arm and held it as if burned. He backed away, cradling his hand and fear on his face.

Brad advanced on him, tired of these games. He pinned Ellis against the wall on the other side of the hall and placed his hands on either side of his head. “Quit fighting it,” he said, anger rushing through him. “Quit being afraid of it or you’re going to screw this up for both of us. She needs us the way we need her.”

“We don’t need a woman. Want, yes, but we don’t need to share—”

Brad pounded both hands against the wall on either side of his head. “Stop it! You’re like a child who thinks he saw Santa in the changing room and doesn’t want to believe he’s not real!” He grabbed Ellis’ collar and yanked him close. “Do not fuck this up for us,” he rumbled dangerously. “She’s perfect for us whether you want to see it or not.” He slammed Ellis against the wall before releasing him and heading downstairs.

He needed coffee, his meds, and to clear the nasty sludge out of his brain.

And now, after that sexy vision, his cock screamed for relief it didn’t look like it’d get for a while.

Possibly a long while.