After the Summerland (The Witches of Spring Hill Book 1) (3 page)

Liam is content; at
times, even happy with the life he has built for himself. He enjoys his job and although not much challenges him in town, he has never had
the desire to go to a bigger city or deal with more major crimes. He likes
being chief of police in his hometown, where he already has the respect and
trust of the community.

Yet even with this
contentment, he knows something is missing. Like his own dad, granddad, and
great granddad before him, he has a strong desire to be a father and knows he
can’t do this without a woman. He thinks about his age and knows that sooner
rather than later, he will have to let go of his fears and give more of himself
than he ever has before.

Without considering how
he knows, Liam is certain these babies were once Abigail, Cora, and Isabelle Scott.
Once Liam gets over the shock, he begins taking in details of the room.
Although he moved quickly through the house, he noticed that most of the rooms
were bold in color with hardwood floors, while this one is all pastels from carpet
to the walls. If he thought the other bedrooms were sparse, he would now
consider them fully furnished compared to this room.

The room is bare, with
no furniture and nothing on the walls. Taking up most of the floor is the
circle, which is made with what looks like and probably is salt. In the center
of the circle right above the babies’ heads is what can only be described as an
altar. Sitting on a wooden box, which looks similar to a box that his dad has
in his home, are four candles that still burn brightly even though it is
evident by how far the wax has burned down that they have been lit for some
time. Incense long since burned out, a cup, a small bowl, a photograph, some
kind of rock or gem, and three baby rattles — two pink and one blue sit atop
the altar next to the candles. A variety of plants, herbs, and flowers sit in
each corner of the circle and somehow Liam automatically knows that the candles
and objects serve very specific purposes and are used to represent the four
elements: Air, Fire, Water, and Earth.

Although it only took
moments to take everything in and consider what it all means, he is certain he
has seen these objects before. Suddenly his childhood passes before him and he
remembers everything. Memories flood his mind, slamming into him one after the
other. A dam in his mind breaks and the memories just waiting to burst free come
one after another. All of the objects within the circle, the smells in the
garden, the quilt, the house — everything is familiar because he
has
seen them before.

He recognizes and
is almost comforted by the smell of the burning candles and the scent left over
from the burned incense. He looks at the old rattle sitting in the middle of
the circle and knows that he, himself, at one time held that very same rattle
in his own small hand. He remembers looking down at Abigail Scott inside a
circle similar to this one, while she held him overhead. In his memory, he
hears Abigail and her sisters chanting unrecognizable words. He knows without a
doubt that they were casting some sort of spell over him. Still standing in the
doorway, shaken from the assault of his memories, he is brought back to the
present by the sound of his name being spoken, “Liam…”

At first he isn’t sure
if he actually heard it or if it was a whisper from the past. He thinks his
imagination is playing tricks on him until he slowly turns around and finds his
dad and granddad standing in the hallway just outside the doorway.

“Son, we have so much
to explain to you and I know you must have so many questions, but first we have
to take care of these sweet babies, okay?” Marcus says cautiously, knowing that
Liam is just as startled by their presence here in this house as by their quiet
arrival.

Liam is about to step forward,
directly into the circle when his father grabs his arm and holds him back. Moving
to one corner of the circle, Marcus bends down pulling a silver dagger from
inside his jacket and cuts away a space in the salt for them to walk through.
After everyone is inside the circle, he brushes the salt back into place and
says, “We don’t want to invite any unwelcome visitors.” The vibration Liam felt
earlier in the garden throbs deep inside his chest once the salt is back in
place and all three Alexander men stand within the circle facing the babies.

Just as Liam is about
to ask what the hell is going on, Marcus says, “Give me a moment to close the
circle, son.” With his free hand, Marcus takes the same dagger he used upon
entering the circle and waves it in a counter clockwise direction saying
something Liam can’t quite understand. When the throbbing inside Liam’s chest fades,
he can only assume the circle has been ‘closed.’ Marcus blows out the candles, looks
down at the babies and says to Peter, “Ah, we have a boy here this time. This
should be interesting.”

His granddad chuckles awkwardly
and says, “Well, at least it’s not three boys. At my age, I couldn’t imagine
rearing three more like Liam.”

Understanding dawns on
Liam when he realizes that neither of them is surprised at what is happening.
They do not look shocked by the presence of the babies lying within the circle,
nor by the disappearance of the Scott sisters. In fact, just the opposite
appears to be true. It is as if they expected this to happen… the babies,
the missing women, all of it.

Questions bounce around
in Liam’s head so fast that he can’t even verbalize them out loud: What the
hell is going on? What do they know of this? How could they be keeping
something like this from me? Why wouldn’t they tell me something this monumental
was going on in town? How the hell are they connected to all of this?

Liam feels indignation
giving way to anger and snaps, “You both need to just stop talking right now unless
you are going to explain to me what the hell is going on!”

Marcus and Peter look
at Liam and then back at each other before stooping down to pick up a baby. Following
his dad and granddad’s lead he picks up the baby closest to him — a little girl
with a full head of dark hair. All this time in the house and the babies still have
not made a sound. They have simply watched with eyes much too aware for
newborns. Liam lifts an eyebrow at his father and moves out of the way so his dad
can lead the way. His dad gives him a reassuring smile and nods as he passes him
and steps across the hall into the room with all of the boxes.

“We should have set all
of this up before we left,” Marcus says to no one in particular. He opens one
of the boxes and pulls out a box of diapers and some baby clothes. After a
moment, what his dad said finally penetrates the thick fog in Liam’s mind. Did
he say, “Before they left?” What the hell is he talking about? Suddenly he
recalls the five plates and the five mugs left on the kitchen counter. It
appears the Scotts did have guests — my dad and granddad.

“Liam, c’mon, grab a
diaper, some clothes, a blanket, and get that baby dressed,” Marcus says while
cooing at the baby he is holding, a little girl with a shock of red hair.

“Uh,
Dad. I wouldn’t have the slightest idea how to put a diaper on a baby,” Liam says
honestly.

“You might be surprised
by what you actually know, Liam,” Marcus replies, as he deftly diapers,
dresses, and swaddles the baby he is holding. Liam cautiously follows his
father’s lead and is surprised when the actions come naturally to him. He
thinks of the feeling he had in the garden, and is about to ask his dad about
it when Marcus says to Peter, “Pops, maybe we should’ve warned him about all of
this so he would be prepared.”

“Marcus, it doesn’t matter now — we made our choice.”

Turning to his
grandson, he says, “Liam, we will explain everything to you and even though I
know you want answers right now, please be patient and allow us to tell you in
our own way, in our own time. Your dad may be right… maybe we should’ve warned
you, but if we had, then your life would have been completely different. You
would’ve made choices based on this — your future, rather than choosing
what you wanted for yourself in the moment. Life is more fulfilling
when you live in the present and all we’ve ever wanted for you was to be happy.

“What about my choice now? Do I not have one?” Liam asks, guessing he already knows the answer.

“Peter shakes his head and replies,
Liam, we wanted you to have as normal of a life as possible, but now it’s
time for you to fulfill your destiny. I know you are confused and frustrated and probably a little pissed off at us, but I promise that once you hear our story, everything will make
sense.”

And everything did,
Liam thinks to himself. He can’t believe it’s been sixteen years since he
walked into the Scott house, which is where he lives now with the three most precious
people in his life. He is glad the choice was made for him and he has no regrets about
how his life has turned out.

Reflecting on that day,
he remembers how everything he knew about life changed in an instant and
everything he thought he wanted no longer mattered after he learned the story
of the babies sitting in the middle of the floor. Everything came down to
that one moment, which he thinks of as when he really started living.

He learned that during
his early years, Marcus frequently left him with the Scott sisters, which
explained why so much of the house was familiar to him. He spent time there as
a child in order to seal his fate, which was to return later to raise these
three kids, the reincarnations of the witches. They used magic to create a bond
between him and themselves so that when he was called upon, he would be ready
to protect them. They cast a spell so he would always be tied to the
land and have a connection to their magic. Liam is interrupted from his reverie by
a slamming door and the bickering of three teenagers.

“Dad! C’mon! We’re
going to be late!” Rowan yells from the doorway.

“Ro, we have never once
been late. Why must you do this every morning?” Chloe asks her sister calmly.

Tossing her thick
mane of red hair, which she recently learned gives her a certain amount of power
over the boys in school, Rowan glares at her sister and snarls, “Just shut up
and get in the car so we can go. Dad! Kaiden! Come on!”

Kaiden grabs a muffin
off the table as he darts out the door with his dad right on his heels. “Chill,
Sis. Or tomorrow I’ll wake up even later.” Kaiden sneers at Rowan, who always
overreacts to everything and does not disappoint when she throws a baseball out
of the jeep. Kaiden slides to the right and the ball hits Liam square in the
chest.

“Rowan! You need to
learn to control your temper. You feed right into whatever Kaiden is dishing out
and I’m telling you, it’s going to catch up to you.”

“Dad, is it so much to
ask that we leave early? Everyone else is already at school by the time we get
there. I miss all the good stuff,” Rowan pouts.

“Ro, you are crazy if
you think I am going to get up earlier just so you can hang out with your
friends five extra minutes before classes start,” Kaiden says, adding, “And
guess what? Believe it or not, everything is not about you.”

Before Rowan can
respond, Liam says, “Enough! Stop with the bickering. I’m already tired of
hearing it and Rowan — no, we are not leaving earlier. As we’ve discussed, this
schedule works for everyone else, and most importantly, me. After I drop you off,
I have just enough time to see your granddad and great granddad, er GG Peter,
before getting to the station. If we left earlier, I would get stuck in all
that mom and bus traffic and I’d be late.”

Rowan quickly gets over her
annoyance and begins texting her friends. Chloe looks over her Geometry
textbook, making sure she is prepared for her exam while Kaiden reads the
Sports Illustrated he puts in the jeep directly from the mailbox each week.

Liam glances at them in
the rearview mirror, again reminded of how grateful he is for how his life has
turned out. Both his dad and granddad have been insisting that he tell the kids
about their true history, but Liam is not ready to lose the “normalness” of his
family. He knows that some people in town do not in fact consider this family
normal, and are still curious if not suspicious of how he came to be the father
of three overnight.

After the babies were
dressed and fed and fast asleep in one of the rooms, Liam, Marcus, and Peter
began building. They built three cribs, two
playpens,
two diaper changing tables, and a story for everyone in town. After his dad
gave Liam the letter from Abigail Scott explaining his important role in their
lives as their souls guardian, Marcus and Peter concocted a story that would keep
most questions at bay.

The story went that the
women were surprised when their young niece showed up on the doorstep with
three babies, without the means to care for them. The girl begged Aunt Isabelle,
Aunt Cora and Aunt Abigail to take the babies in and raise them until she could
get on her feet. The girl’s father always talked about his sisters, her aunts,
who lived in Spring Hill, North Carolina. On his
death bed
,
he told her she could always count on them if she ever needed help. The niece
took that advice, dropped off the babies and went on her way, hoping to put her
life in order so she could return to pick up her children.

This neatly explained
the presence of the three babies, but what about the disappearance of the
women? Peter, who had spent a lot of time with the women planning this event, had
already crafted the story with them. The story went that the women, faced with
their own mortality with the news of their brother’s death and overwhelmed by the
arrival of the babies, decided to go back to Massachusetts to visit the rest of
their family.

They planned to stay awhile,
but the only problem was their niece, who left quickly, not leaving any contact
information. They had no way of telling her of their new plans, so rather than taking
the babies with them, they needed someone to come live at the house and raise the
children until the niece returned for them. They contacted their old friend,
Peter Alexander, and asked for help. Peter told them that his own grandson, Liam, was
great with children, wanted some of his own, but struggled with relationships with women.