Against The Odds (32 page)

“Thank you for trying to help, Mrs Raymond, but I think we
will be
alright.”

“
Okay, we will be off now, bye.” They waved and were
gone.

Chloe was thinking how nosy and presumptions the old couple
had been. But she had the nagging feeling about something. The name
Nana, it bothered her. Was she not the old woman who had
come to her in her dreams? She had said she was Nana. Also, the old
woman had also said something about the power of love and
forgiveness and that stuff about victim of circumstance. Rowena
Raymond was her daughter, so they probably thought in the same
terms. But she kept thinking back to the way Derek had looked at
her when he told her he could not explain. He had been totally
honest with her, anguished by his own inability to explain these
events. Was it possible, that there was really a Curse? What did
the Raymonds have to do with it? Why were they so keen to get her
to take Derek back? What did they care? Maybe they were Derek’s
friends, trying to help him.
Yes, that was it.
She phoned
Derek and he sounded half-asleep.

“Derek, I need to ask
you something.”

“
Good morning Chloe. How are you?”

“
How do you know the Raymonds?”

“
Who?”

“
You know, Rowena and George. The old couple who live further
down the road. You know, the old man with flashing black eyes
and.....”

“Oh yes, I don’t know them. They came
to me one day
and just talked. They seemed to know me and I assumed you knew
them. They spoke like they knew your family, some relative of
yours, Felicia or Allison. I don’t know. Why?”

“I
just had a strange conversation with them. Did they say
something about Felicia?”

“Yes, they said it was her fault that
you and I were having….ur..
problems.”

“
That makes no sense. Felicia is my maternal
great-grandmother. She had been dead for at least 100
years.”

“Oh, I must be mistaken. They must have used
some
other name.”

“
Derek, tell me again why you left.”

There
was a long silence.

“Please, Chloe, I just woke up. I don’t want to say the
same thing and we will fight. Tell me what you want me to say. I
love you. And I want to be with you. Please, tell m
e what
you need to hear and I will say it.”

“
Derek, this is important. Tell me the truth.”

Derek was confused. Should he simply make up something to
appease her?
What do you tell your wife when you get up one day and take
a long trip with a strange, childish waitress, don’t phone her or
your children, even though you have been missing them?
What does a man say? How does
he explain the pain of waking up, missing her laughter, her
fighting, her teasing and even her bold, untamed anger?
What is the right
answer?
Well, he would
simply tell her the truth because that was all he
had.

“
I don’t know, I don’t know. I don’t know what happened,
Chloe. I can’t give you an explanation.”

“
Okay, thank you. Sorry to disturb you. I know how you like to
sleep on Sundays. Bye.”

What, no screaming at him, about taking
responsibility? About being a proper father? She had actually been
nice this time. What is going on?
Perhaps he was having a dream. He tried to call
her back, but she was busy on the phone.
Is
she losing it?
He got out
of bed, and went over. His flat
was nearby by and when he got there, she was at the gate, about to
go out.

“
Hello, Derek. A bit early for you?”

“
Chloe, what is going on? I was worried about you. Are you
alright?”

“Yes, Derek, I need to go to the Raymonds
. There is
something strange going on. When I phoned them to say I want to
talk, they seemed relieved. Why?”

“
What are you talking about? Chloe, what strange
things?”

“Look, I don’t know exactly, that is why I have to see
them. I will speak to you late
r.”

“
No, you won’t, I am coming with you, okay?”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Absolutely. If there are strange things, then I don’t want
you to be there alone.”

They
walked silently up to the Raymonds’ house. As they reached the top
step, George opened the door.

“Oh
I am very pleased that Derek came with you.
Please come in. Rowena is making some tea.”

Rowena
walked in, pleasant and friendly, offering them tea and
cake.

Did you bring the husband?

No, I thought you did.

Well, it is better this way.

“Chloe, you said you
wanted to talk. We will save
you the awkwardness of asking seemingly odd questions. I think let
us start at the beginning.”

Rowena
pulled out a copy of the spell.

“Read this, and then we will talk. George and I will go
into the garden, to give you some
peace.”

Do you think they will believe it?

It doesn’t matter. At least we tried. Nana said we must at
least try.

You are right. I hope they work it out.

They
watched the couple through the window.

Rowena said. “He says we seem like a nice couple so they
need to
hear what we have to say.
She says she doesn’t believe in this nonsense, but
yes, something is odd so they will listen. Okay, let’s go in,
George.”

“Okay. Now. This spell is the one your great-great
grandmother Felicia cast on my great-grandmother, Portia
.
After a long search, we found it. Apparently, the woman who created
it was so proud of her handy work, she shared with everyone and we
found it on the Internet. It is called the Curse of the Darkness.
Until some twelve months ago, it was working nicely against my
family and clearly yours. My daughter and her husband have removed
it. Now, you can live a normal life.”

“Look, I do not believe in magic and curses and things. I
don’t know how it works and it is too unreal for me. Assuming that
I believe it
, why would we suffer under it? I mean, it was
intended for your family, not mine.”

“Yes, well, Felicia did not think about it or did not know.
But one of the fundamental principles of Wiccan is the ‘three-fold
rule’. Everything you do comes back to you three
times.”

Chloe was so white that she looked like she would
faint.
Who
were these people? I had just been thinking about the coincidence
of three children...

Derek
saw that there was something wrong, but was plagued by
questions.

“How did you know who Chloe
was?”

“My son-in-law, Clayton, walked past Chloe one day. He has,
shall we say, very strong instincts about people who might harm his
wife. He went into a panic, especially since you lived in her
grandmother’s house, Nana. Then Nana came to me in a dream,
she does that all the time, and told me who Chloe was.”

“
Does she have short red hair and laughing eyes?”

“
Yes, that is Nana. Has she been to you?”

“
Well, I dreamt of a woman called Nana.”

Derek was still trying to figure this out and asked many
question
s. George and Rowena did the best they could to
answer their questions without reference to anything that would
scare them. They said nothing about white tigers and talking
butterflies.

“But, if Felicia was trying to harm your family, why do you
want to
help Chloe, who is basically the enemy?”

“Because, my boy, like us and our children, you had nothing
to do with it. We have all been victims, really. We have been
through a difficult time over this and we would not want others to
suffer the same. Also,
the spell is broken by the power of
love. Part of that love is forgiving ‘the enemy’ as you call it. We
have no problem with Chloe. She is as hard-done by this as we have
been. In a way our motives are also selfish. Your happiness assures
us that it is finally over for us and our daughter. You see, she
got married this weekend and we don’t want anything to go
wrong.”

Derek was silent now. Whatever he might say, he knew they
were kind and caring. He knew that they were telling him the truth.
There was no malice
in their demeanor and there had never
been. He looked at Chloe and saw how distraught she was.

“
I think we will leave now. Thank you for sharing that with
us. Chloe and I need to work through this. Thank you.”

When
they left, George said.

“The girl h
as known all along.”

“Yes, she just did not
want to believe. We’ll have to wait and
see.”

Chloe
and Derek walked back to the house in stunned silence. When they
sat down inside, Derek asked.

“So, what do you think? Look. I would not believe any of
that s
tuff normally, but I must tell you, those are good
people….”

“I
know, Derek, I know. My mother told me about the Curse of the
Darkness. She used to cry about it. You see, they could do nothing
about it. It depended on Portia’s family. My mother tried to
find
them, but their surnames had changed so many times with
marriage, that we never managed to trace them
. Each of them had one daughter, who somehow, got
married and lived happily. My mother always said that the spell
turned on us, because they got married and we got
left.”

Chloe
was crying.

“I
never believed her. I blamed her for my father leaving and
almost hated her for it. Oh Derek, she tried so many times to
explain and each time she told me, I got angrier and she stopped
talking about it. I wish she was here now. I wish I could tell her
so many things.”

Derek was holding her as she cried.
This was so unreal, but if that was what made sense right now, so
be it.

When she
stopped crying, she said.

“
Derek, I have been awful to you when you said you couldn’t
explain it made me so angry, because it sounded like what my mother
had said. I’m sorry.”

“Oh Chloe,
I
am the only
one who needs to be sorry. I was a pig and a terrible husband. I
should have been stronger. But darling, those people are right. Our
love must include forgiveness. Will you ever forgive me,
Chloe?”

“Perhaps, it depends on how well
you try to make it
up to me,” her eyes sparkled at him.

Derek looked into the sky and thought,
thank you, Nana, whoever you
are.

Nana was smiling. At last, these two
ha
ve got it
together. She felt tired now, because it had been hard work to get
Derek to get
out of bed to go to his wife. Also, Chloe
had been so stubborn. The dreams did very little to push her to her
husband. Well, it is okay now. The balance is restored. The power
of love has finally succeeded.

There was nothing left for her to do now.
The
Curse of the Darkness was finally
broken.

What would she do now? Perhaps, tomorrow, she would pay Jono
a visit, just for a good laugh. But later, she would go and deal
with that Brad Adcock and get him to finally get a handle on his
red girl.

#####

Senna Fisher is a romantic fiction
writer from Durban, South Africa. She has an affinity to things
magical and spiritual matters. She is also interested in the power
dynamics between women and men in a modern society. She loves to
observe the world in nature and its connection to human
experiences.

Please feel free to connect with her
at
[email protected]

Book 1: Against the
Odds

Book 2: Always at
Odds

Book 3: Cheating the
Odds

Brad watched her as she walked into
the room. Her dress was tight and passionate against her body,
hugging her snugly like a desperate lover. He liked the way she
swayed slightly with her hips moving in rhythm with her legs. Her
legs were bare and her thin strappy sandals looked like they could
barely hold her feet. Her black dress was everything he imagined ‘a
little black dress’ to be and she was everything he imagined the
owner of the dress to be, except her hair. It was wild and curly
and seemed to have gone on a raid on her head. Large curls moved in
chaotic disarray on her head and the curls moved in an
uncoordinated fashion around her shoulders. Her hair was a bright
red, the color of her lipstick. He looked at her breasts, so warmly
relaxed against her chest and he wished he could lay his head
there. She walked confidently across the room, apparently unaware
to the curious stares of the men in the room. She stopped when she
saw Jeremy Krause, the host of the party. He was at least 80 years
old and he turned slowly to her. His weathered face lit up when he
saw her and he embraced her and kissed her cheeks. She whispered
something to him and they both laughed. She threw her head back and
her defiant curls did a wild dance on her shoulders.