Antique Mirror (2 page)

Tori watched as the specter placed his hand on the mirror and a room materialized behind him. The room had a rustic farmhouse kind of charm, with a plain kitchen table and four chairs. Behind the table, in the corner, she could see a beautifully carved headboard with several brightly patterned quilts thrown across the bed. The lighted gas lanterns cast the room with a soft, golden glow. But it was the man who took Tori’s full attention. He was ruggedly handsome, with broad shoulders and narrow hips.

The ghost’s voice was deep. “You really like to hear yourself yap, don’t you?” The man continued to peer down at her with a smile curving his lips.

Tori’s mouth dropped open for about two seconds, and then she drained the rest of her martini. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, are you a ghost?”

“Ma’am, I mean no disrespect, but it’s probably not a good idea to use the Lord’s name like that, especially when you have been partaking.” He chuckled, and Tori melted against Jett.

Why couldn’t he be a real man and not some apparition? That’s just not fair. And he talked funny—like who would say “partaking” and “ma’am.”

Tori said, “Who are you and why are you in my mirror?” Jett hopped down from the chaise and ran out into the kitchen and through the doggie door to the backyard.

The mirror man laughed and said, “It’s my mirror, not yours.”

Tori should have been running and screaming out her front door, but she was drawn to the mirror as the man continued to stare at her so intensely. She walked up to the mirror and reached up to place her hand on the looking glass. The mirror became fluid, and the man’s hand reached through it to hold Tori’s hand. Instantly, she was pulled into the other side—into a different world. Tori stood right in front of the mirror man and gulped.

“No, I’m not a ghost. I’m cursed.” His eyes locked onto hers, and she inhaled his scent—cloves and cinnamon.

Tori felt an incredible sexual attraction to this man. She reached up and touched the side of his face.
“You’re real?” she said in wide-eyed shock.

The cursed man stood only inches from her, so close she could feel the warmth of his breath. He said, “You are magnificent.”

Whoa Nelly
! Butterflies shot from her belly to her nether regions. “Okay, I know I’m probably having a hallucination brought on by being tired, and very strong vodka. I’m going to wake up any minute, and you’re going to disappear. Do you have a name or are you nameless until your curse is lifted?”

He laughed—a wonderful, hearty laugh—and replied, “My name is Jonathan Rogers.” Jonathan placed a kiss on the back of Tori’s hand and looked up at her. His expression darkened and then he said, “Victoria, I have cursed you now, too.”

Tori stumbled backward and tripped over a stool, falling hard on the wooden floor. Jonathan bent down to help her up, and she jerked away from him. “What the hell are you talking about? Why would I be cursed?”

Jonathan motioned toward the table and chairs and said, “Please, sit down.” He gazed into Tori’s eyes with a look that struck a familiar chord with her; it was loneliness.

Jonathan said, “I would like to tell you my life story and how I ended up in this cursed mirror.” Tori blinked a couple of times and then nodded yes. He continued, “In 1915, my life was just beginning. I owned a thousand-acre farm. I had a hundred head of cattle and had just built this cabin. I was in love with a woman who loved me back, and we were to be married.” Jonathan walked over to the window and stared outside. “Her name was Mae Morgan, and her father was the president of the local bank. He had arranged for his only daughter to marry one of his business partners, and I got in the way.”

Tori interrupted him and asked, “Where was Mae’s mother?”

Jonathan returned to sit at the table with Tori. “Mae’s mother died when she was very young. Mae only had her father and me.”

Jonathan's voice sounded rough around the edges. “Mae stood up to her father and refused to marry his business partner, Dale Bailey. Dale invested heavily in future business development projects with Mr. Morgan. Mae’s father was using her as collateral. Mr. Morgan told Mae he’d rather see her dead than married to me. Mr. Morgan telephoned Melvin after an argument with Mae and arranged for Melvin and Mae to be married the next day. That’s when Mae decided to run away, to me.”

Jonathan looked down at his hands, where they were resting on the table, and then he looked back up at Tori. “Mae left home with only her mother’s mirror, the one that’s now hanging over the mantle, and the clothes on her back.” He walked to the mantle and ran his fingers along the wooden frame. “Mae knocked on my door right before midnight, terribly shaken and scared for her life.” Jonathan walked over into the little kitchen and grabbed a dipper out of a pail and took a drink of water. He said, “Would you like some water?”

With an uplifted brow, Tori said, “Any chance you have anything stronger?”

Jonathan opened a cupboard and pulled out a jug as she had only seen in reruns of
The Beverly Hillbillies
, and poured her a cup. Tori took it and greedily drank from the cup. It was moonshine, and it was strong. Tori coughed several times but felt more at ease once the alcohol hit her bloodstream.

Tori said, “Okay, you can continue now—no one’s ever going to believe me.” She wasn’t convinced that Jonathan or his story was real. She was probably passed out on her bedroom floor and would wake up in the morning with a hell of a hangover.

Jonathan poured himself a cup of the moonshine and sat back down at the table. He took a small sip and said, “Mae had left her father a note saying she was marrying me. I found out later he jumped into his 1914 Chevrolet Baby Grand and drove to the witches coven located on the outskirts of town and paid for a curse. He’d rather his daughter be dead than disgraced by his inner social circle.”

Jonathan didn’t talk for several minutes. Tori sensed he was angry and kept her mouth shut. He began to pace back and forth across the room. “My neighbor and good friend was a pastor. I had no intention of disgracing Mae by allowing her to spend the night with me. We went to his house, and he married us. By the time we returned to the cabin, dawn was approaching. I swept her into my arms and carried her over the threshold. I laid her down on our bed and made love to my wife.”

Jonathan stared into the mirror and then turned back to face Tori. “I didn’t realize Jasmine, the youngest of the witches, was watching us from outside the window. She could see us from the reflection of this mirror, which gave her the idea for the incantation.”

Jonathan's eyes glazed over as he began to recite the curse. “As the happy couple consummates their wedding bed, the wife will die in ecstasy, and her groom will live a mirrored destiny until a new love opens a thread and pulls him back to reality.”

Jonathan sat down in the rocking chair next to the fireplace. “After we made love, I helplessly watched Mae die in my arms, and the witch burst through my door. Jasmine told me I would meet a new love, and that love would set me free of the mirrored life. She said Mae’s father had paid for the curse that took Mae’s life and left me cursed to live here. Jasmine stood staring at me, and I could feel her desire, and it scared me. I thought she was going to kiss me, when she spun around, instead, and disappeared right in front of my eyes.”

With sadness, Jonathan said, “I’m so sorry, Victoria. I watched you move into my cabin and was so drawn to you. I’ve never wanted to reveal myself to anyone before you. You are the one to set me free. But as much as I was drawn to you, I still knew better. If you touched the mirror, and then I touched your hand, you would cross over to me.”

Tori shook her head in disbelief as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks—she was his ticket out. She jumped up and shouted, “What? This can’t be real! I don’t believe this! I can’t be stuck here. I have a life, a wonderful career that’s taking off. I just adopted Jett.” She ran her fingers through her ebony hair as she paced about the room. “Okay, there has to be a way to break the curse. Surely there’s a way.”

Jonathan held her gaze and without wavering said, “There’s a way. We have to fall in love by this All Hallows’ Eve to break the curse, and we’ll be set free. It’s only two weeks away.
The Pleiades star cluster, also known as the Seven Sisters, will almost be overhead on midnight of All Hallows’ Eve. The star cluster signals not only the night of the dead but offers us a window in time to cross back through the mirror, which will break the curse. If we don’t, fall in love. It will be another year before the window opens again.”

Tori screamed in frustration and stormed over and smacked him hard across his face. She ran out the front door and onto the porch. The brisk air cut her to the bone, and she started to shiver. The trees were emblazoned with the colors of fall as she looked around the property—which was owned by both her and Jonathan, although a hundred years apart. Tori pondered the impossible situation: she had two weeks to fall in love with a complete stranger.

Tori still couldn’t believe she was really here in 1915 with a man who had pulled her across time to break him free from a hundred-year-old curse.  Surely, she would wake up from this nightmare. “What am I going to do now?” she muttered to herself.

Jonathan joined her on the porch and set down a pair of boots, and then wrapped a quilt around her shoulders. She turned to face him, and he pulled her into his arms. He brushed his lips softly across her cheek and up to her ear, and then whispered, “I should be sorry I pulled you across time, but I’m not.” Jonathan crushed her with a kiss that would have knocked her socks off—had she been wearing any.

Victoria broke from his kiss and pushed him away. “Thanks for the boots.” She slipped her feet inside the boots and walked down the steps. “I have to clear my head.” She continued walking around the outside of the cabin. In the backyard, beyond the white fence, she saw an outhouse and a cellar. She quickly walked down the steps of the cellar and nearly fell out of the borrowed boots because they were way too big for her feet.  “Victoria, Victoria, you’re not in Kansas anymore, and these are definitely not ruby slippers.” Tori felt Jonathan walk up behind her. Yes, she was attracted to Jonathan—but would she fall in love with him? And within two weeks, no less. Tori turned and gazed into his eyes. He was beautiful.

Jonathan placed his hand on her shoulder. “Not much changes on this side of the mirror, but on your side, I have seen many changes. Radio and television, stereos and Xboxes. I’ve watched mankind evolve into a self-indulgent society. It’s not a bad thing. But, with all the conveniences of your generation, people have forgotten the sacrifices of those who came before them.”

Victoria replied, “I suppose we are very used to our conveniences. Running water—I will never take it for granted again.” Tori shivered from the cold, and he wrapped his big, muscular arms around her. The warmth of his body made her instantly heat up. It felt nice to be in a man’s arms, if only briefly, but then she pushed him away.

Tori felt confused and didn’t understand what was happening to her. She didn’t want her sexual attraction to Jonathan to cloud her already-buzzed brain. Tori walked out of the cellar. “Jonathan, I need some time alone. I’m going for a walk.”

Jonathan stepped out of her way. “Follow this tractor trail behind the cabin. The trail circles back to the barn. I’ll be here if you need me, just holler.”

Victoria said, “I will.” She knew the way because it was her property, too.

***

Tori walked along the trail behind the cabin. She came across a few squirrels and rabbits, and off to the left, she saw a small pond where a deer was taking a drink of water. The cabin disappeared behind her as she rounded the bend on the trail. Suddenly out of nowhere, a woman appeared on a log stump. She looked to be Tori’s age, with piercing green eyes that reminded Tori of a cat’s. The woman was exotically beautiful, with her smooth olive skin and inky black hair. The woman stood and approached Tori. She said, “Hello, Victoria. I’m Jasmine, the witch who cursed Jonathan.”Tori turned to run, but the witch grabbed her wrist and shouted, “Be still.” Tori was unable to move because the witch paralyzed her. Tori thought,
this day just keeps getting better and better.

“Don’t be afraid, child. If I wanted to harm you, I would have.” The witch let go of her grasp and walked slowly around Victoria. “Now, I see my Jonathan has selected his new mate. Are you worthy?” The witch waved her hand. “Don’t answer that. I’ve been watching you since you came onto this property. You’re alone, so is Jonathan. It’s only natural for him to be attracted to you.”

Tori tried to speak, but she couldn’t open her mouth. The witch walked over to stand within inches of her, searching out every line and crevice of Tori’s face. The witch said, “You wish to speak?” She touched Tori’s lips.

Tori opened her mouth and then closed it. What if she said something that pissed the witch off and she turned her into a toad? But curiosity got the best of her and Tori said, “Can’t you reverse the curse? You obviously seem to care something for Jonathan if you’ve been watching him for a hundred years.”

The witch shouted, “Be silent! You know nothing of this matter. You’re simply a means to an end.” Jasmine began to study Tori and trailed her long, slender fingers over Tori’s skin, which made her flesh crawl. The witch said wickedly, “Mae was never good enough for Jonathan, and you aren’t either. My coven has strict rules on intervening on behalf of humans, and especially regarding reversing curses. I am forbidden, even if I wanted to help Jonathan. If I had only seen Jonathan before I cast the spell, I would have spared him. I would have made him mine. But you, my dear, you only have to get him to fall in love with you. And then once he returns to the real world, you may go back to your life.”