Chapter 31

When Mary stopped for a sip of water, Gail Collins was the first to speak.

“How do you know the way Rebecca lived? Did they tell you what the house was like?”

“As we walked to the tree, Harold Avery spoke of it to me,” Mary replied. “He wanted me to know he tried the best he could. I cannot believe it. Rebecca was always a neat person. For her to live in such filth, it speaks to how sick she was.”

“They proved her guilty later, a day or two?” Gail asked.

“It was two or three days later. When they could go into the house, they found a jar filled with poison hemlock.”

“So,” Frank said, “they didn’t prove she poisoned him, but it would have been enough to stop the hanging.”

“Yes,” Mary said. “They would still need more. Without her admitting it, they could never know what killed Good Husband Collins.”

“We know now,” Gail said. “Didn’t she say as much when she was here?”

“Now we know,” Mary agreed. “A few centuries late, but it was still a confession. She never returned to Danielsford until some years after the town began coming back every three years.”

“Would she come with the town voluntarily?”

Mary thought about it for a moment. “As I said, I do not know. There are several possible reasons.”

“Would she be able to leave if she wanted?” Gail asked.

“I do not know that, either,” Mary admitted. “I think the most likely cause would be, since she was the reason for the hanging, she became part of the curse.”

“Meaning you were more powerful than her,” Gail said.

Mary shook her head again. “Meaning, with her mind gone she did not know what was happening, and it trapped her.”

“She got out,” Frank said.

“No, she did not. You lifted the curse when Danielsford found you. It released everyone, and then you gave me my burial and sent her away.”

“Why didn’t she go with the others to, I don’t know, wherever they went?” he asked.

“They went to their reward or punishment,” Mary said. “I assume she, in some way, slipped onto the path and came to now. You sent her away for a time, but she returned only months ago.”

“In her insanity, she could still go to the path?” Marjorie asked.

“So it appears.”

“And we sent her away this time,” Gail said. “But she could come back?”

“She will or she will not,” Mary said. “I do not have an answer.”

Frank shook his head and looked confused. It was too much for him and, although he tried to understand, he could not grasp the concept of a path.

“We have told you again and again not to dwell on it,” Mary told him.

“I kind of get it,” Gail said.

“You would, because you are one of us,” Marjorie said.

Gail’s eyes lit up. It was the first time either woman said she was a witch.

“Do not look surprised,” Mary said. “You’ve known it since we began teaching you.”

“But you never said it I was one.”

“You are, and you have been from the day you were born,” Marjorie replied.

Gail appeared less sure. “I don’t know. Except for helping with Rebecca, I haven’t done a thing.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Marjorie said. “There’s no rule saying you have to cast spells every week or each month, or ever.”

Mary agreed, adding, “If you never do one the rest of your life, you still have the gift. Now, may I continue the story? Tomorrow and the next few days we will be busy working on the shop, getting it ready.”

“You’re almost finished, aren’t you?” Gail asked.

“Not yet, but we’re close. We’re near the present.” She looked at Frank. “There is no need for me to go into meeting you, is there?”

“We all know how I stumbled onto the town and found you,” Frank said.

Mary agreed. “So, the story is close to being finished.” She looked at Frank again. “Then, I suppose there will be questions.”

“That neither of us can answer to your satisfaction,” Marjorie finished the thought.

“There are some things you just have to believe,” Gail said. “Even if you can’t understand them, they’re real.”

“I know,” Frank said, “and I’m trying.”

“Do you believe in God?” she asked.

“Sure.”

“Do you understand everything about Him?”

“No one does,” Frank said.

“But you still believe in Him. Mary, Marjorie, and others are here. They came from back then. You can’t understand it, but it happened. So you accept it,” Gail said.

“Now,” Mary said. “Let me continue. Is that all right with you, Frank?”

He nodded. She shot him a condescending smile and began.