July 4th 2023

Paranormal Romance: Witches & Wizards

Paranormal Romance: General

Romance: Suspense

“I devoured this book! 4 sisters that each represent an element and being a science person Tempy really resonated with me. The story was very well written and I enjoyed the multiple POVs and getting to see the dynamics of the sisters!” -Goodreads

“This book was such a fun read for me! It was a mix of magic, mystery, humor, and romance, sprinkled with a few surprise twists that I did not see coming.“
-Goodreads

“Fantastic! This new author captured my attention. Such a great story. “
-Goodreads

Maine Present Day


The Dunton Cottage hadn’t changed much, despite being built in the early 18th century. Temperance Dunton stood in her grandmother’s kitchen, surrounded by the smells and things that reminded her of a time almost forgotten. Heather, lavender, and jasmine hung in the small kitchen nook, releasing their gentle fragrance into the air. Dented copper pots dangled from the old fashion black iron pot rack above the gas stove, where her grandmother had spent countless hours cooking.

The narrow window positioned over the sink allowed a stream of dim light to fall on the scarred butcher-block island. Tempy ran her hand lovingly over each of the indentations. Her thumb brushed against a rough hollow in the wood.

She couldn’t help but think of the day the mark was made. Her sisters had been running in circles around the kitchen, screaming at the top of their lungs. Their grandma’s cat, taking exception to how they handled his tail, let out an ear-piercing yowl before chasing after them.

In the chaos, the cat jumped onto the counter where their grandmother was cutting vegetables, scaring her to death. She slammed the butcher knife into the edge of the butcher block. Her dad had to strain to pry it free.

She could still hear him grunt and groan as he worked the knife loose. Her grandma laughing at his antics. It was one of the last memories she had of the whole family together.

Tempy’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she made her way aimlessly to the living room. Her heart floated adrift in the flood of emotions she’d been battling all morning. She’d come to her grandmother’s house hoping to find solace in her possessions. Instead, every reminder was like a brutal slam against her shattered heart.

Even with her eyes closed, she couldn’t escape all the little reminders of her grandmother. Her fingertips lightly grazed the intricate doily tucked away beneath the potted Christmas cactus. Her grandma had loved crocheting, and many of her creations were scattered about the living room. The favorite afghan of her grandmother’s lay across the sofa. Woven with the deep blues of the sea she loved so much and the emerald green of the forest where her home sat nestled in seclusion from the interferences of the world. Tempy ran her fingers gently over it. She could not help but drape the afghan around her shoulders and cocoon herself in the warmth of her childhood.

Tempy’s eyebrows shot up as the sound of rain against the windowpanes filled the room. Her mouth curved in bewilderment as she peered out the front windows. The weather had become unpredictable. The forecast was for a sunny day, but so far, the promised clear blue sky continued to play peek-a-boo through the thick blanket of clouds.

Under normal circumstances, when rain fell, Tempy would leave her windows open, letting in the turbulence and mood of the storm. The soft patter of rain against her home often helped her to relax, but today, not even the melodic sound of the rain could bring her peace. It was as if, in her grief, she needed to be completely alone. She yearned to feel only her loss, and the rain did nothing but intrude on her despair.

She pulled the afghan tightly around her ears and face, trying to muffle the noise that no longer gave her solace. Her hand brushed away the trail of tears slipping silently down her damp cheeks. Tempy took a deep breath, filling her heart with smells of comfort and love. All the scents of her grandma. A hurt so deep settled heavily in the hole in her heart. With every beat came the painful, aching reminder of something lost forever to her.

Little did she know how her life would change with a single phone call in the early hours of the morning.

The jarring sound of her phone ringing had jerked her awake. Tempy grumbled to herself as she struggled to shove her hair out of her face. With her eyes half closed, she squinted at the clock, frowning at the pre-dawn hour. She felt around blindly for her phone, her fingers brushing against its smooth surface. The sudden brightness of the screen was a shock to her senses, making her blink rapidly. As her eyes struggled to adjust to the intense light, she scowled at the number she didn’t recognize.

“Hello?” She croaked, her voice thick and scratchy from sleep.

“Ms. Dunton?” The familiar male voice cut through her sleep, fogged mind, like a dose of cold water. Even though she had no intention of dating anyone from town, she found one man who continually haunted her dreams. She felt a rush of delight before a chill of anxiety ran down her spine.

Why was the sheriff calling her at this hour? Tension tightened her body as a gnawing awareness that something was wrong. She felt her calm control slipping as anxiety set in. Bracing herself, her voice became sharp and impatient, “Yes?”

“Ms. Dunton, this is Sheriff Dielke. I’m sorry to tell you, but we were called out to your grandmother’s house this morning. It looks like there was an accident.” She heard his slight hesitation before finally saying, “I’m sorry; she passed away.”

His words reverberated through her with electrifying intensity, leaving her numb. Reeling backward, Tempy felt the hard wood of the headboard press against her body as she tried to escape the devastating news. A wave of confusion and denial crashed over her as the words echoed in her mind.
Grandma.

Accident.

Passed away.

“Ms. Dunton?”

Tempy struggled to remain present. Taking a deep breath, she heard her own words echo hoarsely, “Yes, I’m sorry. I was just...shocked.” She cringed at the inadequacy of the word describing one of the worst moments of her life. Tears threatened to fall as her ragged breath echoed inside her chest.

She massaged her stomach, hoping to ease the sharp pangs of agony as she struggled to comprehend some semblance of the process. When she could not discover any, a hollowness overtook her. Her mind was empty, as was her heart. Her hand clenched the phone she held to her ear as if it was her only lifeline, whispering, “I don’t know what I am supposed to do?”

Unfortunately, despair was no excuse to neglect the things that needed to be taken care of. But knowing this did nothing to make Tempy get moving. She understood all the decisions to be made, like what to do with the house, Grandma’s things, would fall onto her shoulders. With her father gone, the responsibility became hers. But knowing this didn’t help ease the weight that had settled heavily on her shoulders. She needed her sisters. After leaving Maine, they had all scattered in the wind. Though they tried to make time to see each other, it happened less and less. The last time was for Pru’s graduation, eight years ago now.  

Had it really been that long? As she replayed the years, the truth came to her in a vivid clarity that stung her heart. Her relationship with Val, Jay, and Pru became compromised the day their mother forced them to move. Even now, she remembered the fateful day when her father had passed away unexpectedly from pneumonia. Then, their mother wasted no time packing up their lives and moving them as far from their grandma and all that reminded them of their father as she could.  

For some reason, their mother blamed Grandma for not saving him. At the time, Tempy didn’t understand why her mother thought her grandmother could have changed things. But whatever happened between the two of them had left a sour note. On the day of his funeral, Tempy stood by her father’s grave, watching as they slowly lowered his casket into the freshly dug hole. She wanted to turn away. To forget the awful sight, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave him alone. Not like that. In the cold, hard earth. When the men shoveled dirt onto his casket, only then did her mother pull her away. Afterward, they left. Her mother never even looked back as they drove away from everything they knew and loved.

From there, life took a downward spiral. No matter how much they begged, their mother refused to let them talk about their grandma or visit her. Worst of all, if Grandma tried to reach out to them, their mother would intervene. For her seventeenth birthday, Tempy had dug an unopened birthday card from her grandmother out of the kitchen trash. It’d been the first eye-opening experience for her. Until then, she hadn’t realized how callous her mother could be.

Though she shouldn’t have been surprised, not after being sixteen and uprooted from the only home she had known. Then moved to the other side of the country. Her mother, deaf to all her pleas to stay.

A balmy California oasis is what her mother had called their new home. The coastal beach house had been nice enough. Not having to worry about winters or any of the seasons, really. But her heart longed for Maine. Despite her best attempts, she never felt the same contentment that she had felt when she was in Pleasant Grove, Maine.

Almost a year after her father had passed, her mother married Ron. A Pharmaceutical Botanist for the giant pharmaceutical company Qualtuor Malum Pharmaceuticals. The marriage had come as just one more example of her mother’s lack of concern for her daughters. She was indifferent to their thoughts, never taking the time to ask or hear them out. Then, as they acclimated to their new home, his job had moved the family to Illinois, which Tempy had hated even more than California.

Luckily, she graduated high school at the top of her class despite having attended three different schools. The summer internship she completed at Qualtuor Malum Pharmaceuticals gave her the edge she needed to get into her desired school.

It had been surprisingly easy to slip into the studies and life of a pharmaceutical botanist. After graduating, she quickly applied for a position that had recently opened in her stepfather’s company. Everything seemed to fall into place when the job was at the lab in Augusta, Maine, a fifty-minute drive from Pleasant Grove.

For the first time in a long time, Tempy had felt like she was home. The tiny blue house situated within a short distance of the town center had been an idyllic match for her. It was nothing fancy: one bedroom, one bath, kitchen, and living room, all fully furnished and reasonably priced. The first night in her new home, Tempy had lain awake in bed, too excited to sleep. It had felt wonderful to have something that was hers. That no one could take away.  

It wasn’t long before she settled into the simple routine of life, having found satisfaction in the predictability of what her life had become; a life of solitude and work. Although her coworkers would tease her about the trail of broken hearts she left in her wake, she knew it was all in fun. In reality, she didn’t have many dates.

When she examined her options, none of them seemed practicable. On the one hand, she had work. But dating coworkers seemed like a potentially hazardous situation, so she opted to keep her dating life separate from her work. Unfortunately, this left her with Pleasant Grove. Yet, in a town of roughly three thousand people, the same delicate situation existed. What if she had a relationship with someone, and it ended badly? Where would that leave her? What if she ran into them in town, at the store? No, thank you. Dating wasn’t worth the headache, in her opinion. But every so often, the loneliness would ambush her, ensnaring her in its insidious claws.

A simple solution should have been to visit her grandmother, who only lived a short drive away. In spite of the effortless adjustment to her new life, Tempy found it hard to summon the bravery to come face-to-face with her grandma once more. She couldn’t help but worry about how her grandma would feel seeing her again. Did she know it had been her mother who had kept them from her? What if she thought Tempy had been the one to stay away? It took her far longer than she meant to visit, and when she finally did, all the warm feelings of love and acceptance returned to her.  

After reuniting, they began having dinner together every Sunday. Later, Tempy would walk around the house looking for ways to help ease her grandma’s burdens. It had been only three days ago when they had last spoken. She had told Tempy that they needed to talk about something important the next time she came. Something that would change her life and the lives of her sisters.   

Now she sat in an empty house full of memories and missed the one person who had loved her without condition. The conversation her grandmother wanted to have, never to be.

Unfolding herself from the comfort of the afghan, Tempy rose to her feet, picked up her phone, and called her sisters. No matter where they were, she knew they would come. If nothing else, they were always there for each other’s worst memories.