The Witch House of Persimmon Point by Suzanne Palmieri Page B

spoke before I thought. Of course you know. Please, please help me.”
    â€œWhat I know are simply stories,” said Nan. “My mother knew so much more. But feel free to ask questions. I’ll answer what I can.”
    Reginald held out his arm companionably, and Nan took it, squeezing her body close to his as they walked.
    â€œCan you raise people from the dead?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œCan you cast love spells?”
    â€œReggie, you are speaking of dark magic. You cannot do dark magic. It is too dangerous. What do you need? You know I will give you anything you need. We can start there. Tell me something you desire, and I’ll try to make it happen. That way I can practice the arts, and then, if I do have any of my mother’s true gifts, I will learn them and teach them to you. I swear it.”
    â€œI want a child.”
    â€œIs that all? Well, no magic is necessary.”
    â€œAre you?”
    â€œI am.’”
    Nan had expected Reginald to be upset, or even happy, or silly. She’d expected a long conversation about logistics and planning and how to tell Gwyneth. What she didn’t expect was for his face to lose all hubris, as if a mask had come off. There was love in his true face. And fear. So much fear.
    â€œReggie, what is it? Are you ill?”
    â€œWe must leave here, Nan. I’ll take you back across the ocean and we will live together, the four of us. You and me, Ava and the new baby. But we must go. Quickly.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œThere are things you do not know. I was not expecting … never expecting … damn it!”
    â€œWhat about Gwen?”
    â€œIt isn’t safe. She will take this new child’s life. As she took the others. It is not her fault, I will do what I should have done years ago. There is a doctor, in Fairview—he will take her in. Our family has had one too many residents at the asylum there, sadly. Something in the blood. Now go, find her. Make her calm. Give her some of that tea that helps her sleep. I’ll make the call from town.”
    Neither of them saw Gwyneth standing just outside the garden gate, hidden by the willow. Neither of them saw her face grow slack and her eyes grow dull with madness.
    *   *   *
    Nan could feel the tension in the house, and she worried that somehow Gwyneth knew. So she searched her out to smooth over whatever oddness her dear friend was feeling.
    Nan couldn’t find her at first, but then she found her in the turret room with Ava.
    â€œI’ve made you some tea, Gwen. Let me brush your hair.”
    Later that night, Nan couldn’t sleep. Evelyn Pratt’s warning was pounding in her head. Something was very wrong in the house. She checked on Ava. Ava was not in her room.
    â€œDon’t fret, dear,” said Gwyneth from the hallway. “She wanted to sleep with me in the turret room tonight. It so hot outside, and the windows let in such a fine breeze. Three hundred sixty degrees of breeze and all that. You should come as well.”
    â€œWhere is Reggie?”
    â€œIn his bedchamber, I suppose. Why don’t you go check?”
    Anyone would have been able to hear the animosity in Gwyneth’s voice, but Nan heard it in her heart.
    â€œGwen, I love you. I love this house. If I have hurt you, please know I did not intend to do so.”
    â€œHurt me? Because you laid with Reggie? That is silly.… We have all had ways. This way, that way, up ways, down ways … I’ve had all the ways. Is there anything we did not do? And if you think there might be, were you always awake? Sex means nothing. It is a pleasure to be had and taken and given away. And, in your case, borrowed.”
    Nan wanted to shout about the baby growing inside her. Proof of love. But she held back. Gwyneth was going mad. Reginald must have known how close she was to the edge, which was why he wanted them to leave before she found out. Her eyes