LJ Maas - Rebecca’s Cove

“Hey, aren’t everybody’s? If they were reasonable, we’d call them expectations instead of fears. Honey, we’ve both got some issues, but the best way I can think of to deal with them is to be honest and talk to each other.”

“Baylor Warren being open and honest?”

“I didn’t say it would be easy, but I’m willing if you are.” Baylor waited patiently for the answer that would change her life.

Hobie stood on tiptoe to place a soft kiss on Baylor’s lips, smiling as she pulled away. Hobie had no idea how she did it, but Baylor Warren had become a complete enigma to her. She couldn’t help wondering if their chance meeting in Chicago had been fated from the start. She had no idea how the woman she detested not too long ago could effect such change in her. The idea was one of the many strange occurrences on Ana Lia that Hobie refused to question.

“Yeah.” Hobie nodded. “I’m willing, too.”

No one knew who was more surprised when Baylor and Hobie walked hand in hand into Evelyn’s room. Baylor and Hobie looked at each other as Evelyn and her guest, Rebecca Ashby, exchanged their own looks.

“See, Evie, I told you they would come back together,” Rebecca said. “It is together, is it not, ladies?”

Baylor and Hobie nodded.

“Let me guess,” Baylor said. “You’re the head witch.” Hobie elbowed her in the ribs.

“Wiccan. I meant Wiccan,” Baylor added as she rubbed her side and glared at Hobie.

Rebecca chuckled. “I do like this one,” she said to Evelyn. “Baylor, Hobie Lynn, come in and sit, please. I have some information that I think you’ll be interested in hearing.”

Once they were seated, Rebecca began. “I understand, Baylor, that you have some concerns regarding how you came to visit Ana Lia.”

Baylor felt the edges of her ears begin to burn. “We sorted that out,” Hobie said.

“Yeah.” Baylor winked at Hobie. “We pretty much agreed that I overreacted and acted like an idiot.”

“Maybe I can help Evelyn in answering some of your questions anyway,” Rebecca said. “I had a feeling I might be needed.”

Hobie’s brow furrowed. “Mrs. Ashby, how did you get here so fast? Did Evelyn call you and tell you we had an argument?”

“In a manner of speaking, I suppose she did. Like I said, I had a feeling you needed me, and here I am.”

“You are a witch—damn, I’m sorry, Wiccan,” Hobie said. She looked over at Baylor, who wore a smug smile.

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“Let’s start at the beginning, so we don’t get confused. Shall we?” Rebecca suggested.

“I think it’s already too late for that, but give it your best shot,” Baylor said.

“I think I should start off by saying that you ladies are correct. I’m the present leader of our coven, and it’s true, we prefer ‘Wiccan,’ mostly because of the connotation that other name has. It may help to know that we don’t worship the devil and we don’t drink blood. Actually, most of us are vegetarians.” Rebecca paused.

“It’s perfectly acceptable to laugh,” she said as Baylor tried to cover a giggle by clearing her throat. “We ought to at least be able to laugh at ourselves. We can talk more about our beliefs later, if you’re interested. I thought I’d attempt to ease your minds. Now, Baylor, there are two important things you should know. The accident that Hobie Lynn and your grandmother were involved in was an accident and nothing more. Are we clear on that?”

“Um, yeah. Thanks,” Baylor said. “I guess it was my paranoia showing through. When I’m thinking clearly, I know that there’s no way you can really bring two people together.”

Baylor’s chuckle froze in her throat with Rebecca’s next words. “Yes, well, about that...”

Baylor and Hobie each raised an eyebrow.

“Please don’t tell me we’re under some kind of spell,” Hobie said.

“Heavens, no, my dear. Even if we could do something of that sort, we don’t play with people’s lives that way. We serve nature, not things that go against nature.”

“There’s more, though, isn’t there?” Baylor grew suspicious. “I see it in your eyes, Tanti.”

“We don’t put spells on people, but we do believe in the Fates. We’re students of human nature. We simply...coordinate.”

“And what exactly does that mean in regards to us?” Baylor asked.

Rebecca took a long breath. “That’s the second thing I was going to tell you. We never manipulated either of you in any way, but we did arrange to have you, well, meet each other, spend time

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together.”

“And you don’t call that manipulation?” Hobie asked. “Starting when? All the way back to Chicago?”

“What?” Baylor chimed in. “Honey, that’s impossible.”

“Not so impossible. Cheryl, my office assistant, makes all my travel arrangements. That includes booking my hotel rooms and recommending restaurants to eat at.”

“That could just be coinci—”

“And Cheryl belongs to the Ladies Guild,” Hobie finished. Hobie and Baylor looked to Rebecca for an answer.

“Yes, all the way back to Chicago,” Rebecca admitted. “But we never did anything other than arrange for the two of you to be in the same area at the same time. Anything more has always been up to the Fates, I promise you that. We never could have made the two of you love each other, or even like each other, if it hadn’t been a part of your destinies already.”

“I don’t believe what I’m hearing,” Hobie said angrily. “Wait a minute. Are you trying to say that Hobie and I were

destined to be together? That sounds like one of Harriet Teasley’s plotlines,” Baylor added with a smirk.

“Can I ask why you did all this in the first place?”

“To save our island.” Evelyn finally spoke. “To keep its power alive, at any rate.”

“Okay, this is starting to get a little too woo-woo for me,” Baylor said.

“I think we need to tell them everything, from the beginning,” Evelyn said to Rebecca.

“What a refreshing change,” Baylor said.

“We’re all ears.” Hobie folded her arms across her chest. “I’m going to ask only one thing,” Rebecca said. She quickly

continued when neither woman responded. “I’m going to ask that you listen to this with a completely open mind, no preconceived notions about witches, spells, or anything of that nature. When I’m through, simply ask yourselves if what I have told you feels right. Agreed?”

Baylor shrugged, which surprised Hobie. “Okay, go for it.” “I think it would be easiest to tell you how Ana Lia Island

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came to be, before anything else. In 1702, Spain controlled a large portion of the area we now know as Florida. Ana Lia, which had another name back then, was one of many small islands that existed in the Gulf. Native Americans mostly inhabited the islands at that time. It was then that the Count Alejandro Santiago and his new bride arrived. The count’s job was an easy one—protect Spain’s interests in the New World. Spain always searched these new territories for gold to fund their wars.”

Rebecca paused to take a sip of water. “The count’s new bride, Countess Ana Santiago, was only seventeen, but she had a grace and dignity about her that few women her age knew. She didn’t love the count, neither did he love her. Their marriage brought two powerful families together, and that’s all that was important in those days. Ana didn’t like the role that society forced women to play, but she accepted it as her mother before her had done. What was worse for Ana was that the count was three times her age. Ana did her best, however, to be a good wife. She was different from most women of her time. She loved to learn, especially to write. Her solitude on the island did at least afford her the time to pursue such studies.

“It was during their first year on the island that the count became ill. The fever lasted for weeks, then months. Ana would have taken him back to Spain had she thought he could handle the long ocean voyage. The count’s doctors were perplexed by the illness. They worried that the raging fever would eventually prove fatal.

“One day, a girl approached Ana. She was a native girl, a Seminole Indian. She and her family worked for the count’s household. Her name was Lia, and she explained that her people knew her as a healer. Ana and Lia spent the entire day talking, and eventually Lia convinced Ana to allow her to see the count.”

Rebecca stopped for another sip of water. Baylor and Hobie’s attentive expressions encouraged her to continue. “To make a long story a little shorter, Lia’s herbs and teas worked. Unfortunately, the fever had taken its toll on the count. He never fully recovered, and day after day, he lingered in his sickbed. It’s now believed that the fever caused seizures or a stroke. Now the other side

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to this unfortunate circumstance was that the countess and Lia became good friends. Because of her husband’s condition, Ana spent more and more time with her new friend, and she taught her Spanish. Lia took the countess to the island where her people lived and taught her what she knew about healing. It surprised them both on the day that they discovered they were in love.

“Because the countess was an honorable woman, she told Lia that she could never be with her as long as she was married to Alejandro. Lia understood, and even though it broke her heart, she expected nothing less from the woman who had captured her heart. Their love grew stronger as the days and years passed.”

“Well?” Hobie asked when Rebecca stopped talking. “What happened? Did the count die? Did they—”

“I didn’t know you were such a closet romantic.”

“Very funny,” Hobie said. “I just wanted to know if they ever got together.”

“Honey, the island’s called Ana Lia. I think that’s a good indication.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Actually,” Rebecca said, “the count did die, but not for another twenty-four years.”

“Years?” Hobie asked. “Good Lord. What happened to the two women?”

“They stayed together, and their love grew stronger with every day that passed. Ana begged Lia to find someone who was free to commit to her fully, but Lia could love no other. So they lived through the years on the island, spending their days together, but never their nights. Until the day that Count Santiago died.

“It was another three months before Ana’s mourning period for her husband had ended. Ana wrote a letter of explanation to her mother, then left the estate that had been her home for twenty-five years. She left with Lia and together they sailed to the island where Lia’s family lived. They lived there for the rest of their lives.

“On the night that the two women came together to commit their hearts and consummate their love, a miracle happened in the skies above the island. On that first night, two stars that had

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burned brighter than any other came together in alignment. Until the sun rose in the sky the next morning, those two stars looked to be as one. Fifty years later, both women died peacefully in their sleep. From then on, the island became known as Ana Lia.

“Now in the years before their deaths, the two women lived lives full of love and happiness. Their island developed into a mystical place, a place of power. In the 1500s, people looked there for the fountain of youth—to no avail, of course. In later years, it lost some of its magical properties, but to this day, people do experience a certain...I’m not sure how to put it.”

“I think we know precisely what you’re trying to say,” Hobie said.

“Okay, so even if we believed the story and the possibility that Ana Lia has some sort of...weird stuff going on, what does this have to do with getting Hobie and me together?” Baylor asked.

“That brings us to our last area of discussion,” Rebecca said. “The order that we belong to,” she indicated Evelyn with a nod, “the Ladies Guild, has existed since just before the deaths of Countess Ana Santiago and Lia. We are responsible for maintaining the unexplainable power of Ana Lia Island. You see, ever since that first night when Ana and Lia came together, the stars prepare us for the event’s reccurrence. It happens every fifty years. Members of the Ladies Guild receive...visions, for lack of a better term. These visions speak of two women with the potential and the strength to take the place of the two lovers, Ana and Lia.”