"Willow's Missing Tail" 35 (last chapter)

Now that the sun had risen and the house was unstuck, all the guests were free to leave but the night’s conflicts still lingered over some of them, not however over Daphne and Avery. They had weathered the night’s shadows and beamed now with happiness sitting side by side.

 

Martha and Perfidia walked into the kitchen to find Willow, Thistle, Max, Ram and Chaos eating happily out of porcelain bowls filled to the brim and Daphne and Avery sharing a quiet moment at the kitchen table.

Perfidia frowned at the cozy, cooing couple.

“I’m sorry but that’s just not fair," she grumbled to Martha.

“What’s not fair?”

“All of this was their fault,” she pointed to the couple, who were oblivious to anyone but each other, “Why do they get to have a happy ending while we have to face new sets of challenges?”

“Perfidia, we’d have had to face the challenges eventually. Dillon wasn’t honest with me and you weren’t honest with Jon. That would have surfaced with or without last night’s prompting.”

“I disagree, and besides, I have been honest with Jon.”

“You have? So you explained to him the reason you created that charmed bracelet to keep his emotions flowing in your favor?”

Perfidia scowled and shook her head. “Not the point, the point is we may never have had to face any of this if it weren’t for them. They brought that dark matter into my home and it shouldn’t have been here,” she looked at the now kissing couple and gave a disgusted groan, “it disrupted my relationship with Jon and complicated everything.”

“Maybe last night’s conflict made Jon aware of that bracelet, but you know as well as i do whether it was last night, today or tomorrow, it was going to be discovered.”

“I don’t know that, you don't know that. Jon was happy with me and maybe…I never would have had to explain anything.”

Perfidia wouldn’t see what she didn’t want to see so Martha gave up trying to jolt her conscience, for now.

“How about I brew us a breakfast tea and make cheese omelets.”

Perfidia smiled and nodded, “I can eat, and a strong cup of tea would be welcome.”

 

“Oh, hey cuz,” Daphne looked over her shoulder at Perfidia,” Didn’t see you there.”

“Not surprised,” Perfidia scoffed.

“I’m making tea would you both like some?” Martha offered to Daphne and Avery.

“I’d never turn down a cup of your expert blends,” Avery accepted.

“I agree with Avery,” Daphne cooed and placed her head on Avery’s shoulder as she snuggled against his side.

Martha shot a warning look at Perfidia knowing she was about to give an unwelcome opinion, or gag loudly.

Perfidia shrugged off Martha’s look but she did stifle her opinion.“I’ll break the eggs for the omelet,” she volunteered.

“So you don’t break anything else?” Martha whispered with a knowing chuckle.

“Precisely…” Perfidia mumbled.

 

Miriam and Percival stepped into the kitchen as Martha poured the tea and Perfidia plated the omelets.

“Our ride is here but we wanted to find you and thank you for allowing us to stay last night, when we had no way to get home. I appreciate your hospitality Perfidia,” Percival said with a grateful smile.

“You’re welcome anytime,” Perfidia responded but she wasn’t sure why she’d said it because she didn’t like unexpected company, and they wouldn’t be welcome anytime.

“And I’d like to say we’ve had a nice time but…I think you know we’re all a little conflicted on that point,” Miriam rolled her eyes at Perfidia.

“Well, you should be glad you survived it…you both have,” Perfidia shot her a meaningful glance.

Percival hadn’t paid attention to the exchange between Miriam and Perfidia he’d stepped over to Martha to say goodbye to her.

Miriam didn’t like seeing Percival next to Martha but she was trying to get over her jealous tendencies.

“That’s true Perfidia, we did survive but everything isn’t back to normal for everyone, yet, but I have hope,” she said the last part glancing at Percival then she added, “I even have hope you and Jon will get past whatever it was that made him leave last night.”

Perfidia glanced at the pantry door and frowned. Was Jon waiting for her at Martha’s? There was only one way to know for sure but she wasn’t ready to find out. What if he hadn’t waited? She didn’t want to know.

“Will we see you at Gloria’s and Roger’s wedding?” Martha asked Percival.

“Of course,” Percival answered as Miriam stepped over to him. She gave him a big smile and added her thoughts, “Weddings are so much fun and so romantic. They make you think of your own wedding…someday,” she eyed Percival with intent in her eyes, intent to get her engagement ring back.

“We’d better go,” Percival said, showing no sign of blissful, wedding thoughts and Miriam’s frown deepened as he walked towards the back door without her.

“Goodbye everyone,” Miriam snorted with annoyance as she hurried after him.

 

“Do you think Percival will get over it?” Daphne asked Martha when she brought the tea pot over to the table.

“Which part of it? His brother’s masquerading as him to kiss his girlfriend or Miriam’s jealous, havoc causing, personality?”

“All of it?” Daphne chuckled.

Martha sighed. “Percival is a kind soul but his kindness was tested to the extreme last night. We’ll have to wait to see how he processes it all.”

“Percival’s kind heart had to have stumbled being broadsided by the dual confessions,” Avery chimed in.

“Or fallen off a steep cliff,” Martha added, it was a lot for Percival to accept all at once.

“What about Dillon? Are you going to forgive him…again?” Perfidia asked Martha as she placed the warm platter of omelets on the table.

Martha wasn’t prepared to discuss Dillon so she chose to ignore the question and change the subject. “Are you and Avery going back into business together?” she asked as she poured tea into Daphne’s cup.

Avery and Daphne smiled at each other and the warmth in their eyes answered Martha’s question even before Avery’s response.

“Yes, we’re going to combine our talents…in many ways,” Avery said with a wink that melted Daphne’s heart.

Daphne nodded in total agreement with him. “Yes we are and in fact, we’re going to Avery’s hidden office when we leave here, which we really should do right now,” Daphne said with a suggestive wink of her own.

Avery was not immune to the suggestion and downed the last of his tea, and stood up. “I’m ready when you are, my love,” he said holding out his hand to her.

“I’m past ready,” Daphne mumbled and didn’t bother to finish her tea. She took his hand and stood up too.

“Are you moving your hidden home and or office out of my back lands?” Perfidia asked him before they could walk out the back door.

Avery turned with a cryptic smile and shrugged, “If not today, definitely soon.”

“That’s not an answer,” Perfidia groused but it was a moot point because Avery and Daphne had already walked out the back door.

Perfidia shook her head. “I have a feeling they’ll be camping out in my backyard for awhile,” she grumbled to Martha.

“Only until the first glow of love fades,” Martha chuckled.

“That could be years,” Perfidia said outraged at the thought.

“Think of them as close neighbors.”

“Neighbors? Have you met me? I don’t do neighbors. And getting back to the question you ignored what about you and Dillon? Are you going to forgive him?”

“I’m not sure what I’m feeling at the moment but I know his newest confession has set us back from where I thought we were heading.”

“So, no wedding bells for you either?”

Martha gave Perfidia a searching look, “I’m going to change the direction of this interrogation….Are you using these questions to stall?”

“Stall? What do you mean?”

“You keep looking at the pantry door Perfidia. You may as well go in there and see if Jon’s waiting for you.”

Perfidia shook her head. “I can’t. What if he isn’t? I don’t want to know.”

“But what if he is and you don’t go Perfidia? It will give him the impression you don’t care about him.”

Perfidia glared at her. “I know but…what if I go and he is there, he’ll want an explanation. What if I can’t give him one?”

“You can. Just tell him the truth and let him decide.”

“Easy for you to say, but I’m not sure what the whole truth is.”

“Tell him that…whatever you say, just be honest. It’s what he deserves.”

Perfidia looked at the pantry door and nodded. “Fine,” she mumbled and walked to it. She took a deep breath of courage and opened it.

She stared in confusion at the wall of shelves filled with spices. The wall was where the portal should have been. A tiny cry of pain left her lips. “It’s gone Martha. The portal is gone,” she whimpered.

Martha walked over to her and looked inside. She touched her arm to reassure her. “I’m sure Chaos can open a new portal for you.”

Perfidia turned disillusioned eyes on her friend. “But why is this one gone?”

Chaos entered the pantry in response to having heard his name and meowed.

Perfidia looked at her familiar. “Did you close the portal?”

Chaos shook his furry head in denial.

Sahara flew down from her perch on the kitchen curtain rod and landed on Perfidia’s shoulder making her jump. “Squawk…I close it!” The parrot confessed.

“You? Why?”

“Squawk…the human you sent in there…Squawk…request it closed.”

Perfidia’s eyes narrowed on the bird. “Jon asked you to close it?”

“Squawk…yes…Squawk.”

“Jon asked you to close the portal?” Perfidia repeated trying to process the fact.

“Squawk…didn’t I just say that…Squawk?”

Bewildered tears pooled in her eyes and she looked at Martha. “I guess he didn’t want to talk.”

“You don’t know that. I think you should drive over to my house and ask him in person why he closed the portal.”

“What’s the point Martha? His actions speak his intentions. He didn’t want to see me, end of relationship!”

“I don’t believe it’s as simple as it appears, Perfidia. Maybe, he closed an easy access portal to see how important he is to you. How important your relationship with him is to you? Are you willing to go the distance to talk to him, or are you giving up?”

“You think that’s what this is about? He wants a gesture?”

Martha nodded. “I think so.”

Perfidia stared into the pantry and frowned. “I don’t like being played.”

“I don’t think that’s what Jon is doing.”

“Really, you don’t think this is a game?”

“No. I think he’s waiting for you to show your hand, to see if it’s filled with hearts…or not.”’

Perfidia smirked. “Waiting to see my hand? Fine, you can come with me. I’ll drive you home.”

“No, you should go alone.”

Perfidia hesitated, unsure if Martha was right.

“Trust me Perfidia, you need to go alone," Martha insisted and her eyes imparted the strong intuition she was feeling.

Perfidia felt it too but refused to admit it.

“I suppose I should go just to see if he’s there, otherwise I’ll wonder about it every day and that would drive me crazy.”

“Sure, that’s the reason,” Martha chuckled.

Perfidia shot her a dark look and defended her answer. “It’s a very sound reason,” she forced indifference into her tone but the underlining vulnerability came through anyway. 

“You’re right. So go,” Martha prompted.

“I’m going,” Perfidia said in a huff and grabbed her car keys off the hook by her back door. She was about to open the door when the room filled with the melodic sounds of Für Elise. 

Perfidia turned to Martha with a spark of hope in her eyes. “That could be Jon. I bet he regretted closing the portal and came back to tell me.” She didn’t wait for Martha to agree, or not. She threw her car keys onto the kitchen counter and ran to answer the front door.

Martha followed her but she was pretty sure it wasn’t Jon at the door.

Perfidia unlocked the door with a hopeful expression but it froze in place when she stared into unexpected, familiar eyes. Eyes very much like her own.

“Mom…?”

“Perfidia, I’m so glad you’re home…I’ve driven all night to get here.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” Perfidia opened the door wider and her mom breezed into the entry hall.

“You’re not going to believe what I have to tell you…Oh…hello Martha. It’s nice to see you’re here too.”  

“It’s always a pleasure to see you, Mrs. Mishapsham.”

Perfidia shook her head at the pleasantries. “Mom! What’s going on? What made you drive all night to get here?”

“Well, when I tell you, you won’t believe it, and when I found out…I had to tell you.”

“Then tell me already…what is it?”

Mrs. Mishapsham shook her head a few times as if trying to come to terms with the revelation she was about to impart. She sighed heavily and looked at her daughter. 

“Someone entered Grandma’s special recipe for Halloween Crumble into the Harvest Festival in my town!”

“You mean the one that’s in your recipe book?”

“The very one.”

“How do you know someone entered it?”

“I’m on the judging committee and saw the hand written recipe card. It’s the card your grandma handed down to me. The same recipe we tried but could never duplicate once-”

“The book was lost,” Perfidia finished the thought.

“No, not lost Perfidia, stolen. The book was stolen and now I know that for sure. I need you to come home and help me catch this thief!”

“Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt but…wouldn’t you know who the thief is by the name they used to enter the contest?” Martha asked.

“That’s just it Martha, they entered the contest with a pseudonym. Apparently, you can do that, like a book author or artist or…whatever…the point is, they aren’t using their real name and they even gave a P.O. Box for their address. I didn’t know that was allowed either,” Mrs. Mishapsham mumbled the last words and shook her head.

“But you’ll see them at the contest, creating the recipe,” Perfidia surmised.

“No, I won’t. The committee decided to have local chefs create all the entries. So now do you see why I need you to come home with me Perfidia? You have to help me catch this deceitful person and Martha I’d like for you to come too, and bring Willow. We’ll need every advantage we can get to unmask this thief in hiding.”

“Then I’d better bring Chaos,” Perfidia said.

“Oh yes, bring lots of chaos Perfidia.”

At that moment Chaos sauntered into the foyer with Willow.

Perfidia chuckled, “Mother, I’d like you to meet my familiar, Chaos.”

Marigold Mishapsham looked down at the tiger striped cat at her daughter’s feet with both surprise and delight in her eyes.

“You have a familiar named Chaos? Somehow that seems appropriate. Well, I look forward to forming a friendship with you,” she said to the cat, “but right now, we have to hurry. So go and get packed, time is fleeing. I’ll wait in my car.”  

Marigold Mishapsham turned and walked out the door.

Perfidia looked at Martha and shook her head, “You remember my mom, impatient as ever.”

“I do and I understand her concern but…What about Jon?” Martha asked, “You still need to go to my house to talk to him.”

Perfidia shrugged, “You know as well as I do Martha, everything happens for a reason and I’d say serendipity has spoken.”

“Are you sure it’s serendipity and not a convenient excuse?”

Perfidia didn’t like the flick of pain that struck at her heart but she stiffened her resolve against it.

“Jon closed the portal not me. He’ll have to accept that and wait. I have a recipe book thief to catch.”

 

                       To be continued…..

 Coming Soon:  “Willow’s Sleuthing Tail”