Enchanted, A Paranormal Romance / Fantasy (Forever Charmed) (20 page)

Mandy sighed and told the whole dream to Nana and the revelation that came from the red rose. She explained how she had the overwhelming feeling, no need, to stand up for Mary, to carry on where she had left off. She admitted that she felt compelled to learn all she could on the subject in some way to rectify Mary’s death.

“Well, Child, I am glad to know that you came around on your own, and for the right reasons, too,” Nana said at the end of Mandy’s plea. “I will teach you, but it will take time, and it may not be what you’re expecting. It’s not a bunch of hocus pocus.”

“I know, I know. I know we’re not the flying on broomsticks kind,” Mandy laughed.

“Well, the shop’s been pretty quiet today. I think Ally and I can handle out front, which would give you time to look over this,” Nana replied calmly, reaching onto a shelf and pulling down a fat looking book of some sort. She handed it over to Mandy with a little grunt.

Mandy picked it up, surprised at how heavy it actually was. It was covered in a deep mahogany leather. Embossed on the front in gold it read
Flowers and Herbs of North America, Volume I
. Mandy opened the tome and fingered the first page. Its pages were flimsy, wispy even. So thin they were almost transparent. Mandy carefully flipped through the first few pages. Pencil illustrations of various plants and flowers dotted the volume, with their scientific names supporting them and precise looking definitions below. Mandy raised her eyebrows and looked up to find her Nana watching her bemusedly.

“What you were expecting? Dear, perhaps the best advice I can give you in our particular field of expertise is to expect the unexpected.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. But why do I need to read this again?”

“Well, a doctor can’t properly take care of his patients without knowing about ailments and diseases, the same way a pharmacist can’t do his work without knowing about all the different medicines and doses. In order to do your job, to even begin to comprehend it and learn the ways, you need to know about what we use. Plants…flowers and herbs specifically,” Nana smiled encouragingly at Mandy. “You enjoy reading, right Mandy?”

“Yeah, you know fiction and stuff, not encyclopedias cover to cover,” Mandy sighed eyeing the book. She resigned herself and sighed. “I’ll get right on it.”

“That’s the spirit, Dear! If you need anything, I’ll be out front. Oh, and Dear, you should take notes. There’s a blank notebook on the shelf.”

Mandy closed her eyes and inhaled. She had wanted this, she had asked for this. She was going to have to suck it up now. She went and got the notebook, sat down, and opened to page one.
Alyssum
:…

* * *

Chapter 20

The next few weeks were a blur of school, flowers, and Steve. Mandy felt more tired than she ever had in her life but at the same time more completely fulfilled than ever. She felt like she had a purpose, like she had discovered herself. If she wasn’t working on school assignments she was reading
Flowers and Herbs of North America, Volumes 1-3
. It was completely dry and boring and Mandy couldn’t keep the word “useless” from knocking around her head as well. However, this was what her grandmother had said she’d needed to do so she did it faithfully. Even though she couldn’t say she was enjoying it, Steve made it bearable.

Steve and Mandy were officially seeing each other exclusively now. The day after Mandy had found the red rose in her locker Steve had shyly given her a note after he dropped her off at her first period class, blushing as he did so, and taking off quickly before Mandy could even begin to ask him what it was. Mandy had slid into her seat in a hurry and unfolded the little square of paper. It simply read, “I like you. Will you be my girlfriend? Circle yes or no.” There was a big goofy looking smiley face drawn underneath. Mandy couldn’t help but giggle at it. It was so fourth grade, but that just made it that much sweeter. She had written back under the smiley, “I like you too” and circled yes. Steve had met her after class looking strangely nervous as Mandy handed him the little piece of paper folded back up into a tidy square. She had smiled at him, but neither said anything. When they had reached her second period class, Steve couldn’t resist asking, “Well?”

“Well, what?” Mandy said, playing with Steve.

“What about the note?”

“Oh, that. Guess you’ll have to read it and see,” Mandy had laughed, ducking away and into the safety of her class, leaving poor Steve more anxious than ever.

Ever since that day they had practically inseparable. Steve picked Mandy up and drove her home each day. He continued to walk her to all of her classes, only now hand in hand. They ate lunch together and if Mandy didn’t have to work they pretty much spent their afternoons together after school as well. If she did have to work, more often than not Steve popped in to say hi. Of course the weekends they spent together. Sometimes they just hung out and watched TV, sometimes they played skeeball at the arcade or got ice cream at Brown’s, or sometimes they met up with Ally and the other kids. Everyone had gotten used to seeing the two of them together. If you wanted to see Mandy you saw Steve, and vice versa.

Steve was being especially supportive about the huge encyclopedias of flowers. Mandy almost felt guilty about this because as much as she wanted to tell Steve the truth about why she was reading the books, she had simply told him she needed to be more familiar with flowers for her job at Dew Drops. She felt bad about withholding information from Steve, but she was afraid the truth would scare him away. She couldn’t help but remember how she had felt when she first found out about the “family secret”. She hadn’t wanted anything to do with it. She had thought it was weird. Practically, Mandy knew she had to tell Steve because it was only a matter of time, days actually, before Doris’s first piece on Mary would be published and then word would be around town. Mandy vowed she would tell Steve everything the next time she was alone with him.

Normally Mandy was happy to spend time with Steve, but it seemed the moment she made that silent vow in her head to come clean with Steve, the phone rang. “Hello?” Mandy asked, almost one hundred percent sure she knew who it was.

“Hey, Brown eyes! What are you doing right now?” Steve, of course.

“Um, nothing much. Reading.”

“Those flower books again? What some help? I was thinking we could make flash cards. That usually makes memorization easier for some reason. I can quiz you,” Steve offered eagerly.

“Well, I don’t know, Steve. Aren’t you getting sick of the whole flower thing? I’d feel bad wasting your afternoon like that again,” Mandy hedged.

“It’s not wasted as long as I’m with you.”

“All right, but don’t say I didn’t offer you an easy out!” Mandy laughed half-heartedly.
Too bad you didn’t take it
, Mandy thought.

“Bye.” Mandy replaced the phone on the receiver reluctantly. Now she was going to have to tell him. She felt a nervous pit begin to form in the hollows of her stomach. Steve had always been easy going and laid back so she wasn’t even really sure what she was so worried about. It just seemed so far-fetched to tell anyone that a.) you’re a healer, and b.) yes, this means you do believe in all that stuff that most people think is make believe. No wonder she was worried about telling him…he was going to think she was crazy!

Mandy sighed and went back over to her bed where the enormous book was sitting. She stared at the page it was open to blankly until she heard her mom call up the stairs, “Mandy, Steve’s here!” Her heart seemed to stop and then begin again at a gallop. There were three quiet knocks on the door to her bedroom and then it swung open slowly, revealing Steve in the doorway, hands in his pockets.

“Hey, Beautiful!” Steve said, walking forward. Mandy hopped off the bed, momentarily forgetting her worry, and wrapped her arms around Steve’s neck. He kissed her forehead and hugged her back. “Missed you,” he said in her ear.

“Me too,” Mandy replied, giving him an extra squeeze. She stepped back and motioned for Steve to sit on her bed. “Ready for all the fun I promised you?” she said sarcastically.

Now or never, Mandy thought to herself. She took a deep breath and said, “Actually, before we get into that, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure. What’s up? Still forgetting the scientific name for Posies?” Steve asked, not looking up from the book.

“No, it’s not about flowers. Well, I mean, it is, but it isn’t,” Mandy felt tongue-tied. She wondered what the best way to do this was. Directly, she decided. “Do you believe in um, say, things like witchcraft or healing?”

“Witchcraft and healing? Uh, like old women with warts in black and boiling cauldrons and stuff? Probably not,” Steve said, looking up at Mandy, clearly taken aback.

“No, I don’t mean in that sense. I mean, have you ever thought that some of it might be true though? That perhaps people, certain people, might have certain, um, abilities, and are able to help others? That maybe those abilities might scare other people and hence the bad reputation?” Mandy laughed nervously.

“Ok, well I know this is going to sound crazy, I didn’t believe it myself at first. And I won’t blame you if you don’t want anything to do with me, because I didn’t want anything to do with it at first either. I know this is weird, but Mary’s talents were real, and they’ve been passed on from generation to generation.” Mandy spit out in a tumble.

Steve looked incredulously at Mandy. “So, are you telling me…”

“Nana is a healer, just like Mary. The real reason I’m reading these gigantic, crazy flower books is because it’s in my blood too. I’m destined to be a healer. Reading these is just the beginning. Nana’s going to start teaching me how to use my, um, abilities.” Mandy looked sheepishly at Steve, expecting the worst.

“I know, but c’mon, this is weird! I just told you I’m going to start learning how to heal people and you don’t think anything of it? Even I think it’s weird! I thought my nana was crazy when I first found out. Like seriously crazy.”

“I don’t think it’s crazy. Different, yes. But different is good. I do have one question though, why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I was scared to. I thought you would think I was a freak. And I wanted you to hear it from me first, so I decided I had to tell you.”

“What do you mean you wanted me to hear it from you first?”

“Well, pretty soon it’s going to be common knowledge. Nana’s always been very quiet about what she does. I mean, I didn’t even know until just recently. She helps people without being upfront about it. This is a small town. What’s wrong with different folks practically blows in through the door to her flower shop on a sea breeze, you know? Nana has a lot of friends, people feel comfortable talking to her. So sometimes they may mention something directly, or sometimes she hears things through the grapevine. Sometimes she’ll just send a bouquet to someone as a friendly gesture, or if they come into the shop she might recommend what might benefit them the most or steer them in the right direction. No one really even seems aware of what Nana is doing,” Mandy finished, shrugging her shoulders.