The Pagan Stone

“Then we’ll keep thinking, keep working. I’ve got to get into the office,” Fox said, “but I’m going to cancel or reschedule all the appointments and court dates I can for the duration.”

“I’ll give you a ride in.”

“Why? Shit, right. Napper, truck. Which means I’ve got to swing by and see Hawbaker again this morning and check with the mechanic about my truck.”

“I want in on the first part,” Gage said. “I’ll follow you in. I can run you by the mechanic if you need to go.”

Cal got to his feet. “We’re going to figure this out,” he said to the group at large. “We’re going to find the way.”

With the men gone, the women sat in the kitchen.

“This is so completely stupid.” Qui

“We weren’t twiddling,” Cybil said quietly. “Believe me. It was horrible, Q. Horrible. The noise, the smoke, the stink. And the cold. It was everything, this thing. It was mammoth. No evil little boy or big, bad dog.”

“But we fought it. We hurt it.” Layla closed a hand around Cybil’s arm. “If we hurt it enough, we’ll weaken it. If we weaken it enough, it can’t kill Gage.”

“I don’t know.” She thought of what she’d seen, and of her own research. “I wish I did.”

“Possibilities, Cyb. Remember that. What you see can be changed, has been changed because you see it.”

“Some of it. We need to go upstairs. We need one of your spare pregnancy tests.”

“Oh, but I took three.” Distressed, Qui

“It’s not for you. It’s for Layla.”

“Me? What? Why? I’m not pregnant. My period’s not even due until-”

“I know when it’s due,” Cybil interrupted. “We’re three women who’ve been living in the same house for months. Our cycles are on the same schedule.”

“I’m on birth control.”

“So was I,” Qui

“So pee on a stick.” Cybil rose, gave the come-ahead sign. “It’s easy.”

“Fine, fine, if it makes you feel better. But I’m not pregnant. I’d know. I’d sense it, wouldn’t I?”

“It’s harder to see ourselves.” Cybil led the way upstairs, strolled into Qui

“Take your pick.” She held out two boxes.

“It doesn’t matter because it doesn’t matter.” Layla took one at random.

“Go pee,” Cybil told her. “We’ll wait.”

When Layla went into the bathroom, Qui

“Let’s just wait.”

Moments later Layla came back with the test stick. “There, done. And no plus sign.”

“It’s been about thirty seconds since you flushed,” Qui

“Thirty seconds, thirty minutes. I can’t be pregnant. I’m getting married in February. I don’t even have the ring yet. After February, and if we buy this house we’re thinking about, and I decorate it, after my business is up and ru

“You really are an anal and organized soul,” Cybil commented.

“Absolutely. And I know my own body, my own cycle, my own…” She trailed off when she glanced down at the test stick. “Oh.”

“Let me see that.” Qui

“Oh. Oh. Wow.”

“I said holy shit a lot.” Qui

“That might take more than a minute. I… I had a sort of loose schedule worked out, for when this would happen. We want kids. We talked about it. I just thought… Let me see that again.” Taking it from Cybil, Layla stared. “Holy shit.”

“Good shit or bad shit?” Qui

“Another minute, and that one sitting down.” Layla dropped onto the bed and just breathed. Then she laughed. “Good, really, really good. About a year and a half ahead of schedule, but I can adjust. Fox is going to be over the moon! I’m pregnant. How did you know?” She swiveled to Cybil. “How did you know?”

“I saw you.” Moved by the radiant smile, Cybil stroked Layla’s hair. “Both you and Qui

“How’d I look?”

“Enormous. And beautiful, and wonderfully happy. You both did. And I saw Layla. You were in your boutique, which looked terrific, by the way. Fox brought you flowers. They were for your first month in business. It was sometime in September.”

“We think I could open in mid-August, if… I’m going to open in mid-August,” she corrected.

“You weren’t showing yet, not really, but something you said… I don’t think Gage caught that. A man probably wouldn’t. You were all so happy.” Remembering what else she’d seen, only the night before, Cybil pressed her lips together. “That’s how it should be. I believe now that’s how it will be.”

“Honey.” Qui

“I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen all of it happen. So has he. How much is destiny, how much is choice? I just don’t know anymore.” She took Layla’s hand, laid her head on Qui

Cybil lifted her hands, held them over her face, dropped them. “I didn’t tell any of you because I didn’t want to believe it. Didn’t want to face it. I don’t know why I had to fall in love with him to lose him. Not this way.”

Qui

“I’ve tried.”

“We’ll all be trying now,” Layla reminded her. “We’ll find it.”

“We don’t give up,” Qui

“You’re right. You’re right.” Hope wasn’t something to dismiss, Cybil reminded herself. “And this isn’t the moment for gloom and doom. Let’s get out of this house. Let’s just get out of this house for a few hours.”

“I want to tell Fox. We could drive into town, and I could tell him face-to-face. Make his day.”

“Perfect.”

WHEN THEY LEARNED FROM FOX’S PEPPY NEW office manager that Fox was with a client, Layla decided to multitask.

“I’ll run upstairs, get some more clothes, clean out the perishables from the kitchen. If he’s not done by that time, well, I’ll just wait.”

“I’ll let him know you’re here as soon as he’s free,” the new office manager sang out as the three women started up the stairs.

“I’ll start in the kitchen,” Cybil said.

“I’ll give you a hand with that. As soon as I pee.” Qui

“The word is habitable.” With a laugh, Layla shut the door behind them. “It’s amazing what a regular cleaning woman can do.”

They separated, Cybil to the kitchen, Qui

“Don’t scream. It’ll go right through you, right through, and that’s not the way it has to be.”

“I won’t scream.” Her gaze latched on to the bed-and the rope, the roll of duct tape on it. On the can of gasoline. Cybil’s vision, she thought. Cybil and Gage had seen her bound and gagged, on the floor with fire crawling toward her.