Life Curse: Taber Blood I

Chapter 38

Weeks later, after Macey's return, life didn't get back to normal. For Macey and Jared, normal was just the two of them managing their new life at the Taber mansion.  Their updated new life included Eddie living at the Taber home. He took the entire third floor of the house. Macey and Jared loved having him there, including his new family, Roxanna, and Brenda. Jared picked the room Macey and Paul shared ten years earlier as his own. Old claw tub included. He, like his father, enjoyed reading history about his family. Macey and David moved into her father-in-law's old room after the remodel. Of course, all the old furniture went to the attic. 

Macey let Roxanna make all the arrangements for their wedding. Soon they will be Mr. and Mrs. David Polinski and Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Taber. They turned the mansion upside down with all the interior decorating. Macey photographed every room in its original decor as Brian planned to do before his untimely death. There would no longer be a piece in the newspaper about the mansion without Brian. Townspeople said Brian up and left the area for better opportunities. That's what the paper printed, but the Tabers knew three people perished in the battle against Evalena. Brian, Chad, and Daniel. Macey had Daniel buried in the family cemetery, and Jared painted his name on the wall. A new butler starts this week after an extensive interview by the entire household. Roxanna chose fifty-year-old Johnathan Church after he whipped out an Ouji board, and they summoned the old butler. The ghost of Daniel had a blast with that one. Roxanna said Johnathan would adapt when creatures from the other side attacked. And they will attack just because the portal is open. 

Macey told the others about her trip with Sarah back in time. It was a nightly conversation as they sat around the fire. Roxanna wanted to know every little detail about building a fire in the seventeen hundreds to what Isabels' sketch of the family tree was like on paper. She raked the yard every day to ensure the tree wouldn't grow back. David wanted details on how it felt to sleep for two months while she and Sarah were on the ship. He also wanted to know when Macey realized it was she who had to burn Evalena. 

"How did you connect the paper in Evalena's hand to a tree on the property and back to the curse?" he asked. Macey tried explaining; she saw Evalena's focus on the tree then noticed the paper in her hand. It all just came to her. David dwelled on how such a realization enters a person's thoughts. But, as Eddie said, she was the one to save the family from the curse. Macey's call to burn the wicked witch and end the life curse was fate. 

Eddie would sip a whiskey and listen as they covered the story details over and over again. Every once in a while, Roxanna would look over at him. They were the ones who knew the beast lie dormant until the next time. And there would be the next time. They agreed to keep it secret and let the others enjoy a non-chaotic life for as long as it lasted. 

One evening Jared and Brenda came running into the parlor. "We saw someone," they said. Everyone jumped up, "Where?"

"Outside, by the trees," Jared said. Brenda held onto his arm. She would always hold onto Jared because she feared he, too, would someday disappear through the tree. Her instinct told her the dead sought to kill Jared. As if Jared had powers to stop all evil.

Eddie ran outside. By the time he got there, the beast had once again surfaced. David watched from the window as Macey and Roxanna hovered over the kids. He looked back at Roxanna, "The beast?" Roxanna nodded. The secret she and Eddie kept was out. 

The children calmed down. "We're going back upstairs to play," Jared said.

"Sweetie, aren't you afraid of the intruder?" Macey asked.

Jared grabbed Brenda's hand, "The beast will catch him," he said. He and Brenda left the parlor.

Macey, David, and Roxanna watched as Eddie came back into the room. David said, "Did you know you could still change into the beast?"