58. Winnie

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

WINNIE

“ M y visitors have arrived.” Alaric’s eyes draw across my body as he skirts around me to answer the door.

Panic seizes me. If the manager is already pissed about Mum’s mess, he won’t appreciate us ignoring his ‘no gatherings’ rule at one in the morning. “It’s awfully presumptuous for you to invite your own visitors into my hotel room?—”

Alaric flings open the door. Into our tiny room traipses the entire Nevermore Murder Club and Smutty Book Coven.

“Winnie!” Isis throws her arms around me, her crystal necklaces clanking against my ribs. “We’re so happy to see you again! Your aura is all muddled up. You need one of Dora’s herbal teas.”

“We missed you.” Mina burrows in beside Isis, her arms encircling me. “No one stays behind to help me pick up after the meeting anymore.”

“I brought you a box of cupcakes because I know you’ll be eating junk London food.” Celeste dumps an enormous Glazed and Confused bakery box on the kitchenette counter before joining the hug. “Avocado toast and healthy smoothies and salads without any cheese.”

“And I added some of my famous mung bean brownies,” Beth says as she leaps into the fray. “If you soak them in your tea, you can get them soft enough to bite.”

Dora places a package of tea on top of the box and silently joins the embrace.

“I stole your parking space out front.” Komal kisses my cheeks as she squeezes me tight. “The hotel manager said he’d never seen someone park quite as jauntily as me. Can you believe I shaved thirty-eight minutes off the Google Maps driving time?”

“I’ve never been so frightened for my life, and I spent a summer internship at journalism school reporting from an actual warzone.” Maisie has to slide her arms around my hips to fit herself into the chaos.

“This place is an absolute dump,” Arabella sniffs as she stalks the perimeter of the room like a panther. She’s wearing an absurd wide-brimmed floppy designer hat that she does not remove even though she keeps bending the brim against the walls. As she passes me, she dares a quick kiss to the top of my head.

My heart fills with warmth. After a month in London, I’d started to wonder if I imagined them all – this chaotic, wonderful, supportive group of friends who have my back.

“What are you all doing here?” I laugh, squeezing them so hard my arms might fall off.

“Alaric asked us to come,” Maisie says. “He said you and your mum might need some help moving into your new homes.”

“Maisie, shhhh!” Dora hisses.

“I wish,” I laugh. “We’ll be living here for a while. Mum’s insurance hasn’t come through yet, and I can’t afford a place on my own until she’s all settled?—”

Isis glares at Alaric. “You haven’t told her yet? What are you waiting for? Unlike you, we don’t have all of eternity.”

Alaric taps the box that’s still clutched in my hand. “Open it.”

“There better not be a ring in this box.” I glare at them all. “This isn’t a smutty romance novel. Over-the-top gestures don’t work in real life when there are issues that?—”

“Just open it, Winnie!” Komal laughs.

I lift the lid. Inside the box, nestled on a bed of gold velvet, are two sets of keys – each one attached to a small, hand-carved wooden charm.

“I met a wood carver in Italy and he taught me his trade. I’m afraid I’m still an amateur. I cut the wood from the forest at Black Crag,” Alaric says. “I made the sunflower for your mother, and the wing for you, because you are Wing Commander Winifred. The keys are for your new homes.”

“New…” I stare at the gift in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“When I came to my senses and returned from Italy, I discovered that Quoth had sold all my pots,” Alaric says. “He came to the castle and took away a bunch of my paintings and tapestries to sell, too. I ended up with all this modern money and have no clue what to do with it. Reginald has been managing my accounts as well as he could, but since Arabella demanded to take over, she’s made it quite clear that I have enough money to last several eternities, and I should probably start spending some of it on things that make me happy. And the only thing that makes me happy is you, Winnie. So I have bought your mother a new house. It’s a little two-bedroom unit in a small gated community in Reading for people who struggle with different mental health issues. They offer a range of support services for residents, including an on-site therapist and a weekly cleaning service. The house has a small garden and a room for hobbies?—”

“I have a house? ” Mum snatches the sunflower key out of my hand. “I mean, I don’t know that I need this weekly cleaning service, but I can’t wait to see my new house!”

I notice that the centre of the sunflower is a googly eye. I can’t stop the laugh that bursts out of me.

He brought my mother a house?

But then what’s the second keyring for?

A tiny, hopeful corner of a smile tugs at Alaric’s lips. He nods to the second keyring, which contains two keys. “The girls helped me choose a place for you. It’s in Highgate, overlooking the ancient cemetery. It includes a generous second bedroom that I thought you could use as an office for when you open your own organising business.” Alaric’s eyes burn into mine. “Which you absolutely should do. Viviana has been blowing up my phone with praise for you ever since you left her. She says she has at least five friends who desperately need your services.”

“Wait, Viviana told you?—”

“There are people who need you, Winifred the Magnificent.” Alaric’s lip tugs closer to a full smile. “You don’t need the Winnie Wins System to work your magic. And it’s time you realised that.”

I touch the beautiful carved wing, the butterflies inside me flapping like hummingbirds. “A house? I don’t know if I can accept this?—”

“Speak for yourself.” Mum grins, fisting her key. “Komal, was it? You’d better start that van of yours. I’m going to look at my new pad!”