Read Online Mistletoe and Magic (Novella): A Loveswept Historical Romance by Katie Rose - Free Book Online Page B

clung to her leg. He looked up and gave hera big smile.
    “Pretty, Mama! She’s pretty!”
    “She certainly is,” Jennifer agreed, coming to put a fond hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t mind taking care of him? We shouldn’t be long—just a couple of hours, I think.”
    “Not at all.” Penelope looked at her nephew with affection as he proceeded to show off for her, tumbling across the floor, and then raced to present her with a toy.
    Jennifer donned her cloak and tied the ribbon on her bonnet. “The stores will be so crowded with only a few days left to the holiday. We plan to go to Macy’s Dry Goods Store and then …” her voice trailed off as she saw her sister staring wistfully at her son. “Penny? What’s wrong?”
    When Penelope looked up, Jennifer felt her breath catch. Her sister looked utterly miserable and her eyes were wet with tears. “Tell me.” Jennifer put her arm around Penelope and waited.
    “I … don’t know how to say this.” Reluctantly, Penelope spilled forth her story, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve. “I’ve had visions since I was little. I was scared at first so I didn’t tell anyone. But later I realized I could see the future.”
    Jennifer gasped. “You poor dear! And you kept this secret all this time …”
    Penelope nodded. “When I met Gabriel, for instance, I saw you walking down the aisle with him. So even though things were a little rocky for a while, I just knew it would turn out all right.”
    “I see.” Jennifer, no stranger to mysticism, remembered the time her sister referenced. Indeed, she’d always thought Penelope the hopeless romantic, for she always believed true love would win in the end. Now she understood why.
    “Same thing with Winnie.” Penelope got up and paced the floor. “I shook Charles’s hand and knew he was the one. It was so great, wasn’t it? They were so perfect for each other!”
    “Yes, they are.” Jennifer rose and stopped her sister. “So why are you so desolate now? It all did work out as you envisioned.”
    “I saw my own future,” Penelope answered quietly.
    Jennifer suppressed a shiver. “Go on.”
    “I saw Jared Marton as my one true love. I saw myself happy, being courted by him. And then I saw the newspaper headline, that he had been shot dead at age four-and-thirty.”
    “What?”
It was Jennifer’s turn to look astonished, and her sister nodded.
    “I swear, Jenny, I saw the headline. It was Jared. He is that age now, and if that is his destiny, he won’t live to thirty-five.”
    Gabriel came into the room and glanced at his wife questioningly. “Are you ready? I have the carriage outside …”
    Jennifer shook her head, and Gabriel, seeing the expression on Penelope’s face, indicated the carriage house. “I’ll fetch some lap robes for the trip.” Discreetly, he disappeared outside.
    “Penelope,” Jennifer said thoughtfully, sidestepping little Michael as he plowed into the room with his train to show his aunt how it worked. “You don’t know for sure that the vision is entirely accurate! Even the best-known psychics are often wrong. Why, Daniel Dunglas Home, who is world famous, has been known to make a mistake on occasion.”
    “But he is more of a medium,” Penelope protested. “I can understand that with the spirit world. This is different. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s as if I’m seeing images. Almost like when Jared brought a thaumatrope to the orphanage for the children. It showed one picture at a time until you pulled a string. Then they blended together as if they were moving. That’s what it’s like.” She turned a stricken face to her sister. “So I will never have a child, marry for love like you and Winnie. I will be left heartbroken.”
    Jennifer hugged her as Penelope fought tears. “Don’t think that way, dear. I’m sure something was wrong with the vision. Maybe you didn’t see it accurately, or maybe it is something that