Winter's Spell, page 1
Winter’s Spell
Synopsis
Theater director and high school drama teacher Tessa Flowers is still carrying a torch for her old college roommate, Roxy Bright, despite not having seen her in years. When they end up in Provincetown over the winter, Tessa convinces Roxy to help her put on a Shakespeare production. What better way to fan the long-held spark of attraction into the roaring fire of passion? Cue the instant attraction they long to explore. But when Roxy unwittingly saves a stranded mermaid named Mo, things go off script.
Mo is tall, curvy, and stunning, with long green hair and absolutely no clue about life on land. Lured into Cape Cod Bay by an evil spell, she cannot return to her true form. In gratitude to Roxy for having saved her, she vows to help Roxy find her true love. This would all be great, except that Mo doesn’t actually know anything about human courtship, and her help creates more problems than it solves. Throw in Tessa’s icy ex, who has the lead role in the play, and the stage is set for a comedy of errors that even the Bard could appreciate.
What Reviewers Say About Ursula Klein’s Work
Enchanted Autumn
“Klein’s lovely debut paranormal romance showcases the value of friendship and authenticity in the face of scheming exes and magical mayhem. The novel’s greatest strength is the unshakable friendship between Hazel and Roxy, who find ways to support each other even while pining for the same woman. The healthy communication keeps the love triangle from dragging, and the grounded magic system delights. Klein should win plenty of fans with this.”—Publishers Weekly
“Enchanted Autumn by Ursula Klein is a spellbinding, slow-burn romance. Set in a mysterious hometown, it’s the perfect cozy read. Klein does a fabulous job of painting a New England autumn. Each time I opened the book I felt like I was in the cool, drizzly town myself.”—Lesbian Review
“This story was so much fun! Filled with magical moments, comedy, drama, and pesky otherworldly beings in Salem that can’t help but interfere in things where Hazel’s personal life is concerned. Each new chapter brought wonder and a new element the story that had the potential to mess with things in a way that only magic can. …A great debut from Ursula Klein that has left me really excited for what she’ll bring next.”—LESBIreviewed
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By the Author
Enchanted Autumn
Winter’s Spell
Winter’s Spell
© 2024 By Ursula Klein. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-63679-504-1
This Electronic Original Is Published By
Bold Strokes Books, Inc.
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls, NY 12185
First Edition: January 2024
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editor: Cindy Cresap
Production Design: Susan Ramundo
Cover Design by Inkspiral Design
eBook Design by Toni Whitaker
Dedication
To my mother,
who first introduced me to all things magical
Chapter One—Roxy
Roxy’s breath caught in her throat as she gazed at her best friend, Hazel, in her wedding dress. It was like she was seeing her for the first time, even though they’d known each other since grade school. She’d never seen Hazel looking so absolutely beautiful.
“That bad, huh?”
“What? No. Oh my gosh, Hazel, you look gorgeous.”
Hazel blushed with pleasure and her eyes became bright with tears. “Hey! You’re going to make me cry and then I’ll be a raccoon bride.”
“Sorry. Let me put it another way: you look totes gorge and Elizabeth is going to cream herself when she sees you.”
“Ew.” Hazel laughed, and Roxy felt her own tears recede a bit. She knew if either of them started crying, the other would too, and they shouldn’t be crying, because it was a happy day—wasn’t it?
Stop it. Today is about Hazel, not you and your pathetic love life. Roxy forced herself to smile at Hazel before giving her a quick hug. “You look amazing.”
“Thanks, Rox.” Hazel turned to the mirror in the room to inspect herself one more time. “Do you really think she’ll like the dress?” Her voice shook a little at the end of the question, and Roxy realized for the first time how nervous Hazel must be. She and Elizabeth were so in love, Roxy was sure Hazel could show up with a garbage bag on her head and Elizabeth wouldn’t care. But she didn’t say that.
“Hmmm, I dunno,” she said, feigning uncertainty. “You’d better spin around a few times so I can see the full effect.”
The ghost of a smile showed up on Hazel’s face. She stepped away from the mirror and into the center of the small room they were using as a staging area. Elizabeth had her own room, as the two brides had decided to keep their wedding day clothes a secret until the moment of the ceremony. Roxy was glad of it because it gave her some final moments together alone with Hazel before she left her forever for Elizabeth.
Okay, that was being a little dramatic, but lately, it’d felt that way.
Again, Roxy forced herself to move her thoughts away from her own issues and focus on Hazel, who was slowly spinning in front of her, the bottom of her beautiful white dress flaring out. It was a deceptively simple dress. Roxy was terrible with the names of fabrics and styles, but she’d gone dress shopping with Hazel back in September, and she remembered the saleslady saying this was a classic “A-line” dress with a soft tulle skirt that skimmed the ground. The real showstopper element, though, were embroidered flowers all over the bodice and neckline that, from one angle, looked pink and blue, and from another looked purple and red. It was a stunning effect, and now, while Hazel twirled, it was especially breathtaking.
Of course, it was magic. Hazel and Roxy had found the dress in a shop in Boston, and then Hazel’s mother had taken over and enchanted it to change colors. Hazel’s mother, like Hazel, was a bona fide witch, and it so happened that her spellcasting abilities were specialized in enchanting objects and materials, like fabrics. Hazel, by contrast, had magical abilities more refined in the area of potions, like her father, so she’d been more than happy to let her mother charm the dress.
This was her first time seeing the full extent of the spell, and Roxy felt her mouth open involuntarily in awe. The effect was simply perfect—simple enough to fool the uninformed, who would attribute the color change to LED lights or a holographic effect, but so subtle, unusual, and stunning that those of the wedding party who knew Hazel’s family well would appreciate the skill necessary to create such a beautiful spell.
“Your mom did an amazing job,” said Roxy finally. “You should twirl in front of the big mirror to see it better.”
Hazel stepped gingerly across the room, making sure not to trample the train of the dress, and twirled in front of the full-length mirrored closet doors. She spun again and gasped when she saw the effect herself. Her eyes filled with tears again.
“How am I ever going to get through today without crying?” she said. Hazel smiled, but her lower lip was still trembling a bit.
Roxy gave her a big bear hug from behind as they both looked into the mirror.
“You’re not. We’re both gonna cry. It’s a wedding! That’s what happens, kiddo,” she said. She felt certain that if she started crying, it wouldn’t be pretty. It really did feel like she was losing her best friend.
“Okay, but it’s too soon for that,” said Hazel. She shook her head a bit as if she could shake away the emotions of the day. She turned to face Roxy. “Let me straighten your bowtie as a distraction.”
“Have at it,” said Roxy. The bowtie had been a bone of contention between them—or a bow of contention, as Roxy liked to joke. She’d been thrilled when Hazel asked her to be her best maid at the wedding, and even more so when Hazel said she could wear whatever she wanted. Roxy had elected to wear a teal-colored velvet suit jacket with a crisp white shirt and narrow black dress pants. Hazel’s new shop manager, Jazz, had helped Roxy find everything at a deep discount on Black Friday, since Roxy hated shopping and was perpetually penny-pinching.
Roxy had planned to wear a thin black tie with the outfit like John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, one of her favorite movies. She was somewhat dismayed when both Jazz and Hazel suggested she wear a black velvet bowtie instead. It was not nearly as badass as a skinny black tie, but it wasn’t her wedding, so she’d relented.
It’d helped when Jazz showed her some pictures of the king of cursing, Samuel L. Jackson himself, wearing a velvet jacket and matching bowtie to an event. She had to admit it looked pretty sharp. Too bad she had no clue how to tie a bowtie and hers was constantly going askew.
Hazel tugged and tightened the loops of the bowtie until it looked perfec
“Ready for the red carpet,” she said to Roxy with a wink.
There was a knock on the door and the hotel’s event coordinator popped her head in.
“We’re ready for you, Roxy. Five minutes, Hazel.”
The two of them looked at each other, and Roxy felt a tremble of anticipation and sadness pass through her. This was it. Another half hour and her best friend would be married. She reached out to squeeze Hazel’s hands, but instead, she found herself in a giant hug. They clung to each other for what felt like forever, and then finally they broke apart.
“You’ve got this,” said Roxy.
“I’ll see you out there,” said Hazel. Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
“Hey, it’s going to be perfect. And then we’re going to party the night away,” said Roxy. She mustered all the courage and excitement she could while giving Hazel her trademark wink and an enthusiastic two thumbs up.
Hazel’s mother came into the room. She would be walking Hazel down the aisle since her father had passed away some years ago. It was clear she was excited for her daughter’s big day, and Roxy was glad of the distraction. She slipped out of the room in the commotion of last-minute prep between mother and daughter and followed the event coordinator to the hall where the ceremony would take place; she took her spot at the front, next to the officiant and across from Elizabeth’s matron of honor.
The room was still buzzing with excitement and murmurs of discussion. Roxy checked that she had the ring Hazel had chosen for Elizabeth in her left breast pocket, which she did. She took a deep breath to steady herself and avoided looking out into the crowd for fear of her nerves getting the best of her. She was used to public speaking when she gave ghost tours up in Salem, but those rarely had more than twenty people; there was easily triple that in attendance at the wedding that day in Provincetown.
All of a sudden, the crowd became quiet and the music started up. Roxy looked over at the entrance and her heart gave a squeeze. This was it. She had to try not to cry. It was Hazel’s big day—it was her beginning. And our ending, she thought with a pang.
* * *
Much later, Roxy found herself alone at an empty table, surrounded by the detritus of the end of the night—empty glasses, dirty plates, scrunched up napkins. At least the centerpieces still looked nice. The ones that remained, that is. Several guests had already claimed the centerpieces, at the brides’ insistence, and taken them home with them.
Roxy was sipping on an IPA and was, in actuality, quite content to be alone for a while. The day had been a whirlwind. The ceremony had been a bit of a blur. She’d managed to hand Hazel the ring at the right moment without dropping it, for which she’d been extremely grateful. She’d also managed to deliver her toast at dinner with the right mix of good humor and gravitas. Everything had gone smoothly, and when it turned out the bakery had mixed up the cake orders and brought them the wrong flavor—coconut instead of vanilla—there had been no dramatics. Hazel and Elizabeth had shrugged it off, but Roxy, as part of her best maid duties, made sure to call up the bakery and demand a refund. She’d gotten them a fifty percent off discount in the end, but she was proud she’d done right by her best friend.
And Hazel was her best friend. She knew in her heart of hearts that nothing would change that. Even when Hazel and Elizabeth had first been dating, a little over two years earlier, Roxy had never felt purposely excluded by them. She’d always had plenty of opportunities to be with Hazel alone and continue their routines. Logically, she knew that. And of course, it’d been a lot easier to see Hazel happy and in love when Roxy had also been happily in love. Or at least in like, if that was a thing.
But ever since her last relationship had ended a couple of months ago, she’d felt like things were getting a bit hopeless. She would never find anyone. She’d be alone forever.
That was silly and likely not true either. But what if she simply continued to date one woman after another, caught in a repetitive cycle of infatuation, lust, happiness, and heartbreak? That wasn’t good either.
Seeing the happiness Hazel and Elizabeth shared should have been a reminder that true love exists and can find a way, but instead, their happiness made her heart ache with what she so desperately wanted but couldn’t have. It made her bitter, and she didn’t like it one bit.
The beer was getting warm in her hand; she set down the bottle and took a swig of water instead, trying to refocus her attention. Hazel and Elizabeth were dancing a slow dance to one of the final songs of the night. Roxy knew it was nearly the end because she’d helped Hazel finalize the playlist herself. There were only a few songs after this one: “At Last” sung by Etta James. It was a stunningly beautiful ballad even if the words stung Roxy to the core with their ode to finding love at last.
The two brides had their arms around each other loosely enough that they could look each other in the eye. Elizabeth’s cool blond beauty complemented Hazel’s shorter, curvier, darker looks. Roxy thought for sure Elizabeth would go for a suit, as she’d said many times she was considering it, but in the end, she’d chosen a beautiful, simple white sleeveless gown that, in the back, had an insert of deep navy accentuated with silver embroidery. And while both brides swore up and down that they hadn’t shared details of their wedding day wear, somehow the dresses complemented each other as if they’d been bought to match. The way they looked at one another, lovingly, with complete trust and easy joy—it was clear to anyone how in love they were.
Of course, Roxy was glad of it, but right then, she would have done anything, just anything, for it to be her in the white dress—and she never wore dresses, so that was really saying something. The sense of longing for someone special to hold in her arms was overwhelming, and she felt her throat tighten and her eyes get teary. She’d wanted to find true love more than anything else, and she felt consistently denied. She gritted her teeth to stem the flow of tears.
That was it, she decided. Today was January first. It was a new year and a fresh start. She made a resolution right then. Or maybe it was more of a wish. She wasn’t going to date anymore. No more casual flirting. No more fuck buddies. The next relationship was going to be the One, the one that sticks—even if it meant being single for a while. She knew she had a bad habit of jumping from relationship to relationship, and that ended now, she resolved.
She toasted her resolution and finished the last swig of beer in the bottle as she heard a voice behind her.
“Excuse me? Don’t I know you?”
Roxy had been so deep in her own thoughts that she jumped at the sound, and the last sip of beer went down the wrong pipe. She started coughing convulsively and the person, whoever they were, slapped her on the back before going over to the bar and getting her a glass of water.
She sipped the proffered water and tried to get control of her breathing. She felt like an idiot; she wiped her face with her sleeve and saw that Hazel and Elizabeth were looking over at her in concern and several other wedding guests had paused in their conversation to look over at them. Typical…I made a fool of myself at this wedding after all.
“It’s all right, folks, we got it,” said the person who’d handed Roxy the water.
Roxy turned to face the person who’d startled the bejeezus out of her, and her breath caught in her throat.
The woman was seriously hot. She wore a finely tailored navy suit with a silver blouse and, of all things, a skinny black tie. She had dark, almost black hair, wavy and styled in a very chic asymmetrical chin-length bob with hot pink and electric blue highlights mixed in. She had a series of tiny hoops up and down one of her earlobes, and although she was wearing some intense eye makeup, she wore it effortlessly. It wasn’t overdone; in fact, it was quite sexy. Roxy wondered how this mysterious person had eluded her during the rest of the wedding reception given how striking she was. She was still taking in the full effect of this gorgeously androgynous wedding guest, and had zero sense of what to say, now that she was capable of saying anything.
