Maybe a couple of pairs.’ ‘Remind me before you leave and I will get you his address,’ Michelle said as Amanda took the head of the table where ...here were a bunch of samples piled up. ‘Monique, you said you wanted to see some fabrics? Did you have anything particular in mind?’ ‘I really like this blouse,’ Samantha said, again indicating Michelle’s clothes. It is just so different, and please don’t tell me you got it in London,’ she said, looking imploringly at Michelle. Alex noticed the evil. They checked my cabinets and refrigerator and ‘tut-tutted’ quite a lot in disapproval, and I think only the fact that I now did have some milk in the refridgerator for Olivia saved my hide from a legendary tongue flaying. At length, after making sure that Olivia was clean and obviously loved and well cared for, to the best of my ability, the church ladies left us in piece, but it wasn’t long before I saw yet another pair of them coming up the walk. This continued all morning and into the early. ’ he laughs as I playfully punch his arm. ‘Do you know how long it’s supposed to last?’ I ask, turning my gaze to the window. Rain fell heavily from the sky and puddles already formed in small valleys and ditches. Lightning illuminates the sky, cracking across the wet, gray clouds. My eyes close as I gasp involuntarily. ‘Well into tomorrow morning,’ he answers, his hand seeking out my knee once more. This time, he traces small, comforting circles against the fabric of my slacks. ‘If you would. And he’d never seen a woman do so. Whatever could she be reading? One night, it was unusually warm. She left the window ajar when she went to her bed. He continued to cling there, hearing her breathing fall into the slow steady rhythm of sleep. Easing the window aside, he slipped silently in to her tiny room. He crept to the table where she studied and glanced over her books in the moonlight. Books on magik, every one of them. She studied to be a witch! One of that unholy breed whom he had.