8 Gone is the Witch Read Online Free Page B

shan’t deny, but for trust, thou wilt spare me and see what will of mine doth give me strength.”
    Tony, Carlos , and I stood speechless. Dominic shut up, too, especially when after finishing, Ursula reeled back, folded her arms at her breasts, pitched her weight onto one hip, tossed her hair off her shoulder with a sassy flip and said, “Capisch?”
    I thought I would die laughing, and might have if only Dominic hadn’t gotten all teary-eyed and sappy on us. It was still funny as hell, but I do have some restraint.
    H e appeared touched and visibly shaken. Perhaps the thought of Ursula finding her own voice and standing up to his authority made him realize that she could do as she wished, come and go as she pleased. No longer slaved to the seventeenth century, shackled to the whims of a male dominated world, Ursula had proclaimed her emancipation.
    Still, as proud as that made me, I felt I couldn’t allow her to embark on such a dangerous endeavor. I went to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulder. “You can’t go, hon.”
    “See!” said Dominic. “Listen to her.”
    “Shut up,” I said, pointing at him. “This isn’t about you.” I nudged Ursula away from the group, back to one of the windows overlooking the parking lot.
    “Ursula.” I hushed my voice so that the others couldn’t hear. “You know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment, to see you come of age? I mean, I’ve known you since you were just a box of bones. Look at you now.” I splayed my hands in a sweeping gesture. “You’re gorgeous, smart and sexy. You have your entire life ahead of you. Me?” I pressed my hand to my chest. “Well, I’m gorgeous smart and sexy, too, but I’m old. I’ve done the rite of passage thing I don’t know how many times. I probably won’t get to do it again. If I go and never come back, then that’s all right. I’ve made my mark.”
    “But––”
    “But nothing, you have so much life ahead of you: your life with Dominic.” I rubbed her belly lightly. “Life with a house full of beautiful children that I know you will have someday. You can’t risk throwing all that away. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
    She looked at me and smiled. “Aye, thou art saying ye hath never taken chances when young and in first prime.”
    “Well, no . I wouldn’t say that, exactly. I mean when I was young….” I scoffed at the stream of memories that raced through my mind, memories of foolish things I did in much younger days when caution was something one threw to the wind.
    “Ursula, I’m not saying I didn’t take chances when I was younger. I did. I took a lot of really stupid chances and––”
    “And did that not help shape the woman thou art today?”
    “Of course , it did but––”
    “ But thou hath regrets?”
    “No. I have no regrets. I mean, I might have done some things differently had I known then what I know now, but I have no regrets about doing them.”
    “I see, yet thou doth preach to me, do as I say not as I do.”
    “I’m not preaching. I’m simply offering advice borne of experiences a hundred and seventy-five years in the making.”
    “And what of thee, sister? Would thou hath listened to the voice of experience all of seventy-five and one hundred years ago?”
    “Me?” I laughed openly at that. Tony and the boys turned to look at us. Only then did I realize that the y were in their own little huddle. Probably Tony and Carlos were coaching Dominic on how to put his foot down in handling Ursula.
    “No, ” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t suppose I would have listened to anyone then, no more so than I would listen to anyone now.”
    “Especially Master Tony.”
    “Yes, especially Tony. I think I’d go to the Eighth Sphere even if I didn’t want to go if he told me I couldn’t.”
    “ `Tis my point is all.”
    “A h, yes, point taken then. My, but you are your maker’s twin, aren’t you?”
    “Thou should know.”
    “Hmm…You sure you