Free Charmed by Barbara Bretton Page A

and up to the Indian village that became Sugar Maple, we've been able to hide here in plain sight for over three hundred years. But now that I was pregnant we could postpone worrying about the future a little longer and enjoy the present.
    So that brings me back to where I was when I started this story. Workshop week was over and the last class was literally weaving in loose ends while they waited for the legendary Sticks & Strings goodie bags. My best friend and frequent yarn shop helper Janice Meany and I were in the storeroom, stuffing swag bags for the departing guests while we exchanged observations. Janice is a tenth generation witch with a sharp tongue and a heart of gold. She owns Cut & Curl across the street but spends as much time in my shop as she does in her own. In many ways she is the sister I never had but don't tell her I said so. Janice likes to pretend she isn't big on sentiment even if everyone in town knows better.
    We both, however, like to gossip.
    "Can you believe Amy’s about to marry husband number five," I said as I slid a Ka Cha counter into each bag. "I'm not sure if that makes her an idiot or an optimist."
    “I think it makes her rich.” Janice popped a handful of M&Ms in her mouth. "I'd love to see her pre-nups. Those highlights she's rocking don't come cheap."
    "I don't know about her highlights but when a knitter buys cashmere by the pound, she has my attention." I added hand-crafted stitch markers to the bags. "It's good to see Liv again, isn't it?"
    "Where's she been?" Janice asked. "I thought she'd gone over to the dark side and started taking on-line classes."
    "I didn't ask and she didn't volunteer. I don’t think she said ten words today.”
    “Which is five more words than usual,” Janice observed. “The girl’s a quiet one.”
    No argument there. “It was more than that today." I paused for a moment, feeling a little foolish. "Am I crazy or was she staring at me like I was the last chocolate truffle in the box?"
    Janice didn't miss a beat. "Of course she was staring at you. We all were. You performed a twelve-stitch cable crossing without a cable needle. That was definitely stare-worthy."
    "That was pretty cool, wasn't it?" Dreams of my fearless cabling going viral on YouTube danced through my head.
    "You magicked it, didn't you?" Janice asked with a sly wink. "Come on. I won't tell anyone."
    "Absolutely not!" I was deeply affronted. "I'm a great knitter, that's how I did it."
    "You are a great knitter," Janice said, "but nobody's that great. You cast some kind of fiber spell, didn't you?"
    "You're not funny, Meany." I aimed a scowl in her direction. "I was a great knitter before my magick came in and you know it."
    "Not twelve-stitch-cable-without-a-needle-great," I heard her mutter under her breath but I generously chose to ignore it. (Did I mention knitters can be a jealous lot?) .
    Back in the front of the shop, there were the usual multiple rounds of goodbyes as the workshoppers exchanged emails and cell numbers and gobbled chocolate chunk cookies and my Madelinetosh DK.
    Liv had been the first one to arrive and she was the last one to leave.
    "Great workshop," she said as I handed her a swag bag. "You should write a book on cabling. I'd be the first to buy it."
    I thanked her for her kind words and tried very hard to ignore the chuckling from my friends who knew that magick just might have played a part in my knitting tour de force.
    "We missed you around here, Liv. I'm glad you decided to join us again."
    "Me too." She looked like she wanted to say more but, like I said, Liv wasn't much of a talker and she had already used up at least four workshops' worth of words.
    "Safe travels," I said, walking her to the door. "I hope you'll come back again and take another class."
    "Maybe after the baby comes."
    I'll admit her words stopped me cold. She couldn't possibly know I was pregnant. Nobody but Luke and Elspeth knew.
    Get a grip, I told myself. You're letting your