Read Fate's Hand: Book One of The Celtic Prophecy for Free Online

have given all the merchandise to wandering strangers before you get back,” Maggie rolled her eyes with exaggeration and quickly added, “No problem. Of course I will,” before Leo’s lips shriveled like a prune in response to her sarcasm.
    By the time Brenawyn laid the crutches on the backseat and slid behind the steering wheel, Leo was seat-belted in and fingering the claw marks on the dashboard. “What happened?”
    “Oh, I had a bit of a problem with the dog on the way here; seemed he didn’t like people walking so close to the car while I was in the bathroom.”
    “He’s never been destructive before. I wonder what got into him. Do you think he’ll be okay in the house all by himself?”
    “He’ll be fine. He’s back to his old goofy self now.”
    ~ ~ ~
    At the doctor’s office, Leo held up her foot and grimaced; “Now it hurts more. They always seem to want you to put your body in a way it doesn’t to want to bend,” she said as she rubbed her foot.
    “We’ll know more when the doctor’s looked at the films.” Brenawyn answered, just as the doctor walked in carrying the x-rays. He smiled as he clipped them to the light box mounted on the opposite wall. “Hello, Mrs. Callahan. I’m Dr. Miller.” Leo accepted his extended hand and he turned to face Brenawyn, “And you are?”
    “I’m her granddaughter, Brenawyn McAllister.”
    Looking from one woman to the other, he said, “Ah, I see the resemblance,” then quickly got down to business. “All right, let’s see what we have.”
    He turned the overhead lights off and the light box on simultaneously. He contemplated the three x-rays one at a time and made notes in Leo’s file. He took two steps to the examining table and, paying careful attention to her injured foot, placed it on the leg rest. He guided Leo to lie flat and slowly took off the air cast she wore. Brenawyn could see that the ankle and foot were badly swollen and bruised.
    “You have broken the third, fourth, and fifth metatarsals. They are, luckily, clean breaks and will heal on their own. What has me concerned is the heel; there’s a hairline fracture, and if not healed correctly, it will cause pain for the rest of your life.”
    “What are you going to do?” Leo asked.
    Turning on the overhead lights, Dr. Miller answered, “I’m going to have to put a cast on your foot. I am erring on the side of caution; the foot cannot move for fear of aggravating the fracture. That means you will have to stay off your foot for the majority of the day and sleep with it elevated at night. In six to eight weeks, the cast can come off, to be replaced by a removable boot, much like the one you have here,” he ended, holding up the hospital-issued air cast.
    “Okay, what about stairs? She has stairs at home.” Brenawyn asked for clarification.
    Leo’s head snapped up to the doctor’s face and she watched attentively as he responded, “As long as she doesn’t overexert herself,” he told Brenawyn, and facing Leo to make sure she was listening, he added, “and by that I mean, Mrs. Callahan, you cannot traipse up and down the stairs all day. No more than twice in twenty-four hours. Come down in the morning and then go back up in the evening when ready for bed. And I want you to keep the foot elevated as much as you can throughout the day. Is that clear?”
    “Yes, it is. Thank you, doctor.”
    A half-hour later, Leo was wheeled into the waiting room, sporting a knee-high cast on her right leg. “Brenawyn, I want to go home.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    Alex liked walking into The Rising Moon on an ordinary day. He liked the dichotomy of the commercial quartz stone necklaces and love and fortune spell books juxtaposed against the beeswax candles and the sage and lavender bundles lovingly made by the proprietress. There was an authenticity to the shop, once one moved beyond the first two aisles. It was well-masked, and to the untrained eye, it fit in with the dozens of