Heart of Gold | B. Gold ✓

22 | A Black Cat

Fawnie spent the day with her aunt Pol at the older woman's beautiful home. "Read my tea leaves, aunt Pol? It's been ages since you last have." She smiled at her aunt from her horizontal position on the sofa. The young girl held her empty teacup in hand and clinked it against the nearly empty pot.

"What'll you be expecting to hear, my love?"

"Anything truly, there's so much shite going on that I haven't a clue what's happening."

Polly chuckled at Fawnie before agreeing, "Alright, come on then, pour." Fawnie sat up and poured the rest of the tea into her cup then closed her eyes, "You know the drill, swirl the cup." She followed Polly's instructions perfectly, "Think about the one you love," Fawnie's brows furrowed as she didn't remember Pol ever using those words before.

It was always something about what Fawn liked doing the most or what her favorite dish was...

But instead of one person appearing in her mind, two kind souls did. One John and the other was obscure but Fawnie had a feeling as to who he was... even if she didn't want to believe it. 

"Think about your future family, your spouse..."

A house in the middle of nowhere with a vardo sitting in the yard was all Fawn could imagine. The pretty cobblestone of the wall covered in moss with children running loose like crazy. She could see their pretty curly black hair and bright blue and brown eyes... they looked just like their father and her...

"Now pour the tea back into the pot."

Polly's voice pulled Fawnie from the strangely colorful fantasy, she awkwardly lifted the pot's cover and dumped the tea inside before handing the cup to her aunt. Fawn waited patiently for the verdict, watching Polly's expression change with each second she looked at the tea leaves.

First, her aunt seemed happy, then confused, then worried, then... nothing at all. Fawnie leaned closer as Polly set the cup down with a pale face. "Fawnie, tell me you haven't been up to no funny business."

"Funny business? What do you mean?"

Polly pointed at the cup, "Say it isn't true, love." Her aunt's voice was strained and tears clearly pricked at her eyes, "Fawnie, tell me now. It isn't bloody true."

"I haven't a clue as to what you're goin' on about, aunt Pol. How would I? You're the one who read the leaves!" Fawnie exclaimed loudly as Polly closed her eyes tightly.

"There's a black cat in your leaves, Fawn. You know what that means. Someone's thinking about betrayin' you. Or they already have..." Polly paused for a moment, "Or you've betrayed someone."

Fawnie's face blanched at the accusation, her aunt never doubted her. "You truly can't think I've had some hand in this bullshit, do you?" The tears were coming and Fawn sensed she wouldn't be able to stop them. "Aunt Pol, please, you can't think I've done anything, why would I kill John?"

The young girl looked at her hands then back at her aunt, "You can't really think that I'm a black cat, aunt Pol."

━━━━

Fawn couldn't stop thinking about her tea leaf reading or her aunt's initial reaction. It just ate away at her head until she forced herself to do something other than think about it. That's how Fawnie found herself going through the old photo albums. Each child had one despite most of the photos weren't even photos.

The younger siblings had far more photos in their albums and Fawn found herself actually enjoying flipping through her album. That is until an unfamiliar face appeared. A photo of her brother, Tommy, and a random woman in 1907 at what appeared to be some horse race. Tom looked bored in his own way... and the woman looked a lot like Fawnie.

She choked at the sight and pulled the photo out of its paper frame in the book. Fawn held the photo up to her candle to get a better look at it. It was horribly yellowed and written on in pretty cursive lettering that resembled her aunt Polly's writing.

"Wild Rover's Race 1907, Tommy Shelby, and I on a day I'd never forget."

So that squashed down Fawn's theory that her aunt wrote it... but who was the woman? There was an aura of elegance surrounding the woman despite the photo being older than Fawnie herself... there were so many thoughts running through her mind, so many possibilities as to why Tom took a photo with a random woman.

Then another idea sprouted and Fawn knew that she wouldn't be able to contain her curiosity otherwise.

AUTHOR'S NOTE.

Not me... not letting Fawnie rest for just one moment... also... are y'all excited to know who the woman is? See you sometimes next week with chapter 23 :D