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  Chess Pie & Choices

  A Southern Charms Cozy Prequel

  Bella Falls

  Evermore Press

  Copyright © 2018 by Bella Falls

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author, except where permitted by law or for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All Rights Reserved.

  Cover by Victoria Cooper

  Created with Vellum

  Also by Bella Falls

  A Southern Charms Cozy Mystery Series

  Chess Pie & Choices: Prequel

  Moonshine & Magic: Book 1

  Fried Chicken & Fangs: Book 2

  Lemonade & Love Potions (a short in the Hexes & Ohs Anthology)

  * * *

  Join Southern Charms Cozy Companions, my Reader Group, to discuss the series, other paranormal cozy mysteries, and share recipes and fun related topics!

  Preface

  Dear Reader,

  I want to thank you for joining my newsletter, and am happy to share this free short prequel with you. When I wrote Moonshine & Magic, I knew the journey that Charli had taken prior to returning to Honeysuckle Hollow, including why she’d left in the first place. It occurred to me that maybe others might want to know the details, too. So, now you can spend a little extra time with some of the fun characters from Honeysuckle.

  I will be adding more exclusive tidbits and stories for subscribers as the Southern Charms series grows. Thanks again for connecting with me!

  Now, y’all go get a glass of sweet tea, and settle in for a fun ride!

  Contents

  Also by Bella Falls

  Preface

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Southern Charms Cozy Mystery Series

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Dust fluttered down from the wings of the diminutive pixie serving us iced tea from a silver tray. Holding back a sneeze, I accepted the crystal goblet and took a tentative sip to calm my nerves. My grandmother and brother Matt, sitting on either side of me, did their best to smile as they accepted their drinks as well. Not in a million years would I have guessed that my life’s destiny would bring me here. And yet, here we all squirmed on an uncomfortably stiff loveseat in the Hawthorne house.

  Gawking around the opulent room covered in antiques and paintings of ancestors long gone reminded me to watch my P’s and Q’s. Everything in the space, including my future in-laws, made my palms sweat with nervousness. I could spellcast to dry them off, but risking a magical misfire due to my jangled nerves didn’t seem like a great way to endear myself to my new family.

  Tucker sat across from me in between his two parents, stiffer than a statue. Once in a while, his eyes would flit to mine, but his look never reassured me. Sweat beaded on my brow, and I did my best to wipe it away without garnering any additional attention. The slight puckering of Clarice’s lips marked my failure.

  “We couldn't be any prouder that our two families will become one, Ms. Goodwin.” Tucker's mother’s stiff smile conveyed an icy sincerity. “We hope that marrying the two great families together will be a huge event for our community.

  “If we’re going to be family, you might as well call me Vivi. As long as our two children are happy, then I bless this union.” Nana's voice dripped with honey, a tone Matt and I knew all too well. Usually, when we’d heard it as children, it sent us running.

  Hollis Hawthorne, Tucker's father, patted his son on the shoulder. “Of course he is ecstatic to marry Charlotte.”

  “She likes to be called Charli.” Matt took a sip of his drink, glaring at the Hawthorne men sitting across from him. I touched his knee in warning.

  Sweat now dampened the top of my lip. “We’re happy. We’re both happy, right, Tucker?” I plastered a toothy smile on my face.

  “Yes,” agreed Tucker.

  Great. Tonight of all nights, my fiancé, my supposed love-of-my-life, decided to become a practical mute. His robotic answer did nothing to help my insecurities.

  The ice in my glass melted and clinked against the crystal. “So. We were going to plan an engagement party?” Thoughts of a simple backyard barbecue or even a full-blown pig pickin’ floated in my mind.

  Clarice’s face lit up at the word party, and she straightened in her chair. “Everything is coming together nicely. I've already booked the municipal building. It's a shame that we don't have a fancier place for celebrations in town, but we’ll do our best to elevate the occasion.”

  My stomach tightened. “Exactly what have you already planned? Tucker and I haven’t even discussed anything yet.”

  “Well, I’ve already hired the Wings & Things decorating company to transform the place with the richest of decorations.” Clarice beamed.

  Nobody had a better eye than my friend Gossamer who owned the business. She’d be thrilled to help out with anything to do with my wedding, especially since she was so eager for her special beau, Flint Springlock, to be inspired to possibly pop the question. I just needed to make sure that she didn’t use too much of her signature color of pink.

  “She’ll do a wonderful job.” Hope eased some of my tension. “Now what about food?”

  Tucker’s mother clapped her hands together. “That’s the best part. I wasn’t sure that I could book him to come to our little town, but it turns out that Chef Sterling from Charleston had a cancellation. So the catering is all taken care of.”

  Nana's eyebrows shot up. “You mean you aren’t using Steve and his food from the Harvest Moon Cafe?” That gossip would ripple through the entire town when news got out that they weren’t using the only restaurant in Honeysuckle Hollow.

  Hollis crinkled his eyebrows. “Oh no. For something as austere as this occasion, we needed something…with a little style. Only the best for my son.” He clapped Tucker on the back.

  Matt scoffed. “Funny. I’m pretty sure if you polled most of the residents of our small town, they’d agree that Steve’s diner is the best.”

  Pixie poop. The pressure in the room thickened with every passing second. I glared at Tucker sitting across from me, desperate for his help. The only effort he attempted was to avoid my increasingly annoyed gaze.

  Somebody had to take control, or everything would blow up in our faces. Waving my hands, I attempted to diffuse the situation. “Catering is fine, Nana. I'll bet the food will be amazing.” I glanced at Clarice, hoping this would appease her.

  My future mother-in-law's shoulders relaxed. “It will be, you'll see. No expenses spared. Of course, you can contribute as much as you are able to, Ms. Goodwin.”

  Matt’s muscles tensed like a cat ready to pounce off the loveseat, but I grabbed him by the arm and held him down. “I’m sure your choices will be lovely, Mrs. Hawthorne.” There. Now the upcoming marriage wouldn’t be a battlefield.

  “Are you serious, Birdy,” Matt hissed underneath his breath. Under any other circumstances, I would have ribbed him about using my childhood nickname.

  “It’s. Fine,” I gritted through my teeth.

  “Oh my goodness, I have been a controlling nag, haven’t I? Hollis, you should have stopped me.” Clarice returned to her polite banter. “Where are my manners. I completely invite your input, Charlotte. After all, you will be th
e bride.”

  I didn’t buy it for a second, but I could play along. “What menu have you chosen so far?” Placing my other hand on Nana’s bouncing knee, I waited with waning faith.

  She launched into a menu that had nothing on it that sounded like fried chicken, barbecue, or cornbread. In fact, not one single dish had anything Southern about it other than a sprinkling of ingredients here or there.

  “And of course for dessert,” she continued, “we have requisitioned the best baker in Charleston to make her famous seven-layered coconut cake to end the night on a perfect note.

  Everyone knew of the delectable dessert that she spoke of. It had been featured in magazines both in the magical world and human world, but one problem stood out. I hated coconut. And Tucker knew that.

  My eyes bore into my fiancé’s at the suggestion, willing him to step up and fix things. With a slight wrinkle in his forehead, he cleared his throat. “I think the coconut cake sounds great, Mother.” He lifted his eyebrows in a plea to get me to go along.

  Nana and Matt both jumped in at the same time, informing the Hawthornes of my complete dislike of coconut and questioning every dish Mrs. Hawthorne had described. The thick cloud of tension promised to choke us all and ruin the entire evening.

  Panic erupted in my gut, and I blurted out the only thing I could think of. “I want chess pie.” Everyone stopped arguing and stared at me.

  “What was that, dear?” Clarice glared back at me.

  Anxiety tingled through my veins like tiny spiders crawling around, and I clasped my hands together to stop them from shaking. “I said that I would like chess pie for the dessert.”

  A tiny sound full of derision hissed out of Mrs. Hawthorne's mouth. “My dear, I'm sure we can do better than chess pie. After all, we are celebrating the union of two founders’ families. The like has not been seen for generations. Chess pie, I'm afraid, is too…what's the word… provincial for an event such as this.”

  “Our dad loved chess pie,” I muttered, staring at the floor unable to look up.

  Matt reached out and held my hand and squeezed it three times, just like Dad used to do when he wanted to say I Love You to us without speaking. I squeezed him right back. The mention of our recently deceased father doused the mood in awkward silence.

  Nana placed her arm around me and searched in her handbag for a lace hanky to dab the tears forming in her eyes. The wooden chairs creaked underneath the Hawthornes. Awareness of the rapid fluttering of the pixies’ wings as they hovered at the edges grew. When the sharp ring of the doorbell cut through the awkward stillness, we all jumped.

  “Don't you need to get the door?” Matt barely contained the contempt in his voice.

  “One of our pixies will do it,” exclaimed Hollis.

  My mind raced to take it all in and process my mixed emotions. Exactly what sort of family was I marrying into? One that made plans for an engagement party without asking the fiancée? One that still used pixies to do household chores? One that disregarded the wants and desires of their future in-laws?

  A limited number of options popped into my head. One, I could call off the entire thing. Risk being hated by one of the most prominent families in town and turn me into fodder for gossip. Not appealing. Two, I could run away and never come back. But that would hurt my family, and we'd been through enough. Three, I could endure whatever came my way, marry Tucker, and try to live up to the expectations of being the Prince of Honeysuckle’s wife.

  My sincerest condolences to your family,” Clarice offered. “And I hear you and your wishes, Charlotte. Chess pie is a fine option that would be perfect for any other occasion. However, I’m not sure how you could disagree that the coconut cake is definitely the better choice”. Even after the shedding of tears, the woman refused to back down.

  “Well, well,” interrupted a boisterous voice. The broad frame of Uncle Tipper filled the doorway to the room. “What have we here? Seems like a jolly tableau that is in need of my considerable assistance.”

  Never before had my great-uncle’s presence been so welcome. His disruption gave Nana, Matt, and me a chance to gather our wits about us. He nodded at the three of us on the loveseat, smoothing out his whiskers with his fingers.

  More than once, his appearance had been compared to a Southern Santa Claus, but with a prominent manicured goatee as white as the snow. And today, he must have felt in good spirits as he flaunted a pink and white striped seersucker suit that would look ridiculous on anybody but him.

  His crow, Biddy, perched on his shoulder and cocked her head back and forth to take us all in. Hollis stared at the bird, his mouth frowning in contempt.

  Without an invitation, Uncle Tipper dragged a large antique wooden chair across the hardwood floor with unceremonious scraping and settled in between the two families. The look on the Hawthorne’s faces made up for my growing agitation, and I did my best to hold back the surprised snicker rising in my throat.

  Offering a curt nod, Hollis sniffed. “Mr. Walker, it is nice to see you. It’s almost as if we could have a town council meeting right now since all three founding members are here. However, this is more of a family matter. I'm sure you understand.”

  Tipper batted away the pixie trying to serve him iced tea, sparkling dust falling all over his suit and riling Biddy up, who cawed her displeasure. “I’m here precisely because this is a family matter. As you know, my darling niece Rayline Walker, our dearly departed sunshine, raised these two fine children. That makes Charli my grandniece. And therefore, I am here in her father's stead.”

  He winked at the three of us, and for once, I felt comforted. On any other typical day, Nana would reprimand Tipper for interfering. But her enduring silence spoke volumes.

  “So what's this I hear about an engagement party?” Tipper’s voice oozed with Southern syrupy sweetness. Biddy croaked from his shoulder.

  This time at the word party, Clarice bristled. “We were finalizing the menu for the event.”

  The second she mentioned using the catering company from outside Honeysuckle, Uncle Tipper clicked his tongue. “Impossible. It should be a good old-fashioned shindig with food that everyone wants to fill their bellies. Not some fancy pantsy unicorn’s manure brought in from outside. For once, you should show your loyalty and support your town as it is.”

  The old rivalry between Hollis and Tipper lit the fuse, and the bomb of tension detonated into loud shouting. Hollis argued that he wanted nothing but the best for the town, and someone had to make it better instead of dragging it down. Unable to stay out of it, Matt leaned forward and jumped into the fray, supporting his great-uncle. Nana attempted to play peacemaker between the men, but she had to contend with Clarice.

  Pixies gathered at the edges of the room, nervously bobbing in the air, unable to decide what to do in all the chaos. Once Biddy launched herself off of Tipper and flew around, the poor smaller beings scattered with tiny squeals.

  Nothing was turning out the way that so many had hoped and expected it would. Dread and dismay rose inside me until I almost choked.

  “All I wanted was some chess pie,” I cried out. Without another word, I ran out of the room, out of the house, and into the night air.

  Chapter Two

  The day’s humidity clung to the night air, but the breeze off the nearby Intracoastal waterway blew cool against my face and rustled through the trees. Fireflies blinked over the grass, their twinkling presence pulling on me like an old childhood memory full of comfort and longing. Leaning on the porch railing, I let out a deep breath and tried to gather myself.

  The large wooden door creaked open and shut, and heavy footsteps made their way in the dark toward me. Moonlight lit up Tucker’s face, and he reached his hand out to pull back some of the hair off my neck. His presence should have helped ease my nerves, but the deep well of despair that had been drilled a few minutes ago was filling up with doubt.

  “Charli, what's wrong?” His voice held the concern that he had refused to express while
we all had been sitting in the same room.

  “Oh, so you can speak?”

  “Charli.”

  “I could ask the same of you, Tuck. Why didn’t you stand up for me in there?” No beating around the bush. Time to confront the problem head-on.

  “It's my parents, Charli. You know how they are. I told you that some of this was going to be difficult, but I made you a promise that we would get through it together.” His hand massaged the back of my stiff neck.

  “A little help in there would have been welcome. But all you did was agree with them, even when you knew that I wouldn't like it.” My voice cracked against my will.

  “It's just an engagement party, Charli. It doesn't last forever. However, I hope that we do.” He stepped a little closer to me, his lips brushing the top of my head.

  “But is it always going to be this way? Your parents say jump, and you ask how high? That's not a way to be a partner with someone you're supposed to love.” He acted more married to them than engaged to me. “Besides, you know I hate coconut.”

  He sighed and rested his chin on my head, pulling my body into his. “I promise that things will get better as soon as we're married. Then we can make a life of our own together.”

  He spoke the right words, and yet…they didn't soothe me the way that they should. A thread had been pulled, and now something inside me was unraveling.

  Tucker took my hand and kissed each knuckle. He brushed the back of his fingers down my face and leaned in. “I promise, things will get better.”

  His lips touched mine once. Twice. And then settled in for a longer kiss. All thoughts in my head disappeared in a cloud, and I forgot all my questions and complaints. Heat bloomed in my body, and my defenses against him toppled.