CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
(part one)

How could it happen? How could the horrible past reach up and snatch her from the perfect present? She couldn’t make sense of it.

Lying on her bed, Delphie mentally tracked the series of events.

She’d worried about her chocolate chip cheesecake. Valerie loved Delphie’s cheesecake. Valerie could, and would, eat an entire chocolate chip cheesecake herself. But Valerie was ‘slimming down’ and muscling up for her movie role. Standing in the kitchen, Delphie was worrying about Valerie when she heard Heather’s indignant:

“Some guy who says I’m being sued.”

She remembered walking out to the door. Sam slipped his arm around her shoulder as they watched the kids. She glanced from person to person. With practiced ease, she read their mental states.

Jill was being sued by Trevor’s parents. They wanted custody of Katy. Jill wasn’t sure what was more annoying – the custody bullshit or the subpoena for Honey’s sisters trial. The dark cloud of Trevor hung in Jill’s mind.

Heather was being sued by the cretin that impregnated her. Delphie felt a flash of rage from Heather. Blane thought it was funny.

Jacob blocked her from reading his mind. Whatever he received was bad. So bad he didn’t want to disrupt the party. He caught her eyes and shook his head. Nope, she wasn’t getting in.

Valerie was being sued for defamation of character by Heather’s sperm donor. Delphie hated that phrase but Valerie used it. Valerie knew Mike would take care of it. She trusted Mike implicitly and simply put it out of her mind.

Aden’s ex-wife was claiming that she was mentally ill and wanted her parental rights restored. Unwilling to bother with Nuala, Aden stuck the papers in his back pocket. A kiss from Sandy set everything right in Aden’s world.

Honey was subpoenaed to her sister’s trial. Even though they expected the subpoena, MJ felt helpless to protect her. He masked his helplessness with fury. Delphie chuckled. The little process server was terrified by MJ.

Focused on reading the thoughts and emotions around her, Delphie didn’t hear the little man say her birth name. Chastity. Not that she recognized that name. When he said the name she’d lived with for ten years – The Oracle Taber.

The words were like arrows through her soul.

The.

Oracle.

Tabor.

She took the papers, winked at Mike, closed the door. Easy. After all, there was a chocolate chip cheesecake to worry about. When she turned from the process server, she saw everyone’s shocked faces. She laughed.

What? Did they think she was born Delphinium? No last name? Only the name of a purple flower?

No, Celia had given her that name. Sam nodded in affirmation. He was there when it happened. If they didn’t mind, she had a cheesecake to attend to.

She was standing in the kitchen when the past crept up and snatched her.

Blow #1 : Levi Johanson was dead. The demon had been dead for eight months.

Blow #2 : The Chastity Bell was an valuable asset in the Johanson estate. She had two weeks to return the Chastity Bell to the estate.

Blow #3 : Oracle Tabor is the primary heir.

Then it happened. Bang.

Denver Cereal continues tomorrow….