Capítulo 11: Grandma Saxon meets Phoebe
The chime always signified that a visitor had arrived and it drew the attention of Phoebe and Rosette to the door. Business came before pretentious fake friends like Ruth.
In walked an elderly woman, dressed in a nice black suit and short black pointy heels. She had a yellow floral scarf tied around her head and a pair of black sunglasses.
She was walking with the help of a fancy walking cane but she was steady and didn't seem to need it so much given that she was not leaning on it heavily.
As she walked in deeper, two men in black suits followed her at a respectful distance, not too close to make her uncomfortable but also not too far so as to be delayed in case she was in trouble.
Instantly, Phoebe recognized her. This was none other than grandma Saxon in the flesh and blood. It was quite weird to see her alive given that by the time Phoebe died, the old lady had already passed away.
The question however for her now was what the elderly woman was doing in her cafe.
Grandma Saxon's focus was almost entirely on the red headed Phoebe. This was because for an entire year, she had paid a lot of interest to all women with red hair since that was the color of the hair David's mysterious wife had.
However, her focus broke momentarily because she saw another familiar face, that of Ruth Mayfair.
"Ruth..." she called the other woman uncertainly. "What are you doing here?"
Ruth was unnerved and worried. She looked from grandma Saxon to Phoebe, worried about what the old woman was doing here.
Could it be that it was true what she had heard from one of her little spies in the Saxon tower about David finding his mystery woman? Could that woman actually be Phoebe?
Her very own friend, stupid easily led by the nose Phoebe!. Anger boiled inside of her at the thought that Phoebe could yet take away another thing that she desired.
No, never, Ruth thought. Even if Phoebe was the mystery red head, she would never allow her to be with David. There was only one woman in Fog country worthy of David and it was her.
Ruth clenched her fists, sinking her well filed pink nails into the flesh of her hands. The pain served as a means to ground her and make her clear headed. She drew in a long breath and smiled at the elderly woman.
Her lips moved upwards, curving into a smile and she suddenly grabbed the arm of the elderly woman.
In a coquettish voice she spoke to the elder. "Grandma Saxon, it has been so long since i last saw you. I believe that it was my own grandmother's birthday last month when we last met."
Grandma Saxon nodded. The timing was indeed correct. Old lady Mayfair and her were good friends that had been close for over fifty years. They met when they were both newly married and become members of a cooking club for the wealthy wives of Citrus city.
Over the years, their friendship had deepened so Ruth was always in and out of the Saxon house as she pleased.
Grandma Saxon smiled at the mention of her old friend. "Mmm, how is your grandmother dear, has she recovered from that cold yet? I want to go to Magic city next week for a holiday and i was hoping to take her with me."
Ruth shook her head and batted her eyes unnecessarily. "Grandma will be happy to hear that you are thinking about her. She has been complaining about being forced to stay indoors by my first brother while she is recovering. I am sure that she will say yes to your invitation the moment i inform her about this."
Cleverly, Ruth tried to turn grandma Saxon away from Phoebe and towards the door. She thought that if she could distract the old woman just enough, she could take her out of the cafe and then Phoebe would be forgotten.
Of course, she underestimated grandma Saxon's worry for her grandson David. She was not leaving without talking to the shaman about her grandson.
Putting a hand on one of the tables, she halted her body from moving forward. Ruth was not to be stopped and she applied a little more force.
"Grandma, why don't we go to a better cafe, one with a brighter environment. This kind of place is not good for your health."
Phoebe guffawed when she heard those words.
"We have passed all health standard checks and as you can see, we don't have a speck of dust in here. My cafe may be a little old in appearance but that's the way i like it. It's called artistic choice Ruth, maybe you should draw some inspiration from it."
Phoebe rolled her eyes, looking Ruth up and down. Ruth was a perfect magazine cover imitator. She chose her clothing according to what was trendiest, was most expensive and could be styled to match the model on a billboard or the magazine pages. She had no personal sense of style.
Ruth glared at Phoebe, not even bothering to hide her displeasure this time. In turn, Phoebe smiled and shrugged.
Grandma Saxon was unaware of the silent unannounced battle between the two women. However, Ruth's hold on her had loosened up and she got the opportunity to turn around.
"Phoebe, where do you want me to put this?"
Rosette was holding up brown envelopes, newly arrived from clients looking for auspicious dates for various reasons. Every morning, the envelopes would come in and every evening or the following morning, responses would be mailed out.
Without realizing what she had done, Rosette broke open a can of worms for two women. One was Phoebe with the red hair and right age as that of the woman grandma Saxon was looking for and two was Ruth who didn't want the old woman learning Phoebe's name.
"Phoebe!!" grandma Saxon exclaimed.
She pulled herself away from Ruth completely and walked towards Phoebe with focused eyes.
"Your name is Phoebe." she said___, more like questioned in fact.
"Yes." Rosette answered for her boss. "She is Phoebe, Citrus city's best ghost catcher, exorciser, matchmaker and shaman. If nobody can solve your problem, come to Phoebe."
Rosette was the type not to miss an opportunity to promote the cafe and it's business.
"Red hair, name Phoebe, looks like the right age." Grandma Saxon muttered.
In her muttering, she came to a realization that brought a frown to her face. All this while, she had been searching for someone like this and almost everyone in their circle was aware.
How was it possible then, that Ruth knew of a possible Phoebe matching the description of the woman David was searching for but she never said a word?
"Ruth, how...." she pointed from Phoebe to Ruth as her words slowly trailed off without being completed.
Ruth bit her bottom lip anxiously and her eyes darted around rapidly. She was searching for an explanation which would have her coming out as honest but also helpful and not deceitful at all.
Ancestor Saxon was standing beside Phoebe, highly amused by the drama. "Look, look, the white lotus has been trapped."
Capítulo 12: The liar and her lies.
It was for this exact reason that Ruthie wanted to send Phoebe as far away as possible. She knew that although the red haired woman had changed her last name, it was just a matter of time before a Saxon discovered who she was. Her only prayer was that Phoebe insisted that she wasn't the woman David was obsessed with.
"Child please am still waiting to get an answer from you and it better be convincing. How long have you known about this Phoebe?" Grandma Saxon was not backing down.
The old woman's frown only got deeper with each passing minute. She was beginning to realize that Ruth Mayfair had been lying to her about something important for a while now.
"Liar, liar pants on fire." The teenage ghost sang repeatedly as it twirled gum around it's finger.
Scanning her head for a believable answer, Ruth opted to bury herself deeper.
"It's not her grandma. I too thought that she was the woman David was searching for until I found out that her last name is Hopkins and not Gabriel.
But I come here often to buy herbal tonics for my parents and grandmother who has become more frail recently which is why you have met here." Ruth lied through her teeth.
Phoebe watched Ruth lie shamelessly with an amused face, she weighed on whether to just tell grandma Saxon the truth that the two of them knew each other or let sleeping dogs lie.
She was in a semi trance as she wondered why David was searching for her. He didn't even know her personally in this life so why was he interested in her.
Now it made more sense that time when he came running after her. What also made perfect sense now was that Ruth knew that David was looking for her and that's why she wanted to send her to the Magic city so desperately.
The old woman whose hopes had gone up because she thought that this time she had found the mystery woman stumbled back a little because she began to feel dizzy.
Fortunately, one of the body guards rushed to her side and helped her sit in one of the wooden chairs that was close by.
With her hand raised to her head, grandmother Saxon let out a soft painful groan. It was obvious that her head was hurting and causing her great discomfort.
Phoebe quickly filled a glass with a tonic that helps to alleviate stress and dashed towards the direction of the old woman.
"Please drink this guest." She acted as she would with another stranger or guest in her cafe.
Grandma Saxon was hesitant at first because she rarely ate or drunk anything that wasn't prepared by carefully chosen chefs back at home.
In fact the old woman had a nutritionist who was in charge of coming up with her meals that's why even at the age of eighty, the old woman was still as strong as an ox with all parts of her body still functioning properly except for her leg that bothered her some times.
Phoebe could see that the old woman was questioning the usefulness of the contents in the cup.
[She must be worried about the contents of the tonic. It would be ridiculous of me to give an obviously wealthy client something bad because my own reputation would be ruined. I charge at least two hundred dollars for a sip of this tonic, grandma but i am giving it to you for free. This is two hundred dollars, the cost of a plate of grade B beef at King's hotel.]
Phoebe's thoughts displayed clearly at her forehead and the old woman read each and every word.
The old matriarch was more than shocked that she inhaled sharply, her narrowed eyes never leaving Phoebe's face.
She had blinked a few times but the words were there for everyone to see. When she looked around at the others however they had normal expressions on their faces.
Grandma Saxon controlled her excitement because she had met an extraordinary woman and she had to be the one.
It was in that moment that she came to a conclusion that this Phoebe was not an ordinary girl. No wonder her grandson was having dreams about her and was obsessed with finding her.
"Thank you dear," she reached her hand out for the cup.
Ruth who hated seeing grandma Saxon accept something from Phoebe. For all she knew, this small gesture could be the key to Phoebe crossing the threshold of Saxon tower.
She moved her hand and tried to push the cup away but Phoebe maintained a strong hold on it.
Dissatisfied, Ruth complained loudly, "Phoebe how can you suggest that grandma drinks that shit, even the cup is old and dirty." She wrinkled her nose in disgust.
The old woman looked her quizzically. "Didn't you just claim a few minutes ago that you came here to pick tonics for your parents and grandmother? Or was that a lie?"
The question forced Ruth to fold her lips and squeeze her eyes shut, she could blame no one but her big mouth. "Well.... what I actually meant was that..." she stammered as words failed her.
With her hand on the cup, grandma Saxon raised the cup to her lips and swallowed the contents that were in the cup ignoring Ruth's meaningless warnings.
The moment she put the cup down, she began to feel relaxed immediately and all discomfort in her body vanished. It was truly mesmerizing, her eyes moved to the cup as she tried to figure out the ingredients that were used to make it.
Even with all the stress reliving supplements she took on a daily that were manufactured by the Saxon group nothing came close to what this young woman had given her.
"Thank you. Is it possible for you to tell me what ingredients you used to make this?" She asked innocently, a small smile made its way to her lips.
"That's a secret." Phoebe commented as she smiled back at the only Saxon who adored her in her past life.
Even though Phoebe adored the old woman too, sharing the recipe was out of the question despite the fact that the Saxon ancestor spirit gave her the recipe.
Her eyes moved to where it was sitting, right next to its relative. Phoebe assumed that it would urge her to share the recipe but it didn't.
She turned her attention to grandma Saxon who was looking at her with a glint of curiosity in her eye.
[I wonder what she's doing here? Did she come here purposely to see me?]
"Sit down dear." Grandma Saxon instructed politely with a big smile on her face after reading Phoebe's thoughts. "Maybe you can help me. I am looking for a red haired woman, twenty four years of age and named Phoebe Gabriel."
On hearing that, Phoebe swallowed hard but remained composed because she had to maintain the façade.
[Crap! oh crap! Why?]
In her mind, Phoebe panicked. With the resources of the Saxons, even if she denied her true identity, the truth would be revealed in no time.
Grandma Saxon chuckled. She was more than confident that this was the right one and she couldn't wait for David to bring her home. For now, she decided to act like a fool since Phoebe was not ready to reveal her identity.
"But unfortunately, you aren't the person I am looking for but am fortunate to have met you. From today I would like you to deliver tonics of my choosing to the Saxon tower." That said the old woman stood up to leave.
[What? No, no way.]
Phoebe's thoughts puzzled the old woman who wondered why she was so alarmed. What was so scary about the Saxon tower?
Ruth hurriedly walked to the old woman and intertwined her arm into the old woman's.
"Grandma I told you that woman doesn't exist." She triumphantly stated and she rushed the elderly woman out of the cafe.
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