Introduction: This story is a third, the penultimate, in a series within a series. The overall series is the “Cynthia Chronicles”. This story is directly connected to “Simoné and the Second Time Around” and “Marti and the Doppelganger”. The latter left many unanswered questions. Some of those will be answered, some probably not. There are many references to previous stories in the series. If you are confused by some of them, just put it off to my senility. The Cynthia Chronicles takes place in a universe very similar to ours. Unfortunately, it might be too similar.

For any who read “Myrna and the Genetic Disaster”, this is the same story, only with the political rantings and scientific explanations removed. There may also have been a few edits and additions.

This is the third part of ten.

Margaret (Simard) Vaeaolesau recovered rather quickly after having regained nearly 40 years of lost memory. To say she is happy is an understatement. She visits Simoné and Ivana for the birth of their fourth child. Margaret learns more about how they conceived their children.

Margaret Vaeaolesau checked over everything in her pleasant cottage on the north side of Tutuila, the largest island in American Samoa. Her daughter Simoné, Simoné’s wife, Ivana and their children would be arriving within the hour. The Wizard had said they would show up with their four children, cats and luggage at exactly 4:00 PM local time. As far as she knew, that was when they would be arriving. She hadn’t known The Wizard that long, but she had come to respect him very quickly. He had been honest and up front with her and her family. He had explained to her how important her lineage was to the survival of magic.

The remains of her first husband, there wasn’t much, were now buried next to those of her second husband, Aleki. She felt no guilt. Douglas had been a very good husband, lover, and provider. He was very supportive, and understood the difficulties she experienced being magic. Neither of them had full comprehension of what her abilities entailed. Nor did they understand how their daughters also had the same powers as she.

They were trying to make a new life where they might be able to hide. Douglas was older than Margaret and starting to turn grey. To make things less complicated, they thought that the best thing to do was to have him take the role of her father. Of course, he drowned in the shipwreck, and she was badly injured. That had been in 1877. She had forgotten about her daughters and more than 30 years of her past. That had all changed when two beautiful young women had taken her hands and brought about the healing of her mind. The event had been overwhelming. Her daughters held her for several hours after her memory was restored.

As strange as it was, The Wizard didn’t have to do a thing. She knew now what he was capable of doing; however, for those few hours, he just stayed in the background. He’d bring in some coffee and sweets every once in a while until Margaret got her feet on the ground. It helped considerably that her daughters hadn’t changed too much. Yes, they were mature women now, and Simoné was obviously pregnant, but she knew who they were instantly when they had assaulted her with all that love. As she found out, they had been almost as surprised as she was.

She had learned so much since then. Her oldest daughter, Bev, spent hours with her, helping her catch up. Then The Wizard took Margaret and Beth to Braşov for the birth of her granddaughter. It was the first time in almost 150 years that she’d been away from Samoa. She wasn’t ignorant of the world. She’d just never seen the reason to leave Samoa. But, in another few months, she would be traveling to California for her first meeting with hundreds of other witches. It was something she had never expected only a few months before.

Getting to know Ivana was a bonus, and knowing about her history was even more so. Ivana was such a warm, loving, and beautiful daughter-in-law. Simoné and Nicolae had been so in love before, and they were so fortunate to find each other again. She knew that the unseen powers had a lot to do with it, but it wasn’t set in stone. Things could have happened that might have prevented their ever coming together again. That didn’t matter, and she just had four more grandchildren to love. Bev never had any magic children, and her line had almost died out until her great, great, grandson had become her great, great granddaughter. Thanks to her, the line was going to flourish. Simone, no Simoné, she was fine with the little name change, was also providing grandchildren. Two of whom she fathered, and two she gave birth to. She still wasn’t sure how The Wizard worked that out; however, the evidence was pretty clear.

The first witch she could recall ever meeting was Elizabeth. At the time, Beth was with her adoptive parents in a grocery store. She was six years old, and she and Beth had ‘connected’ immediately. She knew what she was instantly; their powers were almost identical. She convinced Beth’s parents to let her help Beth with her powers. Surprisingly, even though Beth’s parents were Christian missionaries, their minds were quite objective and open. They knew their adopted daughter was ‘special’. They just didn’t know how special. Beth spent much of each summer for the next 15 years with her “Aunt” Margaret.

Margaret’s reminiscences were interrupted by a gentile knocking at the front door. Ivana and Simoné were standing there with their four children and cats. The Wizard was quietly standing behind them. It was 4:00 PM.

“Gramma!” Nicolae and little Margaret shouted as they rushed their grandmother. The bonding had been almost instantaneous when they’d first met at her 207th birthday party. They and the other children had not been present at the initial meeting on that wonderful day, but it wasn’t long before they did meet her. It would be years before they knew the whole story, but the nice thing was they would know it. Little Georg was right behind his older brother and sister. It had taken about two seconds for him to overcome his initial shyness. Raisa (Rose) was primarily concerned about two things: clean diapers and food. Although the trip from Romania had been almost instantaneous, The Wizard had adjusted their biological clocks to the local time, which meant Raisa was going to be hungry very shortly.

Beth and Margaret had arrived at the hotel overlooking Braşov at about 2:00 PM, two days before the birth of Margaret’s granddaughter, Raisa. They had actually been transported by The Wizard to the train station where Ivana met them with the hotel’s shuttle. There would be other times to take leisurely trips through Europe. Right now, it was more important to be with Simoné.
Simoné, in all her pregnant glory, greeted them at the front door of the hotel. The two ladies standing next to her were introduced as Veronika Pletniev and Darja Pletniev, who had been among the first witches Simoné and Ivana had met in Odessa. They were twin sisters and had formed a close bond with Simoné and Ivana. They were also certified midwives.

“Your rooms are ready for you, and as soon as you’ve had a chance to get settled and cleaned up, everyone is going to meet at our place that’s just down the path over there,” Simoné said as she pointed down a path that passed through a bower of evergreens. “We’re going to have cocktails, wine and some goodies. Then the kitchen is preparing a fabulous dinner. You will also meet some other wonderful people. Ivana has put together a great tour for you. We have some wonderful guides. Needless to say, I am not going to go with you. Our little girl is getting ready to make her debut.

“After you’ve had time to get settled, just come on down. We have a lot to talk about.”

Forty-five minutes later, Beth and Margaret walked hand in hand toward the opulent dacha they’d yet to see.

“Do you sense something?” Beth asked as they passed a large boulder set in the beautiful garden.

“Now that you mention it, I do. There’s been an attempt to hide something. My goodness, that’s an old spell. That’s been there for more than a hundred years. It’s still pretty effective, though. Are you able to penetrate the spell? I think I can.”

“Yes, Bev has been a great help. I think she’s showed us things we’d never have thought about before. I think I recognize Simoné’s work. It’s pretty basic, and she’d had little training at that time. Let’s see. There are 1 – 2 … 500 gold coins. That’s a tidy sum; about 300 ounces of pure gold, worth about a half a million dollars.”

“What about behind that fountain?” Margaret asked.

“Oh my, I hadn’t noticed. There is the same amount there.”

Simoné and Ivana greeted them at the door of the beautiful little dacha. The sound of multiple voices let them know there were other guests.

The next few hours were very enjoyable. In addition to Veronika Pletniev and Darja Pletniev, whom they’d already met, were Dmitri and Serge Prokovief. They were brothers, but not twins. They ran an amusement park on the outskirts of Odessa, and were very intelligent and excellent businessmen. They were also musicians and played with the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra. The Amusement park was closing down for the season, and they’d accompanied their fiancés to Braşov. The Wizard had already determined they were carriers.

“Oh Simoné, she is beautiful.”

“Mother, how could she not be? Her beauty came from you and her father.”

“I think you and your father had a bit to do with it, too. He would have been so happy to see you, but we know that never could happen.”

“Mom, there’s so much about this world we don’t understand. I wouldn’t be surprised if Father knows exactly what’s been going on.”

“Speaking of knowing what’s going on, how in the world are you and Ivana doing this? He’s not really changing you into men is he, so that you can impregnate each other?”

“No, we may look like men for the public’s sake, but we are only women. The Wizard went back in time and collected sperm from Nicolae before he became sterile. My babies are really Nicolae’s. I think you’ve seen how Ivana reacted when Raisa made her appearance. We have accomplished something that we wanted to do ever since we first fell in love.

“I love her so much, Mom. Everything I loved about Nicolae is still there, and now there is more.”

“But, what about your babies with her?”

“That did take some doing, but it was basically the same thing. Father supplied the sperm. The X-chromosome is the one I would have supplied, had I been a male. The Y-chromosome is his. Our children are your grandchildren as closely as possible. Our daughters are witches and our sons carry the magic heritage. Things really worked out quite well, don’t you think?”

“I know that so well. When you and Bev woke me up, it was such a shock; all that I had forgotten was suddenly all there. More than 30 years of memories were restored in an instant. There were my girls all grown up.

“Several little birds told me that you were quite a ‘bad’ girl.”

“Mom, I met Nicolae when I was 28. I had a college degree from the Sorbonne, and I was quite wealthy. I had known some very interesting and famous men. I had lovers, but all that went away when I met Nicolae. When he died, I was heartbroken. I made a vow to save this place. I kept it safe through two wars and the invasion of the Soviet Union. I made sure that my friends would be safe. I prevented the loss of the property Nicolae and I had given to all our tenants. It wasn’t easy, but I was able to do it. I made sure they would never run out of money. As you found out, there is quite a bit of wealth hidden around here. If anyone here needed it, they would find it.

“I was always close by. They didn’t always know it, but after WW II I made sure that at least one resident knew who I was and how to reach me if necessary. That worked very well. I modernized this wonderful little dacha and made it my home. However, I traveled more and more. I speak a dozen languages fluently, and I speak many dialects within those languages. It has been most useful. I probably used some bad judgment. One of my lovers took several hundred pictures of me; nothing pornographic, you understand.”

“I know, I’ve seen them. Bev showed them to me. I must say, you are really quite pretty, but I must say, I’m a bit shocked. I never thought a daughter of mine would expose herself that way.”

“I’m going to kill her.”

“No, I understand. If I had been in the same situation, I might have done the same. However, Aleki found me, and I had someone to keep me occupied for the next 80 years. You would have loved him. He was special, just like your Nicolae.

“It’s interesting how this works. We live so long, and our lovers seem to have a longer life because of their association with us, but relative to our lives, their lives are comparatively so short.”

“Mom, Aleki is out there. There’s a good chance that you might be together again. I am aware of a number of instances within our families where this sort of thing has happened. Randi is just one of them. So is Cindy for that matter. And of course there is Ivana.

“I think Raisa is ready for a nap. I’m sure glad she’s not having the problems nursing that Margaret had.”

“Problems? What sort of problems?”

“She didn’t want to nurse during the day. She just wanted to sleep. Then it was every two hours all night long. Ivana finally reached her after some long distance advice from Bev. Somehow, she was able to tell her that her behavior wasn’t appreciated, and she’d better adjust her clock. That seemed to work, but as you’ve already noted, Margaret is a headstrong little girl.

Rhonda and her mother talk about magic and why Rhonda can never be completely magic. The visit to American Samoa continues. This is really about a family reuniting.