(Past)
Within minutes of signing the deed, Charity exuberantly turned and walked out toward the center of the street with her hands clasping the document and fully extended in utter joy, causing Josiah’s approaching horse to go into a wild bucking spurt and spill him at her feet. Charity affected all living things she encountered. Sometimes her life force was so apparent within the natural world that it would unnerve even the tamest and most domesticated animals. It was as if she rattled the wild streak right out of them.

“Madame, you have me at a disadvantage,” Josiah said while gazing helplessly into Sarah’s eyes. In that instant, their fate was sealed. There’s no accounting for the lost days, hours or moments following destiny’s arrow delivered by Cupid’s skillful aim. Interestingly, Sarah never could remember much about that moment, only that as a result, she invited Josiah to her newly-claimed home. Later she would describe the experience as a spell cast and set into motion by her first gaze into Josiah’s hypnotic chestnut eyes. On that night, Sarah also claimed her future husband.

Josiah was talk, dark and charismatic. Instantly attracted to Sarah’s calm energy, he later described the experience as a pulsating beacon aimed at his heart. He was well schooled in the healing power of natural herbs and crystals, and also privately dabbled in alchemy. Much like Sarah, he felt more at home beneath the cover of nature’s blanket than inside the constraints of manmade structures. With little effort and mutual joy, Sarah and Josiah went about the task of transforming the one room shack into a charming three room cottage with a sunlight kitchen that spilled over with cobblestoned details and a magnificent garden. Their wedding ceremony was a simple affair that took place in the garden before a handful of Proctor’s citizens, including their new friend, Jesse Brown, and performed by the tri- county Justice of the Peace.

It wasn’t long before word spread of the talented Adams family and strangers began to appear at their garden gate. Usually it was a referral from a satisfied customer, but occasionally, it was a traveler who overheard testimonial conversations about the couple while traveling, or eating in a diner.

Sarah would begin each session by sitting with a client at a spot centered in the bosom of the garden. She would tap into the ether to access the visitor’s energy field and identify their ailment, vitamin or mineral deficiency, and sometimes a psychological torment. Her use of a person’s aura fields gave her uncanny abilities no one could explain, but many would testify to. The subject would be requested to discuss some of the things prompting the visit and Josiah would observe with his own assessment criteria, followed by on-the-spot therapy. Besides a few untranslatable whispered incantations, Josiah utilized a combination of healing crystals, and soothing herb and botanical infusions that were contained inside thick brown glass bottles with corked rubber eyedroppers. He would carefully select the applicable bottles, labeled with tiny letters that defied legibility. After studying his notes and conferring with Sarah, Josiah would create a new concoction of bottled ingredients customized to each person’s chemical requirements. In fact, Josiah’s use of the term ‘chemical requirements’ could be interpreted as some of the founding theories to modern day pharmaceutical practices. His use of natural herbs and remedies were later proven to define the precursors of modern medicine.

By the end of a session, clients felt a sense of instant relief, and would gladly endorse the Adam’s health regimen as a common sense guide to living a long, disease-free life. Although Sarah’s talents clearly utilized some of her hidden skills, it was inferred that the guidance given was from a psychological perspective, not a psychic one. Josiah was a self-taught natural herbalist, although his elusive practice of alchemy fueled rumors of his magician’s skills. An enigmatic demeanor, his extensive private resource library, and flowing silk capes, did more to enforce the latter profession.