by Jody Sharpe
I laugh, “Really, I never gave it a second thought. No one did. I’ve known the wonderful O’Ryan family my whole life. They’re like us and other folks in town. You’ve met Gabe, Hannah’s father, the animal whisperer. But many in this town are gifted with psychicness, as you call it. As far as angels living in town? Well, it’s a beautiful thought.”
“My mother loved angels so much, she wanted it to all be real. That’s why our house and yard are filled with angels. Now little Emma Rose has seen an angel. It’s just wonderful, isn’t it? I know I’ll write a story about it someday. I can feel it coming. Remember now, enough about me, I asked about you!”
“Please keep going, tell me more about your mother.”
“Mom was a lovely person, encouraging and loving. She died a year after they moved here. Dad’s diagnosis seemed to escalate when she passed away, and it’s been a steady progression of dementia ever since. He goes in and out, realizing she’s really gone. Dad had detailed notes for the last in the series, The Other Side of Diamonds. I decided I had to attempt to finish it for him and for her memory. Mother would have liked that. She always told me that writing was Dad’s therapy. I go on a tour Friday for a week promoting it, then home a few days, then back again on tour. The writing world will be shocked at his diagnoses and disappointed, I suppose, that I finished the last book. My agent said I did a good job copying his style, but I know it can’t compare to his genius. I wish I didn’t have to leave him Friday, but he has great caregivers.” Noah stops talking. “Now, Maggie, please tell me about you.”
“First, let me say, I’m sorry about losing your mother, and about your father’s illness. It’s a wonderful thing you’ve done, moving here to be with your father and finishing his last work.”
“Maggie, are you psychic like your grandmother and great grandmother?”
I will tell him the watered down version of the truth. I hesitate a moment listening to the hum, the lullaby of the trees.. “When I was a little girl, I felt connected to nature. I wanted to be outside all the time, even in the cold, the rain, and blustery sand-in-your-face beach days. Spending all summer days starting in the mornings gazing at morning stars and sunrise, I waited until it was time to play with Jenny. If I wasn’t in school, I stayed outdoors playing with the dogs and cats and watching all that goes on in the back yard. I don’t have the abilities like Gram and GG at all. GG can read minds some and they both can see the future at times. They help people with their intuitive abilities. I use my intuition as a Special Education teacher and I have a great job at Mystic Bay Elementary starting in September. Emma Rose is in my class; Jenny’s nephew, Patrick too. My sensitivity to the emotions of children with intellectual disabilities is a soulful connection.”
“That’s awesome, a gift! There’s something about your parents. They’re not psychics, are they? They don’t live here, I’m thinking.”
My heart aches for a moment but I’m totally honest. “My mother left when I was small. Gram and GG said she was more like my grandfather who left my mother when she was a baby; she didn’t have abilities. She wanted a different life, embarrassed by Gram and GG and Mystic Bay. She changed her name, had a career as an actress. Jenny Google’d her name. She’s married to some wealthy producer. I don’t remember her at all. I don’t know who my father is. My mother never would tell GG and Gram. She stopped communicating with them years ago.” As I regurgitate it all to Noah, my stomach aches. I spill it out like a rupturing volcano. I feel the anger I know I suppress. I don’t even know my parents, yet who wouldn’t wish for the white picket-fenced life Noah had…a loving mom and dad, a beach house on Long Island Sound with deer roaming free?
Noah sits up and reaches for my hand. “I’m sorry, Maggie. That must be hard. Your Gram and GG are extraordinary women. I can tell they love you so much.” We are quiet for a while listening to the sounds of the night. I hear the rhythmic night hum around me, especially my pine.
“Tell me more about your psychic abilities?”
As the Bishop Pine sways and hums I tell him, “It’s a kind of a pulse I feel around nature, an energy. Sounds weird and hard to explain, I know.” Closing my eyes, waiting for his response, I realize he’s still holding my hand. “I did see a special bee with golden feathered wings twice yesterday. Actually, I saw one at your house. I have to look it up on the Internet. I’ve never seen anything like them before.”
“Really, that’s so cool. We have a book on bees at the house. I’ll look it up too. Feathered wings? ”
I drop the subject, commenting on the hidden moon. Noah tells me a wise friend told him the moon is God’s night light. I close my eyes.
“Moon bathing under God’s night light? How beautiful that is.”
Noah squeezes my hand, as the night becomes midnight cold. We both yawn and I realize it’s time for the most wonderful date I’ve ever had to end. We walk back through the warm house to the front door.
“Maggie, tomorrow night, will you come to my house? I’ll order Bob’s Pizza and we can go swimming. Our pool is heated and I want you to meet Dad before I leave on the book tour. I want you to get to know my funny dogs and moon bathe, too. Maybe we’ll see more stars and the moon will be out tomorrow night.”
Of course I say yes and thank him for the lovely evening.
Noah Greenstreet has such a handsome face. His aura glows in the beams from the front porch light.
“Come here, Maggie,” he says drawing me near. Our first kiss sends me soaring. He says goodnight, then kisses me again three more times and leaves. I close the door, leaning against it. It’s dark in the house except for the light on the stairs.
“Noah,” I say to no one but the air. Blue is waiting on the first stair. I pet King goodnight as I pick up old Blue and walk up the stairs. King looks up at us.,
“It’s okay, you want to come.” I pat my leg. But he turns back into GG’s room. Another beautiful white feather is in the middle of the stairway;. I pick it up. Gram’s been carrying feathers around. Where did she get them? I’ll put it by the other one on the nightstand.
My mind goes back to Noah. I never thought I’d meet anyone like him. He gets me. Well, the little I told him. Getting into bed, I try and try to remember him, somewhere, once upon a time... a man named Noah, his kiss, a man I’ve met before, the man who, just like me, loves to moon bathe.
6
The Meeting And The Moon
When I arrive home from work, there is a book on the welcome mat, the last novel in Noah’s father’s series, The Other Side of Diamonds. He must have placed it there early this morning with a note.
Maggie, Please give this to your Gram and GG with love. See you tonight at 6:00.
P.S. I remember where we met!
Noah
All I can think about is Noah. He remembers…but where, when? As the afternoon progresses, Gram’s read a fourth of the book.
“Very exciting,” she remarks. “I’m going to miss that Conner Diamond, even though he’s not a real man. He’s so smart, utterly irresistible.”
We’re prepared, waiting for our guests. Before she left, Sweet Mabel made her specialties, iced tea and coffee. I made chocolate chip cookies. When everyone arrives, we sit in the afternoon sun-lit dining room with its old mahogany table and eight antique chairs.. I bring in a few extra chairs when Jack and Stella arrive with their son, Guy and daughter-in law, Bette. Guy is the editor of The Mystic Bay Town Crier and writes local mysteries. They’re Patrick’s parents. He’s eight years old with dark brown hair like his dad and he sits on his daddy’s lap. Stella has a manila envelope in her hand. Jenny slips in too, and gives me a hug. “Surprise,” she whispers as she sits down next to Guy. Reverend Carlos and Sharon come in. Even though she’s the Minister’s wife, being a medium somehow goes just fine in this melting pot of a town. We welcome everyone and normally shy Elena addresses us. “Thank you for coming today. You are like family to me and, as you know now, Emma Rose spoke for the first time in her life the other day in fron
t of Maggie. She said, “Angel.” Elena has tears in her eyes. “She said it again today and called me Mama.”
Everyone starts talking at once congratulating Elena. She asks me to tell the story.
“Emma Rose and I were having a picnic by the brook. I saw the apparition of my late dog Jeb and I was stunned. We followed Jeb to what I thought was a dead bird on the path. My dog vanished, but the bird rose as if held and lifted up in the air and flew away. Emma Rose pointed to it and said, ‘Angel.’ I thought she meant the bird at first. I really thought I was dreaming or had some type of hallucination until Elena called me.”
“You’re not dreaming,” Jack assures me, taking Patrick on his lap.
“Tell them, Guy and Bette.” Guy stands up. His dark hair has an aura around it of bluish green.
“Patrick drew a picture of an angel yesterday with his crayons. The thing is, he can’t draw, can hardly scribble in a coloring book!” Stella takes the picture out of the manila envelope she’s holding. A golden yellow angel has been drawn with an impressionistic flare. She’s holding a small brown dog. The swirling colors are touched with pinks and blues and a halo glows around the angel like it’s made of pure light. It looks like it could hang in a museum. As it is passed around the room, I can feel the silence. Then Bette and Stella begin to cry. We’re awestruck. Patrick, on his Grandfather’s lap, closes his eyes as a nap comes round; unaware of the incredible art he’s created.
Reverend Carlos stands, “This is God’s miracle. We need to tell the world. The angels are telling us they are here through these beautiful children! Perhaps they are showing themselves because of the town’s good works, the animals’ lives we are saving, the children being fostered, adopted.”
GG stays seated but says in almost a whisper, “As the oldest psychic in town, I must tell you; since we all started to do a little more for this world, I have felt something like this was coming, something with the angels. We must be very careful what we do now. We can’t expose the children to any exploitation from the outside. Remember Hannah and Gabe’s experience with the media when that book came out? We must inform them, yet tread carefully. I think we should wait and proceed with absolute caution. I feel more is coming, more angels will show themselves.”
Elena blurts out, “I made a big mistake and told Emma Rose’s father, Jamie. I couldn’t help it. He never comes around, but came over yesterday for the first time in a long time to ask to borrow money. He heard Emma Rose say “Angel.” Like a fool I told him what happened. Now he wants to go to the media, like news stations and STARZ Magazine to get paid for the story. I shouldn’t have told him.. I feel so bad; I’m scared now.”
“It’s okay, Elena,” Jack assures her. Perhaps you can ward him off. Tell him a friend of yours will give him some money to help him out. I’ll do it, bide some time till we know how to handle him. Does everyone agree?”
“Wait,” GG says calmly, her sharp mind racing through the problem. “I have an idea. You just send him over to see Marilyn, Maggie and me tomorrow afternoon. Tell him we’re going to talk to him about how he will get money and soon, a little bank account. Jack, a little money is a good idea. We’ll fix him up just fine. He won’t talk after we see him, if everything goes according to plan.”
Everyone looks at her with astonishment, not knowing what she means. But I do. Oh wow, my great-grandmother is going to blow their minds with her plans to stop deadbeat dad, Jamie Bond, in his tracks. His name really is Jamie Bond. 007 he’s not. The psychic plans of one shrewd old lady at 20 Moon Road start a-brewing in that lovely curly white-haired one hundred year plus old head.
Noah and I enter the warm dark water. It barely ripples. The moon peeks out from the clouded sky. His dogs lie on the stone deck watching us with interest. Noah brought me in the house to meet his ailing father. “Hello, young lady,” is all he said, but it was enough for me to see the kindness and contentment in his eyes. His caregivers, Lorraine and Cal, took him to the kitchen where they’d prepared a roast to his liking. Noah and I swim in the heated pool and I explain the events of the day, how little Patrick Benfield has colored a miracle, an amazing angel. Learning of his intellectual disability, Noah is utterly astonished. When he hears of GG’s plan for Elena’s husband, he laughs heartily.
“Your great-grandma is a wonder. More messages from heaven? This is clearly happening in our time. You realize, Maggie, it started the day we met again.” We get out, wrapping towels around us.
Noah is being coy about where we met; teasing me that he’s not going to tell me. We’re having fun playing with his friendly dogs. We have a glass of wine and veggie pizza before we swim again and talk like we’ve known each other for years.
“Noah, please tell me where we met or can I guess?”
But all he says slyly is, “ You have to remember yourself in order for it to be extraordinary that we found each other again.”
Then his face turns serious as he looks at me. Where, when was it our lives crossed? It must be as children, I’m guessing. Or was in New York City when I visited as a teenager with Jenny and her family. Or was it LA or college? “Okay,” I finally acquiesce. “I’ll ask my psychic side to remember but I don’t want to have sleepless nights. My mind races at night now these last few days.”
“You’ll remember, Maggie Joy, and when you do, you’ll fly to my doorstep. I can see it in my mind’s eye.” Embarrassed again, I go to Noah’s room to change. His mother decorated the room with orange and yellow prints, to accent the room’s teak furniture. With its mid-century style, it renders an alluring hominess. I can always feel love inside a true home and this one has it. I wish I’d met his mother, Josephine. I see a photo of her on the dresser. A beauty she was, a professional model when his dad met her; she had long dark hair and gorgeous deep-set eyes. By her photo is a collection of tiny angels.
Dressed and outside again by the pool, we comment on the beauty of the night. The moon finally peeks hello amid the fog. As I gaze at the moon, trying to forget he won’t be home for a week, the dogs start running around the pool in chase. Noah says to them, “Swim time!” Shadow jumps in, but Smarty, Murph and Nursie don’t. Shadow has waited his turn and swims, frolicking with delight. Smarty decides to get into his play pool.
Noah remarks, “Gabe is such an amazing dog psychic. He said Smarty’s afraid of the large pool because he was thrown in as a puppy but he wants to join in so I bought him his own kiddy pool. Nursie watches Shadow like a hawk and Murphy always stands glued to her. The little ones don’t like the water.” Shadow is pretty comical, almost swimming in laps; we dry the dogs when they get out. They do their doggy shake, drenching us again. When they’re pretty dry, we go back into the house. Lorraine and Cal are getting Noah’s dad ready for bed and we’re alone in the living room with the dogs beside us. We sit for a while gazing at the river rock gas lit fireplace. Another night I don’t want to end.
“This is nice, Noah. I love your beautiful house, your dogs and your dad is so sweet. Lorraine and Cal are marvelous with him.”
Noah agrees. “Thanks, I’ve tried my best to keep him comfortable. It’s sad to see his once brilliant mind leave. I wish you could have known him before his illness. He didn’t have the ego that some very successful people have. He always kept a low profile, loving to write his novels at home, especially at our cottage on Fire Island. All I can do is be with him now as he fades.”
“I know you must be a great comfort to him. Please tell me about his first book and Mystic Bay.”
“He once said he interviewed psychics in towns up and down the coast but he heard about Mystic Bay’s psychics and how they stood out, all genuine, not a fake among them. My mother said he thought the town was enchanted though he never told me that. Mystic Bay may be enchanted, Maggie. Did you ever think of that?”
I have to laugh, “It is rather an enchanting place. When I lived in LA, I think I forgot how very beautiful it is or how the folks are so different.”
“You never read the firs
t novel, One Psychic Summer, did you?”
I marvel at his psychicness and have to admit I never have read any of the series but would like to. Noah says he’ll send me home with his father’s first. He says I’ll surely pick GG and Gram out, although it was meant all to be kept anonymous.
“I didn’t know they were in the book as characters.”
“Yes,” Noah replies. “He disguised the psychics here, yet wrote them as real characters. My dad changed their names, of course. He loved picking out the names and writing the characters’ unique personalities. He said the characters became real people to him, like friends who never disappoint you. He loved the town and told me he wished he’d never left, that he and mom had raised me here instead of New York.”
“It will be fun to figure out who’s who! My Gram and GG are real characters for sure in real life. The whole town’s full of them.”
The night finally comes to an end. Noah takes me home. Walking me to my door, he puts his arms around me. As we stand and kiss in the cool late night, I feel the heavy fog swirl around us as if it’s bringing us closer still. I don’t want him to leave. He must go on to his book signings and I must tend to the tasks at hand, with GG’s cleverness to thwart Jamie Bond’s motives and keep the children’s identity a secret if possible.
From the front window, I watch his car move down Moon Road then turn on Beach Road, disappearing in the fog up Bluff Road to his house. I realize I was so swept up in the night, I forgot to take the book home. Wherever did I meet the man before? He said I would remember. His kind nature is almost too good to be true. He doesn’t find me freakish like so many others would. No, Noah Connor Greenstreet seems almost heaven sent.