Mary O'Reilly 09 - Twisted Paths

by Terri Reid

Ian placed his hands gently on her shoulders to hold her in place. “Okay, now,” he said, keeping his voice slow and calm. “Obviously you’ve had a wee bit of a shock and you’re going a bit daft. But it’s nothing we can’t take care of. Why don’t you sit a bit and I’ll call Bradley.”

  She nodded. “Yes, we should call Bradley,” she repeated. “We can call him from the car.”

  “Oh, no, darling,” he said. “You won’t be driving the car in your condition.”

  She paused and considered him for a moment, biting her lower lip to keep the laughter from bubbling out. “Ian, do you think I’ve gone over the edge?” she asked.

  “Well, ah, I think that might be a wee bit harsh. And we know you’ve been under a lot of stress lately,” he explained slowly. “But I could fix you a nice cuppa tea and we could talk about it.”

  She lifted her hands and placed them on Ian’s shoulders, mimicking his own position. “Ian, darling,” she said in her best mock accent. “I’m not a wee bit daft at all. I came out of my bathroom and Mike was sitting on the corner of my bed. He’s not a ghost anymore. He’s a guardian angel. He’s Clarissa’s guardian angel and he’s got her on a Greyhound bus coming into Freeport in ten minutes.”

  Comprehension dawned on Ian’s face as his smile spread. “He’s back?” he asked. “He’s really back?”

  She nodded eagerly. “We have to meet him in ten minutes,” she repeated.

  He threw his arms around Mary and hugged her. “Well, then, what are we waiting for?” he asked.

  “Well, you really should get dressed,” she suggested. “At least put some shoes on.”

  He looked down at his bare chest and feet and nodded. “Aye, that would be a good idea,” he said.

  “I’ll warm up the car,” Mary said. “And I’ll call Bradley while I wait.”

  Ian paused on his way into his room. “Ah, Mary, about Bradley,” he said. “Why don’t you just ask him to meet us at the station, but don’t tell him why. I think we ought to be with him when he hears the news.”

  “You think he might react the way you did?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

  He just grinned. “Be down in a trice,” he said before pulling his door closed behind him.

  Mary hurried down the stairs, pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed Bradley’s number.

  “Mary, what’s wrong?” Bradley’s voice, although sleepy, was filled with concern.

  “I’m fine,” she replied immediately. “But I need you to meet me at the Greyhound Station on South Street in about ten minutes. I have a lead on a case I’m working on and I need you to be there.”

  “Which case?” Bradley asked.

  “I’ll tell you all about it when you get there,” she replied, and then after a moment’s consideration she added, “Oh, wear your uniform. I might need a little law enforcement reinforcement.”

  She hung up the phone, grabbed her purse and hurried out to the Roadster. The night was clear and the stars were shining in the evening sky. Mary could hear the soft call of an owl from somewhere in the vicinity. The ground was cold and the grass crunched beneath her feet. It had been almost a year since Clarissa had been in Freeport. She wondered what the little girl would think about finding her real father.

  “She has a real father,” a voice said from next to her.

  Mary jumped and turned. Henry Madison, Clarissa’s father, stood next to her.

  “How did you…” she began.

  He shrugged. “I just knew,” he said. “She’s back. She’s back in town?”

  Mary nodded. “She will be, in just a few minutes.”

  “How is she?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “I only know that she’s coming back on a Greyhound Bus and that my friend, Mike, is her guardian angel.”

  He smiled. “She’d like that, her own angel,” he said. “I used to tell her all about angels.”

  “Well, I’m sure Mike is nothing like any angel you might have described to her,” Mary responded.

  “I’d like to see her,” Henry said. “I need to see her.”

  “Yes, you do,” she agreed. “But we need to be sure she’s safe first. Gary Copper escaped today. We don’t know where he is.”

  Henry quickly looked around. “Is she safe?” he asked.

  Mary nodded. “Bradley, Ian and I will be meeting her at the bus station,” she said. “We’ll keep her safe.”

  “And Becca?” he asked.

  Shaking her head slowly, she met his eyes. “I don’t know anything about Becca,” she said. “I’m guessing she’s on the bus too, but I’m not sure.”

  Henry paused for a moment, seeming to search the night air and then he turned back to Mary. “No, she’s not on the bus, Mary,” he said sadly. “But she’s watching over Clarissa just the same.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Mary said, her heart breaking for the little girl who’d lost so much in her young life.

  Ian hurried out of the house and down the steps. He was nearly to Mary before he saw Henry. “Ah, so you’ve heard the news?” he asked.

  Henry nodded and then began to fade. “Bring her to me, when it’s safe,” he said to Mary.

  Mary nodded and waited until he was gone.

  “So, what was that all about?” Ian asked as they hurried to get into the car.

  “He knew,” she said. “He knew Clarissa was coming back to Freeport.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “I think our psychic connection with the people we love is the strongest bond we have. I’m guessing that without the physical and mental limitations we place on our own abilities, it’s even stronger.”

  Mary turned on the car and backed out of the driveway. “What do you mean limitations?” she asked, as she shifted gears and drove the car down the street.

  “When you tell yourself you can’t do something and you believe it, you generally can’t do it,” he said.

  “Isn’t that just wisdom?” she asked.

  “Could be. Or it could be fear holding you back,” he said. “Why can some people see ghosts and others not?”

  “Because we have a gift.”

  “Or because they don’t want to see a ghost,” he supplied. “They don’t want to know, so they can’t.”

  “So, Henry can feel Clarissa’s presence because he thinks he can?” she asked.

  “No, Henry can feel Clarissa’s presence because he’s opened himself up to the possibility of being able to. He knows he can do, so he can,” Ian replied.

  “He has faith,” Mary countered, as she turned right onto Empire Street.

  Ian smiled. “Aye, faith,” he said. “It can do miraculous things.”

  “So, changing the subject,” Mary said with a quick glance over at him. “Why didn’t you want me to tell Bradley about Clarissa?”

  “Well, first, I didn’t want him jumping in his squad car, rushing down the highway to meet the bus and getting her off of it,” he said.

  Nodding, Mary agreed. “Yes, I could see him doing that. And…”

  “And, she just lost her father a year ago, the only father she’s known,” he said.

  “And if Henry is right, she’s lost her mother too,” Mary added.

  “Ah, the poor wee bairn,” Ian said sadly, “so much for her to deal with. Perhaps she doesn’t need to have one more thing, one more major change thrown at her.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t or shouldn’t know that Bradley is her father?” Mary asked.

  “At least not yet,” Ian said. “She might just need familiar surroundings, people she knows, a place to feel safe and a place to grieve.”

  “It’s late, but I’m sure Katie won’t mind a phone call,” Mary said.

  Ian smiled. “Aye, the Brennans would be the perfect place for her to stay for a while,” he said. “And it’s a place where Gary Copper would not think to look.”

  “Do you think he’s looking for her?” she asked.

  He turned to look out the window for a moment; at the dark, quiet
houses and the empty silent streets. Then he turned back to face her. “No, Mary, I don’t think he’s looking for her just yet,” he said softly. “I think he’ll be looking for you first.”

  Mary’s hands tightened on the steering wheel for a moment and she felt a sick feeling in her stomach. But Ian’s words had not surprised her. She had known that Gary would seek her out first. She had escaped him. She had denied him. And she had challenged him. “I know,” she whispered.

  He placed his hand over one of hers and gave it a quick squeeze. “Aye, and you also know that you will win,” he said with confidence, “because you have faith in your abilities.”

  She smiled. “Faith, it all comes down to faith.”

  Chapter Four

  The squad car arrived only a few minutes after Mary had pulled into the parking lot of the hotel just off Highway 20 on South Street. Bradley, dressed in his uniform, met Mary and Ian in the front lobby. “So, what’s going on?” he asked.

  “I had a visitor tonight…,” Mary started.

  “Copper? Did Copper come to your house?” he interrupted.

  She placed a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. “No, Bradley, it was Mike. Mike came to me.”

  “But he went to the light, right?”

  She nodded. “Yes, he did,” she answered, with a smile on her face. “But, he told me he got reassigned, he’s a guardian angel now.”

  Bradley leaned back against the wall and shook his head. “Well, what do you know,” he said, smiling back at her. “That’s great. That’s just great.”

  “Aye, and for his first assignment, he has quite a special charge,” Ian inserted.

  Bradley looked at Ian and then Mary. “Okay, who is Mike’s new friend?” he asked.

  “Clarissa,” Mary replied softly. “He found Clarissa and is bringing her back to Freeport.”

  “What?” Bradley’s eyes were wide with shock. “He has…she’s coming…where is she?”

  “She’s on the bus,” Mary said. “She’ll be here in about five minutes.”

  He ran his hand through his hair and started pacing. “What do I say to her? What should I do? I’m not ready,” he stopped and looked at Mary and Ian, a smile growing on his face. “I finally have my daughter back.”

  Another car pulled into the parking lot.

  “Who’s that?” Bradley asked.

  “That’s the Brennan’s car,” Mary said, moving up to Bradley. “I called them and asked them to be here when Clarissa arrived.”

  “Why?”

  “Bradley, we have information that leads us to believe that Becca, her mother, has died too,” Ian said. “This little girl has probably gone through more than we can even imagine. I suggested she might need a little time with people who are familiar to her before she finds out she has a father.”

  “It might be nice for her to get to know you,” Mary added. “Before she…”

  “Before she realizes that a perfect stranger is the person she has to live with,” he finished.

  “Aye,” Ian said, coming up and patting Bradley on the shoulder. “You want the information to be welcome, and you don’t want to overwhelm her just as she arrives.”

  He nodded and turned away from them, looking out the window. Ian went outside and walked over to the Brennan’s car. Mary came over to Bradley and slipped her hand inside of his. “Hey,” she said softly, “Are you okay?”

  His hand tightened on hers and he nodded. “Yeah, I’m just a little overwhelmed,” he said, and then he turned to Mary and pulled her into his arms.

  She nestled against his chest and enjoyed the warmth of his embrace. He lowered his head and kissed her next to her ear. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  She looked up at him. “For what?” she asked.

  He slowly lowered his head and tenderly kissed her forehead, “For helping bring my daughter home.”

  “Our daughter,” she corrected with a smile.

  “Our daughter,” he said softly, his face beaming with joy. “We are going out there to meet our daughter.”

  Taking a deep shuddering breath to keep the tears at bay, she nodded. “Yes. Yes we are.”

  The bus pulled in front of the hotel and the air brakes hissed to a stop. The door opened and Bradley stepped forward, but paused long enough for Katie to enter the bus before him. “Bradley, I can’t imagine…” she began.

  He placed his hand on her shoulder and nodded. “It’s okay.”

  She moved down the narrow aisle with Bradley following directly behind her. Towards the middle of the bus, next to a window seat, Clarissa lay curled up and sound asleep. The elderly woman seated next to her looked up at Katie with suspicion. “You know this little girl?” she asked.

  Katie nodded. “Yes, I was a friend of her mother,” she replied. “She just recently passed away.”

  The woman’s eyes softened. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “And who you got with you?”

  The woman peered over Katie’s shoulder to Bradley. “This is Police Chief Bradley Alden,” Katie answered. “I asked him to meet the bus too, to make sure there were no misunderstandings.”

  “Well, if you’ve got the Police Chief with you, I guess I’ll let you take her with you,” the woman replied, pulling herself up and moving out of their way.

  Katie smiled. “Thank you.”

  She started to move forward, but stopped and looked at Bradley watching his daughter sleep. She would have had to have been blind not to see the longing and the love in his face. “Bradley, I was wondering if you would carry her off the bus,” she suggested. “It would be easier for you to maneuver her.”

  The gratitude in his smile confirmed her decision was right. “I’d…,” his voice choked and he cleared it softly. “I’d be happy too.”

  Katie leaned over and gently shook Clarissa’s shoulder. “Clarissa, sweetheart, you need to wake up now,” she said.

  Clarissa sighed and readjusted herself, but didn’t open her eyes.

  “Sweetheart, I know you’re tired, but I just need you to wake up for a moment,” she insisted.

  Eyes slowly blinking open, Clarissa stared sleepily at Katie. “Mrs. Brennan? Is Maggie here?” she asked.

  “No darling, Maggie’s at home, still asleep,” she replied. “But I thought I’d bring you home with me, so you can spend the night.”

  A sleepy smile spread across her face and she nodded. “I’d like that,” she said. “I missed Maggie.”

  “And she missed you, sweetheart,” Katie said. “I’m going to have my friend pick you up and carry you. Okay?”

  Clarissa looked up to Bradley and smiled. “Is he a real policeman?” she asked.

  Katie nodded. “Yes, he is,” she answered. “He’s the Chief of Police.”

  Still studying Bradley, she finally seemed to accept him. “He looks nice,” she decided.

  Tears filled Katie’s eyes and she blinked them away. “Oh, he is nice,” she said. “He is very nice.”

  She moved to the side and let Bradley get closer. “Hi, Clarissa,” he whispered, bending over her. “Welcome home.”

  She slipped her arms around his neck and allowed him to lift her up. She laid her head on his chest and snuggled against him and his heart nearly broke from the sweet pain of holding his daughter for the first time, but not being able to tell her he was her father.

  She sighed. “I’m pretty tired,” she confessed.

  He placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. “I just bet you are, sweetheart,” he said. “We’ll get you into a nice soft bed soon.”

  She yawned widely and nodded, rubbing her head on his shoulder. “Don’t forget my backpack,” she whispered.

  Katie reached forward and picked it up. “I have it,” she said and she moved past them to the front of the bus.

  Suddenly Clarissa’s eyes opened and she looked up at Bradley. “Where’s Mike?”

  Bradley looked out through the front window of the bus and saw Mike standing next to Mary, smiling at him. �
�He’s here,” Bradley said. “He’s waiting right outside the bus.”

  “You can see angels?” Clarissa whispered to him.

  Nodding, Bradley smiled down at her. “Well, I can see Mike because he’s a special angel,” he replied.

  “My daddy told me that only good people can see angels,” she said confidently, following it with another yawn. “So you must be a good person.”

  He hugged her to him and slowly walked down the aisle. “I’m trying to be, sweetheart,” he replied softly as her eyes closed and she fell back asleep. “I’m trying to be.”

  Chapter Five

  The clock over the mantle clicked loudly in the silent room. It was dark, except for the light coming from the laptop on the desk. Bradley sat in a chair, his chin on his hands, and watched the remote camera view of the Brennan’s house. The squad car was situated between the Brennan’s house and Mary’s house down the street. The officer inside was one of Bradley’s most trusted, but he still couldn’t bring himself to go to bed.

  Holding Clarissa in his arms had changed everything. He was a father. The reality hit him in the gut like a prizefighter’s fist. He had a daughter. It was only in the past few months that he learned his daughter was really alive. And it had been only in the past few weeks that he understood that she was within his reach. But holding her, having her cuddle against him, having her trust him…he inhaled sharply. His whole world had been turned upside down.

  “Hey, Chief, you trying to peek into Mary’s window?”

  Bradley whipped around in his seat and found Mike perched on the edge of the couch across the room. He waited a moment, for his heart to resume its normal pattern, and then said, “Man, it’s good to see you.”

  Mike stood and walked toward him. “Yeah, and you don’t even need a magic rock in your hand to do it.”

  Bradley grinned, remembering the trick Mike had played on him a few months earlier. “Well, actually, I put it on a chain and now I wear it around my neck, just in case,” he teased.

  Laughing, Mike nodded slowly. “Man, it’s great to be back.”

  “It’s good to have you back, where you belong.”

  Mike nodded at him. “Yeah, you know, I said to myself, why hang around in heaven when you can spend your time in Freeport. Especially in the spring, when it’s cold, rainy and muddy.”