“I had no idea.” Ben sure had been a selfish bastard.
The final image played out before him of one of the hottest days of the year. He’d been cutting tobacco all day and, after taking his shower, Gail took him by the hand, along with four-year-old Kate, and led them to the springhouse. Earlier, she’d stashed a picnic basket for them, along with a small cooler with cold drinks. They’d played “Ring Around the Rosie” with Kate. He could still hear her laughter filling the…
Ben blinked rapidly before turning toward the spirit beside him. “Why are you wasting your time on a despicable soul like me?”
“Because by helping you, I’m gaining spiritual growth without the pain and suffering of going through the physical plane again. Lord knows I tried to guide you for decades, but you weren’t open to suggestion in the physical world. You’ve always been a challenging one for me to convey truth to.”
Obadiah had been attempting to get Ben to do the right thing since he was a small boy on the earthly plane. Of course, Ben hadn’t been aware he’d had a spirit guide while he was alive. He’d chalked up Obadiah’s mental badgering as coming from his own conscience, which he readily ignored.
When introduced to Obadiah in the afterlife and learning the truth, Ben hadn’t expected to develop such a close rapport with him. Never one to deal with messy emotions in life, Ben knew he couldn’t sidestep them here, despite his stubbornness. But he was still a work in progress. Obadiah assured him not to give up hope.
Ben sighed, focusing on the problem at hand again. “Every birthday and Christmas, Kate expected her mom to come home any day for months and months.”
Poor Kate. His trying to hoard her love had left her a fearful, untrusting woman making the same mistakes with her daughter, Chelsea.
“Certainly not the wisest decision you ever made,” Obadiah observed. “I think you might have been surprised at how Gail would have grown into the role of mother, if only you’d given her one more chance. Poor woman didn’t have an easy life before or after you, that’s for sure.”
Guilt washed over him. From this side of the veil, he could see the effects of his actions and how they’d affected both Kate and Gail. He’d justified what he’d done by saying Gail’s desertion time and time again was proof she wasn’t fit to mother Kate. Why had Gail given up so quickly?
“Benedict,”—Obadiah’s stern voice put Ben on notice—“don’t delude yourself. Gail continued writing letters to Kate for years after she left that last time. But you already know that, don’t you?”
“You’re right. I returned most of them. All but one.”
“Is it in a place where Kate might find it?”
Ben shrugged. “Not without a little manipulation from this side, unless she decides to repaint the room it’s in.” He was still learning the rules of engagement in the afterlife, despite having been here for a decade in Earth years. “Would I be able to wriggle the letter loose from where I hid it?”
“I’m sure that power could be arranged if it’s for a good cause.”
“It’s tucked behind a mirror above the fireplace in my old bedroom. Kate uses it as a guest room now. Well, more like a junk room, if you ask me.” She rarely had people staying there, making the likelihood of the letter being discovered by anyone else even more remote. “It’s summertime,” Ben pointed out, “so there’s not much chance of her accidentally finding it while laying a fire.”
“True enough. Let me consult with my superiors to see what can be arranged. Moving physical objects isn’t quite as easy as having the living see and hear us.” Not that he’d managed to succeed there with Kate, either.
“Tell me, Benedict, are there any other actions you need to correct?”
“None that I know of.”
“Are you sure?”
He sighed. His spirit guide didn’t miss a thing. “Okay, I suppose I could see how Chelsea’s father turned out and whether he’s good enough to be a part of her life.”
“Is that for you to determine?”
Probably not. “I guess that’s for Kate to decide. Could I do something to bring Kate and that Cooper fella back together for a second chance?” Ben was getting his own second chance to correct actions that had played a role in keeping Kate away from her mother, but the situation with Cooper hadn’t been his offense. Kate had asked him to keep Travis away.
“Travis Cooper has a friend who entered the spirit plane prematurely and is now making it his mission to help Travis move on with his life.”
“A spirit guide?”
“Not in the true sense. This one shared a strong bond with him on Earth and that has carried over to the afterlife. Danny will be the perfect one to lead Travis out of the darkness he’s experiencing these days, because Danny’s actions led Travis into that state. I think the best thing you can do is to not stand in their way.”
“I hope Travis is more open to listening to his friend in spirit than I was with you.”
Obadiah rolled his eyes and smiled. “Almost anyone would be more open-minded than you were.” The old soul’s long-suffering patience had been the stuff of legend up here. “Now, are you ready?”
An overwhelming feeling of protectiveness for his daughter overcame him. Maybe he hadn’t been a good parent while alive, but dammit he was determined to get it right now that he knew what his daughter had become because of his actions. Ben nodded. “I’m going to fix this. Thanks for giving me a chance to make amends, Obadiah.”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t up to me to allow you to interact with the earthly plane, but I have a lot riding on the outcome of this pursuit as well. While time means nothing to those of us on this side, the consequences of your actions—and inactions—have severe ramifications for those you’ve harmed. Do not delay further in rectifying this wrong.”
Ben nodded, but something in the spirit’s tone gave him a sense of unease. Why the sudden pressure, after all these years? Did Obadiah know something he didn’t? Well, of course he did.
God, he hoped Obadiah wasn’t hinting that his sweet Kate also might be in danger of crossing over prematurely. She took her chronic illness seriously, but everyone could mess up from time to time. Or was it Gail? She’d appeared frail to him on his last visit.
“I can tell you nothing,” Obadiah said, “other than the time to act is now.”
Ben hadn’t been granted the gift of seeing into the future, so he’d have to take Obadiah at his word. It was time to right a grave wrong and reunite Kate with her mother as quickly as possible.
Chapter One
Kate Michaels came into the kitchen from the barn just as the phone went to the answering machine. She rarely made or received calls on the landline, but had heard it ringing when she reached the porch after her morning chores. Probably a telemarketer.
She walked to the sink, not expecting the caller to leave a message. Then a voice she hadn’t heard in more than thirteen years filled the air, piercing her soul.
“Katie? It’s Travis. I’m headed your way and should be in Midway in a couple of hours. Pick up, if you’re there.”
Travis Cooper? Back in Kentucky? Why? She remained frozen to the spot until the water became so hot she yanked her hands away. Still, she couldn’t move toward the phone, merely standing and staring at it as if it had grown six ugly heads.
None of which belonged to Travis, the most handsome man she’d ever known.
“Listen, I know this is out of the blue. Just wanted to see you again. To talk. We left a lot of things unsaid.”
If you only knew.
“I need answers, Katie.”
Why now? There’d been years in which she’d dreamed of Travis returning to ask her what happened and to tell her nothing mattered except her. But she’d closed the door on Travis ever coming back into her life long ago. After an extended silence, she heard his sigh before the click of the phone reverberated around the room like a shot from a rifle.
A couple of hours?
Kate grabbed a paper towel to dr
y her hands as she glanced around the room. Chelsea’s softball and outdoor gear was in the crate near the door. She picked up the entire bin as she raced from the kitchen, down the hallway, and up the stairs. In Chelsea’s room, she nearly stumbled over her daughter’s piles of discarded clothes. She’d vowed not to touch the mess in here, but now she needed to at least make it look like a guest room in case Travis ventured this far.
Why would he? She had a bathroom downstairs. With any luck, he wouldn’t even come into the house.
But she couldn’t take any chances.
Making her way to the closet, she tossed the crate inside before clearing the single bed of a truck bed full of stuffed animals. Thank heavens Chelsea was gone all week at summer church camp. Kate only had to worry about erasing all evidence that the twelve-year-old existed in this house.
And send Travis packing—again.
Where did he live these days? He’d grown up in Louisville, and she hadn’t expected him to be happy living in the country. He’d had high ambitions. They’d broken up just before he’d left for a prestigious internship with a civil-engineering firm in Manhattan following their junior year in college. For all she knew, he still lived in New York.
She’d learned of her pregnancy two days after he’d received his internship acceptance letter. At the time, Kenny Chesney’s “There Goes My Life” kept running through her head nonstop, only with a more realistic ending. Life wasn’t a fairy-tale country song. She’d made the right decision to let him go to pursue his dream, though she’d chickened out of telling him in person and had left Travis a voicemail saying that she no longer felt about him the way he did about her. Then she blocked his number on her cell phone and let her father turn Travis away at the door when he’d come to the farm to try and win her back, she supposed. Coward much? Totally. But she wouldn’t have been able to remain steadfast in her decision if she’d had to face him. Acting had never been her forte and neither had confrontation.
Keeping the secret had nearly crushed her. Eventually, though, Travis had moved on. He hadn’t returned to the University of Kentucky that fall and never tried to contact her again.
So what was bringing him into her life again after all this time? His dream of being a big-city engineer still didn’t fit in a tiny farming and artisan community like Midway, Kentucky. Despite dating for more than a year and his insistence that he was interested in helping her rebuild her family’s horse farm the way she’d talked about, Kate hadn’t wanted to hold him back. One day, he’d have resented being tied down with her and Chelsea and would have left, just the way her mother had.
Chelsea didn’t deserve to go through life feeling the way Kate had when her mother had abandoned her as a child. Better that Chelsea not know her father at all than to know him and lose him.
There had been times when Kate wanted to cave in and contact Travis’s mother to ask where he was, but her father had explained that no man would want to be saddled with an unplanned baby just when his career was taking off. Daddy had been right. When she and Travis had talked about the possibility of marrying and having a family one day, they’d agreed it would be best to wait until they’d established their careers so they could give their children the best start possible in life.
So the decision to keep the secret from Travis had been relatively easy—and devastatingly difficult at the same time.
Later, when Chelsea started school and began asking about her father in earnest, Kate had been tempted again to contact him. How hard could it be when she knew where his parents lived? But by then, Chelsea had become her whole world. The thought of Travis demanding to have Chelsea for visits that would take her away terrified Kate.
Maybe her own mother hadn’t wanted her enough to fight for her, but Kate wouldn’t let anyone come in and steal her daughter. Had Travis somehow found out about Chelsea? Was that why he was coming back after all these years? Did he intend to take Chelsea away from her?
Over my dead body.
Kate glanced around the room, spying a pink zebra that must have dropped when she’d cleared off the bed. Frustrated, she kicked it in the direction of the closet. No hiding the fact this was a preteen girl’s bedroom with the posters on the walls and ceilings, but she’d never be able to put them back in the right order if she took them down. Chelsea cherished her space and her privacy at this age.
Could this pass as Kate’s own childhood bedroom? She shook her head. Not with Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Taylor Swift plastered above the bed.
But Travis wouldn’t have any reason to come upstairs.
Calm down. Think!
A wave of nausea hit her as she bent to pick up a discarded bag of chips Chelsea had left on the floor. Her hamper was filled with dirty clothes as well. Kate had asked her to clean the room before she left.
Worry about the messy room later.
At the moment, she needed to settle the chaos in her mind. She simply wouldn’t let Travis beyond the kitchen or living room. No way would he be sticking around long if she made it clear she didn’t want him here. Kate would give him whatever answers he said he needed and send him back to wherever he’d come from in a matter of hours, if not minutes, with no conceivable chance of his ever laying eyes on this room.
Kate went room by room upstairs finding a few more things to hide from prying eyes before realizing she wasn’t being rational. If she truly intended to keep him downstairs—or outside—then she needed to be working in those areas. How close had Travis been when he called? Heck, when had he called? Eight-thirty? Nine? She’d lost track of time in her panic.
It had taken her a lifetime to stop wishing for the impossible after losing everyone she’d ever loved—except Chelsea. She wouldn’t let Travis shatter the carefully controlled world she’d made for her and her daughter.
Kate had reached the top of stairs when a bout of dizziness caught her off guard. Damn. She grabbed onto the banister but didn’t slow her progress to the hallway below. She still needed to make sure the living room, dining room, downstairs bathroom, and kitchen were free of any evidence of Chelsea’s existence.
First, though, she’d better drink something to counteract the drop in her blood sugar. When Travis had called, she’d been about to fix breakfast, but he’d put her into such a tailspin she’d forgotten all about eating. Not something a person in her shoes should do—ever.
Kate reached the kitchen with a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach and her heart racing as though she’d run the Derby Festival’s miniMarathon. A quick glance at the clock over the fridge told her at least two hours had passed.
Oh no! The fridge was covered with pictures of Chelsea. She opened a drawer and tossed the photos and mementos into it haphazardly. She’d straighten it out later. When the white fridge was bare except for a few local business magnets, she breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door.
A blast of cold air hit the sweat dampening her forehead, making her shiver despite the warm June day. With a shaking hand, she removed the quart-sized Mason jar of homemade apple juice from the fridge. Just a few swigs, and she’d have this hypoglycemic episode under control. Food could come later. While running around like a crazy woman this morning, she’d also almost missed lunch, too. The juice would work faster anyway. She’d grab a protein bar before tackling the living room.
Gravel crunched on the lane outside, turning her shiver into an uncontrollable shake. He was here!
Now she had one thing and one thing only to worry about—getting rid of Travis.
* * *
“Go back to Katie. She needs you.”
Travis Cooper had been awakened from a dead sleep last night when his best friend Danny came to him in a dream. Travis didn’t believe in ghosts, but the urgency in Danny’s voice had gnawed at Travis’s mind for hours. Despite being dead for months, Danny had seemed as real as if he were there in his bedroom. He’d also been frantic that Travis needed to get up here to see Katie. Why? Danny had never even met her. Katie had kicked Travis to the
curb months before he’d enlisted in the Army National Guard and met Danny in boot camp.
Travis had let Danny’s words dog him for most of the morning before he’d given up working and hit the road. He was well beyond the Tennessee-Kentucky border before he called the number he had put in the contacts of every phone he’d owned since the last time he’d seen her. He just hadn’t dialed it before today. Good thing she’d kept her landline.
Katie Michaels wasn’t going to leave that farm for anything. Sure enough, when he’d called, he’d recognized her voice immediately on the answering machine. As he exited the interstate, an old Kenny Chesney song came on the radio. Travis had bought Katie that single the Christmas before they’d broken up. How he’d loved listening to her sing along with Kenny, her voice a bit off-key but music to his ears anyway.
What he wouldn’t give to hear her singing along with it again.
While he had no intention of sparking an old romance, the urgency in his friend’s voice had him worried that maybe something might be wrong. Did Katie finally need something from him?
You’re pathetic, you know?
Danny had called him pathetic more than a few times, especially when Travis had too many beers and started talking about the girl he’d lost. Hell, that he’d even think Danny had made some kind of ghostly visit to him in a dream was ridiculous. Must be his subconscious talking or wishful thinking. He’d still like to have some answers from his friend about what had happened the night he’d died, but he hadn’t been able to ask them during the brief dream.
As he drove up the gravel lane to the Michaels’ circa 1900 farmhouse, he took in the new white siding, replacement windows upstairs and down, and a green metal roof instead of the shingles he remembered. Saddlebred horses grazed in the nearby field with freshly creosoted fences. They’d even built a new barn as well as an arena. At one time, he and Katie had talked about working together here—him handling maintenance and construction while Katie gave riding lessons and took care of the horses she loved. Travis had offered to build her an arena like that one. Instead, a few months later, Katie had abruptly broken off their relationship. He’d been so stunned it had taken him a couple of months to figure out how to go on without her.
Kate's Secret (Bluegrass Spirits Book 2) Page 2