by K. J. Emrick
Music played, and people wandered from group to group telling stories and just sharing each other’s company. Music played in the background from an easy listening station on the television. In one corner of the living room, Helen danced with her new husband. Shane Wagner had even gotten up the nerve to dance with Kara in front of everyone.
Next to them, dancing slowly to a song with a slow, sultry beat, Connor and Lilly held each other close. Darcy saw the red flush across both their faces. She saw the way their eyes never quite connected. Lilly was saying something to him, and Darcy wished that her gift allowed her to hear her.
And she saw the moment when their lips brushed together in a quick, secretive first kiss.
“My Connor,” Ellen said, standing at Darcy’s side. “He’s growing up so fast.”
Darcy swirled the ginger ale in her red plastic cup. “I keep thinking I’ll wake up tomorrow and my Colby will be that age. Thinking about boys for the first time. Wondering what she’s going to do with her life.”
“Believe me, it happens quick.” Ellen waved at Connor as he noticed his mom watching, and his face turned redder still while Lilly whispered in his ear. “You know, Darcy, you and Jon had a hand in that.”
“What?” Darcy laughed. “Ellen, you deserve all the credit for Connor being who he is.”
“Well, I am his mother. But think about it. What you and Jon did for me and him… I don’t have the words to thank you. And if you hadn’t helped Lilly and her mom, God knows what would have become of them. If my Connor finds love with Lilly…”
“You’re blaming me?” Darcy joked.
“I’m thanking you,” Ellen said in all seriousness. “My son. All grown up.”
Darcy heard the quiver in her voice. She knew how much Connor meant to Ellen. Her son was the whole world to her. He was definitely growing into someone to be proud of. Lilly too, with the pink streak in her hair and her dare-all attitude. Yes. Those two would be good for each other.
She felt a tug at the leg of her jeans and looked down to find Colby in her purple dress, smiling up at her with her hair all wild and flyaway like usual. When she had Darcy’s attention, she raised her arms. “Up, please.”
Hard to deny a request like that.
When she had Colby settled on her hip, Ellen poked the little girl’s side, making her laugh. Then she walked off into the crowd with a mumbled excuse of finding more to drink.
“Hey, Sweetie,” Darcy said to Colby. “What’s up? You enjoying the party?”
The little girl nodded, and Darcy tried her best to tame the tangles in her dark auburn hair. There had been a question at the back of Darcy’s mind for the last few days, and she figured now was as good a time as any to ask it. “Hey, Colby? Do you remember when you picked out that one special folder for me from all the others?”
“Uh-huh,” her daughter nodded.
“Well, do you remember saying it was the one that Daddy wanted us to look at?”
Colby stuck her tongue between her teeth and looked up at the ceiling trying to remember. “Oh. Yes, I do. That was the right one, wasn’t it, Mommy?”
“It sure was. It was the exact one I needed. But… let me think how to put this. That folder was a police case about stolen money.” It didn’t have anything to do with what happened to Jon, was what she was trying to say. Gorsky’s case was completely unrelated to Adolphos Carino’s attempts to kill Jon and Grace and Izzy. “Colby, why did you pick that folder?”
“Because,” she answered in that way that five-year-old children have when everything should be obvious to grown-ups but it’s not. “That was the one that was going to lead us to Daddy.”
Darcy blinked. “But how did you know that?”
Eyes that were nearly the same color as her own peered up at Darcy. “Because we know things, Mommy. You and me and Aunt Millie. Oh. Aunt Grace’s daughter, too. But she can only do it a little. Addison isn’t as good at stuff like that yet.”
Hearing those words come out of Colby’s lips stunned Darcy. Was her daughter really that in tune with the world of ghosts and spirits? Darcy’s sixth sense told her things when she needed to know them… but she’d never had to learn how to use it at the age of five!
What was going to happen next for little Colby?
“I’ll be fine, Mommy,” Colby told her, putting her little hands to either side of Darcy’s face. “We all will. Oh. I see Addison. Addie!”
Wriggling out of Darcy’s arms, Colby skipped off to play with her cousin, who was busy trying to act all grown up. That ended as soon as Colby tagged her with a quick pat of her hand and then ran off squealing between the people standing around them.
Addison had no choice but to give chase. She was smiling as the two of them ran up the stairs together.
Smudge, sitting high up the steps and staring down at Darcy, was not smiling. Tiptoe was right beside him, watching the commotion below with bright eyes and a twitching tail.
Darcy had always been able to read Smudge’s expressions. It was almost like they could talk without ever having to say a word. Now, as always, she heard him clear as day.
Is this really what our lives have come to? People everywhere?
She looked around her living room, smiling back at people as they smiled at her. Friends. Family. All of them safe. All of them happy. Across the room, talking with Grace, Jon raised his cup of soda to her, and blew her a kiss.
Tomorrow, the mists might roll into town again but for now, the danger was past.
So she smiled up at her old cat, and whispered, “Yes. This is exactly how I want my life to be.”
He turned his head, looking down at Tiptoe, who looked up at him until he blinked and returned his cat stare to Darcy.
Well, she heard him saying, it’s a pretty good life. I guess.
Darcy laughed out loud, and went to ask Jon for a dance.
-The End-
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About the Author
Strongly influenced by authors like James Patterson, Dick Francis, and Nora Roberts, Kathrine Emrick dreamed of being an author for the majority of her life.
She never quite gave up on the idea of being a published author and at the age of 51, thanks to Amazon and their Kindle platform, she finally realized her dream. Her maturity allows her to bring a variety of experiences and observations to her writing.
She lives in beautiful South Australia with her partner Michael and son Adam. Also part of the family are their tribe of animals including 3 cats, Kitty, Topaz and Tubby and two dogs, Tango the Chihuahua and Juno the Lab/Border Collie cross.
Kathrine can always be found jotting down daily notes in a journal and like many authors, she loves to be surrounded by books and is a voracious reader. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family and volunteering at the local library.
Her goal is to regularly produce entertaining and noteworthy content and engaging in a comm
unity of readers and writers.
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Table of Contents
Death Comes Home - A Darcy Sweet Cozy Mystery Book 19
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
About the Author