The droning voice of the pastor finally paused, and Noah dragged his mind back to the moment, given more importance than it would have had the moment before.
“You may kiss your bride,” the pastor decreed.
Noah reached up, framing her face with his hands as he had the other night. This was too much like his dreams to be the truth, even for a man who could see ghosts.
“Noah, I’m sorry I can’t say it. I need for you to know, I’m proud to be your wife.”
He searched her eyes, not the frigid blue, but gray and gold like the sun chasing away the clouds. Her eyes looked back at him with adoration. Claire had never looked at him that way.
“How do you know that name?” Noah whispered.
The pastor cleared his throat expectantly, but the bride paid him no mind.
“I came to be with you, for the rest of this life,” she answered, “I love you.”
It was all he needed to hear. “I love you, Millie McDonough.”
The Claire he proposed to would have been mortified to make these people wait, but not his Millie—He kissed her reverently, joy welling up in him. In this moment, he didn’t care how or why. There would be time for answers later.
That he could bring her home would be enough.
Millie held up the soft white onesie proclaiming, “somebunny loves me”. Tears filled her eyes. So many second chances. A second chance at life, love, and now motherhood. For all the hatred she once felt for Claire, it was her that she owed for all of this. It may have been an act of cowardice, but it had been a blessing for her and Noah. She kissed the tiny item of clothing, inhaling the scent of clean laundry and baby powder deeply—committing the precious scent to memory. God only knows how long this chance would last. She made it a point to savor every second of it and took nothing for granted if she could help it.
She laid the tiny article of clothing over her protruding belly, smoothing it down and rocking slightly as if she was holding and rocking the baby on the outside—soon enough.
A creak in the hardwood floors that her and Noah had saved and painstakingly refinished had her smiling seconds before his arms wrapped around her. Noah’s rough hands laid over her own, his thumbs making soothing circles that mirrored the ones she made where the baby now kicked.
“How is my love feeling today?” The low rumble of his voice and the heat of his breath on her neck sent a thrill through places that made her blush.
“Our little one seems to be happy and active today.” She willfully ignored his meaning. “I just wanted to put the last of his baby clothes away.” She said his but he or she—they never did find out. All that mattered was that their child was healthy, even if she couldn’t help but believe the baby would be a boy.
Noah slowly spun her around to face him, as though they had been dancing. Then he pulled her into his body as near as her heavily pregnant body allowed, until they were doing just that—slow dancing to a song that wasn’t playing. He did things like this frequently. It was as if the house that was once so alive for her still was for him. He never mentioned it, but sometimes she wondered what he heard and saw echoing in these walls. Or maybe it was nothing. Just Noah, being his romantic self—something that made her second marriage a happy one thus far.
“While I do love our child, I think you know I meant you.” He rocked with her, his hands working the ache in the small of her back as they danced despite the beach ball shape at the front of her. She was just that petite, and he was just that large. “Why is it you seem to always forget about yourself?”
“I don’t forget. I’m very aware of myself in fact. Hard not to be.”
Noah shook his head, and his eyes grew dark, but she no longer feared the storm of emotion they implied. “I still can’t believe you let me say the awful things I did to you.”
Millie reached up and pulled him down to her level. Even so, she had to go up on her toes—something she only felt comfortable doing because of the way he currently held her. She brushed her lips against his. “You didn’t know.” She repeated her action. “And I couldn’t tell you. Although I was proud of how close you came on your own.”
That, at last, earned her a smile. “Not as proud as I am of how you made me understand. Now, how are you today, sweetheart?”
She opened her mouth to answer, but the wave of pain that rolled through her stomach muscles stole her words. Her breath came out in a whoosh instead. Her fingers dug into Noah’s arms.
“Millie?”
When it passed, and she could speak again, she forced a strained smile as she looked up seeing the concern in his gray-blue eyes. She always focused there on his soul. “It’s nothing. Just a Braxton Hicks, the doctor, told me about. That one was just a little strong, but they’ve been happening today.”
He continued to rub her back even though they had stopped moving. “When was the last one?” Bless him, he tried to keep his tone light and the concern absent, but he wasn’t very good at it—not with her anyway.
She laid her head on his arm, relaxing into him. “About ten minutes before you came in here.” That seemed to satisfy Noah, and they started to move again. “Wait—now I have to pee.”
Noah chuckled, and she stepped back from the circle of his arms. As she did, a sudden wet feeling made tears sting in her eyes. “Damn it.”
His brows went up at her curse. She had done it so infrequently, but really, peeing on yourself in front of your husband was mortifying. The whole course of this pregnancy she had never lost control like this. She tried to waddle from the room, but more wetness ran down her thighs with each step, soaking her socks. At least she was wearing a dress—nothing else fit at this point.
“Honey—I think your water broke.” As he spoke, another contraction rolled through her as if to drive home the point. That was much too soon to be a coincidence.
Millie reached out to grab the doorframe and steady herself, but she wasn’t close enough and began to tumble forward. However, Noah was there. He took her outstretched hand and steadied her.
“Let’s get you down to the car.”
She looked back at the white and yellow nursery they had been dancing in seconds before. “I’m not ready.”
He kissed her forehead, smoothing back her hair as he waited for her legs to be steady enough to move. “He’s operating on his own schedule, honey.”
Millie’s legs shook, and she tried to step forward but ended up sliding down towards the floor instead.
“Nope, I’ve got you.” He scooped her up in his arms as though she were nothing more than the ethereal body she had once been instead of the bloated whale she currently felt like. She didn’t resist, just circled her arms around his neck and rested her head against his chest. “Let’s get you down to the car.”
* * *
“One last push and you get to meet your new baby.”
Someone, namely Millie’s husband, needed to read her mind and tell that nurse to stop with her false promises.
The pain was so much more searing than before. Her son, who came too early all those decades ago, had merely slipped from her body while she fought to hold him in. This time, she struggled to help the infant leave her. This experience had her doing something she hadn’t done in ages. It had her praying, but not to God—to Claire—the woman who hadn’t wanted this moment, who had given it over to her.
In her own mind, she whispered, Claire, if you can hear me. Help me bring our child into this world. It was a simple prayer, but there wasn’t time for more. Millie had already been pushing for over an hour, and these contractions were on top of each other. She didn’t have much more to give, even in this body that was so much stronger than her previous one had been—asthma and all.
Someone put an oxygen mask over her face, and she felt the start of the next contraction roll down her stomach and sides.
“Wait, Millie, don’t push yet.” The doctor started to turn away.
Her mother’s remembered words drifted through her mind as if they had fl
oated to her from the past. Trust your body. It knows what to do and when.
“No, now!” Millie commanded and rolled forward, bearing down as she had been doing with each push before.
This time there was more there as if she wasn’t doing it alone. It was as if something reached through her and pushed down from the inside, forcing the infant through her resisting body.
The doctor turned in time and caught the child’s head. The rest was a blur in her exhausted state, as the shoulders slipped free along with the rest of the babe.
“Congratulations. It’s a boy.”
Of course, he was. She had somehow known he would be. Millie looked at Noah with tear-filled eyes, and he nodded his approval.
To her, he whispered, “I’m so proud of you.” To the nurse and anyone else who cared to listen he announced, “His name is Benjamin.”
The nurse rested the now swaddled and messy baby on her chest as she sobbed with happiness that she hadn’t experienced with her first son. “Thank you.” She meant more than just for the name. There would always be moments where this baby would have been her lost little Ben, now he really could be. No amount of the therapy she was doing could make that go away. Now he had given her another way she could heal from it. They could.
Noah brushed the baby’s brow, the way he often did hers and kissed the newborn’s temple as he smiled back at Millie. “No, sweetheart, thank you.”
the end
Playlist
I make it no secret that music is a heavy influence in my writing. It sets the mood for my imaginary world and each book calls for something different. This list evolved over time, rewrites and the like to what you see now. If you’re interested, you can find a link on my website to a video playlist on YouTube. Enjoy the mood music and a window into what drove me for Millie and Noah’s love story.
Dust to Dust – Civil Wars
Magic – Cold Play
I’ve Got This Friend – Civil Wars
Breathe Me – Sia
Ghosts That We Know – Mumford & Sons
Tell Me True – Sarah Jarosz
White Blank Page – Mumford & Sons
Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop – Landon Pigg
Paper Bag – Fiona Apple
Awake My Soul – Mumford & Sons
Precious Illusions (Acoustic Version) – Alanis Morissette
Lover Of The Light – Mumford & Sons
Sneak Peek
IF YOU WANT MORE HAUNTED ROMANCE, CHECK THIS OUT…
Follow You Anywhere
2nd Edition coming soon from Sassy Typewriter Press
Two souls follow their intuition to something more...
BETTINA is letting go of the horrors of her past and starting over on her own terms. Used to the confines of her ex-husband's harsh restrictions, with her new friends at her side, she's excited to go on her first adventure in her unfamiliar small town life—a ghost hunt of an old Victorian boarding house. When strange events begin to emerge, Bettina is convinced something followed her home. He might not be the only one who followed.
Keep reading for a sneak peek.
Follow You Anywhere
By all rights, Seth should only have one thing on his mind: scare them off.
He didn’t much like the look of the first two. The small one with the austere black hair was definitely a skeptic, and the colorful one looked tough. He had seen their kind before. They came with their scientific instruments, intent to prove to the world that every haunting was just misunderstood natural occurrences. It made them harder to convince to run, but it was a game he hadn’t lost yet.
Through the years, it had taken him time to refine his scare tactics. The tools in his arsenal ranged from disembodied voices to moving objects. The only line he chose not to cross was violence, especially when those he chased off where of the female persuasion.
The key was to find a target who would make the others believe. The redhead who pranced around like a nervous spaniel would do nicely. Too bad he couldn’t bring himself to use her like that. When he was alive, she was just the sort of girl next door he would have mooned over. Hell, he was doing it now.
There was something about her. Whatever it was, it halted his usual determination to wallow in misery. It might have been her timid approach to his front porch or the way she ran in through the front door because of its settling groan. Or it may have been that her auburn curls reminded him of autumn leaves and her amber eyes glowed like apple cider that once warmed his body in the same way that her skittish gaze warmed his soul. He may not welcome the intrusion, but dead didn’t make him immune to her physical charms. It just left him without the means to make them lead anywhere useful.
He followed her as she moved around the table, gingerly perusing the instruments that her friends believed would reveal his presence.
“Tell me your name, beautiful.”
“Amanda, I’ve got camera one and two set up where we talked about. Bettina, would you like to come with me while I take some base EMF readings?” The blue-haired girl poked her head around the doorframe from the kitchen.
Loud modern colors aside, the blue-haired friend reminded him of the women painted on the sides of the planes he had occasionally seen on base—harmless reminders of home meant to keep the boys happy.
His gaze followed hers, interested to see which one would respond and conveniently provide his answer. When the little one draped in black looked up from her screen, Seth grumbled his disappointment.
“Go with Charity and she can show you how we do things.” From her answer, he assumed the one hiding behind the laptop must be Amanda.
“Um—sure, why not.” His red head looked between her two friends before continuing. “What do you need me to do?”
Bettina. He turned the name over in his mind as he watched her stroke the side of her flannel covered arms as if to ward off a chill. His gaze slid down her body, taking in the way her oversized flannel shirt grazed the tops of her thighs. The uniqueness of her name suited her equally distinctive beauty.
“Grab an IR camera and come on,” Charity ordered.
Bettina looked down again at the table full of equipment and frowned.
Amanda reached over and picked up a device, shoving it at Bettina. “This one.”
“Oh—thanks.” She took the camera, a shy smile quirked up the corner of her full lips. “You guys are going to have to be more specific with me for a while.”
Charity moved into the room and grabbed another device off the table, along with a flashlight. “You follow me with the camera on and I’ll take the readings. We can start in the basement, and I’ll explain things to you as I go.”
Flipping open the tiny screen, Bettina nodded and together the women started towards the back of the house. Charity moved like a cat. Based on the saunter and sway of her hips she was secure in herself. In contrast, Bettina moved more like a timid mouse, trying to sneak away from the cat without notice.
Seth took a moment to enjoy the view Bettina offered before following. Black cotton leggings clung to the prettiest legs he had seen in years. Bettina wore them tucked into worn leather boots that came up to her knees and hugged just as tightly as the leggings. The fashion of this decade really was an improvement. It would be a shame to hide all that under the layers of a loose skirt.
If he still lived, she would be enticement enough to turn on the charm, something he never felt the need to do after the war and his recovery in Paris. No, he had been obsessed with something else.
Seth had been wallowing in his anger for so long that he had nearly forgotten what it felt like. Maybe, she could stay a little while. It was nice not to feel that burden of anger hanging on his every step, like the chains that Jacob Marley brandished in A Christmas Carol. He had built that chain link by link though the last years of his short life.
Their silent passage to the back of the house ended with the squeal of hinges that hadn’t been oiled since he had successfully driven out the last owners of this hous
e. Bettina shifted nervously behind her friend, device open and pointed over Charity’s shoulder to peek into the darkness ahead.
Charity traipsed down the stairs as if dank old basements were nothing to worry over.
His girl approached the open door as if it was a gaping mouth intent to swallow her. She took a deep breath and threw herself into the inky oblivion. The rapid thud of her footfalls racing down the stairs echoed up at him.
Seth chuckled to himself as he followed. He located her in the darkness through the glow of flashlights and her rapid panting. Someone should tell her that if she didn’t stop hyperventilating she would faint.
Having found her, this was as far as he could bring himself to wait before he touched her. Just a light touch, stroking the back of her shaking hand. He could say she needed the comfort but he would only be lying to himself. A selfish need to feel contact, muted though it was, drove his actions.
A sharp indrawn breath punctuated Bettina’s still rapid breathing.
Her friend swung the flashlight up at Bettina’s face. “You gonna make it, Red?”
Bettina slowed her breathing by small increments, but he could see her shaking like those autumn leaves her hair resembled, clinging for purchase in the wind. “I’ll be fine. Don’t let me keep you from what you need to do.”
No scream. Seth had expected more from a woman who seemed terrified by every step she took. But with cobwebs hanging from the floor joists above them, she may have discounted it as nothing.
Making her scream hadn’t been the point of the contact anyway, and that should have sent him back up the stairs away from her. No good could come from this fascination with her. After all of that, there was only tingling in his fingers; he hadn’t really felt her at all.
Until Death Do Us Part: Haunted Romance Series Book 1 Page 8