by Debbie Mason
Once they were occupied talking to an older man and his wife, Connor headed past the receptionist, who was on the phone, and down the hall past the examination rooms. He came to a door with Ava’s name on it and knocked.
“Come in, Connor.”
He frowned and opened the door. “How did you know it was me?”
Ava leaned back in the chair behind the desk. She was a beautiful woman with olive skin and long, curly black hair. “You’re a Gallagher man in love with a woman who’s going through a difficult time.” She smiled gently. “You’re also a smart man and a lawyer, and you know I can’t tell you anything.”
“Right.” He took the chair across from her. “Okay, instead of speaking as a medical professional, how about you speak to me as her friend. Are you worried about your friend, who might or might not be Arianna?”
“Yes.”
“On a scale of one to ten?”
“Seven.” He had hoped she was doing much better than that. His disappointment must have shown on his face because Ava said, “I know that’s not what you wanted to hear. But I saw her two weeks after she came home from the hospital, and trust me when I say I wasn’t sure she’d be at seven a year from today.”
“Do you think the campaign is helping or hurting her?”
“To a degree I think it has been good for her, but I do have concerns. Just like the concerns I have about Helen’s involvement.”
“This is damn frustrating, you know. I should have had them give me medical power of attorney.”
“You might have had some luck with Helen, but not Arianna,” she said, fighting a smile. “All I can tell you from my own personal experience is don’t give up on her.” She pulled a pad of paper toward her and wrote something down. She handed it to him. “You might find these websites helpful. They’ll explain what Arianna’s dealing with. There’s also one for Helen. I think they’re a package deal.”
“Thanks.” He tucked the paper in his pocket.
“Don’t pressure her too much, but try to get her to talk about what we discussed today.”
“Her arm—”
“Is healing well.”
He nodded, pulling out his phone as soon as he closed the office door behind him. “Hey, Dad, it’s Connor. You’d said you were going to ask the Gazette for a look at their latest poll numbers before they published the results. Any chance you have those now? Oh, yeah. That good, huh. Absolutely. I wouldn’t expect anything less with you heading up her campaign. Thanks, Dad.”
There were twelve days left to go in the race and anything could happen, but right now Arianna had a five-point lead. And he had a strong feeling that wouldn’t make her happy. He just wasn’t sure what to do about it.
Chapter Twelve
Halloween had been one of Colleen’s favorite holidays. She’d always done it up big, with Jasper and Kitty’s help, of course. For two weeks leading up to the night, they had haunted hayrides through the woods. Back at the manor, tables groaned with Halloween treats for the little ghosts and goblins after the ride. She chuckled, thinking in her new ghostly state she was perfectly suited to the holiday. If only people could see her.
But they were too busy with the evening’s special event. Her great-grandson had married the love of his life in a quiet ceremony. It had been a private affair in the backyard of their cottage, but now they’d returned for the reception. In honor of the holiday and because Shay wasn’t big on traditional weddings, she wore a tulle wedding gown embroidered with black lace, and Michael wore a black tuxedo and tails. His Irish wolfhound, Atticus, wearing a bow tie and top hat, loped ahead of them.
As the newlyweds walked across the great room toward the ballroom, Colleen smiled and cheered with the rest of the guests and the manor’s staff, who were all in costume. But she admitted to feeling a touch downhearted that the couple didn’t know she was with them on their special day. As though he sensed her mood, Simon padded her way and came to sit at her feet. He lifted his chin and meowed.
“I’m all right. It’s just hard to be here, yet not be here, if you know what I mean.”
He meowed in a manner that suggested he knew exactly what she meant. And if he was who she thought him to be, he most definitely did.
A voice on her other side murmured, “They know you’re with them in spirit, madam. I told Master Michael that myself this morning. And Kitty gave Shay your locket, the one that holds pictures of you and your mother. She’s wearing it now.”
“Thank you, my boy. That does my heart good,” she said, patting Jasper’s arm, her hand going through it as it was wont to do.
Simon moved to sit in front of Jasper and lifted his paw. Now, that was a sight Colleen had never expected to see. Simon and Jasper were not overly fond of each other.
Jasper bent and shook Simon’s paw. “Thank you, and thank you for taking care of Madam when I cannot.” Simon gave him a regal nod, and then Jasper turned Colleen’s way. “In case you’re wondering, madam, I am Fred to Kitty’s Ginger. I’ve been told we’re to perform this evening. So you won’t want to miss the night’s entertainment. Your great-grandsons have also agreed to play a special number in your honor.”
She smiled, knowing that while she might not be physically with them, they kept her alive in their hearts.
“Come along, madam, Simon,” Jasper murmured in such a way that no one would notice.
Simon blinked up at Colleen.
“I know. It’s amazing what a simple show of appreciation and respect will do, isn’t it? Well done, my lord.” She could have sworn she heard Simon chuckle. Until Charlie Angel, dressed as a pirate with a parrot on his shoulder, walked by and he hissed. “Be nice. Shay’s now a member of this family, and that means her uncle is too.”
Simon gave her a grudging meow.
“Oh my. Olivia and Jenna did a wonderful job,” Colleen said as they followed the other guests into the ballroom.
The tables were covered in purple fabric, the chairs were black with red cushions, and the centerpieces were tall candelabras draped in cobwebs. Waiters dressed as Count Dracula served canapes and drinks with dry ice. A black tree stood at the rear of the stage with a full moon serving as its backdrop. Michael took the stage with Shay at his side. He leaned in to the microphone. “Shay and I want to thank you all for coming tonight.” He thanked everyone who’d had a hand in making their day special, and then he named the family members that were no longer with them. So many of them gone now. “And last but not least, let’s raise our glasses to the Gallagher family matriarch, Colleen. No one loved Halloween as much as she did or could have loved her family and Greystone more. To GG. I know you’re up there smiling down on us today.”
A chorus of “To GG” echoed throughout the cavernous room.
“Oh my, if I could cry, I’d be standing in a puddle of tears by now. There’s nothing more important than family, family and love. And we were blessed with so much of it, even now,” she said, looking out into the smiling, happy faces.
“My brother Connor has agreed to play the song for our first dance, and then my cousins, brothers, and I are going to perform a song in GG’s memory. It was one of her favorites. Con.” Michael waved his brother onto the stage to much cheering from family and friends.
As one of the groomsmen, Connor wore a black tux instead of a costume. He gave his audience a wave and a charming smile before turning to open a case on one of the tables, removing his saxophone. Before he walked to the stage, he curved a hand around Arianna’s neck and whispered something into her ear. She looked beautiful in a sheer maxi-length coat dotted with crystal snowflakes over a long, ice-blue sparkling gown with a provocative slit from her ankle to her thigh and ice-blue satin gloves and slippers.
Colleen smiled at the way Arianna watched Connor take to the stage. “Now, that’s a woman in love if ever I saw one. Oh ho,” she said, spotting Jenna, who was dressed as Cinderella, lean in to her sister with a huge grin on her face. “She saw it too, Simon.” Jenna had a special gift. If
a couple stood close to each other in her presence, she could tell if they were meant to be or not. Colleen moved to stand beside the girls.
“I saw it plain as day, Arianna. He’s your one, and you’re his,” Jenna said.
For one brief moment, Colleen was certain she saw a flicker of joy in Arianna’s eyes before the hopeful light was blinked away. “We had our chance.”
“So, this is your second chance. And don’t say there’s no such thing. All you have to do is look at Michael and Shay to know that’s not true.” Jenna nodded at the couple wrapped in each other’s arms on the dance floor.
“There’s more than her injuries holding her back, Simon. I’m sure of it. And just as sure as Jenna that Connor and Arianna are meant to be.” If Colleen had any doubts, they would have disappeared at the look that came over Arianna’s face the moment Connor started playing Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” for the bride and groom’s first dance.
The boy had a talent. He felt the music deep down in his soul and poured it into the plaintive notes coming from the horn. You saw it in the way he moved on the stage, his fingers dancing over the keys. The Gallaghers’ musical gifts and love of song had been passed down through the ages. Some said it was why William Gallagher had named the town Harmony Harbor. Wherever he went, he heard music, from the whistling winds in the forest trees to the ocean waves on the rocky shores.
Deep baritones joined the dulcet notes of the horn as Connor’s brother Logan and his cousins joined him onstage. Around her, Colleen heard the rapturous sighs and smiled. Her great-grandsons were indeed a swoon-worthy bunch. Though they were blessed with good looks, talent, and smarts, their biggest blessings were their hearts. And all but one had been granted his heart’s desire.
“I’ll do what I can, Connor my boy.” She would, even if her great-grandson’s happiness were not at stake. If she wanted to ensure she was going to heaven and not hell, Colleen had to make amends for indirectly hurting Arianna with her meddling into the Bell family’s affairs. She’d done right by Jenna. Now it was Arianna’s turn.
“I’ll make you a promise, right here and right now, Arianna Bell. Before this year is out, you and that man who is looking at you with his heart in his eyes will stand where Shay and Michael are now, with friends and family around you, celebrating your love for all of Harmony Harbor to see.” Out of the corner of her eye, Colleen spotted Daniel, who was dressed as Indiana Jones, in the crowd ringing the dance floor. “And for the sake of us all, you better be mayor when you do.”
Michael kissed Shay and then joined his brothers and cousins onstage. He took a seat at the piano, nodded at Connor, who raised the mouthpiece to his lips, and to his cousins and Logan, who joined him around the piano. “Our great-grandmother believed that at Halloween the veil between here and the other side thins.” Michael looked up and smiled. “GG, this is for you.”
Colleen moved toward the stage, oblivious to the guests she walked through, to the feelings that usually sent a shiver down her spine. Her entire focus was on her great-grandsons singing and playing a song she had loved and sang a hundred times before, Josh Groban’s “To Where You Are.”
She wasn’t blessed with their abilities. She was a Gallagher by marriage, not blood. But still she’d sung that song for the ones who’d gone on before her: husband, son, family, and friends. She’d loved large and lost many. Only now she had proof they were but a breath away, whether she could see them or not.
“I’m here, my boys. I’ll be with you forevermore.” Without thinking, she once again lifted a hand to her cheek, expecting tears where there were none and could never be. If she were able to cry, she would have cried even harder at the sight that now greeted her. Her grandsons Colin and Sean walked onstage to sing for her, to sing with their sons. But where was Daniel? she wondered. It wasn’t like him to miss out on the spotlight. He had a good—maybe better—voice than his brothers and nephews.
She looked around the ballroom, but the crowd gathered at the stage blocked her view. From behind her came a persistent meowing and then from the parrot on Charlie Angel’s shoulder, “Whatcha doin’, big boy? Can you fly?”
“Stop eyeing the sword and pestering the parrot,” Colleen told Simon as she continued her visual search for Daniel. She had a strong feeling something wasn’t right. A feeling that intensified when she spotted wisps of fog slithering through the ballroom doors. Her grandson Colin would have a right fit. He’d banned Colleen and Kitty from using the fog machines years before on account because he he deemed them a fire hazard.
Colleen was torn. She didn’t want to leave before her song was done. But it seemed that Simon wasn’t pestering the parrot; he was after her attention. As she moved to the outer edges of the crowd, he looked at her, looked at the entrance to the ballroom, and then did it a few times more with dizzying speed, all the while meowing.
“All right, all right, I’m coming,” she said, and he scampered off. She raced after him, her feet not touching the floor. She followed Simon’s meows as he disappeared from view behind the grand staircase. She didn’t have to wonder where he was headed as fog rolled from the other side of the stairs and crept across the floor. Behind the grand staircase was the door to the storage area where the fog machines were kept as well as the tunnels.
When Colleen rounded the corner, she heard a woman shooing off Simon. “Away with you, now.”
It was Theia Lawson, the pilot who worked for Colleen’s nemesis, Caine Elliot. The man behind Wicklow Developments. The man using her grandson to steal Greystone Manor out from under them. Theia wore a heavily ruffled white negligee and had a red flower in her hair and a drink in her hand. She was acting like a wedding guest, but it was obvious by her stance and the way she scanned the surrounding area that she was the lookout.
“He’s here, Simon. I feel it in my bones. That’s why the lass wasn’t about today. She’d gone to fetch him.” Colleen walked through the door and the fog, following the barely audible sound of two male voices down the stairs. One she recognized as Daniel; the other she had heard once before, when he’d first approached her about buying the estate. There’d been a touch of Ireland in his deep, cultured voice. She heard it again now as she moved past the storage area to the maze of tunnels with their rough, damp walls, the sound of the sea permeating the stone. Up ahead, she saw a glow of light to her right and turned that way. She could make out what they were saying now.
“I’m telling you I can win. Don’t give up on me yet. I’ll get dirt on the lass. It shouldn’t be hard. My grandmother kept a book of everyone in Harmony Harbor’s secrets. From what I heard, there was a panic when she died. Folks in town were terrified her book would be found.”
“Is that right?” Caine Elliot said, sounding intrigued, which would have sent Colleen into spasms of alarm if she weren’t alarmed already.
“It is. My granny was known as the Secret Keeper of Harmony Harbor. She had a way about her. People told her their secrets, and if they didn’t, she had her ear to the ground and found out what they were hiding. For weeks after she died, people snuck into the manor to search for her memoir. It hasn’t been found, as far as I know. I’ll find it though. It has to be here. Once I have it in hand, I’ll expose Arianna’s secrets. No doubt her family has them, just like the rest of us,” Daniel murmured.
Colleen racked her brain, trying to recall what he’d find to use against Arianna in her memoir, The Secret Keeper of Harmony Harbor. Off the top of her head, she couldn’t think of anything. The truth about the affair between Arianna’s father and Jenna’s mother had come out months before and wouldn’t change voters’ minds. Admittedly, there was a small chance there was something Daniel could use. Colleen’s memory wasn’t as reliable as it used to be.
“She’s seven points ahead of you in the most recent polls and appears to be gaining momentum. She’s a beautiful woman with a tragic story and a history in this town.”
“You canna believe the polls.” Her grandson’s brogue thickened with nerves
.
“Very true. Which is why Theia is here. From her observations and interactions with the people in Harmony Harbor, she believes Ms. Bell will win. I trust her opinion.”
“She’s wrong. I’ve held back because of my nephew, but no more. The gloves come off. My family founded this town. Our name carries weight. In the end, it will win the day.”
Colleen edged into the cell-like space and stopped short at the sight of her nemesis. Tall and powerfully built, he was dressed as the Phantom of the Opera. Theia’s costume now made sense. She was Christine Daaé.
The man regarded Daniel, his blue eyes piercing, mocking, even the one through the white mask. He had hair as black as night and wore it slicked back from a face as beautiful as a dark angel.
“You’re right. Your name does carry weight, and it’s carrying it for Arianna. She has your brother, the former governor, your nephews, and as the town seems to know but you don’t, the unspoken support of the majority of your family.”
“You can’t renege on our deal. We made a bargain.”
“A devil’s bargain, you traitor,” Colleen said.
“The deal was you would win the mayoral race and then repeal any bylaws on the books, any objections by the historical society, or any environmental issues that might prevent my development on Main Street and my eventual plans for the manor and the surrounding grounds.”
“You canny devil,” Colleen muttered as his plan was revealed.
“If you don’t win, you’re of no use to me, Daniel. I’ll have to write off your campaign and personal expenses as it is. I run a business, not a charity.”
“I’m desperate. I need the money you promised me. If I don’t get it, I’m going to lose everything. I tell you, I’m onto something there, but unless I meet the farmer’s demands, he’s threatening to shut down my dig and kick us off his property.”
“Why don’t you just ask your family for the money?” The devil asked her grandson the exact question that was on the tip of Colleen’s tongue.