by K E O'Connor
“Any sign of Gwen?” asked Helen. “What does she think of our plans?”
“She didn’t turn up in the nursery,” I said. “Maybe that’s a sign she’s happy with our idea too.”
“Let’s find a suitable spot for Annie,” said Helen. “If we lurk in the shadows for much longer, someone will call the police.”
I nodded, and we walked swiftly along the lane to the play area. An owl hooted overhead making us jump, but other than that, silence surrounded us.
“If we go into the trees a little way, we should find some soft ground,” I said. “We’d better make sure we place the bones in a deep hole, so they don’t get scavenged by animals.”
“We’ll place stones over the top as well,” said Helen. “Annie deserves a decent resting place where she will never be disturbed again.”
After a few minutes of searching, we found a small group of evergreen hedges that formed a natural semicircle.
“This looks ideal,” I said. “It’s nice and secluded, and the ground is easy to dig.”
Helen handed me the shovel. “You start. I’ll look after Annie.”
I made quick work of the soft ground and dug down several feet, Flipper helping me occasionally, his paws flying and mud shooting out behind him as he burrowed into the ground. I couldn’t decide if he was actually helping or simply making a game for himself.
“Any sign of our ghosts?” asked Helen.
“I’m not expecting the children to be here,” I said. “But I did wonder if Gwen would make an appearance.”
“If Saul appears, you tell me,” said Helen. “I want to have words with him. What he did to poor Annie was plain wrong.”
“I’m hoping he knows that now,” I said. “Or if he doesn’t, Gwen will make him realize it.”
“That must be why they’ve been haunting the house for so long,” said Helen. “Maybe Gwen won’t let him rest because of what Saul did to their daughter.”
“I imagine they both feel guilty,” I said. “At least, I hope Saul does. Gwen may not have been strong enough when she was alive to prevent him hurting Annie. But from all accounts, he was a desperate man with a gambling problem and debt collectors closing in on him. Desperation and debt make people do stupid things.”
“That’s no excuse,” said Helen. “How’s the hole going?”
“This is deep enough.” I handed her the shovel and stepped back. “Do you want to put Annie in the ground?”
“Let’s do it together.” Helen knelt and unwrapped the sheet.
It was sad, seeing all that was left of Annie. I could only hope she didn’t suffer too much when she died. And I was glad I was able to find her some peace. She deserved it.
We spent a few moments arranging Annie in the hole and then covered her with dirt and stones.
“Should we say a few words?” asked Helen as I patted the earth flat.
I wiped away a stray tear that had trickled down my cheek. “You can rest easily now, Annie. You’re safe and looked after. No one is ever going to hurt you again.”
Helen sniffed. “Go have some fun now, Annie. You can play with your friends without worrying about anything.”
Flipper lay next to the filled-in hole and covered his nose with one paw.
I spotted movement by one of the oak trees. It was Gwen, and Saul stood beside her, his head bowed and his hands clasped in front of him.
“We’ve got company,” I whispered. “Annie’s parents are here.”
“Saul is here?” Helen spun around, anger lighting her eyes. “Where is he?”
I noticed Gwen had a tight hold on Saul’s collar and shook him several times as I watched them. She was carrying out her own form of justice on her husband. She looked at me and gave a curt nod before dragging Saul away, and they both vanished.
“They’ve gone now,” I said. “And Gwen was in charge this time. Saul isn’t going to get away with what he did to Annie.”
“Glad to hear it,” said Helen. “I’d have smacked him, even though he's a ghost.”
“Wait! There’s someone else in the woods.” I squinted into the gloom at the hazy image of Annie. She gave me a wave and danced around a couple of trees.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Annie. And it looks like we’ve done the right thing for her,” I said. “She’s happy with her final resting place.”
A bright beam of torchlight arched through the trees and dazzled me, obscuring my view of Annie.
“Lorna, is that you?” Zach emerged from the darkness, a torch in his hand, and Jessie by his side.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“I saw you and Helen leave the house and came after you,” said Zach. “I was worried about what you were doing out here in the dark.”
I frowned at him. “You won’t be happy with what we’re doing. It’s ghost business.”
“I guessed it would be.” Zach’s gaze went to the ground. “What are you doing with a shovel and a sheet?”
Helen sidled up to me. “Perhaps I should leave the two of you to it?”
I nodded. “Yes, you’d better get back to the house. We don’t want anyone to notice we’ve gone.”
Helen patted my shoulder before hurrying into the darkness with the sheet and shovel under one arm.
“You’re doing more than a bit of late-night gardening, I imagine,” said Zach as he came closer.
“I might be.”
Zach sighed. “I came back to the cottage to see you. I hate that we've argued and want to see if I can make things right.”
I looked down at the recently covered bones of Annie. “I’m not sure you can. I’m always going to have ghosts in my life. They are as much a part of me as Flipper is. If you ask me to stop helping them, you know I can’t.”
Zach scuffed his muddy boots through the leaves on the ground. “I know that. I overreacted. I just worry about you getting hurt. You’re out here in the middle of the night with a shovel doing goodness knows what.”
“I’m in the middle of a perfectly safe village,” I said. “And the ghosts never hurt me.” Well, they barely did. Saul had been a bit too hands-on for my liking, but usually, the ghosts were gentle enough. “I also have Helen and Flipper looking out for me. You don’t always have to be worrying about me. I can look after myself.”
“I think that’s my duty as your boyfriend,” said Zach. “Although that word makes me feel about fifteen years old. I want to look out for you. I care very much about you.”
“I care about you too,” I said. “And I hate that we’ve had this argument about the ghosts.”
“Maybe it’s because we’re not working together anymore,” said Zach. “I miss you not being around. It worries me that you’re getting into all sorts of trouble.” His gaze went to the patch of freshly turned earth.
“I wasn’t getting into trouble as such tonight,” I said.
“Digging a hole in the middle of the forest at night suggests trouble to me,” said Zach.
“It’s for a good cause,” I said. “The ghost of a child needed help.”
“How about if I ask you to help only one ghost a month?” asked Zach. “At least then I know you’d get a break from all of your ghost chasing activities.”
“Sometimes, I don’t see a ghost for weeks, so that’s possible,” I said. “And now that the ones here are at peace, there won’t be any more. I could be ghost free for years.”
Zach moved closer to me. “But I doubt that’s going to happen, is it?”
I shrugged and held my hand out to him. “I wish I could promise you no more than one new ghost a month, but I never know when they’re going to appear. I can’t give them a number and ask them to wait their turn.”
“And you’re always going to want to help them.” Zach took hold of my hand.
“That’s sort of the deal,” I said. “Even though they can be a real pain, I can’t turn away from somebody who needs my assistance, even if that someone is no longer alive.”
&nb
sp; “That’s hardly a fault in your character.” Zach pulled me to him. “Okay, I accept the ghosts. Although I can’t promise you I’m going to love them like I do you.”
I tipped my head back and stared into Zach’s eyes. “You love me?”
“Of course I do,” said Zach. “Why would I be chasing after you in the middle of the night if I didn’t?”
“Maybe you’re an insomniac?”
Zach kissed me on the forehead. “Only because you make me one.”
I smiled as I snuggled into Zach’s warm embrace. “So, the ghosts stay?”
“The ghosts stay,” said Zach. “Although you might like to tell me a bit more about what you were doing helping a ghost in the woods at this time of night.”
We turned back towards the house, arm in arm. Jessie and Flipper followed closely behind, dancing around our heels, seeming to sense that all was well between the two of us again.
“I’ve had quite an adventure at this house,” I said. “It involves the ghosts of three children and two adults.”
“And the shovel?”
“Hold on, there’s so much more I have to tell you.” I looked over at Zach and grinned. “But I promise you, things will be back to normal from now on.”
Zach shook his head and smiled at me. “Nothing is ever normal with you, Lorna Shadow.”
I laughed. “I guess that’s why you love me so much.”
He tightened his grip on my arm. “Yes, I guess it must be.”
My heart skipped with happiness as I returned to the house with Zach, filling him in on everything that had happened, as we walked.
I knew my ghost seeing ability was a strange one, and I appreciated how difficult it must be to accept it, but I had a feeling Zach was prepared to have ghosts in our relationship. And he loved me!
Life was going to get a lot more interesting from now on.
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Here are more books to enjoy in the Lorna Shadow series:
Ghostly Affairs
Ghostly Business
Ghostly Rules
Ghostly Waves
Ghostly Play
Ghostly Proposal