by Alexie Aaron
“Mia, don’t,” Ted said, putting his arms around her. “Why are we fighting? It makes no sense.”
“We’re human, or mostly human,” Mia said wryly. “We hurt, and we need to heal. But just as soon as the bandages come off, something else wounds us. I just fought a dragon for you, Princess Toadstool.”
“And I just found out you slept with my nemesis.”
Mia started laughing. “Well, I’m not sure that evens the score, but I’ll give you that one.”
Ted kissed her. Mia liked Ted’s kisses. They warmed her.
“I’m kissing LilBear,” Ted said. “My dad was right; I’m gay.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Mia said. “Do you remember when you got stuck with that line of code? I think you were developing some kind of new torture for your sisters.”
“Yes, I was making AOL announce, ‘The pathetic bitch has email.’”
“I helped you with that.”
“That’s right. You got me grounded from the computer.”
Mia laughed.
“So your fear of demon reprisals kept you away from something you’re naturally good at?”
“Yes.”
“Are you still afraid?”
“I don’t know if it’s over. I have someone I can ask though.”
“Not Roumain.”
“No. I would like to keep my distance from Roumain if I can. I’ll be spending plenty of time in purgatory with him later.”
“Is that where you think you’re headed?”
“I thought I was going with you on the Starship Enterprise. We’ll see…”
“Mia, have some faith in me,” Ted pleaded. “I love you. I need you. I worry that you’ll eclipse me on the computer though.”
“Oh, I’m not interested in that,” she assured him. “Too nerdy. I’m too cool.”
Ted laughed. “You are, aren’t you?”
“Oh yes.”
~
Burt and Audrey were surprised when Mia climbed in the van with them.
“It’s kind of crowded with the three stooges,” she said. “I’ve got something to pick up at your house, and then Ted will pick me up.”
“Things are kind of rocky still?” Burt asked.
“Nothing for you to worry about,” Mia said kindly. “Let’s put on the radio and sing to the oldies.”
“I’m in,” Audrey said.
Burt did just that. He enjoyed being with the two female investigators. Mia couldn’t sing worth a crap, but it didn’t stop her. Audrey had the voice of an angel, and Burt’s deep baritone complimented her.
Mia was receiving and answering texts from Ted.
Burt sensed that all wasn’t right between the two. The reemergence of Mia’s past had thrown another monkey wrench into the love machine that was Mia and Ted. What was Ted’s problem? When Burt and Mia made love for the first time, it was glorious. He could tell that she had been loved before by how she gave and received love. He didn’t need to know who had taught her. He just accepted this as being part of her. It suddenly occurred to him that he was driving his two exes. That he could be friends with both was amazing.
“Burt, I’m hungry,” Mia said, looking at a billboard for Grandma’s Diner.
“Okay, you want to let the guys know we’re going to stop for food?”
“K.”
“Are you hungry?” Ted asked Cid. “Burt’s taking the next exit.”
“Ah, Mia’s hungry. Yes, I wouldn’t mind a greasy burger.”
“They’re in,” Mia said.
The five of them enjoyed a hearty lunch while Murphy monopolized the jukebox. At one point, Mia got up and pushed him out of the way. “There is more music in this world besides country, Murph.” She made her selection, and as the rock tune played, she moved her arms. “You don’t need that twang to do your thang, farm boy.”
“Bad Mia.”
Ted looked over at Mia and marveled at the free spirit within her. She didn’t care if people were looking at her, men with lust and women with disgust. She just enjoyed herself.
Audrey excused herself to use the washroom. Cid looked over at Burt and said, “It must be good to be king.”
“Me, king?” Burt asked, amused.
“You’re driving two beautiful women, and I have nerd boy and a ghost.”
“I did think about that when I was driving,” Burt said. “And to answer you, it is good to be king.”
Chapter Eleven
Wilhelmina
“I had taken the last of the cash Lobo and I had amassed and took a bus to California. There, I joined a group of migrant workers and survived by picking produce and fruit. I had changed my name to Wilhelmina Vollan to take advantage of my Nordic blonde hair which I had shorn off to within an inch. My fellow pickers called me Will, and that was fine with me. We moved up and down the coast following the crops. I enjoyed picking grapes the most because of the conversations you could have with the person across the vine from you. I learned a lot of Spanish in that year.”
“Didn’t anyone look for you?” Cid asked. “I find it impossible that Ralph hadn’t scoured the country to find you.”
“I sent them postcards. I told them I was discovering myself like Jack Kerouac, and I asked them to give me space. They had no other choice. I think my grandmother suspected all was not right. She had gone through this with my aunt Bev, but there was little she could do to find me. I think if I hadn’t fallen out of that apple tree, I would still be picking fruit, maybe living in Mexico in the off season.”
“What happened?” Ted asked.
“Because I was so small, sometimes they asked me to climb the middle of the tree to get the apples that couldn’t be shook off. One day, I lost my footing and fell. I woke up in the hospital. The farm manager had taken me in when he found me unconscious on the ground. I had a mild concussion and a broken arm. I was contemplating what I was going to do when the farm manager brought the owner of the farm in to talk to me. He was an older man with kind eyes. He said, “Wilhelmina, I have a job for you.”
“‘I’m listening,’ I said.”
“He said, ‘My son Neal wants to move out of our home. He’s in a wheelchair and needs someone to help him around the house. He’s a cantankerous individual, a proud man, but he can’t go it alone. So we made a deal: I’ll hire him a housekeeper, and he can live up at the old farm. You picked golden delicious up near there.’”
“I know the place. Mr. Hanson, I don’t have proper credentials,” I told him.
“He said, ‘I’ll pay you in cash. He’s no peach. Promise me you’ll stay sixty days, and I’ll give you a bonus.’”
“‘There’s no need to bribe me. A job is a job,’ I told him.”
“The old farmhouse was a two-story affair, but the parlor had been renovated into a bedroom and the butler’s pantry into a downstairs bath. Neal Hanson was, as advertised, a real jerk. He had once been a vital man. Neal had lost his ability to walk while fighting a wildfire. A tree fell on him. Sound familiar?” Mia looked over at Murphy who winced. “It was a hell of a sixty days. My left arm was in a cast, and I was unused to having to care for a temperamental man who wanted me gone. ‘I can do it myself!’ he used to scream at me. Sometimes I let him, and I rescued him when he got into trouble. He was nicer to me when I resumed helping him.”
“My only solace was that there wasn’t any television or computer there. The house had sketchy electricity and a landline phone for emergencies, that’s it. I didn’t have to worry about the demons finding me there. I read a little when I had the time. Most of the time I spent taking care of Neal. I went to the library to bring him back books. He was interested in history, especially the history of the home he was residing in. We lived with two residual ghosts. I called them Itchy and Scratchy. They were always fighting. Neal could only see them, but I could hear them. They argued about something that happened in the orchard by the old well. I told Neal. At first he called me a liar and a few other unkind words, but eventually he believed
me.”
“The farm manager, Chuck Banner, stopped by now and again. Neal and he played cards. Sometimes Chuck brought me flowers. I think he felt sorry for me. Neal would tease me about the flowers. I called him an asshole and ignored him. It had been a long time since someone saw me as anything other than a worker or housemaid. Chuck was kind, but that’s as far as that went.”
“Neal took a spill when he was out with his family. They brought him back bedridden. I now had to take care of his personal needs on top of everything else. His father paid me well. I think he was relieved to have Neal out of the house. Neal had been home two days when the house started to feel bad.”
“Feel bad?” Cid asked.
“I started to feel an unrest. The residual ghosts had disappeared. I feared something else was drawing their energy. The more Neal acted out, the more the darkness grew. I would run outside in the bitter frost just to get some relief from the atmosphere. I had to do something, or I was going to have to leave.”
“What did you do?” Ted asked.
“I got some books and worked on bringing Neal back physically. I hoped that when he started to regain his pride, he would smile once in a while. He resisted at first, but twice a day I massaged his legs, fed him healthier meals, and gave him a wee dram of whiskey every evening, against doctor’s orders. I found an old checkerboard, and we played checkers. We started betting. I lost a lot, but I didn’t care. To see a sparkle in his eyes was worth my pin money.”
“Did it help?” Ted asked, uneasy about where it seemed like the story was going.
“The darkness abated for a while, but I still watched the shadows and worried. It was during an ice storm when the darkness got a full hold on the house. The water lines froze up, and the electric went out. I was prepared and had the wood burner up and running in the kitchen in no time. I moved the hospital bed into the kitchen, blanketed the windows and piled covers on top of both of us. Yes, we slept together, get over it, Murph,” Mia said sighing. “The second night of the storm, I heard it walking upstairs. I quickly poured a salt line around the bed before I went to investigate. I had hold of an old, rusty flatiron I found in the castoff room. I walked upstairs and over to where I had heard the footsteps. I entered the room and shouted, ‘If you’re not with God, go!’”
Mia closed her eyes a moment. “It wasn’t, and it didn’t. Out of the darkness came a brute of a ghost. He was as wide as he was tall. He snarled at me and warned, ‘Get out of here, missy. This is no business of yers.’ I told him, ‘I’m the caregiver of an invalid. Please leave us in peace.’ He started laughing. ‘A little girl like you care for a full-grown man?’ I told him ‘Yes. I’ve been doing it for over a year now.’ He looked at me and reached out. Fortunately for me, his hand went right through me. He was frustrated and demanded I leave before he disappeared. I ran out of the room. I shut and locked the door, pouring a line of salt there before running down the stairs.”
“Neal was trying to get out of bed. I don’t know if it was to flee or to help me. I settled him back down and got under the covers. I didn’t sleep until well after the sun broke the horizon. Neal woke me, having to have his needs taken care of. I did so and crawled back in bed. He didn’t argue. He knew I was exhausted.”
“He was kinder to me after that. The ghost hadn’t made another appearance, but I doubted that it was gone. I moved Neal’s bed back into the parlor, but I didn’t return to my own bed. I slept beside him, afraid of the dark corners. I took a bus to the county seat and brought back some copies of historical documents. Together, we concentrated on trying to figure out who the ghost was and what he wanted from Neal. A few months passed quietly, and spring was in the air. Neal received a visit from a new, home visit nurse. She misunderstood our relationship and gave me some pamphlets that showed how a wife could give and receive pleasure from her bedridden husband. I was embarrassed. She took this for shyness. I took the materials and set them in a pile of papers.”
“Neal read them. I got busy and just handed him the whole stack of papers, not remembering that that was where I hid the pamphlets. I continued with the spring cleaning. That night, well… it was interesting.”
Mia looked at her husband. “You have to understand, Ted, for me, there was only Neal. He wasn’t a prize, but he wanted so to please me. I don’t really want to talk further about our intimate times if that’s alright?”
Ted nodded and took Mia’s hand. “You’re a caring and kind woman. He was very lucky to have you.”
Mia blushed.
“Moving on,” Cid said uncomfortably. “Did the entity come back?”
“Yes and with a vengeance that still frightens me. I had come back from the doctor’s office. As you may have figured out, I was pregnant. I was worried about telling Neal, and I was fully prepared to leave if he wanted me gone. However, I was determined to keep my child. I needn’t have worried. He was overjoyed. He wanted to have a parson over for us to be married. He was sure his father would bear the cost. He had all these plans. I was happy and fell into a false sense of security. That night, I woke to find Neal gone. He had been getting stronger and had used the bathroom by himself a few times with the help of the walker. I got up to make sure he was alright. He wasn’t in the bathroom. It was then I heard the footsteps upstairs.”
“‘Neal, is that you?’” I called. ‘Wilhelmina, help me,’ he called to me in a weak voice. I ran upstairs to find the door unlocked and Neal inside the room. ‘How did you get up here?’ I asked. The door slammed behind me. I ran to where Neal lay on the floor. ‘I woke up here,’ he said. I looked into the darkness and asked, ‘What do you want of us?’”
“‘I want you to leave. Neal and I have unfinished business,’ he said. I put myself between it and Neal. ‘I’ll not leave. You go. You’re dead. You have no business with the living,’ I told it.”
“It flung open the door, dragged me out of the room, and threw me down the stairs. I broke a leg, but I crawled back up those stairs. I made it into the room to see a rope around Neal’s neck. It was being wrapped around the post of the old walnut bed, and I knew what the ghost was intending to do to Neal. I managed to get to a standing position by pulling myself up using the door frame. I hopped on one leg, got to Neal and took the rope off. I then crawled out of the room, dragging Neal behind me. I lowered him, step by step, to the ground floor and outside onto the porch. I went in for a blanket when the mass took me. He picked me up and threw me out the window. There was no coming back from that. I lay there in the yard, as my child left my body, and watched Neal be dragged back into the house. He screamed my name over and over until the ghost hung him. I couldn’t move.”
Ted took Mia’s hands and pulled her close.
“They said an intruder had attacked us. Neal’s father didn’t blame me. My hospital bill was paid for, and he allowed me to see Neal’s grave before he put me on a bus heading east. I got off, backtracked, and went back to the orchard. I took a few things from the place before I burned the house down. I saw the ghost in the flames. He twisted in pain before he fell to ash. I disappeared before the fire department showed up. I walked to the next town and got on another bus heading for Chicago. On that ride back, I mourned Neal and our child who had died that night. By the time I made it to Grandma Fred’s, I was very ill. I confessed all that had happened to me, and she helped me to lock it all away in my head where no one would ever find it. I know it was cowardly, but I was so fragile.”
Mia pushed the small box at Ted. “Inside is all I have left. I’ll leave it to you to decide what you want to do with it and me. I’m going upstairs. Excuse me.”
“No, Mia, don’t go,” Ted said. “We’re your family. Let us mourn your child and Neal together. Don’t shut us out.”
Mia looked at her husband and felt Cid’s gentle hands taking her into his arms. He set her gently on the couch. Murphy pulled the comforter off the rocker and wrapped Mia in it. Ted picked up the box and sat near her. He opened it.
Inside it was th
e list Neal had made about their future and his sealed personal diary.
“Mia, did you ever read this?” Ted asked.
She shook her head. “It wasn’t mine to read.”
Under the diary were Lobo’s glasses, Yann’s keychain, and Billy’s cigarette lighter. There was a photo of the four of them together. Mia was smiling as the three males mugged for the camera. That was it.
Cid sat and told Murphy about Lobo, Billy and Yann. He looked at Mia and worried about her. She wasn’t talking. But when she did, it all came tumbling out.
“I’m such a hypocrite,” Mia said. “I lambasted Angelo for doing what I had already done. I see now that you need to remember even the bad times. When Burt and Mike arrived, I was so jaded. I hated Mike on sight. It took a lot of patience to bring me out of the funk I was living in. I’m grateful. Ted, I’m sorry that I’m not some fresh ingénue with only good memories to relate. The best part of my young life is standing over there holding an axe, and I’m so grateful he put up with me. My life didn’t become fun until you, Ted, came along. I found myself smiling in spite of myself. You brought Cid here, and I couldn’t ask for a better friend. I’m fallible. But the one thing that I know is that I’m in love with you. My love is so deeply rooted that it’s not going anywhere. I’m sorry I kept all this from you, but sometimes there are good reasons why I do stuff like this.”
“I’m sorry for reacting like an infant. I’m sorry I beat Mike up. I don’t really know why exactly I’m so out of control these days. I need you to ground me, hold me down, and make me answer for my actions. I’m so afraid of losing you, and I know we’ve been over this again and again, but put yourself in my shoes. You’re wonderful, beautiful and sought after.”