A Rose by Any Other Name (Haunted Series Book 18)

by Alexie Aaron

  “No way in hell, little miss,” Mia said and hacked off her arms. She then drove her sword into the heart of the creature. The body, limbs and head instantly turned to ash. Mia lifted her hand to stop her friends from moving. She walked over to the hall closet and came back with a broom and a dustpan. She swept the ash into the dustpan and deposited it in a black garbage bag. This she tied and handed it to Mike. “Don’t ever say I’m not here for clean up,” Mia said. She withdrew her wings, turned towards her husband, and said, “Ted, I think you better take me to the emergency room.”

  ~

  “Explain again how this happened?” requested the resident who was examining Mia’s side.

  “I slipped on a puddle of frozen water and fell against the tools in the garage. Some idiot left an axe blade-side up in the gardening box. I thought I was fine until I started bleeding.”

  “How do you feel now? Give me a pain number,” he instructed.

  “Out of ten?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Fifteen.”

  He nodded. “That’s the bruising from the other tools and possibly an infection setting in. Here’s the good and bad news. The good news is, the blade stopped cutting you before it hit your ribs. The wound is large but a clean one. The bad news is that the tools were probably covered in God knows what, and according to the records your doctor emailed me, you haven’t had a tetanus shot recently. You’ve also lost a lot of blood. I’m amazed you walked in here. I’m going to close this with stiches and leave a drain here.” He pointed to the bottom of the wound. “You’re going to have a scar, but you should consider yourself lucky that the axe didn’t continue through your ribs.”

  “Doctor, I didn’t walk in here,” Mia corrected. “My husband carried me.”

  “Strong fella.”

  Mia looked over at Ted and said, “Stronger than even I knew.”

  Chapter Nine

  The snow continued to fall at a steady rate, although the Chicago snowplows were keeping up with it. It would take a lot to bring this city to a stop. Mia sat resting on her parents’ sofa, watching her father and Brian build something out of the Lincoln Logs.

  Amanda walked down the stairs and sat down next to her daughter. After a few uncomfortable minutes, she started talking, “Mia, I would like to tell you about what happened to me to make me into this hard solipsistic soul.”

  Mia turned and looked at her mother. “Are you sure you want to do this, Amanda?”

  “When you were in the hospital after your attack at the slaughterhouse, I saw you slipping into the same abyss that I’ve been living in. You see, I was a self-centered, selfish woman, trusting no one but your father. It ruined my relationship with my family, and I know it hurt you.”

  “But you pulled me out, Amanda,” Mia said. “I listened to your words and started to trust again.”

  Amanda’s eyes watered. “I come from a fantastic family. My father Émile Neyer is a well-known artist. My mother is, what we would label in this country, a circus clown. They are both sighted individuals as I am.”

  “You can see ghosts?”

  “Mia, please. All will be explained, I promise you.”

  Charles looked over at them. “Brian and I are going to read some Seuss, so if you ladies will excuse us?”

  Brian stood up, walked over, and gave Mia a kiss and then his grandmother before he followed Charles down the hall.

  “He is such a marvel. I can see both Ted and you in him,” Amanda said.

  “You were telling me about your family,” Mia prompted.

  “They were encouraging. I thought I wanted to be a ballerina, so they found a teacher of some renown who would take me on. He placed me in the back of his class. Mia, even though I practiced and tried my hardest, I was no dancer. The teacher didn’t want to lose the income my parents provided, so he thought he could beat me into learning. He hit me with his cane until I became proficient in the steps.”

  “They let him beat you?” Mia asked, horrified.

  “They didn’t know. I never told them. I didn’t want to admit I was a failure.”

  “I’ve only met Émile once, but somehow, I don’t think your father would have let you feel that way.”

  “You are very perceptive. I wish that I was. But I wasn’t, and this abusive relationship went on for years. I managed to escape him by winning a place in a traveling dance troupe. I didn’t have the talent to dance leads, but I fit in well with the background dancers. We all looked the same, brown-haired, thin girls. Our company traveled to New York. There, I allowed myself to enjoy the city with the other dancers. We banded together to sightsee and go to clubs when we weren’t rehearsing.”

  “One night, I was approached by a man who treated me like a princess. He wined and dined me at every opportunity. When the troupe moved on, I stayed with him. I didn’t find out until much later that he was a friend of my old ballet master. He waited until my friends were gone and I was totally dependent upon him financially and emotionally before he beat me. I went to the police. I want to tell you that they tried to help me. To them, I was this hysterical French girl who needed protection. They counseled me to leave my lover and go back home. Again my pride got in the way, and I stayed. André took my passport and changed my identity. No more was I Amalie Neyer, I became Amanda Smith. The monster continued his assaults until I could take it no more. I killed him.”

  Mia took her mother’s hands in hers.

  “I pled guilty to second degree manslaughter. My lawyer, a kind court-appointed man, mailed a letter to my parents that I had written filled with lies. I told them that I had chosen to quit the ballet and was going to study at Columbia University.”

  “It was in jail that I sunk further into the abyss. I found that, inside, I could only trust myself. I purged myself of my French accent and fully became Amanda Smith. It was there in prison that I met your father.”

  “Father was in your prison?”

  “His second year Sociology professor had an arrangement with the warden. His students would tutor us in whatever subject we seemed interested in while they studied us. Charles was assigned to me. I needed to understand this country and its laws, so he tutored me in American History and Civics. When I was released two years later, Charles was waiting for me. Part of my parole was that I would continue to live in New York and work while continuing my education. I eventually became interested in your father’s work and excelled in writing reports and papers. I had become a full-fledged academic by the time my parole was up.”

  “I thought that you had met Father here at the university with Ralph and Bernard.”

  “Mia, Ralph just assumed this was the case. We never bothered to say otherwise. We married here. Charles loved me and put up with my strange ways. He never asked me about what had happened to make me this way. He just loved me for who I am.”

  “Why did you never contact the Neyers?”

  “I was embarrassed. Not because they were clowns, as they assumed, but because of how low I had sunk. It was my pride. I caused the break. They only wanted to love me, but I couldn’t bear to tell them what had happened.”

  “Why did you choose to tell me this?” Mia asked.

  “When I saw you in that hospital bed, I could tell history was repeating itself. You had killed two men who deserved to die, like André did. I saw it in your eyes. You were sliding into the abyss. I had to do something. In doing so, Mia, I started to climb out myself.”

  Mia’s nose burned and tears sprung to her eyes. “Thank you, Amanda.”

  “Mia, can you forgive me?”

  “Yes, if you tell me why you denied your gifts.”

  Amanda blew out air. “When you’re in prison, you can’t simply walk away from ghosts and demons. It’s best if you ignore them. I decided to deny myself the sight. I may see what you and Charles see, but my brain won’t accept the images. I trained myself not to see.”

  “You mean I could have done the same?”

  “No. You’ve got
a double barrel worth of sight from both sides. That’s what first attracted me to your father. He could see the horrors that surrounded me in the prison but refused to let them dissuade him from being with me.”

  “The Cooper curse.”

  “I’m so damn happy this curse existed. You know it works both ways?”

  “I didn’t until I released myself and Murphy from it.”

  “I can see the attraction. He’s a handsome man.”

  “Ghost, Mother, Murphy is a ghost.”

  “Shame.” Amanda’s eyes popped open. “Did you just call me Mother?”

  “Yes,” Mia admitted. She waited for the dressing down.

  “I’ve waited a long time for you to call me Mother.”

  “You’ve always been Amanda to me,” Mia said. “From my earliest remembrances, you were Amanda.”

  “And Ralph was your mother. I know, Mia. Will you forgive me for my inattention?”

  “I already have,” Mia said and hugged her mother. “So my mother’s a con, huh?”

  “Well, my daughter reportedly has wings.”

  “Who did you hear that from?”

  “Ted.”

  Mia laughed. “He can’t hold onto a secret.”

  “He is who he is. I like him, Mia. He’s given you not only a handsome child, but your childhood back. Seeing the two of you together is like watching two naughty children.”

  Mia blushed.

  “Can I see the wings, Mia?”

  Mia looked around her. “I may have to move a few things.”

  “No, you’re not healed yet. I just want to see them when you are ready. Your father wants to see them too. My mother has wings,” Amanda said softly.

  “So the wings in the painting are real?”

  “Yes. Can you imagine growing up with those kinds of secrets? Brian is going to have a difficult time, Mia. He already has told Charles and me about the angels, and I believe my brother-in-law is a Nephilim.”

  “He must have inherited Ted’s gossipy ways,” Mia realized. “He does, however, understand difficult concepts. I should start having conversations with him about protecting the family.”

  “I think you could present it as protecting his friends from feeling bad because they don’t have birdmen and Nephilim in the family. He has a beautiful heart; he will see the secret as a kindness. This he inherited from you, Mia.”

  Mia hugged her mother.

  Charles found them that way after he had tucked Brian in for his nap.

  “My beautiful women. I’m such a lucky man. Now that Brian is asleep, Mia, you can tell us why Murphy felt compelled to attack you with an axe.”

  ~

  Murphy moved from seedling to seedling removing the snow where it might hamper the young trees. He thought about what had happened at the mansion. It was all so real. Whether it was because of the roles they were chosen to play or the past between them, Murphy did not like how he felt about Mia right now. The sound of an approaching vehicle broke into his thoughts. He hoped it was Mia returning. He had an apology to make. He should have been able to restrain himself. Stephen had become a powerful ghost in his own right. He should have not been taken over like that. Part of him worried it was because of whom the ghost chose to be his wife.

  Cid rang the bell. His purpose for being there wasn’t just to check up on Murphy, but to commiserate with him. He stopped in at the farmhouse to warn Judy that he was going to be there for a while. She offered to make him lunch. He declined, mentioning that he had stopped for a fast food burger on his way out to the farm. She told him that Ed was out running. Evidently, the superhuman needed to stretch his legs, and that meant a five mile run.

  “Better he than me,” Cid confessed.

  Cid grabbed the rope again.

  “I’m here,” Murphy said from beside him. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes. Mia sent me. She would have come herself, but she has been ordered to rest. She’s cooling her heels at Charles’s and Amanda’s.”

  “How bad?”

  “Twenty-four stitches.”

  Murphy hung his head.

  “You weren’t yourself,” Cid said. “I know a bit of what you went through. I thought we could talk about it.”

  “We were both married to Mia,” Murphy said.

  “But was she Mia?” Cid asked.

  “Most of her was. She was too meek in the beginning, but after she fainted on the stairs, she opened her eyes and said, ‘Murph.’ I should have listened. In her sleep, she called for Murph and Ted. Again, missed opportunities.”

  “Whoa, she called your name in her sleep?” Cid asked.

  “And Ted,” Murphy stressed.

  “Murphy, you must mean a lot to her. I’m a bit jealous.”

  “What happened between you and her in the house?” Murphy asked Cid.

  “I woke up with her. Watched her wash and helped her get dressed. I kissed her, and she kissed me back. We looked at each other oddly. It occurred to us that something was wrong. I pulled her to me, touching her like a husband would touch his wife. It felt good, but it also felt wrong.”

  “I was so jealous that I could have killed her and Burt,” Murphy admitted.

  “Yes, you could have, but it didn’t happen.”

  “It should have felt wrong to behave that way,” Murphy said.

  “Murphy, give me a moment. I think I know why you behaved how you did. Ted pointed out that the ghost was very smart. She picked people - in your case, a ghost - with history. Mia had previously lost a baby. The illusion of losing a child was mined from her memory. Your wife Chastity was unfaithful to you, so you had the memory of the hurt and humiliation already there for you to draw on, and then there’s the Burt thing.”

  “I kissed his girl,” Murphy admitted. “We were swept up in the moment. I could, for the first time, not only touch Mia but feel something emotionally too. When you’re dead, Cid, you don’t feel like you do when you’re alive. There are feelings, but they are muted memories of feelings. When Mia touched me after exiting the vortex, I knew that I was in love with her. The Cooper curse pulled me to her like a magnet.”

  “Ted thought that maybe you would be upset because, when PEEPs came here, Burt took Mia from you.”

  Murphy thought a moment. “I remember not liking Mike, but since I hadn’t yet had my emotions woken up, I didn’t have feelings of jealousy. I thought Burt was a solid, caring man. Mia normally tended to gravitate towards jerks like Whitney Pee Pants.”

  “Huh. I didn’t ever think about how you must have felt watching her grow up.

  “Distant but connected. Protective definitely, but not able to stop her from being hurt, not able to get her to see beyond the vale. Wake up, Mia, I am here!”

  “What happened after the curse left?” Cid asked.

  “I was able to see her for who she is. A woman who promised herself to another. The mother of my godson. My friend. How could I forget that and try to kill her?”

  “I can’t answer that. I’m having my own problems. I can remember proposing to Mia, Murphy. It was so real.”

  “Renee was a very strong entity.”

  “How do I let go of the feelings I have? They are fictions, but they are still here,” Cid said, patting his chest.

  “Think of the proposal as a story only.”

  “I wanted her,” Cid admitted with his head down.

  Murphy felt sorry for the man. “You can’t have her. She loves you as a brother. She depends on you. You have to erase this fiction from your mind.”

  “How?”

  “If I knew that, I would be a happier ghost,” Murphy said. “Perhaps Angelo or Orion could help you.”

  “I don’t feel like I can talk to them.”

  “But you talked to me.”

  “Stephen Murphy, I trust you.” Cid kicked at the ground a moment before he felt brave enough to ask, “Did you make love to her? You were together long enough.”

  “No, she was carrying my child, and I couldn’t risk he
r miscarrying. I shut her down. After she lost our child, she wasn’t well enough.”

  “Damn.”

  Murphy laughed. “Even the evil little ghosts keep me away from Mia.”

  “Soon, I’m not going to be able to look Ted in the face,” Cid said.

  “Pretend with me a moment. Let’s say that you did want Mia and told her so. What would she do?”

  “Shut me down by telling me to get in line, and that would be the end of that. Mia wouldn’t mention it to Ted and neither would I.”

  “Do you think you could live with not telling him your feelings? If you have to talk about it, mention that it felt wrong, because it did.”

  “I wonder how Mia is dealing with her memories,” Cid wondered.

  “You could ask her.”

  “No, because that would be opening up a whole new can of worms.”

  “She tells Mike this kind of stuff all the time,” Murphy said.

  “I wonder why?”

  “To torture him,” Murphy said.

  “You see all sorts of stuff, don’t you?”

  “You hear all sorts of stuff too.”

  “Yes, I do. It’s a heavy burden at times.”

  “And fun at other times,” Murphy said and patted Cid on the back. “You can report to Mia that I’m fine, but I can’t get the smell of lilacs out of my mind.”

  “I bet there is a story there.”

  Murphy just smiled and faded away.

  ~

  Ted supervised the installation of a new pane of glass in the library window. Because of the cold outside temperature, the downstairs was struggling to hold the heat. Glenda had been ready to write a check, but Ted said, his wife broke the window so he would pay for it.

  “You Martins are strange but honorable. You busted my child’s nose. By all accounts, including his, he deserved it, but Mia pays for it,” Glenda commented.

  Ted shrugged and went back to the command post to work on getting a wall X-ray prototype from the field museum. Glenda insisted she wanted those remains out of the house. Already, the house had a different feel to it, but she wasn’t keen on living in a mausoleum.