by Karen Kelley
“There aren’t any mirrors. This is Dixie and Wesley. I’ve been trying to tell you.”
Selena didn’t like the way he looked. He didn’t have a bit of color in his face. She turned to Wesley and Dixie with her hands on her hips.
“Don’t give us that look,” Dixie said. “Matilda started it when she told Trent she was a ghost. Then her husband, Hiram, showed up. Then they disappeared right in front of him. So if he has a heart attack, they caused it, not us.”
She looked at Trent. “Matilda is a ghost?”
“Ghost?” he mumbled.
His color looked worse. It had gone from pale to kind of green. Not good.
“Maybe he’s had enough of a shock for one day,” Selena told Dixie and Wesley.
They took the hint and vanished. She trotted down the stairs and took Trent’s arm, patting it reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I felt the same way the first time I saw a ghost. Well, not exactly the first time because I didn’t actually realize it was a ghost. But later I sort of felt... ill. You get used to it,” she assured him as she led him into the hotel.
“Those are pretty daisies, by the way.”
“All this time Matilda was a ghost?” His forehead furrowed.
“Yes, Trent.”
“And so are Dixie and Wesley. You weren’t lying.”
“Now you’re getting it.” She smiled. He didn’t look comforted or as though he really understood what she was saying.
She sat him at the table and hurried to the coffeepot. Maybe drinking something would make him feel a little better. Oh, yeah, give the man caffeine. As if he hadn’t already suffered a jolt. At this point in time, she doubted it could do him any more harm.
She carried the cup of coffee over to the table and set it in front of him.
“My whole adult life I’ve been trying to educate the public to scams, but ghosts are real,” he said as if he was talking to himself, trying to reason through everything. “My books are all wrong. My career is down the drain. Pffft. Over with. Finished.” His shoulders slumped.
She opened the box of doughnuts as she sat across from him. “Actually, I’ve had a little more time to think about this,” she said in between chewing. Man, she loved chocolate-covered doughnuts. “You could write about your paranormal experiences.”
“You knew I’d eventually come around?”
She smiled at him tenderly. “No, but I was hoping. How else would a relationship work between us if you didn’t believe in what I do?”
He nodded, took a drink of coffee and then looked at her again. “We do have a relationship, don’t we?”
“Yeah.”
“Ahh, that’s so sweet,” Dixie said.
“Jesus!” Trent’s hand shook so badly he spilled his coffee.
“Dixie, do you have to just pop in like that?” Selena glared at the ghost as she grabbed a dishcloth and wiped up the spill, then sat down again. First they refused to let Trent see them; now they were making themselves at home.
Okay, technically it was their home, but now that Trent knew ghosts existed she’d rather he not have a heart attack.
“I was just being nice.”
“Yeah.” Wesley popped in, sitting in the chair across from Trent.
More coffee spilled on the table. She grabbed the dishcloth again. At this rate, she wouldn’t have to worry about Trent caffeine overloading.
Wesley grinned. “Howdy.”
Trent’s face lost a little more color. He reached forward, running his hand through Wesley.
“You’re getting a little personal there, fella.” His hand slid down to his holster.
“Sorry.” Trent looked down at his hand, then back at Wesley. “I just apologized to a ghost.”
Wesley frowned. “You don’t think we have feelings just because we’re dead?”
Great, Trent had begun to sweat, and he looked as if he might toss his cookies any second. Selena stood, hands on her hips. “Okay, go. He needs time to adjust.”
“Fine.” Dixie rolled her eyes and left, Wesley right behind her.
“It’ll be okay, Trent.”
He shook his head. “Nothing will ever be okay again.”
She moved to his side and wrapped her arms around him. “We still have each other.”
Some of his color returned.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He frowned. “They haven’t been watching us... you know, when we... made love?”
“Of course not. Ghosts aren’t interested in that kind of thing.” Too much information might send him to the state hospital. A little here, a little there was much better. She wouldn’t mention Dixie and Wesley were sex-starved. That might not sit well with him.
“They don’t come around that often, do they?”
“Oh, hardly ever, and now that we’ve found their bones they’ll walk into the light and we’ll never see them again.”
“Good.” He sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For not believing in you.”
“I’ll let you make it up to me.” She scooted onto his lap and pulled his mouth down to hers. She had a feeling they would have lots of time to do makeups.
Epilogue
One year later
“I love you, Mrs. Sanders.” Trent opened the front door of the hotel. “Happy wedding day.”
Selena smiled as he scooped her up and carried her over the threshold, then set her on her feet. “I’m so glad we decided to postpone the honeymoon until we could move into the hotel.”
“Are you sure? We still have a lot of work before we open it as a bed-and-breakfast.”
“I don’t care. I love the old place. It has character.”
“As long as it doesn’t have ghosts.”
“We gave Dixie and Wesley a proper burial. I’m sure they’re in a much better place.”
“What about Hiram and Matilda?”
She paused. “I’m sure they’re long gone. Their job was to take care of the hotel, and they’ve done that. We’re the caretakers now, and I think they know.”
“Good, then it’s just you and me.” He grinned wickedly. “I’ll race you upstairs.”
She didn’t think she could love anyone more than she loved Trent right now. He’d completely changed his point of view and now wrote about the paranormal—in a good way. His book had already hit the best-seller lists. She knew it was only the beginning.
With an equally wicked grin of her own, she raised the hem of her wedding dress and took off toward the stairs. “You’re on,” she called over her shoulder.
“You’re cheating.”
“I know.”
“Don’t they make a lovely couple?” Dixie asked.
Wesley nodded. “You think we should’ve told them burying those old prospectors’ bones wouldn’t have a thing to do with us crossing over?”
“No, we’ll let them get settled in before we spring the news on them that we’re going to be around for a long, long time.”
“Now, you two be good, hear?” Matilda scolded. “They’re good kids, and I don’t want you scaring the daylights out of Trent. He’s still not used to ghosts.” She dusted her hands on her apron. “I have to fix Hiram his supper, so promise me no shenanigans while I’m gone.”
“Okay, okay,” Dixie said, shaking her head. “We’ll be good.”
Matilda left in a puffy pale green cloud.
“Do we really have to be good?” Wesley asked.
Dixie raised her eyebrows. “Me, good? Have you ever known me to be good?”
His grin was slow. “Damn, I love you, woman.”
Dixie glowed. Of course he did—for all eternity.
Copyright © 2007 by Karen Kelley
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