by Nathan Roden
Holly had been the McIntyre family’s only link to the world of the living since the day of their deaths—over five hundred years ago.
The McIntyres had been unwilling to leave Holly alone. And so, they passed up the chance to move beyond the spirit world.
They remained ghosts.
Oliver and Gwendoline McFadden stood in the middle of the Great Room with tears streaming down their faces. They threw their arms around Holly in a three-way hug that lasted a good long time.
“I do not regret a thing,” Elizabeth whispered.
Holly gave her parents a tour of their own ex-home. Oliver and Gwendoline held hands and gazed in awe at what had become of Castle McIntyre.
“Oh, my!” Gwen said. “This is absolutely perfect! Such glorious pieces! And the symmetry—whoever has done this design is a genius!”
“Well, thank you, Mother,” Holly smiled.
“You…? You did all of this?”
“Pretty much. I watched you, you know. When it came to the symmetry of the design, I always thought of you.”
Gwen threw her arms around her daughter and wept yet again.
“And I didn’t…I couldn’t…” Gwen blubbered.
“It’s okay, Mum. I understand.”
A local furniture company arrived with a delivery of beds and nightstands. Quentin led them in. He paused and stopped the delivery men when he saw Gwen and Holly in another tearful embrace. Oliver made eye contact with Quentin. He smiled and winked.
“We appreciate you going to all this trouble, Mr. Lynchburg,” Oliver said.
“It’s no trouble, Oliver. Please call me Quentin. Or ‘Q’.”
“Best of friends, as far as I’m concerned, Quentin,” Oliver said. He clapped his hand on Quentin’s shoulder. “We’ll try to be a bother no longer than necessary.”
“Don’t just think of us as friends, Oliver,” Q said. “As far as I’m concerned; we’re family. And family takes care of family—no matter what.”
Q jumped. He wasn’t expecting Oliver McFadden to hug him.
Oliver stepped back.
“You have some more guests, Quentin.”
“Oh, yes. The Atkins families. And some of Bruiser Brady’s…friends. Welcome to America, Olly.”
Four
Wylie Westerhouse
Boston, Massachusetts
My Aunt Jessie screamed.
She screamed once in panic. Her second scream was sheer joy. She leaped into the middle of my father’s and Duncan’s embrace.
My mother was silent. She squeezed my hand with both of hers. I almost screamed myself, because it hurt.
I tried to guide her toward the group hug, but she dug in her heels.
“Un-uh! No. NO! This is not happening! This is not right!”
Duncan looked horrified. I can’t imagine what he was thinking, with his own mother shrieking with terror at the sight of him.
“It’s okay, Mom,” I said. “Really. It is.”
“No. No!”
Jessie stepped between Duncan and my mother.
“Patty,” Jessie said quietly. “I know you’re afraid—”
“NO!” Mom screamed.
The next thing that happened was something I thought I would never see in a million years.
Jessie slapped my mom.
Mom went still. And limp.
Jessie grabbed my mom’s shoulders. She stared into her older sister’s eyes.
“My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.”
“No, Jessie—”
Jessie shook Mom.
“Listen to me, Patty! I had a tumor the size of an orange inside my skull for most of my life! I’m the one who should be dead!”
“Stop it, Jess—”
“I will not stop it! I had headaches that made me want to die! But what else happened, Patty? I had dreams—I had visions—I saw things happen before they happened! I prayed for relief. You prayed for me. Mom, Dad, our whole family prayed for me, and I’m still here! We don’t understand a fraction of what happens on this earth, Patty. Not even you.”
Jessie dragged Mom by her arm.
“I don’t know how or why or anything else, Patty. But that…is your son.”
Mom stood trembling in front of Duncan. Duncan was crying.
“I’m sorry, Mom.
Mom fell into Duncan’s arms.
“My baby!”
Do I know how to have a Homecoming, or what?
Duncan and I answered questions for over an hour. I was exhausted. I got up and went into the kitchen for a drink. I sat down at the kitchen table. Jessie joined me a little while later.
“How are you, Jessie?”
She blew out a long breath.
“Same as you. Clinically insane.”
I laughed.
“That was great—how you handled that.”
“Well, Patty always was a little hard-headed.”
“I had no idea that my aunt was a baddass.”
“What? I’ve been a baddass, forever. You just don’t pay attention.”
“Well, I know now,” I said. “I’m not gonna mess with you.”
“Smart man,” she said. She stared into space for a few seconds.
“Wylie, Duncan is in the living room. For real.”
“Yes, he is. For real.”
“Why?” she whispered.
“We’re not sure. Oh, but he has a girlfriend now, by the way.”
“A girl—?” What?”
“Yeah. That was the craziest thing. I’ll let him tell you.”
Jessie nodded with a dazed look on her face.
“Patty tells me that you have a girlfriend, too.”
“I guess you could say that.”
“Well, this relationship is dripping with romance,” Jessie said. “You guess I could say that?”
“I’ve only known Holly for a few weeks. We haven’t really had time for dating and stuff.”
“Holly,” Jessie said. “I’ve always liked that name. Patty said that this girl used to live in the castle—the one that moved to Branson?”
I nodded.
“Yes. And she’s the one—”
“For most people, ‘she’s the one’ would mean true love,” Jessie said. “But that’s not what you mean.”
“Holly has been able to see ghosts since her family moved into the Castle McIntyre when she was six.”
“And now, you can see them. How does that work?”
“I have no idea. It works by physical contact.”
Jessie grinned.
“Now, it’s sounding a little more romantic.”
My face got warm.
“Not that kind of physical contact. I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
Jessie patted my hand.
“You could never disappoint me, Wylie. I may be a little frustrated. I wouldn’t mind listening to a story about a good, juicy romance.”
“I hope you didn’t swear off men because of…”
“Because of that a-hole?” Jessie said.
“I wasn’t gonna say that.”
Jessie smiled.
“No, you’re much too nice to say so. I have been asked out, recently—since you brought it up.”
“Hey, that’s great! Who’s the prospect?”
“Believe it or not—the surgeon who removed my tumor.”
“Really?”
“Why is that hard so hard to believe? Yes, he’s a brain surgeon, but he’s also a man. And he works with all of his clothes on. This isn’t a romance novel. I can vouch for that.”
“It’s just…he’s seen the inside of your head, for God’s sake.”
“So, you think that’s a ‘deal-breaker’?”
I couldn’t think of anything to say. I shook my head.
“Sure, it may seem a little strange…” Jessie said.
“I have to interview him, of course. Nobody gets to take out my Best Girl without my approval. This is non-negotiable.”
“Well, I guess
this is a new policy you have,” Jessie said.
”Yes, it is.”
She sighed.
“I should have had you interview my first husband.”
I shook my head.
“Would you have listened to me? Because I would have flunked him.”
She laughed.
“I love you, Wylie.”
“I love you, too, Jessie. And if I have anything to say about it, nobody is going to ever hurt you again.”
She patted my hand.
“You knew about Duncan,” I said. “You knew what was happening—before it happened.”
Jessie blinked hard. She nodded.
“I overheard you telling Mom—Christmas night when he got sick the first time.”
Jessie bit her lip.
“That used to happen sometimes. Not the knowing part. The say-it-out-loud part. There were times when I would just blurt out the thoughts I had like I would explode if I didn’t! I felt so terrible…it was like a blessing and a curse all at the same time.”
“Believe me, I can relate to that.”
“I scared the hell out of Patty when it first started happening. That was about the time that she started high school. She was afraid that everyone would find out and that she would have no friends. That was the most important thing in the world to her back then.”
“But she got over it, right?”
Jessie laughed.
“It took two years.”
“What happened?”
“We were at the carnival one night. I was a freshman. Mom made Patty take me with her even though Patty was meeting some of her friends there. She made it quite clear that I was unwelcome, so I walked behind them.”
“Wow. My mom was an ass—”
“Wylie!” she slapped down on my hand, but she was smiling.
“Teenagers are selfish jerks, in case your memory is bad. I’m not going to finish this story if it’s going to make you think less of your mother.”
“No, Jess. I’m sorry. I’ll behave.”
“So, we were on our way across the grounds when we passed by these three boys walking in the opposite direction. The boys and the girls stopped talking and laughing and smiled at each other. And just like that, I knew.”
“You knew what?”
“Jessie patted my hand again.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
I started laughing and so did she. I grabbed her hand and pulled her toward me.
“I will put you on the floor and tickle you until you wet your pants, young lady! Tell you tomorrow!”
“That was the first time that I felt I would explode if I didn’t tell what I knew—and it scared me. I was excited and terrified at the same time.”
Jessie ran her hand through her hair and sighed.
“I grabbed Patty’s hand and tried to pull her away from her friends. She fought me off. Her face turned red—not only was I embarrassing her in front of her friends, but I could see the terror in her eyes. She was afraid that everyone in that crowd was going to find out about me. She clawed at my arms. She even punched me in the boob!”
“Ouch!” I winced. “Boob punch. Not cool at all. And then what happened?”
“I grabbed her by her collar and pulled our faces together. I said, ‘if you don’t come with me for one stinking minute, I’m going to tell your friends everything!’ I pulled her far enough away that no one else could hear.
“I turned both of us around. I said ’Who is that boy; the one in the middle?’ She said, ‘that’s Johnny Westerhouse’. I said, ‘You’re going to marry him. You’re going to have two sons.’”
“Holy crap! What did she do?”
“She started crying. She had had a crush on your father for three years.”
“Wow,” I said, taking about four seconds to sound out the word.
“We were as close as sisters could be after that night. Until eleven Christmases ago.”
“But why? If you hadn’t warned them, they might not have taken Duncan’s condition seriously. That’s not fair at all.”
“If only I had handled it more…gently,” Jessie stared into space. “The whole thing was like an out-of-body experience. I couldn’t have kept my mouth shut if I tried.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Jessie.”
“Well, you’ve heard the phrase ‘kill the messenger’, right? Twenty-seven years ago, I was an angel with a welcome prophecy. Seventeen years later, I was the devil with a message of doom.”
“But she did finally get over that.”
“She wasn’t going to tell me to stay away,” Jessie said. “She wasn’t going to keep me away from you and Duncan—Johnny wouldn’t have stood for that. But things were not the same—especially after Duncan passed. Patty always made excuses to be in a different room when I was here. One night I was sitting here, alone—in this same chair, as a matter of a fact. A pain split my head like I had been hit with a sledgehammer. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital—two weeks later.”
“Wow,” I said.
“You already said that.”
I laughed.
“I’ll be saying that word for the rest of my life. We are not a normal family.”
Jessie shrugged.
“Hey, one more thing,” I said.
“Oh, my Gawd,” Jessie smacked her forehead with her palm. “There’s more?”
I leaned in and spoke quietly.
“Yeah. I just wanted you to know that if money is an issue around here, I can help with that. I know you haven’t been doing your show; Dad isn’t working and Mom’s business is a little flat.”
“I don’t think we have any major money problems right now, Wylie,” Jessie said. “I should be going back to work in a few weeks. Are you printing twenty dollar bills at this castle of yours?”
“You’re not going to turn me in are you?”
“Fill me a suitcase, and your secret is safe with me.”
“Have you heard of Skyler KwyK?”
“Well, of course. I have a television and several radios. In fact, the radio station got four comp tickets to her show here two years ago. I got talked into going, even though her music is a little young for my tastes. I was impressed. She’s quite a performer; the screaming from all of those kids was deafening. Why do you ask?”
“I’m working with her. We’re getting ready to do an album and a tour together.”
Jessie slapped down on top of my hand.
“Shut UP!”
Her mouth hung open.
“Are you serious?!”
“I couldn’t make that up.”
“That is fantastic!” she said.
“Ordinarily, it would be. But life is getting way too complicated.”
“I’ll say.”
“Anyway, I signed a deal for a hundred thousand for the album—”
“But you still owe the attorney—how much?”
I shook my head.
“He’s paid off.”
Jessie stared at me.
“You’ve paid him off?”
I nodded.
“I shouldn’t really be surprised. When Patty wound up pregnant with Duncan at seventeen, I think everybody—including our parents—thought that they would struggle for years. Or maybe forever. But your father—I swear. At nineteen years old he was making more money than my father. Johnny could sell ice to the Eskimos.”
I turned in my chair and looked toward the doorway.
“Well, he used to be able to.”
“Maybe this will help him,” Jessie said.
“I hope so. That was the plan.”
We stayed in Boston for two more days. My mother was still having a hard time with the whole “ghost” thing. It did seem to have a positive effect on my dad. When I got up on the second morning, dad had already been out for a haircut. He was clean-shaven and dressed—shoes and everything.
“Do you have to leave so soon?” Mom asked.
“I have a lot to do before New Year’s.�
��
“What happens after New Year’s?” Dad asked.
“It’s a little complicated. Jessie can explain it.”
“Will you be able to come back for Christmas?” Mom asked as she wrung her hands.
“I don’t know, Mom.”
“Well, how about you, Duncan? How do you…how do you travel?” Mom asked.
Duncan shrugged.
“A couple of times I kind of blacked out in one place and came to in another,” Duncan said. “But I don’t control that. As far as airplanes go, it’s like I have unlimited free airline miles.”
“Well, why can’t you stay here until Christmas, Baby?” Mom asked. “Wylie can come back and get you.”
“Uh—,” Duncan said.
“Duncan has a girlfriend, Mom. In Branson,” I said.
“Oh, that’s wonderful, Dunc—! Wait a minute. A girlfriend? What are you talking about?”
Mom was a little wobbly.
“Her name is Nora. She’s beautiful. And she’s almost eighteen!” Duncan said.
Mom sat down on the sofa.
“How…? How did that happen?” Mom whispered.
“Nora’s family came to Branson. From Scotland,” Duncan said.
“Oh,” my dad said. “Her whole family…they’re all—?”
“Ghosts. Yeah,” Duncan said. “They’ve been ghosts for quite a while.”
“How long is ‘quite a while’?” Mom asked.
“Five hundred years or so,” Duncan said.
Jessie was standing next to my mom. Mom started to faint, I think. Jessie caught her.
“Hold on, Patty,” Jessie said. She smiled at Duncan.
“Don’t make me have to smack you again.”
“That had better be the last time you hit me, Little Sister!” Mom said.
“Well, straighten up and act like a grown-up, then,” Jessie said.
Mom jerked her arm away from Jessie.
“Don’t you preach to me. None of this is easy to hear. Or see.”