by K. J. Emrick
She had a car thanks to her husband, too. A white Honda Civic, a Christmas present from Jon a few years ago. It wasn’t new anymore, but it was sleek and fuel efficient and she loved it. Currently, however, it was sitting at home in her driveway. It was much too nice a day to drive. Her bicycle tires whirred along the pavement and had her where she wanted to be in no time.
The little convenience store that had opened last year, up on the corner of Main Street and Gaffigan Avenue, sold a slim selection of soups and boxed cereals and paper towels. They also had a cooler of milk and soda, and a shelf of admittedly overpriced bread. It beat driving over to the nearest grocery store in the next town, twenty-five minutes away.
Alex Hanson was the owner and operator of the Shop and Go, and he always had a smile to share and a tune to be hummed. He was a guy who just loved life. His white apron stretched over a portly belly, and his hair had receded in a horseshoe pattern, and somehow, he just filled up the small space of the corner store with joy and delight.
“Hiya, Darcy!” he boomed from behind the counter. “Get you something special today?”
“Just a loaf of bread and some milk, Alex. Thanks.” She moved to the back of the store where the coolers were, still talking to him as she went. “I have to get back home for a dinner we’re hosting tonight.”
“That so? Very nice, very nice. Just got in a selection of pound cakes, if you’re in the mood.”
“Hmm. That sounds good. This is company from out of town, so it might be nice to go all out.”
“Oh? From out of town, you say. Anyone we know?”
“Um, maybe.” She took out a gallon of whole milk. “Do you remember Mayor Steve Nelson?”
Alex’s eyes grew wider. “Do I? You mean the same Steve Nelson who killed Anna Louis? The same Steve Nelson who went to prison? That Steve Nelson?”
Darcy felt a twinge of sadness for the loss of her friend. Steve Nelson had taken away a good woman when he killed Anna Louis. This had all been many years ago, of course, but even now Darcy felt the pain of it. “Yes, that Steve Nelson. Ex-husband of Helen, our current mayor. All around bad man. That’s the one.”
“You aren’t hosting him for dinner, are you?” Alex’s voice was full of disbelief.
“No. I would definitely not have that man at my dinner table.” Anger shaded Darcy’s voice. For a moment she was lost in her memories, before she could shake them off. “Steve’s still in prison. Where he belongs.”
It hadn’t just been Anna who had been murdered by Steve Nelson. Darcy’s first husband, Jeff Thomas, had been killed by him too. Granted, Jeff had been a mistake and she hadn’t even liked him, particularly, on the day he was found dead. They’d been fighting, and she was mad at him… but still. Steve Nelson would never, ever, step a foot inside her house.
She put her milk and loaf of bread down on the counter, along with a chocolate pound cake with dribbled white icing that looked absolutely delicious. She took out the money she had folded and ready in her pocket to pay for it all.
Alex did the math in his head, tax and all. He always did. “So, if you aren’t having a dinner for that devil Steve Nelson, why bring him up?”
“Well, our dinner’s actually with his sister.”
“Sister?” he grunted, bagging her groceries into a paper sack. “I didn’t know he had a sister.”
“She never lived here,” Darcy explained. “Their parents divorced when they were younger, and his sister went to live with their father out west while Steve moved here with his mother. I only got to know her after Steve’s trial. She started writing to me, apologizing for her brother. There’s not a whole lot of love lost between them.”
“I can guess why.”
“Well, sure. When your brother’s a murdering psychopath you tend to distance yourself from him. But she and I have been pen pals ever since. Christmas cards, birthdays, that sort of thing. The occasional long e-mail. Anyway, they’re on their way to Maine, and we told them to stop by for dinner. You should come over some day, too, Alex. We’d love to have you and Katrina.”
“Maybe next week? Katrina’s a little busy with her mother right now. The Alzheimer’s, you know. It takes up a lot of our time.”
“Oh, Alex. I’m so sorry. Can we do anything?”
He handed her the bag, and when he did his smile came back. “Just be who you are, Darcy Sweet. Whole town comes together whenever you’re around. Receipt’s in the bag. Enjoy your dinner, and you come back if you need anything, you hear?”
“How late are you open?”
“Here till seven tonight. With all the tourists in town it’s a good time to be a business in Misty Hollow!”
Darcy laughed. “I noticed that, too. I’ll have to compliment Helen for organizing all of this. Right after I ask her to change the music on the speakers every once in a while.”
“Yes, she’s twice the mayor Steve Nelson ever was.”
“I definitely agree with that,” Darcy told him.
Then Alex frowned. “How’s she feel about you being friends with her ex-husband’s sister? Have you told her about it?”
Darcy understood why he was asking. Helen Turner had been married to Steve Nelson back when he was murdering people in town. She’d divorced him as soon as he was arrested, and moved on. She had since remarried, and she was happy, and as far as Darcy knew she never even thought about Steve anymore.
“She knows all about it,” Darcy explained. “When she divorced Steve, she got rid of him, not the rest of his family. She has nothing against Steve’s sister. In fact, she’s going to be there for dinner tonight, too.”
“Good, good. Well, that settles it then. You have a good night.”
“You too, Alex.”
Out on the sidewalk Darcy put her groceries in her backpack and got back on her bicycle. She found herself humming the same song that Alex had been.
As she pointed her bike toward home, she knew that nothing could spoil her day.
Colby Sweet was a bundle of energy. Seriously, if they could bottle the kind of power that ten-year-old had inside of her, and sell it, they might just solve the world’s energy problems. She was such a special little girl and not just because the family gift had been passed down from Darcy to her.
She ran around the living room while Darcy and Jon finished cooking the dinner, letting her little brother chase her on his toddler legs. Zane Tinker was just over one and a half years old now, and already well on his way to becoming an Olympic sprinter. Her children were laughing and playing and happy. It did Darcy a world of good to know that she had managed to build such a good life for them even with all the weird and crazy things that happened in their town.
Their kids didn’t have the same last name, and that was by choice. The deal Darcy had made with Jon when they got married, and started a family, was that she would keep her last name. She liked being Darcy Sweet. Knowing how important it was to her, Jon had agreed without any argument. When it came to their children, the deal was that any girls would have her name, and all the boys would have his. Lucky them. They got one of each.
Their life was full. Oh, she probably had time for one more baby, maybe two, but realistically they had reached the limits of what they could support. Both economically, and in terms of how much love and attention they could give. Children needed a lot of both. Jon had his career as the town’s police chief, and Darcy had her career as a bookstore owner. Plus, her thing where she helped the spirits of the dead when they came calling.
Life was full as it was, and they were fine with that.
So, the living room had been turned into a playground. Toys and books were within easy reach, but every electrical outlet had been covered, every sharp corner cushioned with foam edging. Electrical cords were taped down on the carpet with special rubber strips. Nothing had been left to chance. It seemed like Zane had only just learned the trick of standing on his own two feet, but now he was already racing about with wild abandon. For now, his sister was watching over him. Colby
was more mature than most girls that age, even if she was smaller than average. She was a great protector to her little brother.
“How’s the roast coming?” Darcy asked Jon. She was stirring the milk into the mashed potatoes, and everything else was almost done.
“Needs a few more minutes.” Jon closed the oven again, wiping his hands on a towel that he flipped over the shoulder of his polo shirt. He was in jeans today, too, and Darcy just loved it when her man dressed down. “Want me to set the table?”
“Yes, please.”
Six grownups at their little kitchen table would have been a very tight fit. Thankfully Izzy McIntosh lived right next door and had offered her folding card table for them to use. With some very creative positioning and a large enough tablecloth, it was hard to even notice that they weren’t exactly the same height. Of course, most of their small kitchen-slash-dining-room was full up with table now, but it just made it that much cozier. Zane and Colby would be eating in the living room. Darcy had invited Izzy to join them, but she had declined. A date with that boyfriend of hers trumped a dinner in. Darcy smiled. Izzy was cooking dinner at her house for him as it was kind of a special occasion. It was the anniversary of their first date and she was going all out to make it as romantic as possible.
Plates and silverware went in their places around the table, along with salt and pepper, and butter, and the rolls in a bowl covered with paper towels to keep them warm. The roast had been out of the oven and carved, and then put back in the oven to stay warm. Darcy checked the time on her watch against the clock on the wall. It was a half an hour after their guests were supposed to arrive.
“Maybe nobody wants to visit with us today,” she joked.
Jon stirred a little more milk into the potatoes to keep them moist, stirring them over low heat. “I don’t know about your pen pal, but I can’t imagine Helen just standing us up. Can you?”
“Well, she does have the entire town to run. The mayor gets stuck at work sometimes just like the police chief does.”
“Well, I should know.” He gave her a warm smile, but then he checked the clock, too.
“Mom?” It was Colby, leaning out to talk to them over the expandable safety gate blocking the bottom half of the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. “Me and Zane are getting hungry.”
“Me too, Starshine,” Jon said to her, using her nickname. “Maybe we can get you guys something to eat first. How’s that sound?”
“Yes, please,” was the hopeful reply. She turned to look over her shoulder, back toward the living room, where Zane was sitting in the middle of the floor. He flexed his pudgy fingers in big sister’s direction. “Zane would like some applesauce, please.”
“Oh, really? You guys have your own sign language going on now?”
“Mm-hmm.” Colby beamed proudly. “Sometimes we just sit and be quiet and it’s like I can hear him. Know what I mean?”
Jon flashed Darcy a patient smile. This was one of those ghostly things, the smile said, which made it her issue to deal with. They had agreed early on that Jon was Colby’s father when it came to any and all normal childhood things. In all matters dealing with the family gift, Darcy was the parent who would take the lead. The women in her family all had some degree of the gift, great or small, to see and speak to ghosts, to know things that they’d never been told, to have dreams that were often times flashes of the future, and more.
As far as she knew, it was just the women. Poor Zane was going to have to grow up being normal.
Colby was already stronger with the gift than Darcy, even though she was only ten. It was a little frightening, and wonderful, to think about what she might be capable of when she grew up. Every mother’s wish was for their child to surpass them, after all.
Well. For now, her two children were hungry, and the future was a long way off. It didn’t take long to get a bowl of applesauce on the tray of Zane’s highchair, and Darcy fed him several spoonfuls until he started pushing it back through his lips and laughing at the game he’d just invented. Colby got a little plate of roast, and potatoes, and a roll. “More later if you want it, baby girl,” Jon told her.
Still, no one had shown up for the dinner. Darcy was beginning to wonder if she should maybe have Jon call Helen and make sure everything was all right.
Then there was a knock on the door. Jon sighed with relief and brought the roast back out of the oven while Darcy went to greet their friends.
She had never actually met Steve’s sister Gloria, or her husband Cameron Kroeger. They had only ever talked to each other through the mail or online. Even so there had been plenty of photographs back and forth and Darcy recognized her right away. Tall and willowy with curly gray hair, she was a handsome woman. In her youth, she must have been a knockout.
“Darcy! Oh, it’s so good to finally meet you. Such a nice little town you live in. The pictures you sent me didn’t do it justice. But what is with all of that marching band music out there!”
They laughed, and Darcy welcomed her with a hug. She could tell right away they were going to be great friends.
“I can’t believe I’m finally in Misty Hollow. When Steve moved here…” Gloria stopped when she mentioned Steve. It was an awkward thing to talk about him. Darcy could see it in her eyes. “Hey… the house we just passed, the only other one on the street. Is that where… I mean, is that where my brother murdered that woman?”
“Yes. That’s the same one.” Darcy nodded. “Her name was Anna Louis.”
It had taken forever before Darcy could even bring herself to go inside that house, but now her friend Izzy had made it a home again. She and her daughter Lilly had come to town with danger on their heels and then became an important part of Misty Hollow and its people. Lilly and her boyfriend, Connor, were away at college. Just more of the changes she’d been thinking about earlier.
A moment of silence passed between everyone before Gloria cleared her throat and tried to steer the conversation in a new direction.
“You know,” Gloria said, “Steve isn’t the only part of my family who moved here to Misty Hollow. The Nelson family has some pretty long roots here. Granddad lived here. Mom and her sister, too. I haven’t spoken to them in years. Granddaddy Merlon Nelson passed away two months ago, or so I was told. I didn’t even want to come here for the funeral.”
“Oh? Well I’m glad you were coming through here now. I’m so happy we could finally meet.”
Gloria wiped a tear from her eye with a smile and then turned to the man standing behind her. He wasn’t any taller than she was and judging by the gray in his hair and beard, he must have been about the same age as well. His button-up shirt was tucked into dark slacks, showing off a thin frame.
“Well, enough about my sad childhood. That’s all behind me now. This is my husband Cameron. He’s the love of my life. He’s also the one who got us lost twice on the way here.”
Cameron laughed good-naturedly at his wife’s accusation. “Our GPS got us lost, is what it was. Hi. I’m Cameron… oh, right, Gloria just told you that. She’s had a lot of good things to say about you, Darcy Sweet. I’m glad you extended the invite to us.”
“Me too.” Darcy stepped back to make room for them. “Come on in. Dinner’s ready to be served, we’re just waiting on our other two guests. This is Jon, my husband, and the real cook in the family.”
Jon stepped away from the roast long enough to put a kiss on Darcy’s cheek. “I have my talents. Hi, Gloria, Cameron. Why don’t we get some coffee while we’re waiting for Helen? How’s that sound? Everyone drink coffee?”
“Coffee sounds great,” Cameron said. “Everything smells so wonderful.”
“I don’t know if we should wait for Helen,” Darcy said with another glance at the clock. “I can’t imagine what’s holding them up, her and Bruce.”
Gloria shifted her feet. “Are you sure Helen will be okay with us being here?” she asked. “I am the sister of the murderer she was married to, after all.”
> Darcy laid a hand on her wrist. “You’re not being fair to yourself. What your brother did had nothing to do with you. Besides, Steve is in prison now and Helen has put all of that behind her. After she divorced your brother she’s had a wonderful life. Wait until you meet her new husband. He’s an absolute riot.”
“Mom?” Colby’s voice broke into her conversation, and all four adults turned to look at the little girl with the dark auburn hair and the pixie’s face standing over the safety gate. “Um. Helen’s not coming.”
Darcy held her breath and tried really hard to keep her facial expression neutral. Colby’s gift had given her that information, no doubt. Colby knew better than to do that in front of other people, though. They had talked, several times, about how they didn’t show off their gift when anyone would see it and ask embarrassing questions. Especially not people they had just met.
“Oh, really?” she said to Colby, the words coming out in a rush. “You must have seen a text on Mommy’s cellphone in there. Let me just come right in there with you and take a look for myself, okay?”
Her cellphone was actually upstairs in the bedroom. It was just a convenient excuse to get her into the living room and away from Gloria and Cameron so she could talk to Colby.
Jon quickly brought the conversation in the kitchen back around to coffee as Darcy stepped over the safety gate one leg at a time. They’d gotten good at covering for each other whenever Colby started saying what most people would think of as nonsense.
She took her daughter by the hand, and led her over to the couch, and sat down with her. Zane watched them intently from his highchair where he was still trying to pick up all of the cheerios that Darcy had given him for a treat with stubby little fingers.
“Colby, remember what we said about talking to each other in front of other people?”
Her daughter blinked her big bluish-green eyes. “Um. I know I’m not supposed to…”