I closed the book. So none of it had been my fault.
I prayed that now the demon was satisfied and was gone for good, at least, from this life. I also prayed Jim had found peace and he hadn’t lost his soul. If you looked at it one way, Jim had won. He’d won against his cowardice. He’d beaten it at its own game. Forever’s evil had lost its endless lives. Lost its killing fields. It was small comfort, but it was better than nothing. Love had been stronger than evil. That was a victory.
“Forgive me, Sarah.”
I put the diary away somewhere safe. I never wanted to see it again.
“I forgive you, Jim,” I thought, finally smiling. “I love you and I’ll miss you.”
As I missed all of them.
I’d been here at the old homestead every day since Jim and Jonathan had died, no, gone away. No one ever really dies, I thought. They only go away, and someday I knew I’d join them. We’d all be together again.
Sarah, Jim had written, we live over and over again.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jeremy would be home from school soon and Ben was coming over later. It was his day off.
I was turning to go back home when I saw Jeremy running towards me. He grinned and waved. I waved back.
How had he found me? I didn’t need to answer that.
“Mom, here you are.” His eyes were sparkling.
“You’re a real bloodhound, aren’t you?” I gave him a swift hug.
“Someone’s got to keep an eye on you when Ben ain’t here.” It was a private joke with us these days. Jeremy had become increasingly fond of Ben. Ben had been good for him, too. When I saw them roughhousing or doing something together I was reminded of Jeremy’s father. Ben was his substitute. But it didn’t matter, as long as Jeremy was happy He’d had a hard time of it.
“Who’s going to keep an eye on you?”
“You will.” Always the same answer. Jeremy smiled.
“How’s your leg?” I asked, looking at the limb that had been in the cast for such a long time. I still worried about it. It’d been a bad break and I was always cautioning him not to overdo it. Don’t do this; don’t do that. He rarely listened. One of the cuts on his face had left a scar. We all had scars.
“Ah, Mom, it’s fine. It’s been fine for ages.”
“If you say so. When did you get home from school?”
“A little bit ago. Can I come along with you while you walk?” he asked.
“Sure, for a little while.”
Jeremy looked over at me. “Mom?”
“Yes?” We were walking away from my old home, heading back to our own. I was content knowing we would soon be there, safe and warm. I smiled, thinking of Ben.
“He’s happy, you know?”
“Who’s happy?” I asked, looking for cars as we crossed the street, but a chill traveled up my spine. Of course I knew who he was talking about.
“Uncle Jim. He helped me and saved my life. He’s happy he did that. Don’t worry about him, Mom. He’s not lonely.” Jeremy swung his eyes towards me that were so much like Jimmy’s. Too much like Jimmy’s.
“No, I know he’s not lonely,” I said with a cheery smile and ruffled his hair. The whole family was with him, how could he be lonely? He’d been forgiven. He’s at peace like Charlie. I felt it deep inside.
“I’ll race you home,” I cried and started running. I couldn’t beat my son. He was a rabbit. He doubled back to tell me to hurry, Ben was waiting at the house.
“Now you’ve taken up running, huh?” Ben chuckled as I panted up to him in the street in front of our home. “How many miles you up to?”
“Very funny,” I huffed, doubled over from the strain of running all that way. “Boy, am I out of shape.”
“I don’t think so,” Ben said with a grin. He was sitting easily astride his bike, watching me. He rode it in this weather. Now that was crazy, but he said the cold and snow didn’t bother him. As long as the roads were clear.
“You want to take a ride with me?” he asked. There was a light in his eyes I’d seen before many times, but this time I knew he was really up to something.
He couldn’t hide anything from me.
“Well,” I looked longingly at the warm house. “I’m really cold. How about a cup of hot chocolate first?” I’d tried to tempt him but he didn’t fall for it. “You really expect me to ride on that thing in this kind of weather?” I laughed.
“Please? A short ride? Jeremy can go in and watch television. We won’t be long, I promise. I want to show you something.”
“Okay. A very short ride. You know I don’t like leaving Jeremy alone.” I watched my son run into the house to wait. It was as if he were in on it or something. He’d never agree so easily otherwise. I got on the bike behind Ben and hung on as we took off down the street. The snow plows had cleared them that morning.
I knew where we were going before we were halfway there. Ben’s dream place. The same place we’d visited in the summer. It seemed like an eternity ago now. He pulled the bike up onto the side of the road. I was shivering. “Heck of a way to travel in the winter.” I let Ben rub my hands between his until I could feel them again. “Why don’t you buy yourself a car?”
“A car?” He took my hand and we trekked across the snow covered ground before us. “I had one of those once it ate too much gas.”
“Ben?” I waited for him to say what he obviously wanted to say.
“Yep, it ate too much gas and I’ve got to cut corners any way I can now.” He was serious, but in the depths of his eyes lurked a smile.
“Why? Stop teasing me.”
“I need all the money I can get my hands on to help pay the mortgage on this place.”
“You didn’t!” I cried, happy I was hearing what I hoped I’d hear. What other reason did he have for bringing me out here in the dead of winter?
“I did. I bought this piece of land today. It took every penny I had saved. More. But it was worth it. It can be our vacation spot. Our get-away-from-it-all spot for weekends and such. Or maybe, someday, we’ll all move out here. You can have a horse out here, Sarah.” He was smiling at me now and kissed me lightly on the tip of my nose.
There wasn’t any need for words. We stood there and looked at his dream ranch and held each other tightly against the wind.
After a while, he kissed me. “I’m ready for the hot chocolate now. Then afterwards, how about a nice hot supper at an expensive restaurant, my treat, to celebrate? The three of us.”
“Can you afford it?” I laughed, cocking my head at his property. “I’m starved. You won’t get by cheap.”
“Well, it’s only money.” He laughed. “The best things in life are free.”
We went back to the bike and I got on behind him. The sun was going down and it was suddenly very cold. I leaned my head up against his back as we fought the wind and I thought to myself how true his words had been. The best things were free, but sometimes you had to pay a terrible price to get them.
But love never died and sometimes it made it worth it all.
Going home I thought of my family, every one of them, but this time I smiled into the wind holding tightly to Ben. I’d never forget the love they’d given me. All of them…through all our lives.
I’d never forget in a thousand years.
About Kathryn Meyer Griffith
Since childhood I’ve always been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. I began writing novels at 21 and have had fourteen (nine romantic horror, one historical romance and two mysteries) previous novels published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books and Eternal Press.
I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-three years; have
a son, James, and two grandchildren, Joshua and Caitlyn, and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois called Columbia, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have two quirky cats, Sasha and Cleo, and the four of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die.
Novels and short stories from Kathryn Meyer Griffith:
Evil Stalks the Night (Leisure, 1984; Damnation Books, July 2012)
The Heart of the Rose (Leisure, 1985; Eternal Press Author’s Revised Edition, 2010)
Blood Forge (Leisure, 1989; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition out February 2012)
Vampire Blood (Zebra, 1991; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, July 2011)
The Last Vampire (Zebra, 1992; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, 2010)
Witches (Zebra, 1993; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, 2011)
The Nameless One (short story in 1993 Zebra Anthology Dark Seductions; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, 2011)
The Calling (Zebra, 1994; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, 2011)
Scraps of Paper (Avalon Books Murder Mystery, 2003)
All Things Slip Away (Avalon Books Murder Mystery, 2006)
Egyptian Heart (The Wild Rose Press, 2007; Eternal Press, 2011)
Winter’s Journey (The Wild Rose Press, 2008; Eternal Press, 2011)
The Ice Bridge (The Wild Rose Press, 2008; Eternal Press November 2011)
Don’t Look Back, Agnes novella and bonus short story: In This House (The Wild Rose Press 2008; Eternal Press January 2012)
BEFORE THE END: A Time of Demons (Damnation Books, 2010)
The Woman in Crimson (Damnation Books September, 2010)
Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s Websites:
http://www.myspace.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
(to see all my book trailers with original music by my singer/songwriter brother JS Meyer)
http://www.bebo.com/kathrynmeyerG
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1019954486
http://www.authorsden.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
http://www.jacketflap.com/K.Griffith
http://www.shoutlife.com/kathrynmeyergriffith
http://www.goodreads.com/profile/kathrynmeyergriffith
http://romancewriterandreader.ning.com/profile/KathrynMeyerGriffith
E-mail me at [email protected] I love to hear from my readers.
Also by Kathryn Meyer Griffith:
Blood Forge:
Revised Author’s Edition
by Kathryn Meyer Griffith
eBook ISBN: 9781615725908
Print ISBN: 9781615725915
Horror Thriller
Novel of 135,738 words
An ancient snake-demon lays trapped behind the stone walls of an Incan prison, for centuries demanding blood sacrifices and scheming to escape. Then it discovers a pathway into the world of men, forging itself into a malevolent 357 Colt Python, and making itself capable of incomparable destruction and misery. Through decades it torments, decimates, the unfortunate people whose lives it comes into until a loving married couple, Emily and Sam Walters, have enough love and faith–and the help of a mysterious priest who’s much more than he appears to be–to fight against and destroy it forever…and to send it back to hell where it belongs.
Also from Damnation Books:
The Priest’s Hole
by Ray Clark
eBook ISBN: 9781615726240
Print ISBN: 9781615726257
Horror Supernatural
Novel of 75,316 words
If you’re willing to unlock the gates of hell, be prepared.
Four charred bodies in the middle of a field. The evidence suggested a ritual killing.
The body of a young constable with his head smashed to a pulp. He was investigating with his colleagues and he was on the other side of the oak tree from the four charred bodies. No one saw or heard anything!
A registered charity collector, bloodless and deflated, stretched out on the driveway of the house of a famous, well-known, local writer.
With each of the mysterious slayings, there are no clues, no motives, and no witnesses.
The police have no ideas, until their investigation takes them to Mark Farnham’s house, the author, a man who has everything...including more than enough secrets...and one of those is a Ouija-Board. Have the police found the answer to their problem?
Or have they found an even bigger headache?
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