Delia's Shadow

by Moyer, Jaime Lee

  She meant Ethan’s ghost. The thought that Ethan Brennan might haunt Sadie or Gabe was horrifying. He’d hurt them enough already.

  Dora led the way to the staircase. Ghosts filled the entryway as they had earlier, but the spirits I saw were changing, becoming translucent and fading as I watched. She paused at the foot of the stairs, surveying the diminishing contingent of ghosts. Isadora spoke quietly, but the command in her voice rippled over my skin, raising gooseflesh. “Hear me spirits. Nothing holds you here, no ties to kith and kin, nor debt to the living left unpaid. You are free to seek your rest. Leave this house and be at peace.”

  Some ghosts went quickly, here and gone in the space of a breath. Others thinned and trickled away slowly, holding on a little longer. Even now some of Ethan’s victims were reluctant to quit the world of the living.

  The last glimmering ghost vanished from the entryway. I closed my eyes and listened to the house, searching for traces of spirits and an itch along my skin. Searching for Aileen.

  I couldn’t find her. That didn’t mean she was gone.

  “Dora … if spirits are going to continue to seek me out, I need to know how to send them away. Teach me to do that.” My hands were balled in my skirts, clinched tight enough my fingers ached. “I don’t want Annie, or Sadie and Jack, or Gabe tormented, or in any danger because of me. Show me how to protect those I love.”

  She frowned, one long nail tapping on the banister. “I never said that ghosts would continue to seek you out, Delia, I can’t say that with certainty. But I can’t deny that you’d be safer with more knowledge. Are you sure this is what you want?”

  How sure I was surprised me. “I’m certain. I hate feeling helpless.”

  “Very well then. Consider it settled. I’ll teach you anything I can.” Dora threaded her arm through mine. She trembled slightly and tight lines appeared around her eyes. “Let’s get upstairs to Sadie. Dramatic as it sounds, I need to reassure myself that the house is free of evil spirits and haunts. I won’t feel easy about going home until I do.”

  Strong emotions sought Isadora out, wormed their way past her defenses and under her skin. I’d no doubt that the freshness of Sadie’s memories and lingering terror came near to drowning her. “Is there another way to check for spirits, aside from going to Sadie’s room? You’re already in pain, Dora. I can see it in your face.”

  “Not near the agony I’d feel if we’d lost her, or Jack and Gabe. Don’t fuss, I’ve weathered far worse.” Dora patted my arm and we began to climb the stairs. “I’ve few enough true friends in this world. I can endure a bit of pain for one of them.”

  I heard Esther singing before we reached Sadie’s room at the far end of the hall, her thin, reedy voice breaking on the notes of an old lullaby. She sat in a chair next to the bed, tiny and frail, wrapped in a heavy shawl to ward off the chill. Esther held Sadie’s uninjured hand and sang her child to sleep, chasing away fear of the dark and the monsters who lived there.

  Teddy’s ghost stood behind Esther’s chair, a hand resting on her shoulder. The ghost didn’t fade away when he saw me but stood firm, looking me in the eye before turning back to Sadie and Esther. I hadn’t felt him leave, but he wasn’t a stranger. He belonged in this house.

  And he waited for Esther, that was clear to me now, patient in the way only ghosts can manage. Who he’d been in life and what they’d meant to each other was still a mystery, but in the end that didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be alone.

  Jack had climbed up on the bed with Sadie, heedless of muddy boots on the counterpane nor anything but the need to be close to her. That Sadie had fallen asleep after all she’d endured was miraculous. She slept propped up on his shoulder, her broken hand cradled on a pillow in her lap. He stroked her hair and fussed with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, as if tender gestures might make the bruises on her face vanish or knit broken bones.

  Dora blew Jack a kiss and shut her eyes. Her forehead crinkled in concentration and she muttered under her breath, the words rushed and indistinct. She sighed and sagged against the doorframe. “Nothing rode home on Jack’s coattails. Nor Gabe’s for that matter. We can rest easy.”

  I watched Sadie sleep, trying to banish an image of Ethan’s other victims and the punishment inflicted on Aileen Fitzgerald, struggling to see my friend instead, that she’d survived and would heal. Dora put an arm around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder. “Don’t let the past and old ghosts hide what’s in front of you, Delia. We got our happy outcome.”

  * * *

  Two weeks after her ordeal, Sadie and Jack were married in the front parlor. Annie, Esther, Dora and Daniel, Marshall, Gabe, and I were the only guests in attendance, but that was just fine with Sadie and Jack.

  Gabe arrived early to help me clear away furniture and decorate. Sadie had ordered enough flowers to fill the church and a reception hall, and bouquets for several bridesmaids. She couldn’t bring herself to cancel the entire order, so we filled the house with yellow and pink roses, lilies and carnations, sprigs of baby’s breath and maidenhair fern. Vases and urns sat on every table, lined the oak mantel, and a garland of yellow roses draped an arched trellis we’d set in front of the parlor windows.

  We moved the last overstuffed chair into a corner. Gabe wiped his face with a handkerchief. “Holding the wedding at the church would have been less work, but I think they made the right decision. Is Sadie still worried about the gossip?”

  “No, I don’t think so. Jack managed to convince her that worrying about what others said was foolish. If I recall, his exact words were to ‘hell with all of them.’” I smiled and moved a vase of lilies so that it was framed by the roses draping the arch. “He was rather loud, too, so his statement was quite memorable. The two of them agreed that getting married was the important thing, not putting on a show for San Francisco society.”

  “He’s right.” Gabe’s face flushed and he grabbed his jacket off the back of the settee. “I should get cleaned up before Dora and Daniel arrive. Unless you need me for something?”

  I took one last look around. “No, I think everything is ready. Just make sure to have Jack here in less than an hour.”

  “I promise not to misplace the groom. Sadie would never forgive me.” He kissed me on the cheek and left.

  An hour later we were all in our places, dressed in our wedding finery and waiting on Sadie’s entrance. Reverend Heisten stood in front of the rose-covered arch, ready to sanctify the marriage. At a nod from him, Annie began to play a hymn on the parlor piano.

  Sadie came in on Daniel’s arm. She wore her beautiful dress and didn’t worry overmuch about hiding fading bruises or that one arm was in a sling. Jack didn’t faint when he saw her, but it was a near thing. The stunned expression on his face gave me a great deal of satisfaction.

  Reverend Heisten pronounced them husband and wife and we all applauded as Jack kissed his bride. I couldn’t help sniffling and dabbing at my eyes with a hankie. Sadie had never looked so happy.

  The pearly glimmer of a ghost, pale and barely still in this world, appeared behind Jack and Sadie. Aileen Fitzgerald reached for Jack, longing for all she’d lost stark and raw on her face. She’d not had the chance to know him or see him grow, to say good-bye or make peace with leaving him behind. He didn’t know she was there, but he’d never known his mother watched over him.

  Jack embraced Sadie, the two of them laughing and brimming over with joy. Aileen smiled, than she was gone.

  “All right, folks, everybody find your place at the table. Dee, you and Gabe help Miss Esther to her chair if you would.” Annie tucked her handkerchief up her sleeve. “Marshall, you come help me get this food out so we can eat. Sadie and Jack have a ferry to catch.”

  Annie outdid herself with a huge dinner and a magnificent wedding cake. The afternoon was filled with food, happy talk, and laughter, fueled by the relief that Ethan Brennan no longer cast a shadow over all our lives.

  I stood on the front porch, hand in hand with
Gabe, and waved good-bye as Jack and Sadie drove away. Their honeymoon trip was still in the future, but they’d have three days alone now to start their lives together. As frail as Esther had grown, that was all the time they were willing to risk being away. Sadie said they’d their entire lives to travel. Jack was just as content to wait.

  Gabe lingered long after everyone else went home, helping Annie and I clean up and put the house to rights. The last bit of work for the evening was in the kitchen. Annie hummed under her breath while wrapping leftover food and stacking plates in the icebox. Gabe and I washed and dried the last of the dishes. He was quiet and often lost in thought, but I made little of that. A lot had happened.

  We finished and I reached for the towel in Gabe’s hand, meaning to hang it to dry. He took both my hands in his. “Dee … I’ve rehearsed what I want to say a thousand times, but now I can’t remember any of it. Not a word. After losing Victoria I thought I’d always be alone. You changed that.” He got down on one knee and cleared his throat. “I love you, Delia Ann Martin. I want to spend my life with you. Will you marry me?”

  I stared, unable to answer. Annie clucked her tongue and shook her head, a sure sign that I looked utterly witless. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. “Marry you … Are you sure?”

  He grinned. “I’m sure. Say yes. Marry me.”

  Tears filled my eyes, but I grinned right back. “Yes, Gabe, yes. I can’t think of anything I’d like more.”

  Gabe stood and slipped the ring from his pocket onto my finger. I stared at the pearl and emerald ring, unable to speak. Annie left us alone when he kissed me.

  I didn’t notice that she’d gone.

  * * *

  Esther died quietly in her sleep a week after Sadie’s wedding, surrounded by family and without pain. I’d thought I was ready, but the loss of someone you love is never easy, no matter how long you have to prepare. She’d come back to herself, just a little, in those last few days, and we’d been able to say good-bye. I was grateful for that.

  The day of the funeral was bright and sunny, cheerful in a way that made loss sharper. Wind brushed through the trees shading the hillside cemetery, leaves whispering softly in the voices of ghosts long laid to rest. The family stood at the graveside, Isadora and Daniel, Esther’s friends, and neighbors ranged behind us. Gabe held my hand as Reverend Heisten intoned the words of the service, words meant to comfort the living and soothe grief. His words meant nothing to the dead, wouldn’t bring peace to lost and wandering souls. I knew that better than most.

  I couldn’t help but think of Aileen Fitzgerald and Matt Ryan, my parents and Victoria. Life had been ripped away from them without warning or a chance to reconcile themselves with leaving loved ones behind. They’d never gotten to say farewells. I prayed that they’d found peace nonetheless.

  The service ended and friends and neighbors drifted away. Men in coveralls arrived, leaning on their shovels and waiting to fill the grave. Marshall helped Annie down the slight slope, letting her lean on him for the walk back to the car. Jack and Sadie laid the lilies they carried onto the casket and followed. Gabe did the same, but stopped a few yards off to wait for me.

  “Good-bye, Mama Esther.” I laid a yellow rose amongst the white lilies. “You needn’t worry. Sadie and I will be fine. Rest and be at peace.”

  I hurried to join Gabe. He kissed my cheek and frowned. “Are you all right? You took so long I was starting to worry.”

  “I’m fine. Just saying good-bye.” All my ghosts were laid to rest. I took his hand, fully in the world of the living. “Let’s go home. We have lots to talk about. And a future to plan.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JAIME LEE MOYER’S Delia’s Shadow won the 2009 Columbus Literary Award for Fiction. Moyer has sold short fiction to Lone Star Stories, Daily Science Fiction, and to the Triangulation: End of the Rainbow and Triangulation: Last Contact anthologies. She was poetry editor for Ideomancer Speculative Fiction for five years and edited The 2010 Rhysling Anthology for the Science Fiction Poetry Association. She lives in San Antonio with writer Marshall Payne, three cats, three guitars, and a growing collection of books and music.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  DELIA’S SHADOW

  Copyright © 2013 by Jaime Lee Moyer

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art by Larry Rostant

  Map of the Pan-Pacific International Exposition courtesy of SanFranciscoMemories.com

  A Tor Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

  175 Fifth Avenue

  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor-forge.com

  Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-0-7653-3182-3 (hardcover)

  ISBN 9781429949484 (e-book)

  First Edition: September 2013