by Glass, Debra
Trembling, I struggled to recompose myself. Everyone’s eyes loitered on me and I chanced a glance at Frank. “What the—” he began.
I shrugged as if I had no idea what Briar had been talking about.
“Look at her,” Briar whispered loudly to her friends. “Trying to act like she doesn’t know she’s trapped a man’s soul on the earth plane.”
I wanted to sink into the floor. A dark truth lurked behind Briar’s accusation. I squeezed my eyes shut. Was I being selfish in wanting him to wait for me? Giving him up was my only other option. And I couldn’t do that because I couldn’t imagine life without him.
During class, I offered my hand to Jeremiah to see if he’d write through me but he wasn’t there. Besides, Briar’s sudden attack had upset me far too much to tap into my psychic senses.
She’d called Jeremiah a liar. What reason would he have to lie to her?
And worse, had he made contact with her again?
Dismally, I thought back to the day she’d tripped me in the hall. She’d left me alone since that time Jeremiah had angrily caused a storm of scurrying papers in the hall. Had he promised her something in return for leaving me?
Briar’s sudden disappearance yesterday and Jeremiah’s absence right now couldn’t be a simple coincidence. He’d told me he needed to talk to me.
The words he’d uttered against my lips last night haunted me.
If anything ever happens to me, know that I did not leave you because I wanted to.
Certainly, Briar didn’t have anything as diabolical as forcing him into the Light in mind.
I made myself calm down. The medium’s website stated that a spirit couldn’t be forced.
Briar couldn’t make him go.
Could she?
Uncertainty popped and flared through me like fireworks. I twisted in my seat to look back at her.
She glared, her face set and grim.
“Miss Darby,” Mr. Daniels scolded. “Please face the front.”
Inhaling sharply, I turned around. I resolved to put a stop to Briar’s bullying. There was nothing she could do to Jeremiah. Nothing.
And nothing she could do would spoil my plans for tonight.
* * * * *
Knowing she’d follow me, I rushed out of class and practically ran for my locker. This time, I was ready for her.
Trembling, I worked my combination as quickly as I could, switched my books. As soon as she rounded the corner, I shut my locker and disappeared down the hall which led to the seldom used auditorium, to the stage where I’d had my senior pictures taken.
No one would be in there. Besides I didn’t want any witnesses.
My mouth grew desert dry. I shook all over as I pushed open the door to the stage.
Despite the rush and whirl of students in the halls, the auditorium remained quiet, desolate, like a cemetery in the middle of a bustling city.
A chill swept over me.
This was stupid. Confronting her might prove to be a mistake. If her cronies followed, it’d be three against one. Anger fueled me. This hostility between us had to end. I refused to be bullied any longer. There was nothing she could do to separate me from Jeremiah.
I shivered against the dark chill in the air, breathing in the stale smell of the dusty stage curtains. Wind whipped through the ceiling somewhere, rattling the catwalk high above the stage.
The door tore open and Briar burst in, flanked by her friends. “Who are you running from, ghost chick?”
Straightening, I steeled myself. “I’m not running from anybody.”
“Oh, yeah?” Briar closed the distance between us.
I clutched my books closer. “You can’t do anything to him.”
Her energy flustered me. Something dark and twisted and evil lurked inside her. But what?
Or who?
Her wicked laugh echoed through the empty auditorium. “Your little friend promised he would let me send him to the Light after Christmas break if I’d only lay off you.”
I shook uncontrollably. Jeremiah wouldn’t do that. “Liar.” But I knew a sick, sick truth lurked in her dark declaration.
“He plays the part of the southern gentleman to the max but the truth is, Wren, he’s a liar, just like every other earthbound spirit. A demon. He’ll do anything, say anything to stay.”
I trembled violently. “That’s not true.” I shook my head. I should never have led her here. This wasn’t going as I’d planned at all.
“Has he told you he wants to stay with you?” she asked. “Has he gone so far as to tell you he loves you?”
I stared. My cheeks flamed. I felt as if she’d reached inside me and ripped out my innermost secrets.
And my heart.
“They’re incapable of love. They’re incapable of anything except deception.”
My nails dug into my books. I feared I’d lose control any moment and fly into her in a rage.
A slow smile twisted on Briar’s black cherry lips. “Why do you think there are so many stories about that old lady who lived there before you? He lied to her, too.”
“He did not.” I tried in vain to shut out the images of him with another girl…another woman.
Briar glanced at her friends and then back at me. A malevolent gleam flashed in her eyes. “He told her the same things and look at her. She spent her whole life alone and waiting for him, waiting to be with him.”
My throat constricted.
Briar continued. “He promised her he’d wait for her and then she died all alone. She died, thinking they’d finally be together and what did he do? He stayed right here and waited for his next desperate victim. Didn’t he, ghost chick?”
I bit my lip to keep from lashing out at her.
“Imagine his surprise when you moved in,” Briar added snidely. Her gaze raked me from head to toe. “No more old lady.”
“It’s not like that,” I said, finally finding my voice. “You don’t know him.”
And then, somehow, I managed to grasp hold of the one hole in her story. Courage heartened me. “If what you’re saying is true, then why did he come to you and tell you he wasn’t going to let you cross him over?”
Briar’s eyes narrowed into vicious slits.
Triumph surged. “You can’t make him go.”
She pursed her lips and then smiled. “Oh, he’ll be begging me to send him. You just wait and see.”
With that, she whirled and in a flash of hot pink and black leather she and her friends disappeared the way they’d come in.
Unsteady, I sank to the stage and sat until my racing pulse returned to normal. What had she meant that he’d be begging her?
Jeremiah wouldn’t beg her for anything. She was bluffing.
I took deep breaths, willing my pulse to return to normal. I’d meant to show her I wouldn’t be bullied. I’d failed.
One of her statements shook me to the core. Jeremiah had made a deal with her that he’d stay with me until after Christmas break. That’s why he’d made me those promises last night.
My lips parted as sudden insight washed over me.
He’d decided he wanted to stay with me. I’d known, of course. But now, I realized more than ever that he’d decided to give up heaven…for me.
For now.
* * * * *
By the time I got to lunch, word had gotten around about my tiff with Briar. Waylon and Laura both vowed they’d confront her but I talked them out of it. Briar had already blabbed to the whole school that I had a boyfriend who was a ghost, and Waylon and Laura had spent the morning doing damage control.
I thanked my lucky stars no one believed her. Because I didn’t know if I possessed the coldness to deny my relationship with Jeremiah.
Laura’s gaze flitted back and forth between Briar’s table and me. “You wouldn’t believe what else she’s saying about you.”
I refused to look over there. I wanted to appear unconcerned. I intended to ignore her but I really ached to pound the table with my fists. How
dare she try to separate me from Jeremiah!
“Nobody listens to her,” Waylon said, his tone calming. “Laura and I’ll take up for you.”
I managed a little smile of gratitude.
“That’s right.” Laura flashed the Goths another hateful look.
Waylon leaned in so no one else would hear. “She says she’s going to send him to the Light.”
“Can she do that?” Laura asked.
“No,” I told them. “I did some research over the holidays. You can’t make a ghost cross over unless they want to.”
Laura’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Good.”
“Why is she picking on you?” Waylon asked.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “From the stuff I’ve read, there are lots of people who like to think of themselves as ghost hunters who think it’s wrong to let an earthbound spirit remain here.”
“I think I know why,” Laura interjected before she took a bite out of a yellow apple.
All eyes riveted to Laura.
“Why?” I suddenly wondered why I hadn’t used my intuition to figure this out before. I could have kicked myself. I’d been too absorbed with my relationship with Jeremiah to uncover the motivation of the one person who could possibly come between us.
Laura swallowed. “I went to middle school with Briar. She used to be a straight A student. She was pretty and quiet and had her own group of friends. They weren’t the popular kids but they weren’t the geeks either.”
I could never imagine Briar being anything other than a black boot-wearing badass.
“Her family moved into an old farm house on Rockdale Hill on the south side of Mt. Pleasant and that’s when she…changed,” Laura added.
I stared, grasping the meaning behind Laura’s long winded story. Realization struck. “The house was haunted,” I said.
Laura shrugged. “I’m just saying that’s when she changed.”
“My dad told me the farm where she lives is where one of those Bugger Gang members lives.”
I nearly spewed tea across the table. “Booger? Like nose boogers?”
Waylon snorted. “You haven’t heard of them?”
I raised an eyebrow. “I’m not from here. Remember?”
He chuckled. He spelled Bugger out loud. “The Buggers were a bunch of deserters during the Civil War who holed up in a cave around Florence.”
“Where’s Florence?” I asked.
“It’s a town about an hour’s drive south of here in Alabama,” Waylon said. “The gang was led by this dude named Tom Clark who bragged that he’d killed sixteen men in his lifetime. One was a little baby he threw up and caught on the point of his knife.”
A violent shudder tore through me.
“The Florence sheriff eventually caught Clark and two others and the townspeople hanged them without a trial. Legend has it, they buried old Tom right smack in the middle of one of the main streets in Florence because he’d bragged that no one would ever run over him.”
“And one of these guys used to live in Briar’s house?” I asked.
“A gang member, but not one of the three who were hanged in Florence,” Waylon said. “This one was named Zeke Jackson. He came back here after Tom was put to death and it wasn’t long before the authorities caught up with him and hanged him from the big hickory tree in Briar’s front yard.”
I drew in a deep breath. “So, if Briar is open to the presence of spirits, then perhaps she had an encounter with this Zeke Jackson.”
Laura nodded.
I suddenly knew the cause of her darkness. An evil spirit. My insides hollowed. Pursing my lips, I thought back to the things I’d read on the Internet. Spirits’ personalities didn’t usually change after death. If Zeke had been a creep in life, then he was a creep in death as well.
“A ghost like that would make anybody hate spirits,” I mused. “Still, she doesn’t know Jeremiah. He’s not like that.” I almost felt sorry for Briar.
Almost.
“I guess the real issue is,” Waylon began, “if Jeremiah wants to…cross over?”
So many times, I felt guilty for wanting Jeremiah to stay with me, for needing him so much. But after the day I helped that woman to cross and especially after my conversation with Jeremiah about our future together, I knew he wanted to stay.
Laura’s eyes rounded. Her knowing gaze echoed our discussion on the bus this morning.
“He told me he wanted to stay here,” I said.
Laura beamed with secret knowledge and for the first time since Briar accosted me in Mr. Daniels’ class, my effervescent mood returned. Worrying about Briar was pointless and silly when I had every reason to look forward to tonight.
Fifteen
My heart thundered against my ribcage with every step I took toward my house. Mom and David were gone. Ella was tucked safely away at a friend’s house.
Nothing prevented Jeremiah and me from spending the next several, glorious hours alone together.
And while he had no idea what I’d planned, I hoped he’d share my happiness about taking our relationship to the next level. After last night, I harbored no doubt his feelings mirrored mine.
Always…
He’d promised me. And tonight, I would make promises to him.
Floating, I sailed past my parked car. I withdrew the house key from my pocket as I climbed the steps onto the front porch. Anticipation threaded through me. My hands trembled as I pushed the key into the lock. With a shoulder nudge, the door opened. At once, the familiar smell of old wood and antiques surrounded me. I inhaled it, knowing this scent would forever remind me of Jeremiah. Of home.
The house seemed eerily quiet without the comforting drone of the television coming from the kitchen and the high-pitched lilt of Ella’s voice.
Mr. Stella, obviously satisfied that I’d safely made it home, stood and stretched from his position on a sage colored antique chair. In his usual cat fashion, he didn’t bother to greet me otherwise and, instead, turned to reposition himself for an extended nap.
I gently closed the door behind me before I climbed the stairs, wondering where Jeremiah would be. In the attic? In my room?
I was certain he had the run of the house but those were the two places I saw him most often.
My stomach knotted as I imagined how I’d ask him to make himself scarce while I got ready for tonight. Everything had to be as perfect as possible. I wanted to remember this night for the rest of my life and beyond.
“Jeremiah!” My voice echoed strangely through the empty house and I realized it was the first time I hadn’t had to whisper when I talked to him.
Even outdoors, I feared Ella would sneak up on me, or David, doing yard work, would overhear me talking to seemingly no one.
When I reached the landing and turned to continue up the stairs, I noticed Jeremiah waiting for me at the top. Hands stuffed casually in his pockets, he stood, resplendent in a hazy sliver of afternoon sun. His easy smile deepened the dimples at the corners of his mouth. My heart swelled with love and I dropped my backpack, sprinting up the rest of the stairs until I was in his embrace.
His lips found mine and I yielded completely, and probably would have tumbled backward down the stairs were it not for his arms around me. As his kiss intensified, desire unfurled in my body, making me want to throw all my careful plans aside. I half-wondered what he’d do if I declared my intentions right now. Would he take his old-fashioned stance or would he hold me and kiss me, right now, right here, on the stairs?
The thought of it made my face flush hot. My knees went weak and I thought I’d faint if he didn’t release me. But if I didn’t stop now, I’d never be able to muster the courage to go through with this. Reluctantly, I ended our kiss. Breathless and blushing, I gazed into his eyes. “I…I have a surprise for you.”
His dimples appeared. “For me?”
I nodded, suddenly shy. I felt as if I stood on the edge of some high place, poised to fall.
A mischievous glint sizzled i
n his eyes. “What is it?” he asked,
“I…I need to get it ready first,” I said, hoping I wouldn’t lose my resolve. “I need you to go downstairs.”
His forehead furrowed. I truly had taken him by surprise.
“It won’t take long,” I promised, but my mind already raced with all the things I needed to do to make this night perfect.
“I’m being banished?” he asked playfully.
“Yes! And no peeking,” I warned him.
He laughed outright. Little tendrils of excitement spiraled through my stomach at the rich and spontaneous sound. I couldn’t believe I was doing this and yet some part of me couldn’t believe I hadn’t already done it. Tonight I would tell the man I loved I was prepared to pledge myself only to him for the rest of my life.
My stomach somersaulted.
“Hurry,” I encouraged him. “I have a lot to do.”
Mirth danced in his eyes as he tucked his hands back in his pockets and, smiling, he bounded down the stairs like any mortal man.
Shaking uncontrollably, I fled up the attic stairs and threw open the trunk. It had been awhile since Mom and I had found the vintage dress but I felt fairly certain it would fit me. My breath caught at the sight of it folded neatly on top of the other assorted items in the trunk. I lifted it carefully by the shoulders. With its row of fabric covered buttons and lace overlay, the dress was as beautiful as I remembered.
It would make the perfect dress for our commitment ceremony. I dropped the lid to the trunk and rushed down to my room to try the dress on. After kicking off my sneakers, I slipped off my sweater and jeans.
I caught sight of myself in the mirror and realized I had on a pair of polka dotted panties and a well-worn cotton bra. If all went as planned, I wouldn’t want to be wearing everyday undies. Unable to believe the moment had really arrived, I shook as I made a frantic search through my dresser drawers until I found a seldom worn pair of lace panties and one of my newer bras.
As I changed clothes, the reality of what I was doing thrummed through my veins. I racked my brain for one shred of doubt, one ounce of reservation.
I found none.
And even though I’d never been in love like this, intuitively I grasped what I felt for Jeremiah was real and pure.
