by Becky Durfee
Jenny closed her eyes as she considered that Devon’s body was essentially unoccupied for a moment—temporarily void of a soul. “That’s frightening.”
“Not really,” the doctor said without emotion. “It’s not the first time I’ve seen it.”
Jenny’s jaw dropped. Had she really just heard him correctly? “Then why didn’t you warn Kayla that it might happen?”
“If she feared that her son might faint, she may not have given her permission for this meeting, which, I believe, is essential to complete Matthew’s journey.”
A million thoughts swirled around Jenny’s head, none of them good. She contemplated calling him out, suggesting that he was less concerned about Matthew’s journey and more concerned with his own. She wanted to express her disgust that he had misled Kayla into thinking this was going to be perfectly harmless, noting that doctor’s licenses can be revoked when sketchy practices are put into play. After giving brief consideration to all of her arguments, however, she decided to say nothing, fully realizing that her hormone levels were running high these days. She could always voice her disgust later when she was more rational; shooting off her mouth in a moment of high emotion might have ended up being regrettable.
Although, it certainly was tempting.
Opting for the civil approach, Jenny said, “So Devon isn’t in any danger?”
“None at all,” the doctor said. “If my previous cases are any indication, he won’t even remember that he fainted.”
“It seems like he didn’t even know who Mary was, even though he had just talked to her.”
“He didn’t talk to her,” Dr. Wilson replied, looking Jenny in the eye. “Matthew did.”
The words sent a chill down Jenny’s spine. Even though she had intellectually come to terms with what was happening to Devon, she still found the notion to be quite eerie.
Jenny heard a distinct, “Hi-YA!” from behind her, and she was delighted to see that Devon had apparently made a full recovery and was showing his karate skills to Mary, who in turn smiled from ear to ear. Jenny couldn’t help but laugh at the determined look on Devon’s face; he was clearly very serious about his martial arts.
The laughter faded quickly, however, and Jenny hung her head when she came to a realization…her burst of laughter had made her wet herself—not completely, but enough to be noticeable. Grateful for her long maternity shirt that covered her bottom, she discretely walked over and told Zack she needed to head back to their hotel room for a moment. She was glad when he didn’t ask why.
The ride in the elevator seemed to take forever, and she prayed that no one would join her in there. Fortunately, nobody did. She eventually made it to the room, pulling some clean underwear and shorts out of her suitcase, wondering how she was going to explain the outfit change when she got back downstairs. Perhaps she should linger for a while and claim she spilled something on herself while eating a snack.
Ooh, she thought, a snack. That sounded really good.
Once she got herself cleaned up and munched on some carrots and crackers, she decided to check her phone for messages. Her heart began to pound when she noticed she had a voicemail from Kyle Buchanan, hopefully with information about Eden. Pressing the phone to her ear, she listened to his message.
“Hey, Jenny, it’s Kyle. I found out some information for you. It seems that Thelma Morton was indeed Robert Morton’s mother, which would explain the sympathy she had for the group. However, Thelma passed away years ago. We obviously won’t be able to get any information from her…but, she had a daughter who was a few years younger than Robert, and she’s still alive. Her name is Dawn Sigle, and I put in a phone call to her. She says she does have a little bit information about The Family, although she admits it might be limited. She suggested that there was a couple that had lived at Eden but left the family shortly before the tragedy, and if we can find them, we can probably get some answers about what life was like there. Maybe they’d be able to tell us if this Jove character was likely to have orchestrated a mass suicide or if something else might have gone on.
“Anyway, I have Dawn Sigle’s phone number for you. I’ll keep working on trying to find out who the couple is that left Eden. I’ll let you know if I get anywhere with that.” He left the phone number and ended his message.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she digested this information. While the sister may have known some things, that couple would have surely been able to provide much more information. She hoped that Kyle would be able to work his magic and find them—an inside source would have been invaluable.
Deciding that she’d taken enough time to explain the new clothes, she headed back downstairs to the meeting room. Devon was still entertaining Mary with his antics, clearly delighted to have a new—and extremely attentive—audience member. Kayla stood off by herself watching the show, the relief on her face obvious. Jenny slipped in next to her, whispering, “I take it he’s doing better?”
Kayla shrugged, the awe obvious on her face. “It’s like he never fainted at all.”
“That’s fantastic news.” Jenny smiled genuinely. “I talked to Dr. Wilson before, and he said that he thinks Matthew retreated too quickly, and that’s why Devon blacked out.”
With a nod, Kayla said, “Yeah, I spoke to him about it, too.”
Jenny balled her hands nervously into fists as she posed, “So, are you willing to let this go on?”
“I know I probably appear to be a bad mother when I say this, but, yes, I am. We haven’t come this far only to turn around and go back home with Matthew still in our lives.” She shook her head. “I just want him gone, and I’m hoping this is what it takes to make that happen.”
“You don’t sound like a bad mother.”
With a smile, Kayla said, “Thanks. I appreciate that. I think the fact that Devon is a boy is actually helping me take this in stride. I swear that child is a set of stitches waiting to happen. He’s constantly jumping off this and bumping into that and falling off things and face-planting…I think this fainting episode has startled me less than it should because I’m used to it by now. It’s like nothing fazes me anymore.” Kayla glanced at Jenny knowingly. “Speaking of which, I see you’ve changed your clothes.”
Jenny felt herself blush. “I spilled something on myself.”
“No, you didn’t,” Kayla retorted, biting her lip to keep from giggling. “I saw what happened. I recognize the look. But don’t worry; we’ve all been there. In fact, I have a name for what happened to you—I call that the laugh-n-pee.”
Jenny laughed out loud as Kayla continued, “I still do it sometimes, even though my son is five.” She placed her hand on Jenny’s shoulder and added, “There’s also the cough-n-pee, the sneeze-n-pee…there’s even the stand-up-too-fast-n-pee.”
“You mean this wasn’t an isolated incident?”
“Oh, heavens, no. You’ll be doing this for the rest of your life. There’s nothing at all glamorous about motherhood, let me tell you. In fact, I remember the ‘three strikes’ rule I used to have when Devon was a baby. He was a puker…he spit up on me all the time. And when I say all the time, I mean all the time. If I changed my clothes every time he spit up on me, I would have worn twenty outfits a day. I certainly wasn’t about to do that much laundry, so I developed my three strikes rule. Once he’d thrown up on me for the third time, then—and only then—would I change my clothes.”
Jenny crinkled her nose, thinking about walking around with vomit on her.
Kayla continued, unfazed. “I’m telling you, I went to the store with puke on my shirt, I went to friends’ houses with puke on my shirt…as long as there were two stains or less, I was going with it.” She shook her head and giggled. “It was amazing just how low I had stooped. I used to take so much pride in my appearance, but then after Devon was born, I was like, ‘who cares?’ I came dangerously close to losing my baby during childbirth…after going through something like that, a little hurl on your shirt is nothing. Besides, when you h
ave a new baby, you’re just too damn tired to care about anything anyway.”
Standing motionlessly as she digested the information, Jenny asked, “Why hasn’t anybody ever told me this?”
“It’s a conspiracy,” Kayla replied quickly. “When I first had Devon, I was shocked by some of the things I encountered. I turned to my mother and my friends who had kids and was like, ‘how come you never told me it would be like this?’ They had all told me that I was just going to love motherhood and that they were so excited that I was having a baby. They never once mentioned the constant puke or the incessant crying or the fact that I would wet my pants every time I did a jumping jack.”
“What did they say when you confronted them?”
“They told me they just didn’t want to scare me. They figured they’d just let me find out on my own what it was all about. In the meantime, I felt like a freak because I thought I was the only person in the world who found parenting to be so difficult.” She shook her head, the memory obviously still a little painful. “At that point, I decided I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it with expectant moms. The truth is, having a baby is hard. Not only that, but you also have to come to the realization that your body is never going to be what it used to be. You wet yourself, your stomach is all stretch-marky and flabby, and your breasts fall to the floor. It’s a lot to swallow all at once—and with the hormone changes that accompany it, it’s almost unbearable at times.”
Jenny smiled politely, although she felt deep down inside that Kayla was just being negative. Perhaps the other mothers didn’t tell her it was going to be like that because, for them, it wasn’t. Kayla’s experience was probably unique because Devon had issues stemming from that incident where he had stopped breathing as a newborn. For most mothers, Jenny decided, it wasn’t all that bad.
Devon’s martial arts display came to an abrupt end. He froze for a moment, standing perfectly still, causing both Jenny and Kayla to direct their attention to him. He took several steps closer to Mary, whose face reflected her uncertainty, and simply asked, “Did you have a good life?”
“Did I have a good life?” Mary seemed unsure if she had heard him correctly. After taking a moment to let the question sink in, she smiled and softly said, “Yes, I had a very good life.”
“Did your mom?”
Mary battled tears as she nodded. Gathering her composure, she was finally able to whisper, “She did.”
“She got married again,” Devon replied, more as a statement than a question.
Again, Mary nodded. “He was a very nice man. He was also a widower, so he understood what she was going through. He never asked her to forget you.” She wiped a tear from her eye before adding, “We kept pictures of you on our wall.”
Devon remained motionless, causing Jenny to wonder if there was going to be another fainting episode. She slipped her arm through Kayla’s, positive that the nervous mother must have been thinking the same thing. Kayla placed her hand on Jenny’s, silently expressing her gratitude for the reassurance.
Jenny’s worry, however, was for nothing. Devon took another step forward, asking, “He treated her good?”
“Very.” Mary smiled compassionately, love apparent in her eyes. “And he was good to me, too. I hope you’re not upset by this, but he treated me like I was his own daughter. I never forgot you were my father, but I never felt like I got cheated out of having a dad, either. I just had a different dad.”
Jenny felt Kayla’s grip tighten, making her aware of her own body and the fact that she hadn’t breathed in quite some time. She released a slow exhale, waiting for Devon to fall to the floor, but again, it didn’t happen. Instead, he looked at Mary and simply said, “I heard you had kids.”
Mary went into detail about her three children, who eventually came into the room and introduced themselves to Devon. The meeting remained productive until the grandchildren made their appearance; at that point, Devon recognized he had young playmates, and the overactive child returned to chase them around.
As the little ones played, the adults gathered around Mary, whose eyes reflected her exhaustion. Dr. Wilson began the conversation. “I believe this went well, no?”
Kayla wrapped her arms around herself as if warding off a chill. “For the most part. Aside from that one incident, everything seemed okay.” She looked intently at Dr. Wilson. “Do you think Matthew will be gone for good now?”
“That hasn’t been my experience in the past. From what I’ve always seen, the children just outgrow their ability to receive contacts.”
“Well, for me,” Jenny began in a voice louder than Dr. Wilson’s, “the spirits usually cross over when their issue gets resolved. This case is a little bit unusual because Matthew’s concern is different than most.” Worry graced her face as she added, “Unlike the murder victims I’ve dealt with, there’s no definitive end to what Matthew wants.”
Zack spoke up for the first time in a while. “At no point did anyone discuss the fact that Julia has crossed over. Maybe if we let him know that’s where he can find his wife, he will be eager to go there.”
“But he knows she’s remarried,” Mary countered. “Do you think that will prevent him from wanting to cross? I mean, yes, his wife is on the other side, but so is her new husband.”
“The new husband who took excellent care of her and allowed pictures of Matthew to remain on the walls,” Jenny said compassionately. “It sounds to me like it shouldn’t be an issue.”
Kayla put her head in her hands. “I just want this to be over.” She suddenly raised her head, seemingly aware of her potential mistake, and said to Mary, “No offense.”
Mary stood, looking Kayla in the eye. “Believe me, none taken. I can’t even imagine how this has been for you. As parents, all we want is what’s best for our children, and you’ve had this crazy, unbelievable event to deal with. I’m sorry that your son had to be the person my father clung to, although at the same time I want to thank both you and him for helping my dad. I had no idea my father wasn’t resting peacefully.” She shook her head rapidly, clearly disturbed by the notion. “I want him to cross over as soon as possible, too…for everybody’s sake. I hate the thought that he’s been in limbo this long, and I hate knowing he’s been haunting your son.”
“Well, hopefully by tonight he won’t be,” Jenny remarked. “Matthew seems pretty adamant about making appearances today.” She looked intently at Dr. Wilson and loudly said, “Maybe by tonight he’ll know he should cross over, and he can be on his way.”
Hint, hint.
“I hate to even mention this,” Mary began apologetically, “but as long as we’re taking a break, I could really use a bite to eat. I know it seems trivial in the scheme of things, but I get the jitters when I get too hungry, and I feel myself becoming shaky.”
“By all means,” Dr. Wilson replied, “let’s go get something to eat.” He glanced over his shoulder at the children running in circles around the tables. “It seems Devon is occupied for the moment anyway.”
While the crowd filed out into the lobby of the hotel, Jenny approached Zack, who remained behind in the meeting room. “Hey,” she whispered as she approached, “you’ve been quiet. Is everything okay?”
Zack squinted and shook his head slightly. “Just a headache, that’s all.”
“Do you want to get something to eat? Food seems to help when Mary gets jittery. Maybe a burger will help your head.” She nudged him with a smile.
“Believe it or not, no. I think I want to go upstairs and lay down for a little bit.”
Zack had just turned down food; he must have not felt well at all. “I’ve got some acetaminophen in my purse…it’s one of the few drugs I’m allowed to take. You want a couple?”
He nodded without saying a word.
“Come on,” Jenny said, gently taking his arm and leading him out of the room. “I just had a snack a little bit ago, so I don’t need to eat, either. Let’s go upstairs; I’ll get you some meds and tuck you in for a nap.”
“See?” Zack said warily, “I told you you’ll make a great mom.”
Zack took little time to fall asleep. Opting to avoid the crowd downstairs and take advantage of some quiet, Jenny slipped out onto the balcony that overlooked nothing and pulled out her phone, studying her contact list before pressing any buttons. She hated making these unexpected calls, although in this case Kyle Buchanan had paved the way for her. This call wasn’t completely out of the blue. With a sigh, Jenny pressed a few buttons and, upon hearing a woman’s voice, said, “I’d like to speak to Dawn Sigle, please.”
Chapter 11
“I believe you’ve already spoken with Kyle Buchanan about this,” Jenny began, “but I would like to talk to you about your association with The Family at Eden, if you’re willing.”
“I’m willing,” Dawn replied in an apologetic tone. “I just don’t know how helpful I’ll be. I was a child back then, and it was fifty years ago.”
“Well, any information you can give me will be more information than I have. Truthfully, I know very little about it.” She scrunched her face tightly before adding, “I’m not sure how much Kyle told you…about how I came to be involved with this investigation.”
“He didn’t mention anything. Honestly, I was wondering why this came up all of a sudden. I haven’t heard anything about it in ages.”
Although the word psychic was rolling off Jenny’s tongue more freely these days, she still dreaded saying the word to complete strangers. Since she had the ability to take another route this time, she took advantage of it. “You have probably never heard of Dr. Albert Wilson, but he works with children who appear to be visited by spirits, or even, at times, possessed by them.”
The silence on the other end of the phone gave Jenny no indication of how this was being received.
“Recently, a young girl named Addy was contacted by a spirit that, we believe, has ties to The Family. This spirit seems to be under the impression that what happened at Eden was not a mass suicide, but rather a mass murder.”
