by Judith Post
Elyssa handed her the clay figure.
The doll's hair was painted red. It held a test tube in its hand. "Annabel," Thea said.
Elyssa frowned and shook her head. "I can't see your lips."
Thea spoke with more volume. "I said 'Annabel.'"
Elyssa nodded. "I can read lips really well, but I have to be able to see them."
"How much hearing have you lost?"
Elyssa fidgeted. "I'm deaf. Josh didn't tell you, did he?"
"No. But you talk like a nor. . ." Thea bit back the word 'normal.' How tactless could she be? But Elyssa didn't seem to mind.
"I didn't lose my hearing until I was six. A high temperature for too long. I almost died."
"I'm sorry."
Tears misted Elyssa's eyes. "Josh knew you'd like me even less once you found out."
"That you were deaf?" Thea reached for Elyssa's hand. "No, Josh knew I'd like you if I got to know you. That's why he left us alone."
It was Elyssa's turn to stare. "I wish he'd stayed with me. I'm not good with people."
"Neither am I. It doesn't matter. Do you need to paint someone to use your gift?"
"I'm not as talented as Aggie. Josh said that she can just look at someone and know, but I need clay. I'm a potter."
“Clay.” Thea remembered Josh's bookmark, the earth-brown thread that wound so tightly with his sage green strands. "When did you discover your talent?"
"My grandmother had the sight. She raised me after I got well again. My parents thought I was too odd."
Thea nodded. "It's not easy being different."
Josh opened the house's screen door and came to join them. He and Rachel must have circled around the block and gone in Annabel's back door. He'd probably been listening in the whole time. He sank down on the step beside Thea. "So, are you all right with this? I was worried you’d be unhappy that we didn’t come home to get married." His face crumpled, waiting for her approval. "I’m happy, Mom. Be happy for me.”
Thea answered Josh, but looked straight at Elyssa, so that she could see her lips. "She's a beautiful girl. Inside and out. You did good. She's perfect."
"I knew it!" Rachel rushed out of the house to join them. "And guess what, Mom? Guess what color Elyssa's aura is?"
"Brown?"
"How did you know?"
"It's the color of the thread that joins with Josh's in his bookmark."
Rachel smiled. "Then it is destiny. Wait till Hannah finds out."
Josh slapped a hand to his forehead. "We'd better tell her, or there'll be hell to pay."
"She's at the lake with Cynthia and Toby," Thea said. "Come to the house with me. That way, you can walk out to meet her when she gets back. You should come too, Rachel. We should invite people over, have a celebration or a feast."
“A feast?” Elyssa looked worried.
“Would you be okay with that?”
Josh went over to give her a hug. "You can meet everyone, and they can meet you—if you’re all right with getting bombarded by that many people at once.”
Elyssa didn't look too sure about it, but Rachel jumped to her feet and said, "I'll call Isak and tell him. We'll bring something from the bakery. What time do you want us?"
"Let's try for seven. It's a little later than usual, but this is spur of the moment. It will give us all time to get ready."
"We can give you a ride home," Josh said, leading Thea to his truck. "That way, we can talk. We have lots to tell you, and you probably have lots to tell us." He and Rachel exchanged glances as they parted. They'd done that since they were little kids. Thea wondered what they were up to this time.
Camping gear was scattered in the truck bed. "Did you camp on your way home?" Thea asked.
"I know you hate it, but we like it," Josh said. "Look at the size of our tent. Three rooms and a rain cover. We could live in there."
Thea shook her head. She wasn't convinced, but she caught another meaningful glance pass between Elyssa and Josh. Once in the truck, wedged against the passenger door, she said, "What's up? What else do I need to know?"
Josh took a deep breath and reached for Elyssa's hand. She was smashed between the two of them. “The thing is, we'd like to stay in Emerald Hills, and I still have some of the money that you gave me, but there's nothing to rent right now. Isak offered us the room over his bakery, but I'd rather live in your barn, in my workshop, until we find a place of our own.”
“In the workshop? There’s no kitchen, no beds.”
“There’s a bathroom. We’ll sleep on cots, and we have a camp stove to cook on.”
Oh great! Josh and his bride were going to live with sawdust and chisels.
“We have the tent. We could camp out in the woods if that would work better for you,” Elyssa hurried to say.
“When I have empty beds downstairs? And lots of room?” Thea shook her head. “Why don’t you just move in with me?”
“We wouldn’t feel comfortable in the house,” Josh said. "I'd feel like a kid again."
Elyssa was watching her, a knot of worry between her brows. Thea liked this girl. She wanted her to know that. But how? She finally said, “I’d feel better if you’d move two beds out there and put the grill by the door for now. You should buy a microwave and a toaster too.”
Josh looked surprised. “That's it? It's okay?"
"Cots aren’t that comfortable.”
"You've got that right."
“Then it’s settled," Thea said. "You’re home.”
She liked the sound of that. Josh and Elyssa were home.
Chapter 69
Thea’s driveway was filled with cars. Rachel, Isak, and Hannah huddled with Josh and Elyssa. Toby jostled beside Hannah, happy because she was happy. Cynthia and Shari helped Thea in the kitchen. Nancy poured drinks—wine for the adults, juice for the kids.
Rachel came to check on things. “Are you sure it’s all right leaving Annabel alone?”
“She’s not alone,” Thea said, pulling a huge pan of Chicken Seville off the stove to carry to the table. The celebration was last-minute, and she’d had to find something special to make in a hurry. Chicken Seville was her answer--chicken breasts with tarragon, black olives, roasted red peppers, and artichoke hearts--all in a luscious sauce. “Gabe’s with her. She’s asleep. If anything happens, he can pop in here in a second, and you’re three blocks away. It will be fine.”
Rachel nodded and grabbed four loaves of crusty bread from the bakery to carry to the table. All of the leaves had been put in, and it stretched to the far side of the room.
Cynthia carried deep bowls of rice to each end of the table, and Shari followed with spinach salads. While people came to the table, Thea rolled her cream cheese filling into the two pumpkin sponge cakes she’d made. A celebration demanded a dessert.
The meal proceeded with lots of laughter and toasting.
“Show us your ring,” Rachel said. “What did Josh come up with?”
Elyssa blushed. “He made it.”
“Made it?” Rachel leaned forward to see.
Elyssa took it off her finger and passed it to her. “He carved it.”
“No diamond?” Shari said, looking at the big stone on her white gold band.
“This was what she wanted,” Josh said.
When Thea finally got to see it, she realized that it WAS perfect. The slim piece of polished walnut was engraved with vines that twisted around words for love, lightly etched into the ring’s surface, from different languages. “It’s beautiful,” she said.
“Do you like it, Mom?” Josh asked.
“I love it.”
“Where were you married?” Cynthia asked.
“By the justice of the peace in a small chamber of city hall,” Josh said. He glanced at Elyssa, beaming.
“We were surrounded by marble walls, for permanence.”
Cynthia nodded. “Sounds like you two were made for each other.”
Josh took Elyssa’s hand. “We’re soul mates.”
&nb
sp; Thea sighed. Why not? Maybe this was the time that Josh’s bookmark would have had Elyssa’s thread join with his own.
“Are you going to stay in Emerald Hills?” Nancy asked. “Or have you decided yet?”
“We want to,” Josh said. “But it’s hard to find anything to rent or buy. We’re camping with Mom right now, but eventually we’d like a place of our own.”
“Damn right!” Nancy agreed.
“Give it time,” Shari said. “You could always rent a hotel room at our place until something opens up.”
The conversation returned to small talk when Thea tilted her head and sighed. Not again. She looked at Josh and Elyssa. “Sorry, I have to go.”
Elyssa nodded, her green eyes serious. “Josh explained. I think what you do is wonderful.”
Hannah jumped up, too. “Please, let me come. I’ve been in the studio. I want to watch.”
Thea looked at Rachel. Rachel shrugged, undecided.
“I won’t get in the way. Promise,” Hannah begged.
“Why not?” Thea said. “We’ll be back as fast as we can,” she told the others.
“Toby and I will clean the dishes and have things ready for dessert when you get back,” Cynthia said. “Won’t we, kid?”
Toby beamed at being part of the team.
Thea, Rachel, and Hannah raced to the barn. This baby was coming fast.
Thea went straight to the small loom and sat down.
Aggie hovered nearby. “There’s a lot of energy with this birth,” she said.
Rachel started when she could see her dead aunt.
“I’m in the studio,” Aggie explained. “The rules are different here.”
Rachel shook her head. “Our family can still surprise me.” She sounded as though she was more shocked than surprised, and her voice was loaded with dread. She wasn’t looking forward to another bookmark. And if any predestination could fill a weaver with dread, this was the one. As Thea’s fingers spun the threads into a pattern, she wove shades of gray around a furious, jagged weave of black.
“A dark soul,” Aggie said. “This boy is born with no conscience. He’s evil.”
Rachel sighed and studied the weave. “Why all grays? Why not some other color?”
“His parents are both twisted,” Thea said. “Probably abuse him.” She nodded toward the two grays that writhed together. The father’s thread formed part of the pattern until the boy was a little older, probably early teens, and then his thread left. “The father bails here.”
Hannah stared. “Does he die?”
“No, he leaves. The boy’s probably too much for him. He’s the type that strikes back.” Thea pointed to the mother’s thread. “See? The mom’s thread keeps getting duller and duller. The boy’s stronger than she is now, draining her energy, sucking her dry.”
Rachel turned her back on them and walked to the other side of the room. She stood staring out the window.
“How can there be free will if that baby was born with a gray thread?” Hannah asked.
“Sometimes a dark soul comes into the world,” Aggie said. “He’s been in the world before, and he wants to come back.”
“Why does he get to?” Hannah complained.
“Because there is free will, and if the soul finds someone who asks for him, wants him, like these two people did, then he’s invited,” Thea said.
“It’s not fair to the rest of us.” Rachel didn’t move from her place at the end of the barn.
“We all have choices,” Thea said. “Evil or weak people have choices, too.”
The bookmark grew darker and knottier as it grew. It was an ugly, nasty weave. This boy would hurt many people as he grew older. When the weave was finished, Thea tied its knot and released it as quickly as possible.
Rachel came to stand in front of her. “Mom, I need to talk to you. I went to see Grandma Doreen. I asked her if she ever learned to like weaving more than she did at the beginning. She said it never happened.”
Thea nodded. She’d been expecting this. “You don’t want to be a weaver.”
“But who’ll do it if I don’t? Who’ll do our family’s destiny?”
Thea looked at Hannah, and Hannah beamed. “Me?”
“You’ve watched me. You know how hard it is.”
“Because of people getting mad at you?” Hannah asked.
“Not everyone understands,” Thea said.
Hannah grimaced. “Been there, done that. You should try telling them about ghosts.”
Aggie nodded. “She has a point.”
Thea turned to Rachel. “You’re my only daughter. I thought it had to be you, but Hannah was given the gift to see ghosts because it makes her see life and death in a different way than most of us. She got the Patek call to be a weaver, not you.”
“Are you serious?” Hannah asked Thea.
Thea looked at Aggie. “Am I right?”
“Hannah’s the one.”
“Can I start training?” Hannah asked.
“You just did.”
Rachel threw her arms around Thea’s shoulders and cried with relief. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“You have a different gift,” Thea said. “You’re here to see peoples’ auras and tweak them.”
Chapter 70
After the cake and ice cream, the champagne and toasts, people started to leave. Elyssa looked dazed, but pleased. She’d survived the party better than Thea had thought. When she and Josh walked to the barn and his workshop, Gabe popped in to see Thea.
“How’s Annabel?” Thea asked.
“My parents got to the house,” Gabe said. “They got an early flight, rented a car, and drove down. She was asleep when they got there, but Annabel’s a light sleeper. She woke up and she could see me.”
“Why? You didn’t come back to attach yourself to her.”
“Because she’s ready to die,” Gabe said, “and she’s fine with it. She told me that my grandpa’s come to visit her a few times, that he’s ready to take her to the light.”
Thea blinked away tears, not just from sadness, but because what Gabe told her was so touching.
“Did you get to visit with her?” Thea asked.
“We had a nice time, remembering the past. She told me stories about Mom when she was a little girl, and we laughed at some of the naughty things I did when I was a kid.”
A lump caught in Thea’s throat. “What did your parents think?”
“They sat on one side of Grandma’s bed, and I was on the other. She’d look at them sometimes, and then she’d look at me. They could sense that I was there, and I think it made all of us feel better.”
“Did it make you feel better?” Thea asked.
Gabe nodded. “It gave me some kind of closure with my own death. It’s hard to explain. And it will help me with hers.”
“I should go see her.”
“Tomorrow morning. Rachel and Isak are there now. Mom and Dad are cherishing their time with her.”
“Go back to them,” Thea said. “Stay with them. Hannah and I will come first thing tomorrow.”
But that was too late, Thea discovered. Her cell phone rang at 4:00 a.m.
“Mom’s gone,” Muriel said. “Thanks for sending Gabe back to us.”
“Are you all right?” Thea asked.
“I’m glad I was here. Thanks for everything. We’re going to make funeral arrangements now. We’ll stop by your place when we’re finished.”
“Do you need anything?”
“We’re okay for now. See you later.” Muriel hung up.
Thea woke Hannah and told her.
“Good, Grandpa can go back to the light now,” she said. “He’s been waiting for Grandma.”
Thea shook her head. Always the practical child. Hannah never ceased to amaze her.
“Hate to interrupt, but something’s building just outside the studio. It’s getting pretty intense,” Aggie said, floating close to them. “You and Hannah have to get ready.”
“Ready for what?
”
Aggie was about to say more when an explosion of light burst into the room. It flew upward, toward the bookmarks, until Aggie swelled to five times her size and swallowed it, sealing it inside herself like a giant Ziploc baggie.
The frenzy of energy bounced up and down, back and forth, off Aggie’s translucent prison.
“Let me out!” Lacey screamed.
Aggie attached a portion of herself to Lacey’s raw ball of energy.
“What are you doing?” Hannah asked.
“Reading her.”
“And?” Thea asked.
Aggie’s clear form throbbed and darkened. Sparks flew back and forth inside the bubble prison and Thea wondered if Aggie could hurt Lacey. “You came to unravel Hannah’s bookmark.”
“That’s the name I was given. Hannah Patek.” As Lacey talked, her energy stilled, and her form began to shape itself back into the young woman they’d seen before.
Aggie’s form transformed, too, until Aggie the ghost stretched long, strong arms around Lacey’s body. Thea looked at her sister’s face. She was furious. She yanked Lacey toward Hannah and said, “See that little girl over there? The one who’s been nice to you and has tried to help you? That’s Hannah Patek. My daughter. Have you really sunk that low, that now you’d kill children?”
“No!”
“LOOK AT HER!!!” Aggie commanded. “That’s my little girl. I’ve lost all patience with you! Everyone’s trying to help you, but you’re just as immature and selfish in death as you were in life. You won’t think past your nose!”
Lights brightened and flickered in Lacey. She was sobbing. “I’m sorry.”
“Then go guard your sister and protect her instead of being an idiot.”
“How?” Lacey wailed. “What could I do if he was going to hurt her?”
It was a good point. How did a ghost stop a mortal? “If you won’t work with us, convince Lindsay to come here and talk to us,” Thea said.
“How did you know about Lindsay?” Lacey cried.
“Because we’re not darting around like morons!” Aggie said. “We’re using our heads and thinking, and if you’d work with us, we could protect your sister.”
