The Ghost and the Baby

by Anna J. McIntyre

  After a few minutes of silence, Walt asked, “What are you thinking about?”

  “There are no kids on Beach Drive. It’s funny to think that back when you lived here—in your first life—there was a baby across the street and two little ones next door. And in a few months, there will be a baby across the street again.”

  “And maybe in the not so distant future, a baby on this side of the street.” Walt pulled her onto his lap.

  Wrapping her arms around her husband, Danielle dropped a quick kiss on his lips and whispered, “Remember, I said I wanted to be married for at least a year before we start planning babies. And we just came back from our honeymoon.”

  Walt pulled her closer and returned her kiss—yet not a quick one, as hers had been. His was slower and more deliberate, which she fully appreciated. When the kiss ended, he whispered, “Our one-year anniversary is less than three months away.”

  Danielle gave him an exuberant hug while whispering in his ear, “So it is.”

  Four

  Lily Bartley sat alone at her desk in her classroom at the elementary school, correcting spelling papers. The bell had rung five minutes earlier, and her students had all left. She didn’t have a lot of papers to correct today, and she didn’t want to take them home with her. Glancing at the wall clock, she wondered if Walt and Danielle were back in Frederickport yet. Danielle had sent her a text message when they had landed earlier that day at the Portland Airport.

  Just as Lily turned her attention back to the papers before her, she heard a voice call out, “Mrs. Bartley? Can I come in?”

  Lily looked up to the now open door. It was Evan MacDonald. She couldn’t believe how much he had grown since she had first met him several years earlier. Tall and lanky—taller than any of the other third graders in his class—he had large brown eyes and eyelashes women spent a fortune to have, yet they never looked quite as good as Evan’s. He had been one of her students the previous school year. But he had been a friend first, student second. He was also the youngest son of Police Chief MacDonald. And like her dear friend Dani—and Walt and Chris and Heather—he could see ghosts.

  “Come on in, Evan. And it’s after hours, so you can call me Lily.”

  Evan grinned broadly and walked into the class carrying his backpack.

  “I was wondering if you knew if Walt and Danielle were back yet,” he asked as he approached her desk.

  “Dani sent me a text message about three hours ago, telling me they had just landed at the airport. So they might be back home by now.”

  Standing by Lily’s desk, Evan dropped the backpack on the floor and stared at Lily a moment, saying nothing.

  Lily looked at him curiously. “Is there something else you wanted to ask me?”

  Evan chewed his lower lip and then looked down to the floor. “Umm…never mind. I…I just wondered if Danielle and Walt were back yet.”

  A smile tugged at the corners of Lily’s mouth as she studied Evan a moment before saying, “Come on, out with it. I can tell there’s something you’re dying to ask me. You look like you’re about to explode.”

  He looked up shyly. “Umm…I overheard my dad talking. I wasn’t supposed to hear.”

  “And?”

  “Is it true you aren’t going to be a teacher anymore?”

  “Ohhh…what else did you hear?” she asked mischievously.

  “Are you having a baby?” Evan asked in a whisper.

  Lily smiled and reached over and grabbed a nearby chair. She dragged it closer and then motioned for Evan to sit down. He sat down.

  “Yes. It is true. But I would appreciate it if you would keep the secret for now. I haven’t told my class yet. As for being a teacher, I might be a teacher again—later. I don’t know. But for now, I want to be home with the baby.”

  Evan looked up to Lily, his eyes wide. “Are you going to have a boy or girl?”

  Lily shrugged. “I don’t know yet. It’ll be a couple of months before I find out.”

  “I hope you have a boy,” Evan said.

  Lily chuckled. “You wouldn’t want me to have a pretty little girl?”

  “I guess a girl would be okay. When are you going to be leaving?”

  “I plan to finish out this term.” She glanced around the room. “Which means I need to pack up my classroom when school gets out this summer. It won’t be my room next year.”

  “If you want any help, I can help you,” he offered.

  Lily smiled at Evan, noting his sincerity. “Thanks. I appreciate the offer.” She glanced around the room again. All of her personal school supplies—the books, games, bulletin board art, reading rug, aquarium, posters—were all relatively new. The school supplies she had accumulated since first becoming a teacher almost a decade earlier had all been given away by her parents when they had thought she was dead. After accepting a class at the Frederickport Elementary School, she had purchased new items to replace what her parents had given away.

  Glancing around the room, she was torn as to what to do. Perhaps she should donate them to a new teacher—one who could not afford to purchase supplies for his or her room. Teachers didn’t make a lot of money, but Lily was more fortunate than most. Not only had she married a wealthy man, but the settlement she had been awarded after her kidnapping had set her up for life—providing she didn’t spend her money foolishly.

  “Do you think the baby will be able to see ghosts?” Evan asked, disrupting Lily’s train of thought.

  “What?”

  “Your baby. Marie told me when she was a baby, she could see Eva,” Evan told her.

  “Ahh…that’s right. I remember hearing that. You know, I’ve even seen a ghost.”

  “You mean when Walt used to take you on a dream hop?” Evan asked.

  Lily grinned. “I wasn’t talking about seeing one in a dream. I was talking about seeing a ghost when I was wide awake. Over on Pilgrim’s Point there was a ghost, Darlene Gusarov; I saw her.”

  “I know about her. Eva said she’s gone now. That she moved on.”

  “You sure know a lot about ghosts.”

  Evan nodded again. “And Walt’s wife—the one who tried to kill him—she was at the cemetery, but Eva said she moved on too.”

  “I guess ghosts aren’t meant to stick around indefinitely. Of course, there are always exceptions. Eva has been hanging around for quite a while.”

  “I wish my mom would have stuck around,” Evan said glumly.

  Lily reached out and patted Evan’s hand. “But you know why she didn’t, don’t you?”

  “Yeah. I was pretty little back then, and Walt said it would have confused me. People would have thought I was crazy.”

  Lily nodded. “Yep. Pretty much. I imagine it was difficult for your mother to make that choice. But moms try to do what’s best for their children.”

  “That’s why you’re staying home and not going back to school?” Evan asked.

  “A lot of moms decide to keep working after they have babies. It doesn’t make them bad moms. We just have to do what works for us. For me, it’s staying home. And I’m luckier than most; I can afford to do it.”

  “I’m glad I got to have you as a teacher. You are my favorite teacher,” Evan told her.

  “Thanks.” Lily thought Evan was being sweet, but told herself not to let it go to her head. After all, he was only in third grade, and he hadn’t had that many teachers in his young life.

  After leaving the school a short time later, Lily went home, parked her car in the garage, and then walked across the street to Marlow House. Ian had gone to Portland and had taken Sadie with him, and Lily didn’t expect him to return until the dinner hour.

  Thirty minutes later Lily sat with Walt and Danielle in the living room of Marlow House.

  “You really aren’t going to try to get your business license reinstated?” Lily asked Danielle after hearing what had happened.

  “If I still wanted to operate the B and B, I suppose I would. But Walt and I have other ideas for
the place, and in some ways, this makes it easier for me. Kind of forces my hand. I told Walt I should probably thank Pearl.”

  “Yeah, right,” Lily scoffed. “The woman is horrid. And I thought you loved running the B and B.”

  Walt stood up. “I’m going to let you two catch up while I go find Max. I need to have that talk with him.”

  “Talk with him?” Lily asked after Walt left the room.

  “Max is having too much fun tormenting Pearl. He needs to realize she’s dangerous,” Danielle said.

  “True. But I can’t say I blame him. Now, back to the B and B. I thought you loved it?”

  “I did. We met some great people. But we also had our share of problems.”

  “Yeah, well…maybe a murder or two.” Lily shrugged.

  “And I hate to admit it, in some ways, Joe was right.”

  “Oh no, please. Don’t say that,” Lily groaned.

  Danielle chuckled. “I don’t mean right in how he thinks I need a keeper. Although, maybe I do.” She chuckled again and then grew serious. “No. Think about it. When I first decided to open the B and B, it was after I had inherited my aunt’s estate, and I was trying to start a new life after what had happened to Lucas, and after selling our business. At the time, I had no idea my aunt’s estate was worth far more than Renton had let on…”

  “Or that you would be inheriting your cousin’s estate, or finding the Missing Thorndike or the gold coins,” Lily added.

  “Exactly. Initially, it was a way to generate income from this property. It sounded fun and would allow me to try something new. Use skills I hadn’t really used before while still utilizing some of my marketing skills. But the main thing, I needed the business back then. I couldn’t afford—or at least I didn’t think I could—afford to just move in here without doing something to make a living.”

  “But now you don’t need to work?”

  “I kept telling myself how much I love baking and being a hostess—and I do—and how fun it was to meet new friends—like Will Wayne and Patricia and her brother. But then people from Clint’s life showed up, and Walt and I found ourselves making breakfast for guests we didn’t even like—guests who were trying to blackmail us! That’s just nuts.”

  “Not to mention Chris’s uncles,” Lily reminded her.

  Danielle nodded. “Exactly. While we were in Hawaii, Walt and I started talking about it. And I realized I had been trying to convince myself I wanted to keep the B and B open—trying to justify it all. But really, it’s kinda silly.”

  “I’m not sure it’s silly, exactly,” Lily argued.

  “Yeah. It is. I’m no longer in a place where I need to run a business to survive. And while a B and B was a fun business—well, at least it was as long as someone wasn’t trying to kill us—things are different now. Much more different than when I first decided to open.”

  “I suppose they are. So what will you do? I can’t see you just sitting around the house while Walt writes.”

  “I want to take a page from Chris.”

  “Chris?”

  “Pay it forward,” Danielle explained.

  “You’ve already donated a ton of money to Chris’s foundation. Surely you aren’t going to just give it all away like he is, are you?”

  “Chris isn’t actually just giving all his money away,” Danielle corrected. “He’s using it to generate more money so he can keep helping worthwhile causes.”

  “Is that what you plan to do?” Lily asked.

  “I did love running the B and B. It was fun. And I still want to do it.”

  Lily frowned. “Okay, you are confusing me.”

  “In some ways, Walt and I will still be running Marlow House as a B and B. Well, maybe not a B and B exactly. More like an inn, I suppose.”

  “You really are confusing me now. I thought you just told me you no longer have a business license.”

  “We aren’t going to need a business license for what we intend to do,” Danielle explained. “And while I don’t like to be perverse, it will be amusing when Pearl Huckabee realizes her plan backfired on her.”

  Five

  “Do you need me to pick anything up when I go out?” Danielle asked Walt as she washed the breakfast dishes as he dried.

  “No. It looks like Joanne did a good job restocking the pantry and refrigerator.” Walt set the plate he had just dried on the stack of clean dishes in the overhead cabinet. They had returned from their honeymoon just the day before and were settling back into their day-to-day life. Yet their new life would no longer include operating a bed and breakfast.

  “Which is one reason I’m glad you agree with me about keeping Joanne. I think I got spoiled.” Danielle dried her hands on a piece of paper towel and turned to face Walt.

  “Not sure about spoiled, but I have to give you credit for good instincts.” Walt hung the damp dish towel on its hook.

  “Instincts?” Danielle frowned.

  “You were the one who decided not to start taking any reservations until after we came back from our honeymoon. It makes this all easier. I imagine we would be on the phone right now, trying to find other accommodations for the guests.”

  Danielle groaned. “I don’t even want to consider that.” She walked to the table and picked up her purse and then the pillowcase Marie had showed them.

  “What are you going to do with that?” Walt nodded at the pillowcase.

  “Return it to our neighbor before I run my errands, of course.”

  Danielle stood on Pearl Huckabee’s front porch and rang the doorbell. As she waited, she looked out to the street and noticed a pickup truck pull up to the house. It was Craig Simmons, Joe Morelli’s brother-in-law. Simmons was also the local landscaper who had done a lot of work for Danielle. She watched as he sat in his truck. It looked as if he were sitting there reading something on his clipboard.

  “You?” Pearl said a moment later. She stood behind the front door, peeking outside at Danielle, making no attempt to open the door wider.

  “Hello, Mrs. Huckabee,” Danielle said cheerfully. She glanced quickly toward the street—Craig was still sitting in his truck, looking at his clipboard—and she then looked back to her neighbor.

  “If this is about your bed and breakfast, that’s between you and the city,” Pearl snapped.

  Danielle arched her brows. “My bed and breakfast?” she asked innocently, pretending she had no idea what Pearl was talking about.

  “Isn’t that why you’re here?” Pearl asked, still clutching the edge of her front door, standing inside the house while peering outside.

  “I’m here to bring you this.” Danielle raised her right hand quickly, dangling the pillowcase in front of her neighbor. Until that moment, Pearl hadn’t noticed what Danielle had been holding.

  “What’s that?” Pearl asked nervously.

  “It’s your pillowcase. You left it in our yard yesterday.” She handed it to Pearl.

  “It’s not mine,” she said quickly, handing it back. “I don’t know why you think it’s mine.”

  “Oh yes, it is.” Danielle’s syrupy voice could have sweetened an entire stack of flapjacks.

  “No, it’s not. Why would my pillowcase be in your yard?”

  “That’s kind of what I wondered too.” Danielle’s tone lost its sweetness.

  “Hey, Danielle,” came a man’s voice.

  Danielle glanced behind her. Craig Simmons was coming up the walkway.

  “Hey, Craig. Are you doing some work for my neighbor?” Danielle asked.

  “That’s what I’m here to find out,” he said cheerfully.

  Pearl, who had been quietly watching, was startled when Danielle turned abruptly back to her and shoved the pillowcase in her hands.

  “I don’t think you should be crawling through my pet door again,” Danielle whispered just loud enough for Pearl to hear. She then turned away from the door and flashed a smile at the landscaper.

  “It was great seeing you, Craig,” Danielle said cheerfully as
she started down the walkway.

  Adam Nichols sat at his desk, sorting through a stack of receipts, when he heard someone say, “Aloha!” He looked up and found Danielle walking into his office from the hall.

  Shoving the receipts aside, he smiled up at her. “Welcome home. When did you get back?”

  Carrying a candy box in one hand, she walked to his desk. “Yesterday.” She handed him the box.

  Looking at the offering, he asked, “What’s this?” Which was actually a redundant question considering the packaging clearly revealed its contents.

  “Chocolate-covered macadamia nuts,” she explained, sitting down on a chair facing the desk and dropping her purse to the floor.

  “Wow, thanks. Did you have fun? You look great. Tan.” He set the box of candy on his desk.

  “We had a great time. But it’s good to be home.”

  Leaning back in his desk chair, he said, “Yeah, it’s always good to get home. Where’s Walt?”

  “He had some work to do at the house, so I thought I’d get out, see a few friends, deliver some candy.” She flashed him a grin.

  “I don’t want to be a downer on your first day back from your honeymoon, but I heard something strange about the bed and breakfast.”

  “You mean that my business license was revoked?” Danielle asked.

  “So it’s true?”

  “Yes, it is.” Danielle then went on to tell him all that she knew.

  “I feel a little guilty,” Adam said after Danielle finished updating him on the situation.

  Danielle frowned. “Guilty why?”

  “I knew about the hearing requirement. I should have mentioned it to you so you could have looked into it, so it wouldn’t come back to bite you, like it has. But I just didn’t think it was a big deal. At the time, the only one on Beach Drive who had an issue with the bed and breakfast was Pete Rogers.”

  “And he wasn’t going to force the issue,” Danielle said.

  “At the time, I didn’t know why. But considering what Renton’s firm had on Rogers, he knew there wasn’t going to be a problem there. And my grandmother, Renton knew she wouldn’t have an issue with it; after all, her house was a rental, as were most of the other houses on the street. I’m sorry, Danielle. If you’d had that hearing before your new neighbor moved in, I don’t think you would have had a problem getting a license.”