Something Old (Haunted Series)

by Alexie Aaron

  “Your job is to heal and get on your feet. Ralph is going to hit the roof if he has to replace a groomsman a week before the wedding,” Mia said. “Mrs. Braverman, I’ll leave you to make sure the kid doesn’t get addicted to morphine or this laid back lifestyle. Call me if… If he needs me. You’ll know.” Mia walked to the door. “The gift is from Cid and Ted. I had no part in it.”

  Tom, curious about the gift, motioned for his mother to bring the gift bag over. He reached inside and pulled out a box. And laughed.

  Susan took the box from him and turned it around. It was a Tarzan action figure. The box had been expertly altered to read Deputy Tom Braverman Tarzan of Sentinel Woods. “Well look at that, Tommy, you finally have your own action figure.” She held it to the light. “It kind of looks like you too.”

  “Yes, Mom,” he said, embarrassed by the attention.

  She took the bag and something rattled inside. “Oh there’s a card. Want me to read it?”

  “Sure,” Tom said, hoping it wouldn’t be dirty.

  “It says, Welcome to the team, Tarzan. And it’s signed, Superman and Batman.” Susan laughed in spite of herself. “Grown men playing super heroes.”

  ~

  Mia wanted to check in on Ethan Aldridge, but the officer stationed at his door was unfamiliar to her. She decided instead to wait for Margaret Mary to finish her rounds and offer to buy her a cup of coffee.

  “Don’t think I don’t know this is a bribe,” she said as they sipped the hearty brew and nibbled on pastries in the hospital’s coffee shop.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just killing time until Prince Charming finishes his secret errand and picks me up,” Mia said truthfully. “And if in the course of our conversation you let anything slip that I should know…”

  “You are so bad,” M&M’s said, shaking a frosting-dotted finger at her. “Ethan Aldridge is experiencing congestion in his lungs. He is a strong little bugger and will outlive us all, so don’t worry. Only the good die young, and that boy ain’t good.”

  “He could change. I understand that he was responsible for Tom lasting as long as he did in the pit.”

  The realization of Mia’s information seemed to settle M&Ms ire. “The Smithe boys are severely bruised, and Vince is suffering taser burns and cardiac arrhythmia. He will be transferred to a hospital downtown where his family has a wing. We are awaiting their private transport to arrive. Dr. Walters and Sheriff Ryan have signed off on the transfer.”

  “No sign of Blair Summerfield?” Mia asked, knowing she was pressing her luck.

  “The only Summerfield here is downstairs sharing the morgue with Jason Jones. I heard they died horrific deaths.”

  “I fortunately came upon the scene well after they took the boys away. I think it’s a shame and a crime what happened. I don’t have the full story, but I don’t think any of the boys involved will ever set foot in Sentinel Woods again,” Mia said with confidence.

  “How are you doing? I read the night notes and saw you were in ER last night.”

  “That new resident popped my arm back in the socket. It only took two tries and a lot of cursing. Me, not the doc.”

  “Dr. Walters see you yet?”

  “Nah, why bother the man? I’ll see him and you at the wedding…”

  “It’s not the same, Mia. He worries about you. He calls you his medical marvel.”

  “Imagine that. I’ve had help though, his and others,” she confessed. “The only thing I’m good at is getting into trouble.”

  “Your heart is in the right place.”

  “Who’s your plus one?” Mia asked, changing the subject.

  “My what? Oh, my date, well…” Margaret Mary went on to tell Mia all about the man she met at early Mass.

  Mia sat back, listening to the older woman’s joy at finding a divorced man without a chip on his shoulder. Mia knew that marriages sometimes didn’t last. It didn’t stop her from hoping that she and Ted’s marriage would last forever.

  ~

  Ted stood at the entrance to Cold Creek Hollow Cemetery shoulder to shoulder with Stephen Murphy. He needed the ghost to have his back just in case any of the spectral squatters of the middle house ventured out, and to help him locate a ghost that, without special equipment, Ted would be unable to see.

  “Daisy, I don’t know if you remember me,” he prefaced. “I’m Ted Martin, and I’m going to marry Mia Cooper this Saturday. I would like to invite you to our wedding. It’s going to take place twenty miles south of here at the Dupage Hunt and Golf Club. If you need assistance in making your way there, please let Murphy know.” Ted turned to Murphy and asked, “How’d I do?”

  Murphy looked over at Daisy’s happy tearstained face and nodded his head. “Fine,” was all he needed to say.

  Daisy reached through the earth and into her grave. Her pale fingers felt around until she found what she was looking for. Bringing it upwards, she smiled at the condition her grandmother’s necklace was in.

  Ted looked on wide-eyed as a red ruby pendant dangling on a gold chain moved towards him. He held out his open palm and accepted the necklace. He could see that the fittings had tarnished, but otherwise the ruby and gold sparkled in the morning light.

  “Something borrowed,” Murphy said, repeating Daisy’s words. “The necklace will bring her to the ceremony and give Mia luck on her special day.”

  “I shall then look forward to you being with us,” Ted said, closing his hand around the necklace.

  ~

  “You know, I feel bad the girl didn’t have a bridal shower,” Ralph lamented as he checked off his planner’s list.

  “She didn’t want one. Remember with all those gifts comes history, and…” Bernard started.

  “Mumbo jumbo,” Ralph finished. “The poor kid. As it is, I’ve had to find gloves fine enough for her to wear with her wedding gown. She’ll have to take off the left one for the service. Fortunately, she and Ted agreed that their wedding rings should be simple. This way they never have to leave their fingers,” Ralph managed to say before tears fell.

  “I told you he was the man for her,” Bernard reminded him. “From the moment he crossed the threshold of my museum, I knew.”

  “Excuse me, but I believe a certain Whitney had her heart at that time,” Ralph argued.

  “Didn’t last, did it?”

  “Okay, I’m going to let you win this one,” Ralph said. “I do love Ted and the way he worships our girl. And he has the most fabulous mother. She and I get along so well, we could be…”

  “Sisters?” Bernard teased.

  “No, sisters fight,” Ralph said, his eyes dancing. “My sisters still fight. Of course, I may stimulate a few of the fights, but they do go at it tooth and nail.”

  “Are they coming to the nuptials?”

  “No, they don’t really know Mia. I asked them just out of courtesy. They sent a check though...” Ralph said, his eyes dancing again. “It’s a big one.”

  “How would you know that unless… You steamed open the envelope, didn’t you?” Bernard accused.

  “Of course. I had to make sure they held up the Mendelssohn side of the family.”

  “Will they come to our wedding?”

  “They will.”

  “It looks very favorable that Illinois is going to pass the marriage equality bill.”

  “I’ve already had save the date cards printed. “I’m thinking about a June wedding…”

  “Do you have a groom in mind?”

  “I have my top ten list. Oh look, you’re on it,” he teased.

  “Good to know. What day should I save?” Bernard asked, looking over Ralph’s shoulder.

  Ralph pulled out his calendar. The four Saturdays of June were highlighted. “I couldn’t decide, so I had four sets of cards made,” he confessed.

  “June 14th is your birthday,” Bernard observed. “How about the 21st?”

  “The Summer Solstice! Oh, Bernard, that’s perfect! I see…” Ralph pull
ed out his wedding wish book and started pointing out this and that.

  Bernard looked on, not only indulging Ralph, but enjoying the planning himself.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  The room looked so different since the last time they had visited Brian and Sabine. Gone was the sterile antiseptic smell. True, the medicinal hospital bed and equipment took center stage, but the room no longer seemed cold. Sabine and Holly, Brian’s sister, had arranged half the room as if it were a nineteenth century parlor. Mia could see Sabine’s touches here and there, bringing with them warmth and love. Sabine got up as Mia and Ted walked in. Brian, confined to a wheelchair, waved the couple over. “Well, if it isn’t the bride and groom.”

  Mia looked at the young man, and even though death sat at his elbow, he appeared flushed with health.

  Sabine, reading her thoughts, said, “His lungs are clear, thanks to Judy.”

  “Judy? You know Judy?” Mia asked surprised.

  “Judy and Ed both. He’s a rather alarming fellow, isn’t he?” Sabine took her hands. She took a moment to look Mia in the eyes before saying, “I understand we’re cousins.”

  “Yes, we are.”

  “And you met my father. Tell me about him. All this time I thought Gerald was my father.

  “So you didn’t know about Bev…”

  “I wasn’t certain. I thought perhaps she was a relative, but I didn’t feel any bond emanating from her. Gerald sat me down and explained everything when he returned from Haiti.”

  “I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did,” Mia said, following Sabine to the chairs she had arranged around Brian.

  “Nonsense. It’s the best thing that could have ever happened. I was all alone, and in one conversation with Gerald, I suddenly had aunts and uncles and a dear cousin. And when you and Ted marry, I will have hundreds of relatives!”

  Ted looked over at her amazed. “This pleases you? You haven’t met them yet,” he warned.

  “It doesn’t matter. I have been a ship adrift for my entire life, until Brian came along and saved me. Now we have his and Mia’s family, and very soon yours.”

  Mia stopped and appreciated in the woman before her. Her hair was still platinum blonde and her eyes a pale blue. But she looked more radiant. Mia’s eyes traveled down her cousin’s usually thin body and stopped at a nice rounded bump in her midsection. “You’re pregnant!” She turned and looked at Brian.

  He raised a hand. “Guilty.”

  Mia hugged Sabine with all her might. “I’m so happy for you. Do you know if it’s a boy or girl?”

  “They are all girls,” Sabine confirmed softly.

  “They?” Mia looked over Sabine’s shoulder at Brian with questioning eyes. He held up three fingers. “Three!”

  “Invetro strikes again,” he said blushing.

  Ted patted the man on the back. “Wow, you are a force to be reckoned with, Rabbit Man.”

  Brian winced at the nickname. “I prefer, Professor Petri.”

  Sabine looked at Mia asking, “What are they talking about?”

  “Later, I’ll explain later. Tell me how this all came about.”

  “You better sit down, it’s a long story,” Brian warned.

  “One day this last spring, Brian woke up and no longer felt any pain. The doctors told us that Brian was experiencing a second wind and warned us that at any moment he could fall out of this remission, and that would be pretty much be that.”

  “I didn’t want to leave Sabine alone, so my sister Holly found a fertility specialist willing to work with my infirmities, and within a few months, we were able to conceive three little girls,” Brain said proudly. As expected, my health began to fail again, and I developed a lung infection. I pretty much had been resigned to meet my maker, but I did want to see my daughters before I died.”

  “Enter Judy. She came on the heels of Gerald, explaining that she wanted to look over Brian and see if there was anything she could do. Evidently she’s some kind of a healer…” Sabine said.

  “Some kind is one way of saying it. What did she find?” Mia asked.

  “Unfortunately, my disease can’t be healed, not even with whatever gifts she’d been given, but she could cure the infection in my lungs and give my organs a beefing up, her words not mine. I can breathe for hours independently, and even though my muscles and nerves continue down their path of destruction, the healthy state of my organs helps my body’s burden. Fingers crossed, but I may make the birth date,” Brian said optimistically.

  “When is that?” Ted asked, opening up his phone to enter the information.

  “Valentine’s Day,” Sabine said, rubbing her stomach. “Although with triplets they could come sooner.”

  “Which brings us to why we asked you here,” Brian said. “We would like you two to be godparents to the girls, along with my sister Holly. They are going to need a strong male role model, Ted. And, Mia, if the girls were to develop, well to put it mildly, gifts, Sabine will need someone to help her teach them.”

  Mia looked at Ted and he nodded. “Yes, we’d be honored.”

  Brian’s eyes glistened. “Thank you.”

  “We thought about asking Judy and Ed too, but having a demi-god as a godfather may be a bit much for the girls to deal with,” Sabine said.

  “You have met Ralph, haven’t you?” Mia asked. “He may not be a demi-god, but he thinks he is.”

  “Oh, Mia, everyone knows Ralph is really your mother. Amanda may have birthed you, but Ralph raised you,” Sabine said. “I was just telling Judy the other day that I regret not being able to attend your wedding. With Ralph in charge, it is sure to be a beautiful affair.”

  “You and Judy are becoming fast friends,” Mia observed, approving of the budding friendship.

  “We get along fine. I leave my balcony door unlocked so that she can fly in and change into clothes before coming over here and administrating to Brian. Sometimes she brings Ed along. He really is an interesting fellow.”

  “Sabine, you are kind-hearted,” Mia said. “He-who-walks-through-time is an arrogant bastard with a lot to learn about the time he is living in. I was hoping that Komal would help him adjust.”

  “Komal is trying. It’s hard though for Ed to understand that he can’t just take what he wants. Judy has to keep an eye on him when they are strolling down Michigan Avenue.”

  Mia thought about the stranded spirit Komal and how he had helped to liberate Sabine when she was kidnapped by the man who imprisoned them on the hidden island in the middle of Lake Michigan. “After the babies are born, perhaps we should take a trip over so he can see the little darlings,” Mia suggested.

  Sabine clapped her hands together. “Oh that would be wonderful. Let’s have some tea, and then you can tell me all about my father. But first I have a wedding present I made for you and Ted.” Sabine walked over and dragged a long, thick, wrapped tube and set it next to Mia.

  “You shouldn’t have…” Mia began.

  “She’s been working on it since the Fourth of July,” Brian said.

  Ted assisted her in unwrapping one end of the tube and withdrawing what looked to be a hand-stitched wall hanging. He unfurled it, laying it across Brian’s bed.

  Mia gazed upon a beautifully embroidered patchwork piece of art. On a pale piece of light blue satin there were two embroidered trees standing side by side. In the center of the scene their branches reached out for each other, entwining in a heart shape. In the middle of the heart were stitched Mia’s and Ted’s names and the wedding date. Mia walked over. She placed her finger on the heart, followed the limb attached to her name and saw her parents’ names stitched there.

  “That is the Cooper tree,” Sabine said getting up. “The Martin tree is on the other side. Where the two trees meet is where you will grow your own tree. I had so much fun with all the Martin names. It is a large strong tree, Mia. I can see why Ted is the man he is.”

  Ted looked over at her. “Thank you, Sabine, that is very kind of you.”
<
br />   “It’s the truth. Now the Cooper tree is a bit twisted. With all the secrets and curses,” she said behind her hand, but loud enough for all to hear.

  Mia couldn’t help laughing.

  “That’s why I chose a corkscrew willow to stitch the Cooper names on.”

  “It’s beautiful, Sabine. I’ll treasure it always,” Mia said and hugged her.

  “A funny thing happened when I was researching the genetic line, Mia. Do you know you have an aunt on your mother’s side of the family?”

  “Amanda has a sister, God help us,” Mia said, putting her hand on her rapidly beating heart.

  “She has more than just a sister alive. Your grandparents are still living.”

  Mia stood there, stunned. “It never occurred to me that Amanda didn’t just emerge from a tangle of typewriter ribbon fully formed. I’m ashamed to say, I don’t think I ever asked if she had siblings or parents.”

  “Oh, I didn’t ask her. Holly found out for me,” Sabine said matter-of-factly.

  “Well that’s a mystery for another day. Today we are celebrating the coming birth of my goddaughters,” Ted said, changing the subject, rescuing Mia from her dark thoughts. “And you have a story of your own to tell, Mia, about meeting Sabine’s father.”

  Mia brightened up. “It all started with Murph and I being tossed into purgatory…”

  ~

  Mia and Ted were greeted on the porch by a very happy Maggie. Cid shook his head when Mia got to her knees and let Maggie wash her face with dog kisses.

  “Don’t you give her too much love. She’s been a bad girl,” Cid told them.

  Mia looked up and urged, “Well, out with it, what’s our little darling done now?”

  “She chased the mail truck down the drive into the street,” Cid replied.

  Mia got to her feet and stared down at the dog who seemed to be playing innocent. Her one ear was flipped back, and her tongue lolled out of her mouth. “That kind of behavior is going to get you hurt, and Uncle Cid heartbroken, not to mention Murphy.”

  Maggie had no idea what Mia was saying, but she recognized the same disappointed tone that Cid’s voice held when she chased the little white truck. She looked down and tried to seem contrite.