by K. J. Emrick
Behind her, the sun rose, bringing the warmth of a new day in the space of a few seconds.
Then night came.
And day followed immediately on its heels.
It was impossible, of course. Things might get strange here in Misty Hollow, but the town still obeyed the laws of creation. There should have been hours of daylight, and hours of starshine, not seconds.
Except here in her dreams. When she was asleep, and dreams came to her, anything was possible. Like a sunrise right after a sunset, to keep the dark of night away.
Or, like seeing her favorite aunt sitting next to her on the back-porch swing, sipping a glass of lemonade. Great Aunt Millie had passed away years and years ago, but in Darcy’s dreams, they got to sit and relax together. Here, they had all the time in the world.
As the sun set, it rose again.
Millie rolled the glass between her hands. “Sometimes, I miss being able to just sit and gaze up at the stars. There’s a lot of beauty in our world. We take most of it for granted until it’s gone. Or I suppose I should say, until we’re gone.”
There was a lot of truth in that. Millie had always been so smart about so many things. Darcy had depended on her guidance and gentle wisdom for years and years, even after she had passed away. Sometimes, love was eternal.
Even though they could only see each other in Darcy’s dreams, Millie’s ghost was still around. Every now and then she decided to make herself known by throwing a random romance novel across Darcy’s bookstore.
She was old, even in the dreams, just like she had been on the day she died. Her curly gray hair was tucked under that wide-brimmed, floppy black hat she liked to wear. The one that matched her long dress. Her smile deepened her wrinkles and lit up her eyes with a light brighter than the fleeting stars.
“Sometimes,” a new voice said, “things are darkest before the dawn.”
“Well, you would know,” Millie laughed. “You always were a sour puss.”
Smudge gave her a true cat glare, twitching his whiskers at Millie from where he sat by the back steps. “Ha, ha. And you always did have a horrible sense of humor.”
Darcy’s house didn’t have a back deck, or back steps, or this nice porch swing that she and Millie were sitting on, either. Then again, Smudge couldn’t talk. This was just a dream.
Which was how her favorite black and white tomcat could be here with her again, even though he had passed away.
“Hey, Smudge,” she said to him with a little wave. There was a hitch in her voice that she couldn’t help. “Are you here just to give Millie a hard time, or do we get to spend some time together?”
His tail flicked, and Darcy was sure she saw him smile. “Who said I’m giving her a hard time? Maybe I’m here to keep her honest. There’s things you need to know, and Millie here isn’t always so good at saying things straight out.”
“Pish posh,” was Millie’s answer to that. “I say exactly what Darcy needs to hear, and right when she needs to hear it. Don’t forget, I’ve known her longer than you.”
Smudge stuck his tongue out at her before staring off into the sky. The sun was setting again. He stood up, and stretched with his back arched, and with a deep breath he started down the steps.
Darcy got up out of the swing. “Hey, Smudge… you’re not leaving already, are you? I was hoping we could stay and chat a bit. I miss how we used to talk.”
He looked back over his shoulder and gave her a wink. “I miss you, too. Don’t worry, though. I’m not far away.”
Then he jumped over the last step and started running off toward the woods. Even in broad daylight, there were shadows under the trees. She lost sight of him almost immediately.
At least this time, she got to see him go. It was hard just having him in her dreams. He’d been one of her best friends for so long. Not having him around was like having a piece of her heart missing.
Millie reached over to pat her arm. “Don’t worry, dear,” she said. “He’s a cat of his word. Now. Tell me about your two wonderful children. How are my great-great-niece and nephew, hmm? Oh, I do love saying that. ‘Great-great-niece.’ ‘Great-great-nephew.’ Oh, yes. It makes them sound just so wonderful, don’t you agree? Colby and Zane. Those two are quite the pair. I’ll bet they keep you on your toes, don’t they?”
The sun stopped directly overhead. It was bright in Darcy’s eyes.
“Yes, those two,” Millie continued. “Such scamps. I envy you, dear. You’re such a good mother. Such a wonderful family you have.”
The light was too much. Darcy blinked, and lifted her arm up to shield her eyes.
“I know it’s hard sometimes, but you’re doing such a good job with them. You, and that husband of yours. I’m so glad he came to town, and then had the good sense to marry you.”
Darcy tried to answer, because yes, she was very grateful that Jon Tinker was in her life. He was Tinker, and she was still Darcy Sweet. When they got married they had agreed, in a modern twist on happily-ever-after, to keep their own last names. That made their household the Tinker-Sweets, which sounded far less silly than the Sweet-Tinkers. She was also so very grateful for her two kids, and she was happy. Life was good.
At least it would be, if the sun wasn’t so painfully bright. If the light would just go away everything would be perfect, and now there was a hand on her arm, shaking her…
“Did you hear me?” Aunt Millie’s voice began to sound strange. “Come on, now. It’s time to get up.”
Darcy’s eyes popped open and she found herself lying in her bed.
The transition from being on the imaginary back porch in her dream to the reality of being in her nice, soft bed was so startling that she had to take a moment and orient herself. The newly painted ceiling, the light coming in through the windows at its usual morning slant, the comforting warmth of her husband’s hand gently shaking her arm…
The light on the bedside table that had suddenly turned on, shining brightly in her face.
“Hey, Darcy,” she heard Jon saying. “Come on, now. It’s time to get up.”
There were some mornings when her husband was her whole reason for getting out of bed. This, however, was not one of those mornings. This morning, he was a mean, mean man taking her away from the nice warm blankets.
“Mphff,” she mumbled, pushing his hand away and rolling over to bury her face in her pillow. “Five more minutes.”
“Afraid not, my lovely Snowflake. I’ve already let you sleep in.” His hand smacked her rump in a friendly swat that made her jump. “It’s nine o’clock. I’m done in the shower if you want to get in.”
The dream she’d been in the middle of was already starting to fade, leaving only vague impressions of Aunt Millie and Smudge. That, at least, let her smile even if her husband was being a jerk. Why was he getting her up so early on a Sunday?
“Nine o’clock?” she complained, pulling his pillow over her head. “You call that sleeping in?”
“It is when we’re supposed to be at the mini golf place with the kids at eleven, yes.” She heard one of his drawers open, and then close again. “Did you forget?”
Ooh… right. It was Sunday, and they had plans.
“No,” she lied, pushing aside pillows and blankets and sitting up on the edge of the bed. Her pajamas were all twisted around from sleep. “Of course I didn’t forget.”
Actually, yes she had, and she was a little embarrassed. They’d been looking forward to this trip all week long, but she’d been up until two in the morning last night talking to a friend in Australia, and then it was even later before she actually got to sleep. That had been Jon’s fault, too. His touch had just felt so nice, she didn’t mind letting him keep her awake a little longer.
Although she kind of minded it now, considering how tired she was.
He was dressed already in his jeans and a faded purple shirt, his typical clothes for a day off with the family. She was trying to be mad at him for being so chipper, but she couldn’t be mad when he l
ooked this good. Even dressed down, he was a gorgeous man, with those blue eyes and that strong face and that short hair that was dark but not quite as black as hers. She loved to run her fingers through that hair. He needed a trim, actually, but he was letting it grow out a little as the weather turned.
It was November now, and the cold weather had been threatening to move into town every morning, but each day it had warmed up to be in the comfortable high sixties. That was a bit above seasonal for New England in the Fall, but none of them had been complaining. Not when the mini golf place had postponed closing for the season. Besides, Thanksgiving was coming in a couple of weeks. It could snow after that.
He wasn’t fooling her, though. She knew him well enough to know he was just as tired as she was. The circles under his deep blue eyes proved it. He might be up-and-at-em, and that wavy hair might be perfectly set in place, but there was no doubt in Darcy’s mind that he’d like to crawl right back into bed with her, too.
Still, it was going to be a good day. Colby had been working hard in school and she deserved a break. Her brother Zane was just three years old, so he wasn’t in school yet. This was going to be his first experience with mini golf. Darcy couldn’t wait to see his reaction. The first time they’d taken Colby she’d been about the same age, and she’d loved it.
As if they could tell someone was thinking about them, both of Darcy’s children came racing into the bedroom. Zane had transitioned to his big boy bed two months ago, which meant he was able to get out and roam whenever he wanted to. The safety gate at the top of the stairs kept him safe up here on the second floor, and everything was childproofed up here including the lock on the bathroom.
They’d been lucky, and so far Zane was sleeping through the night. There had been several restless nights when she’d gotten up to check on him time and time again, certain that she’d heard some noise that meant he was up and walking around. Each time she’d gone to check on him, certain something was wrong, only to find him sound asleep with his head on his pillow and his favorite stuffy clutched in a hand. That was the way she’d been with Colby, too, and Darcy wasn’t going to apologize for it.
It wasn’t that she was being too protective. It was that she couldn’t be protective enough.
Colby reached Darcy first, because she was older and taller and had longer legs than her brother. Her flyaway hair had been mostly tamed after a lot of morning brushing. The sunlight from the bedroom windows brought out the hidden auburn highlights in her long, dark tresses. She was already dressed, just like her daddy, wearing a pretty denim dress with white stockings underneath. She jumped up onto the bed next toDarcy, giving her a fierce hug.
“Mom, you aren’t dressed yet. You’re still in your pajamas.”
Zane was there a second later, holding his arms out to her, flexing his fingers, wanting to be up where his sister was.
“Up, please. Up, please.”
Darcy reached out with the hand that wasn’t wrapped around Colby and ruffled her son’s wispy, dark blonde hair. “Give your Mommy a minute, buddy boy. Maybe Daddy can help get you up on the bed?”
“I’ll do you one better,” Jon offered. Swooping down with a big smile he took hold of Zane under his arms and whooshed him up into the air. “Up we go! Ready?”
“Ready, Daddy!” Zane said excitedly. “Ready, ready, fly!”
“Here we go, Captain to flight control, we are ready for takeoff! Shhwooom!”
Hoisting his son aloft, balancing him carefully on one shoulder, Jon held Zane’s hands out wide and pretended he was an airplane zipping through the sky, out of the bedroom, banking left to go up the hallway, and back down again.
“For Pete’s sake, Jon, be careful!” Darcy gasped. Zane was laughing hysterically and begging his father to go faster, go faster! All she could do was hold her breath and hope this particular flight came in for a safe landing before someone’s forehead got bumped and bruised.
“Boys are so juvenile,” Colby declared.
That was her new favorite word, and one that she’d been using quite a bit recently. Darcy hid a grin behind a yawn, faced with the irony of an eleven-year-old calling her younger brother ‘juvenile.’ Colby was definitely mature for her age, both socially and academically, even if she hadn’t quite kept pace with the growth spurts of her friends. She was like a little mini adult, sometimes.
Other times, like right now when she was snuggled up against Darcy’s side on the edge of the bed, she was still very much her little girl.
Jon came duck-walking by the bedroom door, popping up suddenly and dropping back down again, pretending Zane’s plane was about to crash… and then cheering when they escaped certain death at the last moment.
Then he rushed back the other way, accelerating Zane’s plane to make a shot at landing on the moon.
Darcy closed her eyes and took in a slow breath. “I swear to you, Colby, your father is going to give me a heart attack.”
The little girl’s nose wrinkled, and her enigmatic blue-green eyes looked with serious intent up at her mother. “Don’t worry. We’ll all be fine. The fall comes later.”
Darcy felt little hairs standing up at the back of her neck. This wasn’t the first time she’d heard Colby say something that seemed out of place, mysterious… even a little spooky. Her daughter was special. Just like her mother. Darcy understood that she had to be careful how she handled moments like these.
When she was in her teens, Darcy’s hidden talents had really started to manifest. It had happened so quickly for her, and with such intensity, that Darcy’s mother hadn’t known how to handle it. Not that she’d tried very hard. It had made puberty even harder, to say the least. Darcy had hated herself for the longest time. She’d blamed herself for being the way she was. That was when she came to live with Millie. Her great aunt had taken her in and shown her that the family gift wasn’t the curse she’d been raised to think it was. Millie showed her how it could actually be an amazing part of who Darcy Sweet was.
Now, Darcy was determined to do better by her daughter than her mother had done with her. Because yes, she and her mother had reconciled years later, and even become friends, but all of that time in between had been wasted for them. She wasn’t going to let that happen to her and Colby.
So, as casually as she could, Darcy shifted until Colby was standing on the floor again, and Darcy was kneeling next to her. It put them at nearly the same height.
“Honey, can you tell me what that meant just now? What you said about the fall coming later. Do you know what that meant?”
Colby blinked, and her focus turned inward as she thought about those words. The fall comes later. She stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth as she concentrated, and then she shook her head. “Like… Christmas.”
Well. That made it just as clear as mud. “Christmas isn’t in the Fall,” Darcy reminded her daughter. “Christmas is in Winter. Are you sure…?”
“I don’t know what they mean,” Colby said hastily, an anxious look starting to crease her brow. “I swear, Mom, I didn’t make it up. They’re not just words.”
Darcy gave her a hug to reassure her. Whatever Colby had meant, they weren’t going to figure it out by pushing her. More likely, the meaning would just appear when the time was right. “I would never suspect you of making things up, not ever, but can you tell me anything else about the words? Anything at all.”
“They have meaning,” Colby said, as if that was all the explanation she could give her mother. “Just plain words don’t have meaning. These ones do.”
True enough, Darcy thought to herself. Plain words were one thing. This was something else. Something more. Her daughter could see things that hadn’t happened yet, but that would. They would happen just as certainly as the sun would rise in the morning.
That was part of the gift Darcy’s family shared, passed down through the female lineage. Just the girls. Her Great Aunt Millie had it. Darcy had it. To a small extent, as it turned out, so did her mother and h
er sister, Grace Wentworth and both of her daughter’s Addison and now baby Emily.
Just the girls. Not the boys.
The gift had been passed from Darcy to her daughter. However, with Colby at age eleven the gift was already strong and getting stronger. By the time she reached her middle teens, Darcy could only imagine what Colby might be capable of.
Darcy could see ghosts, and so could Colby. Their life had been anything but dull. It was getting more complicated, too, and all Darcy could do was be there for her daughter. So, she had learned to pay attention when her daughter spoke, and also to encourage her to develop these gifts.
The fall comes later.
Like Christmas.
What could that mean?
“Zerrrowww.” They heard Jon making a plane’s sound effects as he came spinning into the room, sending Zane into fits of laughter and sending Darcy’s heart lurching up into her throat. He saw them there, on the floor beside the bed, and finally brought Zane in for a landing. “Hey what’s up? Is something wrong?”
“No, dear,” Darcy said, getting up to her feet. She passed a hand across Colby’s cheek in a loving gesture. “Just some mother-daughter time. I’m going to take a shower and then we can all head out for mini golf. Who thinks that sounds like fun?”
“I do!” Colby said right away, the conversation with her mother already all but forgotten. “I’m gonna get at least five holes in one this time!”
“Me too, me too,” Zane agreed. “Mingof, mingof, mingof!”
She couldn’t bring herself to correct her son’s grammar. It was cute, actually. She knew it wouldn’t be much longer before her kids would both be too old and too smart to be cute. For today, she just wanted to enjoy the time she had with her children while they were still young.
“All right, then,” she said. “Mini golf, here we come. Let me go get ready and we can leave. I think your daddy planned on stopping for pancakes on the way but I told him nobody in this family likes pancakes.”
“Mom!” Colby joked, laughing and jeering. She leaned over and put her arm around her brother’s shoulders conspiratorially. “Boo! We want pancakes, don’t we Zane?”
