The Ghost Who Was Says I Do

by Anna J. McIntyre

  Lily took off running toward the gate, wearing her fuzzy slippers and jacket over her pajamas. She came to an abrupt stop as she headed out of the yard and onto the sidewalk, greeted by Brian Henderson, Sadie, and a gray-haired woman she had never seen before.

  “That’s her!” the woman shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Lily.

  “Morning, Lily,” Brian said, trying his best to keep the laughter out of his voice. “Over having morning coffee with Walt and Danielle?”

  “Umm…no. They’re still asleep.”

  “I saw you break into their house!” the finger-pointing woman accused.

  Sadie, who was now sitting by Lily’s side, looked from Lily to Brian to the shouting woman.

  “I doubt Lily broke in,” Brian told the woman. “She was probably borrowing a cup of sugar.”

  “Yeah right, a cup of sugar,” Lily said with a snort. “What are you doing here?”

  “This is your new neighbor, Pearl Huckabee. She saw someone breaking into Marlow House.”

  Lily looked at Pearl. “You called the police on me?”

  “Who is this woman?” Pearl demanded of Brian.

  Lily flashed her accuser a smile. “I suppose I should be grateful you called the police if you thought you saw a break-in.” Lily extended her right hand to the woman and said, “Hi. I’m Lily Bartley. I live across the street. And this is Sadie.”

  Pearl frowned at the canine creature. “Yes. I have met your dog.” She looked at Brian and asked, “Isn’t there a leash law in Frederickport?”

  Lily dropped her hand back to her side as the woman ignored the friendly offer.

  “Don’t worry, we don’t generally let Sadie run loose,” Lily told her.

  “Do you make a habit of breaking into your neighbor’s house while they’re sleeping?” Pearl asked Lily. She then looked at Brian and added, “And you don’t have a problem with that?”

  “I have a key, so I didn’t exactly break in,” Lily explained.

  “I am curious, why are you over here so early?” Brian asked. “And still in your pajamas.”

  Lily flashed Brian a mischievous smile. “None of your business. But if you aren’t going to arrest me, I’m going home and back to bed. See you later, Brian!” She ignored the unfriendly new neighbor and headed back across the street, Sadie trotting along by her side.

  Ten

  “That’s it?” Pearl asked indignantly. “The woman clearly broke into my neighbor’s house and you do nothing?”

  Behind them the early morning sunrise cast a warm glow over Beach Drive. Brian watched Lily hurry across the street. She paused briefly when reaching the sidewalk, turned, and gave Brian a parting wave before disappearing into her house a few moments later.

  With a shrug, Brian turned to face Pearl. “I’ll admit, I am curious why she was over here so early, especially since she claims everyone at Marlow House is still sleeping. But it is Lily.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” she snapped.

  “I assume you’re new in Frederickport, Ms. Huckabee?”

  “It’s Mrs. Huckabee! But what has that to do with anything?”

  Brian smiled patiently. “And you are new to Beach Drive?”

  “So? Are you saying on Beach Drive the neighbors just let themselves into each other’s houses at all times of the day?”

  “Pretty much.” Brian couldn’t stop chuckling this time.

  Pearl frowned. “I don’t understand. And are you laughing at me?”

  Brian quickly curbed his mirth and gave a little cough. “No, I’m not laughing at you. I understand why you called the police, and you did the right thing, Mrs. Huckabee. I wish all our citizens were so diligent. But I assure you, after you get to know your neighbors, you’ll find this incident amusing too.”

  “I seriously doubt that. And I don’t particularly feel comfortable living across the street from someone who just barges into her neighbors’ homes while they’re sleeping.”

  “Mrs. Huckabee, I can assure you, Lily Bartley won’t be breaking into your house. She is a close friend with Danielle Boatman, the owner of Marlow House. In fact, she lived at Marlow House when she first moved to town. As did another one of your neighbors, Chris Johnson, who lives there.” Brian pointed down the street to Chris’s house. “I wouldn’t be especially surprised to find Chris going into Marlow House with his own key. Or even Heather for that matter.” He pointed to the house on the other side of Pearl’s. “In fact, Heather stayed at Marlow house for a while, too. So you see, this is a very close-knit neighborhood.”

  “I prefer my privacy. And while I do feel somewhat comforted knowing there was not an actual break-in, I am not thrilled knowing the people in this neighborhood let their pets run free. If I wanted to pick up dog poop, I would get my own dog.”

  “I don’t think you need to worry about Sadie.”

  “Oh really? The dog was off a leash and in my yard unsupervised.”

  “If there is a future problem with Sadie, I’m sure a chat with Lily or Ian will resolve your issue.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “Then you can call me, Mrs. Huckabee.” Brian removed a business card from his pocket and handed it to her. “I promise you, if you have any problem with the neighbor’s dog that they won’t resolve, I’ll take care of it.”

  Lily set the flashlight and set of keys on the entry table after returning to her house. She hung her jacket back on the coatrack. Before returning to the bedroom, she stopped in the kitchen and grabbed some crackers from the pantry. She ate them on the way to her bedroom. When she got there, Sadie was already back in her dog bed, and Ian continued to snore soundly. Crackers now consumed, Lily crawled back into her bed, never expecting to be able to fall back asleep.

  Sunlight streamed into the bedroom. Reluctantly Lily opened her eyes and blinked. She reached out and patted the spot next to her; it was empty. What time is it? she wondered. Rolling over to face the alarm clock, she was surprised to find it was after nine in the morning.

  Combing her fingers through her messy red hair, she sat up and rubbed sleep out of her eyes. She sat there a moment and thought—was it all a dream? With a sigh she shook her head and mumbled, “No, it was no dream. I need to talk to Ian.”

  Lily hurried out of bed and went to find her husband, expecting he would be alone. But when she found him, he wasn’t alone; he was sitting at the kitchen table with his sister, Kelly, papers strewn across the tabletop.

  “Morning, sleepyhead,” Ian greeted her cheerfully.

  Lily stopped short in her tracks and looked grumpily to Kelly.

  “Morning, Lily. Ian told me you played hooky today to go wedding dress shopping with Danielle,” Kelly said brightly, ignoring the sullen look from her sister-in-law.

  “What are you doing here?” Lily blurted.

  Startled, Kelly’s eyes widened. She blinked several times, momentarily speechless.

  “Wake up a little grumpy, did you?” Ian teased.

  Rubbing her eyes again, Lily shook her head. “Umm…I’m sorry, Kelly. I didn’t mean it like that sounded. I just didn’t expect anyone to be here.”

  Kelly looked Lily up and down, taking in her disheveled appearance. “Yeah, I sort of got that.”

  Running her fingers through her hair again, Lily looked at Ian and asked, “What are you guys doing?”

  “Remember, I told you Kelly was coming over this morning so I could help her with a story she’s working on.”

  “Oh…I forgot.” Lily stumbled to the coffee pot. She was about to pour herself a cup and then paused. Abandoning her still-empty coffee cup on the counter, she opened the refrigerator and took out a carton of orange juice.

  “What, no coffee?” Ian asked.

  “I feel like juice,” Lily grumbled.

  “So Danielle is really going to go shopping for a wedding dress today?” Kelly asked.

  With her glass of juice, Lily took a seat at the table. “That’s the plan. After all, the wedding is nex
t month. We should have started shopping months ago.”

  Kelly chuckled. “Before she even started dating her fiancé?”

  Lily shrugged and took a sip of her juice.

  “I just hope the dress she picks still fits her next month,” Kelly murmured as she sorted through the papers before her.

  Lily frowned at Kelly. “Why wouldn’t it fit?”

  “Morning, Dani,” Lily greeted Danielle thirty minutes later when she breezed into the back door of Marlow House, finding her friend alone in the kitchen. No longer wearing her pajamas, Lily was dressed in jeans and a button-up flannel shirt.

  “Morning, Lily. Want some coffee?” Danielle asked as she poured herself a cup.

  “No, thanks. Where’s Walt?” Lily asked.

  “He’s up in the attic, writing. Do you need to talk to him?”

  Lily took a seat at the table. “No, I wanted to talk to you alone. Anyone else here? Marie maybe?” She glanced around, wondering if the spirit was nearby and listening.

  “No. What’s up?” Danielle picked up her now full cup and said, “You sure you don’t want some?”

  “I can’t have any coffee. I’m pregnant.”

  Danielle practically dropped her cup as she let out a squeal. “Oh my god, you’re going to have a baby!”

  Lily smiled up at Danielle. “Yeah. Looks that way.”

  Walking to the table, Danielle asked, “This is good news, right?”

  Lily nodded and flashed Danielle a smile. “A little bittersweet. Ian and I wanted to start our family after our Europe trip. This, of course, means there will be no Europe trip. At least not now.” She let out a sigh.

  “I’m sorry about that.” Danielle took a seat at the table.

  Lily shrugged. “I’ll be honest with you; I’ve been a little worried—doubtful if I could even get pregnant. And while I really wanted to go on this trip—I feel relieved.”

  “Relieved?” Danielle frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “If given the choice of having a baby with Ian or going to Europe, well, I’d pick the baby any day.”

  “But why the relief?”

  “Like I said, I always had this doubt lurking in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t be able to get pregnant. I have a tipped uterus, and my mom had endometriosis. She was just lucky she got it after she had her babies.”

  “But you don’t have endometriosis,” Danielle reminded her.

  “I know. But it runs on both sides of our family. And then there’s Ian. He’s not exactly a spring chicken.”

  Danielle almost spit out some coffee when she laughed at Lily’s comment. “Not a spring chicken? What does that mean?”

  “I don’t imagine his little swimmers are as active as a twenty-year-old’s.”

  “Obviously they did the trick; you are pregnant.”

  “True.” Lily grinned. “But you can’t tell anyone yet. Not even Walt. I need to tell Ian first.”

  “He doesn’t know?”

  Lily shook her head. “No. When I got up this morning, Kelly was at our house. I really want to tell him when we’re alone.”

  Danielle frowned. “So when did you take the test? I thought you left it here?”

  “I was over here early this morning.” Lily then went on to tell Danielle about her morning.

  “You didn’t tell Brian why you were here?” Danielle asked after Lily finished her story.

  “I told you I didn’t.”

  “I can’t believe he just let you go home without telling him.”

  Lily laughed. “What was he going to do, haul me down to the police station and force it out of me?”

  “I could see him doing that.” Danielle grinned.

  “Yeah right.” Lily rolled her eyes. “But that new neighbor, she wouldn’t even shake my hand!”

  “I told you what she said about Max!”

  “I want Walt to have a talk with Sadie about her,” Lily said. “I don’t want Sadie going back in her yard. After what you told me and how she looked at Sadie, she seems like the kind of woman who would leave out poison food for animals.”

  Danielle groaned. “I don’t even want to consider that. But yes, I’ll have Walt talk to her.”

  “Are we still going to Portland today?”

  “You feel up to it?” Danielle asked.

  “I didn’t barf this morning. In fact, I feel pretty good right now. And I did take the day off.”

  “Are you going to tell Ian before we go?”

  Lily glanced briefly to the back door. “Yeah. If Kelly would just go home.”

  “We don’t have to leave right away. Maybe in a couple of hours. That should give you time to tell him.”

  “I need to do it before Brian tells Joe about what happened here this morning. And then Joe tells Kelly, and Kelly tells Ian.”

  Danielle chuckled. “Yeah, rather hard to keep a secret around here.”

  “Oh, and Kelly said something odd to me when she heard we were going wedding dress shopping.”

  Danielle frowned. “What was that?”

  “She said something about—how she hoped the dress still fits you next month.”

  “What the heck is that supposed to mean?” Danielle glanced down at herself. “Does it look like I’ve been gaining weight?”

  “Actually, I was thinking the opposite.”

  “Opposite?”

  “You’ve lost some weight since Walt moved over to this side,” Lily reminded her.

  “That’s only because Walt keeps pilfering my cinnamon rolls.”

  “Obviously Kelly must have noticed, and maybe she wondered if you plan to lose more weight by the wedding.”

  “I hadn’t planned to lose this weight. Although, it is the best way to do it—without really thinking about it.”

  Lily stood up. “Well, I’d better get going. I need to figure out some way to get my sister-in-law out of the house so I can talk to Ian. I hope he won’t be too disappointed about the trip.”

  Danielle smiled at Lily. “I have a feeling he’s going to be too preoccupied with preparing for the new arrival to be thinking of the trip.”

  Lily let out a sigh. “I hope you’re right, Dani. But even after I tell Ian, I really don’t want to tell anyone else. Not until I see my doctor, and I’m sure everything is okay. Maybe even wait a few weeks…in case something happens.”

  “Nothing is going to happen. But I understand. Can I at least tell Walt?”

  Lily nodded. “Yeah. But no one else. Okay?”

  Eleven

  When Lily returned home after telling Danielle about the results of the pregnancy test, she found Kelly still sitting at the kitchen table, but instead of talking to Ian, she was on her cellphone. Assuming her husband had gone into the living room to give his sister privacy for her call, Lily poured herself a glass of milk and then went looking for him.

  “Is Kelly still on the phone?” Ian asked when Lily walked into the living room. Sadie, who had been napping by Ian’s feet, perked up and looked to Lily, her tail wagging.

  “Yes. How long is she going to be here?” Lily whispered.

  “Do you have a problem with Kelly?” he asked as Lily took a seat next to him.

  “No. But I wanted to talk to you about something, and I need to do it alone.”

  “What do you want to talk to me about?”

  “I don’t want to start this discussion until after your sister leaves,” Lily said.

  Kelly walked into the room and announced, “I’m off the phone!”

  “We about covered everything,” Ian told his sister. “I think you can take it from here; plus I need to get to work on my project.”

  Kelly stood in the living room, looking from her brother to Lily, who sat next to him on the couch, drinking a glass of milk. “Why didn’t you tell me about the neighbor calling the police on Lily?”

  “What are you talking about?” Ian asked.

  Kelly looked at Lily. “You didn’t tell him?”

  Lily groaned.

/>   Frowning, Ian looked from his sister to Lily, back to his sister. “Tell me what?”

  “It was nothing,” Lily said. “When I took Sadie out this morning, our new neighbor called the police on me. It was still dark out. I guess she thought I was a prowler.”

  “That’s not what Brian told Joe,” Kelly said, taking a seat on one of the chairs. “He said when he got here, your new neighbor had Sadie locked in her toolshed and you were in Marlow House.”

  “She what?” Ian snapped. “What do you mean she had Sadie locked in her toolshed?”

  Lily frowned and cocked her head to one side. “I didn’t know that,” Lily muttered under her breath.

  “Where were you when Sadie was being locked up?” Ian asked.

  “According to what Brian told Joe, she was in Marlow House. And it was dark over there; everyone was still sleeping.” Kelly looked at Lily. “I know you wouldn’t tell Brian why you were there, but I’m dying to know. What were you doing?”

  “I want to know why Sadie was locked up in a toolshed!” Ian demanded.

  Masking her glare with a forced smile, Lily looked at her sister-in-law and said, “Brian is obviously making this a much bigger deal than it is. I took Sadie out this morning, and I remembered I left something in the kitchen at Marlow House, so I decided to pick it up. I didn’t want to wake Walt and Danielle, so I left Sadie outside. I must have forgotten to latch the gate, because when I came back outside, she was with Brian. I didn’t know anything about the neighbor locking Sadie in the shed.”

  “What did you leave at Marlow House?” Kelly asked.

  Lily frowned. “Excuse me?”

  “What did you leave in the kitchen at Marlow House? What did you pick up?”

  Lily shook her head. “Why does it even matter?”

  “It just seems it must have been important if you went into someone’s house while they were sleeping. I’m just curious.”

  “It really isn’t any of your business,” Lily snapped.

  Ian frowned at his wife. “Lily, I’m not sure why you’re so testy this morning. Kelly asked a perfectly reasonable question.”