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Authors: K.J. Emrick

3 From the Ashes (7 page)

BOOK: 3 From the Ashes
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“There’s something going on here and I need to know what it is.” Darcy took a few more steps toward Millie. She wished she could just reach out and hold her aunt again. She twisted the ring on her finger. Millie looked down at the motion and smiled. Darcy could tell she was pleased.

“Can you help me with any more information?” Darcy asked. She watched as Millie’s ghost rose and floated to the back of the store, where the office was. At the desk, Millie reached up to the shelf on the wall and with a wave of her hand spilled everything on it to the floor.

Her aunt turned to her with a smile and a wave, and then she somehow turned sideways and disappeared.

“Thanks. That was a lot of help,” Darcy said sarcastically, bending to clean up the mess. The shelf had been where she put her personal books, ones she had read and planned to read again, plus some knick knacks that were too solid to be hurt by the fall. As she picked everything up and put it back in place she found something she’d forgotten about.

Millie’s journal. The little book with its black leather cover had been sitting up there for a couple of years now. Darcy had skimmed through it a couple of times after her aunt’s death, but it had been too painful for her to read properly back then. She had shelved it up there with the intention of reading it later. She hadn’t thought about it in forever. Inside it were her aunt’s observations of the town and its people and her own private thoughts. If Millie had anything at all to share with Darcy about Angelica, it would be in here.

“Thank you Millie,” Darcy said out loud, hoping her aunt could hear her.

***

In her own very neat handwriting, Millie had filled every page in the book. Darcy enjoyed reading her aunt’s almost poetic observations of the quaint little town she had lived in for most of her life, but that wasn’t relevant to the issue at hand.

By lunch time Darcy had finished the book. Realising how hungry she was, she closed the shop up and hung out the back in an hour sign. Sue had taken the day off. Darcy hoped she was spending it with Sarah. The girl could definitely use a friend right now.

Darcy went to the La Di Da Deli. Clara waved to Darcy as she came in, the lunch crowd keeping her busy. When Darcy made it to the front of the line she ordered two sandwiches, one for herself and one for Jon.

They chatted as Clara made the sandwiches. The subject of the harvest festival inevitably came up. “I’m really excited for the festival this year,” Clara said as she cut the sandwiches in half and wrapped them in wax paper.

Darcy inhaled the smells of fresh meats and cheeses with a smile. “Why didn’t you open up this deli years ago? Come to think of it why did you live out of town for so long? You could have been making a fortune with this place all along.”

Clara tensed up visibly as she tried to put the wrapped sandwiches into brown paper bags. “I couldn’t have lived in town before now,” was all she said as she put the sandwiches in a bag.

Darcy took the food and decided to drop the subject. Clara obviously had her reasons and just as obviously didn’t want to talk about them. For now, Darcy had enough problems of her own to deal with. She paid for the sandwiches and with a last smile at Clara left the deli. She headed for the police station to talk to Jon about what she had learned in Millie’s journal.

***

The desk sergeant buzzed Darcy through to the office. As she entered she could see Jon working at his desk. She stood just inside the doorway and took a moment to take him in. He looked so serious as he worked on the paperwork in front of him. When he finally looked up, his smile lit the corners of his beautiful eyes.

She walked over to his desk as he stood up to kiss her on her cheek. “I brought sandwiches,” she said as she held the bag up.

“Fantastic. I’m starving.”

They sat at his desk and opened the sandwiches. Inbetween bites Darcy told Jon about finding Millie’s journal, overlooking how it had been Millie who showed it to her.

“It actually clears up a lot of our questions. We’re not related, first of all, but Millie was a close friend of Angelica. She was almost like a daughter to Millie, from what I can gather. Sarah wouldn’t remember it now, all these years later, but Millie and her mother were practically inseparable.” She took another bite of her sandwich and chewed it thoughtfully. Jon finished up his sandwich and scrunched the paper up to toss it in the bin.

“Okay,” he said. “That’s not really helping us figure out what happened to Angelica, though. Was there anything else of interest in your aunt’s journal?”

“There sure was.” Her face split into a huge smile. “Millie had abilities like mine. She was able to communicate with the other side. In the journal, Millie said that our power has been passed through the generations and that our family is the oldest one in Misty Hollow.” Darcy had been so excited by this information. It helped to explain why she had such a strong connection with Millie even after her death.

“Really?” Jon asked her. “She never mentioned it to you?”

“No, she didn’t, but she always took me under her guidance. She taught me it was all right to be who I am, to experience the things I do. My mother made me feel like a criminal, practically. Millie made me feel like family.” She finished a last corner of her sandwich and then tossed her wrapper after Jon’s. “Who knows? Maybe if she’d lived a little longer she would have told me about her abilities, too.”

The journal said that apparently Misty Hollow had always been a hotbed for strange occurrences and Millie had been kept just as busy as Darcy was. “The last page of the journal speaks about Millie trying to help Angelica.”

Jon sat up straighter. “Help her? Help her how?”

“It doesn’t say,” Darcy said, her disappointment obvious. “Millie knew the reasons and she didn’t see fit to write them down.”

With a sigh Jon stood up and offered her his hand. “So the search continues. Look, I’ll dig around into what was going on in the town back then. Maybe there’s an answer in there somewhere.” Darcy took his hand and stood up. He kissed her quickly. “Thanks for the sandwich.”

“No problem.” She looked at the clock that hung on the wall over the door. “I should get back to work.”

Jon grabbed her hand, though, and pulled her back towards him. “Not yet. You surprised me with lunch. Now I have a surprise for you. It’s out back. Come on.” He tugged on her hand and dragged her out the back of the police station.

At the door he stopped and said to her, “Close your eyes.”

“Do I have to?” He nodded and with a grin she let her eyes slide shut. She heard the squeak of the door as he opened it and then he guided her through. She felt the cool air caress her face as he positioned her just so.

“Okay, you can look now.”

She slowly opened her eyes and there in front of her was a shiny new red and white Titan Pathfinder Mountain Bike. She was stunned.

“Wow. That’s…” She was speechless. “Jon, what’s this for?”

“It’s for you. You’ve mentioned a few times that you should get a bicycle instead of walking everywhere. I saw this yesterday in the window of the bike store over in Meadowood. I couldn’t resist. I could just imagine you riding it. Think of it as an early birthday present.”

Darcy couldn’t believe it. Yes, she’d mentioned getting a bicycle. Several times. She never thought that Jon would go out and do this for her, though. “Jon, I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you love it,” he suggested. “Say I’m the best boyfriend in the world and you have no Earthly idea what you would do without me.”

She couldn’t stop grinning at him. “I love you. I love it. You are the best boyfriend in the world and I have no Earthly idea what I would do without you.”

“There.” He winked at her. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

She slid into his arms. “It’s getting easier by the day.”

“Think how much better your life would be if we were together all the time, under one roof.”

“Subtle,” she said sarcastically.

“Subtlety was never my strong suit. I still think you should think about it.”

“I am,” she admitted, snuggling into him.

***

That afternoon Darcy left work early to go home and start the dinner for the get together her mother had insisted on. She wasn’t the greatest cook by any means and she spent an hour just nervously flipping through recipes. When she had it narrowed down to what she would be able to cook with what she had on hand, she set water to boil and collected ingredients from cupboards.

Smudge jumped up onto the counter and planted himself in the middle of the recipe book she was looking at.  He stared straight at her with that way he had. “Smudge you’re making me even more nervous. Shoo.” He refused to budge, and she sighed loudly and gave up trying.

The phone rang right then. “Saved by the bell eh Smudge?” She raced to pick it up. It was Jon.

“Jon, so help me, if you’re backing out of this dinner I may have to disown you,” she said, only half joking.

“No, no, I’m not backing out. I’ll be there for sure but I just found out something and wanted you to know right away.” He paused and she nearly reached through the phone to make him say whatever it was quicker. “Sarah’s dad, Louis, broke his arm and a leg a few days before the fire.”

Darcy’s eyebrows shot up. That was interesting. “Was it an accident?”

“He reported it as one, but the doctor made a notation in the paperwork for our department that it appeared to be caused by blunt force trauma.”

“Uh, Jon I don’t speak cop talk. What does that mean?”

He laughed at her and translated. “It means he was hit by an object like a pipe or a baseball bat. It’s just the doctor’s opinion, though. No one ever followed up on it and Louis never changed his story that I can see.”

“It must be connected.” Darcy sniffed the air. The dinner! “Oh my gosh I‘ve got to go. See you later.” She hung up before Jon could say anything else and raced back into the kitchen.

 

Chapter Eleven

 

Wanting to look her best Darcy dressed carefully in a sleek black dress, one of the few she owned. She had always been a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. Tonight she wanted to impress, though. Her mother was always full of comments about the way Darcy dressed. She was hoping this way, at least, that would be one less thing for Eileen to gripe about.

She had managed to finish cooking the seasoned chicken breasts and pasta without any major disasters. The table was set, the salad started. She was even surprising herself.

The doorbell rang at exactly six-thirty. Darcy opened the door to find Grace, Aaron and Eileen on the other side. She put on her best smile and soon everyone was seated at the kitchen table while Darcy flitted about doing last minute things like putting the rolls in the oven. Without asking, her mom sat down at the head of the table. Sitting ramrod straight she folded her hands in her lap.

As her mother was checking her watch for the third time and raising her eyebrows, Jon came walking through the door with the cheesecake she had asked him to pick up from the La Di Da deli. Darcy swept over to him and took the desert out of his hands. “Thank goodness you’re here,” she whispered.

Jon kissed her modestly on her cheek and whispered back. “I’m always here for you. We should talk about Angelica later.” Then, after introductions were made, he sat down across from Grace and Aaron. Eileen began to chat with him about the town, the upcoming harvest festival and his police work. Darcy was relieved that her mom was being so civil with him. It made a pleasant change.

Darcy served up the dinner which was surprisingly good. She got compliments from everyone, including her mother.

As the night progressed and things seemed to be going great Darcy relaxed a little. Eileen had been very well behaved and hadn’t said anything inappropriate all night.

She should have known it was too good to last. Darcy was serving slices of the cheesecake when Eileen asked Jon right out of the blue, “So Jon, when are you going to propose to my daughter?”

The room went completely silent and Darcy felt the heat rushing into her face as her cheeks turned bright red.

“When the moment is right,” Jon said without missing a beat, as if he’d been expecting the question. “We’ve actually been talking about our next step, haven’t we Darcy?”

She sat down a little heavily with her own plate of cheesecake and stared at him dumbly. Somehow she couldn’t help but think that her mom would know that he’d been asking to move in with her and, worse, that she had been seriously considering it. All she could do was nod and hope the truth didn’t show in her eyes. She felt like a school girl caught making out in her room.

Eileen beamed, though, happy at the news. “Excellent! Don’t wait too long, Jon. Life goes on without you if you do.”

Grace and Darcy exchanged another glance. Their mother was definitely acting differently, Darcy decided. Something was up.

The evening wound down not long after that, with hugs all around and a handshake between Aaron and Jon. Even her mom gave Darcy another of those awkward hugs. 

When the others had left and it was just Darcy and Jon, she turned to him and stomped a foot, even if she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “I can’t believe you said that!”

“Said what?” he asked innocently, collecting dishes and bringing them to the sink.

“That bit about us discussing the next step in our relationship.”

He came back to her, the table half cleared, the sink full of dishes, and pulled her into his arms, softly kissing her neck and sending an electric thrill up her skin. “Well, aren’t we discussing that?”

She melted. “Maybe we should discuss it more. Upstairs.”

The night had been nearly perfect. She had Jon to thank for it, and maybe even her mother a little bit. As Jon led her up the stairs, she wondered again why her mom was really in town.

***

The next day was Saturday and as much as Darcy wanted to sleep in next to Jon’s warm body, she had too much to do. She showered quickly before Jon even got up and went downstairs to call Linda. She asked her to bring Sarah and meet her at the bookstore. No one would disturb them there on the weekend, and they could talk privately about what she had discovered so far. 

BOOK: 3 From the Ashes
11.06Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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