Page 52 of Ghost Walk
Grace was quiet for a long moment. “So I was thinking…” She fiddled with her portable phone’s decoy earpiece, even though nobody noticed that she was apparently talking to herself. Conversing with a ghost didn’t cause nearly as many odd looks as you’d fear. Citizens of the modern world were too wrapped up in their own issues to pay much mind to anyone else’s. “What do you think will happen when we clear your name? Do you think that you’ll --like-- ascend into heaven or something?”
Jamie scoffed at that idea. “I highly doubt heaven will have me.”
“But there would be no reason for you to be a restless spirit.”
“I’m not a restless spirit.” Maybe hehadbeen, but finding Grace had eased him.Shewas the reason he’d stayed in this earthly realm for so long. Meeting her brought all of it into focus.
He’d been waiting for Grace.
When she’d traveled to 1789 and he’d seen her with his mortal eyes, he’d experienced the same exact feeling he got when he looked at her now. An overwhelming sense of recognition. Of happiness. Of relief that she’d finally arrived. He’dalwaysbeen waiting for this small, uptight, obstinate woman. Alive or dead, there was no one else for him.
For Jamie, there was just Grace. Now and forever.
Grace took a deep breath, still looking distressed. “Maybe you’ll just disappear if we solve these murders. Maybenone of this will have even happened. And, I know that I said I wanted you to vanish out of my life, but… I’ve kinda changed my mind.”
That was gratifying to know. “I am not going to leave you, Grace. Not if I can possibly help it. I told you that yesterday.”
Even though a ghost had very little to offer a living woman.
Whoever Grace’s Partner was, he could protect her from Robert and give her children and share her future. Jamie’s future had been buried for two centuries. She didn’t need him here, complicating her life. She didn’t need himat all. No matter his feelings, was it right to have Grace waste her existence on a dead man? She deserved more. She deserved…
Jamie shook off the idea before it could take deeper root.
He didn’t want to think about any of that or he’d eventually reach a conclusion that would kill him all over again. Goddamn it, he couldn’t just hand her over to some fucking Partner. Hecouldn’t. Maybe she didn’t need him, but he needed her desperately.
“You’resureyou’re going to stay?” She persisted.
Jamie’s jaw ticked. “I’m sure Iwantto stay.” He temporized and that seemed to alleviate her worry.
It didn’t do a damn thing to ease Jamie’s.
Selfish or not, he had no intention of walking away from his salvation, though. Jamie might not be welcomed through the pearly gates, but he’d still been granted a miracle. As much as he’d tried to ignore his father’s religion growing up, his belief in the spiritual world had taken deep root. God would not have brought Grace to him, just to snatch her away again. No. She was the one being in the whole of his life and death that belonged solely to Jamie.
…Or maybe he belonged to her.
However you looked at it, there was apurposein their meeting. A rightness. A grand design. Grace was where Jamie was supposed to be. Hehadto believe that.
“So, we’re following a map?” He prompted, wantingto focus on something he could actually fix. If there was one thing Jamie excelled at, it was maps. He craned his neck to look down at the yellowed page and then swore. “Oh bloody hell. Is that one of Ned Hunnicutt’s abominations?”
“Iknewyou were going to say that. You have an unhealthy fixation with that poor man.”
“That jackass was the worst cartographer in the Colonies! Plus he watered down his ale and treated his serving girls badly.”
“So you’ve said. Repeatedly.”
“Because it’strue.” He gestured to Ned’s laughable scribblings with a disdainful sweep of his hand. “Wherever that is leading you, it’s no doubt in the polar opposite direction of where you want to go. The man couldn’t find east if you pointed him towards the rising sun.”
“It’s not as if there are a lot of two hundred year old maps around to choose from, Jamie. We’re going to have to make do.” She held up the poorly-rendered sketch for him to see. “Now, Anabel Maxwell was last seen in the hedge maze behind the governor’s mansion.Thisis a diagram Edward Hunnicutt drew of the hedge maze from that same year. It’s going to help us retrace her route.”
Jamie made a face. “Knowing Ned, it will no doubt zigzag us about for several dizzying hours and then drop us down a well.”
“Have a little faith.” Grace headed down the cobblestone street, toward the governor’s mansion in the center of town. The imposing brick building was impossible to miss. Set back on a wide lawn, it had been designed to awe and intimidate visitors. “The hedge maze is still here, but we can’t be sure it’s growing in the same pattern. That’s why we need the map.”
Jamie couldn’t imagine ever being desperate enough to “need” one of Ned’s lopsided renderings. But Grace clearly wasn’t going to listen to him, so he stopped arguing about it. It was a lovely summer morning, Robert was nowhere to be seen, and Jamie was walking beside the love of his life (and death).There was no sense in ruining the moment.
All around them, Harrisonburg was preparing for the 4thof July celebrations. Workers were erecting a stage for the concert that would accompany the fireworks display. Vendors were already setting up booths around the park to hawk “authentic” baskets and cool lemonade. A lady in a white apron was selling bouquets of sunflowers.
Jamie slowed his steps, his eyes on the bright yellow blossoms. He wished he could buy some for Grace. Sheshouldhave beautiful things. Back in his own time, he could’ve given her anything her heart desired. He’d had more gold than he could spend and he would have lavished all of it on his bride. It was frustrating that he couldn’t do that now.
