CHAPTER FIVE
SAYING THE WORDS aloud always left her feeling vaguely queasy, as if she were the one who had endured months of painful treatments, shots, blood draws, the works.
She found it quite a lowering realization that Maddie had faced her cancer ordeal with far more courage than Julia had been able to muster as her mother.
“Oh, Julia.” Sage stepped forward and wrapped her into a spontaneous hug. “I’m so sorry you’ve all had to go through this.”
“It’s been a pretty bumpy road,” she admitted. “But as I said, she’s in remission and she’s doing well. Much better since the bone marrow transplant. Simon was the donor. We were blessed that they were a perfect match.”
“You’ve had to go through this all on your own?” Anna’s dark eyes looked huge and sad.
She knew Anna was referring to Kevin’s death and the timing of it. She decided she wasn’t quite ready to delve into those explanations just yet so she chose to evade the question.
“I had a strong support network in Boise,” she said instead. “Good friends, my brother and his wife, my co-workers at the elementary school there. They all think I’m crazy to move away.”
“Why did you?” Anna asked.
“We were all ready for a change. A new start. Three months ago, Maddie’s oncologist took a new job at the children’s hospital in Portland. Dr. Lee had been such a support and comfort to us and when she moved, it seemed like the perfect time for us to venture back out in the world.”
She sometimes felt as if their lives had been on hold for three years. Between Maddie’s diagnosis, then Kevin’s death, she and her children had endured far too much.
They needed laughter and joy and the peace she had always found by the ocean.
She smiled at the two other women. “I have to tell you both, I was still wondering if I had made a terrible mistake leaving behind our friends and the safe cushion of support we had in Boise, until we saw the for-rent sign out front of Brambleberry House. It seemed like a miracle that we might have the chance to live in the very house I had always loved so much when I was a little girl, the house where I had always found peace. I took that sign as an omen that everything would be okay.”
“We’re so glad you found us,” Anna said.
“You belong here,” Sage added. She squeezed Julia’s fingers with one hand and reached for Anna’s hand with the other, linking them all together and Julia had to fight back tears, overwhelmed by their easy acceptance of her.
She realized she felt happier standing in this warm kitchen with these women than she could remember being in a long, long time.
“Thank you,” she said softly. “Thank you both.”
“You smell that?” Sage demanded after a moment.
Anna rolled her eyes. “Cut it out, Sage.”
“Smell what?” Julia asked.
“Freesia,” Sage answered. “You smelled it, too, didn’t you?”
“I thought it was coming from the open window.”
Sage shook her head. “Nope. As much as she loved it, Abigail could never get any freesia bulbs to survive in her garden. Our microclimate is just not conducive to them.”
“I hope you’re not squeamish about ghosts,” Anna said after a long sigh. “Sage insists Abigail is still here at Brambleberry House, that she flits through the house leaving behind the freesia perfume she always wore.”
Julia blinked, astonished. It seemed preposterous—until she remembered Maddie’s words that the lady was nice, and that soft brush against her skin when she had been standing in Maddie’s room looking over her daughter almost as if someone had touched her tenderly.
She fought back a shiver.
“You don’t buy it?” she said to Anna.
Anna laughed. “I don’t know. I usually tend to fall on the side of logic and reason. My intellect tells me it’s a complete impossibility. But then, I can’t put anything past Abigail. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if she decided to defy the rules of metaphysics and stick around in this house she loved. If it’s at all within the realm of possibility, Abigail would find a way.”
“And Conan is her familiar,” Sage added. “You probably ought to know that up front, too. I think the two of them are a team. If Abigail is the brains of the outfit, he’s the muscle.”
“Okay, now you’re obviously putting me on.”
Sage shook her head.
“Conan. The dog.”
Sage grinned. “Don’t look at me like I’m crazy. Just watch and see. The dog is spooky.”
“On that, at least, we can agree,” Anna said, setting the last majolica teacup in the cupboard. “He’s far smarter than your average dog.”
“I’ve seen that much already,” Julia admitted. “I’m sorry, but it’s a bit of a stretch for me to go from thinking he’s an uncommonly smart dog to buying the theory that he’s some kind of conduit from the netherworld.”
Sage laughed. “Put like that, it does sound rather ridiculous, doesn’t it? Just keep your eyes open. You can judge for yourself after you’ve been here awhile. I wanted to put a disclosure in the rental agreement about Abigail but Anna wouldn’t let me.”
Anna made a face. “It’s a little tough to find an attorney who will add a clause that we might have a ghost in the house.”
“There’s no might about it. You wait and see, Julia.”
A ghost and a dog/medium. She supposed there were worst things she could be dealing with in an apartment. “I hope she is still here. I can’t imagine Abigail would be anything but a benevolent spirit.”
Sage grinned at her. Anna shook her head, but she was smiling as well. “I see I’m outnumbered in the sanity department.”
“You’re just better at being a grown-up,” Sage answered. Her teasing slid away quickly, though, replaced with concern. “And on that note, is there anything special we need to worry about with Maddie? Environmental things she shouldn’t be exposed to or anything?”
Julia sighed. She would much rather ponder lighthearted theories of the supernatural than bump up against the harsh reality of her daughter’s illness and recovery.
“It’s a tough line I walk between wrapping her up in cotton wool to protect her and encouraging as normal a life as possible. Most of the time she’s fine, if a little more subdued than she once was. You probably wouldn’t know it but she used to be the spitfire of the twins. When they were toddlers, she was always the one leading Simon into trouble.”
She gave a wobbly smile and was warmed when Anna reached out and squeezed her hand.
A
