Ghost of a Chance Book 1 in Above the Grave Trilogy (21 page)

“I don’t know.” He said pulling her face up and
staring into her eyes. “Did I hear you say that you loved me?”
Drew was speechless. So what if she did love him?
He didn’t love her back.

“Yes, I did say that. It doesn’t matter does it, and
what do you mean that you heard me? You weren’t here! You
couldn’t have heard me!” She said, drawing away.

“I’ve been here all along, Love. I just thought it would
be better if you didn’t have to think of me anymore. I didn’t
want to hurt you. I was invisible again, I didn’t want you to
have to go through all of that loneness, I’m so sorry,
Sweetheart.” He said reaching for her hand.

“Don’t touch me!” She said pulling back. “You have
listened to me call your name time and time again this past
week! You have heard me crying for you! You thought that it
would be better to just disappear completely out of my life?
How could you possibly believe that” Drew’s head was
spinning. She wasn’t sure if it was the wine or the emotions.
Whichever it was she knew her brain had just had too much.
“And once you saw that it wasn’t true, how could you just
cower in the corners watching me and not do or say anything?”

Just as Brendan started to speak they heard the front
door slam against the wall. Brendan grabbed Drew and pulled
her close to him then told her to stay put this time.
As he
started to walk out of the room he heard Liza screaming
frantically at Drew.

“Drew? Drew, damn it, I can’t believe that you drove
all the way home on that blasted motorcycle after you had been
drinking!”

Liza was obviously furious. Drew couldn’t believe
that she had driven all the way there though, just to yell at her.

 

“Liza, what are you doing here?” Drew asked as she
pushed her way past Brendan into the living room.

“I was so worried about you that I had to make sure
that you made it home safely!” Liza looked over then and saw
Brendan standing by the bed. “Oh, Oh!” Liza exclaimed. “I
thought that you said he was gone!”

Drew rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of
her chest. “I thought that he was. Now, all of a sudden he is
back and telling me that he never left.
He obviously just
enjoyed watching me suffer.”

“Drew,” Brendan said calmly, “
it is not the truth. I did
not think that I could come back to you in this form. If I could
not be with you, the way that you deserve, I thought it best to
let you get on with your life, the way that it was before you
ever met me.”

Liza seeing that Drew had made it home safely and
knowing that the two of them needed time on their own to
make their love work and to break the spell that had too long
ago been placed on them both, quietly snuck out of the door
smiling.

“Brendan,” Drew said, running her fingers through her
helmet tussled hair and pacing the floor, “my life was so…
different, I guess is the right word, before you “poofed” your
way into it. I had a job that I hated, I had no place to live, I had
a past that I couldn’t stomach, and the only person that I had in
the world that I could depend on was Liza. You have given me
so much. I know that it is crazy.” She walked to him then and
took his hands in hers. When she looked in his eyes she saw
confusion. She wished that she could remove Lazetta from his
heart and his memory forever.

“What in either one of our lives is normal though?
Nothing makes any since. It doesn’t matter though because
while you were pretending
to be off
in the unknown
somewhere, I was learning that as much as things didn’t make
sense, it made more sense having you in my life than my life
ever made sense before. Does that make sense?”

Brendan laughed. Drew was obviously at a loss for
words but he caught her meaning in her eyes. She loved him
and that made all of the sense in the world.

He pulled her toward him and placed her arms around
his strong neck then picked her up and carried her to her
bedroom.

“Miss Drew, I want to help
you put your past behind
you. I want to show you that there is more to life than to be
afraid all of your waking days. I want to show you that there is
more to making love than just wickedness that men desire.
That isif you’ll have me. I promise I will never hurt you
again.”

Drew doubted that last part. She knew that he would
hurt her again, one day when she needed his confirmation on
his love for her. He would tell her that his heart is with Lazetta
and not with her. She didn’t care now. She wanted him, and it
was time to let everything else go.

She was just about to tell him so when there was a
knock on the door. Before Drew could get to it though, Liza
opened it and poked her head in.

“I’m so sorry. I know I should probably just let you
two be alone but…”

Liza knew it was time to talk. She had to get out the
truth so that they could live their lives happily with each other.
So that Brendan could have his second chance of life and Drew
could finally come to terms with her life.

“Drew, there is a history in my family that I never
mentioned before to you because I wasn’t really a part of it
before and because I thought you wouldn’t be my friend
anymore. On the same day that you got an eviction notice, I
received a phone call from my mother who had received a
phone call from her mother.” She said facing her.

“My Nana has told me the story of the O’Keefe’s and
of my great-greatgreat grandparents, Lezetta O’Keefe and
Brendan O’Keefe.” She looked up at Brendan then with an
apologetic smile. “You see, Brendan and Lezetta were my
great-greatgreat grandparents.”

“That is
not possible!” Brendan yelled. “Lezetta and I
never made love, and we were never married.
We were
engaged to be married this is true, but she wanted to wait until
our wedding night which never came. It is not possible that
you could be who you say!”

Drew was up pacing now. It seemed that everything in
her life had lead up to this moment, to this house and these
people. Something told her thatit wasn’t coincidence.

Liza looked back at Drew now. “I’m only telling you
this because that is what I was told by my Nana. You see,
there has been a bond in the sister hood that has been passed
down for quite some time, one that I am now supposed to carry
out.”

“Youare a witch as well?” Brendan asked.

 

“You’re a witch?” Drew echoed.

“Sort of, it is in my blood but I had always chosen not
to use it.
I have been sworn into the sisterhood, yes, and it is
my duty to help where I can, but I don’t practice Wicca or
LeBlanc on a regular basis.” Liza replied.

“Wow, this just gets better and better.” Drew shook
her head and then sat back down to rest her head in her hands.
“Did you put the flyer on my door, Liza?” Drew
asked.

“Yes, I did. I’m so sorry. My
Nana’s instructions
were to get you to this house. When you were evicted I saw
the opportunity.
Everything happens for a reason.
It is all
written in the stars. You can’t just change the stars!” She
apologized.

“So, if you were told to murder me righ
t now, would
you do that as well?” Drew asked through tears that had begun
to burn her throat.

Liza looked down at her hands. “I couldn’t do that,
Drew. I didn’t think that you were in any real danger moving
into this home. If you will remember correctly, I am the one
that told you that you were crazy for moving into this house. I
didn’t know about Brendan or the house or the cemetery until
after I came to visit you and you had drawn all of those
pictures.
I could see in the chalk drawing of Brendan and
Lezetta and Mary Ann that you drew that something was
wrong, very wrong. So, I went to my mother to find out more.”

“What did ye find out, Liza. Please tell us all that you
know.” Brendan chimed in.

 

“I found out that my great something grandmother was
born in 1860 by a Brendan and Lezetta O’Keefe…”

 

“Lezetta died in 1859 and I in the same year.”
Brendan said. “So, you see that is not possible.”

 

“Your tomb says that you died in 1860.” Drew said.

 

“Nay, it was only a month after Lezetta was burned
that I was murdered myself.”

“What month did Lezetta die in?” Liza asked.
“June, St. John’s day. The people believed that Lezetta
had used Mary
Ann as
a sacrifice
on the eve
of
their
celebration.” Brendan said.

“My family history states that she died in Feb
ruary of
1860 giving birth to her daughter and that Brendan, that would
be you, hung yourself three days later right over her grave.”

“
This is true, I was heartbroken for my sister and for
Lezetta but I did not kill myself. That I know for a fact. I also
know that both Lezetta and Mary Ann were killed the same day
in June of 1859. Lezetta was burned on my property in front of
the house while I was trying to view the body of my dead
sister.”

Drew stood up and took Brendan’s hands. “Brendan,
this is very important, did you see the body of Lezetta with
your own eyes?”

“Nay, ‘twas nothing but burning bones when I
returned. Only the ring that I had given her myself lay in the
pile of ash and bones at my feet.”

Liza and Drew looked at each other then. Something
told them both that those hadn’t been Lezetta’s bones lying at
Brendan’s feet. But that didn’t explain how she could have had
Brendan’s child if he had died three days after her original
tombstones date. Ugh, it was all so confusing. According to
Brendan he died a few days after Lezetta but according to Liza,
Lezetta died eight months after Brendan had hung himself on
Lezetta’s grave which, according to Brendan, didn’t happen at
all. The fact was though that there were descendants and there
were two graves with two dead bodies.
At least there was
supposed to be!

“Brendan, why is it that you don’t want anyone to go
upstairs?” Drew asked.

 

“That is where I was murdered and where I always end
up. ‘Tis my own personal hell up there I suppose.”

 

“Well, would you mind if we went up there?” Liza
asked.

“I’m not ready for anyone to go there yet. I can’t see
when I am in that room. Everything is black. I would like to
go there first, in my new state, before I can allow you up there.
Do you understand?I need to be able to see it for myself.”

“Brendan? I’ve seen the light on in there before. If
you can’t see when you are there then how do you know where
you are?”

“The door is always open, love. It won’t close. The
light shines in there through the door way but ‘tis a long room.
I cannot see all the way to the back. I cannot see where my
body lies, and I’ve never seen the light on in there.”

Drew and Liza gasped at the same time. “Are you
saying that your body is still up there?” Liza said.

 

“I never saw anyone come in and get it. So, I assume it
is.” Brendan said sadly.

 

“Ok, hold the phone!” Drew stood up and almost
fainting grabbed the back of the couch.

“Brendan,” she said trying to catch her breath, “are you
saying that your dead and rotting corpse is upstairs in a room,
right above our heads?”

“Drew!” Liza said, “How about a little bit of love for
our friend?” She smiled at Brendan apologetically.

“Love? He is a ghost, Liza! As much as he has made
himself look human, and a very good looking one at that,”
Drew added when she looked him up and down, “how could I
love him? He isn’t real. Once he figures out what the hell
happened to him and his body is properly buried where will he
go then?”

She started to pace the room then once she found her
balance. “He won’t be returning to his death bed above the
stairs anymore, Liza, he will be going to heaven, if there is one,
or to his new grave just like his sister and Lezetta. He isn’t
going to stay, Liza! He will be gone and then what?” She
walked towards the door then. “I am supposed to be alone all
over again? I can’t handle it! I don’t want any part of it.”

With that she ran out the door and slammed it behind
her. Liza and Brendan heard her start up the Harley and peel
out. Liza started after her but before she could get out of the
door Brendan grabbed her arm.

“Let her be. She has a lot of emotions to sort through
and I don’t blame her for anything that she said. She will come
back as she has nowhere else to turn and she knows that this is
her home, not just her house.”

Liza started to protest, “In the mean time,” Brendan
said sternly making Liza shut her mouth, “you have some
explaining to do. I wasn’t born yesterday, dear heart. You are
hiding something else.”

Liza cleared her throat then with a glare she shook
Brendan’s hand off of her arm and walked toward the kitchen.
“I brought something for Drew the last time a came over, it’s
an Ouija board. I didn’t realize that you two had already gotten
so closely acquainted, I thought that it may help bring you two
together.”

“A what?” Brendan asked.

“Oh, I guess they didn’t come out until the late
nineteenth century.” Liza said. “Um, well, I will show you.”
She said as he followed her to the kitchen. She reached into
the large brown paper bag and pulled out a box. She sat the
box on the table and took the lid off.

Brendan, standing over her shoulder, saw a board with
letters, numbers, a yes and a no at the top of the board, and
good bye at the bottom. Underneath the board she pulled out
some sort of wooden contraption with legs and what looked
like a glass window in the middle of it.