A Rocky Path (12 page)

Everyone seemed to be enjoying their dinner
together. Emily felt like she was an outsider looking at a Norman
Rockwell painting or something. She didn’t feel a part of anything
right now. Everyone was so happy and cheerful, and here she was as
miserable as she could be. She didn’t want to be here. But she went
through the motions, smiling pleasantly as if everything was fine.
She was just counting the minutes before she could excuse herself
and get ready to go meet Mrs. Stone.

* * *

She pulled up to the elderly lady’s house and
was pleasantly surprised. She had somehow expected a “ghost person”
to live in a dark, forbidding house with ominous looking gargoyles
guarding the front door. This house, however, was the perfect place
for a nice, grandmotherly lady to live and bake cookies for all the
neighborhood children. It had little lights on each side of the
path leading up to the house. The house was painted yellow, like a
lemon drop, with white shutters. There were beds of fall flowers
adorning the front lawn. All kinds of little creatures, such as
fairies, frogs and dragonflies, were keeping watch in the flower
gardens.

She knocked on the door and it was answered
by a short, slender lady with gray hair cut close to her head. Her
face was wrinkled, with smile lines at the corners of her eyes and
mouth. She wore a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, rather than the
exotic caftan she had expected.

Mrs. Stone smiled. “You look surprised. What
were you expecting, someone that looked like she had just eaten
Hansel and Gretel?”

Emily laughed. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t
know what to expect. You just look so…”

“Normal?” suggested Mrs. Stone.

“Ok, I’m guilty. I was expecting someone a
little bit, I don’t know, strange, I guess. It’s not every day you
meet someone who is an expert on ghosts.”

“I’m sure that you have a very good reason
for wanting information on that subject. Let’s sit down in the
living room. I’ve made us a pot of tea.”

“Thank you. I would really enjoy a cup of
tea.”

They sat down and got settled with their tea,
then Mrs. Stone looked at Emily and asked, “Alright, Ms. Adams,
what has brought you here? Why the interest in ghosts? Do you have
a personal interest, or are you just doing some kind of study or
report?”

Emily said, “I have a personal interest. I
don’t really know where to start. But I guess the beginning is as
good a place as any.”

Emily told her the story that she had told
Jarrod. She didn’t leave anything out. She even told of her
feelings and the things that had happened that had broken her
heart. When she had finished, there were tears in her eyes.

“That is quite a story, child. You know,
don’t you, that most people wouldn’t believe you.”

“Yes, I know. But Jarrod believes me. And I
hope you do, too, because I need your help.”

“What is it you think that I can do for
you?”

“I want to find him, Mrs. Stone. I want to
find some way to get in touch with him. Jarrod thought you might be
able to help me with that.”

The older lady sighed. “First, if we are
going to work together, we should be on a first name basis. Please
call me Sarah. Next, I want you to be absolutely sure that you
really want to get in contact with this Patrick. This can’t be a
normal relationship, you know.”

“I know. Obviously, there would be problems.
But I really want to be with him.”

Sarah looked at her closely. “How do you know
what all that will entail? He can’t live with you. He is destined
to stay within a mile or so of the place where he died. You would
never be able to be with him anywhere else.”

“Why is it that way?” asked Emily,
surprised.

“It just is. There are things that just are,
and we don’t have to understand them. We just have to accept
them.”

“Ok, then I accept that.”

“What if you lost your job for some reason?
What if you wanted to move to another location? He couldn’t go with
you. That would hurt both of you more than you are hurt right
now.”

“I will stay here. I have to if I want to be
with him. But first, I would just like to talk to him. I want to
tell him that I know what he is, but that I love him anyway.”

“Emily, you’re really taking on a lot. You’re
a young woman with your whole life ahead of you. How do you know
you can handle this?”

“I can, I know I can!” Emily cried.

“Alright, I won’t try to talk you out of it.
I just wanted you to know what you are facing. You said that he
appeared one night and rescued you from being hurt by another man.
There was some reason he knew you were in danger. We first need to
find out what that reason is.”

“Do you think there is some link between
us?”

“There seems to be. He knew you needed his
help. Also, a spirit that old is not going to give his heart away
easily. Yet you said you believe he loves you. There has to be
something. Maybe you remind him of someone he loved before.”

“I’ve seen a portrait of the woman he was
engaged to. I don’t think she looks anything like me. And I don’t
think her personality was like mine either. I’m a one man woman. If
I give my heart to someone, I will be faithful. At first I wasn’t
sure that I loved Patrick. I even thought I could be interested in
someone else, but it turned out Patrick was all I could think
about. So he has my heart. I would never betray him if he wanted my
love. But this blond woman in the picture obviously betrayed him.
You could tell by the letters she wrote to someone whom she was
forbidden to see. I wish I knew who that other person was.”

“Maybe someday you will know the whole story.
Patrick may be able to tell you everything. The reason he roams the
earth is because there is something that is holding him here. I
suspect he is here because his heart was broken by this woman. What
we really should be doing is finding out what could make him let go
of this world so he could go on to Heaven where he belongs.”

“No, I don’t want him to go! I want to be
with him. I would sacrifice my freedom and be tied down to this
place forever for him! Surely he would stay with me if I asked him
to.”

Sarah smiled sadly at her. “Emily, dear,
don’t you think that’s a very selfish thing to say?”

Tears trickled down Emily’s face. “Yes, it
was very selfish. I’m so sorry. But I want to see him, to talk to
him. It would be so awful to finally find him again, only to lose
him again, this time forever.”

“I will help you try to find him. I won’t
judge either of you for what you decide to do. I just want you to
know the facts. I want you to realize that if you keep him here
even if we figure out how to release him from this world, then you
will be doing him a great injustice. If you really love him, you
should want what is best for him. He might even come to resent you
if you keep him from going to the place he is supposed to be.”

“Sarah, if I could just talk to him, we would
be able to work everything out. I would never try to force him to
stay here. That is, if he really wanted to leave me.”

“Emily, it wouldn’t be because he wanted to
leave you, it would be because he wanted to leave this earth and go
home where he belongs. Please try to understand that!”

“Ok, I’ll try not to be so selfish. It’s just
so hard to think of losing him forever.”

“I know, child. Life can be very hurtful
sometimes. And in Patrick’s case, so can death. Now, let’s figure
out what the link is between you two. Something that makes him
always know whether you are safe or in danger.”

“I wonder….” said Emily, thoughtfully.

“What are you thinking?”

She looked at her silver ring. “This ring. It
belonged to the blond woman, his fiancée. She is wearing it in the
portrait. I was wearing it the first time we met. I’ve worn it ever
since.”

“I bet that’s it!” exclaimed Sarah. “That’s
the link. It’s probably not the fact that it once belonged to the
girl. It’s more than likely because it’s something from his time.
If you had chosen another trinket, then he still would probably be
linked to you because of it. Anything that’s from his time would do
it, I think.”

“So, do you think that we can somehow use
this ring to get him to come to me? So I can talk to him?”

“Maybe we can. Let me think on this. Come
back tomorrow at the same time and maybe I will have figured out
something. I’ll do some reading about these things tomorrow. If he
is linked to you by this ring, there must be a way to use the
link.”

“Sarah, thank you so much for your help. I’m
beginning to feel like there is hope.”

“You’re welcome. Just remember what we talked
about. You need to think long and hard about trying to keep him
here.”

“I’ll think about that and try not to be so
selfish. I just want to take one day at a time right now. I’m
hoping that tomorrow I’ll be able to find Patrick.”

She left the older lady’s house with hope in
her heart. For the first time since that last night she saw
Patrick, she was feeling a little bit of happiness returning to
her.

Chapter Eighteen

Emily spent a lot of the next day thinking
about how self-centered she had been acting. Here was a ghost,
roaming the earth for 150 years, and she wanted him to stay with
her for the rest of her life instead of trying to find a way to
help him leave this world. She was feeling really guilty about
wanting him to stay with her. Of course, she may not even be able
to find him again, anyway. But she decided that if she did find
him, she would tell him how much she loved him, and that she would
help him break the ties to this world, if possible.

At lunch, she decided she would walk down to
the rocks and eat her lunch there. As she was fixing herself a
sandwich, Sam came in.

“Hey, Emily,” he said. “Are you brown bagging
it today?”

She laughed. “I thought I would take my lunch
down to the water today. It’s a pretty, sunny day, and I need to
get out of here.”

“Do you realize that it’s only about 45
degrees out there?”

“I know, but I need the fresh air.”

“Well, in that case, would you like some
company?”

Emily hesitated for a moment, and Sam said,
“Oh, I guess you want to be alone.”

“You know what? I would love some company.
Fix yourself a sandwich and come on down with me.”

Sam and Emily went down the path together and
sat down on the rocks to eat their lunch. It was chilly and they
were both bundled up warmly.

Sam said, “You know, it’s awfully chilly, but
you’re right about it being a beautiful day. This was just what I
needed. I’ve been writing all morning and I’m exhausted. I usually
take a break or two, but I was on a roll. So I kept working until
my back was hurting and my eyes were crossing.”

“I’ve been down here a lot. You know, when I
was meeting Patrick,” she said wistfully.

“So, you aren’t meeting him anymore? What
happened?”

She sighed. “He just doesn’t want to see me
anymore.”

“What is wrong with this guy? Is he crazy?
Any man would be out of his mind to not want to see you. What’s the
story with him?”

“Sam, I really don’t want to go into it. He
just feels like it’s best that we don’t see each other. I don’t
know, maybe he’ll change his mind. But for now, I just have to
accept it.”

“I hate to see you hurting, Emily. I can tell
you really cared a lot about this guy. He obviously had some pretty
strong feelings for you or he wouldn’t have been so hard on Jamie
when he attacked you. I mean, I respect him for wanting to rescue
you, but if you were someone he didn’t care for, I think he would
have just pulled him off of you, not throw him around a few times.
And he must have been pretty strong to be able to do that. Jamie is
a big guy.”

“Patrick is apparently a lot stronger than he
looks. Anyway, maybe we should just stop talking about him. It’s
just depressing me. Let’s talk about your writing. What are you
working on now?”

They spent the rest of the lunch hour talking
about other things, avoiding any more mention of Patrick. But Emily
kept getting the feeling they were being watched, like someone was
hovering just out of sight. It sent a little chill up her spine.
She wondered if Patrick was nearby or if she was just wishing he
was here.

When it was time to go, they picked up their
trash and started back to the house. As she was leaving, she felt
what seemed to be the tiniest whisper of a breath against the back
of her neck. She shivered and turned around. Of course there was no
one there.

“What’s wrong?” asked Sam.

“I don’t know. Did you feel a slight breeze
just now?”

“No, actually the wind is unusually still
right now. I didn’t feel a breeze at all.”

“Hmm. It must have been my imagination.”

But she knew better. She was almost positive
Patrick had been watching her the whole time she was by the shore.
It gave her just a little bit of hope. Maybe he was watching over
her, making sure she was safe. He might even come back to her
soon.

* * *

Back at the house, she went upstairs to the
office. Casper and Jake looked up as she came in, and she went over
and gave them both a pat before sitting down at her desk.

“Where did you go for lunch?” asked
Rebecca.

“Sam and I ate lunch down at the water. It
was chilly, but it was nice to get some fresh air.”

“I’m concerned that you don’t get out enough.
Maybe you should go into town and meet some people your own age.
Maybe Sam could take you out to meet some of his friends.”

“I’m fine, Rebecca. I went out last night and
I plan on going out again tonight.”

“Really? Where did you go?”

“Uh, well, Jarrod Connelly introduced me to
this fascinating lady, so I went to see her. I’m going to her house
again tonight.”