Stepping into the Sky: Jump When Ready, Book 3 (8 page)

Nikki rolled her eyes and walked toward the doorway, sure
Henry would follow. When she glanced back, he stared at the book so pointedly
that she knew he was doing it just for effect. She couldn’t resist the smile
tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Have fun with that, River Rat.”

Henry kept his eyes glued to the page. “Damn, they were
reading some seriously R-rated stuff in this house.”

As it turned out, an old pendulum clock hung on the
kitchen wall. It showed the time to be a little before ten but Nikki had no
idea why or what that meant. She looked around the kitchen again wondering what
had gone missing, before realizing it was the boxes. In a way, it made sense
but in another it made none at all. How was it possible that what Rose saw
influenced what they did? How could she and Henry trust anything around them if
it kept shifting that way? For now, at least, sunlight streamed through the
windows. Nikki crossed the room and looked out into the backyard, her gaze
drawn at first to light reflecting off a swimming pool. Then she noticed the
little girl wandering out by the flower garden.

Nikki closed her eyes for a moment. It wasn’t possible,
that girl being there. That girl, with her long, silky black hair, who even
from a distance so strongly resembled the sister she’d once known. Whose hand
she’d once held, whose eyes she’d looked into for guidance as she’d come to
know what it meant to have a big sister.

“
Lilly
.” The name escaped Nikki’s lips in a whisper
before she even thought about it, a kneejerk reaction.

As if hearing her name, the girl turned and stared at the
house. Nikki gasped, seeing her again. Lilly. It really was Lilly. Her sister,
long gone, but there she was outside the window, now not much past five or six
years old again. Nikki thought of the dream she’d had recently, in which she’d
seen her sister as a little girl. Her parents had been there too, both of them
young again—a dream she hadn’t gone a day without thinking of since. The girl started
walking toward the house, her distraction with the garden forgotten. Did she
see the pool?

Nikki stood transfixed, waiting for someone to call
out—to run across the yard and stop her before she fell into the water. But
Lilly kept getting closer to the pool, her little legs carrying her much more
quickly than Nikki could have imagined possible.

Nikki ran to the door and threw it open. She raced down
the steps and across the patio. As she ran toward Lilly, her perspective
shifted, the world around her becoming huge. She ran past sunflowers that
towered over her head. She raced toward the other girl, now taller than
herself. Something had been concerning her but Nikki couldn’t imagine what it
was now. What was there to be afraid of? There was just sunlight against her
face and the smell of the flowers. She smelled the pool water too and she had a
vague feeling that she’d been worried about the water but that didn’t make
sense. The pool was pretty, an expanse of turquoise rippling in the light. The
entire world held nothing but wonder and she heard herself giggle. The girl saw
her and giggled too. She ran around the pool’s rim, closing the distance
between them.

A moment later, they fell against each other, their arms
clasped tight in embrace. Lilly shrieked with laughter and Nikki did too. She
looked into her sister’s eyes, seeing herself reflected there, not much more
than a toddler, teeth missing in her broad smile, her black hair
shoulder-length and adorned with butterfly barrettes.

Suddenly, she heard a woman’s voice. Smooth and warm, as
much a feeling as a sound. “Where do you two think you’re going? Girls? Come to
mama, now.”

And they did. They ran to their mother, still giggling,
holding hands.

Nikki didn’t question how it was possible that her mother
could be young again. The reason for the question didn’t exist. She didn’t even
know what it meant to be young or old, not really. Some people were big and
others small.

Then she heard a deeper voice. “What do we have here? I
thought we’d lost you!”

Nikki’s feet left the earth as a man picked her up. She
stared into kind eyes that crinkled at the corners.

“Oh, my little one. My Nikki. I thought we’d lost you. Do
you like it here? Isn’t it beautiful?”

Nikki stared into her father’s eyes and nodded. She kept
nodding. She liked the way it felt and the way it made her smile keep getting
bigger.

“Then you can stay right here with us. You won’t ever
have to leave again. Wouldn’t that be just—”

“Nikki!”

She felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as something pulled
at her. It hurt, whatever it was and she wanted it to stop.

“Nikki! Listen to me!”

Again, she felt a painful tug. Someone spun her around
and she stared into eyes she didn’t recognize. Eyes she didn’t want to
recognize.

But the tugging didn’t stop and she started crying. Her
family called out to her as they fell away but Nikki wasn’t strong enough to escape
whatever had taken hold of her.

She heard the sound of a door slamming. She heard the
voice again.

“Nikki, wake up. What was out there? What happened?”

She stood inside the house, in the kitchen. Henry’s eyes
peered into hers. Nikki wiped tears from her cheeks, fighting the urge to break
free of him, to run back out into the yard where her family waited for her to—

“You didn’t come back. I came in here to find you,” Henry
said. “You scared the hell out of me. What just happened? You were standing in
the yard like you had no idea where you were.”

Nikki wiped more tears away, clearing her eyes. She
didn’t want to feel embarrassed but she did. Henry had never seen her cry
before. None of them had. But right now it didn’t matter. What mattered was
that he held her before she broke free and ran back into that other dream. She
wrapped her arms around Henry, closed her eyes and held on tight.

Lost
Angel

It had taken a long
time for Rose to get used to coming here, to accept that her parents lay
beneath the earth and would forever remain there. After the accident, when
she’d been just a little girl, her grandmother had made her come to the
cemetery every Sunday. Rose had never forgotten the first time she’d realized
that Ethan and Jennifer Boland’s names would from now on only appear engraved
on those two marble slabs she’d first seen on the day of the funeral. In time,
though, she’d gotten used to visiting the cemetery and had even started to
enjoy it. Rose had come to agree with Olivia. Coming here was the right thing
to do. Paying respects was important and she used to imagine that she really
was visiting with her parents. Believing that had given her a sense of peace.

Rose didn’t come as often as she used to and neither did
Olivia. At some point, the tradition of weekly visits had faded away. But
sometimes she still liked to walk through these silent and tended grounds
which, during the day, resembled more a beautiful park than someplace sad. Rose
imagined that her parents knew she’d come to visit them today, that they walked
alongside her. Just as so often she imagined them looking on as her life
progressed, as she readied herself for this big step with Joseph. She pictured
them pleased that each day brought her another step closer to a happiness she
hadn’t been able to know as a child who’d suffered the greatest loss
imaginable.

Why she’d decided to come here today, though, Rose
couldn’t recall. That part bothered her. She knew it had been quite a while but
she also couldn’t remember how long. In fact, she didn’t even remember deciding
to come here. She’d gone to visit the new couple who’d moved in down the
street, then she’d suddenly found herself here. Maybe it was the idea of there
being someone new in a place that seemingly never changed that had made her
think about the past. Or maybe it was the idea of young couples starting their
lives together. After all, her parents weren’t very old when they died. They’d
been married less than ten years. Rose just wasn’t sure.

Either way, she must have driven across town lost in
thought, distracted again as she had been so much of the time lately. Still, it
seemed only fitting to share her newfound happiness with those who’d brought
her such happiness long ago and she felt glad that, at least subconsciously,
she’d made the choice to come here. Add to that, right now there was the blue
sky overhead and the mild spring breeze caressing her hair. Butterflies floated
through the air and birds chirped in nearby trees. Such a perfect day.

But there were many paths that ran through the cemetery.
Why was it that she’d never had to think about it before? She’d always known
which way to go. Now, though, she didn’t feel sure. Could it possibly have been
that long since she’d last been here? Rose tried to ignore her pulse increasing
and the guilt she suddenly felt. She also tried to ignore the panicky feeling
which kept forcing her to jerk her head around as she tried to remember the
right path to take. Of course, she knew where her mother and father had been
laid to rest. She’d visited their graves hundreds of times. She’d never missed
a birthday or holiday. She’d always brought flowers. In fact, long ago she used
to write stories and poems, she used to draw pictures, and leave them for her
parents.

Left or right? Rose wasn’t sure as she reached another
point where the path split under the shadow of a giant oak tree. She tried to
dismiss her irritation but wouldn’t it make sense to put up signs of some sort?
Nothing tacky, of course, but just some subtle indication of where people might
locate their loved ones amongst the trees, hedges, hills and statues? After
all, there were so many graves. No, not graves, Rose thought,  commemorations.
Wasn’t that the word her grandmother had always preferred?

That bench, Rose thought, the one on her left. She
remembered it because of the plaque—it had been donated by the Wells family.
But she remembered the bench being new, the plaque shining when now the words
inscribed on the brass were barely legible due to green tarnish that had spread
across it like a disease.

But that was definitely the right bench, which meant she
should take the path leading left. She chose that direction but other things seemed
strange too. Rose remembered the row of birch trees lining the walkway but
they’d grown so large. She remembered them being less than ten feet tall, fresh
young trees planted not long ago, but now they towered, their branches spread
to where they nearly touched neighboring trees in the row, the shade beneath
them thrown thick and far.

Rose saw a row of markers she remembered, grouped at the
base of a statue she remembered well. An angel with flowing robes cut from
stone, palms lifted and outspread, empty eyes rolled toward the heavens. She’d
always liked the statue before but now it disturbed her for some reason. Rose
had always imagined the angel to be offering blessings but now she seemed more
lost, her weathered figure beseeching a higher power for guidance. Rose thought
about turning back but decided it wouldn’t be right, almost as if her parents
would know that she’d almost come to visit but then changed her mind.

Besides, she knew where to find them now—their plots were
just around the next bend. Rose came out from behind the birch trees and saw
their stones, at the crest of a hill. She’d always liked that spot and had
imagined it as a happy place for people to rest—their two stones alone enjoying
the privilege of that elevated, sunny place offering a view of the surrounding
landscape. But the day was no longer sunny. Somehow, in the short time that
she’d walked beneath the grove of birch trees, the sky had grown overcast. The
air around her even felt chilly now and she hugged herself as she walked the
incline toward the place where her parents had been laid to rest.

As she got closer, Rose knew she must have made a
mistake. It didn’t seem possible. She’d felt sure she’d taken the right path
but there had always been just the two stones sharing this rise. How could
there possibly be four now? Still, the markers were the exact same color as
those of her parents—that tasteful, blue-green hue her grandmother had chosen,
when most of the others where drab gray or even, in some instances, what her
grandmother had described as a “garish” pink.

Something inside Rose kept urging her to turn back, to
leave right now and find Joseph. She’d invited that new couple over and now she
was here. A voice called out inside her. Shouldn’t she be making some sort of
lunch plans? What if Nikki and Henry showed up and she wasn’t home? Wouldn’t
that be the height of rudeness? Was she absolutely certain she hadn’t forgotten
any wedding plan details? Surely, she shouldn’t be here.

Still, Rose marched forward, her gaze fixed on what she knew
couldn’t be there. But she came closer and saw their names, Ethan and Jennifer
Boland. Her eyes flicked to one of the neighboring stones and she saw her
grandmother’s name engraved upon it. Her mind searched for an explanation as
her pulse escalated. People often purchased markers of their own and placed
them for when their time came. Had Olivia done that without telling her? Then,
Rose saw the second date, the one corresponding to date of death. What was
going on? Whose name was on the other—

“Where did these clouds come from all of a sudden?”

Rose jumped and spun around. A man stood facing her. He
looked to be in his late sixties, maybe early seventies. He had a kind face
with warm green eyes, his thinning gray hair combed back.

“I…don’t know,” Rose said. She looked at the sky.

The man smiled. “I didn’t really think you’d have the
answer. Clouds just have a way of going where they please.”

Maybe he could explain things, somehow make sense of what
she’d just seen. She gestured at the plots behind her. “Something seems wrong.”
No, that didn’t make sense. Did it? “I think I might have gotten…are your
family members somewhere nearby?”

The man pointed past Rose to the stones she’d just been
facing. “My wife and son,” he said. “I come to see them most days. Now that I’m
retired, that is. Before that, often times it was just weekends but I felt bad
about that.”

“Your wife and son?”

“Olivia and Ethan,” he said. “Both of them passed away
before me. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. At least, that’s always
been my understanding.” His mouth lifted in a smile but his eyes betrayed
lingering sadness. 

“Olivia and Ethan?”

“Yes, that’s right. This is such a nice spot. I’ve always
liked to think they enjoy this little hill. And the sunlight.” He looked up.
“Not today, as it turns out. It got cloudy suddenly. I wonder if it will clear
up later.”

Rose glanced at the sky again when she wanted to spin
around and look at the stones. “I…hope so. It was sunny when I got here. I
think it was. ”

The man kept his eyes on hers, his brow creased with
concern. “Are you okay, miss?”

“I thought—” Rose couldn’t wait anymore and broke off eye
contact. She spun back around to see those two names she could swear hadn’t
been there a moment ago. Olivia and Ethan.

The man walked up next to her. “Ethan died young,” he
said. “In a car accident when he was just a teenager.”

Rose’s gaze remained riveted on the two stones. There had
been four before. She’d seen four grave stones, she felt sure! Still, she heard
herself speak through her sense of shock. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

“Olivia passed away when she was just fifty-six. Part of
me wondered if she wanted to join Ethan again. A mother never gets over losing
her child.”

“Fifty-six,” Rose repeated numbly.

“Miss, are you sure you’re okay?”

His voice sounded muffled and far away.

“Miss?”

Rose shook her head briskly. She turned to face him
again, doing her best to offer a smile. “I was just confused, I think. Yes, I
must have gotten confused.”

The man nodded. “I bet you got lost, didn’t you?”

“I think I did,” Rose said. “That must be what happened.”

“Happens to me too sometimes. And I’ve been coming here
for decades. They really should put up some signs, don’t you think? People get
lost in places like this.”

Rose got back on the main path and walked quickly. She’d
have to come back some other time to visit her parents. It just wouldn’t be
right to not be there when Henry and Nikki arrived. She told herself that was
her reason for leaving but part of her wondered if she was being honest with
herself. That experience of getting lost and ending up at the wrong plots
bothered her. How was it possible that she’d gotten lost someplace she’d been
hundreds of times before? And that man—he’d seemed nice but where had he come
from all of a sudden? He’d scared the heck out of her just appearing out of the
blue like that.

Before crossing behind the row of birch trees, Rose
looked back to see that he stood talking to someone now. A young man. The funny
thing was, from a distance that young man looked quite a bit like Joseph.

~~~

“Rose, is that you?”

Olivia called out from somewhere in the house as Rose
came through the front door. It sounded like she might be in the room she
called the “parlor,” the smaller of the two sitting rooms and one of Olivia’s
favorite spots. Rose guessed she must have come inside when all those clouds
rolled in. Olivia had probably thought it was about to rain, not realizing the
sun had already come out again, the day returning to the sparkling jewel it had
been earlier. They’d been enjoying such wonderful weather lately—a string of
warm, sunny days stretching back as far as Rose could remember. In fact, those
clouds that had suddenly encroached had taken her completely off guard. Rose
couldn’t recall the last time it had rained, which she supposed was a little
strange. But it wasn’t like she was going to complain about the continuing nice
weather. As far as she was concerned, there couldn’t be a better omen for an
upcoming wedding than such a breathtaking spring.

Sure enough, Rose found Olivia relaxing in her favorite
chair with a book propped open on her lap.

Olivia lowered her reading glasses and smiled. “Where
were you off to on your own this morning?”

Rose briefly wondered how Olivia knew she hadn’t been
with Joseph. She didn’t recall mentioning anything. Then again, she didn’t
remember deciding to go to the cemetery. She decided not to ask, fearing she might
have said something and forgotten that too. The last thing she needed was
another reminder of how distracted she’d been lately.

“I went to visit Mom and Dad,” Rose said, hoping her
expression didn’t convey the confusion she still felt at what had happened.

Olivia closed her book. “I don’t think that’s a very good
idea. Do you?”

Rose’s heart started beating faster again, the anxiety of
what she’d just experienced returning. “Why do you say that?”

Olivia thought for a moment. “Well, dear, you’re so close
to your wedding. It would seem such a shame to spoil things by making yourself
feel sad.”

It seemed a strange thing for Olivia to say. In the past,
she’d always encouraged Rose to visit the cemetery. In fact, they’d almost
always gone together. Why was it she couldn’t remember when they’d last gone?

Rose was about to ask when the doorbell rang.

“I bet that’s Joseph,” Olivia said. “He’s probably
wondering where you disappeared to this morning.”

Rose suddenly realized she’d forgotten to tell Joseph
about the lunch date she’d arranged. Or had she told him and forgotten? She
struggled to keep her confusion from showing. “I invited the new couple over,”
she said. “Henry and Nikki.”

Olivia’s eyes flashed briefly with both surprise and
anger, then her expression changed to one Rose didn’t quite recognize. She
seemed guarded. But there was something else too. She seemed almost fearful.