Rachel hugged her husband’s arm to her and brushed her lips across his skin. She closed her eyes trying to block thoughts of her daughter, but the hairs along his forearm touching her lips suddenly evoked memories of soft baby hair, and she kissed his arm as if it had been Freya’s newborn head.

Her mind whirled and her heart hiccupped and emotions overwhelmed her. Rachel fell forward onto her knees then climbed to her feet. She stared wildly at the gentle waves lapping at the shore and stumbled forward. Joe sensed the need in his wife and let her go, staying instead with his remaining daughter, his solace.

Rachel walked across the sand, ignoring the raindrops that joined the tears making tracks down her face.

Her feet moved swiftly over the sand, splashing through the sheen of water gilding the shore. The tide was far out and the beach almost void of people. The evening mist settled, casting a shroud over the distant coast.

Rachel kept walking, her eyes roaming the horizon. “Freya…” she called, and listened as the word floated away on the light breeze. “Freya,” she whispered, letting her daughter’s name roll from her lips.

Her long skirt wrapped around her legs as she walked, her heart hammered and her mind beheld her daughter, as memories swirled amid tears.

Late September’s evening warmth enveloped her and the sun finally broke through the overcast sky. For the first time that day weak rays shone through the clouds and Rachel felt them tickle her bare arms. Goosebumps spread, sending a shiver throughout her body and she tingled.

The rain stopped, but moisture still hung heavy in the air and Freya’s mother fell to her knees. Soft sand welcomed her and warm water seeped through her splayed fingers and across her hands after she dropped to all fours. She hung her head and allowed her tears to drop, unhindered, into the surrounding ocean’s puddle. “Oh Freya, I need you, where are you?”

Freya knelt on the sand, her nose almost touching her mother’s soft, mussed-up hair. “I’m here,” she whispered, caught between heaven and earth by her mother’s overwhelming pain.

Rachel’s shoulders shook and her breaths came fast and choked as she tried to control the anguish that threatened to dominate, but nothing could contain her crushing grief and her silent tears became an audible lamentation. Her sorrow carried on a gust of wind that whipped her hair across her face and whisked her heartache out across the ocean.

Her daughter stood before her, fraught innocence and intense sadness etched into her shining face, but nothing made an impression.

“I’m here…I’m here!” Freya’s voice rose in frustration. “See me, please, see me!” But her pleas fell on deaf ears and her mother continued weeping.

Instead, Freya lingered at her mother’s side, waiting, waiting for a lull, waiting for a sign to guide her. Freya wondered why she couldn’t touch her mother, why she couldn’t leave an impression, why she couldn’t write in the sand and connect with her mother, Freya wondered why?

Rachel connected, but it was with wet sand, her skirt was soaked and her knees were sinking, and she had no choice but to stand. She wiped sandy hands on her sodden skirt and tucked stray hair behind her ear. Rachel sighed and took a deep breath, and finally, was quiet.

She stared blindly out across the water and let her arms hang limply at her side. Then she began to walk steadily and resolutely towards the sea.

Freya ran alongside her, tugging at her skirt, fretting and fussing, but to no gain, Rachel just kept walking.

Freya tried to leave, but unseen cords held her, checking her and Freya was lost…she had no idea what to do. She was ready, but her mother’s anguish held her, and nothing could change until Freya had forged a bond, a heavenly bond with her mother.

But time was running out. Old Thomas had a matter of moments and Freya had a promise to keep.

Little lights flit about in the sky above them, but only Freya could see them, and then Alice dipped and was walking beside Freya while Rachel’s footprints gathered momentum behind them. Alice tapped her wrist and despite it being void of a wristwatch, Freya understood. Freya shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t know what to do…I can’t leave her like this.”

Alice smiled. “There’s only one thing you can do…and it’s the perfect time.”

Freya frowned but before she had a chance to speak Alice had vanished, disappearing into the pale rays that shone through the grey clouds. Then Freya knew exactly what she had to do.

Excitement effervesced and Freya’s joy almost bubbled over in anticipation as she ran ahead and leapt up into the sky. Freya danced becoming one with the elements, and made the most of the pale sun, the raindrops still hanging in the air and the backdrop of the ocean.

First she conjured scarlet, as vivid as remembrance poppies, sunset orange to offset the red and sunflower yellow came next. Then green, like her willow, and blue…the exact shade of daddy’s t-shirt, and then she drew on the colour of deepening night to form indigo and finished with Purple Ted’s violet hue.

Then she waited.

As the rainbow appeared Rachel slowed, her mouth dropped open and her eyes stared in wonder. Her heart pounded and her spine prickled, and fresh tears misted her eyes.

“Oh, Freya…your rainbow!” she whispered. “Freya! Freya!” Her voice rose. “Freya, number ten! Freya it’s your rainbow!”

Rachel’s heart spilled over and she roughly wiped her tears away. She broke into a run and hurried forward then stopped and laughed, her peal of laughter ringing in the air. “Your rainbow!” she cried. “Freya’s rainbow!”

Freya wiped away her own tears and stood waiting beneath the arc, watching her mother.

Exaltation filled Rachel’s soul as she stood gazing in awe at the divine phenomenon. She blinked and followed the arc with her eyes taking in every colour. It faded into the ocean at the far end, and Rachel cast her eyes across its bow. The rainbow hovered, beginning some feet above the sand a little way ahead of her, or so it seemed. Again, she skipped forward and ran towards it, but with every step it moved further away, yet remained the same…

Freya’s mother stopped again and placed her hands on her knees, bending forward. She laughed again, allowing the endorphins to fizz through her, making her dizzy. The rainbow reflected across the wet sand and as Rachel looked up she thought about her daughter.

Freya watched with love bursting from every pore, knowing that her mother had found her answer, feeling the restraints ping away, and a celestial call seeped through her body beckoning her home.

Her eyes searched the beach and set upon her little sister and her father. Both together, Jasmine sitting astride her father’s knee, and both staring with delight at the most beautiful rainbow they had ever seen, a rainbow that hung in the sky with such glory and clarity that neither could take their eyes off of it.

Jasmine turned to her dad and grabbed his t-shirt. “You blue top Daddy, like that rainbow, and green like mine t-shirt.”

“And purple like Freya’s teddy bear.” Daddy smiled. “And beautiful like Freya,” he murmured.

Freya turned back to her mother, who still stood awestruck. “Goodbye,” she said softly, “Goodbye.” Freya stood at the foot of the rainbow and turned her face heavenward. “I’m ready…I’m ready!”

Then the heavens truly opened. Raindrops fell from the sky. Huge, round drops that exploded as they hit the sand and splashed at Rachel’s feet. Rachel grinned and listened as the pitter-patter around her got louder and she lifted her head to the rain, letting it drench her face, and she swept back her hair and spread out her arms, and called. “Freya, I’m here…under your rainbow!” Then Rachel stared through the curtain of rain and her heart skipped and she trembled and her breath caught in her throat, and nothing could move her, and she stared in disbelief at the girl who stood beneath the rainbow.

Rachel could not blink, or breathe, or stir, as she beheld a young woman, a girl with long, brown hair and green eyes, a girl who was so beautiful that Rachel’s heart stood still. A girl who could be no one but her daughter…

Rachel blinked and Freya moved on, just a breath away.