Prologue

SHANNON had cheated death several times in her life. There had been a few moments during which she would have willingly surrendered to its stiff, cold grasp. But she didn’t. She’d always managed to pull herself back—except for this time, apparently.

She’d experienced things similar to an out-of-body experience in the past, but she could clearly see that this wasn’t like those instances. This was the real deal.

She stood across a room from both herself and her husband. Her lying motionless in a hospital bed. Him weeping into her hair as he clutched one of her hands.

She wanted to cry but found herself unable to. She figured the soul, when separated from the body, lost its ability to shed tears. So she just watched him.

She remembered their wedding night when he quietly admitted this was his greatest fear. That he’d live in fear of exactly this until the day he died or she died. How she’d questioned him, asking if he’d changed his mind about their marriage already.

“Of course not,” he’d insisted. “I love you more than I thought I was capable of loving anything. That’s never going to change. But when you love something that much, you have everything, which means you have everything to lose. And that’s terrifying.”

It was his greatest fear, and there he was. Sitting right in the middle of it.

She wanted to tell him how sorry she was. After all, the whole reason he was cradling her lifeless body was because of a choice she had made.

But of course, she couldn’t. All she could do was watch him while she waited to cross over. She wasn’t quite sure when or how that would happen.

After another few moments or so, she figured it out.

Out of nowhere, there was a small hand on her shoulder, which prompted her to turn her head. She’d never met the girl who stood next to her, but Shannon knew immediately who she was. A blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl about sixteen, with a sweet smile. It seemed fitting that her husband’s first love should accompany his second into the sweet hereafter.

“Hello, Penny.”

Penny continued to smile her sweet smile and spoke in melodic Irish lilt. “Are ye ready, Shannon?”

Shannon glanced at her husband. “Is he going to be okay?”

“He’ll have to be, won’t he?”

Shannon felt another fruitless urge to cry, wishing she could hold him one last time. Instead, she cast a final lingering glance at him. “I love you, Jack. I’m so sorry.”