Josh rubbed his stomach as he carried his empty dinner plate to the kitchen. “I’m stuffed. I think it’s time for Cody and me to head back to the hotel, so you girls can talk about us without worrying about hurting our feelings.”
Chase laughed. “You don’t know us very well yet, but believe me…you being here won’t stop us from talking about you.”
Honor giggled. “Well, we only have two air mattresses, so unless two of you want to sleep on the floor, they need to go back to the hotel.”
Chase turned back to Josh. “Like I was saying, drive safely and we’ll see you tomorrow!”
Honor walked Josh and Cody out to the truck and kissed them both goodnight.
“I’ll call you in the morning, but don’t wait on us for breakfast. I have a feeling we’re going to stay up late and then sleep in.”
Josh teased, “I would expect nothing less from girls at a slumber party. But seriously, I’ll miss you tonight.”
“I’ll miss you too.”
Honor gave him one last kiss, then waved goodbye as the truck backed out of the driveway. She turned toward the front door and caught her sisters spying on her through the front window. Amused, she walked to the kitchen and opened a bottle of wine.
“Okay, let’s hear it…what do think of my guys?” Honor filled four wine glasses.
Patty drooled, “Josh has ten brothers? Man, if I wasn’t a happily married woman, I’d be seriously considering moving my practice back to Florida.”
Chase reached for a glass. “I never pictured you as a mother, Honor…but you seem to have taken to the role like a duck to water.”
Cherry clucked, “Josh seems terrific and Cody is adorable, but is it wise to take on an instant family a year after your divorce? I mean…you could be rebounding because William became a father.”
“I’m not rebounding,” Honor responded without hesitation. “I love Josh because he makes me laugh and I feel safe when I’m with him. He believes in me and respects my opinions. He even understands when I get absorbed in a project and totally ignore him. And I admire every aspect of his life. Just thinking about him makes me smile.” As if to make her point, Honor’s lips curved into a smile. “And I don’t miss anything about William… and I do mean anything!”
She wiggled her eyebrows up and down to make sure they understood she meant his physical attributes. Her sisters laughed.
“And as for Cody…well…he’s been gone for a half an hour and I miss him already. His mind is amazing and he has an incredible vocabulary. He’s only four years old and he can already spell his whole name. And you guys have to admit, he is the cutest little boy you could ever ask for. Oh, and on top of all that, he’s a spiritual medium!”
Honor stopped to take a sip of wine.
“Yessiree,” Chase repeated, “like a duck to water… she even brags like a mother.”
Laughing, the sisters clinked their wine glasses to toast Honor’s new relationship.
They inflated the air mattresses in the living room, and settled down facing each other, with Honor and Chase on one mattress and Cherry and Patty on the other.
Honor decided it was time to tell her sisters about their mother and the spirits of the Belleview Biltmore. She began, “Love and motherhood aren’t the only life-changing experiences I’ve had recently.”
She told them about discovering Darcy’s journal in the kitchen cabinet and the antique hat box in the closet. She summarized her encounters with Margaret, Darcy, Hannah and the rest of the spirits. When she shared the details of Rory’s death and Darcy’s selfless decision to allow Hannah to raise Hope, her sisters were teary-eyed. She explained the origins of the Colson name and the pearl necklace. Lastly, she revealed, “Mom never encountered the spirits of our relatives at the Belleview Biltmore, but she did visit with Margaret every time she stayed there.”
Chase murmured, “Then I wasn’t dreaming. Mom was talking to a transparent lady that night.”
“Yep,” Honor confirmed.
Cherry’s eyes widened. “Didn’t it scare the bejesus out of you to be around all those dead people?”
Honor considered her question. “I don’t think I was ever scared. At first I was confused, but once Margaret explained what was going on, I was fascinated. In fact, most nights I could hardly wait to go to sleep. Now that Darcy has moved on, I doubt I’ll have any more encounters and that makes me a little sad.”
Patty smacked her hand on the floor. “Oh my gosh… remember when my Larry decided to trace the genealogy for both sides of our family? He tracked his relatives back almost to the Revolutionary War, but on our side, he got stumped at Rory and Hannah Colson. Now it all makes sense. He couldn’t find a record of their births or marriage because they made everything up.”
“They didn’t make everything up… they made everything right.” Honor corrected.
“They made our family.”
“Speaking of family, do you think Cody really talked to Mom?” Casey asked.
“Yes. He’s talked to her several times. He said she wanted to say goodbye to us because once she travels the lighted path, she can’t ever come back.”
Cherry interjected, “Personally, I would never hang around as a spirit. I believe that lighted path leads to a perfect existence.”
“You know,” Patty mused, “we were really lucky to have Mom as our mom. She made everything look so easy. Even though there were four of us, I can’t remember ever feeling like she didn’t have time to help me with my homework or make cookies for class parties. I only have two kids and I can barely manage!”
“All moms feel overwhelmed sometimes,” Cherry stated with authority. “I think Mom baked all those cookies as her coping mechanism.”
“Well, she sure got good at baking in the process. I wish my kids could have tasted her banana nut oatmeal cookies,” Patty replied.
“Yum. I loved her peanut butter kiss cookies,” Chase added.
“And her ‘Snickerdoodles’…” Cherry admitted.
“You know what?” Honor remembered. “I saved Mom’s old cookie recipes. I’ll make copies for you guys. Who knows? Maybe generations from now, our family will still be baking cookies from the same recipes.”
Delighted with the idea, they began calling out the names of their favorite cookies: chocolate chunk, stained-glass windows, coconut macaroons, ginger snaps, cinnamon snowflakes and so on.
Honor was the first to notice the temperature in the room was dropping. “I think Mom’s here with us right now,” she gasped. “When we were growing up, remember how close we felt when we were in the kitchen eating Mom’s homemade cookies and talking about everything in the world? Well, I think those memories created a bridge between Mom’s spirit and us.”
Honor expected her sisters to scoff at her, but no one made a sound.
Finally Patty called out, “I miss you every day, Mom. I always will.”
A moment later, Cherry grew wide-eyed. “She is here! She just brushed my hair back from my face. I love you, Mom!”
Chase began to cry. “I wish you didn’t have to go, Mom. I wish you could stay here forever. I didn’t say it enough when you were alive, but I love you.”
Honor closed her eyes when she felt her mother’s gentle touch. “Thanks, Mom, for everything.” She choked back a sob. “I hate to say goodbye, but like Margaret says, I’ll see you again ‘in the blink of an eye.’ Give Daddy my love…and Hannah and Darcy, too.”
An instant later, they knew Faith Macklin was gone. The experience had brought them peace, but now exhaustion overtook the sisters. They fell asleep with happy memories of childhood filling their dreams.
***
Honor was the last to wake up in the morning. At first she was confused, but when she heard her sisters talking in the kitchen, the events of the previous evening came flooding back to her. Still groggy, she sat up. “Good Morning,” she mumbled.
Chase squealed, “Oh goody! You’re finally awake! We decided we want to go out to the cemetery to put flowers on Mom and Daddy’s graves today.”
Honor yawned, “Okay…but after breakfast, alright?”
“Sounds good, but it’s ten thirty and most places stop serving breakfast at ten,” Cherry said.
Honor and Patty chorused, “Not at Lenny’s Restaurant!”
Cherry smiled. “I haven’t eaten there in ages. Do they still give you a little pastry basket to munch on while they cook your breakfast?”
“Yep,” Honor confirmed.
Chase was full of energy. “Okay then, let’s hurry up and get dressed. Dibs on the shower in the master bathroom!”
Honor teased, “I don’t think so, little sister…as of yesterday, this is my house. That means the big shower is all mine. You guys can take turns showering in our old bathroom.”
Chase laughed and made a dash towards the master bedroom. Honor chased after her and caught her in the hallway. While they were wrestling, trying to keep each other away from the master bedroom door, Patty waltzed by them. Before they realized what she was up to, she closed and locked master bedroom door.
“Better luck next time!” Patty called, laughing.
Chase ran to the locked door and pounded on it, yelling, “But I had dibs! No fair!”
Honor grinned. “Some things never change.”
While waiting her turn for the shower, she called Josh and made plans to meet at the resort pool after they had breakfast and visited the cemetery.
***
Stuffed with an assortment of Lenny’s pastries and “The Best Breakfast in Clearwater”, which to them meant omelets, scrapple and the house specialty, Redneck Benedict, the sisters rolled themselves out of the restaurant and into Honor’s rental car.
Honor stopped at a flower shop before driving to the small cemetery. She parked just inside the cemetery gate and winced again at the close proximity of busy roads and a strip mall. But despite its poor location, Honor had to admit the well-maintained grave markers, colorful flowers and lush grass created a peaceful, park-like environment.
They located their parents’ tall, granite grave marker with no trouble. It read,
MACKLIN
Andrew 1950 -1990 & Faith 1953-2007
Devoted Soul Mates and Loving Parents
Together For Eternity
They each wanted private time at the graveside, so they took turns wandering through the cemetery, admiring grave markers and epitaphs, some of which were quite old.
Suddenly Patty called out, “Come over here, everybody!”
When Honor drew near, Cherry pointed her finger at the carved epitaph on the headstone. “Last night when you told us about seeing ghosts who revealed all that stuff about our real family history, I think a part of me doubted it was true…until now.”
Honor’s jaw dropped as she read the large stone marker:
DARCY LOUGHMAN
1880 -1938
A Life Well Lived
Rest In Peace
While Patty was taking a picture of the epitaph, Honor walked back to their mother’s grave and extracted a few roses from one of the bouquets. She laid the flowers at the base of Darcy’s headstone and whispered, “Rest well, Great-Great-Grandmother… you’ve certainly earned it.”