Clay stood up and walked to Wesley, standing several feet from him. “What are you doing here?”
Wesley grinned at Clay. “I suspect the same thing as you.”
Setting the popcorn bowl back on the side table, Heather stood. “What the heck is going on? Why has my house turned into Grand Central for ghosts?”
Wesley turned to Heather and smiled. “Are you a medium or a ghost?” He then glanced at the bowl she had just set down, seeing what remained of the popcorn. “Ahh, you must be the medium. Ghosts don’t eat popcorn. Although, it would be nice if we could.”
“You need to leave.” Clay tried giving Wesley a shove to move, but his hand moved through Wesley’s chest.
“Hey, stop that!” Wesley took a step back from Clay.
“I’m talking to Heather about something important. It’s private.”
“I want to talk to her, too. I’m not going anywhere. After all, if we hadn’t told you about the mediums on this street, you wouldn’t be here.”
“Fine. I’ll come back later, after you go.” Clay disappeared.
“Good.” Wesley turned his full attention to Heather. “Hello. My name is Wesley Sadler.”
“Were you over at Marlow House a little while ago?”
“Yes. I talked to the kid over there. But then this darn dog comes in, starts barking, and I hear babies crying down the hall. I didn’t see the point of sticking around, thought I’d try over here.”
“What kind of ghost are you? Scaring little kids like that? You should be ashamed of yourself!”
Wesley’s eyes widened as he took a step back from Heather. “Why are you yelling at me?”
“Because no self-respecting ghost goes around scaring little kids!”
“I didn’t scare him. He was smiling at me.” Wesley took another step back from Heather, but she kept closing the distance between them. “I did a magic trick for him so he wouldn’t be afraid.”
“You said yourself babies were crying! You made the twins cry!”
“I didn’t make anyone cry. If anyone did, it was that stupid dog!”
“Sadie isn’t stupid!”
“Please don’t yell at me.”
“Don’t tell me what to do! You barge into my living room and…” Heather would have finished her sentence, but before she got the rest of the words out, he vanished.
Heather glanced around the room. Both ghosts were gone, but for how long? Heather heard a meow. She looked at Bella, who now stood on the recliner, looking at Heather.
“I think we should sleep somewhere else tonight.” Heather headed back upstairs to retrieve her cellphone. Once Heather had her phone, she called her boyfriend.
Brian answered the call with, “Heather, is everything okay?”
“Did I wake you up?” Heather sat on the side of her bed, holding the phone by her ear while Bella curled up on her lap.
“No. I was just getting into bed. What’s up?”
“Clay was here. Can I come over to your house?”
“Thanks for letting me bring Bella,” Heather told Brian. She snuggled up with him under the blankets on his bed while Bella curled up on the foot of the mattress. Heather had just finished telling Brian what had happened at her house.
“If I can believe Clay, I figure he’s going to be back tonight, and I just wanted to sleep without worrying about getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and find him sitting in my bedroom.”
“I have to admit, when you first said Clay was at your house, I thought…”
“You thought they were wrong, and he was still alive,” Heather finished for him.
“Yeah, then I realized what you meant. But I have to say, for a moment there, it about gave me a heart attack.”
“Well, I’m not so thrilled about having to deal with his ghost, but I have to say, being dead has mellowed him out. He’s not as cocky. He didn’t insult or threaten me once, which was very un-Clay of him.”
“What does he want?”
“I got the feeling he wants me to talk to his sons. He’s worried about them following in his footsteps, especially now that he knows death isn’t the end of the road, and just because someone avoids consequences in this lifetime doesn’t mean it won’t eventually catch up with them. I don’t know what he expects me to say to them. But we never discussed it because that Wesley dude showed up wanting to talk to me, and Clay got all flustered. He obviously didn’t want an audience when explaining what he wanted me to do.”
“Well, if he waits around to come back, he’ll have to find another medium. From what I understand, his wife and sons are leaving town in a couple of weeks. Who do you think the other ghost is?”
“He’s obviously the same one who showed up at Marlow House tonight. I’m pretty sure he’s one of the ghosts Clay told me about from the Frederickport Cemetery. His name is Wesley Sadler. I wish Eva and Marie were here. I’d asked them what they know about this guy.”
“When are they supposed to be back?”
“Marie said they would be back before Lily’s baby arrived. Of course, she didn’t expect Lily to go into labor for another three weeks. Maybe you could check him out, see who he is.”
“I’ll do that in the morning.”
Heather snuggled closer to Brian. “I wonder how Lily is doing.”
“Why don’t you call Danielle? She’s probably heard something.”
“Remember, you can’t tell Joe you know Lily went into labor tonight. But I can’t call Danielle. It’s late.”
Brian chuckled. “Do you honestly think Danielle is sleeping, considering Lily is in labor, not to mention their uninvited guest? Plus, you should tell her about Clay and that you have the name of the ghost who showed up at their house.”
Lily’s labor was longer than it had been with Connor, but by three the next morning, Connor’s little sister, Emily Ann, was born, a healthy baby girl who came in at just under six pounds, and the doctor told the relieved parents that while they wanted to keep mother and child in the hospital for a couple of days, they didn’t feel the baby needed to stay in the NICU after they released Lily from the hospital, which meant Emily Ann could go home with her mother.
Several hours later, just as the sun came up, Ian sat by his wife’s side as she nursed their new daughter.
“She is beautiful, like her mama,” Ian whispered.
Lily, not taking her eyes off her new daughter, smiled as she cradled her in her arms. “You have to bring Connor in to meet his sister today. The nurse said it would be okay.”
Lily sat in a chair next to the bed while she nursed Emily Ann. Ian reached over and brushed strands of Lily’s hair from her eyes. “I will. By the way, I keep getting texts from Mom and Kelly, wanting to know when they can come meet our daughter.”
Lily looked up at Ian. “I need to tell my parents.”
Ian smiled at Lily and absently leaned over and tucked a strand of her hair behind her right ear before stroking the back of his hand over Emily Ann’s forehead. “When I texted your mom last night, telling her you were in labor, she made me promise to call her after the baby was born, no matter what time. So I’ve talked to her already.”
“What did she say?”
“Not much; she just started crying.”
“That sounds like Mom.” Lily leaned over and kissed her baby’s forehead. Emily Ann had just fallen asleep. “Times like this, I wish my parents lived closer.”
Walt had set up two portable baby swings in the kitchen of Marlow House. About five hours after Lily gave birth, Addison and Jack each sat in a baby swing, happily entertained while Connor sat in a highchair in the kitchen, eating breakfast, and Walt and Danielle sat at the nearby table, drinking coffee.
Sadie came rushing through the doggie door into the kitchen, and a moment later, the kitchen door opened, and Ian walked inside.
“Daddy!” Connor called out, reaching for his father.
“Hey, bud.” Ian walked over to his son, ruffled his hair, stole a bite of his cereal, and gave the boy a quick kiss.
“Congratulations, Dad,” Danielle greeted. She started to get up to get Ian some coffee, but he quickly told her to sit back down as he got himself a cup and poured some coffee. A moment later, he joined Walt and Danielle at the table.
“Lily wanted me to come home and get some sleep, and when I go back over, she wants me to bring Connor so he can meet his new sister.”
“When do you think she’ll be up for a visit?” Danielle asked.
“I’m sure she would love to see you this afternoon. But right now, she’s sleeping. It was a long night.” Ian glanced over to his son, who seemed oblivious to the discussion and more intent on arranging his pieces of dry cereal into a line on his highchair tray.
“Have your parents or sister been over to the hospital yet?” Danielle asked.
Ian shook his head. “No. I told them the same thing I told you: wait until this afternoon. Lily needs her sleep.”
They discussed the labor for a few minutes, leaving out any graphic descriptions, as Connor was within earshot. Danielle and Walt didn’t bring up last night’s unexpected visitor, believing Ian had enough on his mind right now. Finally, Ian asked, “How was Connor last night?” He turned to his son and asked, “Were you a good boy last night for Walt and Danielle?”
“Clown,” Connor announced.
“Clown?” Ian frowned.
Walt and Danielle exchanged glances.
“Bubble,” Connor blurted.
“Oh, you took a bath with that clown bubble machine Heather gave you.”
“He did, but I’m not sure that’s what he’s talking about,” Danielle said.
“Or perhaps it is,” Walt muttered.
The next moment, the subject of the conversation appeared in the room. Ian was the only one who couldn’t see him.
Connor pointed to the ghost and shouted, “Clown!”
Sadie started barking, but Walt quickly silenced the dog. And then Walt looked at Danielle and said, “Sadie says it’s the same one from last night.”
“Same what? Why did Sadie start barking?” Ian asked.
Connor continued to point at the ghost and again said, “Clown.”
“Someone has joined us. And for some reason, your son keeps calling him a clown, although I’m not sure why. He doesn’t look like a clown,” Danielle explained.
Ian frowned at his now silent dog and then looked to where Connor pointed, seeing nothing. “Are you saying there’s a ghost in the kitchen with us?”
“Hello, I’m sorry to barge in like this. I never meant to cause a problem,” the ghost apologized.
“Yes. He’s standing right there.” Danielle pointed to the ghost. “His name is Wesley Sadler. He showed up last night, and Connor keeps referring to him as clown.”
“How do you know my name?” the ghost asked.
Danielle looked at the ghost. “You told Heather last night. She told me.”
“I don’t like her. She reminds me of my wife. Always screaming. I wanted to ask her to help me, but all she did was yell at me.”
“Who is Wesley Sadler, and why is he here?” Ian asked.
“That’s what we want to know.” Walt turned to the ghost. “Why are you here?”