A Haunted Twist of Fate (23 page)

“Is it you?” she whispered, sensing he was the very same
bird who’d followed her around the cemetery. Remembering what Colt had told her
about the power behind the bluebird’s message, she quietly recalled his words.

The bluebird comes to show you about
happiness within. He signifies contentment and fulfillment that is happening or
about to happen. Listen to the song of the bluebird in order to find your own
joy with an awakened confidence and internal peace.

The appearance of the bluebird, twice, had not been
a coincidence. It symbolized fulfillment and internal peace, according to
Native American legend. If she believed that lives from the past deserved
respect and eternal happiness, certainly her own life deserved the same. How
could she ignore this sign? With her heart soaring, Shay spoke to the bird and
didn’t care if anyone on the street heard her and thought her crazy.

“Thank you, bluebird, for coming to me with your
song. I understand, and I won’t take your message for granted.”

His chirping halted, and the bird flapped his wings
and disappeared.

Shay unlocked the saloon door and closed it behind
her with the blood rushing to her head. Colt was not like any man she’d ever
known. Since she’d met him, she’d felt more alive than she had in years. He was
in love with her. She was falling for him, too. What kind of fool would she be
to let him go?

Thirty-Seven

Shay punched in Colt’s number on her cell phone.
After four rings, it went to voice mail. Let down, she flipped the phone shut
without leaving a message. The blare of her phone ringing seconds later caused
her to jump. The number flashing at her was Colt’s.

A thrill threatened to creep into her voice when she
answered. “Hello, Colt.”

“You rang?”

“Yes.” He obviously saw the missed call.

“That’s a coincidence, because I was just going to
call you.”

“You were?” She couldn’t imagine why, since she’d
just made her intentions clear.  But she was ecstatic, because she’d had a
change of heart. Maybe he was calling to ask her to reconsider their friendship.

“I just hung up from Opal. Frank would like to see
you.”

“Oh.” That’s not what she’d expected or hoped to
hear, but she kept her tone light-hearted. “I’d be glad to stop by. When is a
good time?”

“Anytime you’re free.”

Colt didn’t sound the same. His answers were short
and to the point.

“I could go over this evening,” she said.

“I’ll give you the number. You can call Opal and let
her know.” There was no teasing or humor in his voice.

Shay hated this. She wanted to go back to the way
they had been. “Colt, what would you think about going over with me? I was
hoping we could talk some more. I don’t like the way we ended today.”

The silence on the other end of the line was
deafening. The
thump thump thump
of her heart felt like beats of a
tom-tom as she waited for his answer.

“Okay. I can do that.”

The sense of relief had never felt so strong before.
“Thank you,” she said. “I can drive. Is seven all right for me to pick you up?”

“Sure. See you then.”

* * * * *

When Colt glided onto the passenger seat, Shay
assaulted him with a long apology that came straight from her heart. “I’m so
sorry for the way I’ve been acting. Everything has happened so fast between us.
I got scared. I haven’t had the best luck with men. I’ve been engaged twice. Both
men betrayed me, which has made me afraid to give my heart to someone again. And
with my parents dying so close to one another—well, I just can’t bear another
loss.”

She hadn’t meant to blabber or become emotional, but
it was impossible to keep the tears from leaking out of her eyes.

Despite the shocking revelation that hearing she’d
been engaged twice must have been, Colt smiled and scooted over and wiped her tears
with his finger.

“Can you forgive me?” she asked.

He trailed his finger down her wet cheek. “You don’t
need forgiveness, darlin’. You’ve done nothing wrong. I’ve been moving too
fast. For that I apologize.”

She hiccupped. “Thank you. I do like you, Colt. Can
we take this one day at a time and see where it goes?”

“Of course.” He palmed her cheek.

As she drove to Frank’s, she felt the weight that
had burdened her shoulders lifting.

Opal greeted them at the front door. “Go on in. Frank
is waiting for you. I’ll be in the living room if you need anything.”

“Evening, Frank,” Colt said, striding to his
bedside.

“Howdy, Colt. Hello, Miss Brennan.”

Frank sat up in the hospital bed with several
pillows cushioning his thin back. Shay was grateful to see his eyes looked
clear and bright, and he’d remembered her and her name without being reminded. Last
time she’d been here, he’d called her his daughter’s name. Hopefully, she’d be
able to learn a lot more about his family tonight, since he did appear lucid
and ready to talk.

“Please Frank. You can call me Shay.”

“If you insist.” He cleared his throat. “I want to
tell you about Alicia.”

Shay met Colt’s gaze over Frank’s head. They pulled
chairs up to the bed and listened as he told a couple of stories about his
daughter when she was a girl growing up. “My poor girl,” he said after a long
pause, in which he’d closed his eyes and Shay thought he’d gone to sleep. “I killed
my own child.”

That admission startled her. What was Frank talking
about?

Colt laid his hand on Frank’s arm. “Frank, you
didn’t kill Alicia. Why would you say such a thing?”

The old man’s wrinkled face bunched up. “I killed
her as sure as if I’d used a gun on her. I drove her away and she died.” He
hung his head and shook it back and forth slowly.

“Dad told me Alicia died in a car accident. Is that
what happened?” Colt asked.

After a few moments, Frank admitted such. “Yes, but
she never would have run off to Chicago in the first place if I hadn’t told
that man to get out of town. I should have known she’d follow him. Alicia had a
wild, stubborn streak in her a mile long. Guess she got that from me.”

Shay’s ears pricked at the mention of Chicago. “Frank,
how did you know Alicia had been living in Chicago? Who told you that?”

He peered at her with longing. “You look so much
like her. How can that be? My eyes are going, but I haven’t lost my mind completely.”

She took his hand and held it. “I don’t know. It’s
something I can’t explain.” There was no point in denying that she did resemble
Alicia, but she was interested in hearing more about the girl’s connection to
Chicago. “Do you remember how you found out Alicia was in Chicago?”

His head moved up and down. “It was in the letter
Bonnie and I got from the police chief.”

Shay’s pulse sped up.

“Did you keep that letter?” Colt asked him.

“Yes. Bonnie threw it in the trash once she’d read
how our only child had died. She said she couldn’t bear to have it in the
house.”

“But you kept it,” Shay said.

“Yes.” He pointed to his dresser. “I keep the letter
in a box in the top drawer. It and the first one Alicia sent us. It’s all I
have left of her, besides her picture.”

Standing nearest to the dresser, Colt pulled open
the drawer and removed a rectangular tin box from beneath some socks and
underwear. “Do you mind if Shay and I read the letter?” he asked Frank.

Frank waved his hand. “Be my guest.”

Moving to her side, Colt unfolded the paper and the
two of them read it silently to themselves. The words were typed on stationary
with the police department’s name and address on top. It was brief and
basically stated that Alicia Averill had been the victim of a hit-and-run
accident, which had not been solved as of the date of the letter. The police
chief, whose name was Trevor McGinty, expressed his sincere condolences.

“Frank, why did the police chief send a letter? Why
didn’t someone call to tell you the news?
Did
they call?” Colt wanted to
know.

Shay was glad he’d asked, because she wondered the
same thing.

“They probably tried, but we had no phone at the
time. It was on the blink. They must have found our address in Alicia’s
belongings. Bonnie and I made arrangements to drive to Chicago as soon as we
got the letter, but we were too late once we arrived.”

“Too late for what?” Shay asked.

A tear spilled down his cheek. “Too late to bury our
child. They’d already done it for us. It about killed my Bonnie, not being able
to kiss our baby goodbye.”

“Who buried her, Frank?” Colt asked. “The City of
Chicago?”

“No. The police chief told us that Alicia’s funeral
had been paid for by some people that wished to remain anonymous. They were
good Samaritans, or some such nonsense. I never heard of other folks burying
someone else’s child.” His mouth turned down.

Shay wondered if the anonymous people had been
related to the person who’d hit Alicia and they’d paid for a funeral out of
guilt.  She didn’t want to say that in front of Frank.

“The chief told us they were just some folks who did
this sort of thing when the need arose. They had a little money and took it
upon themselves to see to it that every John or Jane Doe received a proper
burial.”

“But Alicia had family,” Shay said. “She wasn’t a
Jane Doe.”

Frank shook his head. “No, she wasn’t.”

After a moment of contemplation, Shay asked, “Did
you and Bonnie visit Alicia’s grave?”

“Yes. The stone was nice. Simple. We only saw it
that one time. Never went back. It’s a long way to travel.”  He paused to take
a deep breath before going on. It was obvious he’d been holding onto his pain
and keeping the story to himself for so many years, and now it was flowing out
of him like a river. “Bonnie and I came home together, but things were never
the same. If I hadn’t threatened that man, Alicia never would have left with
him, Bonnie claimed. It was my fault Alicia was killed. Bonnie told me so, time
and time again. She never let me forget it. She blamed me for the loss of our
daughter until the day she died.”

Shay’s heart broke in half. The story was so tragic
all the way around. Poor Frank. His only child had been killed and laid to rest
in a cemetery so far away. He’d borne the brunt of his wife’s suffering, as
well as keeping his own agony hidden from friends and his community for so
long. She wanted to comfort him, to assure him he’d see his daughter again, in
the next world. But she didn’t think it would be appropriate to speak of such
personal matters with a near stranger, even if she did look like his deceased
child.

“I’m sorry.”  She wiped the traces of her own salt
tears from her cheek. She turned when Opal plodded into the room with heavy
footsteps.

“Visiting hours are over,” Opal announced, as if
they were in a hospital. “It’s Frank’s bedtime. Time for you two to go.”

“Don’t get your bowels in an uproar.” Colt frowned at
Opal. “I guess Frank can tell us when he’s ready for bed.”

Shay saw Colt nonchalantly shove the letter into his
back pocket.

“I
am
a bit tired now,” Frank said.

“We’ll go,” Shay announced, tucking the covers up to
this neck. “Thank you for telling us about Alicia. I know it wasn’t easy for
you to talk about her, and her death.”

“Rest now,” Colt told Frank. “Take it easy. I’ll be
back to see you soon.” He patted the man’s shoulder.

“Easy? How else would I take it, Colt? I’m stuck in
this goddamned bed all day and night.” A hint of a smile crossed the old man’s
lips and then he closed his eyes.

Colt bent and kissed him on the cheek, which took
Shay’s breath away. What a sweet gesture. And Frank wasn’t even his own flesh
and blood. She offered Colt a tender smile. Little actions like that were what
reaffirmed that he was a man any woman would be proud to be loved by.

Once they were back in her car driving down the
road, Colt asked if she was feeling okay. Shay nodded, aware that she’d been
lost in thought.

“You look like you’re a million miles away,” he
said.

“Do you think it’s simply another coincidence that
Alicia Averill died and is buried in Chicago?”

“What do you mean?”

“We look enough alike to be related, and I was raised
in Illinois, in a suburb outside of Chicago. Don’t you find that strange?”

“Well…”

“And who were those anonymous people anyway? The
ones who generously paid for a funeral and a headstone for Alicia? Do you
believe what the police chief told Frank? If Chief McGinty found Frank and
Bonnie’s address in Alicia’s belongings, he knew she came from here. Why didn’t
he go to greater lengths to contact them before Alicia was put in the ground? He
could have called the local police department and had them get word to Frank if
Frank’s phone was out. Why didn’t that happen?” Shay glanced over and could
tell Colt’s mind was working with questions, too. “Something isn’t right. I’m
going to do some investigating. Frank deserves to know the truth.”