A Haunted Twist of Fate (29 page)

I immediately liked Alicia when we met.
My heart went out to her for the predicament she’d found herself in. Normally,
I’d request references and forms of identification and so forth before bringing
someone into our home to live. But there was something about Alicia that made
me forget my common sense. I knew she was a good girl who had simply made a
mistake. After what she’d gone through, she needed people who would care for
her and treat her well. I wanted to help, so I hired her on the spot.

Some months later, once she became
comfortable with me, I asked about her family. All she would tell me was that
she could never go home pregnant, or with a baby she’d had out of wedlock. Her
parents had no idea she was pregnant, and she was too ashamed to tell them. She
didn’t want to let them down. I tried several times after that conversation to
get her to call home, but she never would. Finally, I let it go. She was, after
all, a legal adult who was free to make her own decisions.

It was always my sincere hope that once
Alicia gave birth, she would contact her family and perhaps even move back to
South Dakota, where her parents could help her raise the baby. When I suggested
that once, she emphatically told me she’d never burden them, and that she
planned to raise the baby on her own. She asked if she could continue living
with Alex and me and working for us after the baby was born. She was a hard
worker, trustworthy, and we’d become close to her. What was I to do? She would
never name the baby’s father, and he appeared to be completely out of the
picture. I didn’t want her and the baby on the streets. Of course, I agreed.

One night, Alicia woke me up. She was in
labor, but something was not right. She was bleeding. Everything happened so
fast. Before I could phone our doctor or call for an ambulance, she gave birth,
with my assistance, to a precious, perfect baby girl. The happy moment turned
tragic, however, when our poor, darling Alicia hemorrhaged and died moments
later.

I cannot begin to describe the sorrow I
felt when I held that baby girl in my arms. Her mother was dead and the
precious little babe was alone in the world. Well, not entirely alone, of
course. She had grandparents somewhere far away in South Dakota, people who had
no idea she even existed. She also had Alex and me.

We had tried to have a baby for many
years, with no success. All I’d ever wanted was to be a mother. Alex knew that.
When we were younger and all our friends were starting their families, I would
cry myself to sleep at night while asking God why He didn’t see fit to give
Alex and me a child. By the time Alicia came into our lives, I was forty years
old, and we had given up hope of ever becoming parents. And then this little
miracle, this bundle of love, dropped right into our laps.

Alex loved me with all his heart and
soul. He must have seen that the light that had gone out of my eyes so many
years earlier had returned when I held the baby and cooed to her. He
immediately devised a plan. He called his good friend, Trevor McGinty, who was
Police Chief, and the two of them concocted a story about Alicia having been
killed in a car accident. Trevor put his career on the line by writing up a
fraudulent police report. Alex then paid an undertaker by the name of Smith to
prepare a death certificate so that no doctors or hospitals had to be involved.
Through Mr. Smith, Alex and I arranged to have Alicia buried and a tombstone
placed at her grave. Her funeral was conducted quickly and without suspicion. Trevor
contacted Mr. and Mrs. Averill about the death of their daughter. We never met
them. Trevor told them we were good Samaritans who wished to remain anonymous.
Shortly after Alicia was buried, Alex contacted our dear friend, Lee Stansbury,
who drew up fake adoption papers and prepared a birth certificate listing Alex
and me as parents to our baby girl, Shay.

The plan never would have worked if Alex
and I hadn’t implicitly trusted Trevor and Lee, and if those two men hadn’t
risked everything in the name of friendship. Trevor has since passed away. Lee,
I pray, will not be punished for our travesties. If possible, perhaps no one
will ever need to know of his involvement.

Alex and I did our very best to raise
Shay to be a productive citizen and a loving human being. And she has not
disappointed us. I am her mother and always will be. But it’s time she knows
she had another mother—a woman who would have cared for her and loved her as
much as I have. Maybe now that her father and I are gone, if she chooses to
seek them out, Shay will be able to find her other family, the Averills. I pray
they will accept her with open arms and shower her with the same love her
father and I did. She deserves that. As do they.

I regret having kept this secret from Mr.
and Mrs. Averill all these years, but I have never regretted being my
daughter’s mother. Not once. Not ever.

May God forgive me.

Grace Brennan

Shay stared at the letter for a long time. When
tears began to roll down her cheeks, Colt rose from his chair and knelt in
front of her on his knees. He placed his hand on her leg and squeezed. “Now it
all makes sense. Fate
did
bring you here.”

“I’m Frank’s granddaughter,” she whispered. “I’m an
Averill.”

Colt smiled. “So you are. You’re a South Dakotan,
like me.”

After several more moments of silence and trying to
comprehend it all, Shay said, “We have to tell him.”

“We can go see him whenever you want.”

Standing up, she folded the letter carefully into
thirds. “Let’s go now.”

Forty-Six

Frank didn’t react the way Shay had expected when
she told him the news. With Colt by her side, she’d read the letter to Frank,
pausing periodically to check his reaction and to make sure the revelation was
not too much for his heart to take.

Today, as it turned out, was one of his better days.
He smiled and reached for her hand. “I felt a connection the first day Colt
brought you here. You looked like my Grandma Cynthia, but I didn’t need my
bifocals to see that you’re the spitting image of Alicia. Colt saw it, too,
didn’t you?”

“Yes. I didn’t know how to explain it, but I saw the
resemblance right off.”

“Funny how I didn’t,” Shay said.

“Your mind probably wouldn’t let you,” Colt
suggested. “In a million years, you never would have fathomed you had a family
connection here in South Dakota. Or with Frank.”

Learning her parents’ secret had been like being hit
by a Mack truck. It was going to take time to heal from the impact and accept
the notion that the two people who had provided her with all she’d ever wanted
and loved her so deeply could have been capable of deceiving Frank and his wife
for their own selfish purposes. Shay wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to think of
her mom and dad in the same way again. It made her heartsick.

Alicia was her birth mother, but Alex and Grace were
the only parents she’d ever known. She wondered how different her life would
have been had Alicia lived. Would Alicia have returned to South Dakota
eventually? Would Shay have grown up here and been close to Frank and Bonnie?
Would she and Colt have met earlier in life? Her heart ached for the two
families she’d lost.

And who
was
the man who had fathered her and
then abandoned Alicia?  “Frank, do you remember anything about the man
Alicia—my mother—ran away with?”

“Does it make you feel good to call her that?” he
asked, smiling. “She
was
your mother.”

Shay now knew the truth, but it didn’t make things
easier. She was more perplexed than ever. She didn’t want to hurt Frank, but
she also didn’t want to betray the memory of Grace, the only mother she’d
known. She smiled. “Yes. It’s good to know the truth. Do you remember what the
man’s name was, or what he looked like? Anything about him?”

“I don’t think I was ever told his name. He was too
old for my Alicia, I remember that much. I wanted to kick him from here to
Sunday when I found out he’d been sneaking behind our backs with our little
girl.”

Shay sighed and realized she’d probably never know
anything about her birth father. Did it matter anyway? A couple of hours ago,
she’d been Shay Brennan, daughter of Alex and Grace Brennan of Chicago. Now who
was she? A Brennan or an Averill?

She looked at Colt. He stared at her in that deep,
intense way, as if he could read her mind. When he winked, she realized the
question was irrelevant. She was her own person. It didn’t matter what her name
was. What she did with her life was what counted.

Frank pointed to the framed photo of Alicia sitting
on his dresser. “Colt, can you get that for me?”

He handed the frame to Frank, who handed it to Shay.
“I’ve been looking at her picture for thirty-three years. It’s your turn now.”

Shay gazed at the face staring back at her. She
didn’t know how she’d not seen the likeness before. It was as if she were looking
at her reflection in a mirror. The hue of their eyes, the color and thickness
of their hair, the shape of their mouths. They were the same.

“Thank you.” She hugged the frame to her chest. “I’ll
treasure it always.”

Frank nodded and looked pleased. He breathed a sigh
of relief and looked happier and more at peace than she’d seen him since they’d
met. She kissed his cheek and promised him she’d come by tomorrow.

As
she and Colt strolled to the car, he stopped her and said, “I have something to
tell you.”

“Can
it wait? Opal is watching us from the window.” A smile crossed Shay’s lips. Although
in some ways her life had just become more complex, her body felt as light as
air. A big secret had been exposed, and she hadn’t fallen apart. It was not the
end of the world. Her parents and her godfather had deceived her, but it wasn’t
as if they’d committed a crime against Alicia. In fact, her mom and dad had
done all they could to help her birth mother. They’d given Alicia’s daughter a
loving home and financially set her up for life. How could Shay be angry with
them?

She
slid onto the car seat. “Opal can’t see us now. What was it you wanted to say?”
Just then, her cell phone rang. “Excuse me, Colt.”

He
laid his back against the seat and blew air out of his mouth, like a horse.

She
cast him a sideways glance. “Hello. Oh, hi, Brenda. Yes, I was going to get
back to you. I’ve been preoccupied with another matter, but it’s just been
resolved. I’m ready to get together with you. Tonight? That will be great. Okay.
I’ll see you shortly before midnight. Bye-bye.” She flipped her cell phone shut
and smiled. “That was Brenda.”

“I
heard. What’s happening at midnight tonight?”

“She’s
coming to the saloon.  She’ll be sending the ghosts into the light, and
hopefully putting an end to the haunting. I pray it works. I need to get back
to a normal life.”

She
started the car and backed out of the driveway and drove to his house. When she
parked in the drive, she asked, “What was it you wanted to say at Frank’s? You
kept getting interrupted.”

Colt
twisted his body to face her. His face was open and warm. He took her hand and
held it. “Shay, I know we’ve been having our ups and downs the past couple of
days, but through it all, my feelings for you haven’t changed, and they’re not
going to change. I love you, and I want you to know that I’m always going to be
here for you. I would never hurt you. Once I make a promise, I keep it. I’m a
man of my word. I will be patient. I will treat you with the utmost kindness
and respect. And I’ll give you all the time you need to fall in love as deeply
with me as I am with you.” He scooted as close as possible to her without
bumping his cast. “I only want your happiness.”

When
he cradled her face in one palm and kissed her tenderly, she squeezed her eyes
shut to keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks. Too overwhelmed to speak,
she melted into his good shoulder and let him hold her.

Forty-Seven

At fifteen minutes before midnight, Shay shut off
all the lights except for the ones in the main room, and waited for Brenda. She
heard murmurs and the slapping down of cards right before Brenda arrived. Even
the piano plinked out a few notes, which spooked her.

“The cigar smell is strong in here,” Brenda said,
upon entering and removing her sweater. She handed Shay a flashlight and they
clicked them on. “You can switch the main lights off. The spirits are restless
tonight, so we won’t keep them waiting.”

Shay flipped the switch and the room went as dark as
a tomb.

Brenda pointed her flashlight beam across the room
and started for the staircase. “We’ll guide these souls into the light later. I
can feel Callie’s spirit. She’s in your bedroom waiting for us.”

A shiver crept up Shay’s spine. It had been several
days since Callie had shown herself or communicated with her in any way. Brenda
sounded certain that she was upstairs. Shay’s legs vibrated as she climbed the
stairs and led Brenda into her bedroom.