She smiled at him. “Me?
Spooky?
Why that’s just silly.”
His smile disappeared. “You will tell me the truth?” he asked.
“Eventually?”
She nodded. “Yes, I will,” she agreed, “eventually.”
He got into his car and Mary watched him follow the divers’ vehicles around the bend and head towards the park exit. She turned and walked back to where Ian stood chatting with Wade and Elizabeth. As she came closer, she realized that Ronny wasn’t paying attention to the conversation; instead he was looking off to a place above the lake.
“Ronny, what’s up?” she asked.
He turned to her, his eyes filled with excitement. “Do you see it Mary?” he asked.
She shook her head. “See what?”
“The big light,” he said. “It’s so beautiful. It’s just there, above the lake. And there’s a path that leads right to it.”
“That’s wonderful,” she said, and then looked up at his parents. “Ronny just told me it’s time for him to go.”
“But…but we just found him,” Elizabeth said. “We can’t lose him again.”
Wade put his arm around his wife’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “He’s not ever going to be lost again,” he whispered to her. “We’ll know exactly where he is.”
She nodded and wiped her eyes. “You’re right. Mary, what should we do?”
“Say good-bye, for now,” she replied.
“I love you, Ronny,” Wade said, his voice unsteady. “I’ve always been proud of you; you’re the best son a man could ask for.”
“Good-bye sweetheart,” Elizabeth cried, clutching the dog tag in her fist. “I’m going to miss you. But I’ll be content to know God is watching over you until I can come and be with you. I love you.”
“Good-bye Mom and Dad,” Ronny said. “I love you.”
As Mary repeated his words to his parents, he turned and started to float away from them. After about five yards he turned back. “Good-bye Mary, good-bye Ian,” he called. “Thank you. And tell Mike I said thank you, too.”
“Hey, you can tell me yourself,” Mike said, appearing next to them.
“Bon voyage, Ronny.”
Ronny grinned. “Mike! Thank you! Bye.”
He turned and ran in an upward direction and then disappeared.
“He made it,” Mary said, wiping her own tears away. “He’s safely home.”
She turned back to Wade and Elizabeth. “Is there anything I can do for you?” she asked.
Elizabeth gave her another hug. “No, thank you,” she said. “I think we just need some time to digest all that’s happened this morning.”
Mary pulled a card out of her pocket. “If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.”
Wade shook her hand and then enveloped her in a big hug. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you.”
He put his arm around his wife and led her back to their minivan.
“The bad guy gets caught and the little ghosts get to see the light,” Mike said.
“Oh, Mike, I’m so sorry…” Mary started.
“No, don’t be,” Mike interrupted. “It was the evil twin. My dad wasn’t the bad guy, it was Uncle Chuck.”
“Chief Richards?” Ian asked.
“Really?”
“Yeah, Bradley’s over there right now,” he said, “handling all the details of incarceration.”
“And your dad?”
Mary asked.
Mike nodded and smiled. “He’s great,” he said. “He’s just great.”
“Hey,
Mikey
!”
Mike looked over and saw all five of the boys who had been murdered. “What’s up guys?” he asked.
“There’s this tunnel thing up in the sky,” Timmy said. “It’s like glowing through the clouds. We want to go up and check it out.”
“Yeah, well that’s ‘
The Light’
big guy,” he said, emphasizing the words with invisible quotation marks. “That means you made it. You get to graduate to heaven.”
“Yeah, but we don’t want to go without you,” Timmy said, the rest of the group agreeing.
“What? Are you guys chicken or something?” Mike asked. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. That’s a great place to go.”
“So, why don’t you go?” Timmy asked.
“Not my turn,” Mike replied quickly. “If it was my turn, I could…”
He stopped and stared up at the sky. “Well, damn.”
“What? What is it?” Mary asked.
He turned back to her and shrugged, trying to be casual but she could see the surprise in his eyes. “Guess what? I can see it.”
Mary’s eyes filled with tears. “No, you can’t,” she whispered, shaking her head. “You still have things to do. You still have unfinished business.”
He looked back over his shoulder. “No, it’s still there. I guess we now know what I’ve been waiting for.”
“But… it’s too soon,” she argued. “You can’t go yet.”
He lifted his hand and brushed it over her cheek. “Mary, I’ve got to go.”
She nodded, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. “I know. I just don’t want you to go.”
He sighed and stepped back.
“Tell Bradley he’d better be good to you or I’ll come back to haunt him.”
She tried to laugh, but couldn’t. “I will.”
“Tell Maggie good-bye for me. Let her know I’m sorry I couldn’t tell her myself.”
Wiping her tears with her hands, she nodded again. “I’ll make sure she understands.”
Mike looked over her shoulder. “Ian, you take care of yourself, and give your Gillian an extra kiss from me.”
“Aye, that I will,” Ian said. “Speak a good word about me on the other side.”
“Hey, I don’t want to get demoted for lying.”
Ian chuckled.
“Aye that you don’t.”
“Mike, we
gotta
go,” Timmy said, pulling at his coat.
He looked down at Timmy and then up again at Mary.
She took a deep breath. “I know. You have to go,” she said. “If I send you an invitation, will you come for the wedding?”
He nodded, a tear sliding down his translucent face.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
She reached up and put her hand next to his face. “I’m so glad I met you,” she said. “I’m so glad you’re my friend. I love you, Mike Richards.”
“I love you too, Mary O’Reilly. More than you’ll ever know.”
He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek. “Tell my parents I’ve gone,” he said. “They’ll believe you now.”
He turned and took Timmy’s hand in his. “Come on boys, it’s time for our next adventure.”
The boys gathered around and he led them into the air. Halfway up the boys laughed at something he said and ran ahead of him, disappearing one by one. But before Mike disappeared, he turned back and smiled at Mary. “Here’s looking at you, kid,” he said, and then winked at her, stepped backwards and disappeared.
Mary dropped to her knees and let her tears fall unrestrained. Ian knelt beside her and took her in his arms. “He’s a good man, going to a good place,” he said. “It’s where he needs to be, his unfinished business is over.”
She nodded and wiped her eyes again. “I’m going to miss him so much,” she wept. “He was a part of my family.”
“
Aye,
and he always will be,” Ian said.
“Come on, sister, you
gotta
concentrate,” Ernie exclaimed, “
you’ve
been like this all week. You
gotta
snap outta it.”
Mary slumped against the wall, her boxing-gloved hands dropping to her sides. “Sorry, Ernie,” she said. “I just don’t feel like fighting much anymore.”
“It’s that friend of yours, Mike, right?”
She nodded, and tears started to swell in her eyes. “Yeah, it is.”
“Grieving is part of living, Mary,” he said tenderly. “If you open yourself up to love, you also open yourself up to grief.”
She sniffed and looked down at her glove-covered hands. How was she supposed to use a tissue with these on?
Ernie appeared by her side with a big handkerchief and wiped her eyes, then held it at her nose. “Go ahead, blow your nose,” he ordered tenderly.
She did and then she leaned her head back against the wall. “Does it ever stop aching?” she asked.
He smiled sadly and shook his head. “No, sister, it
don’t
. But the ache, it seems to get smaller or maybe you just get used to it. But it’s always there. Love don’t go away easy.”
“It’s worth it, right?”
Nodding, his square face broke into a wide grin. “Oh, yeah, it’s everything.”
She pushed herself away from the wall and walked back up to the punching bag, slowly, rhythmically striking the leather. “I have a wedding I have to be in tomorrow,” she said. “A part of me wants to call her and tell her I just can’t do it. I don’t want to ruin her wedding by crying all the way through it.”
Ernie was immediately by her side. “You can’t do that,” he ordered. “You
gotta
go to that wedding.”
Surprised at his vehemence, she shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Oh, sister, I know I’m right,” he said. “Come on, a couple more punches and you’re done for the day. Why don’t you take the day off and get ready for the wedding? Do some girlie things.”
Mary smiled. “That sounds like a great idea, Ernie. Thanks.”
The sun was just rising as she left the gym, reflecting off the windows of the downtown buildings and casting a pink hue on everything. She could hear song birds waking up and calling out their varied songs. The air smelled of moist soil from the late night rain and, from the bakery nearby, cinnamon. Inhaling deeply, she realized she did feel a little better. Maybe Ernie was right, maybe it would hurt a little less.
She drove her car the few blocks to her office and was pleasantly surprised to see Bradley waiting for her. She parked the car and stepped out. “Good morning,” she said.
He walked up to her and cradled her face in his hands. Tenderly running his thumb over her cheek, he searched her eyes and found the sadness. “I understand how much it hurts,” he whispered before he gently kissed her lips.
She wrapped her arms around him and laid her face against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and just held her, and she felt instantly comforted. “I just miss him,” she whispered.
He nodded, “Yeah, so do I,” he said. “He was a great friend.”
She couldn’t speak because tears were clogging her voice, so she just nodded. Bradley guided her into her office and over to her desk. He pulled a tissue out of the box and handed it to her. She dabbed at her eyes and took another deep breath.
“It gets easier,” he said.
“Yeah, I heard that,” she said, “Especially when you’re surrounded with people who love you.”
“Lots of people love you, Mary,” he said, lifting her chin with his hand. “But no one loves you as much as I do.”
He kissed her tenderly at first, then pulled her closer and crushed her lips with his. She moaned softly and he deepened the kiss. She felt her body go into meltdown and wrapped her arms tighter around him.
“Bradley,” she whispered desperately.
“Yes, darling, what?” he replied, as he placed hot kisses along her jaw line.
Her breath was coming out in short gasps and her hands slid up to the collar of his shirt. “Bradley, how expensive
are
uniform shirts?” she gasped.
He snorted and then laughed, and pulled her into a tender hug. “I love you, Mary,” he said, placing a final kiss on the top of her head.
She smiled up at him. “The feeling’s mutual,” she said. “And thanks. I feel much better.”
“Hey, anytime you want me to come by and kiss you senseless, don’t hesitate to call,” he replied.
“Well, next time, wear an old shirt,” she teased.
“I think I’m going to head to the thrift store and stock up on old shirts,” he said, kissing her once again.
“Can’t have enough of them lying around.”
Linda is a beautiful bride,
Mary thought as she watched her friend apply the finishing touches to her make-up.
“How do I look?” Linda asked, turning around in front of Mary and Rosie.
“Stunning,” Mary said. “Bob is going to fall in love all over again.”
Rosie nodded. “Just let me fix your flowers,” she said, bustling up and adjusting the white rose and lilies of the valley corsage she was wearing.
She stepped back and looked Linda over. “Yes, now you look impeccable.”
Linda hugged her. “Thank you,
Rosie,
I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“You would have still been a beautiful bride,” Rosie replied. “But I’m so glad you let me help.”
The music started in the church’s chapel.
“Oh, well, I’d better run and get my seat,” Rosie said, giving Linda a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re just gorgeous, now go and enjoy your wedding day.”
Rosie slipped out the door and Mary saw the concern on Linda’s face that prompted Rosie’s comment. “What’s wrong?” she asked.