Ghostly waves, p.17
Ghostly Waves, page 17
part #7 of Lorna Shadow Cozy Ghost Mystery Series
I suppressed a grin. It was more common than she realized. “I was happy to help.”
“That’s good to hear,” said Julianne. “When I saw your young man arrive outside a few minutes ago, I thought he might be here to take you away from all the drama.”
My heartbeat sped up. “Zach is here?”
“Didn’t you know?” asked Julianne. “I spoke to him for several minutes. Such a charming man, I can see why you’d be so smitten by him.”
A surprise visit from Zach. I grinned, already turning to the door. “I’ll leave you both to it.” I put down the folders I was carrying and hurried to the front door.
Zach was waiting outside by his Land Rover. He had his phone in his hand and looked up in surprise as he saw me.
“I was just about to text you.”
“What are you doing here?” I ran over toward him, Jessie already springing onto her paws and barking with pleasure as she saw Flipper.
“Well, I hated how we’d left things,” said Zach, as he caught me in his arms. “I know we said sorry on the phone, but I was still feeling bad.”
“Me too. I am sorry for blaming you for my missing things.”
“No! I’m the one who needs to be sorry.” Zach ducked his head. “It definitely wasn’t you.”
“Did you find out it was Gunner messing around?”
“No. It wasn’t him either. And he’s here as well. He made a lame excuse about wanting to get in some surfing. But we all know the real reason he’s here.” Zach grinned at me.
“So, if Gunner wasn’t moving our stuff, then what’s going on?” I tilted my head to one side.
“I’ve got a confession to make. There’s something I’ve not been telling you.”
I clenched my teeth. I knew what this was about. “Actually, so have I.”
Zach looked surprised. “What’s your confession?”
I took a deep breath. “I accidentally found the ring.”
He looked confused. That wasn’t a good start. “What ring are you talking about?”
“The engagement ring you’ve got hidden in your sock drawer. It is for me, isn’t it?”
Zach scrubbed a hand across his face. “No. That’s not your ring.”
“You were going to ask somebody else to marry you?”
Zach let out a sigh. “Not for a second. But that ring doesn’t belong to you. Actually, it’s part of what I need to tell you about. That ring belongs to my wife.”
I stared open-mouthed at Zach. My heart thudded so hard in my chest it made me dizzy.
Jessie and Flipper raced around the side of the house, giving happy little barks, but I barely heard them as I gaped at Zach. A thousand questions formed in my head, but no words came out.
Helen and Gunner emerged from the house, and despite my heart shattering shock, I mentally stored away the fact they were holding hands. But all I could focus on was the fact Zach had just told me he had a wife. He was dating me, living with me, and he was already married.
“Enjoying your time by the sea?” asked Gunner.
I flapped my hand at him, finally able to speak, but my gaze was glued to Zach as I backed away from him. “You’re married! That’s your wife’s ring in your sock drawer?”
“What’s going on?” asked Helen, dropping her hold on Gunner’s hand and stalking toward us.
Gunner hurried forward and wrapped an arm around her waist before she got too near. “Now might be a good time for you to show me the garden.”
“Forget the garden.” Helen made a choked sounding noise and stared at me. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head, tears in my eyes. “No!”
“Let me explain,” said Zach, his anxious gaze shooting from Helen to me. “My wife is dead. And I think she’s haunting our house.”
My mouth fell open again. Helen made a series of spluttering noises.
“You have a dead wife?” I forced out. “Your wife’s ghost is in our home?”
Helen glared at Gunner. “Did you know about this?”
“Zach’s mentioned it.”
“I mean, about the dead wife?”
“Oh! Well, sure. I was at the wedding.”
Helen thumped him in the arm. “And you never told me.”
“Not my news to tell.” Gunner rubbed his arm. “How about that trip around the garden now?”
“I’m not leaving Lorna at a time like this.”
I shook myself out of the shock I felt. “Go. I need to speak to Zach alone.”
“Only if you’re sure,” said Helen.
I nodded at her. “I’ll be fine.” Well, I hoped I would be fine. I’d just found out my boyfriend had a wife, and she was dead. And she was haunting him. I grabbed hold of Zach’s arm and pulled him away. “You’ve been married before?”
“I was very young when we got married. I realized straight away it was a mistake.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Would it have made a difference to us?”
“I’m not sure, maybe. Why keep something like that from me?”
“Because it was a long time ago and a part of my past I’m not proud about,” said Zach. “I left her after she cheated on me. But I was glad it happened, glad I had a reason to get out.”
I ran my hands through my hair. “Tell me about her.”
Zach shrugged. “There’s nothing to tell. She hasn’t been in my life for a long time.”
“What’s her name?”
“Amelia.”
I instantly hated that name, despite how pretty it was. “How old were you when you got married?”
“Eighteen,” said Zach. “We met at college. She was the one pushing for marriage, and I liked her, so I agreed. We got married in the local registry office and moved in together. It all happened within a year of us meeting. I got caught up in the excitement. Then reality hit and it wasn’t so much fun.”
“So you abandoned her?”
“I stuck it out for three years. And she cheated on me! I was focused on getting my qualifications and not interested in parties and getting wasted every night. She said I was boring and found someone else.”
I let out a deep breath, a little of my shock and anger fading. “Eighteen is young to do something so grown-up.” I thought back to when I was eighteen. I had posters of boy bands inside my closet and secretly dreamed of a hunk on a motorbike arriving and whisking me away for an adventure. Couldn’t imagine getting married at such a young age, even if my leather clad biker hunk had asked me to become Mrs. Motorbike Hottie.
“And people change,” said Zach. “I’ve changed a lot since I was that age.”
“They do.” My anger continued to lessen, but he was not forgiven yet. “Why do you think Amelia is haunting our house?”
“I found out three months ago that she died in a car crash,” said Zach. “I was sorry to hear the news. Although we parted on bad terms, I wouldn’t wish that on her. But it wasn’t long after that, that I started having strange dreams.”
“You’ve never mentioned them.”
“I just thought it was my head messing with me,” said Zach. “But I started dreaming about Amelia.”
My anger reared up again, but I fought against it. “She would be on your mind after you found out she was dead.”
“It wasn’t so much that,” said Zach. “I read about her death in the paper and it surprised me. But I got images of her in my head when I was asleep. And when we moved into the house, I got shivers in certain rooms. Then things went missing. That’s when I wondered, could it be Amelia? Could she be haunting me, trying to get my attention?”
I forced myself to keep calm and remain as analytical as possible, despite feeling jealous of a ghost. “Why would she do that?”
“You always say ghosts stay around because they have unfinished business,” said Zach. “And I have some unfinished business with her. We never got divorced. Until she died, we were technically married. Maybe that’s why she’s come back.”
An unpleasant thought entered my head. “You were going to propose to me while still being married to Amelia?”
“No! But when I found out she died, I felt as if I was free to marry again.”
“And you were thinking of asking me to marry you?” My pulse fluttered at the idea. I was still angry with Zach for keeping this secret, but I sort of understood why he’d done it.
“It’s been on my mind,” said Zach, giving me a wry smile. “But that ring isn’t for you. It’s Amelia’s. When I left her, she threw it at me. I found it when I was packing up my stuff and wanted to keep it somewhere so I wouldn’t forget about it again. I was going to get rid of it. It doesn’t have many happy memories attached to it.”
“I’m glad to hear you weren’t going to give me your dead wife’s ring.”
“No! That would be creepy,” said Zach. “But when I found out Amelia had died, it gave me a nudge to get a move on and ask before someone else snapped you up.”
I shook my head. That was never likely to happen. “You know I’m with you. You have nothing to worry about.”
Zach gave me a cautious smile. “I messed up. I should have been up front with you about Amelia when we got together.”
“Yes, you should. But I sort of understand. It sounds like you weren’t happy.”
“You still had a right to know.”
“I haven’t told you about all my previous boyfriends.”
Zach’s brows lowered. “Have there been many?”
“No one important. No one like you. I would have liked to have known about Amelia. I would also have liked to have known you were married. It feels strange us being together and you having a wife.”
“I am sorry about that. What do you think about her haunting our house?” Zach scratched his chin. “Am I being stupid?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “Things going missing is strange. But I’ve not sensed a ghost in the house and neither has Flipper. Although Jessie does keep him distracted.”
“Maybe she only appears when I’m on my own,” said Zach. “Can ghosts do that? Pick and choose when they drop in?”
“They can,” I said. “She could just be appearing when you’re around. But if she’s doing that, how can we communicate with her?”
“I have tried speaking to her,” said Zach. “But it doesn’t make much difference. I still feel the cold spots and things are still going missing.”
“Whatever’s going on, we need to get it sorted,” I said. I was not willing to share Zach with another woman, even if she was dead.
“So, you’ll help me figure this out?”
I stepped closer. “Of course, I will. We’re in this together. We help each other. Always.” A big part of me wanted to scream and shout. It took every ounce of my grown-up self not to tell Zach what a moron he was. It wasn’t right what he’d done, keeping this from me.
“I wondered if you might hate me.”
“I’m not happy, but I don’t hate you.” I kissed his cheek, still keeping my sensible, grown-up side in charge. “And I understand. We’ll figure out how to get Amelia to show herself and work out why she’s haunting you and what we need to do to get her out.”
“I knew your ghost skills would come in handy one day.”
I glared at him. “My ghost skills come in handy all the time. You’ve just never needed them before. Now, you’ll get to see my superpower in action.”
“I can’t wait.” He kissed the top of my head.
“So, I guess this means I won’t get a proposal from you soon?”
Zach hugged me to him. “You’ll get one.”
With all the conflicting thoughts in my head, I wasn’t so sure we were ready for marriage. “Any chance you could tell me when? If we don’t get married soon, Helen will go mad. She’s planned out the whole thing, from the cake to the dress.”
“Helen needs to focus on her own relationship.” Zach looked over my head and I turned to see Gunner and Helen still holding hands as they walked around the garden.
She looked in my direction, and I gave her a thumbs up to show everything was okay. Well, it wasn’t okay, it was all a bit of a mess. I was still not sure I’d forgiven Zach. Would I have done things differently in his position? I honestly didn’t know.
“Looks like their secret is out,” I said.
“Not that they were any good at hiding it,” said Zach. “How about we have a joint wedding? That could be fun.”
I grimaced. “Helen’s idea of a wedding is different to mine. Unless you want over the top celebrations, a classical orchestra playing as I walk up the aisle, and a five-tiered cake, we’d better make our own plans.”
“Whatever you want,” said Zach. “Now, why don’t you tell me what’s been going on here? Have you figured out what happened on the yacht?”
He might have changed the subject and figured everything was okay, but I was still thinking things through. The Amelia subject was still lurking. “It’s all sorted. The ghosts are happy, the killers have been caught and the family is back together.”
“Your superpowers have come good again.”
“As always.” As I tried to relax, my thoughts tangled together. I was not happy about Amelia being in our house, or about Zach keeping this from me. As soon as I could, I’d return home and have a few words with Amelia. She had no claim over Zach, and I did not share when it came to my boyfriends. I was the only woman in Zach’s life, not counting Jessie. But doubt still niggled. He’d kept such a big thing from me. Was he hiding anything else I should know about?
I watched as the dogs chased around the garden together and Helen scolded Gunner for saying something inappropriate. No. I had to believe Zach was as honest as I’d always thought him to be. This was my own family, weird and wonderful as it was, and it was just as it should be. No ghost from Zach’s past was going to mess that up. Not ever.
K E O'Connor, Ghostly Waves
