She couldn’t see ghosts anymore. Nothing. Not a single flicker. The only time her chimes rang these days was when she had an actual customer.
So many things had changed since that night in the hospital room in North Dakota. Clyde’s recuperation had indeed been deemed miraculous, and it was swift, but not totally painless. They’d gone to his neighbor’s and collected Hypotenuse, who was as aloof as ever and forever meowing the indignity of sharing his new home with six dogs.
Clyde had a job now, working as a chemical consultant with a local research firm, and she was considering going back to school for her degree in veterinary medicine. A degree Clyde offered to fund one night when he’d wanted to soften the blow of taking her out for cheeseburgers and fries.
She was also considering dragging Clyde to the altar if he didn’t drag her there first. Though they’d only known each other three months, she was all for having a short engagement.
“Maybe this was the universe’s way of giving you a vacation—so we can hang out and, you know, be all carnal.” Clyde wiggled his eyebrows at her, his deep blue eyes teasing, but sympathetic. No one understood better than Clyde how she’d mourned the loss of her gift and then in turns rejoiced in it. All those years, all those waffling souls needing guidance, messages delivered to people who just didn’t believe and she’d spent a lot of time convincing, had taken a toll on her. Her life hadn’t been hers totally for a long, long time. Some days she thought acceptance had finally come, yet others were still spent hoping Charles Bronson would offer up a Death Wish or Michael Landon would show up and want to play Name That Little House on the Prairie Episode.
The smile she returned was bittersweet. In this deal, she’d gotten Clyde. Brilliant, klutzy, sexy, sometimes too serious Clyde.
In this deal, she’d gotten a future.
And in this deal, she’d also lost the only close friend she’d had for ten years.
Marcella was gone.
At least in the physical sense.
Delaney couldn’t bring herself to wade too far into the murky waters of her brain to reason where exactly her longtime friend was. When all was said and done, she had to trust in Uriel and what he said he’d do to help Marcella or she’d lose her mind. Though each time she thought of her closest friend, Delaney experienced a twinge of relief, a vibration that came as quickly as it went, and as sure as she was that miracles really did happen, she was sure Uriel was responsible for that otherworldly reassurance.
Though that didn’t keep her from having a moment or two of selfish irritation with her BFF. If Marcella could have just kept her nose out of it. If she would have just listened, just once, instead of letting that damned temper of hers get the better of her. If she’d just not gotten involved, none of this would have happened. Delaney teetered between infuriated with her for never listening, and missing seeing her so much it hurt.
Clyde kissed the tip of her nose, tugging his glasses off to reveal the deep blue of the eyes she’d fallen in love with. “No Marcella either, I gather.”
Delaney shook her head, her hair curtaining her face. “No, and I miss the hell out of her, but there’s nothing I can do about it. If I can’t see the spirits anymore, I can’t ask around, but I have faith Uriel kept his word. And Kellen’s just getting his feet wet with the medium thing, but maybe as he gets better at communicating with the dead, he’ll find a way to check on her.”
Because technically, Delaney had died the night of her show-down with Satan, the original contract with Vincent’s father, and the clause that said the gift would be passed on to the next relative in line, lived on—in Kellen.
And he hadn’t been too happy about the medium gift that kept on giving, but he’d picked up where she’d left off, and she’d been helping him to adjust to the sudden and abrupt turn his life had taken.
Clyde put his glasses back on and pulled her to her feet, enfolding her in his strong, secure arms. “I know you miss her, baby. I’m sorry I didn’t have the chance to know her better. If it weren’t for her, we’d have never known what had to be done that day.”
They’d talked long into many nights about how lucky they were, how grateful they were to Marcella and Uriel.
Despite her anxiety and longing for certainty about Marcella’s safety, she found herself letting Clyde’s embrace soothe her. “And Darwin. Who’s going to look after him and help him cross? He was such a stubborn shit I don’t think there’s another medium in the world that can do it. I’m worried about him.”