The Guidance

chapter Twenty-One

Glass shatters in the front hallway.

"That's my mother's gilded mirror she bought in New Orleans," Miss Evelyn shouts.

More crashing. This time it's plates falling from the kitchen cabinets. I can see it like I'm in the room watching. Drawers fly open and the chairs are tossed backward.

"Stop it!" Stephanie screams. "You're destroying everything!"

Fair is in my face, so much so that I can almost detect his cold breath on my neck, chilling me to the bone. "Kenney did this! I want my revenge on them both!"

Instinctively, I reach out for him, only to meet vast emptiness. "It's past the time for revenge," I beg.

Father Mass takes two steps toward us. "Vengeance doesn't belong to us, old friend. It belongs to the Lord."

Becca shoves the diary into my hand. "Read it to him."

Without hesitation, I glance down at the page Becca picked out and in desperation read:

"'There is no love in my marriage. I never should have married a man I had no feelings for. It seemed the best thing to do at the time. I had to save the farm. I had to save Father. I had to protect myself, and James had seemed so kind to begin with. My heart bleeds for the joy I felt in Nathan's arms. Why, oh why, was he sent away from me?'"

Fair's wrath ebbs momentarily as he's caught up in Ada's words.

"Then there's another entry.

"'Never a day or a moment goes by when I don't think of what life would be like had Nathan Fair lived and returned to me. I cry myself to sleep every night with this strange man beside me. I weep in the mornings for what could have been. I shy away from all I have known, destined to live a life without warmth and true affection.'

"Don't you see, Major. She loved you."

"But she married him. She believed his lies. She didn't trust in our love. She betrayed me!" Again, his voice roars up to the ceiling, punctuated with acidic anger.

Loreen speaks up. "I've sensed the overwhelming sadness ever since the first time I walked into this house, and now we know what it is, Kendall. No one who lives here will ever truly be happy because of the resentment with which Fair oppresses this building."

My hands shake, not from psychic sensitivity, but from nerves. "What can I do? I'm at a loss."

"We have to get him to leave the girl alone."

An image shifts in my mind's eye, and I see Ada, young and beautiful, calling out to Nathan, her hand extended for him to take. Then it hits me!

"That's it!"

"What?" Celia asks.

I lower my voice so only Loreen and Celia can hear. "The onus is on Courtney. I've got to get through to her, piss her off even, just get her to throw the bum out like the squatter he is."

Celia looks at me like I'm crazy. "Can you do that?"

I say, "I have absolutely no freakin' clue, but I'm sure as hell gonna try!"

I walk over to where Courtney is sitting on the floor, her arms wrapped around her knees as she rocks back and forth. Her tear-streaked face is pale, and her eyelashes are clumped together. I smile at her, hoping she sees me for the friend I'm trying to be. Taking her hand, I squeeze tightly. She grips back.

"Courtney, can you hear me?"

She blinks several times.

"I know I'm not your favorite person, but you've got to listen to me. I want you to push him out with all of your might. Muster up all of your feelings and emotions—and hatred and anger at me, if you need to—and tell this ghost that he's no longer welcome. That you want control of your mind, body, and soul. I'm here to help, but you've got to do it."

She nods slightly, enough of an acknowledgment that I know she's going to try.

Father Mass kneels next to her, mumbling Scripture. Surely that can't hurt.

A moment later, Courtney's face turns scarlet red. She struggles and fights, writhing on the floor. "That's it, Courtney. You're strong. You're a cheerleader. You can do this!"

Father Mass tosses holy water and blesses her. "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I beseech you to leave this child of God and be on your way. Pray with me, Courtney."

She mutters the Lord's Prayer under her breath the best she can with tears still gushing out. She collapses onto the floor, kicking her feet. Jason moves to help her and puts her sweat-covered head in his lap.

A tortured shriek escapes from her chest, as if she's cheering for the most important sports event of her life. "Leaaaaave meeeeee!"

Taylor, Becca, Celia, and Stephanie stand wide-eyed, locked in place. I too don't move and resist the urge to do anything other than pray.

Courtney's body sags in Jason's arms, and she tries to speak. "I-I-I need a garbage can."

"Quick!" Jason states.

Stephanie grabs a decorative brass pail that sits by the door and hurls it to Jason. Next thing we know, Courtney retches into the bucket, dry heaves that have her sobbing even more. Then, all is quiet.

Loreen holds her hands out. "He's left her."

"You think?"

"Yeah," Courtney whimpers. "He's out of me."

Father Mass dips his thumb into the holy water and makes the sign of the cross on Courtney's forehead while whispering something.

A feeble smile crosses her face. "I'm, like, Southern Baptist. Will that still work on me?"

"God is interdenominational," my priest says.

"Is the soldier gone?" Taylor asks. She looks around the room and then back at her camera. "I don't know if anything will show on the video, but I got every bit of it recorded."

"Good work," Celia and I say in unison.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. "I don't think he's gone though."

The snicker inside my head that turns to soft weeping confirms that Major Fair is still around. Out of Courtney, but not at peace.

"Nathan? Where are you?"

"Trapped. Destined to be in this purgatory forever."

My heart races in my chest. "Not if you don't want to be. This hell is of your own making because you took your own life."

"The gun backfired."

"But you intended to kill Kenney," I say.

"I'd killed hundreds before. You can't say that's what's keeping me here."

I plead with my eyes to Father Massimo.

"Tell him to pray for God's mercy."

There isn't a need for me to repeat anything because Nathan closes his eyes, and his lips begin to move. Then he falls to his knees with his hands clamped together in front of him.

"God forgive me! Ada, forgive me! I just want to go to heaven and be with her."

My heart surely breaks into millions of tiny pieces over the sincerity in his voice. Will he be rewarded with entry into eternity, where he'll hopefully find Ada?

"Do you see the light?" It's got to be there.

"Not yet..."

But I see a light. Holy crap! What the—

Loreen nudges me. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"That's not what I think it is, is it?" I ask with a tremble in my voice.

"No, it's not that light. But it's something loving and ... special."

I can almost hear a host of heavenly angels singing out softly as this light spreads and encompasses Nathan Fair where he's kneeling in prayer. Warmth surrounds me, yet every hair on my body seems as if it's standing on end.

"Taylor, I don't know if you're getting this, but keep that infrared video on that spot right there."

She trains her camera in the right direction and hits Record.

Out of the glowing light, a luminescent figure of a young woman takes shape. She's dressed impeccably in a pale green silk dress with lace and velvet trimming. White gloves adorn her small hands, and a proud hat sits upon a chignon of chestnut brown hair. This woman has her shining eyes on one person only. Major Nathan Fair.

Before I can form any words, Loreen whispers, "It's Ada."

Fair sees her too, and his tears flow even more freely in the face of her beauty.

"But how?" I ask. "She hasn't been haunting this house. She's been at peace."

Loreen's smile is vibrant, and a layer of fresh tears covers her eyes. "There's so much energy here tonight from all of us. Ada was able to break through her higher level to come help her love cross into the light. We've managed to reunite them in death. Now they can be together forever."

" What is going on?" Celia begs. "Tell us—this is insane just standing here while y'all can watch everything."

I do my best to narrate, knowing my chosen words will fall short of the miracle before me. It's beyond beautiful. More amazing than anything I've witnessed during my awakening. I watch as Major Fair goes toward Ada. Love radiates from both of them in soft red and pink waves. The two of them have been separated for a lifetime, yet they'll now have peace together forever.

"They're taking each other's hands," I choke out. "It's ... it's ... it's like being at a wedding. The whiteness. The brightness. Ada's so gorgeous. And Fair is smiling so proudly. Like a man in love. Like a man seeing for the first time." My heart's totally going to burst into ten thousand pieces at the emotions clogging my throat and chest.

"There's so much love in this room now," Loreen says. "It was meant to be this way. This ethereal reunion. A forever match."

Fair wraps Ada in his arms and kisses her. They break apart, and he turns to me. He tips his soldier's hat and winks. Ada and Nathan shuffle off into the mist and light, and then disappear.

Loreen and I grab each other for support and sheer exhaustion after what we've just viewed. It's something I will always treasure, especially because we shared the moment. Father Mass comes up behind us and wraps his arms around the two of us. Right then and there, I envision him and Loreen together. Maybe not tonight, but definitely at a future time. I couldn't be happier about what's ahead for them.

"Kendall?" I hear faintly from beside me. It's Courtney. Jason's helped her to her feet.

"Hey. Welcome back."

She stares down, then bravely meets my gaze. "Ummm ... thanks. You know. For that."

"That's what I do, Courtney," I say with a smile.

Jason leaves her side and wraps me in his arms, pressing me close to his chest. I can hear the rapid beat of his heart, as if he's been on a carnival ride himself. I guess we all have been tonight.

Miss Evelyn spreads her hands out, like she's feeling for rain inside her house. "The air in here has never been so light. It's as if an anvil has been lifted off my heart. There's no static in the air. No pinpricks on my neck. It just feels ... normal."

Loreen blinks extra-hard. "It was Fair's presence looming over this property. He was a downer for anyone living in this house."

"Do you think that's why you and Dad fought so much, Mom?" Stephanie asks.

"I know it is," Loreen interjects.

Miss Evelyn nods. "Maybe so."

Taking Evelyn's hand, Loreen says, "I think you should call Joel and get together. Talk like you've never talked before. Be honest with each other. Get to the heart of the anger that was between you."

I have to add, "This could be a salvation for your marriage." I glance at Stephanie. "For your whole family."

Stephanie bursts into happy tears and hugs both Loreen and me, as does her mother.

"Well, wha'd'ya know?" I say.

"What's that?" Celia asks.

"I'm a ghost huntress, a matchmaker, and a marriage counselor."

Courtney laughs and smiles at me.

Yeah ... this house—and all in it—is at peace.