“You were never a West. And you shouldn’t want to be. You should be a Stark. That young man in there has a good solid name, and you’ll do well to use it.” Her grandmother took her hand in hers before continuing. “I’ll stay for a time. But the moment you get tired of me, I want to know. You can just kick me to the curb, all right?”
“I can live with that.” But they both were never going to be kicking anyone to the curb. Addie had her family back.
Chapter 14
“You should find you a woman and settle down. You’re much too young to be talking to an old woman like me.” Mitch snorted. He really did love this woman, and had she or even he been born in a different time, he’d have married her. Connie was one hell of a woman, ghost or not. “There has to be someone out there, younger, living, that you could be with.”
“There more than likely is, but I don’t want anyone else. You’re perfect.” She mumbled something about her being dead, that was what appealed to him, and he looked away.
“I’m sorry.” Mitch waved her off. “But you really do need someone in your life, Mitch. And you need to talk to Steele. He needs to know that you’re being sued.”
“I don’t have anything for them to take from me, and if he knew, he’d just step in and pay them off. There isn’t any reason for them to be suing me, but he’d do it anyway.” He sometimes wished that Connie wasn’t so easy to talk to. Like when he’d told her about the lawyer. “I think being sued by a foster parent because I ran away from their home and had the nerve to tell the authorities I was gone is just stupid. If they wanted me to stay, then maybe they shouldn’t have beat me.”
It was more than that. It was a great deal more than that. He’d been abandoned at a very young age, and had been shuffled around from home to home for a long time after that. They would figure out that he was a little on the odd side—Mitch supposed talking to ghosts wasn’t the norm—and then they’d kick him out. He’d even gone so far as to try to ignore the people who came to see him, and that hadn’t worked out well either. His life had been shit since he’d been dropped off at the neighbor’s house for a few hours and his parents never returned. Sometimes he wished that Ray had never pulled him from that box all that time ago to help him out.
“Mitch?” He looked up when his name was called from the house. Standing up, he waved at Kari, and then leaned against the fence railing that surrounded the cemetery. He had been debating for days if he should tell Connie or not, and now he supposed it was time.
“I’m leaving in a few days.” She asked him where he was going. “I was thinking New York. At least for a few weeks or so. Then…I don’t know after that. I just need to get away. And I figured this was as good a time as any.”
“Why?” He had hoped that she’d not ask him that, but when she did, he just looked beyond where they were. “Mitch Riley, you tell me where you’re going right this minute.”
“I’m not very useful here, and I need a break.” He looked at her then. Dawning and understanding seemed to come over her face at the same time. “I just need a break.”
“And this other thing? With the lawsuit? What will you do about it? If you go now, Steele will find out, and he won’t be happy that you didn’t let him know.” He knew that. And was trying to think of a way to tell him without sounding like a complete fool. “Please, just tell him.”
“I’ve never had money. I do now, of course, but I don’t know what to do with it. I don’t need a lot. Steele won’t take money for rent, and everything else—food and heat, and even transportation I need—he provides for me as well.” He was trying to get to the point, but he’d lost his way somehow. Smiling, he looked at Connie and remembered. “I’m going to tell him to use what he needs, I guess. I will take a little of what I have—there is about a hundred grand in the account—but wherever I go, I can make do with what I have or get a job.”
“You’re not going to be happy doing that. We both know that. You love helping people like us.” He did to a point, but like he’d told her, he needed a break. “Here he comes. Tell him now.”
Steele was walking toward him. He knew that the man came here a few times a week now and just sat by the graves. Mitch knew that he visited his father’s grave as well. Not often, but he’d go there when he was really frustrated and more than likely would tell the man how much he hated him. The closer Steele got to him, the more Mitch could tell he was upset.
“She’s gone.” Mitch didn’t have to ask him who. Eloise Bennett, the woman who had claimed to be his mother for most of his life, had died. “Kari said I should have her buried near my father. I think she might be right.”