21 Death Takes a Letter Read online

  “You are amazing,” he said. Then he reached out to touch his baby son’s face. “This is amazing. I’m so glad I found you, Darcy Sweet.”

  Zane started to cry. He was hungry, and before Darcy could get any sleep she would have to make sure his needs were taken care of.

  After all, that was what a mother did for her children.

  In the corner of the hospital room, a shimmer in the air caught Darcy’s attention. While Zane fed, and while Jon sent text message after text message from his phone, Great Aunt Millie’s spirit slipped quietly out of the shadows and up to the side of Darcy’s bed.

  The nurses didn’t see her. Her face wrinkled in a smile as she looked down at Darcy holding the newest addition to their family. Darcy’s mother, and Grace and Aaron, and Colby too, were all waiting for them to come out of the delivery room. They would get to meet Zane in a little bit. For now, they would have this moment together.

  “Thank you, Millie. I wouldn’t be the woman I am today if you hadn’t taken me in.”

  A ghostly hand cupped the back of Zane’s head. Millie’s gaze locked with Darcy’s for a moment, sending her love from beyond the grave.

  Then she disappeared, leaving Darcy alone with her new baby, and her husband, and whatever future was in store for them.

  She couldn’t wait to see what stories they would make together.

  * * *

  Coming home was such a relief.

  Not that the hospital hadn’t been great to them. All the nurses and doctors, and the rest of the staff, had been wonderful. The food left a bit to be desired but Darcy had been too tired to care. Zane certainly didn’t mind. He was getting his food from a different source.

  Darcy was sore from how hungry the kid was. Bottle feeding was a definite possibility.

  In the driveway, Darcy got out with Jon’s help. She was still a little sore but that was normal the doctors told her. After all, she wasn’t Wonder Woman.

  Colby chattered nonstop to her brother, showing him everything in the house, telling him all about how they did things here, how much fun they were going to have together, and everything else she could think of. Zane was never going to be bored with his sister around, that was for sure.

  Tiptoe and Smudge greeted them from the back of the couch. They sat there, and watched Darcy carry the new baby through the living room. Tiptoe sniffed the air, twisting her head curiously. She’d never seen a baby up close before.

  Smudge gave Darcy a look. Another one?

  She laughed at him. “Don’t worry, old man. I’ll make sure this one doesn’t rub your fur the wrong way.”

  “Hey,” Colby protested. “I only did that once.”

  Smudge flicked his ear.

  Darcy laughed. “It was a more than once, Starshine. It’s all right. You’ll be here to help your brother learn, won’t you?”

  “You bet!” Colby agreed, and then went back to telling her brother all about what his life was going to be like now that he was a member of the family.

  Somewhere in the middle of all that, Zane fell asleep.

  “Let’s show him his new room,” Jon suggested.

  “Yay!” Colby squealed, and then threw her hands up over her mouth and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Sorry. I mean, I can’t wait to show him his new room, and his crib, and his new stuffies, and then I can show him where my room is and all of my toys, too.”

  Jon waited for her to stop and catch her breath. “Let’s save that for later, okay? Right now your brother needs to sleep. It’s a lot of work getting born, you know.”

  “Oh, sure,” Colby said, as if she’d known that all along. “Okay. I’m going to go draw in my room. I think I’ll give Professor Puppy a baby brother. I’ll call him Puppy Puppy! Yeah!”

  She raced up to her room, and as she did Tiptoe jumped down to follow. Halfway up the stairs, she turned back to look at Smudge, still sitting on the back of the couch. He narrowed his eyes and looked away. Don’t wait for me.

  Tiptoe hesitated, but then went following after Colby, much slower this time.

  “Come on,” Jon said to Smudge. He picked him up carefully, and held him in his arms with is feet supported just the way he liked. “You and me and Darcy can put Zane to bed.”

  Smudge looked in Darcy’s direction before laying his head down on Jon’s arm. It was a picture that Darcy would never forget.

  Upstairs they went down to the end of the hall to where the new nursery was completed and just waiting for Zane. The walls had been painted white with blue trim. The shelves had been stacked with children’s books and stuffed animals. The crib was Colby’s old one, carefully stored away in the basement all this time, waiting for the next time it would be put into use. The bedding was new. Colby’s pink sheets wouldn’t do for a boy. Zane’s were green.

  Darcy laid him down gently on his back, terrified that she was going to wake him up the minute her hands left him. He stayed asleep, though. He just rolled his head to the side, his arms out, his feet twitching in his onesie with the pocket on the front. Why do they put pockets on baby clothes, Darcy wondered. What are they supposed to carry? They aren’t old enough to have anything to worry about.

  Jon put Smudge down on the floor, and he went over to the rocking chair in the corner. It was the one that had been in Colby’s room before. She’d donated it to her baby brother with the understanding that she would get to use it any time she wanted to visit her brother. When he was awake, of course.

  Smudge made it up on the chair on his second try, and curled up with his tail over his nose, and went to sleep.

  Darcy felt Jon’s arms circling her, holding her close but not too tight. He understood that she would still need a day or two to recover from the miracle of birth. She leaned into him, letting him know he wasn’t going to break her if maybe he held her just a little tighter.

  “I have something for you,” he told her.

  “Ooh. Presents? I do like presents.”

  “Ha. I know you do.”

  One hand let go over her as he reached around to his back pocket. When it came back around, he was holding a cellphone in front of her.

  The case was a pale shade of lavender.

  She blinked at it in surprise. “When did you start learning to read my mind?”

  “I guess we’re just so in tune with each other,” he said. “I know you don’t want to carry a cellphone, and I sort of kind of understand why, but don’t worry. This one is brand new, with all the cool apps, but it doesn’t have a service plan. You can’t call out and no one can call you. No one,” he repeated for emphasis.

  It was just what she wanted, and the lavender color would always remind her that he was hers alone. She would never have to share him with anyone, past or present. No one would ever break them up.

  She took the phone from him, and with the screen blacked out like it was she could just see her expression, and the tear of happiness that fell from the corner of her eye.

  Turning in his arms she held the phone to her chest, and laid her head down against his shoulder. “It’s perfect, Jon. Thank you.”

  “Hey, what are husbands for?” he said with a smile in his voice.

  “For this,” she told him, and pushed herself up on her toes so she could kiss his lips.

  A moment later he was holding her while they swayed around Zane’s room, dancing with no music at all but the beating of their two hearts. The moment was… perfect.

  “See?” they heard Colby say from the doorway. “I told you it’s all about the dance.”

  Darcy laughed, and then Jon laughed, too. Their daughter was right.

  They each held a hand out to Colby. “Come on, Starshine,” Jon said to her. “Come join us.”

  -The End-

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