The Other Side - J. D. Robb [112]
“You see?” Vanessa began to pace. “Even her friends are pushing her into his arms. We need to act quickly, Ted, or Christina and Tyler could very well be facing the same fate that we did.”
“I know, babe. I know.” He caught her hand and led her through the walls to the garden.
“Where are we going, Ted?”
He shrugged. “I don’t really know. But I always enjoyed being out here.” At a sudden thought he said, “Gram? Are you around?”
“Hello, Teddy.” His grandmother appeared directly in front of him. “What can I do for you?”
“You know what’s going on?”
The older woman nodded. “I know that Mark Deering arranged for you to suffer a fatal crash. And now you know, too.”
“We do. Shocking,” Vanessa added. “We’re still reeling from it. But now our concern is to keep Christina and Tyler safe from him. Since we can’t physically stop him from his evil scheme, I’m thinking that our children need a champion.”
Ted put a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “You know Vanessa. Ever the romantic. She’s thinking that if we can find a good man ...”
“A good, decent, honorable man who is big, strong, handsome, and single,” his wife added.
Ted chuckled. “See what I mean?”
“You know I’m right.” Vanessa smiled. “Having an honest man around might be the temptation Christina needs to take a step back and get a good look at the man she’s engaged to marry.”
Ted’s grandmother sighed. “That’s a tall order, especially since we’re on a time limit here. But I’ll see what I can do.”
She shimmered and glowed before disappearing from their sight.
Four
“. . . and all the animals in the kingdom, after roaring a welcome to their new king, lived happily ever after.”
Christina closed the book and set it aside, all the while smiling at the sight of Tyler, sleeping peacefully in his bed. She tucked up the covers and brushed a lock of fine hair from his forehead, allowing her hand to linger on the warmth of his skin.
He’d fought to stay awake. This was one of his favorite books, and he loved the happy ending. She knew because his eyes always lost their vacant stare when she read those beloved words.
“Good night, Tyler.” She felt her heart swell with love as she bent to press a kiss to his cheek. “Stay safe.”
She swallowed the lump that always rose to her throat whenever she whispered the same words her mother had always said to him at bedtime.
“Oh, Mom. Dad. How I miss you.”
When she walked from the room, Ted and Vanessa remained, watching their little boy as he slept.
They looked over as a young woman appeared.
“What are you doing here?” Ted reached out a hand as though to shield his son from danger. “Are you lost?”
“I . . . I guess I am.” The young woman seemed surprised by the unfamiliar surroundings. “I’d planned on seeing my husband. I must have been even more distracted than I realized.”
“Distracted?” Seeing the sad, haunted look in her eyes, Vanessa attempted to soothe. But when she touched a hand to the woman’s arm, she was startled to see it pass completely through, as though in a mist. “Why, you’re . . . one of us.”
The young woman’s head came up sharply. “You’re spirits, too?”
At their nods of agreement, she seemed relieved. “Then I’m meant to be here, though I have no idea why. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned since entering the spirit world, it’s that I ought not to question the why of things. For, you see, there are reasons for everything. Even, it seems, for death. Still, in my case, I have no answers. Why should I”—she touched a hand to her middle—“and my unborn baby have to die, leaving a husband to grieve so deeply he has turned his back on everything that once mattered to him?”
“It sounds as though you need to unburden yourself.” Ted patted the edge of his son’s mattress, and he and Vanessa sat on either side of the sleeping boy, their hands resting lightly on his hands atop the blanket.
In sleep, Tyler smiled. Seeing it, the two shared a tender look before turning their attention to their visitor.
The young woman perched on the edge of the bed. “My name is Lily Ridgeway. My husband Jake and I were so happy when we learned