The Other Side - J. D. Robb [132]
Her eyes were shining when she turned to Ted and Vanessa. “Look how happy he is.”
“Thanks to your generosity.”
“And yours. Perfect love. That’s what we strive for on earth and finally achieve in this place.”
As the three were smiling their approval, a fourth light joined them.
“Are you ready now?”
Ted pressed a kiss to his grandmother’s cheek. “I guess there’s no point in asking if we can hang around for the party.”
The old woman merely smiled. As she lifted her arms, they began to shimmer and glow.
“Wait. One last good-bye.”
Ted and Vanessa hovered on either side of their daughter, kissing her cheek.
Christina lifted a hand to her cheek and felt the whisper of a breeze. As before, she caught a whiff of her mother’s perfume, and a thought came to her as clearly as if it had been spoken aloud.
She smiled at the man facing her. Her hero. And the great love of her life.
“Jake.” She pressed her lips to his. “I was wishing that my parents were here to share this day with us, and suddenly the knowledge came to me that, without any doubt, they are here, looking down on us right this minute and smiling. And I know, too, that they love you every bit as much as Tyler and I do.”
“Love.”
They both turned to the little boy who had spoken. It seemed only fitting that his first word should be the most important word in the universe.
“Yes, love, Tyler.” Jake knelt down so that his eyes were steady on the little boy’s. “I love you and your beautiful sister.”
The boy’s smile gave him the look of an angel.
With Tyler walking between them, holding tightly to their hands, the bride and groom mingled with those who had come to celebrate this happy occasion.
While the guests watched, twin beams seemed to shine like a benediction from high above, casting the bride in a halo of light. Some said it was merely a typical bride’s joy on her wedding day. Others thought it was a reflection of the sun off her shimmering gown.
Tyler looked up. The smile on his face was one of pure happiness as he lifted his hand to wave to his parents until they were out of sight.
They weren’t really gone, he knew. They had just gone to a place he couldn’t follow. But they had left behind two people who would love him and keep him safe.
And wasn’t that what made heaven on earth?
Never Too Late to Love
MARY KAY MCCOMAS
For Shirleen Peplinski Bold, an old friend found anew
One
“Mr. Brown, that doesn’t make sense.” M. J. Biderman flipped a folder closed on her desk and leaned back in her soft leather chair. She swept a swag of soft brown hair from her face and blinked her hazel eyes twice, slowly, to help her concentrate. “I gave you the keys to the house and a list of furniture items I want removed and put into storage. Then I want the house torn down and the lot evacuated for the sale of the property. What seems to be the problem?”
“For one thing, the key doesn’t work. I can’t get into the house.” The contractor’s voice was already straining for patience.
“Break a window.”
“That’s the other thing; I tried. Several times. Several different windows. They crack but don’t break.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“That’s what I said. The house is so old and brittle I would have thought a stiff wind could blow it over. But apparently it’s not ready to come down yet.”
“It’s not what?”
“I know how it sounds, ma’am, but it happens sometimes. These old places take on a life of their own. Not often, I admit, but my dad told me about one over in Harrisburg when I was a kid. They finally gutted the place and let the woods around it swallow it up. Fifty years later they went back in, and time had rotted away everything but the old stone chimneys.”
“I don’t have fifty years, Mr. Brown, or a woods in the middle of town to swallow it up. I do, however, have a gentleman interested in buying the lot for a Smoothie Hut franchise, but only if it becomes a vacant lot. Which is why I’ve hired you.”
“Well, you’re going to have to do more than just hire me, ma’am, because the