Haunted Ever After (23 page)

‘She’s a real cutie,’ Ty said, offering his finger too. Ruby swapped mine for his, her whole hand barely wrapping around it.

I turned to look at Nancy. She stood at the entrance to the living room, her arms hugged tightly around her body, her face filled with despair. I wanted to comfort her, but I couldn’t. We had to pretend she wasn’t here in order to have a chance of building up to telling Chris the truth.

‘She’s a good girl,’ Chris said. ‘I just wish she’d sleep through the night. Ever since…it happened…she’s been extra wakeful.’

The poor guy. Grief and sleep deprivation to add to the mix.

‘A back massage can sometimes help,’ I suggested. ‘Baby’s usually love it. A warm bath and a gentle massage before bed might make a difference.’ I hoped he didn’t mind me offering my advice, I often found myself doing that when anyone presented their problems.

‘Thanks, I guess I’ve been too tired to do anything but the essentials. Might give it a go.’ He returned Ruby to her walker. A small advantage of losing her mother so young was that she wouldn’t feel the same grief as her father. Sure, I bet she missed her mother, but babies at that age were adaptable and generally warmed to whoever warmed to them, whoever fed and changed and comforted them. Later, when she grew up, when she transformed into a young woman. That’s when it would really hit. That’s when she’d need her mum the most.

‘Can I get you a coffee or tea?’ Chris asked.

I eyed Ty, whose expression said ‘it’s up to you’. ‘Um, thanks, but I don’t want to put you to any trouble. I was just hoping to, ah, discuss a few things about Nancy if that’s okay. I was so shocked to hear the news, but I wanted you to know how much I admired her.’

Chris gave a small smile. ‘Take a seat,’ he said, gesturing to the couch. Ty and I sat there while he sat on the armchair next to it.

‘Nancy is —
was
— such a vibrant, funny, friendly person,’ I said, aware that there was no way I would have said that before, after what she’d put me through. But now I meant it. And I was starting to understand how she must have been in real life.

‘It’s funny you say that, because that’s what I miss about her most. Her energy. Her enthusiasm.’ He shook his head and rubbed his temple. ‘I missed it even when she was alive, though ever since the…’

‘The depression,’ I finished for him.

‘Yes. It took all that away. She lost that spark that made her who she was and it was heartbreaking to see. It’s not how I want to remember her.’

‘Then don’t.’ I leaned forward in support, like he was a relative of a patient who’d died. ‘Remember the energy, the enthusiasm, the joy she had. She’d want that.’

He nodded, and I hoped he wouldn’t start crying, because I didn’t want to upset him, and I didn’t want Nancy to lose it and run off.

‘Did you know her too?’ Chris asked Ty.

He opened his mouth but didn’t speak right away, obviously formulating an answer in his mind. ‘No. I never met her, but from what Sally told me, I know she must have been a great person. Someone who was fun to have around, and very…determined, I think.’

‘She did like to get her own way,’ Chris mused with a smile. ‘Always liked to be right. And she was such a practical joker.’ He eyed the side table, which displayed a photo of her pulling a funny face.

‘Oh yes, I’m sure she was,’ I replied.

Nancy seemed to be coping better, and came closer, perching herself on the arm of the couch between Chris and us. I shifted on the spot and tried to think how to steer the conversation to where it needed to go. ‘And I’m sure she’s at peace now, watching over you and Ruby.’ I swallowed a hard lump.

Chris seemed unsure. ‘Well, I hope she’s at peace, if that’s even possible. Everyone says she must still be with me, in spirit, but that seems a bit far-fetched to me. I know they’re just being nice. She’s gone, and we have to get on with life as best as we can.’

‘But I’m here, honey, I’m here!’ Nancy cried, by her husband’s side.

My heart ached, and Ty spoke up. ‘When my parents died, I thought that too, that they were just gone. But after a while I felt more,’ he circled his hands, ‘I don’t know,
open
, that some small part of them still existed. It gave me strength, believing they might still be with me in some way.’

The ache in my heart turned to overwhelming gratitude for Ty. That he was here, and that he was actively trying to help me get through to Chris. I wanted to squeeze his hand but hesitated, then remembered we were supposed to be a couple. I put my hand on top of his and squeezed it, his warmth radiating up my arm. He glanced at it with raised eyebrows, then must have remembered the facade too because he lifted my hand and kissed it. Softly, tenderly. Nancy noticed our moment and a brief smile flashed on her face.

‘I guess it can make things a bit easier, having some sort of belief like that,’ Chris said, his gaze hovering on our entwined hands. ‘Don’t ever take what you have for granted,’ he said. ‘Make the most of your life together, and talk about life when it gets hard. Don’t push things under the carpet or assume everything’s alright. I wish I’d been able to help her more,’ he added.

Nancy sat back down on the edge of the couch, shoulders sinking.

‘You did the best you could, I know she loved you, and by the looks of things you’re doing a great job with Ruby.’ I watched her play with the various buttons and amusements on her walker.

‘She keeps me going, to be honest. I have to keep going strong, for her.’

I eyed Ty and we exchanged a knowing glance. He needed to know, and soon. We couldn’t outstay our welcome and had to make progress.

‘You know, after reading the news report about Nancy, there’s something that just didn’t feel right about it,’ I said.

Chris looked me in the eye. ‘What do you mean?’

‘The Nancy I knew, she was so excited about her future, about becoming a mother. I just can’t believe it’s true.’

‘Well, the depression obviously took its toll. It took all that desire for life away. I thought she was getting better, but I guess I was wrong.’ His voice quivered on the last word, and Nancy moved away and hugged her chest again.

‘I don’t think you were wrong. I think she
was
getting better. It’s possible she could have just…fallen.’

Chris straightened in the chair, and I knew things were getting awkward but I had to try my best.

‘I agree,’ said Ty.

‘No,’ Chris said. ‘She’d given up. She didn’t even have her wedding ring on when they found her. I had a feeling she was considering leaving me, and this confirms it.’

‘But I changed my mind, Chris! I wanted to start over!’ Nancy urged him to hear her.

‘What if she dropped the ring and tried to get it? Did the police consider that as a possibility?’

Chris seemed to consider this seriously, then as though the effort in believing it was too much, he returned to his denial. ‘No, they concluded that it was clearly suicide, with her history. It makes sense.’

I bit my lips in frustration.

Ty fidgeted on the couch.

‘Chris, I know you hardly know me, but I knew Nancy. And I believe that she didn’t take her own life.’

Chris stood. ‘What does it matter? She’s gone, and there’s nothing I can do about it.’ He held his arms to the side. ‘I thought we were going to discuss memories of Nancy, not how she died. I’ve gone over this way too many times in my head and I don’t particularly want to do it again.’ He stood closer to us, as though subtly telling us it was time to leave. We stood.

‘Oh yes, I understand. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.’ We walked to the entry foyer. This was it, our last chance.

‘You know,’ said Ty. ‘I work with disabled people, and one of them is in a wheelchair from a fall. When he was unconscious in hospital, they thought it had been a suicide attempt as he was going through a hard time. It was only when he woke up and told them that he’d fallen from the roof of his double-storey house because he wanted to get a better view of the local fireworks that the truth was revealed. If he’d never woken up, they never would have known.’

Wow
. I mouthed a ‘thank you’ to Ty as our eyes met.

Chris raised his eyebrows. ‘Interesting. I wish Nancy could come back for a minute to tell me what happened that night. Then again, if it was indeed suicide I don’t think I could cope with hearing the details.’

A spark of resolve shot through me. Enough. He had to know. ‘It wasn’t suicide,’ I blurted. ‘I know that for a fact.’

Ty cleared his throat and Chris stepped backwards a little. ‘And how do you know that?’ He crossed his arms.

I glanced at Nancy and she nodded.

‘Because she told me herself.’ I approached Chris carefully, ironically like someone would approach a person who was about to jump off a building, my palms facing him in preparation. ‘I know this is hard to believe, I didn’t believe it at first, but I’ve seen your wife. I’ve seen her spirit. She came to me so I would come to you and tell you the truth. She wants you to know it was an accident.’

Chris held up his hands and shook his head repeatedly. ‘Oh no, no way. And I thought you were genuine, coming here and telling me nice things about my wife. No, that’s not on. Why make something up like this?’

‘I’m not, I swear. It’s real.’

‘It’s true,’ said Ty. ‘Yesterday I wouldn’t have believed her myself, but today I saw her too. She’s here now.’

‘Oh my God, I can’t believe it. Both of you, as deluded as each other! I think you can go now.’

‘But Chris, she
is
here. She told me what happened. She took off her wedding ring because she was admiring it in the moonlight and was planning to start fresh with you and Ruby, but she dropped it.’

‘Please go.’ He opened the front door and gestured outside.

‘She dropped it and tried to grab it, but fell. It’s the truth!’

‘Please believe her, Chris! I’m here!’ Nancy stomped her foot.

‘C’mon,’ Ty whispered, hooking his arm with mine. ‘We tried.’

‘But!’ I tried to resist but Ty led me outside. ‘Nancy, do something, make something move, show him you’re here!’

‘Oh for God’s sake! Go, now.’ Chris exclaimed, ushering us out and closing the door behind us.

Nancy had gone outside too and was now crying, hunched on the front steps and sobbing with such heartache that tears welled in my own eyes.

It was too late. We should have planned this better. Should have had solutions ready for the disbelief that would be expected when confronted with something so hard to believe.

I turned to Ty and he wrapped me in his arms. ‘Why can’t he just believe me? Look at her! You see her too, right?’

‘Yes, I see her,’ Ty replied. ‘Give him time. He might come around to the idea at another stage, once he’s had a chance to think.’ He rubbed my back and I gripped the backs of his shoulders.

‘C’mon, we better leave in case he calls the police or something.’

We walked, arms around each other, back to the car. ‘I’m so sorry, Nancy, so sorry,’ I said. Nancy slowly followed us, her body trembling with tears.

She sniffed and looked at me. ‘You did your best, I know that.’ She tried to compose herself. ‘God, why does he have to be so stubborn?’

‘Men can be like that,’ said Ty. ‘But like I said, give him some time and he may come around.’

I nodded. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’ll come back. I’ll come back, Nancy, after a while, and try again. I’ll keep coming back and keep trying until he believes.’

‘You will?’ Nancy asked.

‘You bet your purple polka dot pyjamas I will.’ I offered her a smile.

A hint of hope brightened her eyes.

‘Maybe you could write a letter first,’ suggested Ty. ‘Get it all out on paper, send it to him. He might be more open-minded when there’s not some stranger in his living room.’

‘Yes, can you do that, Sally?’

‘Absolutely, and maybe you can tell me things about your life, things that only you two would know, so he’s more likely to believe me.’

Nancy whacked her forehead. ‘Why didn’t I think of that? I was so overwhelmed with emotion and grief it didn’t cross my mind.’

‘Nor mine,’ I said. ‘Do you think we should go back in and try now?’

‘Not now,’ said Ty. ‘He won’t let us back in. A letter would be perfect.’

‘You’re probably right. Okay then, I’ll do that, I’ll write a letter. I’ll write ten if I have to.’

‘If you need me to help, let me know.’ Ty patted my back then unlocked the car.

I stood and looked at him, and realised how far off my first impressions of him had been. ‘I don’t know what I would have done without you this weekend,’ I said.

He turned from the car to face me. ‘You would have been fine, I’m sure.’ He wiped a tear from my cheek. ‘But things are always better with someone by your side.’

I smiled and got into the car, and when he slipped into the driver’s seat and put his hand on the gearstick, I grasped it and gave it a firm, appreciative squeeze. He looked at me with beautiful, deep, hypnotic brown eyes, interlocked his fingers with mine and squeezed my hand right back.

* * *

Despite not needing vehicular transportation to travel, Nancy sat in the back seat for the trip back to Barron Springs. She didn’t speak the whole way, and had her eyes closed like she was sleeping.

Ty drove into the driveway of the guest house and parked his car behind Lorena’s.

‘Coffee before you go back home?’ I asked.

‘Mmm, it’s tempting.’

‘Consider yourself tempted,’ I replied.

He smiled as he got out of the car.

‘The runaway medicos are back!’ Lorena said as we walked through the front door. ‘Have fun?’

Ty and I exchanged glances. It was by no means fun, but despite Chris’ unwillingness to consider my revelation, a calm sense that all would eventually be okay had washed over me during the drive back. ‘Not as much fun as you all had by the looks of things!’ I gestured to the coffee table that was laden with afternoon snacks; chocolates, potato chips, dips and crackers, though half of everything had been devoured.

‘You’d think I starved you all up until now,’ said Georgie.

‘Bottomless pit,’ said Mel, rubbing her stomach.

The aroma of roasting lamb, garlic, onions, and fennel filled the air and brought with it a comforting, safe feeling. ‘How will you fit in a roast dinner after all that?’ I asked.