Reapers, Inc. - Brigit's Cross (27 page)

She stood with Maggie as they watched Tom
Bennett walk away. Once he was out of sight, Brigit turned her dark
eyes back to Maggie. Maggie looked so tired, Brigit thought. She
wondered how her partner would ever recover her sense of happiness
and continue living after this. It seemed that Maggie’s inner light
had been growing fainter over the last few days. Brigit couldn’t
help but acknowledge the deep concern growing inside her as she
watched helplessly.

Once they were inside the apartment, Brigit
watched as Maggie stopped in the living room and took a long slow
look around. So many memories surrounded her. Was this part of the
problem? Maggie sighed heavily and turned to go to the bedroom.
Brigit followed silently, wishing there was something she could do
or say so that Maggie knew…

Maggie stopped at the bathroom and opened the
medicine chest over the sink. Brigit leaned against the door frame
and watched her partner take down the brown prescription bottle.
They were Brigit’s sleeping pills, prescribed during the spring
before her accident. She had suffered a serious bout of insomnia
with the worry over a large product line her company had been
trying to launch before the new buying season was to begin. The
stress of the deadlines had been keeping Brigit awake for days on
end, causing extreme exhaustion. Maggie had not thrown out the
prescription that Brigit had forgotten about after the insomnia had
finally been conquered. Brigit watched as Maggie shook two of the
pills from the container and then paused. The thought passed
quickly through her dark brown eyes, but not so quick that Brigit
had been unable to see it. Her heart lurched as she read it
clearly. Maggie’s sadness was so overwhelming that she had given
thought to taking enough of the sleeping pills to make sure she
would sleep forever…

“No, just take two,” she said. “Two is
enough.”

Maggie sighed again and plopped the two pills
into her mouth before replacing the cap on the bottle and returning
it to the medicine chest. Brigit sighed in relief before following
Maggie to the bedroom. She watched as her partner stretched out on
the bed. Silently, Maggie reached for the picture on the table.
Brigit thought she heard the sound of another crack forming in
Maggie’s heart as she gazed at the photo in the frame.

“You’re not alone, sweetheart,” Brigit said
quietly, even though she knew Maggie couldn’t hear her.

“Brigit?”

The sound of Maggie’s voice shocked
Brigit.

“Brigit? If it’s you, let me know, please,”
Maggie asked out loud, closing her eyes although she spoke. “Move
something, say something. Just let me know you’re here,” she
pleaded.

Silently, Brigit crossed the room and stood
beside the bed. Maggie’s body was relaxing. The sleeping pills were
working quickly. Slowly, Brigit reached out and touched her
partner’s cheek. It was warm beneath her fingertips. Suddenly, a
sob escaped Maggie, but Brigit was unsure whether it was from
relief or deep sadness.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” Brigit cooed.

“Why did you have to leave me?” Maggie sobbed
heavily.

“I didn’t mean to, Mags. It was an accident.
Can you really hear me?”

“Yes,” Maggie answered, struggling to control
her grief.

Brigit sank down onto the edge of the bed and
watched Maggie intently. She was relaxing more and more despite her
grief’s violent ripples. The sleeping pills were obviously still
potent after all this time. Maggie would be asleep soon. Brigit
realized that this was her opportunity to communicate with her
lover. She was in the between realms of sleep and lucidity.
Maggie’s mind was opened. She would be able to hear Brigit clearly
with being caught between the two realms. Suddenly, there was so
much that Brigit wanted to tell her.

“I’m still with you, baby girl,” Brigit
finally said, pushing Maggie’s curly brown hair back from her face.
“I haven’t broken my promise. I’m not really gone.”

“I miss you, so much, Bree,” Maggie sighed.
“Sometimes, I believe I can still feel you holding me at night. It
hurts so badly to wake up in the morning. I just want to be with
you.”

“Not yet, Mags. It’s not time. You’re still
alive. You need to keep living, sweetheart. There’s a life waiting
for you. You need to find it,” Brigit urged quietly.

“I had a life
with you
,” Maggie
argued.

“I know. I’m still with you. I’ll always be
with you. I won’t let anything happen to you,” Brigit promised. She
could feel Maggie’s energy beginning to wane. She could also feel
Maggie beginning to struggle against the sleep that was beginning
to overpower her.

“I love you, Bree,” Maggie slurred.

“I love you, too, baby. Go to sleep now. It’s
okay. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere yet. I’ll stay,” Brigit
cooed. As if to reinforce her promise, she stretched out behind
Maggie and wrapped her arms around her. In response, Maggie scooted
her body closer – intent on feeling Brigit completely wrapped
around her.

“Tomorrow, I want you to throw the pills
away,” Brigit whispered as she felt the last weight of sleep settle
on Maggie. A sleepy and unintelligible reply was heard before the
first deep breath came that signaled Maggie’s submission to that
which had been eluding her for days now. She was asleep.

He flicked the stub of his cigarette to the
street and reached inside his jacket for the crumpled pack he kept
in the breast pocket. His green eyes were trained on the building
across the street. He had seen them enter it earlier. He wasn’t
concerned about their re-emergence from it, however. Considering
the fact that they hadn’t come out yet, Seamus was sure beyond
doubt that this was their residence. He felt his stomach beginning
to churn with the thought of Brigit Malone playing house with her
Maggie. Their lives were an abomination. They should have been
straightened out a long time ago…
but I have a bigger bone to
pick with her
, Seamus mused as he struck a match from the worn
book of them he kept in his pocket and touched the flame to the tip
of the cigarette between his lips.

He had been less than amused when told that
Brigit Malone would be returning to the firm. He had overestimated
John’s sense of fairness in the matter. Obviously, the head Reaper
had more of a soft spot for the woman than Seamus had realized. It
irked him that she would be allowed back to her post after such
negligence.
Oh well
, Seamus thought,
all is fair in
war
…

And it was war, he determined as he stared
hard at the building. Brigit Malone had betrayed him. The icing on
the cake had come when John Blackwick had entered his office and
demanded the tokens of his conquests. She had tattled on him like a
schoolgirl in pigtails. He had won those souvenirs fairly. To have
them taken from him was just one more thing to stoke the fires of
his ire. She had caused something to be taken from him. He would
simply have to find something to take from her…

Inhaling deep on the new cigarette, Seamus
turned and began to walk away. There were plans to be made, a
scheme to be hatched. He needed to begin assembling the cast for
their parts in his play. Brigit Malone would learn her lesson.
Seamus was set hard on that.

She awoke slowly. As she rolled her head to
the side, Maggie noticed the heaviness of it. It was a side affect
of the sleeping pills she had taken, she knew. She remembered
Brigit’s complaint of the same sensation the next morning after
taking them. Now, as she focused her gaze on the clock quietly
ticking on the bedside table, Maggie wondered if she should have
taken them at all.

She had needed the sleep, though. It had been
a rough week and the state of sleep had kept its borders closed to
her.

Slowly, Maggie pushed herself up into a
sitting position and sighed. It was more than her head that felt
heavy. Her whole body felt heavy. She came to the conclusion that
it was no wonder that Brigit had stopped taking the pills after
only a few nights…

Another deep sigh escaped Maggie. After so
many months, her thoughts still seemed to revolve around Brigit.
Her dreams contained images of memories, imaginations that Brigit
was still present even though Maggie was well aware that she would
never see Brigit walking though the door and announcing that she
was finally home. That particular weight bore down on her brain the
heaviest of all. Brigit had promised forever and that promise had
been broken.

Or had it?

Maggie’s attention drifted to the framed
picture of Brigit that sat beside the quietly ticking clock. She
had tried to remove the visual reminders, yet, she had come home
that day and found this one particular reminder returned to its
place. Then, there had been the awful fight with Lorena Rubens
where Maggie had been sure she had heard Brigit’s voice telling
Lorena to leave. That had been followed by the scuffle with an
unseen force that had ended with Lorena’s ejection from the
apartment. Maggie had thought she had imagined it all. She had been
sure Lorena had just been overly hysterical in her departure. At
least, that was what Maggie had tried to convince herself of in the
following days. It was far easier to believe that scenario than the
idea of Brigit’s ghost hanging around.

Yet, as she thought of it now, she remembered
hearing Brigit’s voice again. It had been just a few moments before
she crossed the lines into deep sleep. Brigit’s voice had been so
clear… What had she said? Maggie began to fight hard against the
fog left by the sleeping pills for the short exchange she could now
remember having with her lover during those moments between
lucidity and sleep.

It was an accident…

I’m still with you…

I haven’t broken my promise…

I love you too…

The next sound to escape Maggie was not a
sigh, but rather, a sob – a deep and painful sob that rode on the
clarity of the words she had heard before falling into the deepest
sleep she had experienced since before the night Brigit had been
killed. The sob released her. It freed her from the weight she had
been carrying quietly. Her tears flowed in a torrent over her
cheeks as she gave way to the freedom from the heaviness that had
been sitting on her heart all these months.

Brigit had never and would never lie to her.
In the end, Maggie now had the feeling, Brigit was keeping her
promise.

Brigit had returned to the office as promised
after spending a few more days watching over Maggie. To her
surprise, the office was empty. As she searched the smaller
offices, she felt her confusion growing. She had expected to, at
the least, find John there with the hope of being given some
assignments right away so that she could get back into the swing of
things.

Yet, the offices were empty…

“I could use a cup of coffee anyway,” she
said out loud as she turned out of John’s office and began to walk
back to the main entrance of 666 ½ Bleecker Street. It was a true
thought. She had not had any coffee in almost a month now and the
thought of a cup of Giuseppe’s brew had suddenly become quite the
craving within her.

She was surprised to see them all there.
John, Belinda, Seamus and Mama Dee had occupied a large table in
the middle of the café. They were conversing cheerfully; Brigit
noted as she entered the café and exchanged a nodded greeting with
Edmund J. Polly. John was the first to see her come in.

“Brigit! Good, we were just wondering if you
would find us,” he greeted. “Come, join us.”

“Here, baby, sit next to me,” Mama Dee
instructed as she began to scoot her own seat closer to
Belinda.

Brigit caught the firmness of her friend’s
tone and obediently stepped to take the space Mama Dee had
indicated. Seamus Flannery was sitting across the table. Mama Dee,
Brigit guessed, was just being protective even though Brigit was
sure the old woman knew nothing of the strained relationship she
shared with Seamus. If Mama was aware of it, she had not heard it
from Brigit.

“What is everyone doing here?” Brigit asked
as a large hand bearing a large mug suddenly glided over her
shoulder. The aroma that greeted her senses made her smile as she
looked up into the face of Giuseppe Cincotta.

“Welcome back,” he greeted in his deep
baritone voice.

“Thank you, Giuseppe,” Brigit replied.

“We decided to take a break,” Belinda piped
up in response to Brigit’s question. “John says we’re close to
catching up and we deserved a break.”

“Aye,” Seamus added as he eyed Brigit. “We’ve
been working like mad to make up for the shortage of staff.” Brigit
paused in mid-sip of her coffee to meet his glare. He had oiled his
words carefully, but she had caught their meaning all the same.

“I apologize for the inconvenience my absence
may have caused you, Mr. Flannery,” Brigit said evenly.

She had hoped for more sarcasm, but in a way,
she was glad it came out as it did. It was a blanket apology for
everything. There would be no fight today. Seamus flinched slightly
with her reply. It was barely a movement, but Brigit had seen it
and she saw the fires of anger light in the Irishman’s emerald
eyes. He knew she had seen it.

“I think I need to get back to work,” Seamus
suddenly said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence danced
in the space between them.

“What? I thought you said you were caught up
for the day?” Belinda protested as Seamus rose from his chair.
Brigit looked at the girl as she detected notes of disappointed
surprise in her voice.

“I just remembered something,” Seamus lied.
“I’ll see ye back at the office,” he muttered before stalking out
of the café. Belinda looked down into the contents of the cup
before her. Disappointment shone clearly on her face though she
remained silent.