Moon Fever by Maggie Shayne & Susan Sizemore & Lori Handeland & Caridad Pineiro

Author:Maggie Shayne & Susan Sizemore & Lori Handeland & Caridad Pineiro [Shayne, Maggie & Sizemore, Susan & Handeland, Lori & Pineiro, Caridad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literary, Ghost Stories, Vampires, Occult Fiction; American, Paranormal, General, Romance, Werewolves, Love Stories; American, Ghosts, Fiction, Short Stories, Love Stories
ISBN: 9781416514909
Google: kVLSpVmlQuUC
Amazon: 1416514902
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2007-09-24T23:00:00+00:00

They stood hand in hand at the cemetery, a good distance from the spot where the service was taking place. Jim didn’t want Natalie’s family to be further traumatized by seeing the son of her killer at the funeral. His father was long dead. There would be no trial, no punishment, though Caroline liked to think the bastard was getting his just deserts in some other realm. Not only for murdering two innocent young girls but for what he’d put his son through. All these years. It had to have been pure torture. When she thought about the pain in the heart of the little boy who’d drawn those pictures, the nightmares, the haunting, the police suspecting him—it was almost too much to bear.

He had a lot of pain in his past. So did she. But Caroline had the feeling they were healing each other, and they were both going to be okay.

They waited until the service had ended, and all the mourners had gone away, to approach the still-open grave. Jimmy dropped the flowers he’d brought, and they landed atop the casket, which had been lowered into the ground.

They stood there for a moment, silent. And then he whispered, “I’m sorry it took me so long.”

Caroline touched his arm. “Jimmy, look.”

He lifted his head and looked where she pointed. There in the distance, she knew he saw what she did: a young woman, drifting away among the headstones, translucent, filmy, but there. It was Natalie, no longer wet and haunted but beautiful and smiling. As they stared, stunned, she turned to look directly at them and lifted a ghostly hand to wave. And then, in a shimmer, she was gone.

Jimmy turned to meet Caroline’s eyes. No words were needed. They both knew she was at peace, at long last.

And so, Caroline thought, was she.