His eyes filled quickly and he cleared his throat some. “Will she be gone for good now? Am I going to lose her all over again? Or was she never there and it’s been my imagination all along?”
Her heart broke for him, hearing his words. For once she wasn’t sure she could convince someone to believe her. “Rory. You know what you need deep down. She’s never going to be gone. She’ll always be watching over you and your mother.”
He gulped and winced. “I know. It’s as if I’m grieving all over again. Only this time I’m not alone.”
“No,” she said. “You’re not. I love you. I’m right here next to you. You can count on that.”
He kissed her lightly on the lips and whispered, “I love you too. I’m not going anywhere.”
“You’re not?” she asked, searching his eyes.
“I can’t,” he said. “I need to get all the inspiration I can for the female heroine in my next series. A cocky, sexy lawyer.”
“Oh hell yeah,” she said. “I’m your lady.”
“Yes, you are.”
EPILOGUE
Five Months Later
“Wake up,Rory. Today is the day.”
“Really, Rene. You think I don’t know that?”
“You know she’s going to say yes, so why are you so nervous?”
He shrugged. “You don’t understand. It’s only been six months. Maybe she’s not ready.”
“She’s ready for you,” Rene said, sitting on the side of the bed. “Don’t let the fact that Dad was a jerk stick in your mind.”
“I thought for sure he’d want to come for the sentencing,” he said. “That he’d want to look your killer in the eye.”
“Dad wiped his hands of everything fifteen years ago,” Rene said. “You need to do the same. You told him you caught Rocco, he said good and that was it. Let him live his life how he chooses; you and Mom need to do the same.”
“Why aren’t you mad he wasn’t happier over this?” he asked.
“Because he’s who he is and won’t change,” Rene said. “Did you ever stop to think maybe he felt guilty for years too becausehe went to dinner that night and could have stayed home? We don’t know what is in his mind any more than he knows what is in yours.”
“And he never will because he doesn’t care to talk to me.”
“Let that toxic crap go,” Rene said, grinning.
“Gale says that too.”
“I know,” Rene said, nudging his shoulder. He didn’t feel it, he never did.
“Rory, wake up. Rory, are you okay?”
“You’re making Gale nervous twitching in the bed,” Rene said. “Do it now. I want to watch. She’s going to say yes, Rory. So. Do. It. Now.”
His sister vanished from his dream, his eyes opened and Gale was next to him in bed looking him over. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Your shoulders kept twitching.”
“Rene,” he said. “She was egging me on.”
Gale laughed. “What did she have to say this time?”
He didn’t know if his sister’s ghost was really talking to him, or it was his subconscious unwilling to let her go.
