Chapter Four
Joy held Malcolm’s hand as they sped through space and time back to Holly. There had been devastating sorrow in his eyes when she’d finally gone to him, yet he’d pushed her comfort away.
She’d always thought of him as a bad boy, the type of man her mom had warned her about getting involved with, but the more time she spent with him, the more she doubted that first impression. Hewas mysterious because she didn’t know much about him and his dark skin, swarthy looks and broad stature made her libido go into a flamenco dance. The man oozed sensuality.
To find out he’d loved a woman and lost her and barely remembered how he felt about it had made her jealous and peeved that he could be so callous. Now she knew better.
He was more like herself than she’d thought. He hidhis pain and portrayed a serious, somewhat depressing and flippant attitude, while she hid behind her kindness and happy outlook. With just one real conversation with him, she already felt better about their mission.
When they floated down into the hospital to stand next to Holly, she was loath to let go of his hand, but she did. “We are agreed. You can befriend Sophia if you like and try tochange her future.”
Holly spun around in surprise. “Wait a minute. You two weren’t gone more than thirty seconds. How could you have discussed it? Not that I’m complaining or anything.”
Malcolm gave Holly a smirk. “As spirits, we can travel through time, obviously, which includes going backward to when we left you.”
Holly shook her head. “I can’t quite wrap my head around that, so I’ll justaccept your explanation.” She glanced down the hall where Sophia stopped a nurse to talk in whispers. “Thank you for showing me Thea. I’m going to be a good friend to Sophia because she needs one. Maybe between the two of us, we can keep this from happening.” She turned back to face them. “Will Thea survive if she gets the bone marrow transplant?”
Joy raised one shoulder. “I can’t tell you. Ihaven’t looked into her alternate futures. Malcolm said this one has the highest probability…unless your friendship changes it. I honestly can’t tell you what will happen.”
Holly nodded as if she understood the concept. “I can’t believe any possible future could be worse than this one, so I’m going to get involved.”
Malcolm touched Holly’s shoulder. “You must understand that everything we showyou tonight can change whether from your influence or another. We will only show you the most probable future. There may be many you want to change, but you are only one person and nothing guarantees you won't make a situation worse.”
“I understand.” Holly looked to her. “Where to next? This place is getting a bit depressing.”
Joy smothered a triumphant smile that Holly would ask her for a happierenvironment. “I agree. Let’s look in on some people you have helped and see what they’re up to tonight.”
Holly held out her hand and she grasped it. Looking at Malcolm, who appeared to be staring off into space again, she forced a smile, hoping he wasn’t in another trance already. “Malcolm, will you be joining us?”
He redirected his gaze to her and nodded. As soon as he took Holly’s hand, Joyflew them through the roof of the hospital toward Deervale.
As they drew closer, a long line of cars could be seen on Main Street, the red brake lights adding color to the newly fallen snow.
“Well, what’s going on down there? Is the light in front of the church broken?”
Joy grinned and kept them hovering above the two-lane road. On one side was a long white-washed building connected to a rowof stone buildings, typical in Deervale. Across the street was the Parish Church which made the snow even more colorful with its lit stained-glass windows.
The double doors of the church were thrown wide as people filed in by the pairs and in groups, all chatting and obviously in a good mood. “I believe the cause of this minor traffic congestion is the church, not the light.”
Holly pulled herhands from both of them and floated closer to the building. “Is it midnight? Maybe midnight services on Christmas Eve.”
Joy laughed. She loved happy occasions. “Oh, this has nothing to do with Christmas. Not really. It’s only half past seven as they say in this town.”
Holly looked back at her in confusion. “Are you going to tell me, or let me figure it out for myself?”
Malcolm answered forher. “You’ll figure it out.”
Joy touched his shoulder. “If you don’t want to watch this, I understand.”
“Why? Our ceremonies in the future are a lot less involved. It’s not like I’ve something else I need to do.” The irritation in his tone told her a lot more about how he felt than his words.
Maybe this would be helpful for him to see. They floated closer to the doors of the church where Hollywas.
“Look at everyone. I think the whole town is here and then some.” Holly pointed to the long line of people walking quickly toward the steps.
“You’re probably right.” Joy grinned. “And if I’m not mistaken, you’ve already arrived.”
“Me? Now this will be interesting. How many years in the future are we?”
