Page 2 of Ghost Town I Do (Seawolf Beach)

A baby. Colt’s mind reeled from the news, though he should’ve expected it to happen. The woman he loved was going to have his baby. He was thrilled. He was terrified. But mostly he was thrilled.

He walked down the stairs from the loft apartment to the main floor.

After going upstairs he’d called his best man, Seawolf Beach Police Chief Joseph Maxwell, Mac to his friends, who’d suggested they have the wedding at The Magnolia.

Colt was pretty sure Anna didn’t want to get married under a neon beer sign, and the ghosts in that place…

There were too many sad spirits in the bar, too much negativity no one but Colt felt. He’d rejected that suggestion, at least for now. If nothing else panned out, maybe.

After talking to Mac he’d taken a long shower, hoping the spray of hot water would help his brain function. It had not. At one point Anna had briefly popped in. She’d looked as if she had something to say, but she’d taken one look at him and backed out of the room with an uncertain, “Later.”

Maybe this was what she’d come up to tell him about.

There was unexpected activity in the record store.

Olive stood in the middle of the space directing the employees who should be enjoying a day off.

High schoolers Benny and Christopher carefully boxed up records.

Helen, approaching elderly but still full of energy, folded t-shirts and packed them in cardboard boxes.

If he didn’t own the property himself, he’d think he was being evicted.

The ghosts were bemused by the activity.

The spirit of a young man who was always looking around as if he’d lost something watched Helen intensely.

A new spirit, that of a young woman who’d been coming and going for the past month, hovered over an unsuspecting Olive.

The ghosts who usually kept their distance had come out of the woodwork, literally, to get a closer look.

Gerald, dour as always, stood alone, a distance from the others, and remained silent.

Some days Colt missed Maude. She’d been an annoying, interfering, chatty old lady ghost, but there had been no darkness in her. She’d livened up the place, during her time here. It was evident Gerald missed her, too, even if he didn’t say a word.

Anna caught Colt’s eye and scurried forward to meet him at the foot of the stairs.

“I was going to ask you about all this, but Olive just… she just got busy. She made phone calls, she issued orders, and in less than half an hour this was happening.”

Olive seemed to have gotten bossier since she’d hooked up with Tuck…

“We’re getting married here ,” he said.

“Is that okay?”

Anna waited for an answer. Was it okay? He’d really wanted to get married in a place where there were no ghosts looking over his shoulder, where he was like everyone else, where he didn’t have to hide anything.

The beach would be perfect, but the weather made that impossible.

At least here he knew the spirits. Gerald and the others would simply be additional guests.

It wasn’t like anyone but him would see them.

“I don’t care if we get married in the middle of the street in the middle of a downpour. All I care about is that at the end of the day you’re my wife.”

Her smile told him that was what she wanted, too.

Olive marched toward them, a determined expression on her face.

“We’ve had to change the time of the ceremony from two to four.

There’s no way I can get everything done before then.

The volunteer fire department and the First Baptist Church prayer tree is getting the word out.

” She looked at Colt. This sweet, normal woman he knew pretty well had turned into a determined general.

“Tuck will be here shortly to pick you up. You’re going to our house.

You’re to be back here at three-thirty, not a minute before. ”

Colt grumbled. His wedding and his business had been taken over. “I’m just supposed to sit at your house with Tuck and wait ?”

Olive gave him a sharp nod of her head. “Yes. If you’re bored you two can work on the repairs at the blue house. Don’t you have a new tenant moving in at the end of the month?”

“I do.”

“There’s plenty to do, but no painting! I won’t have Anna’s groom stand here with paint under his fingernails. A bit of handyman work will keep you occupied until it’s time to head back here. Just… no painting.”

The little woman was demanding, definitely bossy. He knew better than to accuse her of either. She and Tuck would be getting married soon, he assumed. Would she plan her own wedding with the same intensity?

Probably.

“My suit is upstairs.”

“Take it with you,” Olive raised one hand, a hand with a bossy finger extended. “No, put it in the back room. You can change there without disturbing Anna while she gets ready, and we won’t have to worry about keeping it out of the rain.”

Olive turned to the bride. “Is your wedding dress at your mom’s?”

“No. It’s upstairs.”

“That works,” Olive said. “Anna, Mac is going to pick you up in a few minutes and take you to your mom’s house. I’ve met your mom. Keep her there and occupied, otherwise she’ll decide to help and this will never get done. You’re to be back here between three and three-fifteen.”

Olive had a plan for everything. She presented him and Anna each with an umbrella. Where the hell had they come from? Didn’t matter. Their rides — their babysitters — were on the way; the rain would not be an impediment.

Several ghosts had been drawn to Olive’s high energy. Even Gerald. He peered over her shoulder and smiled, a wide smile no one but Colt could see.

* * *

Anna’s childhood home was different in many ways, but at the same time it was still home. The shape of the living room hadn’t changed, the floor plan was as it had always been.

After the fire all the furniture had been dumped.

If it hadn’t been singed or burnt to ash, it smelled of smoke.

Very little had survived, but the house wasn’t bare.

A few pieces had been replaced. Not everything, there was no need to fill the place with furnishings, but the real estate agent wanted to place to look homey, lived in, and that made it possible for her mother to stay here when she visited, until the place was officially on the market.

If the house ever made it onto the market at all. Nina Miller had been trying to convince her daughter to live here. With or without Colt.

Nina had never been sure that a record store owner who talked to himself more than most was good enough for her daughter.

If she could tell her mom that Colt didn’t talk to himself he talked to the ghosts he saw all the time, would that make things better or worse?

Mac knew, though he didn’t quite accept what he’d been told.

Tuck and Olive were aware of the ghosts Colt saw and spoke to.

Her mother would just be one more, but she didn’t want to share the news without Colt’s permission. It was his secret to tell.

Besides, one big announcement at a time…

Nina kept peering out the window, as if she thought a good stare might make the rain let up.

Her fella, Harlan, had settled himself into a new recliner with a book about some baseball player Anna had never heard of.

The silence was so deep Anna could hear the clock — a new clock that looked very much like the old one — ticking away. Slowly. Too slowly.

The silence was too much, it was too deep and full. She couldn’t help herself. “I have news.” One thing at a time, right?

Nina Miller spun away from the window. “Have you decided to call off the wedding? You have to admit, this weather does seem like a message from the universe.” Was that hope in her mother’s voice? Yes, yes it was.

“No, I’m not calling off the wedding. I’m… pregnant.”

Nina glared at her daughter. She went pale for a moment, then a bloom of color rushed into her face, and then, the smile. A big, wide, happy smile as the news sunk in. “I’m going to be a grandmother?”

Anna nodded.

Oh, the expressions that crossed Nina’s face! Maybe this would be the end of her reservations about Colt. More than once she’d said Colt was squirrelly, but giving her a grandchild could mean all was forgiven. Eventually.

“Harlan, what would you think about moving here, to Seawolf Beach? If I have a grandbaby I have to be nearby to help out. There’s just no question. I must be here.”

It was hard to ruffle Harlan’s feathers. Anna liked that about him. “Well if there’s no question, that answers it. I can live anywhere.” He looked at Nina with love. “If you’re here that’s where I’ll be.”

Anna hadn’t wanted to like Harlan, but she did. Unlike her Mom’s first Florida boyfriend. “What about Aunt Sally?”

Nina lifted one hand and gave a dismissive wave.

“Sally will be fine. She’s been talking about moving closer to Emily since Christmas.

She misses the kids, she misses her daughter.

I understand both, all too well. She was refusing to leave her home out of sheer stubbornness, but she’s seen the error of her ways.

” She glanced at Harlan. “Besides, we tried, but Sally and I don’t live together well.

I love my sister, but we’re both set in our ways and we butt heads far too often.

I’d been wondering how long it would last, but this settles it. ”

Anna’s mom drove her crazy at times, but she had to admit, it would be nice to have her close after the baby came. And before. “I have so many questions. Do you know, the doctor said this is a geriatric pregnancy?”

Nina pursed her lips. “How dare he?”

Now, that was the response she’d been looking for…

* * *

Olive Carson must be a witch, or a magician. She was definitely some kind of miracle worker. Colt stood just inside the depot front entrance studying the sight before him in awe.

Tuck, already properly dressed in a gray suit, circled around and went straight to Olive. He knew, everyone knew, she’d have jobs lined up for him.