Page 4 of Ghost Town I Do (Seawolf Beach)

Heads turned toward Gerald; there were a few audible gasps.

Nina placed a hand over her heart. A couple of women dropped back into their chairs as if their legs had given out from under them.

The rain stopped; a sliver of sun broke through the clouds, and then other spirits began to appear, one after another.

Some flickered in and out, came and went in a matter of seconds.

Others remained a minute, maybe two. The visiting ghosts came and went, a few as solid as the living guests, others misty, as if they fought to be here.

Maude appeared, standing close by a man who looked very much like Tuck. Anna’s brother and father stood against one wall, at peace with one another at last.

Nina Miller sat down hard, then stood again. “Jack? Donnie? How is this…”

Colt’s own parents appeared, together, not far from Maude and her Phillip.

Tuck gasped. “Is that my… grandmother? My grandfather ? Wow. He does look like me.”

Gerald’s voice filled the room not just with music but with magic. Magic that allowed more than one person present to see not just him but their own lost loved ones, come to Colt’s wedding to wish him well, to celebrate, and to get a glimpse of those they’d left behind.

Mac uttered a curse word that had a few disapproving heads turning in his direction.

Colt turned his head to see the ghost of a beautiful, dark-haired woman looking up at Mac, reaching toward him with a ghostly hand. Mac went completely white. The unshakeable man was shaken.

The other ghostly visitors were silent, but this one whispered, “Find our girl, Joe. Find her. She needs…” Before that sentence was finished, the ghost who’d appeared to Mac vanished.

Mac swiped at the empty space where the spirit had been for a few seconds, and said, “She needs what ? Dammit, Kylie! Where is she?”

Anna grabbed Colt’s hand and squeezed hard. “Holy cow, is this what it’s like all the time?”

He looked down at her. “Kinda, but usually not so much all at once.”

Everyone in the place saw a ghost, a lost loved one, a friend, lover, parent, spouse. You’d think they might move toward the spirits, but they did not. Shock ruled. They gasped, whispered, and listened to Gerald sing with the voice of an angel.

As the last of the ghosts began to fade away many of the wedding guests turned their attention to Colt, not in judgement but with surprise and maybe even a new understanding.

In a matter of seconds they knew his secret.

They all knew. They understood why he stayed close to home and talked to people who weren’t there. Ghosts. The lost ones. The trapped.

"Ave Maria” came to an end, and on the final notes of the song the few ghosts who remained, including Gerald, faded away. Some of them would be back, he assumed, but maybe Gerald had moved on at last. Time would tell.

He didn’t realize he’d been squeezing his bride’s hand too hard until she leaned into him and whispered, “I love holding your hand, but maybe not so tight.”

He looked down at her as he loosened his grip. “Sorry. You saw…”

“Yes.”

He knew the answer, and still he asked, “Everyone saw?”

“I’m pretty sure they did.”

Behind them and slightly to the side, Mac whispered, “You were telling the truth.”

His secret was out. There was no longer any reason to hide his ability.

Maybe his new mother-in-law would stop calling him squirrelly.

Maybe. Having his gift, or curse, public knowledge would come with its own challenges.

He had no desire to be the town ghost whisperer.

But with the word out, with his secret let loose, he felt a new sense of release. Of freedom.

Maybe he could make this work. As if he had a choice.

Somehow Olive had managed to wrangle up enough cake for everyone, even though the wedding and the guest list had grown in a matter of hours.

The small fancy cake they’d ordered was surrounded by cupcakes with fluffy white icing, as well as cinnamon rolls from the good bakery.

The rain had stopped, the March sun shone down on a wet street beyond the front windows of Hart’s Vinyl Depot.

Colt was the center of attention. People had stared at him before, but not so many at once, and not quite so hard.

At the moment, not a single ghost whispered in his ear.

They’d be back, sooner rather than later, but for now he was nothing more than a groom, a soon-to-be father, and a friend.

His mother-in-law raised her hand. “I have questions!”

Of course she did. Judging by the way the crowd nodded their heads in agreement, she wasn’t the only one. Colt smiled as he lifted the hand that still grasped Anna’s. “There will be time for questions later. First, cake for everyone!”

To his surprise, Maude appeared before him once more. This time she was visible to him alone. She smiled, then reached up and touched his cheek. He felt it, like a gentle breeze, as she whispered,

“I told you so…”

* * *

If you missed Colt and Anna’s story, you can find it in Ghost Town Boogie .

Olive and Tuck find Christmas and each other in Sugar Plum Serenade .

Coming soon, Mac’s story, Jasmine Street Blues .