Page 44 of The Most Unusual Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy

Edgar

It was the last week of October, and the Crescent City was ajangle with Halloween spirit.

Krewe of Boo, the Zombie Run, and dozens of other Halloween-related events were taking place all over town.

Artfully arranged gourds and corn plants had appeared on the steps of hotels and historical buildings.

Balconies dripped with spiderwebs, glittering skulls adorned porch steps, and the occupants were even more likely to be in costume than they were on an ordinary day.

For most of his adult life, Edgar had spent October searching the decorations for threats that could lurch from behind the scarecrows or burst out of the caskets.

He was leery of Christmas trees and Mardi Gras floats for the same reason.

Over the years, he’d developed a habit of only leaving his apartment when absolutely necessary during those seasons.

But this year, everything was different. This year, Allie had a new baby, Poe was back in town, Edgar had seen Carys, Greta, Helen, and Veronica multiple times socially, and, most amazing of all, Edgar had a boyfriend who enjoyed doing things like leaving the house.

Of course, they weren’t getting to do much of that, since their work schedules were out of sync now that the haunt had opened: Jamie left for work at 2 p.m. and didn’t get home until ten, while Edgar usually began work at the cat café at 9 a.m. and finished delivering for Lagniappe Lemonade around five.

It had left them with little time over the last few weeks for anything but sleepy late-night cuddles, Jamie letting themself into Edgar’s apartment with the key he’d given them and crawling into Edgar’s bed, the smell of smoke machine juice clinging to them even after a shower.

But Friday was Halloween, and that would be the final night of the haunt, as well as one of New Orleans’ biggest party nights of the year. After that, Jamie would have to strike the set, and then they’d have a month off before their holiday bartending gig began. Edgar couldn’t wait.

For the moment though, he consoled himself with cats.

There was truly nothing like them for comfort when you were lonely.

Before he’d opened the cat café that morning, Edgar had spent half an hour lying on his back on the rug the cats liked best, letting them nuzzle him, bunt him, curl up in his various angles, and lick his hair.

Now, as he unlocked the door and flipped the sign to OPEN , Edgar wondered what he should do for Jamie to celebrate the haunt closing.

As he was contemplating this, the door tinkled its opening, and Allie pushed a stroller through the door, Poe close behind.

Allie had been making an effort to get out of the house with the baby every day, and Edgar and the cats had been the delighted beneficiaries. Poe hadn’t joined them before though.

“Morning!” Allie called. “Baby, say good morning to your uncle and a whole lot of cats.”

“Morning,” Edgar said. He crouched beside the stroller and wiggled his fingers at the baby. “Hi, Smoosh.”

The baby blinked large brown eyes up at Edgar and followed his fingers intently. Raven hair feathered over their forehead. They wore a black onesie with a white skeleton on it. They looked adorable.

Poe stuck close to the stroller, not acknowledging Edgar.

“What’s up, Poe?” Edgar asked, attempting to elicit some reaction.

“What’s up,” he mumbled.

Then he did something Edgar didn’t expect. He pulled on black leather gloves, tucked the sleeves of his long-sleeved shirt into the cuffs, wrapped a scarf around his neck, and bent to lift the baby out of their stroller.

“C’mere, Bones,” he said and cuddled the baby to his chest.

Edgar cast a look at Allie that asked, What the hell? Last he knew, Allie wouldn’t let Poe touch the baby, for obvious reasons, and Poe had assiduously avoided it.

I know , Allie’s expression said. I guess this is happening?

Poe bounced the baby as he walked around the café.

Three kitten siblings had recently been dropped off by a lady who lived down the street and found them inside her garbage can.

They were adorable, fluffy white things with blue eyes and extremely sharp claws that allowed them to climb Edgar and stick to him like burrs.

They tended to do things in a pack, and now they began to chase after Poe’s feet, batting at the shredded denim where his boots had rubbed the hem to strings.

The baby made a sound between a gurgle and a coo, and Edgar couldn’t help his own mew in response. He and Poe locked eyes in mutual cute appreciation. Then Poe’s expression changed, and he sniffed the baby.

“I’ve got it,” Edgar said at Poe’s wince and took the diaper bag off Allie’s shoulder.

“I got it,” Poe said and snatched the bag from him.

Edgar certainly wasn’t going to argue about that. Allie gave him a look that said, See? Watch!

Poe took a box of rubber gloves from the diaper bag and snapped them on over his leather gloves.

He laid the changing mat on the floor and the baby on the changing mat and unsnapped the skeleton onesie.

He changed their diaper efficiently, snapped their onesie up, and took off the rubber gloves as if he’d been doing it for years.

“Um.”

“I figured it out. Me and Bones have an understanding. Don’t worry about it,” Poe said. “Right, Bones?”

The baby gurgled, and their eyes rolled wildly. Edgar and Allie raised amused eyebrows at each other.

Then Edgar got back to work, happy to let his family entertain the cats, and didn’t notice anything amiss until Poe let out a surprisingly tiny Eep .

Edgar looked over to see that the three white kittens had climbed his jeans and were now attempting to crawl the rest of the way up on the thin material of his shirt.

“This little shit almost pulled out my nipple piercing!” Poe said, making no attempt to remove the kittens.

“That’s William Fitzwilliam,” Edgar said as Allie exclaimed, “You have a nipple piercing?”

But Poe was too busy unsticking claws from his torso to answer. Finally, he scooped the kittens inside his jacket. When he flashed them the lining, three white fuzzy heads protruded from three pockets.

“Allie, take a picture. Poe, don’t move,” Edgar added preemptively. “I need this for the shop’s website.”

Poe glared but let her take the picture.

Two of the kittens soon extricated themselves from Poe’s pockets, but William Fitzwilliam curled up and went to sleep. Poe got to his feet.

“Gotta go. Sis, you can take the truck home. I’ll be back later.”

Allie held her arms out for the baby.

“I like this place,” Poe said softly to Edgar, looking around. Then he shoved his phone in his back pocket and turned to leave.

“Poe.”

He looked over his shoulder, eyebrows raised.

“Are you shoplifting that kitten?”

“No,” Poe said. “He wants to come with me.” Poe was glaring, but he pulled his jacket close. Something about it hurt Edgar’s heart.

“Do you want to adopt him?”

“No. I don’t know. Maybe. What would I have to do?”

They’d never had pets growing up, though Edgar, Poe, and Allie had all loved animals.

When they’d beg for pets, their father would always tell them that cats were unreliable sociopaths, dogs were pathetic brownnosers, and their mother was allergic.

But Cameron and Antoine had always had cats, rabbits, dogs, and sometimes lizards around the house.

Their father had been a veterinarian and also an epic softy, and Poe would pick a different animal each time to cuddle with every time they’d go over.

“You just have to fill out a form and promise that you can care for the animal.” He slid the form across the desk to Poe.

“Um. Allie?” Poe drawled.

“Yeah?”

“Uh. Can I have a kitten at your house?”

“Will you take one hundred percent responsibility for it no matter what?”

“Yeah.”

“Like, I want to experience all the cute advantages of the kitten and none of the work or annoyance.”

“I understand.”

“That means that if the kitten wakes the baby, you’re responsible for the kitten and the now-awake baby. Any consequences of this creature’s behavior are on you.”

“Yeah, I got it,” he said, nostrils flaring.

“Then, okay,” she said. She peered at the tiny white head sticking out of Poe’s pocket. “It really is adorable.”

“There’s just one thing,” Edgar said. “Kittens really need a friend. They’re much easier to manage when they can get attention, support, and comfort from another kitten. So you could take Cormac—”

“You want me to adopt two of them?”

He eyed the floor where Cormac and Mingus Fitzwilliam were twining around his ankles. “Yeah. Except then Mingus would be left behind…”

“You want me to adopt three tiny white kittens? What the hell am I gonna do with three of them?”

“What were you gonna do with only one—crown a new Highlander?”

Poe glared. “What is that, a Scottish thing?”

“Maybe y’all should think about the logistics for a few days?” Edgar asked. “Buy a litter box and cat food, and get some old towels to make them a bed. Maybe make a vet appointment and—”

“Whatever, just give ’em to me.” Poe scooped up Cormac and Mingus before Edgar could, tucking them back into his inner coat pockets. “Allie?”

“Same rules apply,” was all she said. She looked like she needed a nap.

Poe pulled a ballpoint pen out of a different pocket and filled out the form in handwriting Edgar could only decipher because he’d grown up reading it.

“I’ll get all their stuff. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, but don’t you want a box to carry—”

“I’ve got it. They like it in there.” Grudgingly, Poe held open his jacket, revealing three slowly breathing pockets.

“That’s adorable,” Edgar said. “But what if they wake up before you get home? It’s safer for them if you carry them in a box.”

For a moment, it looked like Poe might concede. Then he pushed the form back across the counter to Edgar with one finger, zipped up his coat, and left, bell echoing in his wake.

“Well, he’s just a little ray of sunshine, isn’t he?” Allie said flatly.

“Can he talk to animals in addition to seeing the future?” Edgar mused. “Not like he’d have told us. Maybe he’s been communing with gators and crows and freaking earthworms this whole time.”

Allie laughed. “Poe in conversation with an earthworm.”

“Right? He’d be like, Don’t let these fuckheads step on you. Their puddle is your pool .”

“ What does it feel like to get cut in half and then grown into another one of yourself? Can you think for both of you then? ” Allie said in a good imitation of Poe’s flat, aggressive tone.

“Whatever, he better not let anything happen to those kittens.”

“He won’t. Poe’s…Poe, but he’d never hurt a helpless animal.”

“I know he wouldn’t on purpose . But he just adopted three animals and left with them in his pockets . And I let him.”

Edgar knew he shouldn’t’ve, but the truth was, even after he’d been gone for so long, Edgar still trusted his brother in his deepest, unwavering places.

Allie said, “When you don’t let Poe have his way, he takes it anyhow.”

That was also true.

“Yeah. He should really go to therapy.”

“We all should.”

“Yeah. That’s probably true.”

“I have.” Allie said it casually, but Edgar could tell it was important.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I started when I got pregnant. There’s a lot of stuff to think through when you go from being someone’s kid to suddenly being someone’s parent. Especially since our parents were…uh…”

“Yeah,” Edgar agreed. “Has it helped you?”

“Oh good lord , yes.” She put Smoosh down on their back on the changing mat. “When I told my therapist that Poe can see the future and has been lying about seeing ghosts this whole time?”

Edgar did a double take. “You told your therapist about…the ghosts?”

“Well, yeah. I could hardly explain anything about my life without that bit.”

Edgar had always imagined telling a therapist you saw ghosts would be a one-way ticket to a mental hospital. “Mom always said…” He trailed off when he considered the source.

“I know.”

“Did your therapist believe you?”

“Yeah, of course. I mean, I don’t know if she personally believes that ghosts are real. But for the purpose of our sessions, she takes that as fact. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to help me.”

“I never thought about that,” Edgar said. He’d just pictured the pitying look someone would give him the moment they realized he was tragically delusional.

“Also, a lot of people believe in ghosts. You know how I feel about the secrecy shit.”

This had been Allie’s perspective since they were teenagers: that talking about it normalized it and encouraged other people to talk about their own experiences.

Secrets were an unnecessary burden. She’d been right: whenever she brought the topic up, there would be someone who said they believed, had experienced something, or knew someone who had.

Nothing like what the Lovejoys experienced—mostly shadows in their peripheries or dark figures at the ends of their beds.

But knowing she wasn’t alone had helped Allie, so Edgar would never argue with her.

At her urging, he’d even tried a few online forums, years before.

But unlike Allie, it had made him feel even more alone to understand the gulf between his experiences and those of even other people who’d seen ghosts.

And that isolation had only gotten more habitual.

It doesn’t have to be like that anymore. It’s not going to be.

Edgar put a hand on Smoosh’s belly, soothing himself with the warm, dependable rise and fall. The baby cooed, and Edgar turned to see them awake and looking at him.

“So I’ve been thinking,” Allie said. “About a name.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mama chose Lenore for herself because it sounded a bit like Nora.” Nora had been their mother’s given name.

“So I was thinking of the name Nour. It honors Mama in both ways. And it means light .” She paused for a moment.

“I guess I feel like this little weirdo has been a light for me, showing me what I want for the future. For me and for us. And illuminating a lot of shit I’ve struggled with for a long time.

I feel as though I can see what I should do more clearly now that they’re here. ”

Edgar swallowed around the lump in his throat.

“Bah, cornball alert,” Allie said, rolling her watery eyes. Then, after a moment, “But, um. What do you think?”

“I think it’s beautiful,” he said. “And I think it’s good you’ve picked something, because my first thought when Poe called them Bones was that it was cute and maybe I should start calling them that too.”

“Dear god, I’ve acted just in time. Although actually, I think Bones is a pretty wicked name too.”

“Don’t tell Poe,” they both said together and laughed while Nour bobbed their little fists at the nearest cat in pure joy.