29. Epilogue
473 kisses later
Ida snapped the tiny moon-shaped earrings on and checked her look in the mirror one last time. She’d grown used to seeing herself in reflective surfaces, but sometimes, it still caught her off-guard. Her hair fell in slightly untamed waves over her shoulder, meeting the fuzzy peach-colored sweater. Sweaters—what a great thing! Not to speak of pants. Jeans were magic.
The bedroom door opened. “Are you ready?” Gabriel asked.
“Just a second.”
“You said that five minutes ago.”
She turned to him with pretend disapproval. “Says the man who spends twenty minutes in the bathroom each morning.”
Gabriel came to her and hugged her from behind.
Hugs? Rated way above fuzzy sweaters and pants.
“Our grill master is impatient. Says the chicken will be overdone,” he said.
“Oh, we can’t have that.” She made one last, needless fluff of her hair, and let Gabriel lead her to the hallway. She paused on the doorstep.
Need to make sure the floor is stable. This is the most trekked path, withthe most wear on the floorboards.
Her foot hovered a few inches above the floor.
“Ida.” Gabriel’s voice was calm, steadying. “Less steps, less wear, don’t you think?”
Right. That made sense.
Makes sense, makes sense, makes sense.
She took a deep breath and crossed the threshold without staggering back. Gabriel reaffirmed his grip.
In the months since she’d left her ghostly state, many things with and within her changed. There were the obvious human problems, but besides that, her razor-sharp memory began to fade. Oh, nothing to worry about; she simply wasn’t working like a computer anymore. She remembered everything she’d done as a ghost, but the information absorbed from books, movies, and other objects slowly moved to the back of her mind, like a childhood memory that, in time, becomes but a recollection of images and feelings.
The one thing that hadn’t changed was her affliction, but with Gabriel’s support and frequent sessions with a therapist, she was managing. They’d returned to the house, deciding what to do with it while Ida adjusted to life. At least here, she knew exactly where all the walls were, and bumped into them less when she forgot she couldn’t phase through anymore.
Besides, Ida enjoyed properly meeting the locals.
A mouthwatering aroma of grilled meat and veggies reached them even before they turned the corner to the backyard. The Schuyler Sisters sat around the picnic table, for once eating more than chatting. Mark waved at them from behind the grill.
“There’s our freshly engaged couple!” Jason approached with a plate of chicken kabobs. “Don’t tell me what you’ve been doing. Just eat.”
“Gladly,” Ida said. Oh, food—haunting didn’t do it justice. It smelled delicious and tasted better than heaven. But before she could reach for it, a brown and white four-legged furball launched herself toward Ida, barking at first, then scratching her pants.
“Rosie!” Ida kneeled and scratched the dog behind her ears. “Look at how you’ve grown!”
“She can play dead now,” Marge explained, a bit of mustard dripping down her hand as she waved it in excitement.
“She can? Rosie, play dead!”
Rosalie dropped on her back and stuck her paws in the air, looking like a most adorable corpse.
“She always does everything Ida tells her to, doesn’t she?” Janice remarked. “And she liked her from the moment she met her.”
Ida gave a sly look to Gabriel. She was convinced Rosalie had recognized her as the former ghost. Luckily, she couldn’t talk.
“I saw your new post on the blog,” Dina said as they all congregated around the table. “Well done!”
“Thank you!” Ida said through a mouthful. “Forty-eight new views in the past two hours. One reader even asked me for more tips about the rose bushes. Oh!” She reached her hand over the table. “We should do a collaboration! People could call us the Garden Gurus.”
“You become famous, more people come into town…” Jason counted off his fingers. “Deaths happen, more work for me at the morgue, profit for everyone!” Mark punched him in the shoulder, and joined the rest of the table in a roaring laugh.
Were her neighbors slightly strange? Perhaps. But after a century, Ida finally fit in.
“Are we ever going to tell them?” Gabriel said as they walked over to the blooming garden for a few minutes of privacy. “Or should I let them think I only fall for women called Ida?”
“They’ll say you’re quirky. It’s not a bad thing, is it?”
He smiled. “No.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Not at all.”
Half a game franchise later
“Aw, yes!” Perry dropped the controller and raised his arms in the air. “Victory for me!”
“It’s hardly fair. You created the game,” Ida said.
“The character designs, yes. But it’s got nothing to do with pure gaming talent.” He flashed Ida a smile, blindingly white against his dark face. “So, what’dya think? Minus the losing.”
“I love it. Especially the lady vampire. The mix of her slightly Victorian attitude with modern principles.” She arched an eyebrow. “And her outfit is eerily familiar.”
“Hey, a little bit of inspiration never hurt anybody.”
The front door opened, followed by a dribble of smaller steps against heavier ones. “We’re back,” Gabriel announced.
A second, smaller voice overlapped his. “Uncle Perry!” Seraphina ran into the living room and bounced onto the couch, her twin braids whirling around her head. “Ooh, what game did you bring? Can I play? Why does that lady look like Mommy?”
Ida laughed and lifted her daughter onto her lap—a year more, and she’d be too heavy for it. “Not yet, Sera. You need to grow up a bit.”
“But I want to fight, too!” Sera mimicked punching, adding an exaggerated “Pow” after each jab toward the TV.
Perry looked over his shoulder at Gabriel. “Safe to say this one’s not gonna be a lawyer, huh?”
“For the judge’s sake, I hope not,” Gabriel said. He met Ida with a knowing smile, and she smiled back.
Maybe the next one, though.
One cycle of the Wright-Maxwell comet later
“Two mugs of tea and warmed-up cookies.” Gabriel handed one mug to Ida and sat on the blanket next to her.
She snuggled closer to share the warmth; the April night was on the chilly side, but the skies were clear, and she wouldn’t miss this for anything. “The kids?” she asked.
“Sasha is giving a new meaning to the phrase ‘sleeping like a baby’, Seb finally settled down, and Sera is pretending to be asleep while watching the soccer match replay under the covers.” Gabriel sighed and sipped his tea. “She knows fair well it’s a school day tomorrow.”
“We’ve had a ghost in this family,” Ida said, shrugging. “Maybe it’s also time for a zombie.”
He laughed, then pointed at the sky. “There it goes.”
A bright-tailed ball of space dust appeared from behind the tree, and Ida’s eyes watered. Hi, old friend. I have so much to tell you.
She tucked her head under Gabriel’s chin.
“Fourteen years,” Gabriel said. “Imagine the things it had seen, far out there.”
She let out a happy sniffle. “I could,” she said, “but I don’t need to. I don’t think there’s anything more exciting than what we’ve been through here.”
Gabriel put down his mug and hugged her tighter. Even after fourteen years, every touch and every kiss was still as special as the first one. But Ida didn’t need physical touches to know Gabriel was, and always would be, the one. She’d known it long before she was brought back to life.
It was all written in the comet.
THE END
***