Epilogue
I saac glanced out the window of the restaurant, making sure no one on the sidewalk outside was looking in. Finding no one near, he carefully stepped out of the shadows and walked directly to the wall where he took the old timey square clock down. After glancing toward the window again to make sure no one was watching, he walked back into the shadows.
Enveloped in a dim corridor, Isaac was able to move more freely without fear of prying eyes. He slowed his speed and came to a stop. Then, gathering his power, he slid the portal he wanted open to step out into Silas’ living room.
Fynn and Silas followed him as he carried the clock to the dining room. He placed it down on the table, and all three of them stared at the timepiece.
Fynn reached out to touch the clock. “Why would they want this ugly piece of crap?”
Silas grabbed his wrist, moving his hand away. “I don’t know.”
Reaching out, Silas laid a lone hand on the clock before carefully using both hands to turn the clock over.
None of them had expected what they saw.
Glancing up, they all stared at each other, each of their faces mirroring their fear.
“Do you think they know what it is?” Isaac asked, his voice grave.
“They were willing to kill to get the clock. They knew,” Silas responded grimly.
The soul mate he had been waiting for was beginning to reach his orbit. Fear nearly overwhelmed him. He would be called not only to protect the family but her as well. He was second-guessing his decision to take the clock instead of leaving it at the restaurant for Knox. He should hand the clock over to the sheriff. He had The Last Riders for protection, as well as trained deputies. He could give it to the sheriff, leaving his family and soul mate out of danger.
“What are we going to do?” Isaac looked back down at the clock then raised his eyes back to Silas.
Isaac and Fynn appeared to be just as afraid as he was.
Gingerly, he removed the golden medallion, which had been placed in a plastic bag and taped to the back of the clock. The beauty of the piece made a mockery of the cheap bag it had been placed inside of.
Silas sighed. He was weary of responsibilities. He felt as if he’d already lived a thousand lifetimes. This medallion could destroy everything his family and their ancestors had strived to achieve. They would have to use all of their gifts to protect the cherished artifact.
“Silas?” Fynn’s young voice cracked in fear. “What are we going to do?”
Silas gave the answer he didn’t want to give. How could the delicate piece of jewelry have the power to change the destiny of mankind? Silas couldn’t explain how, only that it did. He had been groomed from birth to follow Mother. His unwavering loyalty wouldn’t let him shirk the responsibility they had been given.
“We have no choice,” he answered, his voice firm. “We protect it at all costs.”
Jody silently slid out of bed, careful not to wake Sophie. Dressing quietly, he walked out of the bedroom to go into the other room, where he put on his shoes and a jacket before he opened the door to head out.
Striding familiarly in the direction he knew as well as the back of his hand, he made his way to the overlook where his family gathered to watch the stars. The death star was gone after destroying Chastity’s star.
Kneeling, he looked up to the heaven above. “Thank you, Mother, for sparing my soul mate and her loved ones …”
Jody stayed, giving homage to his queen until his muscles ached, only rising when he saw a shooting star racing across the sky.
Rising, he walked back to his trailer. He left the door unlocked and removed his clothes before sliding back in bed to pull Sophie into his arms.
He might be a lowly knight, but Mother had given him a king’s ransom by giving him Sophie as his soul mate. A soul mate he would work hard for each day to earn the honor of calling Sophie his. She had gone to sleep still thinking he had been joking about his family’s gifts; in the morning, he would have to show her the truth of his family’s abilities. She had a place in their family, and he wasn’t willing to keep any more secrets from her. Jody felt an overwhelming emotion as he held her in the darkness. He hadn’t felt it so long that at first, he didn’t recognize what the emotion was before it came to him…it was pure happiness.
Nervously, Jody shifted from one foot to the other, waiting for Sophie’s reaction after witnessing his brothers’ gifts.
She didn’t appear happy as she watched them walking away from the trailer to return to their own homes.
Jody cleared his throat.
“I know it’s a lot to accept at first.”
She stared at him balefully.
“I thought you were joking last night.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I saw that,” she said sarcastically. “You don’t think you could have told me before you asked me to marry you?”
“I wanted to wait until you fell in love with me. I didn’t want you to be afraid of them.”
Her expression gentled. “I could never be afraid of them.”
She would have run in terror if she had seen them last night after she had gone in the house. Jody wisely kept that thought to himself.
“Their gifts can be inherited by their children?”
“Yes.”
“Well,” she gave a long, suffering sigh. “At least all I have to worry about you is passing on your good looks, which combined with my looks, at least the female population will stand a fighting chance.”
Jody stared down at his nails. He needed to clip them.
“Jody?”
Should he go clip his nails now and avoid this conversation or wait…
“Jody!?”
He winced at her loud voice. “ Baby …”
His attempt to sweet-talk her failed miserably.
“Do not baby me…is there something else you’re not telling me? I have to go to the apartment and let the delivery drivers inside for the furniture before checking on my mom at the hospital.”
“Did I tell you that Baylin moved in with her parents?”
“Yes, you did. Why are you avoiding answering my question?”
Looking up from his hands, he realized he couldn’t avoid the question forever.
“Don’t be mad, but I may have forgotten to mention my own gift.”
Sophie narrowed her eyes on him.
“ May have ?”
He simply shrugged his shoulders. “My gift isn’t as good as theirs, and you never get to see it. Whew, that’s a relief off my mind. We can go now.”
“Slow your roll for once, Jody!”
His shoulders slumped. “I just don’t want you to overreact when I tell you.”
“Do I need to go inside for me to sit down?”
“No! There are pillows in there. I prefer to talk to you out here…uh…” Realizing that he had stalled for as long as he could, he got on with it. “Have you seen the movie The Sixth Sense ?”
Sophie moved to sit down on the trailer steps seemingly to know where this was going. “You mean the one where the kid sees dead people?”
Roughly, Jody swept a nervous hand through his hair. “Yes, well, I can see and talk to spirits who haven’t been rebirthed.”
“Rebirthed?”
“You might be more familiar with the term reincarnated.”
She grew pale as if she herself had seen a ghost. “Oh my …”
“Mother,” he correctly interjected. “Our higher power is a woman… Mother controls the universe.”
She just stared at him while Jody shifted his weight to his other foot.
“If you’re ready, we can go to the hospital now to check on your mom—”
“In a minute. I need to think!”
“About what?” he asked helpfully.
“Just be quiet a second.”
Jody snapped his mouth closed.
“How do you talk to them?”
This is the part he really didn’t want to tell her, yet he didn’t want to keep any more secrets from her.
“Two ways, they can come and talk to me if I’m in their vicinity or…”
“Or?” she asked in a strangled voice.
“Or I can call their spirts. I can force any spirit living or dead to obey me if I’m holding one of their possessions.”
Sophie jerked to her feet. “Have you made me do anything I haven’t wanted to do?”
Hurt, he shuttered his eyes. This was what he had been afraid of being accused of. Raising his eyelids, he stared at her honestly. “I’ve never used my gift to force you to do anything . I learnt that lesson when I convinced my dad to let us take turns on the ATV without helmets.”
Jody felt her arms go around him.
“I can’t even talk to them to tell them how sorry I am. They both have been rebirthed. I haven’t used that ability since they died. I won’t. I thought because I was on the mountain, I wouldn’t have any repercussions. I didn’t; they did. Silas keeps telling me Dad wouldn’t have given in to me, because he had the same gift. He gave in because he wanted to.”
“I agree with Silas,” she said softly. “You can’t blame yourself. You were only a child.”
“I always will. That’s why I would never use my gift to force you to do anything. I love you.”
“I believe you.”
She gave him a misty smile, which made him feel like Hercules.
“You may be a conceited, extremely attractive doofus, but you’re mine, too. I guess I can deal with you talking to dead people as long as you don’t talk to them around me or bring them home.”
Jody gave her a pained expression.
“I promise… there’s just a big favor I need first.”
Sophie separated herself from him.
“What’s the favor?” She glared at him suspiciously.
“You don’t need to be here when I talk to him,” Jody assured her.
“What do you need?”
“I need the letter you said Marty left you.”
Sophie frowned at him.
“Why do you need the letter?”
“The letter will allow me to talk to him without being near his body. I could look for his spirit in the afterlife, but I prefer not going that route.”
“Why...” Sophie broke off. “Never mind, I don’t have to guess where that son of bitch is. The letter is in the drawer of the dresser. Do I need to get it for you?”
“No.”
“Can I go let the delivery drivers in?”
“Go ahead. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
“Okay.” Sophie started to leave then hesitated. “If you talk to Marty here, can he come back here whenever he wants? I really don’t want him haunting me.”
“No, he can only come when I call him.”
“I need a drink.”
Jody heard her mutter under her breath.
“I’ll chill a bottle of wine for us to drink tonight when we get home.”
“Chill a case. I’m going to need several bottles.” She swung back as if another thought occurred to her. “By the way, I don’t need to worry about you cheating me on me with dead women, do I? ‘Cause as much as I love you, that would be a deal breaker. I’m not fighting a corpse over you.”
“Of course not. Don’t be silly.”
Deciding it was prudent, he rushed up the steps of the trailer to lock himself inside as Sophie came at him with deadly intent. Damn, he was going to have to do something about her jealously streak. The way she just looked at him, he wouldn’t need the letter to get to talk to Marty; he would be his roommate in the other life.
He went into the bedroom, opened the drawer, and found a yellow envelope. Opening the envelope, he pulled out some legal papers and an unopened letter. He held it, then went outside after peeking through the window to see if Sophie was gone. Not wanting to invade her privacy, he left it unopened; it wasn’t his place to read the letter before she did. He walked to the family cemetery and stood near his great-great-uncle’s grave.
“Marty, father of Sophie. Come to me.”
Using a voice he had never used around Sophie, he waited for the spirit he had summoned.
Nothing happened. Marty thought to refuse him. He wouldn’t be denied.
“Marty, father of Sophie. I command you to come to me,” he called, using a harsher tone of voice.
Marty appeared in front of him. Jody gave him time to assimilate he was no longer in Hell.
“I want answers.”
Marty stopped looking around the cemetery to focus on him. His face was contorted in fear. “Why am I here?”
“I want answers.”
“I don’t have to tell you a fucking thing!”
Jody casually stepped forward, unafraid of the dead spirit. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will.”
“You can’t hurt me any more than that bastard who runs Hell.”
“Believe me, I can, and I will. Don’t test me.”
Marty gave in. “What do you want to know?”
“Why did you leave the diner to Sophie?”
The spirit became terror stricken. “Leave Sophie alone.”
Taken aback at Marty’s protective instinct when he mentioned Sophie, Jody felt as if his legs had been swept out from under him. “I was under the assumption you hated Sophie.”
“I love my daughter. Stay away from her!” Marty yelled at him.
“Calm yourself,” Jody told him. “I’m trying to protect her, too. I need to know who from.”
“Why should you care?”
“A lot’s happened since you met your end, old man. I love Sophie, and I’m trying to protect her.”
Marty stared at him closer. “You’re one of the Colemans. I remember seeing you with them when they came to town.”
“That’s correct. I’m Jody. Now tell me what I need to know.”
Marty seemed indecisive; his face set stubbornly.
“Ginny is my sister. She is the only one in this town who gave a damn about you. If you cared enough to get to know the rest of the Colemans, you’d know I’d only want to protect your daughter.”
His face twisted in remorse.
“Ginny was the only good thing in my life, other than my daughter,” Marty revealed. “I left Sophie the restaurant because it was the only thing I could. I lost all my money on the horses. The restaurant was the only thing I had to give.”
Jody steeled himself not to feel sorry for him.
“If you loved her so much, then why did you leave the clock out in the open to be seen?”
“I didn’t know I was going to die before they came back for the clock.”
“Who was?”
“I don’t know. Delormer is someone’s muscle; I didn’t ask. He gave me money to stash it. I did. I was in debt to my eyeballs. I wanted the money he offered more than I wanted to ask questions.”
“What did Delormer look like?”
“Did?”
“If he’s who I think he was, he’s dead,” Jody answered.
“He was an ugly fucker, looked like he had big holes on his face.”
“That’s him,” he confirmed. “You have no idea who he worked for?”
“No. Tell Sophie to get rid of the clock.”
“Why do you care? You’ve made her and her mother’s lives miserable.”
“I saved them.”
Jody spat, “Bullshit.”
“I’m not lying. The clock wasn’t the first time I had dealings with Delormer. He was my bookie when Sophie was just a kid. I owed him money, and he threatened to kill Sophie or her mother unless I paid him back. I kept them moving until I could pay him back. I never could. He brought me the clock and told me if I kept it safe, he would cancel out the debt I owed him, plus give me fifty thousand cash. When he came back for the clock, I was going to try to make amends to Sophie… my time ran out.”
“Yes, it did. Now you have Sophie tangled in the mess you created,” Jody said grimly, his voice dropping to a whisper.
Marty asked frantically as his image began to disappear, “What are you going to do with the clock?”
“What you didn’t have the balls to do: find out who it belongs to.”