Chapter 31 Ellis #3
I watched as Rachel swallowed, her hand lifting automatically to the gold pendant around her neck. She clutched it tightly.
“It’s amazing,” she murmured, her eyes shining as she spoke. “You don’t really think in the moment… well, you don’t really want to think at all. And then you realize how many people are alive… because… because of one choice.” Rachel’s voice cracked. “Because of her.”
I lowered my eyes to the coffee mug as she swiped a Kleenex from beside her, dabbing at her eyes.
“I was sick most of my life,” I told her quietly.
“I had leukemia as a small child, and then it came back for round two. Apparently once wasn’t enough.
The treatments… they saved me, but they were aggressive, and my heart…
my heart just couldn’t handle it. Eventually, it failed.
” My throat felt tight, and Dove pressed her hand to my lower back.
I glanced up from my mug to Liv, who stood behind her mother’s chair now.
“She saved me,” I told Rachel, my gaze flicking back to her. “Your daughter saved me.”
Rachel shook her head slowly, as though she were trying to process something so large and incomprehensible.
“You’ve been through so much for someone so young,” she whispered.
“But you’re obviously a strong girl. Liv would be so proud.
So proud that someone so strong has her heart.
She was strong too. Strong-willed, stubborn, never let anything beat her.
” She gave me a watery smile before clearing her throat and looking to Dove. “And this is your friend?”
I glanced at Dove, and she grinned as her brown eyes caught mine. My heart fluttered.
Rachel laughed softly, and we both looked to her.
“Maybe more than a friend… but you two clearly haven’t had that conversation yet.”
Liv snorted loudly and rolled her eyes. “She’s so nosy.”
Heat crawled up my neck, and I ducked my head as Dove chuckled beside me.
“I own a tarot shop in Chicago,” she explained honestly. “Ellis wandered in one day and… well, it’s been an adventure ever since.”
Something flashed in Rachel’s eyes, but the spark vanished as quickly as it had come. She picked up her coffee and took a small sip. “You’re the first recipient I’ve heard from… but I thought all that stuff was kept private. Anonymous. How did you find me?”
My stomach twisted anxiously as Liv smirked from behind her mother’s chair. Dove’s hand moved to rest over mine, her touch warm and steady, silently urging me on.
“Well,” I stammered. “Um. This is where things get a little… weird. Like, really weird. Honestly, I don’t even know how to—” I broke off, my face burning as Rachel watched me with earnest eyes.
“Okay, so maybe three weeks ago, or two and a half? Whatever. I walked into Dove’s shop, and she gave me a reading, and…
” My words crumbled, my voice faltering into the silence.
I looked to Dove helplessly.
She gave me a reassuring smile before facing Rachel. “I gave Ellis a reading,” she said simply. “And Liv appeared.”
The words hung in the air, impossible and yet somehow freeing, suspended between us.
Rachel blinked at us both and then set down her mug as her frown deepened. “What do you mean?”
I ran a hand through my hair, my shoulders cracking as I moved, struck once again by the absurdity of telling someone we had a ghost hanging out with us, and just how unbelievable it sounded, even to my own ears.
“We were in the room, Dove was reading my cards, and then… Liv just appeared—and not before she completely scared the shit out of us.” I shot Liv a pointed look, and she stuck her tongue out at me.
“She told us who she was. That her heart was in my chest. That she had unfinished business. She said—she said she had to find you and make things right, so she could pass over.”
Rachel’s hands shook as she slowly raised them, her eyes wide, her face pale. “My Liv is still bound to earth?” she whispered. “Well, that makes sense why Doris couldn’t feel her. Doris—she’s a medium I sometimes see. Couldn’t get anything from Liv at all!”
“Told you this would be easy for her to believe,” Liv said with a shrug, twirling her pink hair. “This shit is Mom’s bread and butter.”
“You believe us?” Dove asked, her voice tinged with disbelief.
Rachel blinked, her eyes glistening as she nodded, a smile tugging at her lips. “I mean, listen, I’m no fool—you’ll need to answer some questions, so I know this is real and you’re not playing me.”
“Yes,” Liv said with a sardonic sigh. “Do your due diligence. Verify the ghost in the room is, in fact, your child.”
“So,” Rachel said with a smile as she crossed her arms, as if this were a game, “answer me this. What happened the first time Liv dyed her hair pink?”
Both Dove and I looked at Liv, who was still standing behind her mother, and Rachel twisted, following our gaze as if she could see her.
“You promised you would never bring this up again!” Liv groaned at her.
“I bet she’s embarrassed, huh?” Rachel said with a snort, clapping her hands together, flecks of dry clay flying off them
“I spilled the dye,” Liv admitted with a sigh.
“I was actually staying at my grandmother’s fancy-ass house when it happened.
The bathroom was all white. The towels were white—you get the idea, okay?
Anyway, I spilled the dye all over a bunch of expensive towels and stained them really badly.
It looked like a crime scene, and my grandmother freaked the fuck out.
She thought I had hurt myself and called 911. ”
Dove snorted. “She said it looked like a crime scene, that it happened in her grandmother’s bathroom, and her grandmother ended up calling 911.”
Rachel’s lips trembled as a small, hysterical laugh bubbled up. “Well, that’s true. It did happen. Gosh, my mother was furious when she realized. Hilarious.” Rachel’s fingers twitched as she settled her hands in her lap. “Okay, where is the red wine stain?”
Liv smirked and folded her arms. “Under the couch, on the carpet. She never found it until we moved it to clean for Christmas dinner and had to rearrange the house.”
“Under the couch,” I repeated. “On the carpet. You didn’t find it until you moved it to rearrange the house for Christmas dinner.”
Rachel’s body stiffened, as if this were no longer a game but an honest reality—that we weren’t lying and her daughter truly was standing behind her now.
“And…” She cleared her throat. “And how old was Liv when she finally gave up her dummy?”
Liv wrinkled her nose and stared at the floor. “Four. And I used to hide it down the side of my bed so no one would steal it from me.”
Dove relayed the words, and the air seemed to leave the room as Rachel covered her face, her shoulders folding inward as a raw, keening sound escaped her throat, making me jump.
Dove’s hand curled tighter over mine as Rachel rocked gently in her chair.
Liv stared down at her mother, clutching the back of the chair as if she depended on it.
“It’s her then,” Rachel whispered. “My Liv.”
“She’s standing behind your chair,” Dove murmured, her voice calm and assured.
For a few seconds, all that could be heard was the wind chimes clanging outside and the tiny ticking of a clock somewhere in the house.
A shaft of light cut through the living room window, dust particles dancing in the air, and I was struck by how such an ordinary setting could host something so extraordinary.
“It’s been a journey to get here,” Dove said, breaking the silence. “We drove from Chicago, and we did Route 66. For Liv.”
“She got to do the route?” Rachel asked, clutching her pendant once more.
“She—she and Bri, they were… they were so excited. I mean, I was devastated. I didn’t want Liv to move halfway across the country, but I knew she had to spread her wings.
I get it. Oh, that trip. I watched them spend months planning it, penciling out every single stop. You helped her do it.”
“We did,” I murmured, glancing at Liv. “It’s probably been one of the best experiences of my life.”
“You’re welcome,” Liv said with a smirk before she looked back down at her mother, staying behind the chair as if she were too afraid to face her head-on.
“Bri,” Rachel whispered thickly, wiping her eyes. “Poor girl hasn’t been the same since that night. She came and saw me before she left. She was a mess. Told me everything that happened that night and what Liv had done.” Rachel choked and cleared her throat, and Liv closed her eyes.
“Tell her I did exactly what she had taught me growing up,” Liv murmured. “Tell her I put myself between danger and someone I loved.”
Dove nodded, her palm sweaty against mine. “Liv said she did exactly what you taught her. That she put herself between danger and someone she loved.”
My eyes burned in that oh-so-familiar way I was becoming painfully used to. I watched as Rachel’s hands moved to her mouth, her eyes closing as if nodding in acceptance, sniffing loudly before flashing open again.
“I couldn’t be mad at you for how it happened,” Rachel whispered weakly.
“So I clung to the anger that you didn’t listen to me that night instead.
That you went out even though I told you not to.
It was easier for me to be angry at her for going out than to accept the fact she—” Rachel broke off, and tears freefell down her face.
She shook her head and yanked another Kleenex.