Chapter 3
At last, he held the phone to his ear and waited. “Aunt Elspeth, thank you for, um… answering. The massage therapist you told me about would like to speak with you. Can you do that?”
After a moment of listening, he grinned. “Oh, yes. She’s brilliant. My leg is nearly healed.”
After another moment, his expression changed to look serious. “Oh. As you wish.” He handed the phone to Freya. “She wants to speak with you in private. Is there someplace you can go where I can’t hear you?”
Freya’s interest was piqued. “Why would she not want you to hear?”
Devon shrugged. “All families have secrets. Usually, they only want to protect you, and sometimes it’s best to let them.”
That must be a British thing. If Freya’s family had a secret, she’d demand to know what it was, and she wouldn’t rest until she pried it out of them with a crowbar.
“I’ll go to the ladies’ room.” She jumped up, anxious to get to the privacy of the one-toilet bathroom.
As soon as she clicked the door lock, she spoke into the phone. “Hello? Aunt… Um, Elspeth?”
“Hello, dear. Can you hear me well enough?”
“Loud and clear. Thank you for speaking with me. But I need to know first…” Her voice shook a bit. “Are my grandma and sister ghosts too? Is that how you know them?”
“Oh, dear me! No! I can see how you’d make that connection, but no. They exist in the physical world.”
“Whew. I’m anxious to learn anything you know that might help me locate my family.”
“Well, I don’t have an easy answer, but there are some things you should know.”
Freya braced herself. The last time someone prefaced news like that, her car repair bill had tripled.
“Elspeth, just rip off the Band-Aid.”
The ghost chuckled. “Devon was an Earl in Victorian times.”
Freya blinked. “Huh.”
“And you were his wife.”
That was… not where she thought this was going. Was that information useful now? Did being an ex-Earl come with secret supernatural knowledge? The Victorians were obsessed with the occult, so maybe.
“Interesting. But even if that’s true, how can that help me locate my family?” She held the phone behind her back to see if they were communicating telepathically.
“I am not positive it will, but I thought you should know.”
Yup. She could still hear her, clear as a bell. “But Devon doesn’t know? Is that why you wanted to speak to me privately?”
“Indeed, it is. I can’t say for certain,” Elspeth admitted, “but I believe your sister and grandmother may have traveled through time. Possibly back to a previous century.”
Freya squeezed her eyes shut. Time travel? On top of reincarnation? On top of ghosts?
Could I please be getting punked right now?
She swallowed her skepticism. “And how would I even confirm that? How did Devon find you? Or did you find him? I’m rambling, so I’ll shut up now.”
Elspeth chuckled. “It’s fine.”
Keeping her doubts to herself, she asked, “How would we know? Where would we look?”
“Records. Devon got suspicious about my… unique communication style, looked into my death records, and found my grave. The churchyard has been full since the early 1900s. No new burials, including mine.”
Freya tapped her fingers on the sink. “Why didn’t you want him to know about our past life connection?”
Elspeth’s laugh was light and musical. “He hasn’t had much luck with romance. I thought if I reunited you two, well… maybe nature would take its course.”
Freya groaned. Oh, fantastic. A ghost matchmaker. Exactly what I needed. “And you didn’t want him to be influenced?”
“Exactly. You’ve been a healer in many lives, and you’ve always healed him. That’s how you fall in love.”
Freya stared at the ceiling, processing that little bombshell.
Time travel. Past lives. Fate pulling the strings like a mischievous puppet master… She sighed. “Okay. So, Devon believes in ghosts. What about reincarnation?”
“That, I don’t know.”
“What about time travel?”
“Again, I’m unsure.”
It would sound insane to most people. Maybe even to Devon.
“You can ask him about those things, but let your romance bloom naturally.”
“Fine. I wouldn’t want to influence him either. But I might want to share your thoughts with him eventually. You know… in case things do work out with us.”
“I’m fairly sure love will prevail.”
“What if he doesn’t believe me? I’m not sure how to prove any of that.” Freya paused for a few moments, then added, “Maybe hypnosis can unlock some answers? I know how to do past life regressions.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” Elspeth laughed. “Oh, yes. You’re just what he needs.”