Daddy's Home

  When she hung up, she kissed Chloe on the cheek. Meg was on the sofa watching TV. Brendan and Maddie would be by in a couple of hours. He’d taken her to the latest Disney movie.

  “Meg, can you watch Chloe for an hour? I have to take care of something.”

  “Sure.”

  So she had at least an hour to put this to rest.

  Holly made her way up to Birdrock. She walked up the front porch and knocked on the door.

  Anne Nickels answered. “I thought you’d be back eventually,” she said and swung the door open. “Come on in. Tea is already brewing. Chamomile, right?”

  Holly nodded and followed her inside the house, where she sat down on the chenille sofa. “I want to apologize for the way I acted the last time I was here. Seems that many of your predictions or feelings about my case were correct. We did catch him.”

  Anne nodded. “You don’t need to apologize. Sometimes the things I say are not what people want to hear, but I have a responsibility to my clients to relay what I intuit, even if I don’t understand it myself.”

  “I’m here because obviously so much of what you said was accurate, and now I need to finish up on a personal note.”

  “Jack?”

  “Yes.” It amazed Holly that she knew his name and knew exactly what it was that she’d come to discuss.

  “When we spoke before I felt this sense about him, that he hadn’t died, that somehow he was alive. I saw the fire, but usually when someone passes on, I see a grave or some other type of object that is reflective of a passing. I did not get that with him. I saw a handsome, vital man, still very much alive.”

  “Okay.” Was this what Holly wanted to hear? She wasn’t sure, but she had to know. “Is that what you still see?”

  Anne set down her teacup and closed her eyes momentarily. “Actually, no. Interesting.” She paused and crossed her legs. “I now understand why I saw things the way I did on your first visit. The reason I saw Jack so alive was because you had kept him that way, Holly. You were not willing to let go, and because of that he was so prevalent in spirit within your heart and mind. That’s what I was reading,” she said gently. “You’ve let go, and that is all Jack ever wanted. Now he can go on into the light and be where he’s supposed to be. You see, if we hold the dead so strongly with us, they cannot truly pass on. So it’s good for both of you.”

  Holly didn’t know what to believe.

  “Also, Jack is aware of the new man in your life.” Anne smiled.

  “Huh.”

  “He likes him. He says go for it and live your life. He says that you and Chloe have an angel watching over you, but that you should let this new man be your angel here on Earth.”

  Holly teared up. The sense of fear that she had felt for so long was replaced with relief.

  She stood and gave Anne a hug. “Thank you.”

  “Anytime.”

  Holly closed the door behind her, got in her car, and headed home to her Earth angel and their girls.