“Why do I still feel…?” Julie trailed off as her attention became riveted to the spot where Julius and Estelle stood. Estelle had one hand up and was slowly turning it in place, staring at it with a look of wonder. Her hand, and the rest of her, glowed with light. An equally glowing Julius seemed less surprised. It appeared they had earned their angel status after all.
Estelle closed her eyes, concentrated, and the light faded to leave her looking more solid than ever. She turned to Julius and punched him as hard as she could in the arm. “I’ve wanted to do that since you talked me out of going into the light,” then went to Julie and embraced her tightly to start a second round of goodbyes that included hugs for everyone.
Chapter 26
Once the pair had finally gone, a long moment of silence threatened to turn maudlin until Amethyst, who was closest, turned to glance at the cavity where the box had been resting. A flutter of paper caught her eye.
“Jules, there’s something else in here.” It was enough of a distraction to pull the focus back to the present.
Finn stepped past Amethyst to reach in to pull out an envelope containing several folded sheets of paper which he handed over to Julie who flipped open the first and scanned it.
“It’s a dispensation allowing Julius to own several troy ounces of gold for the purpose of creating his inventions.”
“In 1933, the president signed and order making it illegal to own more than a small amount of gold without permission,” Tyler explained.
The rest of the papers were gold certificates.
“You won’t find it.” Nine faces turned in surprise to see where this new voice had come from.
Julie recognized her from Estelle’s pictures. “Mary Lou?”
“Yes.” Mary Lou nodded.
“That gold is long gone and those certificates? They’re worthless.”
Mary Lou had been a woman of medium height with a long but gentle face.
“Arrogant man thought he was doing the right thing, keeping his wealth safe from his own son. Well, I knew all about that gold. Pried it out of those worthless clatter traps with his own tools once I found where he’d stashed his plans.”
“Behind the plaque in the kitchen,” Julie breathed.
Mary Lou gave a savage nod. “Messing around in my kitchen and didn’t think I would find out,” she sniffed with derision, “took some time, but I found his precious notebook with all his plans.” She sneered. “Never found that dispensation paper, though. So we couldn’t sell it through legal channels but I found a buyer on the sly.”
Had Julius known any of this? Kat didn’t think so and now she knew who had been whispering apologies into her ear every night that she’d stayed at Hayward House.
“Turns out Julius was right, Edward went through the money so fast I don’t think Estelle ever knew he had it.”
She shrugged, the weight of confession heavy on her shoulders.
“But that wasn’t as bad as what I did when I told that young man about the gold certificates.”
The ghost dropped her head into her hands, her voice muffled, “I had no idea things would turn out the way they did. I thought I was helping.” Mary Lou’s head came up to show her face a mask of anguish.
“You have to know I only meant to help,” she repeated, “figured maybe after all this time those certificates might still be somewhere in the house and worth something. Maybe enough to fix up the roof, anyway. So I told your young man, the one that gave you all the trouble, all about the certificates. I was the cause of everything bad that happened to you.”
“That jerk called me a whackadoodle and he’d already seen a ghost?” Gustavia’s voice seemed unnaturally loud in the silence that had followed Mary Lou’s revelation but her outraged exclamation broke the icy silence.
Kat snickered. Then Amethyst giggled and before long, a smile tickled at the corners of Julie’s mouth. Mary Lou sat patiently watching as the entire group of young people slowly sank into a fit of laughter that left them breathless and clutching their sides.
When it had finally passed, Julie waved a hand at her great grandmother and said, “You had no way of knowing and it’s all over now,” while she wiped away the tears laughter had sent streaming down her cheeks.
“I really am sorry.”
Kat looked around the room, plenty of good had come from the events that Mary Lou had set in motion it was time for her to rest. “You’re forgiven. Please, go back into the light, find your son. We’re all fine.”
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The End
This ends the Psychic Seasons series but the story continues when we learn Galmadriel’s fate in the next Psychic Seasons book
Coming Soon
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Ponderosa Pines Cozy Mystery Series
Co-authored by Erin Lynn
Cat Killed A Rat
Crafting Disorder
Psychic Seasons Romance Series by ReGina Welling:
Rings on Her Fingers
Bells on Her Toes
She Shall Have Music
Wherever She goes
Keep reading for an excerpt from Cat Killed A Rat
Chapter One
Douchebag.
The word scrawled across Chloe’s notebook made Emmalina Valentina Torrence—EV to her friends snort out loud. Mostly because, while inelegant and downright crass, it perfectly described the annoying man currently speaking to the sizable group of citizens attending the Ponderosa Pines quarterly town meeting.
A typical New England town meeting takes place once a year but in Ponderosa Pines, anything worth doing once, was worth doing four times. Hence, the quarterly town meeting. Once a year, the town voted in a new set of officials: three Selectmen to oversee the group and handle day to day tasks, a new treasurer to handle financial issues, a secretary to keep everyone organized and record the goings on for posterity, a sexton, a dog catcher, and committee members and leaders for various undertakings
