Pam gasped at this glimpse of what Ben could have become if he had lived. The same sweetness that had always marked him as a boy shone through the man as well. His eyes lingered on Pam with a hundred things left unsaid, and a reluctance to leave her.
“Love you, Sissy.” His voice rang out with authority, “Be happy.” He slid a hand off Adriel’s wing, stepped back into the light, and was gone.
“There will never be words enough to thank you for the gift you just gave me,” Pam pulled the still-sobbing Adriel into her arms. “Whether you ever figure out how to use those wings of yours again, you will always be the angel who saved me.”
Chapter 20
Estelle shimmered into the empty spot next to where Adriel and Pam still embraced. A tear trembled on her lower lashes. Letting go of Adriel, Pam watched the place where Ben had stood for long minutes. She braced herself against this second loss—her shoulders slowly straightening. When she turned back, her expression held more peace than sorrow. Closure smoothed away the last of the grief lines to leave her face shining and smooth.
“I can’t believe he’s…” she broke off to tilt her head and gaze at Estelle. “Who’s this?”
“She can see me?” Estelle panicked. “She shouldn’t be able to do that.”
“Side effect of touching Ben while he was touching me.”
Pam listened to the exchange; her lips quirked slightly.
“Is it permanent? Am I going to lose points for this?” Estelle was nonplussed.
“There’s a point system now?” Adriel didn’t think she’d been gone long enough for there to have been changes of that magnitude.
“Figure of speech.” Estelle qualified, while Pam’s quirk turned to a full-out grin. “And answer the question.”
“But first, could you introduce me to your friend?” Pam said.
“Sorry, this is Estelle. She’s my trainee.” It was the best word Adriel could find to describe the relationship given its outside the box—way outside—nature. “The effect is temporary. Your energy levels will return to normal, and you won’t be able to see Estelle. It might take a few hours or even days.”
Visible relief painted both faces with the same expression. Adriel concealed a small smile just before her head fell back and her eyes closed themselves tightly. Images of Pam’s life to come played through her mind on fast-forward. With grief no longer clouding her life, Pam would stop holding back. There would be Callum, and love, and marriage, and even a child. It was a future filled with living, and not just existence. Ben would be proud to know his sister had found the will to move past his loss.
Estelle spoke directly into Adriel’s mind, “You know you can’t stay here, right?”
A sigh wafting past her lips, Adriel said, “I know. My work here is almost done.” She looked around at the now clean and tidy cabin. Craig would return, soon, to live out his days in the only home he’d ever really known. At least she was not the one who would have to explain where his stash had gone. Hopefully, he no longer needed it, anyway.
The only thing left was to say her goodbyes.
The powers that be had other plans.
The End
Keep reading for an excerpt from Bait and Snitch (Ponderosa Pines Cozy Mystery Series Book 4)
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Ponderosa Pines Cozy Mystery Series
Co-authored by Erin Lynn
Cat Killed A Rat
Crafting Disorder
Caught in the Frame
Rings on Her Fingers
Bells on Her Toes
She Shall Have Music
Wherever She goes
***
“Remain on the current road in 2 miles.”
“Why? Why would you say that, GPS wench? Telling me when to not turn isn’t helpful.” Stacey Hawthorne’s nerves were stretched to nearly breaking from spending the last hour hunched over the steering wheel trying to see past the end of the hood. Even with all wheel drive, this trip was quickly heading into what-was-I-thinking territory. She glanced over at the sheaf of papers on the passenger’s seat and sighed.
With several ongoing cases involving people from Ponderosa Pines, the drive up made sense. It was the lack of foresight when it came to checking the weather and the sense of urgency around one of the cases that was coming back to bite her in the butt. She probably should have listened to the guy at that gas station in Gilmore when he told her to get a room. Oh well, too late now.
“Remain on the current road in 1.5 miles.”
The GPS voice was meant to be soothing and instructive, instead it just flat got on Stacey’s nerves. The ding ding sound to signal a turn, in her opinion, should be reserved only for those times when a turn was necessary. Less confusion and fewer times when a lack of attention might lead to making a wrong turn. She, of course, would never be guilty of doing such a thing. Sure.
Ding Ding.
Stacey remained, as instructed, on the current road. The only possible turn the GPS wench could have been warning her away from looked like dirt track that no one in their right mind would have taken anyway.
She was still imagining how satisfying it would be to rip the annoying piece of electronics from her dash and toss it out of the window, wires trailing behind like severed limbs when the car crested the last hill before coming into town. It was steeper than expected and within seconds, she’d hit a patch of ice and started to slide. Berating herself for being distracted, Stacey whipped the wheel and promptly overcompensated. In a panic, she spiked the brakes instead of pulsing them and the slide devolved into a spin. Before she had time to think straight, the car started to careen down the hill like a pinball bouncing off a set of rubber bumpers.
Under
