Page 59 of With All My Haunted Heart

“Elle?”

Chapter

Seventeen

“Elle? What are you doing here?” I wipe my sleeves across my face to dry the lingering tears, and when I pull away, I notice two things.

One, Elle is staring at me with a horrified expression on her face.

Two, she has a child holding each of her hands, a young blond boy on her left and a redheaded girl on her right.

“Oh. Um, hi.” I smile at the kids and then shoot a questioning look at Elle, who looks shocked to see me.

The girl gives me a once-over, and I’d put her age somewhere around seven or eight. “Who is that, Aunt Ellie?”

“I have a dinosaur.” The boy, who looks no older than five, holds up a small plastic T. rex.

“Very cool.” I try to return his smile, but I’m filled with memories of Rykelan’s future. His toy cars and dinosaurs like the one currently being held out to me. It makes my chest ache so much it’s hard to breathe.

“This is my friend Pippa,” Elle finally tells the kids, shoulders easing away from her ears. “Pippa, meet my niece, Holly, and my nephew, Parker.”

Holly stares at me with a stubborn tilt of her chin that reminds me of my first meeting with Elle. “Why were you crying?”

Elle cringes. “You can’t ask strangers that, Holly.”

“Why?” Parker asks, examining his T. Rex.

“You just can’t,” Elle says, clearly flustered, but then she meets my gaze and quirks up one brow. “What are you doing here?”

“A previous client asked me to bless their newborn.” Worry slithers down my spine and pools in my stomach. “Why are you here?”

“Our sister is dying.”

“Holly.” An average-looking white man approaches the four of us. “What have I said about sharing Willa’s news with strangers.”

“She’s not a stranger. She’s Aunt Ellie’s friend,” Holly insists.

“Pippa, this is my brother-in-law, Ted.” Elle hands the kids off to their father. “Ted, this is the witch I told you about.”

Ted looks at me with new interest, a painful hope etched across his features. “Has she—”

“I haven’t told her yet,” Elle says, cutting him off. “I can do it now, if you take the kids.”

“Viv is getting Willa settled with the MRI tech. You go ahead. I’ll take the kids to the play area.” Ted reaches out and shakes my hand. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you.”

“Um…thank you?” I watch him leave with the kids, my body struggling to navigate the whiplash of emotions. The grief I tried to escape when I left the maternity ward now crashing against the surprise of running into Elle and a pair of kids with a dying sister.

“The baby you blessed,” Elle says. “Are they okay? You were upset when we ran into you.”

“He’s fine. It just stirred up my own family drama.” I glance over my shoulder, but Elle’s brother-in-law and the kids are out of sight. “Was Holly telling the truth? Is this where you’ve been disappearing to every week?”

“Come with me.” Elle takes me by the hand and leads me into a private waiting area marked Family Room. The door closes behind us, and she checks the space to make sure we’re alone. The room is nicer than a typical waiting room, with comfy furniture and a kitchenette area. Elle sinks onto one of the couches, kicking off her shoes to pull her feet onto the cushions.

I settle beside her, close but not touching.

“This isn’t where I normally go on Thursdays,” Elle says at last, rubbing her thumb across her other palm. The self-soothing gesture tugs at my heart. “I usually go to my sister’s place to spend time with Willa. Ted and Vivian try to make sure Parker and Holly get quality time with them, so I spend the day with Willa. She…needs a lot of extra care.”

“Because she’s sick?”