Page 81 of With All My Haunted Heart

Maybe I’ll finally adopt those cats I’ve always wanted…

Beside me, Xander sighs, and there’s a weariness to it that spikes my adrenaline. “I can’t believe Barrett was here.”

“Barrett was here?” Elle’s green eyes go wide with alarm. “What? When? How?” Her gaze flicks to me. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“The registration was under his fiancé’s name,” Xander says miserably. “His fiancé, Lou. All this time, I thought he didn’t want to get married. I thought he wanted to be single. Turns out, he just didn’t want me.”

I slip out from under Xander’s arm to face him fully. “That has nothing to do with you, Xan. Nothing. Barrett wasn’t the right guy. He didn’t deserve you. Not the other way around. You are incredible. You’re funny and kind and charming. You deserve to be with someone who sees what a gift you are.”

Xander chokes out a laugh. “Since when are you team true love?”

My gaze slips to Elle, but instead of the smile I expected, she’s staring at her phone. “What is it?”

Elle glances up, the color draining from her face. “It’s my sister…” Elle accepts the incoming call. “Viv? What’s wrong?”

I can’t hear what Vivian is saying on the other end of the line, but the horror and grief spreading across Elle’s face make it easy to guess.

Willa.

So when Elle looks to me, question and hope and panic written all over her face, I nod. “Whatever you need,” I whisper, tension curling in my gut.

“We’re on our way, Viv. Hold on until we get there.” Elle hangs up, and the first tears slip down her face. “We need to go.”

Chapter

Twenty-Four

Elle grips her phone like a talisman. Every update shared in the quiet space of the Camry hits harder as I drive us toward the worst night of her life.

My mom just got there.

Holly and Parker are staying at the neighbor’s house.

The nurse says she could have minutes left or hours. It’s hard to know.

I’m forced to brake for a stoplight in town, and it’s the first time the car has been stationary since we left Midnight Manor. Elle turns to me, her knees bouncing with nervous energy. “What if we don’t get there in time? What if we’re too late?”

Platitudes and promises rise from the depths of my old life, the type of thing that passed for comfort in the Erikson household, but I’m not that woman anymore. That’s not the person who Elle wants or needs. Instead, I reach across the center console and offer my hand. After a beat, she slides cold fingers through mine.

“If we’re late, we’ll deal with that then. But right now, Willa is alive. We’re almost there. And I will do everything in my power to make sure the containment circle is up in time.” The light turns green, and I hit the gas. “No matter what happens tonight…it’s going to hurt. But I will be there. Whatever you need, if it’s in my power to give it to you, it’s yours. No question. No hesitation.”

Elle tightens her hold on my hand and nods, tears slipping down cheeks that have gone blotchy and red.

I wish there were something I could say that would make this better, but there is no better when a child is dying. There’s no fixing this. Even my mission tonight is a bittersweet comfort. The best-case scenario still ends with Willa’s death, her spirit stuck forever at ten years old so she can haunt her aunt at the B&B.

The GPS guides me the final couple of miles to Vivian and Ted’s house, and I park in front, the driveway already full of cars. I recognize two of them from the first time I was here—Vivian and Ted’s—and I know one is Elle and Vivian’s mom’s.

The hospice nurse, I realize. One car must be theirs.

I cut the engine, and silence settles around us. I expected Elle to leap out the moment the car stopped. Instead, she sits frozen in her seat. Even the nervous jiggle of her knees has stopped.

“Elle?” I squeeze her hand, but I won’t ask if she’s okay. She clearly isn’t, and she’s not supposed to be. Not on a night like this. “I’m here,” I say instead. “Whatever you need.”

“What if I don’t know what I need?” Her voice breaks, and she turns to look at me. “I don’t know what to ask for.”

“Oh, love.” I slip out of the car and circle to her side to open her door. “You don’t have to know anything tonight.” When she still sits frozen, I reach across to unbuckle her seat belt and ease her from the car into my arms. I squeeze tight while she shudders through tears. “Whenever it’s too much, reach for my hand. We’ll figure it out.”

Elle nods and blows out a shaky breath. “Okay. Okay, I’ve got this. Let’s go.”