AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And as he spoke Heather could have sworn she saw another figure—a thin white figure, almost transparent in the late-summer sunshine—behind Mrs Peterson. A ghostly figure that raised a hand in farewell, then disappeared.
Heather lifted her own hand automatically, before realising there was no one there to see it. The Lengroth ghost had moved on at last. Maybe because the Bryce family no longer needed a reminder of the harm their misdeeds could cause, Heather thought with a smile.
Suddenly the whole castle felt lighter. As if years of secrets and lies had been lifted from the stones.
Heather gathered her family close and, with their arms around each other, they all headed into Lengroth Castle.
Together.
EPILOGUE
THE DARK METAL gates of Lengroth Castle were thrown open in the summer sunshine, and crowds of wedding guests were pouring through to celebrate with Heather and Uncle Cal on this glorious July day. Daisy watched them through the playroom window for a while, before deciding she probably had better put on her dress before Heather came looking for her.
It was, Daisy thought, exactly a year to the day since she’d thrown a rubber duck through that same window—the day Heather had arrived at Lengroth. She smiled to herself. Every table at the wedding breakfast had a rubber duck as part of its centrepiece—one wearing a top hat, another dressed as a centurion, a rubber duck sphinx and so on. Daisy didn’t know where Heather had found them, but they were pretty funny.
Her dress wasn’t too bad, either, Daisy thought as she put it on. Heather had let her choose—and had let her off bridesmaid duties, too, which Daisy was glad about. She didn’t want everyone staring at her today. She wanted to sit with Ryan and Heather’s dad—who had said to call him Grandpa Bill—and just enjoy it all.
Today, after all the awfulness of last year, they were going to be a family again.
And the new baby was cute. Daisy thought it was nice that they had someone they could all share, who belonged to all of them together.
Heather and Uncle Cal had called him Will, after her dad. Ryan had pointed out that it wasn’t actually the same name. He cried a lot, but he always seemed to stop when Daisy sang him songs. In the end she and Ryan had decided that Will was better than a puppy—but they still kind of wanted a dog, too.
Uncle Cal had said they’d go and pick one after the honeymoon. Heather had given him a big kiss when he’d said that, which was strange, as Daisy hadn’t thought Heather was really a dog person.
Checking her reflection in the mirror, Daisy saw a flicker of movement behind her and smiled. She knew who that was.
She turned slowly, so as not to spook the ghost, and then laughed at herself for being silly. Ghosts weren’t scared of people.
Heather thought the ghost had left the day she’d come back to the castle, but Daisy knew better. Yes, she’d mostly gone, but every now and again, on important days, she came back—just to check on them. Daisy liked her. She was the only person she’d had to talk to, apart from Ryan, when her parents had died—and Ryan had been too little and too much of a boy to understand.
‘Hello,’ Daisy said. ‘Have you come to check that we’re still all right?’
The ghost nodded.
Daisy sat down on the bed to pull on her shiny silver shoes. ‘We’re fine. Better than fine, really. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but Uncle Cal and Heather are getting really good at this family thing. I still miss Mum and Dad but...we’re happy. All of us together. So you don’t need to worry any more.’
The ghost smiled. Daisy didn’t think she’d seen her do that before.
‘Oh, and if you come to visit over the next couple of weeks we won’t be here,’ Daisy added quickly as the ghost started to fade. ‘We’re all going on honeymoon together, you see. Uncle Cal says it’ll be more fun if we’re together. Mrs Peterson is coming, too—to help with the baby.’
And, Daisy suspected, to let Uncle Cal and Heather have some time alone. Really, she was eleven now. She understood more than they thought.
She wondered if maybe their family might grow again soon. That would be okay, she decided. Especially if she got a dog, too.
