Free Sticks and Stones by Kerrie Dubrock Page A

really magic. She’s just a wiz at healing.”
     
    *        *        *
              Grace held her
aunt’s hand. “I’m not leaving!” she replied hotly. “Aunt Tilda, you suffered a
stroke and have a huge lump on the side of your head!”
              Tilda chuckled.
“Poppet, I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”
              “Me?” Grace
mumbled.
              “It’s well
after seven at night and I know you haven’t eaten and frankly Gracie, you look
like hell. Have that handsome man take you out for dinner and go home and get
some rest.” Tilda’s eyes swept over Rick. “Or other things.”
              Grace’s cheeks
turned red. “Aunt Tilda,” she cautioned.
              Reginald
flipped the backs of his hands at Grace. “Go, I’ll be here in the event Matilda
needs anything.”
              Grace
whispered, “No disrespect Reginald, but you’re a ghost. I hardly think you can
help her if she needs it.”
              Reginald gasped
indignantly and Tilda interjected. “Dear, he doesn’t like to be called a ghost.
He prefers the word spirit , don’t you, love?”
              Reginald nodded
glumly and stared intently at the call switch for the nurse. He wore a smug
look when a nurse quickly appeared.
              “I stand
corrected,” Grace acknowledged. “Okay, I’ll leave, but if you need anything…”
She pinned Reginald with a glare and whispered, “You’d better let me know!”
Grace leaned over and placed a kiss on her aunt’s forehead. “Blessed be,” she
said softly.
              “Blessed be,
love. Take care of my Poppet, Rick,” Tilda rasped.
              He held out his
hand to Grace and nodded to Tilda. “I fully intend to.”
     
    *        *        *
              As Rick stuffed
another slice of pizza into his mouth he watched Grace pick at her food.
“Poppet?”
              Grace’s eyes
lifted from her plate. “Huh?”
              “Your aunt
called you ‘Poppet’.”
              She grinned and
his heart warmed. It was the first real smile he’d seen all day. “It’s a term
of endearment. She’s called me that since I was a child.”
              “Ah…and how
long have you been able to talk to ghosts?” he asked, placing his beer mug onto
the checkered table cloth.  “My friends, Emily and Chase, can talk to ghosts,
too.” He laughed and shook his head. “Ghosts, witches…when do the sparkly
vampires and muscle bound werewolves enter the equation?”
              Her lips
twitched and she broke out into a full belly laugh. In fact, she laughed so
hard tears ran down her face. He held a napkin out for her to dry her eyes.
“Oh, that was good. Thanks, I needed that,” she guffawed.
              He smirked,
“Anytime.”
              Grace cocked
her head. “Sooo…you don’t seem shocked by any of this.”
              “Hey, it is
what it is. I’m pretty open-minded.”
              Grace took a
bite of pizza and pondered his comment. Ben accepted her being Wiccan to a
point. He didn’t believe in ghosts, let alone her ability to see and
communicate with Reginald.
              “Aunt Tilda
cast a spell years ago to meet her one true love. In the process, she conjured
up Reginald and oddly enough, he turned out to be the love of her life,” she
explained before taking a swig of beer. “Anyway, it drove me crazy when she’d
talk to him and I couldn’t see or hear him. So I cast a spell and now I can
communicate with him.”
              Rick’s eyebrows
lifted. “No shit?”
              “No shit,” she
grinned.
              “Just him or
can you see others, too?”
              Grace shuddered.
“Others too. I tend to avoid hospitals because of it. Too many souls in various
stages of the afterlife