Free The Helena Diaries - Trouble in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law Series Novellas) by Jana DeLeon Page A

her things I’d never shared with another person—about my miserable childhood and my son-of-a-bitch father. How marrying Harold was my coward’s way out as I knew I’d never love him, and how I’d closed myself off from people because all they’d ever seemed to want from me was money.
    Then I told her that refusing to live was the worst mistake I’d ever made, and it was the one that I would never have a chance to correct. I told her that I was saying all of this to prevent her from making the same mistakes.
    She was already headed down that path—choosing the kind of men who didn’t make permanent attachments, living in a cabin away from other people—hell, she was already one stray cat on her way to being the cat lady.
    When she started crying, I knew she got it—all of it—and what it meant, then I hit her with my final blow.
    That Luc LeJeune was her future.
     

Trouble in Mudbug—Chapter Nineteen
     
    Wherein Helena does a good deed
    Okay, so I admit I followed Maryse out of the hotel. I had set the big finish in motion and really wanted to see her run into Luc’s arms and hear them pledge their undying love. Deep down, I’m a romantic. It was news to me as well, but if I could handle it, everyone else could too.  
    Then she took a detour into Sabine’s shop.
    Stonewalled!
    I slipped behind the counter and listened in. Sabine was back to full nutbag mode, wearing a purple robe and praying over a crystal ball.  
    And I thought Maryse had issues.  
    Maryse told Sabine about our conversation and challenged her friend to let go of the one thing holding her back from life—searching into the afterlife for her parents.
    Suddenly, Sabine’s obsession with the paranormal made sense, and I felt guilty for judging her so harshly. Left with no other earthly options to locate her family, Sabine had turned to the last place she thought she might find answers. But Maryse was right—Sabine’s search kept her grounded in the past instead of moving forward.
    I realized that if I wanted Sabine to get normal and Maryse to have her clingy moment with Luc, I had to do something. I closed my eyes and concentrated like I never had before, focusing my mind on the other side.
    And they materialized!
    One look at the young couple and I had no doubt they were Sabine’s parents. She looked just like them. I asked them if they’d come for me, but they shook their heads. Sabine’s father told me it wasn’t my time yet, then her mother said that with my help, they wanted their daughter to see them.
    I didn’t think for a minute it would work, but I concentrated like they told me to and—holy shit—they appeared right there in the middle of Sabine’s shop. Well, not them, exactly…more like a shimmery vision, but it was an exact replica of the couple before me.  
    I got excited and the vision and the real ghosts started to fade. I beckoned for them to stay longer, but they just gave me sad smiles and faded into the distance. The vision gave one final glowing pulse then disappeared. The entire exchange hadn’t lasted but a few seconds.
    But it had been enough for Sabine.  
    It was all I could do to hold in my celebration until I got outside on the sidewalk. Then a second later, Maryse stepped outside and stared at me.
    Busted.
    To distract her, I made a comment about wanting to see Luc’s butt and how their impending hookup would make that a good possibility. While she was too flustered to attack, I ducked into the beauty shop. Hey, sometimes the coward’s way out was still the easiest.  
     
    Wherein Helena is happy…for the moment
    I spent several hours at the beauty shop, listening to all the biddies gossip about the happenings. I was pleased that everyone had nice things to say about Maryse and seemed relieved that she was okay. Everyone was shocked about Johnny, but that didn’t surprise me. Hell, I was shocked that Johnny turned out to be the killer and I’m the most jaded person in Mudbug.
    Surprisingly,