Eternal

“The doctor said to keep it short. Obviously, I have a lot to tell you. But we’ll have plenty of time.”

Tell her I loved her.

Della fought the chill in the room. “Your mom, she loved you.” Suddenly, Della felt Natasha needed to hear more. “She wanted to keep you, but her parents were old-school and she didn’t have a choice.”

Natasha brushed a tear from her cheek. “I know. Will you see her again? My mom?”

“I hear her more than I see her. But I’ve seen her a couple of times.”

“Can you tell her that I understand, and that I had a good mother and father? Tell her that I don’t blame her. Miao told me what happened. How her parents and my father’s parents wouldn’t accept me. They wanted her to abort me, but she refused. Tell her thank you for giving me life. Oh, and for saving me now.”

Della heard the ghost softly crying. “She can hear you.”

“She’s here?”

Della nodded.

“Thank you,” Natasha said.

“Yeah, from me, too,” Liam added and reached over and took Natasha’s hand.

Chapter Forty-four

Della had no sooner walked out of Natasha’s room, when her phone rang.

“Hey,” Chase said, and Della’s chest filled with warmth and wanting. “How are they?”

“Good,” Della said though she heard some tension in his voice. “You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t think I’m going to make it back there tonight. The council wants reports and all that stuff. Can you get away tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Della said, deciding to make it happen. She didn’t care if she had to go against Burnett’s wishes. “What time?”

“Nine in the morning? Or eight. I’ll take as much time with you as I can get.”

“Nine,” Della said. “I’ll want to check on Natasha and Liam again.”

“Sure. And when we come back, maybe I can visit with them. It’s weird, isn’t it? I kind of feel like I know them.”

“Me, too,” Della said, thinking it would be nice having Natasha in her life.

Chase said good-bye and they hung up, hoping that tomorrow would end as well as today.

An hour later, Shawn, the agent who’d helped them with the case, showed up just to check in. Della, Holiday, and Shawn talked for a while, and then he and Holiday left.

After making sure Natasha and Liam didn’t need anything and giving them her and Holiday’s and Burnett’s numbers, she left for her cabin. Miranda and Kylie were at the table again, with Diet Cokes.

Miranda had tears in her eyes. Oh, crap.

“What’s up?”

Kylie appeared to wait to see if Miranda was going to answer, and when she didn’t, Kylie did it for her. “Shawn dropped by and saw her.”

“And?” Della asked and looked at the witch.

“I think he likes me and I don’t know what to do.”

Della dropped down at the table beside her friends. “You do what you want to do,” she said.

Miranda shook her head and looked at Della. “Don’t you feel at least a little bit guilty? You cared about Steve, and then bam, you just moved on to Chase.”

Della swallowed. “Yeah, sometimes I feel guilty, but then I remember he left, I didn’t. And he told me to find out what was between Chase and me.” She looked at Kylie. “It’s just like Kylie. Derek pulled away from Kylie, and she realized Derek wasn’t the one. Lucas was.” Della inhaled. “I don’t want to hurt Steve, but whatever it is between Chase and me is bigger.”

“But I can’t say that,” Miranda said. “And both of you said Perry felt like the right one for me.”

Kylie nodded. “Maybe he was the right one for you then. I don’t regret what I had with Derek. He was there for me when I needed him. I’ll always care about him. And I think people come into our lives like that. Della needed Steve to help her move past her jerk of an ex-boyfriend, and you needed Perry to help you adjust to everything you were going through.”

As much as Della normally hated Kylie’s psychoanalytical crap, this made sense. She would probably always care about Steve.

Miranda turned the can in her hands. “I tried calling him, and he won’t even answer. I mean, if he’d just call, I’d come out and ask if he was seeing other people, and if so … I’d hate him. And I’d probably eat ice cream for a week.” She gave Della a you-won’t-stop-me-this-time look. “But then I might give Shawn a chance.”

The witch’s expression almost got teary again. “Have you heard from Steve at all?”

Della recalled the one text, but afraid that would hurt Miranda, she lied. “No.”

“How are Natasha and Liam?” Kylie asked, changing the subject.

“They’re good,” Della said.

“You should feel great,” Kylie said. “You did it. Did you get to see the ghost cross over yet?”

Della shook her head. “No.”

“That’s odd,” Kylie said.

“Not really,” Della said. “I don’t think she’s through with me yet.”

“What else does she want?” Miranda asked.

“To figure out who killed her.” Just saying it made Della more certain. The ghost needed to know.

“I hate having to do that,” Kylie said.

“Yeah, me, too,” Della said, and got a flash of the vision and the man who looked just like her father standing over her with a bloody knife. “I think I’ll go to bed.”