Page 70 of Wild Scottish Fortune

“Hello,” I said, keeping my voice soft, not moving any closer. “I see you in the corner there. Are you all right?”

“You see me?” The girl jumped up, taking one step closer to me, and I tried to place her age. Maybe six or seven? Her dress looked old, as in old-fashioned, but Iwasn’t fashionable enough to be able to place the date of her death by her clothing.

“Aye,” I said, nodding. “Can you see me?”

“Of course I can see you.” The girl giggled and gave me a look like I wasn’t very bright. “But nobody ever sees me.”

“What’s your name?”

“Elspeth.”

“I’m Orla, and this is Clyde.”

Her eyes grew huge as Clyde did a little dance and she brought her thumb to her mouth, sucking it. Self-soothing. Behavior I could certainly understand and recognize.

“Do you like coos?”

Elspeth nodded, her eyes huge.

“Do you want to pet him?”

“We used to have coos. Before.”

“Before what?”

“My family…they went away. They took my brothers.”

“But not you?”

Elspeth’s eyes filled and Clyde made a low keening noise.

“Go on, buddy. Go to her.” I didn’t trust she wouldn’t disappear if I moved too fast and I needed to help her move forward, not have her hide from me and then still be stuck in this house. Clyde sauntered forward and to my surprise, he dropped and rolled onto his back, like a dog revealing his tummy for scratches, and beamed up at the girl.

“He’s so fluffy,” Elspeth said, reaching out to run a hand over him while Clyde mirrored a synchronized swimmer by kicking his legs in the air in delight. Elspeth giggled, and I blinked as tears threatened. Such an innocentthing, a child’s laugh, even when it came from a ghostly apparition.

“I couldn’t go with my family. I was told they couldn’t take care of me. I was meant to stay with a family friend, but I ran away. Her husband was a bad man.”

“Was this your home?” My heart twisted.

“No, it was a place I found to stay. Until…” Her face grew sad and stony, and Clyde kicked up his legs some more, drawing her attention to him, so she continued to talk while she pet his shaggy fur. “There was a sickness of sorts. I don’t really know. I was here and then I wasn’t. But I still am.”

Confusion threaded her words, and I pieced together what she was trying to tell me. The plague took her, and likely those who lived here, yet she didn’t fully understand why she was still here. I wondered if she even really knew that she was dead. Maybe the concept was something that she wasn’t ready to accept.

I couldn’t say I blamed her.

“Are you ready to move on, Elspeth? It must be lonely here.”

“Aye, it is. I haven’t had anyone visit me in ages. I can’t leave though.”

“Why not?”

Elspeth looked up, longing on her face.

“I have nobody to show me the way.”

God, if I didn’t totally understand that feeling. To be endlessly lost, until finally, Jacob had thrown me a lifeline with his friendship. The Green Lady was right. Love did matter, in whatever form it came in, and that might just be what would help this wee lass out.

As if reading my thoughts, the Green Lady appeared in the corner of the room and I realized, in my own way, that I also loved her.

---