Page 28 of After Indigo Irish Nights
She knew that face from photos about the center. It was Sorcha Fitzgerald. “Oh. My. God.”
The woman’s white dressed flowed eerily, as if in a phantom wind, as she started toward her. Stumbling back onto the ground, Kathleen fought panic.
“I don’t mean you any harm,” the woman said in a gentle Irish lilt. “You’ll recall Ellie telling you how I came to thank her for her donation and let her know how happy I was she and Brady had ended up together as they were meant.”
She nodded, trying to clear her throat. When Ellie had told her about the encounter, she’d been shocked, but she knew Ellie. Her friend didn’t lie. Kathleen had told herself,It’s Ireland, right? No biggie. She’d even gotten a little warm and fuzzy upon learning about Sorcha’s role in helping her friends.
Seeing Sorcha herself, however, was a completely different experience. Her heart was kicking madly in her chest and the dizziness made her head spin.
“I didn’t expect to appear to you so early.” The woman sat—sat—on Kathleen’s worktable, her bare feet dangling. “Usually, I appear to the lady in question when all things are as they should be. It’s the men who knew me in life. They’re the ones I usually appear to and push and prod when necessary. But you and Declan are strong people, as strong as your metal. After last night, I concluded that you both are bound and determined to fight what’s between you, even at great cost to you both. So here I am.”
Kathleen scrambled off the floor and fumbled for her work chair. She yanked it under her, falling into it hard. “I’m watching your mouth move, but my brain is still exploding. Me and Declan?You’re here to help me and Declan?” She was repeating herself. “I don’t—”
“Understand?” Sorcha smiled softly. “Of course you do. You and Declan are meant for each other. Why else did you find him so irresistible the moment you met him? And he you? Your hearts recognized each other. It’s your minds—hard as the rocks in the very walls that line our Irish roads—that are getting in the way of what’s meant. No offense meant in the saying, mind you.”
Kathleen took a long breath, her hands gripping her knees. “This is a lot to take in.”
“Is it?” Sorcha arched a fine brow. “You’re already resisting what I’m saying to you.” She tsked. “To think, thousands of people pay psychics in the hope of receiving such news. Let me be as clear as a summer sky. Dearest Kathleen, you and Declan aresoulmates. You are the perfect partners for each other. You will make each other happier and more fulfilled than you could ever imagine.”
She’d thought she and Axl were soulmates and had done a Rodin-like metal sculpture of their love. He’d written a song about it, one that had melted her heart. Later, it had all seemed like a lie. “I don’t believe in soulmates.”
“But you did,” Sorcha said, moving off the table and walking along the skeletal frame of the pirate ship. “Before the man you loved broke your heart. Declan shared the same fate. We may love more than one person, true. But one thing is certain, Kathleen. Only a soulmate can bring you the perfect form of happiness and fulfillment on this earth. For you, that man is Declan.”
She started to tremble. This was crazy. “You’re a ghost, not God. And whatever you might say, I still have free will. I tell myself who I want to love. Not you.”
“But you’re already falling for him, aren’t you?” Sorcha wound a lock of her long brown hair around her finger. “Otherwise, why didn’t you sleep last night? I’m not taking your free will away, Kathleen. I’m only encouraging you and Declan to be open to what’s in your own hearts. Can you honestly say you’ve done that?”
She held up a hand. “I don’t—”
“Don’t answer me now. You think on it. And if you want a relatively unbiased and neutral reference for me, you can talk to Brady and Ellie, of course, but there’s Kade Donovan, for one. I helped him and Megan. He’d tell you I mean no harm. So will Carrick, who I was married to, who is now happy with his beloved Angie. You see… I’m only here to help.”
Kathleen laid her hands flat against her thighs. Arguing with a ghost wasn’t for the faint of heart. “I believe that’s what you think.”
“Perhaps it would ease your mind if you understood why I’m intervening.” Sorcha chuckled softly. “The reason is simple. All of Carrick’s friends hold a special place in my heart, for they were always there for me and himself, never more so than after I died. I owe them a great debt. I want to see them all happily matched with their perfect partners before I move on.”
Was she really having this conversation? Maybe she was going to wake up in her own bed, having dreamed this whole crazy thing up. “That’s nice of you, I guess.”
“I don’t do this for myself, Kathleen.” Sorcha walked over and stood before her, a wry smile lifting her mouth. “Declan, you see, is a boy I ran through these hills with. He might have teased me like the other boys, but he always had my back and made me laugh with his dry wit. He has suffered much from heartbreak. What Morag did to him was unspeakable, but it is time for him to put that in the past. It will probably anger you to hear it, but it is time for you to put your heartache and all the subsequent weeds of distrust aside as well. We’ll speak again.”
With that, she vanished.
Kathleen fell back against the chair, her body faint. Her heart raced like she’d run a sprint.
Good God! She’d seen a ghost. What would her brothers say? Or Pop? She held her face in her hands, trying to bring the blood back into it.
Sorcha Fitzgerald had appeared to her so casually, like it was an everyday occurrence, and she’d told her Declan was her soulmate.
Holy. Ever-loving. Shit.
She stayed in her chair until her head stopped spinning. Her limbs were still buzzing, but her mind started to try and make sense of things.
One thing finally struck her. Sorcha had said she’d already appeared to Declan. Heknewabout all this. That asshole. Why hadn’t he told her? It wasn’t nice to let someone have a ghost appear to them like without warning.
He had some explaining to do!
She grabbed her car key and purse and left the shed, locking it behind her, and drove to Summercrest Manor. When she arrived, Liam emerged from the house in faded jeans and a T-shirt. “You’re up early. Everything okay? Brady and Ellie aren’t up yet.”
“I’m here to see Declan,” she said, her breath visible in the cold air.
