Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 9
© Denise Bossarte
Grace opened the door to
catch Sophie staggering under the weight of a large wrapped package, her
expression sheepish.
“I know you said not to bring presents,” she apologized as she
squeezed past Grace and into the house. “But I found these last year at Thomas
& Jean’s used book store downtown and couldn’t resist buying them. Now I
know why!” Sophie lowered the package to the table with a thump, smoothing out
the ribbon on top.
Grace joined her at the table to admire the colorful wrapping
paper with a theme of the Periodic Table. Leave it to Sophie to find something
Danny would love and wrap it with fitting paper.
“What is it?” she asked, moving to pull off the bow and unwrap
the gift.
“Oh, no,” Sophie admonished her, slapping her hand away. “Not
until we’ve blown out the candles and eaten the cake and ice cream.”
“Ok, ok!” Grace conceded, raising her hands in submission and
moving toward the kitchen. “Let’s get those candles, then.”
Sophie followed her into the kitchen, her face lit with
excitement.
Grace brought down Danny’s golden birthday cake with chocolate frosting from the top of
the fridge. She wondered at her friend who took this sort of thing in stride
with full sincerity in her enjoyment of the event. Few people would agree with
having a birthday party for a brother who had been dead for almost a year.
Fewer still would bring a present and be eager to share in the ice cream and
cake. She guessed with Sophie’s line of work this might be a normal thing.
Sophie settled into a chair
and put out three plates and forks while Grace lit the candles on the cake.
Sophie leaned forward once Grace finished with the twelve candles. Grace added
one more this year even if Danny hadn’t aged
a full year physically since the accident.
“Wait a minute,” Grace said, causing Sophie to move from staring
at the candles to glance curiously at her. “I need to get something from
upstairs. I’ll be right back.”
Grace left Sophie eying the lit cake and hurried into the living
room. She didn’t need to step outside the room to call Danny, but she thought
it would be better to manage his entrance from the other room.
“Let’s roll,” she
called to Danny who had already snuck out of his room and was peering over the
banister.
At her queue, he rushed down
the steps two at a time to come tearing across the living room. He wasn’t manifest yet, but was ready to get his party kicked off.
Grace held up her hand to slow
him down and then led the way. As she entered the kitchen, she began singing
Happy Birthday in a loud voice. Sophie jumped in right along with her up
through “…he looks like a monkey, and smells like a
zoo.”
“Blow out the candles,” Grace said with a wide grin.
Grace grabbed Danny’s hand where he was hovering behind her and
pushed her energy into him. Before Sophie released the giant breath she took,
Danny manifested and ran in to blow on the candles, some taking extra effort to
go out all the way.
Sophie froze, the deep breath unreleased, as she stared with
wide eyes at Danny.
Danny, sporting a mischievous grin, waved one hand vigorously at
her. “Hi Sophie,” he mouthed, watching her reaction to his appearance.
Sophie finally released her breath and faced Grace sitting in
the chair across from her. “Is he real?” she asked with a small squeak.
“Real as a ghost can get,” Grace said, enjoying the surprised
look remaining on Sophie’s face. “I thought this type of thing was all in a
day’s work for you, Sophie,” she teased.
“Ghosts are NOT in a day’s work, Grace,” Sophie corrected her.
Sophie turned her attention
back to Danny who had finished cutting an enormous piece of cake for himself
and was smothering it with scoops of vanilla ice cream. “Reading cards, yes, seeing ghosts - not what I do.”
“Well, welcome to my world,” Grace said. Grabbing the knife, she
cut pieces of the cake for herself and Sophie as Danny shoveled large chunks of
food into his mouth. Luckily, the food disappeared like it would for a normal
person eating, although where it went Danny and she never figured out.
Grace handed Sophie a slice of cake with a scoop of ice cream.
She started on her own food while she waited for Sophie to decide whether to
eat or ask questions. Now came the tricky part. How would Sophie react?
Without warning, Sophie jumped up from her chair. She grabbed
Danny in a hug, squeezing him tight enough he dropped the fork-full of cake
heading to his mouth.
“Hey!” Danny groused as the food landed on the table.
Sophie continued to hug Danny as she turned to Grace, tears in
her eyes. “When did this happen? How long has he been here? Why didn’t you tell
me before now?” The questions spilled from her in rapid fire.
Grace felt a moment of guilt. She had not anticipated how seeing
Danny again might affect Sophie. Her focus had been on her fears for herself
and Danny. She realized now this reaction was one she should have expected from
her sensitive friend because of her nature and how close Sophie was to Danny.
“Enough hugging, more cake,” Danny said through a full mouth of
mushy cake.
Sophie planted a kiss on the top of Danny’s head and took her
seat, drying her eyes with a party napkin and picking up a fork.
“Spill!” she said, jabbing her fork at Grace and then Danny.
“Tell me everything!”
Grace walked Sophie through
their story as they finished their food and Danny had two more helpings. She
talked about the moment she awakened in the hospital terrified at seeing the
ghosts of people who died there, continuing up through learning how to manifest
Danny. Sophie sat through the whole retelling, mesmerized, the fork moving on
automatic pilot from the plate to her mouth.
Grace avoided sharing her
ability to read people and objects. She and Danny agreed ahead of time only to
tell Sophie about Grace’s ability to see ghosts and to manifest
him. She didn’t believe it was wise to reveal all her abilities at one time. It
was with reluctance she shared the ability to manifest Danny because he wanted
to be present in person with Sophie at the party.
“What do you think?” Grace asked Sophie, once she finished
getting her up to speed.
“It’s great!” Sophie said, reaching out to take Danny’s hand,
which he allowed, somewhat embarrassed. “It’s wonderful Danny’s back, no matter
how it happened,” she said with conviction.
“But that’s what we were hoping you could tell us!” Grace said.
“What happened to me? How is this happening?” she asked pointing between
herself and Danny.
“Goodness, Grace,” Sophie said throwing up her hands in
frustration. “I don’t know what’s going on here. How could I?”
“Whoa, what do you mean you don’t know?” Danny asked, his
attention on the conversation now he’d cleaned his plate.
“But,” Grace said, her voice faltering as she felt her hope
fading. “We thought you would understand this and help us figure it all out.”
Sophie shook her head, looking at Grace and Danny with
compassion plain on her face. “Grace, I said this earlier. I’m not a
Clairvoyant who can see ghosts or emanations. The tarot reading I do is by
reading auras. The cards are for the clients to have something to focus on.
They help me translate what I am seeing in their auras. But I never see ghosts
or interact with them. I am not that type of Paranorm.”
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