Page 68 of The Orphan of Cemetery Hill
Using her gift with other people present had always been fraught with terror and unwillingness, but she trusted him, and realized that she wanted him there. Besides, Rose had been an important person in his life, and he deserved closure as much as she.
Surprise flickered across his face, but then he was following her to the other side of the cemetery. It didn’t matter where she tried to contact Rose, and this was a secluded, pretty spot with the foggy harbor just beyond. Tabby moved to take off her cloak to spread on the ground, but Caleb stopped her, removing his coat and laying it over the knobby roots of an elm. Helping her down, they sat side by side, shoulders touching.
She had scarcely closed her eyes when the darkness came. This time it was not a rushing, pressing flood, but a gentle lapping that slowly crept over the corners of her mind.
Tabby didn’t need to call her name or reach out very far to find who she was looking for; almost instantly the delicate smell of spring flowers filled the space around her.
I promised that I would help you, she said into the darkness,and I think I can, now that Mr. Whitby has been exposed for the villain he is. You’ll have justice, and you will not be forgotten.
Rose stood with an aura of light shining from behind her. Tabby had never known the dead to smile, but Rose came the closest she had ever seen, her face placid. The light grew stronger and brighter, gradually enveloping Rose’s form until Tabby had to look away.
Her relief that Rose had found peace was tinged with melancholy for the life on earth that had been so violently interrupted. Would Rose and Caleb have married had she not been murdered? Would she have borne children? Written poetry? Become one of the most sparkling socialites in Boston? Tabby pushed the thoughts away; it did no good to dwell on what might have been.
When nothing remained of Rose except the lingering scent of flowers, Tabby slowly opened her eyes and came back to the land of the living. Ahead of her, Mary-Ruth and Alice were laughing with heads bowed closed together at some private joke. Caleb took her arm and tucked it into his elbow, and they passed out of the misty cemetery and down the hill, leaving the dead to their eternal slumber.
