Cassidy smiled, but didn’t say anything, and Cadence could tell by her expression, she didn’t know what to make of Cadence’s revelation. It was no matter—she moved on.
“Jack was pitching, Elliott. And the batter was a guy who looked so much like you. I couldn’t remember you at the time—sorry—but I asked, and my grandparents said the batter’s name was Jimmy.”
“Jimmy?” Elliott echoed. “I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that name to you.”
“I don’t think you have either, but that’s your brother’s name, isn’t it.”
Elliott’s head rocked back and forth slowly. “Wow. If that don’t beat all.... It’s like the freakin’ Wizard of Oz. ‘And you were there, and you were there....’ Hmmm.”
“Well, it gets Wizardier because your mom was there, too. Arlene. And she wasn’t always happy. The others were concerned about her because sometimes she’d say she couldn’t find her other son, one that had been there and left. And she was talking about you.”
Her friend’s mouth hung open, and Cadence was afraid he’d be upset to know his mom felt that way, but she didn’t have time to linger or else she might forget again. “Jamie, I saw Ellie, too. She confused me because I thought she looked familiar, but I think maybe I was reminded of Ashley.”
Jamie swallowed a lump in his throat, and Cadence thought maybe he actually believed her. “What was she doing?”
“We were in the park, and she just walked by. But she was singing. It was a nice, summer day. Not too hot, a little breeze. And she was singing a Christmas song.”
“A Christmas song?” Jamie echoed, but he didn’t look surprised.
“Yeah, that one from Christmas Vacation. What’s it called? The Hawaiian one?”
“Mele Kalikimaka?” Brandon asked.
“Yes, that’s it!” Cadence pointed at her sister’s boyfriend who was standing over by his dad.
Her eyes went back to Jamie’s face, frozen for a long moment, and she waited to see if he would burst into tears. Instead, it was laughter that tumbled out of his mouth. “She loved Christmas—but that song wasn’t written until 1949, Cadence.”
“Maybe someone who died after her taught it to her,” Cassidy offered.
Jamie was nodding. “I guess that’s possible. She loved to sing, too.”
Cadence smiled, glad he didn’t think she was crazy or making things up. “All I know is, she had the voice of an angel.”
“That does not sound like the Ellie I remember,” Aaron said, drawing her eyes. He shrugged and said, “But I guess in heaven everyone could sound like an angel.”
“Exactly,” Cadence nodded.
“Who else did you see?” Elliott asked, rocking back and forth, shifting from one side to the other either impatiently or nervously, Cadence couldn’t tell.
She hesitated. There’d been a lot of people, but some of them, she wasn’t as quick to want to mention. “Well... in the ice cream parlor, there was a couple Grandma called Holly and Cartier. She said Holly had been there forever, and Cartier for a long time, too. They spoke French.” Slowing down and softening her voice, she looked to her sister. “They showed me the Hamilton house and said Alex had been there but then left but came back.” Cassidy swallowed hard and then nodded timidly. “There was a guy named Reggie playing baseball with Jimmy and Jack. I don’t think I knew him, but he seemed like a fun guy.”
“Reggie?” Elliott echoed. “Huh. I knew a guy named Reggie.”
“Could he catch well?”
“Best damn wide receiver in the history of Oklahoma high school football,” he said quickly.
Cadence smiled. “Sounds like him to me.” Elliott’s grin widened, and Cadence continued. “I saw a lot of people I don’t know, like a girl with purple eyes named Brandy and some man with a limp called Jess-something-or-other, but there was another person I saw twice.” She focused on her husband’s face for a moment, and he seemed to understand what she was about to say. Cadence hoped the smile she gave him wasn’t overly-sympathetic for no reason. “She was beautiful.”
Aaron took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, she was. Did you talk to her?”
“I did. In fact...” Cadence shook her head slowly, her hand coming up to her temple. “It’s the darndest thing. I saw her when we were walking to the baseball diamond. She was pushing a baby stroller.” He stiffened slightly next to her, and Cadence tried to keep that in mind as she went back over what had happened, even though she was becoming lost in her memories. “When I saw her the first time, the baby was asleep. But when we were in the park, she was awake.” Once again, she honed in on her husband’s face. He was bracing herself, she could feel it. “Even after we’d already established we had the same last name, nothing clicked. I kept feeling like someone was missing—maybe more than one person, but definitely someone important. And then, when I saw her eyes... Aarolyn’s eyes... everything came back to me. That’s the moment I realized who I was missing.”
Cadence’s eyes locked on Aaron’s as tears formed in the same blue eyes she’d seen in the smiling face of the beautiful little baby girl in whatever that place had been. He didn’t say anything, only let a smile take over and pressed the unfalling tears back to where they’d come from.
Cassidy’s quiet voice registered in Cadence’s ear, but she couldn’t look away from those captivating blue eyes. “I’m glad you saw her. We might’ve lost you forever otherwise.”
Aaron looked away, which broke the spell for Cadence, and she reached over and put her hand on top of his where it rested on her shoulder before she looked at her sister. “Maybe so. I just remember thinking I needed to get back, that I needed to be here with Aaron, but not just him. I remembered all of you then. And... and... something else.” Her thoughts got jumbled again, her forehead puckered. There’d been another reason why she remembered she needed to get home when she saw Aarolyn, but for the life of her, she couldn’t recall. It had been important.... What was it…?”
