DEATH

COMES CALLING

BOOK 6 – The Death Card Series

By

J.S. Peck

BEJEWELED PUBLISHING

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Chapter 1

Looking into the mirror, I bypassed the middle-aged woman with wild salt and pepper hair staring back at me and, instead, visualized my younger self with my beauty intact who’d made choices that today I might not have made.

“That’s hindsight, you silly woman. And who says you wouldn’t have made the same choices today? Consider what they’ve brought you,” I whispered to my image. Lost in thought, I didn’t hear them until they were close by.

“Where’s your grandmother, baby girl?” a familiar voice asked.

I listened to the pattering of small feet as a tiny girl ran into my room. “Gramma Rose, it’s me! It’s Joslin!”

I opened my arms wide to receive the bundle of energy who was my favorite granddaughter—my only granddaughter. I smiled at my daughter with her flowing dark hair and mesmerizing dark eyes who was still as beautiful as she had been when I first laid eyes on her. She had been my little sister in a previous lifetime and now was my daughter in this one. I marveled at our exquisite reconnection.

“Isabella, love, when did you get here? Have I been dawdling?”

“No, Mama, I’m early. I couldn’t wait to begin our day together. We don’t often get to do that, just the three of us,” she said as she kissed my cheek.

“Me, too,” demanded Joslin as she clambered onto my lap. She sat facing me, and placed her small hands against the sides of my head and kissed each cheek.

She giggled. “I love you, Gramma Rose.”

My eyes filled with tenderness for her as I struggled to rise out of my chair.

“Here, let me help you, Mama,” said Isabella as she extended her arms to help me up.

“No, sweetheart, I need to do this myself,” I insisted. I’d had a knee replacement several months earlier and it still gave me occasional discomfort—especially getting up after sitting for any length of time.

“Is this a bad day for you?” she asked in concern.

I smiled at her. “No, it’s a perfect day to spend with my beautiful daughter, and granddaughter.”

As we neared the front door, Mike came forward. “Ah, my beauties, where are you off to?” He studied me, trying to remember what I’d told him earlier.

“We’re going for cookies and sweets, Papa Mike,” answered Joslin.

“That’s right,” he said with a chuckle. “High tea at the Waldorf Astoria, right?”

I smiled at him and nodded. He kissed my lips, lingering a bit, kissing me twice. He turned to the others. “Have a good time. I’ll see you ladies later.”

“What are you up to, Mike?” Isabella asked.

“I’m watching the golf game on television right here at home.”

“Good for you, Mike, a quiet afternoon without us,” Isabella said and kissed him goodbye. I overheard her whisper to him, “I’ll take good care of your woman; don’t you worry.”

He chuckled. “See that you do, sweetheart.”

For his age, Mike was still striking with grey, nearly white hair, dark eyes, and his body still in good physical shape. As before, he stood tall and walked with a certain grace and confidence. We’d had many years together now and we’d become inseparable in heart and soul. It was a love that had endured the ups and downs of life, and become stronger in time. It had not been so certain in the beginning …

Back then, we spent our first summer separated from each other since our relationship had formed. By the end of it, we’d reached the point where it was necessary for each of us to decide how we wanted our relationship to move forward … if at all. That summer, Mike had gone back to Boston to work at the detective agency he’d started with his business partner, Brian. They’d hired a female employee who was determined to win Mike’s love at whatever cost, and our relationship had faltered. I’d spent the summer in Santa Fe with Isabella on her school break and had unexpectedly fallen in love with Tom Little Horse, who had been my husband in a former lifetime. In this life, he’d ended up being murdered, and I had been devastated. When I discovered I was pregnant, it was at a time when the father of the baby could have been either Mike’s or Tom’s. Unless Mike wanted our relationship to move forward and us to be married, I would remain silent about the baby. I was not going to allow my being pregnant to interfere with his decision—or mine.

So, it was with great surprise at the end of that summer when Isabella and I returned home to Las Vegas to find Mike waiting for us at the airport with open arms. My heart lifted at the sight of him; yet, I dared not believe that all was right between us unless I heard him tell me what I needed to hear. It was only later at home when we were alone that Mike and I had a chance to discuss our situation.

Mike apologized for his behavior in Boston, which had ultimately left me free to develop a relationship with Tom. We shared what’d taken place with both of us, with my leaving out that I was pregnant. It was only after Mike declared his love for me and his desire to spend the rest of our lives together that I told Mike that he was going to be the father of a son. With my psychic abilities, Mike never questioned the gender of the baby, and so it was that the world turned right for us. Mike, Isabella, and I were ready for a new beginning… which now included a baby.