The Crying Bridge

The Crying Bridge--Chapter 23

 As the eight o'clock hour approached, Del and Evan had changed into comfortable clothes and gone to sit on the porch swing while they waited for Regina and Gail Thomas to arrive. They had purchased some citronella torches and placed them around the porch and lit them because the mosquito population had suddenly exploded over the last few days. The torches gave them plenty of light and ensured they wouldn't be devoured by the pesty insects.

Evan draped his arm over Del's shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "So, ideally, what are you hoping happens tonight?" he asked her.

"I'm not entirely sure," Del admitted. "I guess I want to get more answers and put and end to all of it. Like you said earlier, I want Emma to be at peace but I want us to be able to sleep through the night with no crying baby interrupting us."

"If it comes down to either putting up with the disturbances or banishing Emma and Caleb, do you think you can make that choice?"

Del nodded firmly. "I don't want to, but this is our home now. I won't sacrifice our sanity."

Evan nodded in agreement. "Okay," he said. "I'm willing to keep trying to do what we need to in order to help Emma move on or whatever, but we do need to take some control here."

Del loved how he kept saying "we." It seemed so natural but gave her a tiny thrill nonetheless. They were a "we" and they were in this and everything else together. She didn't know if she could do it without him and was grateful she wouldn't have to.

"I love you so much," she whispered.

"Me, too," he said and kissed her softly.

They heard the car coming and Del found she was disappointed. That one small kiss had sent shivers along her spine and she would have liked to take it farther, but that was going to have to wait.

Two women stepped out of the car, and just as with Regina Meyer, the medium was nothing like Del had expected. Gail Thomas was short, even shorter than Del, and just a tiny bit on the chubby side. She had short corkscrew blonde curls that bounced around her cherubic face and twinkling blue eyes and soon proved her personality was just as bubbly as her appearance.

Regina and Gail took lawn chairs opposite Del and Evan. Del offered, and everyone accepted lemonade.

When everyone had an icy cold glass in their hands, Gail began explaining what would happen.

"First, I just want to say how happy I am to be here," Gail began. "So many people scoff at the things Regina and I can do, but the spirit world is real and I've helped a lot of people."

"We're very happy to have you here," Del said. "We really hope you'll be able to help us."

"Regina has told nothing of your history or the history of your home," Gail said. "She's only told me that you've experienced a lot of activity over the last few weeks and that it increased for a bit, declined for a short time, then resumed."

"That's right," Del confirmed. "Regina told me that we weren't in any danger, so I thought we could just let it go, but it's getting a little bothersome."

Gail held up her hand. "Don't give me anything else but that. It's important to my process that I have no pertinent information to begin with. If I know too much, it can contaminate the communications I receive."

Del shivered. It was weird to hear someone talk about communicating with the dead. "So what do we do now?"

"I can tell you I'm already receiving something, without even focusing my energy, which is somewhat unusual. It tells me that the spirit or spirits are desperate for contact," Gail told them. "I'm not getting anything concrete. I have to focus for that, but it's sort of like static or interference on a radio. Shall we get started?" she asked.