The Voice

Epilogue

                                                 E p i l o g u e    -    1 9 8 3

Callum's entire body jerked as his soul came back from its trip into the future. Gasping, Callum closed the leather-bound book in front of him and put it back into the box. He felt tears on his cheeks and wiped them away swiftly before standing.

The spell had worked. In a roundabout way, it had done exactly what he'd wanted, which was let him see Siobhan happy. He felt his lips pull into a grin as he remembered all he'd just seen. His daughter, his baby girl. She'd made mistakes; there was no doubt about it. But in the end, it all worked out. In the end, she was happy.

All because of Moira. Callum shook his head as he turned off the light and stepped down the ladder. Whenever he'd first shown up and only Moira had seen him, he'd thought he'd lost his only chance at seeing Siobhan happy. How wrong he had been.

His very own granddaughter had turned out to be more brave and beautiful and kind than he'd ever have guessed. As he headed down the hallway, he heard the front door open.

"Hey, what happened to our one o'clock lunch?" Mary called. "I tried calling here but you didn't answer." Callum ran the distance remaining between them and pulled Mary into his arms, kissing her.

"Ew!" Siobhan's little voice whined. Callum pulled his lips away and Mary smiled at him.

"You are totally forgiven for skipping our lunch." She said, before turning to Siobhan. "Bean, why don't you show daddy what you got?"

"Here, it's for you!" She said, handing Callum an orange dahlia. He smiled at the flower and took Siobhan's hand.

"Let's go and put it in some water." He said. Mary smiled at the two of them.

"I'm gonna go change, I'll be back in a few." She said. Callum walked Siobhan into the kitchen and filled up an old vase with water.

"Bean, you know daddy's sick, right?" He asked. The little girl grew somber and nodded. "Soon, I'm gonna have to go to heaven, but you know it'll be okay, don't you?" She shook her head.

"I don't want you to go." She said. After putting the dahlia into the vase, he bent down so he could be at eye level with Siobhan.

"Hey, you want to know a secret?" He asked. She nodded. "Even though you can't see me, I'll still be here."

"Really?" She asked.

"Of course. Every moment, I'll be right there with you." He said. "And one day, when you're older, and your life is hard, I'll be there for you."

"Do you promise?" Siobhan asked, her voice serious. Callum chuckled and answered with a nod. "Pinky promise?"

"I pinky promise." He said, wrapping his finger around her own. She smiled and gave him a hug.

"Can I get in on this hugging action?" Mary asked as she walked into the kitchen. Callum stood with Siobhan in his arms and headed straight for Mary. They all hugged in the middle of the kitchen until finally Callum grew too tired to keep holding Siobhan up.

"Can I go play?" Siobhan asked as he put her down. He nodded and she ran off towards the living room to get her toys.

"Are you feeling okay, Cal?" Mary asked. He smiled at her.

"I'm great." He said, and it wasn't exactly a lie. He could still feel the cold grip of death getting stronger, and his body felt more weak since performing the spell. But he knew what the future held in store for Siobhan and Mary, and felt at peace with it all.

He was happy.