14 Christmas Spirit Read Free

had come here to this house to live with her Great Aunt Millie as a teenager when it became obvious that her own mother wasn't going to accept her for who she was, Darcy's life had been anything but normal.  As her abilities had developed and she had learned to use them instead of hide from them, she had been able to be around people again and have friends and even find love and get married.  Jeff, her ex-and-now-deceased husband, had been a great disappointment in her life, but at least she'd taken her shot at love.
    Now she was doing the same thing with Jon.  Taking a chance.  If it wasn't for what her Great Aunt Millie had done for her, it wouldn't have been possible.  Now that Millie was deceased, her spirit still hung around town, helping Darcy and guiding her whenever she needed it.  Darcy scrunched her eyebrows down, remembering all of the spirits she had helped pass over to the other side.  Not Millie, though.  Millie didn't seem to want to go anywhere.  Didn't she owe it to her aunt more than anyone else, Darcy argued with herself, to make sure she went on to her final rest?
    She certainly did.  She owed Millie that, and a whole lot more.  Maybe it was time to have a serious discussion with the ghost of Great Aunt Millie about it.  Especially now that she could devote her time to the question of why Millie chose to hang around Misty Hollow.
    "Popcorn!" Jon said cheerfully, placing a large plastic orange bowl next to her on the couch.  Darcy blinked, coming back to herself.  She hadn't even realized Jon had left the room to get their snacks from the kitchen.  On the television, the title scene for Meet Joe Black played over and over, the music swelling and falling, with the choices to play the movie or jump to certain scenes and so forth listed across the bottom of the picture.
    Jon sat down in the overstuffed chair again.  In his hands was his own bowl of popcorn, layered with white cheese powder by the smell of it.  He knew she didn't like that flavor.  Hers smelled of melted butter and just a hint of salt.  Mmm.  He did know her pretty well.  She smiled at him, knowing her eyes held the same unspoken thoughts she saw in his.  Love, and a promise of what might come later on.
    After the movie, of course.  It didn't matter if she could quote every line Brad Pitt said.  Something this good never got old.
    Smudge purred a little question, looking up at her and sniffing the air.  Rolling her eyes, Darcy tore apart a single popcorn kernel and fed a small bit of it to the big cat, who lapped it up greedily and meowed for more.
    "That's enough for you," she scolded.  "This isn't cat food.  It's people food."
    "He's just going to get into the leftovers anyway," Jon said, aiming the remote at the television and starting the movie up.  "He's crafty that way."
    A strong purring rumbled through Smudge's chest, like he understood the compliment that Jon had just given him.  Those two had come to an uneasy understanding, a mutual respect and acknowledgment that both of them were going to be in Darcy's life long term.  It hadn't happened overnight, but now the two of them were something close to friends.  Darcy was glad to see it.  There was no way that she could ever marry a man who didn't accept Smudge as part of her family.
    She was a few handfuls of popcorn into the movie when Jon set his bowl aside and came over to sit close to her, his arm around her shoulders, his body warm against hers.  He put her popcorn aside, too, so that he could pull her into him, but not before she grabbed another handful to munch on.  Laying her head down against his chest, she watched Anthony Hopkins explaining to Brad Pitt what love really is.
    "Trust, responsibility, taking the weight for your choices and feelings…"
    "…and spending the rest of your life living up to them," Darcy finished for Hopkins' character.  "And above all, not hurting the object of your love."
    "I swear you could recite this in your