Return to Rhonan Read Free Page B

knew even before the cell phone vibrated, even before she clicked on the text.
    ‘Mom passed away – 10 mins ago.  Wait for U at home. Unc Tim.’
    Fighting back fat tears she texted back: ‘Will be 20 mins. Got client.’
    Jessica looked over to her patient deep in hypnotic trance.  It would take time to bring her back from a Past Life, time that no longer existed for her step-mother. She wanted to squash time, to be with her immediately.   
    Grief flayed her heart, as she struggled to keep calm. Jolting a person out of a Past Life could cause cardiac arrest. Often on surfacing from a deep trance, patients were excited and eager to tell of their experiences. Mystified, others told of a life in a distant age, whilst a few returned heartbroken. It took time to bring them back fully into this life.
    ‘Megan, I want you to start coming back now.   As I count to five, so you are leaving the past in the past where it belongs, you are bringing nothing with you.  You will be calm, relaxed and confident.  So now, one ... two....’ 
    ***
     
    Standing by her stepmother’s still body, Jessica felt an icy breeze swirl through the open window, b lowing the voile curtains around her face. Smoothing down the folds, she shivered, unaware of a transparent figure float through to hover by her side. Her tears fell, as she recalled their latest argument. ‘You can’t desert us.  This isn’t just a business; it’s in our blood.’
    ‘Your blood Mom, not mine.’
    ‘This is an empire you’re throwing away. Our ancestors started with nothing – forced onto coffin ships from Scotland . So many died.’ 
    Jessica turned away, ready to leave the kitchen. ‘That was over two hundred years ago. I can’t live my life in the past.’
    ‘Grandma Morag worked day and night washing, cooking, scrubbing until the blood ran.  Some winters she damn well starved. She knew what it was to suffer. She built an empire from a lodging shack for lumberjacks.’
       ‘I can’t give up my life - it’s just a business.’
       ‘She’ll haunt you – there’re some in the family have seen her.’
       ‘Why should she haunt me for doing what I believe in?’  
    Now, Jessie knelt by the side of the bed, her hot tears falling on the still hand, as she said, ‘I’m sorry, so sorry.’ She sobbed laying her head on the still chest, her long red hair covering them both. 
    Jessie raised her head to the squeak of the bedroom door opening. ‘Uncle Tim?  Oh God – I want her back – I want her back.’  She clung on to her stepmother’s hand trying to pull her from Death.  But, Death grinned. 
    An elderly man strode across to the four-poster bed.  ‘Jessie, my dear child.  It’s an awful shock....’ 
    ‘I wish I hadn’t hurt her. But, I couldn’t go into the business. Why didn’t she understand?’
    ‘Prissy loved you Jess, but she was a strong woman. Had to be, to run an empire. It was in her blood, her main reason for living besides you.’
    ‘My heart is in psychology. I never wanted anything else.’
    ‘You’re so like your birth mother. Now it was her ambition to be a nurse, but she had you instead. You follow her Jess.  She’d have been so proud of you.’
    ‘Why did she leave me?  Why did she take her life Uncle Tim? I just wish I knew  her. I killed her didn’t I?’
        ‘Now, now Jess don’t say that.  No one realized she was ill. Prissy blamed herself for not seeing the signs – we all did. But, Prissy loved you from the moment she laid eyes on you. Everything was for you.’
    ‘Now you make me feel awful. I should have—‘
    ‘No – no.  You gave Prissy something to live for – to love. Thank God you did; she could have been a monster.’
    ‘How can I go on without her?’
    Taking her hand he said, ‘You have to be strong my darling.  He broke off as he sniffed the air. “Seaweed?  Now where is that coming from?’
    Jessie smelt it too, ‘We’re not far from the