Risen (Haunted Series Book 22)

ships moving in and out of the French-controlled Caribbean.
It took Mason four days of careful study of the bills of lading and ship manifests before he hit pay dirt, but dirt was all it was worth.  The America, a Téméraire-class seventy-four-gun French naval vessel arrived in Guadeloupe with several large crates of de Gouges’s, but it also left with them.  The ship only stopped long enough to take on water before it left.  As far as Mason could tell, it was to stop at an isle the locals called Lanfè before it was to continue up the coast of North America on patrol.  Why did the ship sail all the way across into the Caribbean if North America was its target?  Did Olympe de Gouges have that much pull with Louis XVI?  “Never doubt the power of a well-turned ankle,” Mason said aloud.
“You can say that again,” Fergus agreed.
Mason whipped around.  He didn’t see Fergus.  Not having the sight was a disadvantage when dealing with the two pre-Chicago-Fire ghosts.  Kevin Murphy, Stephen Murphy’s long-lost father, and his best friend Fergus O’Connor had decided to join the team in search of the Wall treasure.  The fact that they were dead, and their remains were soon to be reburied, did nothing to dissuade the ghosts.  This was an adventure.  The only sea they had crossed was the north Atlantic, and that was in the belly of a New-York-bound ship taking their families from Ireland.  There were no turquoise seas to look upon, nor shapely ladies of color.
The yacht they cruised on was amazing.  Kevin, who didn’t like being on the water, said he couldn’t stop the horizon from rising and falling.  But Fergus was in his element.  He followed the captain and learned all he could while Kevin was administered to by the fair Sabine.
She kept him distracted by telling him stories of his son Stephen, most of which were things that she had heard secondhand from Mia.
Kevin told her about his life and his childhood, about how he had forgotten that family was everything.  He lamented that he had failed with his son but was determined to be there for the Callen boys, who had embraced the idea of ghosts tagging along with them.
“Stephen will forgive you,” Sabine assured him.  “I’m not sure he hasn’t already.”
“Sweet Sabine, he looks at me like I’m a stranger and not his pa.”
“I think it must be a hard adjustment to make.  He lived longer than you and, to my understanding, didn’t have much of a life of his own.  The problems of his arranged marriage still weigh heavy on him.  His mother, your wife, was, so I’ve heard, a severe woman of unyielding principles who choked the life out of the young couple when it became apparent that one of them was barren.”
“Catherine changed quickly after we were married.  She laid the blame of our poverty on my shoulders.  True, I should have drunk less and saved more, but I thought I had time.  I wanted to still live and enjoy what this new country had to offer us.”
“Well, since only a few can go backwards in time - and they certainly can’t change the past without repercussions - I think you just need to keep at it.  Soon, Stephen will appreciate having you in his existence again.”
“But maybe it’s too late to toss a ball with the kid,” Kevin said wryly.
Sabine smiled.  “It’s never too late.  I suspect that one of the reasons Stephen is attracted to Mia is because she will toss a ball with him.”
“I think it’s more primal.”
Sabine thought about this a moment.  “No, it’s something else.  I’ll not discount the mutual attraction, but Mia’s moved on, and I don’t see her looking upon him as anything other than a friend.”
“She chose an interesting lad.”
“He chose her.  He had the courage to take on the most complex creature around.  Ted’s adoration gives Mia the air of normalcy that she needs.  My cousin’s path will never be a straight one, but I know, as long as she is with Ted, it will be a happy one.”
“Aside from the white hair, you don’t look like cousins.”
“We aren’t blood cousins.  My mother, Beverly, still doesn’t know that she was secretly adopted by Mia’s grandmother.  When I found out from Stephen, I was shocked, but it doesn’t change Mia’s and my regard for each other.  I love her like a sister.  One of my daughters carries the reincarnated soul of Mia’s deceased daughter.”
“Mia had a baby out of wedlock?  I can’t see Stephen putting up with a woman with such loose morals.”
“In this time, things are different, more relaxed.  I believe Mia’s love for Neil Hansen, the bedridden father of her child, was all she needed to commit herself to him.  Marriage doesn’t need a piece of paper.  That’s just the legal end of things.  Love comes first.  Neil was killed by a vengeful ghost.  Mia was pregnant when she tried to save him.  She lost her child in the battle.  Fate may be unkind, but the universe finds a way to heal.  It took the child’s unborn soul and eventually gave her to my late husband and me.  My daughter Maisha Violet has many of Mia’s qualities.”
“This doesn’t bother you?”
Sabine looked over at the ghost, and her eyes were soft.  “No, I have three beautiful, talented daughters. I have been blessed.”
“Children are indeed a blessing.”
Sabine looked for Kevin on the deck of the yacht but didn’t see him.  He could be down below, or had decided to travel with the men on the Zodiac.  She saw Fergus jump aboard. She didn’t see Kevin join them, but he could have been in the veil.
“I’m very worried about this,” she said to herself.
“Ms. Norwood,” the captain said, approaching her.
“Yes?” she asked.
“I wanted to tell