Buried Innocence - A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery - Book Thirteen (Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery Series) (5 page)

When Mary and
Clarissa walked down the street the next morning, they were surprised to find
the entire Brennan family standing out on their front porch waiting for them.
Mary was so grateful that Katie had agreed to let Clarissa spend most of her
summer vacation days with the Brennan family while she and Bradley worked.
Maggie and Clarissa had been inseparable most days, and they had split
sleepovers between the two houses.

“Hi,” Mary called.
“What’s up?”

“So?” Katie asked.

“So?” Mary
repeated, confused.

“I thought your
ultrasound was yesterday,” Katie replied.

“Yeah, when you get
to find out if you’re going to have a cool boy baby or a lame girl baby,” Andy
added.

“Andrew Brennan,”
Katie reprimanded. “There are no lame babies, boy or girl. They are all a gift
from God.”

“Yes, Mom,” he
replied, but then he turned to Mary. “But a boy baby would be awesome.”

“Well, the
ultrasound is actually this morning,” she said, placing her hand on the small
mound at her abdomen. “So, if the baby cooperates, we will know who’s in
there.”

“Then we have the
party, right?” Maggie asked.

Mary nodded. “Yes,
dinner and cupcakes at our house Friday night,” she said. “And then we’ll make
the announcement.”

“Wow, Clarissa,”
Andy said. “You’re going to find out if you’re going to be a big brother or a
big sister.”

David, Andy’s older
brother, cuffed him on the top of his head. “You dork,” he laughed. “She’s
going to be a big sister no matter what.”

“David Brennan,”
Katie said with a long-suffering sigh. “You don’t hit your brother.”

“Yes, ma’am,” David
replied, and although the tone of his voice was chastened, the twinkle in his
eye demonstrated a wholly unrepentant attitude.

Katie gave David
the “mom” look, letting him know that she wasn’t fooled before she turned to
Mary. “What can I bring?” she asked.

Shaking her head,
Mary smiled at her. “Nothing at all,” she said. “It’s taken care of. Bradley is
going to man the grill, and Rosie insisted on making everything else.”

“Well, that was
sweet of her,” Katie said.

Mary nodded. “Yes,
it was. And she couldn’t stand having to wait to find out who the baby is going
to be,” she added with a laugh. “So, right after we call my parents, we call
Rosie so she can fill the cupcakes with the right color filling.”

“Ah, clever lady,”
Katie said. “And I’ve tasted Rosie’s cooking, so you’re pretty clever
yourself.”

“No matter what, I
win,” Mary agreed. “So, I’ll be back here to pick up Clarissa at about 3:00
this afternoon. Does that work?”

“Perfect,” Katie
said. “And if she needs to stay later, just let me know. She is absolutely no
trouble.”

“Thanks,” Mary
replied. Then she turned and gave Clarissa a hug. “Have a great day,
sweetheart.”

Clarissa hugged her
back. “You, too,” she said. “I can’t wait to find out.”

“Me, too,” Mary
said.

Walking back to her
house, Mary could still hear the discussion about babies and parties coming
from the Brennan porch. Andy and David were arguing, and Maggie and Clarissa
were guessing what sex the baby would be. Katie stood in the midst and ushered
them all inside before “they woke the entire neighborhood and the dead.” Mary
smiled widely. Katie Brennan was amazing.

Bradley met her at
the front door, and she tiptoed to press a kiss on his lips. “Ready?” she
asked.

He nodded, but the
smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” she
asked.

He shook his head.
“Nothing,” he said. “I’m good. Let’s go.”

She put her hand on
his chest and stopped him as he tried to exit the house. “What’s wrong?” she
asked again.

Exhaling slowly, he
closed his eyes for a moment. “I’m nervous, that’s all,” he said.

“Nervous?” she
asked.
“About an ultrasound?”

He chuckled
nervously. “Yeah, pretty silly, right?”

She wrapped her
arms around his neck and met his eyes. “I’m not Jeannine,” she said. “Nothing
is going to happen to me or our baby.”

His jaw tensed for
a moment, and he looked away from her but not before she saw the pain in his
eyes. “I keep remembering,”
he
whispered, “how happy
we were, how carefree we were. We had no idea that something would change our
lives the very next day.”

“And you keep
waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Mary said.

He nodded. “Yeah, I
guess I do.”

“Well, let me tell
you something, Bradley Alden,” she said, her voice confident and strong. “This
little baby is already a miracle child. So don’t you think for a moment that I
would let anyone endanger either of
us.
”

He pulled her into
his arms and just held her for a moment, not saying a word. “I can’t lose you,”
he finally said.

She wrapped her
arms around him and laid her head against his chest. “You won’t,” she said.
“You’re stuck with me forever.”

“Forever sounds
good,” he said, kissing her on the top of the head.

“Yeah, well just
remember that if the doctor tells us we’re having triplets,” she replied.

He stepped back,
his eyes wide, and his jaw dropped. “There’s a chance of that?” he stammered.

She grinned.
“Probably not,” she said. “But it sure got your mind off other things, didn’t
it?”

Mary hung up the
phone, sat back in the chair next to her desk and smiled. She was going to make
her mom and dad grandparents again, and it seemed they were even more excited
than she and Bradley. When she told them the results of the ultrasound, her
mother declared that she could finally start shopping for the baby, and she
could hear the tears in her father’s voice. She felt her own eyes moisten with
tears as she pictured her rugged dad with reddened eyes.

“Another O’Reilly
born into the world,” he had whispered.

“Timothy O’Reilly,”
her mother had replied. “The baby will be an Alden, not an O’Reilly.”

“Aye, Alden will be
the last name,” he had countered. “But O’Reilly blood will out. The babe will
be an O’Reilly through and through.”

Wiping a stray tear
away, she took a deep breath and reached for her mouse. But before she could
even right click, her office door sprung open, and Rosie and Stanley hurried
inside.

“Well?” Stanley
said. “You can’t keep us waiting any longer. Some of us
is
older than others.
What’cha
gonna
have?”

Mary shook her
head. “But Stanley, it’s a secret until Friday,” Mary said, holding back a
grin. “I promised Bradley that I would only tell my parents and Rosie. Everyone
else has to wait until Friday.”

“I
ain’t
everyone else,” Stanley grumbled. “Well, I’m
practically your father.”

Rosie giggled. “I’m
sure Mary’s mother would be surprised by that remark,” she said.

“That’s not what I
meant,” he said. “But I’ve been here through her ups and downs. Why, I even let
her borrow my car, and believe you me,
that’s
not
something I do lightly.”

“But Stanley, I
made a promise,” Mary said. “And, being the kind of person you are, you
wouldn’t want me going against my promise, would you?”

“Bah, it
ain’t
breaking a promise
iffen
you don’t say it out loud,” he said. “You could just write it down and hand it
to Rosie and
iffen
I happen to see it, well, that’s
out of your control.”

“You don’t think
that would be lying, do you?” she asked with a smile.

“I’m just saying,
you wouldn’t be telling me,” he replied. “I’d be finding out on my own. Kind of
like an act of God.”

“I don’t think God
has any part of this,” Rosie said. “Now Stanley, leave Mary alone.”

Mary grinned and
picked up a folded piece of paper from her desk. She handed it to Rosie and
winked at Stanley. “Unfortunately Rosie, Stanley has been a bad influence on
me,” she said. “I thought of the same thing before you even walked through the
door.”

“Oh. Oh. Oh,” Rosie
squealed as she
unwrapped
the note. “Oh, it’s a—”

“
Shhhh
!”
Mary said, stopping Rosie before she uttered
the last word. “We don’t want to have to tell Bradley that you told Stanley.”

Stanley scooted
behind Rosie’s shoulder and read what was printed on the note and nodded at
Mary, his eyes warm with happiness. “Well, congratulations to the two of you,”
he said. “I couldn’t be prouder
iffen
you were my own
daughter.”

Mary got up, walked
around her desk and gave Stanley a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Stanley,” she
said.

Then she turned and
hugged Rosie. “And thank you for helping with the party.”

Rosie’s eyes were
brimming with tears. “Oh, Mary, I’m just so happy for you,” she said. “Are you
going to tell Clarissa tonight?”

“We asked Clarissa
if she wanted to know tonight or if she wanted to wait until Friday,” Mary
explained. “And she actually chose waiting until Friday.”

“She did?” Rosie
exclaimed. “Why would she do that?”

“Well, she knew
that it would be too hard to keep the secret between now and then,” Mary said
with a smile. “And she didn’t want to be the one to spill the beans.”

“Smart girl,”
Stanley said. “Besides, it will be more fun when everyone finds out at the same
time.”

Rosie lifted an
eyebrow in his direction. “Oh really?” she asked.

With an
embarrassed
chuckle, he shrugged. “Well, fun for everyone
but me.”

Rosie turned back
to Mary and shook her head. “He’s incorrigible.”

Mary laughed.
“That’s okay,” she said. “We like him just the way he is.”

“Good thing for
him,” Rosie added. Then she pulled a list from her purse. “So, how many people
should I plan for?”

“Well, my parents
will be there, all three of my brothers, the entire Brennan family,” Mary
listed. “And when Ian heard you’d be cooking, he insisted on coming with
Gillian.”

Rosie blushed
slightly.
“Isn’t that sweet of him.”

“Bradley is going
to call Jeannine’s parents and see if they would like to come,” Mary continued.

“That’s awfully
nice of him,” Stanley said.

“Well, they’re
Clarissa’s grandparents,” Mary said. “So, we think they should be part of the
new baby’s life, too, if they want to be.”

Rosie looked over
her shoulder and then lowered her voice. “I’ve never asked. And really, it’s
none of my business,” she began.

“But that
ain’t
never stopped her before,” Stanley inserted.

She frowned at
Stanley for a moment and then turned back to Mary. “Where are Bradley’s
parents?” she asked. “He never talks about them.”

“They passed away
when he was in the service,” Mary explained. “They were in a car accident when
he was deployed. So, really, the only parents he’s had for years were
Jeannine’s mom and dad.”

“Oh, dear, well no
wonder he wants to invite them,” Rosie said. “I really hope they come.”

Nodding, Mary
smiled at her. “Me, too,” she said. “We want to share the news with everyone we
love.”

Rosie put the list
back into her purse. “Well, it’s going to be a great party,” Rosie said, and
then she turned to look at Stanley, “as long as no one lets the cat out of the
bag.”

“Don’t look at me,”
Stanley grumbled. “My lips are sealed. No one is going to hear from me that
Mary is going to have a baby—”

“Stanley!” both
women yelled.

Chuckling softly,
Stanley winked at the women.
“Just kidding.”

Mary opened the
small, plastic container and took two boiled eggs from it and placed them on
the paper plate on top of her small office refrigerator. Putting the lid back
on the container, she snapped it closed and put it back on the refrigerator
shelf and closed the door. Picking up the small, glass, pepper shaker, she
started to sprinkle pepper on the eggs.

“Hey, Mary, what’s
up?” Mike asked as he suddenly appeared next to her.

Startled, Mary
swung around, hurtling the pepper shaker through the air where it crashed into
a mirror hanging on the wall and caused it to shatter.

They both stared at
the broken mirror for a moment. Finally, Mike rocked back on his heels and
cleared his throat cautiously. “So, how’s that bad luck horoscope working for
you so far?” he asked.

She glared at him
for a moment. “Well, I was doing pretty well until a certain someone just made
me break a mirror,” she replied. “I believe that’s seven years bad luck if I’m
not mistaken.”

“Mary, you can’t
believe in those old superstitions,” Mike said. “They were created back in a
day when people were ignorant of true science, when they would believe in
anything.”

“Like ghosts and
angels?” Mary countered.

“Touché,” Mike
replied.

Sighing, Mary
picked up a roll of paper towels and her trash can. “Well, I might as well
clean it up,” she said, walking across the room to the mess.

She had just bent
over to pick up the first large shard of mirror when her phone rang. Standing,
she hurried over to her desk and answered. “Mary O’Reilly.”

“Hello, Mary, this
is Donna from Galena,” the voice on the other end stated. “She came back. She’s
here right now, and we want to be sure we ask her the right questions.”

Mary slipped into
her chair and pulled out a pen and paper pad. “That’s great, Donna,” she said.
“Can you ask her for her full name?”

She could hear
Donna relaying the information to her son, Ryan, and Ryan asking Liza.

“Her name is Liza
Parker,” Ryan said.

“Does she know how
old she is?” Mary asked.

Donna repeated the
question to Ryan.

“She’s five, but
her birthday is in September and she will be six,” Ryan said brightly.

Mary’s heart ached
for the little girl who would never see her sixth birthday. “Ask her if she
knows her address,” Mary said.

Donna repeated the
question and Mary heard Ryan ask it. There was a long pause while Ryan waited
for the response. “She doesn’t know her newest address,” he said. “She didn’t
live there for very long. That’s where the bad man lives. But she used to live
with her first family in a place called Dubuque.”

“Does she remember
the name of her first family?” Mary asked.

“She said she
remembers their last name was Larson,” Ryan said, “because they called her Liza
Larson for a little while.”

“Does she remember
what year she lived with the
Larsons
?” Mary asked,
crossing her fingers.

Donna relayed the
question to Ryan, and Mary could hear Ryan asking Liza.

“She’s getting
tired,” Ryan said. “She really doesn’t want to answer any more questions. They
make her sad.”

“If she could just
answer this one, it would be so helpful,” Mary pleaded.

She heard Donna ask
Ryan one more time.

“She says that she
remembers a New Year’s Eve Party with the
Larsons
just before the mom got sick,” Ryan said. “And it was for 2010. Does that
help?”

“It helps a lot,”
Mary replied. “Thank you so much. Please tell Liza that she’s done a wonderful
job today.”

“Is there anything
else I should do?” Donna asked.

“If Ryan tells you
anything else, please call me,” Mary said. “But you have both been amazing. I’m
sure there’s going to be information about a missing girl out there, and this
will help me narrow down the search.”

“Okay, I’ll write
anything down that Ryan tells me,” she replied. “Thank you for helping us,
Mary.”

“Thank you for
helping Liza,” Mary replied.

After hanging up
the phone, she smiled at Mike, who was busy cleaning up mirror shards. “Well,
this should be a piece of cake,” she replied. “There’s got to be a record of
this little girl out there somewhere.”