The Chance at Willow Manor

"You...you MET her!?" Soola stared at me. I could see it in her face. She didn't want what she thought I was going to tell her, to be true.

"I don't think I would believe me either, if it hadn't happened to me, Soola," I said, tiredly, "I went into this building, and there was a girl there. She was scared and huddled in a corner. When I tried to give her a hand to help her up, her hand just disappeared into my hand, right through me."

Soola gasped, and almost spilled the lemonade, which she then set down on the side table, "So, Emmi-Anne was, or is,...a ghost!?"

"Ghost, spirit, spook...whatever you want to call it. She didn't know that at first, thinking I was the spirit. But when she found out it had been 166 years since she was last alive, she understood her situation. She proved extremely adaptable and became a nearly modern woman, overnight."

"Was she...did she...float around, go through walls, make noises in the attic?" Soola asked, and I noted genuine curiosity.

"No, she was pretty much like you or me. However she had an amazing ability to assimilate knowledge and a keen awareness. She was a stunning, very fit, young black woman. Dark as the night, as term goes. However, I was the only one that could see her, and if she got more than 150 feet away from me, she would start to fade away. She also had some connection, though vague, to Jill."

Openly curious now, Soola asked, "So she was here because of you, or even for you?"

"That is my assumption. She knew nothing of her existence from 1852, when she died, strangled by her master for denying him sex, to when I found her, in there. She never had to sleep or eat. Never felt too warm or too cold. I gave her the run of the house. She made me meals. We watched TV together. And she was nude the whole time, since no one else could see her...and she wanted to be both modern and daring."

Now a bit of humor showed on Soola's face, "Well, that must have been an interesting bit of titillation! A beautiful naked women that you couldn't touch or feel?"

"Yes, it sure was...until we found a way to virtually touch," I said, sadly.

"You could touch...how?" Soola asked.

"I bumped into Emmi, or Em as I called her sometimes, one day, and that triggered the realization that if we both could touch an object, then we could effectively feel the other through the object. My clothes provided the object between us that had allowed me to bump into her. Then I discovered that I could place a silk handkerchief on her skin and 'touch' her through it."

"So you went to bed with her, I expect?" Soola asked, with a hint of jealousy.

"Yes. She actually came to me, but I wanted her in my bed anyway. I gave her her first orgasm. We found a condom made sex possible."

"Do I need to worry about this sexy ghost returning?" Soola asked, clearly bothered.

"I don't think so," I said, "We had sex the one time, and at the end of it she just vanished...into thin air, as the phrase goes. I've had no indication since that she is here, or even exists any longer."

"And did she have feelings for you, or you for her?" Soola asked.

"Yes, very much," I replied, and then I needed to swallow.

"Like...very, very?"

"Yes," I confirmed.

"WOW" Soola said, flopping back on the lounge, "That's an astounding...and heartbreaking...story. In love with a real ghost, and then you lose her, too. Jill, then Em!"

Soola's eyes suddenly shot wide open, her hands flew to cover her mouth, "SHIT!!...OH MY GOD!!"

"What!?!? I exclaimed, as I bolted up straight, and then moved to be next to Soola.

"Jill and Emmie!! It wasn't 'Gem' that put those 'words' in my head, it was 'J And Em...Jem! That's why some later 'words' felt different, emotionally. They were Emmi's words!"

"So they both wanted you to come to me?" I said, trying to fathom that.

"What else could it be, Ted?" Soola said, swirling in her own astonishment, "They let me feel their emotions for you...their love! They wanted me to come to you! That's why everything seems familiar! They have shared it with me, and maybe I am familiar to you because they are in me...or something! Hell, I'm not sure."

"Before Jill died, she made me promise that I would try to love again," I said, quietly.

Soola's face had softened and stray tears rolled out of those amazing green eyes and over her high cheekbones, "Then she DID want this love between us. She set us up and...Oh NO!...Ted! , TED!" she cried, and started yanking at my shirt, "Jill SENT Emmi to you. It was to prove you could love again! Once Emmi was gone, I was sent to...to..."

"...be loved...be my wife?" I said. My own tears let loose, and I grabbed Soola's napkin to absorb my tears, as the love from three women overwhelmed me.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=

It was nearly two months later that we stood under the Karlfeldt's gazebo. We said we were officially engaged a week after we met, but that was really just how long it took the jeweler to install the gorgeous emerald in the engagement ring we had selected.

"Arsoola Matelli, I ask you to be my wife, today and forever. We will never know what tomorrow may bring, so I give you this promise; to try to be the best person I am capable, every single day. For if there comes a day that my life is taken from your grasp, I will have left knowing it was the best day. And, in each day, I will cherish the moments that speak of our bond and the mysteries that brought us together. I place this ring on your finger, not as a sign of ownership, but as my promise that I want to surround you with my love, always."

Soola pulled a tissue from the sleeve of her elegant wedding dress, and dabbed at her eyes. Then she reached up and dabbed at mine.

"Theodore Taeger, my Teddy...you - and two women I will never have the honor to meet - made sure that I can stand here today with a restored heart. Now, that once broken heart has no room for the past, only for my future with the man I love, so dearly. Except, there's a small corner reserved for my love for Jillian & Emmi-Anne. May their souls rest happy in the union of you & I. With my ring, which I place on your finger now, I want you to be reminded of the joy you bring to my life. That joy is from your kindness, your understanding, your humor, the comfort of your arms around me, the whispers of love you put in my ear, and so much more. I am the luckiest woman; to be so loved by you, and I will never forget that, for a single second."

We knew no one else would fully understand the meaning of those vows...they were just for us. Well, us, plus Jill & Em.