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Mary could see ghosts. It wasn't something that she told others as she didn't want them to think she was crazy or worse believe her and want her to communicate with their dead loved one as she had no control over who came to her.
It had started a few years after she married her husband. They had been traveling along a dark road and had taken the turn too tightly causing the car to skid off the road flipping several times. She had been badly injured and doctors didn't think that she would survive the night let alone go on to live a full and healthy life. Yet, she had survived that first night and then continued to survive the good and the bad in her life including both the birth and the death of her son.
She lost him in the winter of 1989 due to a horrible accident at the school, and for the first time since she started seeing ghosts, she wished that she could call them forward. She wanted more than anything to be able to see her son again. To hold him in her arms and just know that a part of him was still with her. It was selfish as she also knew that ghosts stayed due to unfinished business, so she apologized silently to him for the thought as she hoped that wherever he moved on to he was happy.
She caught her first glimpse of him at his funeral a few months later as the ground finally thawed enough to allow her to bury his ashes. He was standing at the edge of the group wearing the black coat that he had gotten for his birthday a couple years prior. Beside him was a boy she didn't recognize wearing a grey suit with slicked-back hair. The two of them looked solemn as they watched the proceedings. She kept one eye on them as Charles turned to look at her. She could see the sadness in his eyes as he stared and she was too far away to hear what he was saying as he spoke to the other boy. A moment later, though, the other boy took his hand pulling him away from the funeral and disappearing into the trees. She was unable to go after him as there were too many people around who would think she had gone insane but she desperately wanted to as she let him walk away. After that moment she caught glimpses of him out of the corner of her eye. She was never quite sure it was him as he was always gone before she could get a closer look.
Forty years passed before she finally saw him again. By then she was an old woman and had given up thinking that she would ever see him again in this lifetime. She believed with her entire heart that he had moved on and that she would see him in the afterlife. Therefore it was almost impossible for her to contain her shock as she walked into the living room one day to see him standing there with the same boy that she saw at the funeral all those years ago. He looked the same as she remembered, his eyes lit with joy as he stood holding the other boy's hand. He was saying something about the house but his words cut off abruptly as he took in her reaction. His eyes went wide as she startled and his eyes darted between the other boy and her.
"You. You can see me," Charles asked in disbelief and she nodded as she walked forward holding out her arms. He practically fell into them, holding her tightly as she wrapped her own arms around him. He didn't feel the same as he used to as it felt like hugging cool air but he was in her arms again. She pressed a kiss to the side of his head as he buried his face into her shoulder and cried.
"Oh, Charles my love, I've missed you so much," Mary cried as she held him back. Charles heard her but the only thing she heard beyond the sobs were the whispered words of an apology. She made gentle shushing noises comforting him as he cried before he finally stepped back wiping the tears from his eyes as he returned to the boy who was watching them with concern.
"Mum, this is Edwin," Charles informed her.
"Hello. It is nice to have a name for the boy I saw with my son all those years ago," Mary told him.
"Then it is a pleasure to finally meet you," Edwin answered formally causing Charles to smile. She gestured to the couch and the two of them took a seat. She wanted to ask him so much, including what had really happened to him and why he hadn't bothered to come home but there would be time for that later. For now they talked like old friends discussing their current lives. She was pleased to hear that he had found a purpose in the afterlife helping others. Hours passed as she listened to her son discuss cases and the work that was so important to him but as the clock ticked into the evening, he glanced towards the door.
"Dad will be home soon," he stated.
"Yes, you should stay and see him," She told him and Charles shook his head no. He wasn't ready for that.
"I have to go," Charles told her as he stood with Edwin. She wanted to beg him to stay. To allow her to hold him in her arms again and apologize for not being able to protect him from not only his father but the accident that ended his life. It was clear, though, that just like any child he had a life outside of her and she had to let him go. So she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him once more on the head.
"Please promise me that you'll come visit," She whispered. Not knowing if she could survive him leaving her again even as she knew she had to let him go.
"Of course," Charles agreed with a smile.
"We should go," Edwin stated as a car pulled up to the house. Charles released her moving to the boy's side again. With one last glimpse back he walked through the nearest wall with Edwin at his side. She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and held her head high plastering a smile on her face just in time for the door to open.
"Mary, have you been crying?" Paul asked as he closed the door and started to remove his coat.
"No, just my allergies. How was your day."