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the war. I belonged in the battlefield but I couldn’t get a
commission because of my bloody knee! It was my right to be sent
back!”
    Simon
didn’t care about the displeasure that marred Fate’s
face.
    “ What on earth for? You had already proved yourself. Did you
want more glory? Adventure? When the war ended what then?” Fate
mocked. “War shouldn’t be a way of life.”
    Simon
turned away, his body trembling with rage.
    “ I would have come back achieving my mission of defending the
Empire. It was the destiny I chose.”
    Fate
remained silent.
    Simon
continued, his voice harsh with pain and accusation. “I didn’t know
Fate interfered with destiny. You took my life away. My family is
dead. I don’t know what happened to Dottie, and I’m in a prison
worse than the prisons for the Boers.”
    He heard
the swish of Fate’s cloak before he saw her stand beside him. “It
has been done. I cannot return you from whence you came, but I can
bring you to a time you can become.”
    As she
moved away towards the shrubs, Simon turned to her.
    “ Become what? Become where?” he snapped. “I don’t care for your
riddles!”
    Fate
faced him and once again, Simon was face to face with Madame
Merta.
    With a
smile, she said one word.
    “ Ask.”

Chapter Six
     
     
     
    Juliana
couldn’t contain her excitement. If coincidences were to go by, she
had just hit the jackpot. One of the cases her company was involved
with was looking for the heirs of Dorothy Mellor formerly known as
Dorothy Lowe. She had unearthed Dorothy Mellor’s picture and
Juliana was sure that this was a picture of Simon’s sister. A news
clipping was also included in the file. Juliana now remembered why
Simon’s name sounded so familiar. Dorothy Mellor had a brother
named Simon Thomas Lowe who had seen action in the Second Boer War.
He had been wounded and was recuperating in England when he met an
accident that took his life. There was no doubt in Juliana’s mind
that this was Simon.
    She was
happy for Simon that he could now move on to find the peace that
eluded him for so long. And yet she was torn. She had to agree with
Simon – if things could have been different. She knew that if she
showed Simon that Dottie had lived, he would eventually go. When he
left, Juliana knew that she’d be mourning for the dead. Again. She
had developed feelings for Simon. There was no doubt about that.
Lust or love, she didn’t know. Their meeting wasn’t exactly normal.
Still, he was the spirit of a dead person and wasn’t any different
from Brody. Juliana wondered if she was doomed to always love
someone dead.
    Dusk was
closing in on the park. A jogger passed her, unmindful of her
presence. Juliana kept walking towards the grove. It had rained
earlier and the wind was stronger, colder. It whipped Juliana’s
face making her burrow deeper into her coat. The afternoon sun rode
low on the horizon turning the water sodden park to a garden of
splendour. Water drops suspended in blades of grass twinkled like
tiny diamonds in a sea of green velvet. Juliana smiled. She
couldn’t have picked a better time to tell Simon.
    The sun
finally hit the place where the grove should have materialized, but
nothing happened. Puzzled, Juliana checked her watch. It was just
after four in the afternoon. Looking around, Juliana found a groove
in one of the trees and decided to wait there. Her mind drifted to
Simon and imagined how relieved he would be. Relieved was a
relative statement. Simon still had that air of superiority that
rankled; but Juliana was beginning to think that he only acted that
way because he was impatient to move on. Juliana smiled wistfully.
If Simon was still earthbound and Brody seemed to have moved on,
her husband must have finished whatever he was meant to do on
earth. Perhaps this was why she wasn’t able to sense
Brody.
    She
continued to watch for the grove which should have appeared, but
nothing was there. The ground remained vacant. She
shivered.
    “