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“He smiled at me
?” she whispered, repeating his words.

The man
remained silent.

“How do you know he smiled at me?” her voice was shaking.

Susanna could see his broad shoulders slump, his head hung low as he stared into the sink.

“Turn around,” she commanded with more brave authority than what she actually felt.

The man didn’t move.

“What will I see?”
she asked him, her voice wavering.

“I do not know.”

Susanna walked towards him boldly and reached out for his elbow, “Turn around.”

She could feel
his arm tense beneath her touch.  Slowly, the man turned to face her, the dancing light from the fireplace barely enough to light the room. 

Icy fear gripped her and
Susanna’s hand flew to her mouth and she fought to stifle a scream, “You!”

Chapter 11

The man stood stoically as if
anticipating her fear.

“You’re Kane O’Reilly!” Susanna cried in disbelief
as vivid memories came flooding back to her, “I was right!  I saw you in the book.  You’re the same man from the window when I was little.”

She backed away from him, unsure of what to do, “I don’t believe in ghosts,” she shook her head in fear and frustration.

“I’m not a ghost Susanna
. I told you last night, I’m flesh and blood,” he calmly pleaded with her.

“It’s not possible,” she countered, backing
away.

“Please don’t be frightened,” Kane urged her.

“Frightened?  I’m terrified!  You’ve been dead a hundred years!”

Kane closed his eyes in defeat, “
As you can see, Susanna, I’m very much alive.”

“How?” she screeched in
panic, “It’s impossible!”

Kane made a quick movement towards her, reaching for her hand.  Snatching it from her side he placed it on his chest, “Do you feel my heart
? Do you feel it beating in my chest?  I’m very much alive Susanna.  No ghost.  No figment of your imagination,” his accent was thicker in his urgency as he spoke to her, “I did die in this cottage 105 years ago and yet I find myself here, every night of my life, without fail.  I’m surrounded by people who can’t see me, hear me or feel me in their presence.  Except you …”

Fear and anger knotted inside of her,
Susanna shook her head, “Me?”

“Yes
.  You.  You saw me through the window that day you were here with your family. You were the only one who could.  There have been only two people that have been able to see me, talk to me or feel my touch in over one hundred years … you and Emma Bailey.”

Tears slid from Susanna’s eyes
. She was overwhelmed with fear and millions of other emotions soaring through her, “Why me?  You tell me you’re not a ghost and yet I’m the only one who can see you?”

Kane reached for her other hand and held both of them to his face, “Do I feel like an apparition to you?” his fingers wound with hers, “I’m
as warm as you, my heart beats, as does yours.  And I have cried real tears in the hundred years that I have been alone on this island.”

Susanna pulled away from him, clenching her hands into fists at her side, “You’re scaring me,” she whispered, backing
away further, “I want to leave, I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Susanna
immediately regretted her words when she saw the immense look of pain that swept across Kane’s face. 

“I’ll go,” he whispered
in agony, backing towards the door, “I never meant to frighten you.”

She stood frozen
in panic as she watched him walk towards the door, “If you decide to call Emma to come and get you, please don’t do it tonight.  The ride to the mainland is not safe at night.  I couldn’t bear it if something were to happen to you out there, especially in an effort to escape from me.”  He didn’t turn to face her as he reached for the door and just like that, he disappeared.

Susanna stood blinking at the closed kitchen door, her feet still soaked from the spilled
Diet Coke, her hands shaking at her sides.  Her mind reeled with confusion and fear. 
What was happening to her?
  She wasn’t sure what she should do next but she knew that she didn’t want him out there, somewhere, in the cold dark night.  She could very well be dead had it not been for him rescuing her on the stairs.  She ran to the door as fast as her feet could take her, flinging it open she called for him, “Kane!”

She stepped outside
onto the snow covered walkway and ran down the picket fence lined path, “Kane!  Please come back.  I’m sorry …” She hugged her arms across her chest, shivering from the cold, “I’m sorry!” she called out into the darkness.  She covered her face with her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks that were burning from the cold, “What have I done,” she whispered in anguish.

“Susanna
,” his voice called out to her from the darkness.

Susanna looked up towards the sound of his voice
. He was in the shadows close to the front door, “Go inside. You’ll freeze out here, barefoot, no less.”

“Will you come back in?” she
asked, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her sweater.

“
Only if you want me to,” he answered.

Susanna nodded,
not trusting herself to speak.

Susanna entered the house with Kane following
close behind and went into the living room before the fire.  To her astonishment, Kane went towards the back of the cottage in the direction of the bedroom and then returned moments later with her warm wool socks that were now fully dry, “Put these on, you shouldn’t walk around with wet feet.”

“Thank you,” she answered, taking her socks off and tossing them to the floor and
pulling on the dry wool pair, “I’m sorry for how I acted earlier.”

Kane shook his head, “No, I’m sorry for surprising you the way I did. 
That was certainly not how I envisioned revealing my existence.”

“I’m not sure there
is
a good way to hear that story,” she shrugged timidly, “Just out of curiosity, how were you going to tell me?”

“I’ve no idea,”
he answered with a sigh of relief from across the room, “I knew you were here and I’ve been here watching you and keeping my distance.  But the night you fell I was forced to come out of hiding.”

“
I distinctly remember you saying it took seconds to reach me. At the time I wondered what that meant … but now I know,” Susanna was staring into the fire.

“I was in the stairs, following you
. I was worried when you decided to try and shut the door.  I wanted to stop you and in truth I almost did, but was afraid that would have caused you to fall,” he trailed off.

“Turns out I did all that on my own,” she
countered with a hesitant laugh, “I have a habit of making poor decisions.”

Kane lowered his gaze towards the floor,
“I was so scared when I brought you back down, I didn’t know how injured you were.  I knew there was no way of getting you off the island and I prayed that nothing was broken and that you would be alright.”

Susanna turned toward him, “Why couldn’t you get me off the island?”

Kane seemed to be struggling with his thoughts.  He paused for a few moments before he answered her, “I can’t leave the island,” his voice was grim.

“Why?” she questioned, turning her back to the fire
and facing him completely.

“I don’t know
. Part of the curse I would assume,” he reached over and turned on the lamp beside him, “No need for the darkness anymore,” he smiled shyly and looked directly at her.

Susanna’s breath caught in her throat.  She could so clearly see the resemblance now.  He looked identical to his black and white picture and as his tawny eyes held hers from across the room she had a vision of them on the other side of the glass as he smiled at her. 
She had to mentally fight the urge to openly stare.  He was exceptionally striking.  His light olive skin glowed in the firelight and his thick brown hair casually fell across his forehead as he watched her.  His copper gaze boldly held hers, unsure and yet unwavering. 

“Why …” she stammered,
unsettled by his intense demeanor, “What happens when you leave?”

“I disappear,”
Kane answered matter-of-factly, “I don’t know how else to explain it other than I feel like I’m dying all over again, and then I just start to vanish.”

“How?
  How do you know?  Have you tried?” Susanna pushed for an answer as ghostly images of him evaporating in front of her consumed her thoughts.

“Yes, I’ve tried.”

“When?”

“When I went after you,”
he answered without hesitation, his eyes fearlessly holding hers.

“Me?”

“Yes. The day you left with your parents. I ran to the dock to go after you and halfway down I just collapsed.  I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move, it was like I was paralyzed.  And then I just started to fade away.  I managed to crawl towards the cottage and within time I was whole again.”

“So you
’re stuck here, all the time?” Susanna asked in disbelief.

Kane looked towards the floor and began to wring his hands, “I wish.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not
here all the time, which is why when you awoke this morning I was gone.  I would have never left you here in that condition of my own free will.  It was not of my choosing.”

“So, where do you go?”

“Back,” he answered slowly, the word felt heavy and seemed to take on a whole new meaning as he said it.

“Back where?”

“Back here, to the night I died.”

“Oh my God,” Susanna
blurted, her eyes closing in anguish, “Every day?”

“Most days, most every day …” he trailed off, “There
has only been one exception when I have not been pulled back. And it was the day that you were here.”

“Me?” she looked at him
with doubt.

“Yes, the day that you came with your family, I remained here from the night before.  I couldn’t believe it.  I didn’t understand why it was happening but I was enjoying it none the less.  I walked around the island in the sun, listening to the families talk to each other and play with their children.  It was like heaven,” Kane looked up towards the ceiling, “and then you were there, looking at me through the window,” he smiled in memory, “and I knew you could see me.  I wanted to talk to you but I didn’
t want to scare you.  When your parents took you away I wasn’t thinking about anything other than trying to find out who you were and why you could see me.”

Susanna
felt the small room closing in on her.  She sat rocking back and forth on the floor, a slow well of tears began to form in her eyes, “I don’t understand any of this.  I don’t understand why this is happening to me,” she said.

“I’ve been asking myself that for over one hundred years,” Kane answered
softly.

Susanna felt selfish and unworthy and instantly wished she could take back her words, “Come here, sit on the floor with me by the fire,” she held up her hand, beckoning him.

Slowly he moved from the couch towards the floor, still maintaining a good distance from her.  Boldly Susanna took his hand and drew him next to her by the fire, “Tell me about the night you died,” she said.

“You’ve read the book, it’s all there,” he dismissed it with a shrug.

“Is it true and accurate?”

“Most of it,” he answered.

“You left your brother and his fiancé on the boat to go for help.  You swam in the freezing water and made it here to the keeper who went after them?”

“Yes,” Kane stared into the fire, his square jaw flexing as he paused,
“I was in terrible shape.  I thought I would just warm up and be fine.  Turns out your body doesn’t work that way.  When the keeper didn’t return I got worse.  I paced and paced, and almost left the cottage but I knew I wouldn’t make it out there again.  I prayed for my brother and Rayna and for Keeper Stroud to find them.  I was angry and confused and then I became weaker and weaker.  I just couldn’t warm up.  My skin was turning blue, and I found it hard to breath. I finally laid down in a bed that at the time was beneath the window in the kitchen.  I don’t know how long I made it after that … could have been hours … could have been days.”

Susanna
almost shuddered as the grief flowing off of him consumed her and a fresh tear slid down her cheek, “And you do this over and over, every day you’re pulled back?”

“Yes,” he looked up at her, his copper eyes full and bright, as he
reached out to slowly wipe her tear away with his thumb, “and then every night I’m here, in whatever future it is.”

“And you’ve done this for …”

“Since December 12
th
, 1909 … one hundred and five years.”