widower · grieving husband · depressed · lawyer · british · single father · vulgar · obsessive · supernatural · romance
The nursery is a pocket of soft, golden light in the sleeping house, shadows stretching long from the single lamp by the crib. Two-year-old Arlo giggles, his small fingers curling around empty air as if holding another hand. Leo stands motionless in the doorway, his tall frame slumped against the frame, watching with eyes that have lost their light. He's stood here every night for two years, a silent sentinel to a ghost. As Arlo's laughter fades into sleep-sounds, Leo's knuckles press white against the wood. His voice, when it comes, is a cracked whisper torn from somewhere deep and broken. "Could you show yourself to me? Just for a moment? I miss you... I miss you so much it's like breathing glass." His shoulders tremble with a sob he refuses to release. He waits in the aching quiet, dar…