My Heart Will Go On

After a day of giving psychic and mediumistic readings, it’s nice to relax with an avocado smoothie (great for the heart), and a Nora Roberts novel. My friend Rochelle’s face popped into my mind. I never ignore nudges from my intuition, so I placed Nora aside and telephoned Rochelle, who I hadn’t talked with in months. I was glad I called – she was distraught. Emma, her best friend, was mourning the sudden loss of her fiancé, and Rochelle’s circle of friends was devastated.

Emma and Jim had been high school sweethearts who ended up going to different universities, where they found different partners and married them. Jim and his wife moved to Vancouver, where he joined a brokerage firm. Emma stayed in Toronto, where she and her husband operated a flower shop. However, Jim’s and Emma’s marriages ended in divorce, and Jim moved back to Toronto to start over. The couple met again at their 25th high school reunion, and it was love at second sight.

They made plans to marry – “This time, to the right woman,” Jim kept telling his buddies. Sadly, he suffered a massive heart attack the morning before his bachelor party and he died in hospital, with Emma at his bedside. He passed while holding her hands. The funeral was scheduled for tomorrow morning.

“Rochelle, would you like me to go with you?” I asked, ready to support my friend if she needed it.

“No, I’m fine,” she said, then sighed. “We’re going to be there for Emma, who you probably don’t know.”

We chatted for a few more minutes, catching each other up on what our kids were up to, then said our goodbyes. I sat for a minute and thought about how unpredictable life was, then finished my smoothie and picked up the Nora Roberts novel. I read a few paragraphs, but couldn’t concentrate on the words.

The next day, at 10:30 am exactly – I noted the time, because I was between clients – I heard Celine Dion singing the theme from the movie Titanic: “My Heart Will Go On.” Then I felt an odd sensation in my ankles, as if they were swollen. I looked down at my feet: They were fine.

That afternoon, I called Rochelle to see how she was doing. Jim’s funeral had been solemn, with over a hundred mourners at the gravesite to pay their respects. Emma delivered a eulogy under a bright blue sky, and did her best to hold back tears. The last thing she said, looking up into the sky, was “My heart will always be with you.”

I felt a tingle. “About what time was this?” I asked.

“I don’t know. The funeral started at 10 o’clock.”

“Is there any significance with Jim to the movie Titanic?”

Rochelle laughed. “He was a Titanic freak. He loved the movie. His last birthday was a Titanic-themed party, and everyone dressed up like characters from the movie.”

“And is there any significance to swollen ankles?”

Rochelle thought for a moment. “I believe he complained about them swelling. Why do you ask?”

I told her about the impressions I’d received that morning. “Wow,” Rochelle said quietly. “But why’d he come to you? Why didn’t Emma feel that?”

Her questions mystified me, and I told her so. I didn’t know Jim or Emma, and as far as I knew, no one from any of their families had ever come to me as a client. In fact, I’d never even given a reading to Rochelle – we went to Brock University together. I think the closest I ever came to giving her a psychic message was at university, when she asked about a guy she was dating: “So what’re you picking up on him?”

I told Rochelle. “If you can, tell Emma that Jim is all right, and he loves her, too.”

Suddenly, it hit me. That’s why Jim came to me – because he knew I could hear him. And now here I was, on the phone with one of Emma’s best friends, doing my best to get that message from Jim to the love of his life.

“I don’t know if I can do that,” Rochelle said. “I don’t think Emma goes for this stuff.”

This stuff. I smiled. “Well, if the opportunity presents itself,” I said.

Later, I reflected on the call. As a medium, I believe we receive messages from those who have passed on. And if you believe that our loved ones in spirit are around to comfort and watch over us, then you believe the heart will go on and on.