He blamed the full moon, fat and silver in the sky. It lit the cottage with bright blue light and kept those two rascals wide awake long after their parents passed out.

"Tell us another one, grampy. Please?"

He looked into Ellis's shining blue eyes before he thought better of it. So much like her eyes. He sighed, shifting to ease the ache in his bones. The fog was up this evening and the damp gnawed at him. Lucy wrapped her small fingers around his gnarled ones, a sweet smile curling her lips.

"A bloody scary one, grampy," she said.

He sucked on his teeth. Children these days. "Want to hear Hairy Hands?"

Lucy pouted. "You've told us that one hundreds of times. Mama says you know some to curl our hair." She pointed to her head of wispy blond hair, like sunshine and spider silk. He smiled and gently tugged on a strand.

"There is one," he said, glancing out the bedroom window to the fog covered moors. "One I know to be true."

His grandchildren each gave a quiet squeal, burrowing into their covers as they waited for him to begin.

"Long ago, a man fell in love with a woman."

Ellis made a face. "You promised bloody."

He tweaked his grandson's toes. "That's coming."

"What was the man's name?" Lucy chirped.

"Rob, a farmer's son, built like an ox. He was a man of the land, but he always wanted to be more. He read, and he dreamed. He wanted to become a learned man. He believed an education would make him worthy of Jenny Greenly, the prettiest girl for miles around. So lovely, you could hear the angels singing when she walked by while the devil whispered in your ear. And Jenny wasn't only beautiful, but smart and fierce. Rob found himself gobsmacked by her the moment he laid eyes on her. He intended to woo her, romance her, and be worthy of her affections."

Lucy frowned. "How did she feel about him?"

"Rob didn't know it, but she was head over heels in love with him already."

His granddaughter rolled her eyes. "Of course she was. Men are so dense."

A smile threatened, tugging at the corners of his mouth. He cleared the phlegm from his throat. "She got through to him eventually. Jenny didn't care if Rob was a learned man, but her folks did. The two of them began a secret romance, sneaking off to see one another for months, into years, until Rob couldn't take the secrecy anymore."

"Did he kill her?" Ellis burst out, clutching the blankets to his chest in excitement.

His grampy shook his head, giving the boy a gimlet eye. "What? No!"

He paused, pulling his lip. "Though he may as well have." He stared out the window, his eyes distant.

"It shocked him when she said yes. Even though he was sure of her feelings for him, he wondered if she loved him enough to defy her family. The two planned to elope, start a life far away from their hometown. They were to meet on the moors outside the village that night and follow the road out of town."

"Did they make it?" Lucy whispered.

He fell silent for a moment, the distance yawning in his eyes. The children looked at each other. Ellis reached for him. "Grampy?"

The old man shook himself. "No, no they did not. It was a night much like this one. The moon swollen to bursting in the sky, the fog high and thick over the land. Rob left his house when the moon was high in the sky, so bright it shimmered along the fog bank. It was later than he intended, late for their meeting. He arrived breathless and sweaty at their chosen destination but he was alone. He walked along the road, searching and searching for his beloved, but Jenny was nowhere to be found."

Lucy's lip trembled. "She didn't come?"

The old man looked down at his hands, a slight tremor in his fingers. The price of old age. "He thought that at first, or worse, thought she gave up and went home. He might have given up as well if not for the tugging in his gut. The foul taste of something gone wrong that dogged his every step. It permeated that fog full of vaporous ghosts, their clammy fingers stroking his skin. He grew desperate, twisted up inside by that feeling, and so he searched for hours, calling her name until the sun began to rise."

He watched the play of moonlight and shadows on the far wall.

"It wasn't until it grew light enough to see by that he found her, her pale form twisted and broken in a drainage ditch off the side of the road."

Lucy gasped while her brother's eyes went wide as tea saucers.

"They suspected she lost her footing in the fog, slid down and took a knock on the head. She landed in deep enough water to drown." He paused, rubbing his hands to chase away the chill that crept into them. "Rob was devastated. Jenny's family even more so, and they lay the blame at his feet. A pariah, he soon left the town, leaving his heart buried on the moors. It wasn't long after rumor began to circulate of a figure spotted during the foggiest of nights, wandering the moors."

"She was a ghost," Lucy gasped, pulling the blanket up to her nose.

"Perhaps," said the old man. "Some said the apparition wore the white dress of a lost bride. Others claimed their could hear sobs echoing in the night. There was even one rumor the ghostly figure carried a lantern to guide those who became lost in the fog."

"So she was a helpful ghost," said Ellis, looking somewhat skeptical.

"Others said the lost bride would guide men to their doom," said their grampy with a barely disguised eye roll.

"That's more like it," said Ellis, settling back with a sigh.

Lucy looked troubled. "What happened to Rob?"

"He went on with his life," said their grampy.

Lucy blanched. "That's it? He didn't throw himself off a cliff to be with her? Or--or return to the village and search the moors until he found her ghost?"

The old man sighed. "You two have such imaginations. Time to put them to use and dream." He leaned over, kissing their foreheads as he tucked them in.

Lucy reached up for him, her eyes beginning to droop in the fashion of all children fighting sleep. "One more story grampy?"

"No, grampy is tired. Time for you two to sleep." He pulled away, watching their eyes close as he backed out of the room and closed the door. His words to Lucy weren't a complete lie. He was tired, so very, very tired, but his body felt restless. Perhaps a short walk would ease him enough to sleep.

He locked the house up behind him, shoving his hands in his pockets against the late autumn nip in the air. His steps were careful as he trod on the soft ground, squelching beneath his shoes. He peered through the thick fog, halfheartedly wondering if he'd see a light drifting through the air.

His mind was as restless as his body.

He hadn't told the children the whole tale, not of Rob who had indeed moved on. He'd become a learned man and met another woman who eased the ache of his heart. She gave him children and his children gave him grandchildren. It was a good life with a good woman, rest her soul. Eventually, Rob went home.

He wandered, eyes downcast, his thoughts adrift when he caught a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye. He jerked his head up, peering hard through a fog thicker than spun wool.

A light bobbed in the distance.

He blinked. "Hello?" No one else would be daft to be out here this time of night. His knees ached the longer he stood still, watching that bobbing light. He stumbled closer, her name on his lips. "Jenny?"

The light paused.

He moved closer, his steps quickening; the light grew dimmer as he approached.

"No, don't go," he cried and lost his footing. He fell forward on his hands and knees, the muddy ground cushioning his body. The impact still jarred his teeth, and pain flared in his old worn kneecaps. He swallowed, struggling to get to his feet when a feeble light fell on him, casting his shadow on the sodden ground. He stilled, looking at the stained dress hem that hovered inches from his outspread hand.

He held his breath as he looked up, meeting the prettiest pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen. His breath left him in a rush.

"Jenny," he whispered, struggling to get to his feet. Her hand wrapped around his arm, helping him up. Her skin was icy against his. He didn't care, reaching out to caress her face. "My sweet Jenny."

Tears ran down her pale face as her cold fingers cupped around his. "I waited so long." Her voice was faint, a far off echo in his ears.

He wiped a ghostly tear from her cheek. She didn't feel so cold anymore. "You don't have to wait any more."

She smiled up at him, as pretty as the day they met. "I missed you, Rob."

Together they walked off into the fog.