A New Life — Ronnie G. Anderson

The story begins with a horrific explosion that kills four people and leaves one fourteen year old girl without her parents. Ralph and Jessica Smith are called in to quickly adopt this girl for reasons other than the fact that she is simply without her parents now. Holly is in desperate need of surgery for many birth defects and the hospital nearby run by the Smith family can do those surgeries. She is put in the Smith family for that very reason - that and Uncle Walter has returned from the spirit world by the promise of her dead parents to watch out over their daughter. While Holly is in surgery the spirit of the girl watches over her as does Uncle Walter's own spirit. That is when things get interesting as he knows the spirit that Holly possesses. It is the form of the woman that he had loved in his youth and had never gotten over. Now Uncle Walter has another reason for being with young Holly, her soul. When Ralph discovers from the Fire Marshall that there is a good possibility that Holly had caused the explosion in a suicide attempt he is torn by this knowledge. Holly is not the hopeless, disfigured cripple that she used to be. She has a new life and needs to be given a chance to find love on her own.