ColonialGhost (7 page)

Kerry reminded herself reluctantly that she should protest
this protective tendency, but for a single woman it felt nice to be a little
worried over. She accepted his hug and kisses eagerly. They parted reluctantly.

“It’s a two-hour round trip drive, plus meeting time. I’ll
bring home dinner so you can devote all your time to ghost hunting.”

“Wise choice, sir. My talents don’t shine in the kitchen.”

Chapter Nine

It took her several hours, but Kerry finally had all of the
information neatly arranged. She was surprised she had collected as many facts
as she had, but what frustrated her most was that she still couldn’t form a
decent family tree. Kerry decided the time had come to stop research, and get on
with some “hands on” work. She left Broderick’s office and stopped for the
required flashlight. She still had to get her phone and it was upstairs in her
room.

The moment she walked into her bedroom her eyes immediately
went to the suspicious wall. It was so tempting to check the wall out now, but
logic was telling her to look in the attic before the sun started to set for
the day. Grabbing her purse, she upended it over the bed, emptying the contents
across the comforter. Kerry shoved her phone into her pocket and then put the
strap over her head to drape the purse across her body. Her big flashlight was
in the drawer, so she grabbed it too, and took off.

At the foot of the attic steps Kerry paused for a moment.
Her stomach was a jumble of butterflies whose wings kept beating crazily with
no rhyme or reason. In the attic, Kerry looked around quickly, not pausing
until she came to the extra candles she had left from the other night. A smile
curved her lips, remembering the passion they had shared up here, on the attic
floor. With only the light cast upward by the flashlights, Kerry had made love
with modern-day Broderick.

Rereading her research had only confirmed her convictions
about her two earlier encounters of passion. Ghosts existed and one of them
could appear in physical form, besides overtaking a human, and direct their
actions to some degree. She truly hoped that a ghost could not make a person
act against their true will. Even though she had received several very positive
indicators that he was attracted to her, there were still some niggling doubts.
Mentally, Kerry made a note that she was going to have to do some work with her
therapist on her self-esteem issues.

Kneeling down beside the large trunk where the dress had
been carefully packed away, Kerry opened it once again. Setting the large
flashlight on the floor to cast its light upward, she used the smaller one to
look into the trunk. What she had thought would be in there faded away as she
saw several books, folded pieces of lace and a small wooden box. Kerry scooted
back a little and sat on the wood floor. It took her a moment to decide whether
to look at the books first or the box. Turning the box over in her hands, she
couldn’t see how to open it. Frustrated, she set it aside and went back to the
books.

The first book she chose was the largest. Immediately she
could see that it had been the family’s Bible. Unable to curtail her curiosity,
Kerry had to see if there was anything of personal note in it. Maybe it would
have a list of children born or even of deaths in the family, either of which
would be really helpful.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she rested the heavy,
leather bound book on her legs. Slowly she opened it. In the front there were
several pages with handwriting, most of it in the same style. Scanning through
the names and dates, she soon found the first Broderick, born 1742. Above his
name she read the names of his mother, AnnaBelle, and his father, Anthony.
Another brother and two sisters were listed as well.

Kerry put the smaller flashlight down and lightly touched
her index finger to where the original Broderick’s name was written. Closing
her eyes, she pondered the past. These people had all lived such a long time
past and it was sad to think their lives had been reduced to names written on a
page. Lightly her finger caressed the paper beneath, feeling the texture, back
and forth across Broderick’s name. She spoke softly, almost as if she were
afraid of disturbing someone.

“Are you real, old Broderick, or just a figment of my
imagination?”

“Well, lass, I object to being referred to as ‘old.’ What
are you doing in here, stirring up the dust?”

“Arrgghhhh!”

Kerry screamed, knocked the flashlight over and almost
dropped the Bible. The room was now filled with shadows, the only light coming
from the smaller light, which had rolled across the floor. Blinking her eyes
quickly, she tried to calm her breathing.

“You’re a ghost!”

“Aye, lass, I believe that I am.” The revolutionary war
figure moved closer, sitting on top of another closed trunk. “I was baffled at
first. Now, what are you doing going through my family’s Bible?”

“I was looking for proof of you, or your existence. I don’t
appreciate that you chose me to make your presence known. I have had to look
through scads of old books about Williamsburg, trying to find out about you.”

“Ask me your questions, lass. No promises, but I’ll answer
what I know.”

Kerry leaned forward and tentatively poked one finger at his
shiny black boot. When her finger didn’t disappear, or dissipate the ghost, she
frowned. “I thought ghosts were ephemeral things. You know…all fog, mist and
stuff.”

Broderick, the ghost, smiled and crossed his arms across his
chest. “I am not that familiar with other ghosts, I only know that I can assume
solid form for only short periods of time.”

“Why are you haunting this house? Don’t you want it to be
used as a bed and breakfast?” Kerry felt compelled to determine this truth for
Broderick’s sake.

“You mean they are going to use my home like some kind of
roadside inn?” He frowned deeply, raising one eyebrow slowly.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Kerry laughed out loud, pointing towards the
ghost’s face. “Your great- great- whatever…your namesake and current legal
owner does the same thing with his eyebrow. If you and he didn’t already look
like mirror images…” Her smug and “pleased with herself” feelings faded away as
she started to think. “Stop distracting me! I want to know why you’re here.”

“You look like my Jenny, dear girl. I think it is your
presence in the house that brought me home. Do you live here now as well as my
relative? The house does appear to be in excellent shape.”

“That’s because Broderick has been working his butt off
trying to convert what was a broken down old house into a viable business. And
he’s trying to establish his law practice here at the same time.” She paused,
remembering the other thing he’d asked her. “And no, I am here as a guest.”
Frowning, she went on. “Perhaps that is why young Broderick never saw you
before.”

Kerry watched while the ghost shifted on the trunk, leaning
back leisurely. Still frowning, Kerry crossed her arms as well. For a ghost,
this man was awfully calm. “I thought you…ghosts I mean, stayed somewhere and
haunted it until they were sent away, or resolved their earthly issues.
Shouldn’t you be raising havoc, rattling chains and so on?”

“Hmm, resolving my earthly issues, you say. I was resting
peacefully, I believe, with all the men in my colonial regiment. Have you not
enjoyed my ghostly actions so far?”

She couldn’t help it—a heated flush moved across her cheeks.
“Hmm.” Kerry leaned forward, her chin propped on her fists, elbows resting on
her thighs. “I found documentation that your whole regiment was killed, just
shortly after the war began.” She paused to push some stray hairs back off her
forehead. “It appeared that there was bad ‘intel’ and your men walked into an
ambush. None of you really had a chance.”

The ghostly Broderick nodded slightly. “It became a
nightmare. In fact, I don’t even recall being hit and knowing that I was going
to die. Strange, you know. What is ‘intel’?”

“That’s like information about the enemy. So something has
drawn you from your resting place back to your home. It is probably
something—oh, I don’t know—something huge and powerful! Unfinished business you
had?” Kerry stopped as she saw the sad look pass over his face. She also
noticed that he seemed to be getting paler, and more see-through.

“I am not sure, young miss. I can see I am fading away
already. The time is shortening, so perhaps this will end soon.”

Kerry came to her feet suddenly. “Then we have to hurry and
find out what we must do to resolve the restlessness of your soul.”

“That is most kind of you, dear girl, but I am sure my
descendent will be most grateful for me to disappear permanently, and leave the
two of you alone.” As he stood slowly, Kerry could see that he was becoming
fainter by the second.

“I’ll keep working until you can return. I don’t know if you
can think while you’re gone, but I would appreciate if you would search your
memories, or whatever, to see what needs to be finished.”

Kerry watched as the ghost faded away in front of her eyes.
Slowly he disappeared, and it was rather like the Cheshire cat. Soon, what was
left was the small area of swirling wisps of smoke. Stepping forward, she
plopped down onto the trunk her ghost had just used. Slowly she looked around
the attic, which was mostly in darkness. The fact that she had just been
talking with a real ghost was still a little mind-boggling. Granted that it
technically wasn’t the first, but it was the first time that she knew it was a
ghost. Truthfully, everything since she had arrived here was outside the realm
of what her usually staid, and rather dull life included.

The wild, unexpected lovemaking with Broderick—the real one,
her conscience added quickly—was more than unusual. Closing her eyes, Kerry
easily recalled the heated joining here yesterday, followed by the time in the
kitchen. And the first time in Broderick’s huge bed—

Abruptly Kerry stopped her distracting and rambling
thoughts. Hurrying back over to the other trunk, she grabbed her purse. She
quickly began stuffing into it the Bible, two smaller books and the puzzle box.
The small flashlight fit into her pocket and she lit her way downstairs with
the lantern-style light. Walking back down the narrow stairs, Kerry knew that
she was going to have to see what was behind the wallpaper in her room. The
main question she now needed to answer was just who this “Jenny” was that the
ghostly Broderick spoke of so tenderly.

Entering her guest bedroom, Kerry set her items on the bench
at the foot of the bed. She stopped and stood quietly there as she tilted her
purse to take out the items she’d brought from the attic. She couldn’t resist
trying to open the puzzle box once again. Frustrated after several minutes, she
closed her eyes, focusing on letting her senses detect anything unusual that
might be going on in this room. She had never been one to believe in her own
powers of perception to go beyond the realms of current reality. Still, she couldn’t
shake the sense that she could perceive something
now
, if she only
opened herself up to the possibility.

Breathing slowly and deeply, Kerry kept her eyes closed and
focused on her breathing the same way she did when she meditated with her
weight loss tape. The technique helped her relax and focus on the meditations
and she was hopeful it would let her open herself up to…everything. Soon her
breathing was steady and deep—hypnotic in its effect on her brain. Feeling
unsteady on her feet, Kerry reached her hand out until the hard wood from one
of the bed’s posters was beneath her fingers. Curling her fingers around the
cool wood, Kerry moved over and sat down on the side of the bed.

She sat quietly and waited for the slight dizziness she had
felt a few moments earlier to dissipate. As the lightheadedness faded, Kerry
became aware of coolness in the air. She shivered, as the cool feeling seemed
to pass through her body, instead of just surrounding her. Without planning it,
her lips parted and the next moment she was softly speaking a name.

“Jenny.”

“Yes, I am Jenny.”

Kerry’s eyes flew open as she heard another voice in the
room. Her head twisted around toward the bedroom door, but no one was standing
there. Quickly swinging back around, she looked from the bathroom over to where
she sat on the bed. That left just one more place to look, which was the wall.
Slowly Kerry’s head turned to see the wall where she had felt the coldness last
night. A scant second later Kerry jumped off the bed. Directly in front of the
wall was a white mist, hovering, circling in wisps and spiraling up and down.

“Damn it all!” Kerry said loudly.

“Cursing is against the Lord’s laws.”

Kerry stared at the white foggy mist. There was no denying
that the voice was coming from the mist, or behind the wall. She was ninety
percent sure it wasn’t coming from inside her head. “I’m sorry. You are Jenny?”

“Yes.”

Kerry shook her head for a moment. First she was talking to
a man who fades away and now she was talking to a wall! She was beginning to
question her own sanity. Stepping closer to the wall, she reached out with her
hand and lightly moved it through the mist. She disturbed it slightly, but not
enough to make it disappear or fade away. Clearing her throat, Kerry reached
out and placed her hand flat against the wall. The coolness quickly moved up
her arm and Kerry shivered in response.

“Where are you, Jenny?”

Kerry could feel the coldness moving back down her arm,
through her hand, into the wall. Looking down, she saw all the mist moving through
the wall. Moving quickly, Kerry pressed against it with both hands, her cheek
resting against the wallpaper. “Jenny? Are you still here?”

“You must follow me.”

Kerry heard the reply but each word became harder to hear,
as if the speaker were moving farther away. The wall was warm now and Kerry
knew Jenny had gone. She was going to have to find out what was behind this
wall! Stepping back, she turned towards the bench where her purse rested. There
was nothing on the bench she could use. Checking her bag again, all she could
find to use was her nail clippers in a zippered pocket, which she tossed back
down into her purse. She bit her lower lip while she scanned the room for a
tool—