Hacienda Moon (The Path Seekers) (24 page)

“Just say it. The kind of woman who doesn’t utter a word in protest,” Tandie said.

“Maybe. And then I saw you that first day a couple of months ago. The world was suddenly very different for me.”

“I’m sorry they treated you that way,” Tandie said. She felt a connection with this man, someone whose relationship with his father was even more broken than hers. At least she never really got the chance to know hers before he vanished. But Saul was different. He’d always be forced to hold memories of being abused in his heart.

“That’s the Chelby’s cruel part of the Broken Heart Curse. Always pining for someone we can’t have,” Saul said. He stuffed his hands in his pocket and gave her the boyish sideways look. She had learned that when he hid his hands he wanted to say more. Glancing at Alice’s portrait, he said, “If I could help her find peace. If I could find her resting spot…” His voice trailed off, but Tandie knew what he wanted to say.

“You mean, if you could find the place where the Cropseys buried her alive?” Tandie finished for him. The look he gave her hitched at something in her chest.

“You know about that too? Of course you would. Do you know why?” he whispered, moving closer so his spicy scent drifted all around her.

“I know what you’re thinking. I’m not a reincarnated Alice Chelby, Saul.”

“Can you be so sure?” He glanced at her lips, parting his own.

One thing she’d learned from her divorce, she would never put another human being through the heartache she experienced. Eric was the only man on her mind. Even though she felt bad for Saul, she refused to treat either of them the way her ex-husband did the two women in his life.

“I need time alone,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

At once, Saul pulled back, studying her face as if she were a ghost, or something fragile he shouldn’t have touched. For the first time since she’d met him, her heart actually ached for him. “I’ll do as you say, for now.” He turned and walked out of the door, his shoulders slumped. Yet another good man haunted by a curse created by a mad woman and her daughter.

23

The dark clouds hanging over the Aeneid gave Eric a feeling of despair. During his trip back to New Orleans, his mother had treated him the way she always did; as if he were invisible. The rest of his family, and especially his baby sister, Daniella, applauded what he was doing. They all mourned Virgil’s death and everyone agreed that Eric should return to help the authorities figure out what happened to his friend.

It was two nights before
Dark Souls Day
. Eric had promised Shania that he’d stop by and check in on everything once he returned.

He walked through the glass doors, looking past the crowd to see if his favorite seat was open. At once, he was consumed by a different vibe in the place. Over by the stage where he first saw Shania reading her poetry, Abby threw her hands in the air and danced with Gus the bartender and occasional piano guy. The old country song playing on the jukebox highlighted Abby and Gus’s strip tease. The club’s patrons whooped and hollered at the grinding couple.

Stepping over to Abby, he grabbed her by the elbow, ignored a cursing Gus, and led her up to the patio on the balcony. “Ow! I don’t like guys that act like cavemen, no matter how sweet their cheeks are,” she said, a sly smile playing across her lips.

“Why are you acting like this? You’re so cold and distant. This is your brother’s club. You could at least respect his memory,” Eric said.

Her smile faded and her lips turned down in a scowl. “And why are you so blind? You can’t even see Virgil for what he really was—a controlling jackass.”

Eric grabbed her shoulders, burying the urge to shake some sense back in her. “Don’t talk about him that way. He was your brother.”

“No. He was my pimp,” she hissed. Eric released her shoulders and took a step back. “That’s right.”

He shook an accusatory finger at her, feeling as if someone shoved a weight through his stomach. “You’re going too far with this.”

Scoffing, she ignored him and kept talking. “Everything started off so innocent. He had this rich friend, one of those high-dollar fellers with a crazy-expensive house and a wife about as responsive as an egg. Just one time was all Virgil claimed I’d have to do. But one time turned into many times, and some of those rich bastards were fucked up.” Tears filled her eyes; but she swiped them away before they fell.

“There was more than one man?” Eric asked, barely able to speak.

“You’ve been listening, right?  That thing in the woods got in him and made him into somebody different. Just like it did to other people in Bolivia.” Tears streamed down her face.

“What thing in the woods?” Eric asked.

She shrugged and gave him a cold, empty stare. The pain she allowed to surface moments ago, the emotion that brought back the old Abby for a moment, was buried again. “It doesn’t matter. He’s gone, just a memory. That’s what you said, right?”

Eric wanted to go somewhere and puke. The air around him turned bitter and cold. Even the salt water smelled different. Taking advantage of his silence, Abby continued. “See, you didn’t know my brother at all, did you?”

“Is everything all good, Abby?” Gus’s voice said from the doorway across the balcony. He’d slinked his way upstairs without making a sound.

“Everything’s all good for me,” she answered without moving her gaze away from Eric. “But you might wanna make one of those Wild Turkey drinks for Eric.” She gave him a smirk, turned, and walked away, leaving him standing in the night’s cold embrace.

* * *

Eric tried Tandie’s number again. No answer. Surely she wasn’t already asleep. He took the long way home, wanting some time to understand the things he just heard before he tried to call her again.

When he pulled into his driveway, a white Volkswagen was parked outside his house. The car’s owner stood on his porch, her hair blowing against the wind. It was Virgil’s wife, Shania. She wore a loose white dress and her hair wasn’t in its usual long braid. The way she stood there staring at the ocean and hugging her shoulders reminded Eric of the many times he’d done the same thing since he had returned to Castle Hayne. But what he didn’t understand was the reason she stood on his porch at almost 9 p.m.

He got out of his Jeep and approached the steps. Tearing away from her reverie, she turned toward him, beaming with a warm smile. “So glad you’re back, Eric,” Shania said and bounded over to him, her dress flowing in the wind. He embraced her, still wondering what she wanted.

Anxious to visit Tandie who was ignoring his calls for some reason, he humored his friend’s widow. If she’d taken the time to stop by then that probably meant she needed someone to talk to. The perfume she wore was a mixture of spicy and sweet, and it coated his tongue, leaving a strange taste in his mouth.

“This is a surprise,” he said, forcing a smile into his eyes.

She tilted her head to the side so that her long hair swept seductively across her waist line. “You know what I was thinking? I made a promise to Virgil that I’d take care of his best friend. I don’t think I’ve done such a good job.” Moving closer to Eric, she eased her hands across his chest and up to his shoulders. Her mood was strange. She didn’t seem like the same woman he last saw at the Aeneid. “Do you forgive me?”

“Shania, you don’t have—”

Eric’s words were cut off by Shania’s lips crushing against his. At once he moved back, stumbling over a large rock. “What are you doing, Shania?’

Holding her hands over her mouth, she spoke through them, and said: “Oh God! I’m so sorry. I think I’ve had too much to drink tonight.” She made a nervous laugh and clasped her hands together.

“There’s no alcohol on your breath,” Eric said, ashamed that he had to admit he’d been that close to his best friend’s wife, and feeling embarrassed for a lonely woman who no doubt needed to feel close to someone suffering in the same way that she was.

“I just thought…I wanted to make you feel better. We both have something in common now. And I miss Virgil. I feel like an idiot,” she finally admitted.

Eric moved closer to her, wanting to help her understand. Hell, at this point, he needed to help himself determine what was happening with the women in his life tonight. All three of them were cursing at, kissing, or ignoring him. Being rude wasn’t his strength, but setting someone straight so they wouldn’t find themselves being led on was absolutely necessary.

“I’m lonely too. Trust me. It stinks, but you’re my best friend’s widow, Shania,” he said, even though the first part of his statement wasn’t entirely true.

Her face suddenly went blank. For a moment, Eric contemplated whether or not he should even mention Tandie’s name. “There’s someone else isn’t there?” There went that feminine instinct thing that all women seemed to have.

“There is,” Eric said softly. “I’m sorry. It can’t ever be that way between us.”

She lowered her head for a moment, and then glanced back up at Eric. “I should probably go.”

“I don’t want you to drink and drive,” Eric said.

“There’s no alcohol in my system. Remember?” She stepped down off the porch and trotted over to her car.

“Shania, wait!” Eric called after her. Letting her leave upset probably wasn’t a good idea, but it was too late. She drove off and zipped down the road. Eric watched until her car’s tail lights disappeared around the bend on the main road.

24

C
helby Rose Swamplands, September 1, 1749

 
“Mi Amor. I am so relieved to see you again. The past two months have been torturous since Colonel Dryden’s men chased me away.” Enrique held his fiancé close to his chest, basking in the scent of apples drifting around her auburn hair.

“I cannot stay long. Nanee told Mother and Father that I was asleep. Father will beat her if he finds out she told a lie for me. Or even worse, Grandmother will take a switch to her legs. My parents are too focused on my sick brothers to notice me. But I am almost certain I was followed by Ella. She frightens me so,” Alice said.

“I will die before I allow them to separate us again, mi Amor. We will pour our love into this talisman.” Enrique dangled the golden heart before Alice’s eyes. “A gift my father gave to my mother long before he began sailing the vast seas.”

She took the charm and placed it against her heart. “I have the best news. Mother is on our side.”

Enrique placed his calloused hands over her smooth ones, his handsome face beaming. “This is very good news. I pledge my eternal love to you, Alice.”

“Let no one take that from us, with this golden heart as our shield, binding our love for eternity.” Alice smiled at her secret fiancée. And then Enrique kissed her with a passionate fervor that sent a feeling similar to electric sparks up and down her spine.

Dog barks broke the fiery spell. Their owners were still far off in the distance, but getting closer.

“Oh no, they followed me. Dryden will arrest and hang you. Flee, my love,” Alice said, her chest tightening with worry. How could the Fates be so cruel? Could they not allow them just one moment of stolen bliss?

“This is the voodoo woman and her daughter’s doing. We must leave,” Enrique pleaded.

“No, I’ll only slow you down. You must go on without me,” Alice said, even though her heart was breaking.

“Never,” Enrique stood and stalked to the door.

“They won’t hurt me. I’ll find you later. Please, don’t make me beg.” She removed the locket from around her neck and placed it in Enrique’s hands. “For protection.”

“And what will protect you?”

“I have love and faith on my side. What else do I need?” Alice said bravely.

“I will lead them in the opposite direction. Rush back to Chelby Rose as fast as you can. I am a soldier. I will throw them off our trails. And then, I will return for both you and our son. I swear to it.” Alice’s tears fell; but she still found enough courage to smile.

Gasping, Enrique pulled her to his chest; and she could tell he fought back his own grief as well. “We will be free to love, Amor. No matter what may come. We shall be together. I swear it,” Enrique said, his eyes fierce with strong conviction.

“Yes, free to love our entire lives along with our children. I told Jacob to meet us tomorrow night. He will show us the way to reach the underground leaders. They will take us to our new lives up in the northern territories,” Alice said.

She placed his hands on her stomach. Their second child was developing well inside its mother’s womb. Alice could already feel the flutters of life in her abdomen. Enrique embraced his fiancée, clinging to her as if his very soul depended on how well he’d remember this moment.

“Now flee, my love. Imagine my face as inspiration along your journey,” Alice said. Enrique pulled away from her body, turned around, and ran. She stared until he disappeared in the trees.

And then she turned and headed in the opposite direction, dodging tree limbs, scared for the safety of her unborn child. She stopped and leaned on a large oak tree, sharp pain ripping through her abdomen. Crumpling her face, she bent over and clutched her stomach. Fear seized her mind. Something was wrong with the baby. She needed to hurry up and get back to Chelby Rose. By thinking of her fiancée, she found the strength to keep moving.

At that moment, Tandie’s visionary spirit left Alice Chelby’s traumatized body and drifted upward, focusing on an oak tree across from where Alice had stood. A girl with a familiar head of blonde ringlets stepped into view from behind it--
Ella Maud Cropsey
.

“Yes, go. Flee, my love.” She mocked Alice’s voice. “For you shall never see yours again.”

* * *

Enrique found out about his second child the night before Alice was murdered. Could the story of the two star-crossed lovers get any more tragic?

Tandie kept on reading Alice’s diary, falling into a vision each time she ventured into a different entry. This new way she could use her ability both terrified and intrigued her. To figure out the next part of this puzzle, she needed the help of someone outside of the main group. At the library, she’d managed to channel Rose Chelby’s spirit, and she needed to do that again.

Saul believed she was a reincarnated Alice Chelby. There was no way to deny that she could see Alice’s memories without reading the whole entry. The news that she had sleepwalked her way on to a murder scene while she was dressed up in a dead girl’s outfit messed with her head. And the vision she had after she found Alice’s diary was so real that it gave her the first orgasm she’d had in over a year.

Tandie had created characters based on the people of this town before she had even heard of Chelby Rose. She created the perfect male protagonist, and then fell for the man she modeled him after; someone she had never met until they ran into each other in an airport.

The one element that didn’t fit in the story was her daughter’s spirit. Breena watched over her while she slept, speaking to Tandie through dreams. Why? What did she need to do to help her daughter’s spirit move on? A selfish part of her wanted Breena to stay; but the maternal instinct was still there. That part of Tandie wanted to see her daughter resting in peace.

The next entry started where Tandie’s vision left off. This was the last one in the diary. It took place sometime after Alice made it back to Chelby Rose, and just before Mary Jean and her daughter, Ella, buried her alive. There was only one paragraph where Alice wrote about Enrique’s arrest. She intended to go see the warden himself and beg for his release. The jagged letters, the short sentences, and the raw emotion in this entry gave Tandie enough to sense Alice’s desperation. She inhaled and prepared for an emotional ride.

Closing her eyes, Tandie concentrated on the way she felt the first time she linked to Rose Chelby’s spirit. The sense of being weightless came faster this time. Tandie slipped through a serene white void, a place where the living and the dead crossed paths. When she came out of it, she connected with Rose Chelby’s spirit.

Chelby Rose: September 4, 1749

Mary Jean Cropsey’s daughter Ella Maud died two nights ago. The virus took her out just the same as it did many other children in the colony. Rose suspected that her death came as a surprise to Mary Jean, the witch that created it. Now she wasn’t only a woman with a dark heart, she was also a mother hell bent on revenge.

Rose Chelby and her daughter, Eliza, stood on the porch. An unusually strong wind howled around them and blew Rose’s fiery red hair around her face. She’d sent Alice out to find Thomas. Her husband and daughter should’ve been back with the doctor long before now.

Sammy and Joseph’s virus had gotten worse over the past three days. The epidemic had spread through the community like a plague, attacking mostly young children first. But this wasn’t a disease caused by animals. This was the work of a witch’s hand, a curse created by a dark soul.

“Eliza you must find Alice. Keep to the trees and stay quiet. You don’t want to attract the wrong attention,” Rose told her daughter. She didn’t want to frighten her by telling her to watch out for the Cropseys.

“Are Sammy and Joseph going to die?” Eliza asked.

“No, baby. Your father will return soon. He’ll bring the doctor. Do not fret. Just concentrate on finding your sister.” Rose coughed in her handkerchief, hiding the blood on the cloth away from her daughter’s eyes.

“I’m scared, Mama. What if I get lost?” Eliza asked.

“You are a child of nature. Use its gifts to help guide you. The same way we always do when we take our walks through the woods.”

Eliza nodded, her eyes wide. Rose scanned the area beyond the forest. The daylight would fade in another hour or so. “Just pretend Mother is with you. If you do not find your sister on the path, then keep going. Do not stop until you reach Jacob Atwater’s cabin. I pray that you dare not look back, no matter what. Do you hear me, child?”

Eliza’s face crumpled and her tears fell. Upstairs, Samuel and Joseph’s wails sailed through the house like a crescendo of death, the music of a mother’s worst nightmare.

“It was them, wasn’t it? Those two bad women made you, Sammy, and Joseph sick,” Eliza said. She was gifted with a great deal of wisdom for such a young child.

There was no reason to hide the truth from her any longer. “Yes, my daughter, it was the bad women. You must hurry. We cannot let them know you are not sick. Go now. Keep to the big oaks as I instructed. Look for your sister on the other side of the swamp,” Rose said.

“I do not want to leave you, Mama.” Eliza’s voice cracked.

“I’ll walk with you to the edge of the forest,” Rose said.

Rose and Eliza scurried to the swamp’s edge, the place where she believed Alice went after she heard her Spanish lover had been arrested. Alice loved with all her heart just as her mother did, even when loving someone often brought pain and heartache.

Rose loved her grandson; and it did not matter one bit that he was illegitimate. But Thomas was harder to convince. Two months passed before he found enough forgiveness in his heart to even venture up the stairs to visit with his daughter, let alone her child. From inside the house, the boys wailed louder. Rose placed a small bundle in Eliza’s arms.

“I love you, Mama.” Eliza threw her arms around her mother, her tiny frame trembled.

“I love you too, baby. Now go before I throw myself into the swamps out of despair,” Rose said, her chest burning with both sickness and heartache. Eliza choked back her sobs and bolted into the woods.

Rose turned around, forcing her feet to move back toward the house. Just knowing that one of her children would be safe from the virus renewed her strength. But when she got closer to the porch, Mary Jean blocked her path to the doorway.

“Stand aside, devil’s wife,” Rose demanded, a cold chill easing its way through her veins.

The woman clucked her tongue. “You think your little girl escaped? The fever took my daughter. And it’ll take yours too, both of them. Too bad you do not know how to bring them back.” A wicked smile played across the woman’s face, but it was a shaky one.

“Your black soul will not bring anything back but the devil himself. Now stand aside.” Rose shoved past Mary Jean and opened the front door, thankful the Atwaters had given her a talisman to keep the Cropseys out of the house.

“I cannot take the curse back now. It will be you and your sons’ lives for Ella’s. Thomas loved me best. He loved me, and he loved our daughter, do you hear?” Mary Jean screamed as she stood outside the doorway.

Rose stopped at the stairway, turned around, and gave Mary Jean a look that made the woman take a step back. “You were nothing to Thomas, but a mere fling with a desperate whore. Your daughter died because of you,” Rose hissed.

“Throw your high and mighty words at me all you want, Rose Chelby. But you all will pay for how my Ella was treated at the end.”