Happily Never After (23 page)

He looked me in the eye and told me she was
with child and too ill to get out of bed. The men around the table
congratulated him and ordered another round of drinks. It disgusted
me. Not only was the man a monster, here was my father and other
respectable members of the city buying him drinks. I had no reason
not to believe him. To my battle weary mind, she had simply either
decided to stay with him for the sake of the baby or fell too ill
to meet me.

It wasn’t until I had been in California for
a few months that word of her disappearance finally reached me. I
rushed home to Georgia but by then it was too late. William was
missing and Catherine's family declared her dead. No one had any
answers for me so I left Savannah for good.

I’m to blame because I can only guess he
caught her sneaking out to meet me. Or he saw me leave the house.
I’m to blame because I even went to see her in the first place. I’m
to blame because it wasn’t me who killed her murderer, even if it
was after the fact.

The long speech drained Jackson’s energy. His
image faded until I almost didn’t see him at all. It was an
incredible story, tragic and romantic and doomed. My heart broke
for him.

“I still don’t understand how any of it is
your fault. Even if you never went to see her, Jennings might have
eventually killed her anyway. He was a nasty, violent man. No one
could have known what went on behind the door of their home. You
said it yourself, the War changed everything. Catherine was a
victim of it as much as anyone. Her parents sold her to pay off
their war debts. They are the ones she blames.”

Jackson continued to fade and his voice came
to me as almost a whisper.

Knowing and believing are two different
things. I will do all I can to help you because I think it’s why
I’m here. Maybe I have a chance to redeem myself. I’ll keep you
safe, Quinn.

And I knew he would because that was the kind
of man he was, a man who didn’t shrink away from his duty.

“Does Catherine know you’re here, in the
house? Have you been able to apologize?”

Right before he faded away entirely I heard
his soft reply.

The girl I loved is gone. That thing is not
Catherine anymore and she never will be again.

Jackson disappeared. My heart ached for him
and my mind spun. Nothing he had told me was tremendously
significant but it filled in more of the blanks. I was getting a
better image of what Catherine’s life, and death, was like. It
wasn’t pretty. A part of me pitied her but that felt dangerous.

The absolute worst thing I could do was let
my guard down.

Chapter Thirty-Three

“Why are you so sure it’s here?” Abby
asked.

We were searching through Colonial Park
Cemetery for Catherine’s grave. Over the years, many of the burial
records had been lost. I'd hoped the more direct ‘look till you
find it’ approach would get us results.

Even after deciding I would be better off
leaving, my conscience kicked in and I had reconsidered. My
birthday was only two days away. Running away wouldn’t solve
anything. Marietta would still be possessed and I would lose any
heritage I had left. Getting rid of Catherine was the only logical
choice in my mind. Not that it made everyone happy but at least
Abby and Jason were here with me tonight, hoping for a way to end
it.

I looked around. “What I don’t get is that
it’s dusk and it's so quiet. Normally this place is still crawling
with tourists.”

“Ah, that would be my fault,” Jason answered
from about ten feet away where he was studying a row of
tombstones.

“What do you mean your fault?” I picked my
way over to him. The dates on the tombstones appeared to be in the
right time period. Maybe we were getting close. It had already been
two hours.

He shrugged and I knew it meant he was trying
to downplay something. “I made some calls, had it closed down for a
few hours tonight. The city agreed to help me out.”

Abby laughed. “Oh, so no big deal. You just
asked them to keep everyone else out for a while? You know,
sometimes, I think being a Hollywood actor has its benefits.”

“Yeah, anytime you need to get into a
cemetery at night, give me a call.”

I listened to their banter with a smile on my
face. They got along great and it was a weight off my shoulders.
Abby and Jason were the two most important people in my life and I
didn’t know how I would have handled it if they weren't getting
along.

Wandering a little farther from them, I
entered a darkened part of the cemetery and pulled out my
flashlight. Here, the tombstones weren’t straight and neat, they
leaned at all angles like crooked teeth. I sensed the spirits
nearby but ignored them. I was here on a mission and nothing would
distract me from it

I heard a slight breeze in the trees overhead
as I tried to block out the spirit of a little girl begging me to
help her find her mama. Her sad cries ripped me in two because she
reminded me of myself. The lump in my throat grew as she came to
stand right next to me. The sorrow pulsed off her and I fought to
ignore her sweet little tear-streaked face.

She wore a lace and eyelet patterned
nightgown that once upon a time must have been white. Now it was
caked with dirt and grime, as was her face. The little girl’s long
blond hair rioted around her face in a clump of tangles.

Over and over she whimpered ‘please’ until it
got to be too much.

Swallowing my tears I asked, “Where is she?
Where is your mama?”

Instead of speaking, she lifted a filthy
finger and pointed into a darker part of the cemetery. I was
involved now, so I automatically reached out my hand to her.
Coldness settled over my hand that led me to believe she was
holding it. I should have been smarter but I followed her anyway,
deeper into the cemetery, away from my friends.

Here, in the oldest part, the grave markers
were nothing more than sagging stones. Any names or dates had
eroded away by time and climate. The trees hung so low they blocked
out any light and the moss hanging from them brushed my head and
shoulders as I crept by. Only my flashlight gave off a meager
amount of light.

But we were far from alone. Shadows stopped
and watched us as we passed, some reached out their hands to touch
me. These ghosts had been here longer than I could fathom. The
depth of their sorrow and loneliness was almost too much to bear.
I’d made a mistake.

I followed the girl past a tall, moss covered
angel statue. Whatever grave it once marked had long ago been
reclaimed by the trees. The angel itself was almost wrapped
entirely in branches.

Finally, we stopped.

She walked forward slowly and knelt down in
the grass. I took a few hesitant steps before being hit with a
menacing presence. It scared me so much I didn’t want to move. This
wasn’t Catherine. It was something different.

“What is that?” I quietly asked the girl.

She turned back to me with those huge sad
eyes and said, “The bad man hurt my mommy and they made her sleep
here in the ground. He hurt me too but I ran away. Now he stays
here and keeps her from leaving.”

“Can you leave?”

Tiny sobs came from her. “I don’t want to
leave my mommy.”

I knelt down so that I was eye level with
her, ignoring how the ‘bad man’ buffeted me with wind to keep me
away. Reaching out with my senses, I tried to see if her mama was
there but got nothing. Either her mama already passed on or she was
hiding very well from the man.

An idea sprang to life inside me. I didn’t
know if it would work but I had to try. This little girl needed my
help.

“Do you want to hear a secret?” Interest lit
up her eyes and she nodded. “Okay, let’s go back the other way and
I’ll tell you.”

Once again, I felt the cold on my hand as I
stood. I led her back past the angel into a less creepy part of the
cemetery. As I hoped, the ‘bad man’ didn’t follow.

I stopped and sat down on the dirty ground,
patting the space beside me. The girl sat as well.

Please let this work.

“I’m going to tell you a secret. When they
made your mommy lay in the ground, it wasn’t her.” She looked
confused. “It was just her body. Everything that made your mommy
special was in here,” I touched my head, “and in here.” I touched
my heart. “When you mommy went to sleep in the ground, the best
part of her went someplace special.”

The little girl gasped in surprise. “Like
Heaven?”

“Yes, like Heaven.” I wasn't sure I believed
in it but I wanted to use her beliefs to aid me. “You remember
stories about Heaven, right? It’s a magical place where you never
cry and you can play with puppies all day long. And you get to eat
anything you want.”

I hoped it sounded like a magical place but
seeing her smile light up her face, I knew I was on the right
track.

“That’s where your mommy went and I bet she
misses you. You can go there, too.”

“But I was bad and I lied,” she whispered as
her smile fell.

“You’re sorry though, aren’t you?” She
nodded. “Then you can absolutely go. You want to see your mommy,
right? All you have to do is close your eyes.”

I watched her close her eyes while I tried to
figure out the rest. This was the first time I’d ever tried to help
a ghost. Part of me worried once I did, things would change
dramatically for me but at this moment, I didn’t care. This
beautiful little girl shouldn’t be left here all alone.

“Okay, I want you to picture your mommy in
this place. Think about how much you want to see her and how much
you love her. Think about how sorry you are for whatever bad thing
you think you’ve done. Don’t think about the ‘bad man’ or anything
that would make you stay here.”

At first, I didn’t think it would work. Then
I saw her image slowly start to fade. She continued to sit there
with her eyes close and a smile on her face until she’d completely
disappeared. I no longer felt any trace of her.

The joy that blossomed in my heart warmed me.
Already I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to do again. She
reminded me so much of myself at that age, having just lost my own
mama. I felt good about what I did.

Standing up, I made my way back to where I'd
left off looking for Catherine’s grave. I ran into Jason and Abby a
few feet from the section where I would resume searching. They both
looked panicked.

“Where did you go? We called for you,” Abby
demanded.

Jason watched me closely, but I kept my
encounter with the girl to myself. It was too special to share.

“I was looking for the grave but I think all
the stuff in that part of the cemetery is too old.”

“We found it,” Jason said as he pointed to
the headstone. “I half expected something scary to pop out and grab
me but it didn’t.”

“Yeah, he’s kept a safe distance from it
since we got here. He won’t get any closer than this.”

“I’m not as brave as you are, Abby. You’ve
been stomping around on it.”

I edged over and peered at the grave. “This
is where it ends.”

Jason texted Travis and told him to meet us
here. While we waited the three of us stood there and stared at the
harmless looking spot in the ground, each of us lost in our own
thoughts.

Travis arrived a little while later. “So this
is Catherine?”

“Yes.”

He nodded his head and studied it.

Finally, he spoke, “I want to warn you that
what you’re asking me to do is dangerous. I want you to be aware of
that from the start. There is a risk to your stepmother.”

“I’m aware of that. I have to believe the
risk is worth the reward.”

I knew what Catherine was capable of when it
came to her hosts, especially if she was responsible for killing
Mama. The same thing wasn’t going to happen to Marietta. I’d make
sure of it.

“Okay,” Travis began. “This is how it’s going
to happen.”

We gathered around and listened to his
plan.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Something woke me up.

It had taken me a long time to fall asleep. I
kept thinking of the little girl in the cemetery and hoping
desperately I’d been able to help her get to a much better
place.

I shot out of the bed convinced it was
Marietta standing vigil over me again. But I didn’t see
anything.

Then I heard a noise, whatever it was that
woke me up, a clicking of something hard on a wood surface. It
scratched and scraped and sent chills down my back.

Walking over to my desk I fumbled for the
lamp and switched it on. At first the light was blinding but, as I
got used to it, I scanned the room for something out of place. No
stray shadows moved but I could not shake the forbidding feeling
that seized me.

This time the noise was closer, off to my
right.

I tried to follow it but didn’t have very far
to go. At the edge of my desk I caught sight of a movement the same
time I heard the sound.

It was the necklace Margaret gave me.

Torn between curiosity and fear I watched as
it inched slower and slower to the edge, as if it had a destination
in mind. After a few more seconds, it stopped.

When I reached out my hand to touch it, it
lifted up into the air. Startled, I jumped back and squealed. My
heart was pounding in my chest. The pendant lay flat in midair with
the chain dangling down behind it. If I didn’t know better, I’d
think I was dreaming

Not in this house, though.

Once more, it started to move. Inch by inch
it floated closer to the window near my bed. I took a few slow
steps behind it and jumped again when I heard the pendant tap up
against the glass. Even though it startled me, I sensed no danger
from the necklace as I stepped up and wrapped my hand around
it.

It was cold, which I expected, but it also
hummed with some kind of energy. Then, I peered out the window,
wondering where it could possibly have been headed.