Ever After (29 page)

Did he know about the skeleton incident? He didn’t seem to. Or he didn’t care.

The girls pretended to be on a stroll minutes after I got comfortable in a lounge chair, but they eyed me like a hawk.

“I’m not going AWOL.” I eyed them over my book.

“We’re on assignment,” Shelby said. “We’re not to let you out of our sight.”

“I love how he seems so concerned but can’t seem to muster the common decency to speak to me himself.” I looked back to the words on my book, but after reading lines over and over, I still couldn’t absorb them.

The girls made good on their promise until bedtime. They followed me up to my room.

What were they gonna do? Make pallets on my floor?

“See you in the morning.” They waved. And entered the room beside me.

Inside my own set of suites, the way the crown molding met the wall looked familiar. Like not from now familiar, but from some earlier time. Flashes of now and the 1800s flip-flopped back and forth. The old furniture was suddenly not scary at all. It was as shiny as it had been when the owner had ordered it. Candelabras used to sit on the long old dresser instead of modern lighting. Weight pressed on my chest. Not the scary kind. The kind that told me, “It’s okay to remember.”

* * * *

The next morning I slipped out. The local newspaper database had nothing on my new house. The Shelby County library was my only option.

A scary woman with a face so old it looked like crumbling pastry sat behind the desk. She slid her glasses down her nose at me. A chain suspended them from her neck. Classic librarian.

“I need to see the local newspapers from 1879,” I said.

She slid the glasses back up. “What are you looking for exactly? We could narrow your search.”

I cleared my throat. I hadn’t planned to divulge that information. “Deaths or disappearances at Rolling Hills Manor.”

“Honey, researching that subject is going to be tedious. Every newspaper article is stored on microfiche. We’ve archived them. I’ll have to pull them from the back.”

“I have time.” Two days, to be exact.

I leaned on the dark wooden counter as she disappeared around the corner. The three-story library had endless walls of books that brought back unsettling see-through memory/visions.

A guy and girl were wrapped tightly in an embarrassing embrace on a sofa right where the wall of nonfiction was supposed to be. The librarian I’d talked to walked toward an even scarier librarian. The cool wooden counter held me up.

The visions would go away. I just had to give them a few seconds.

The love scene on the sofa deepened in seriousness.

The two librarians left their post and walked down stairs marked
basement
. Except for the occasional glance at the apparitions, I kept my eyes closed. Geez.

“The old microfiche machine is still in working order. This may just be your lucky day.” The librarian jarred me.

Leaving the half-naked couple, I headed for the basement stairs. After a long blur of black, white, and yellowed pages getting to the proper year, the first article on April 14, 1879 finally appeared.

Engagement Party at the Rolling Hills Manor

* * * *

Jensen had waited while I was in the library for nine hours. He’d never complained. He let me out at the front steps at dusk.

“Thank you, Jensen. You’re a dear.” I grasped the papers in my hand and slipped in the front door.

Shelby and Kaitlyn paced the living room. They rushed at me when I walked in.

“Where have you been?” Kaitlyn almost tripped her sister. “You can’t leave like that and not tell anyone where you’re going.”

“I didn’t mean to worry you.” The leather plushness of the sofa welcomed my tired body. Though only sitting and thinking all day, my back ached.

“We can only hear a mile away. With the Amiante in the house, and it so close to the end of the crescent moon, we can’t hear a thing. Cole’s been a wreck,” Shelby said.

“I was at the county library reading in peace. No need to worry over me every second. I’m learning to handle myself. So, where is he?”

The girls exchanged nervous glances.

Shelby said, “He’s in his cottage. We’re to call him as soon as you get here.”

“No need. I’m fine.” I stood. “Remember. The woods. You’ll have to be far away tonight. Be ready to hold him with all the strength you can muster plus some. I’ll let you know when. Excuse me, I have a few things to see to.”

I left the girls staring after me.

The banister railing was a little dusty, but the carvings were as beautiful as they’d always been. Always. Now I knew how long that had been.

A staff member walked by.

“Excuse me. Could you see to it that these are polished from top to bottom tomorrow.”

“Yes, ma’am.” She gave me a little curtsy. I liked that. Very traditional.

“Thank you.” I thought of one more thing before she was out of sight. “Miss?”

“Yes’m.”

“Thank you for your devoted service here.” I gave her a warm smile.

Outside, across the spacious, lovely grounds, the rose maze stood taller in the night sky. I couldn’t pass up the chance to smell the roses. I’d missed the opportunity so many times. The red ones had a richer aroma than the more fruity floral pink ones. Against my cheek, the darkest red bloom was cool and fragrant.

Colby had built this to impress his true love. I smiled.

Farther across and down the property, the cottage lights were on. It was the last night and Cole was at home? He should have been obsessive-compulsively inside the house, ordering me around like he always did. How I wasn’t locked in my room was a mystery.

It was dinnertime. I would definitely need my energy for the night’s upcoming events.

In the kitchen, Nancy turned.

“Why, child, I’ve been waiting for you all evening. I kept a plate warm.” She rushed to the oven.

“I’ll take it in my room.” I was famished.

She flashed a look of embarrassed surprise. “Oh.”

She’d grown accustomed to eating with me.

“I mean, I’m feeling a little under the weather this evening. Nothing serious. Just tired.” I smiled and squeezed her shoulders. “We’ll have all three meals together tomorrow.”

Plate in hand, I retired to my room.

* * * *

Shelby and Kaitlyn stood at the bottom of the stairs. The back door opened as I opened the doors to my suite of rooms.

“What’s with her?” one asked the other.

“I’m not sure, but something’s off.”

“I’m staying at the bottom of the stairs for the rest of the night. If you two hear her try to climb out the window, alert me.” Cole’s tone was so stern, so serious. How cute. There was no need for the protection detail.

It was time.

All the air in the room thickened when I pulled the garment bag from the closet. The yellowed wedding dress fit perfectly, but as soon as it was on, scenes from the 1800s bombarded me.

Inside Colby’s embrace, we stood in a small, dark, musty room. A broom closet maybe. A candle stood on a small ledge behind us. The flickers sent strange shadows over Colby’s profile.

“I should be mad at you, but all I want to do is call myself your wife,” I told Colby. I folded myself into his arms.

“I’m lucky you’re speaking to me, much less marrying me. Your sister is going to be furious, you know. We have to handle this with delicacy.” His voice was slightly different, but Cole’s spirit was there. The present-day Cole was the beaten down version of the man in my arms.

“Ooh, delicacy. Such a big word. That education she got you is very alluring.” I squeezed myself to him firmly.

“I did have a brain before she ever toted me to school.” He tilted my face so he could see that I took him seriously. “You have to focus. She’s going to come down the stairs tomorrow in a wedding dress and think she’s marrying me. When she finds you in a wedding dress, too, she’s going to be furious. Your mother and I have the men from the asylum in waiting. All the guests will think she’s crazy. And when she realizes what I’ve done, that will be her final breaking point. You have to be ready to run from her. Do you hear me?”

“This doesn’t feel right.” I pulled back.

“She’s not well. Every day she gets worse. You know this. If we don’t have her put somewhere, she’ll never have a chance to get better. One of the workers witnessed her killing his chickens, we’re pretty sure she killed my father’s litter of hound pups, she’s hung dead animal skins on the outskirts of the property, and one night I found her standing at the edge of the house, staring at the moon with blood smeared all over her. Annabeth, she was nude. Standing out where anyone could see her. Mr. Rollins’s reaction was to have her dress maid bathe her and let her sleep it off. This illness isn’t something you can sleep off. Your safety is my concern. You know as well as I that Marshall won’t allow her to be taken away. He’s going to have to be forced to make the decision. If all your family is here to witness her lose her mind once and for all, your mother can have her cousin, Dr. Bridges, take her away.” He let his forehead rest on mine.

“This has to be difficult for you. You cared for her once.” A pang formed in my stomach. Slight jealousy, slight pity.

“Yes. Until I learned she was sleeping with her own father. At that point, I knew she was capable of anything except loving me. Like everything else, she bedded him to mold and manipulate every situation to her own liking.” Colby’s eyes focused on me in the dark.

“You’re right. She needs to be in an asylum,” I said. “It’s just so sad. I feel like Father deserves a spot right beside her.”

He kissed my forehead. “I know.”

A noise made outside jarred us from the embrace.

“Colby,” someone whispered.

Colby hugged me. “That’s my cue. I have to go now. Your father is on his way back in. As far as I know, he still thinks Grace and I are being married tomorrow. One more day and we’ll be free. You’ll be my wife.”

The prospect sent shivers down my spine.

He slipped out of my arms and out the door of the closet.

Instead of following him out, I felt through the darkness, pressed a panel, and slipped into the room behind the secret meeting place. My mother’s room.

Sitting primly in front of a vanity, Mother allowed a dress maid to brush her hair. Her dancing eyes found mine in her mirror.

“You’re flushed,” she said with a knowing smile. “I take it your meeting went well.”

“Maybe.”

Mother dismissed her maid with a wave of her hand, and when the door was closed, she straightened her skirts. “You’ve agreed to marry him?”

“You arranged the marriage. What other choice did I have? Should I not come down the staircase, he’ll have to marry her. I’m not letting her win.” I ran my hand over her silk bed covering and took perch at the foot of her bed.

Long brown hair cascaded down her back, and her red lips pouted in my direction. “Oh, don’t act so wounded. You knew this day was coming. I just knew it sooner than you. Colby will be a wonderful husband. If you don’t forgive him, you are going to end up like me, married for convenience only to find your husband is a drunk or worse. I know you were hurt when you learned of Colby falling into the grips of your sister. He repented, gave his heart to the Lord, and turned from that life, and your sister. He was sincere.”

Blazes of the moment I’d learned Cole’s hands had grazed someone else’s skin invaded my mind. A blur of Colby chasing me up a bank as he yelled apologies at my back, my skirts rustling in the spring breeze, saddened me. I’d wasted so much time in anger.

“Don’t let history repeat itself, Annabeth.”

I turned to leave.

“I expect you to appear at the top of the patio steps tomorrow at two sharp. And when your sister shows in a wedding dress, I need you to act surprised, but back away from her,” Mother said.

“I know. Because she’s dangerous.” I wished I could go back and tell myself to run, to hide, but it was done.

The vision flipped. The next day I was in a room on one of the highest levels of the house. From the window, a sea of white flowers covered the rear grounds. Men, women, and children floated to and fro, visiting with family they hadn’t seen in years. Pressing my dress to my fluttering stomach, I smiled.

In black coattails, smiling and laughing, Colby stood with a group of guys I thought I recognized.

My heart was too big for my chest.

“Do you know who you’re marrying?” came from behind me.

The white wedding skirts swooshed as I turned.

Our seamstress? I didn’t need alterations.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand your question.” I backed toward the window.

“Colby’s father has forced his family to live in poverty.” She moved closer.

“But Colby’s father didn’t have means to live any other way,” I said, my mouth a desert.

“No. Eli left a life of riches to flee from me. He married that poor wench and now he’s miserable. My dowry could have added to his money, and we would never have wanted for anything. Now I have to make him pay.” A haggard veil lifted off her face, and she was young again. Her hair became brown with only a silver streak. Pale, deep-set wrinkles filled in with firm, youthful skin. Her eyes were most troubling of all. The old, almost bluish-gray irises deepened to green in a supernatural flash.

I screamed and stumbled toward the window.

The witch scooped her arm around my waist.

I tried to pull free from her, but she dragged me backward toward the French doors leading into the hallway.

“Eli will know hell. I thought killing everyone and everything he’s ever loved would be the way, but making them suffer sounds more gratifying. I’ll start with his son.” She looked over her shoulder. “Grace?”

I flailed and jerked but was no match for her. Her young arms held me fast.

Grace stepped out of the shadows in the hall and turned to me with her whole body.

She was adorned in a wedding dress, her hair looked to have been lived in by rats. Rouge and lipstick smeared her face in ridiculous streaks. Her eyes narrowed at me.

“What did you do to my sister?” Fear ached in my stomach. No matter what she’d done, she was still family.