Dreams of Idlewood Read online

  Buggering bastard! Buggering bastard! Buggering bastard!

  When the savagery finally ended, Tallulah had wet her dress and I was unable to stop trembling. And I could not forget the words, “Buggering bastard!”

  But it wasn’t the barn door creaking. I could see the barn door. It was closed just as the hayloft was. Still the sound was very near now.

  Creak, creak. Creak, creak, creak.

  There was no rhythm to the noise. I couldn’t place it. Until I remembered where I was. This was our place and that was our tree.

  And there was a body hanging from the tree. I fell to my knees as the first thought coalesced in my mind. “Tallulah!” But it was not Tallulah. That was not blond hair but brown. And that was not Tallulah’s yellow dress but a dress of burgundy, Aubrey’s favorite color. I shot back up from the ground.

  “No!” I said to the swinging woman. “No!” I walked toward her now, her face hidden from me because of her long, loose hair. I touched her feet. They were stiff and cold, like mine but not like mine. My feet did not yet walk in the land of the dead. “Aubrey, please. Come down from there. Please, my wife. Come down. I will get you down, my love.” I scrambled up the tree, for I knew where all the knots were. I’d been climbing this tree since I was a little boy, barely old enough to be away from my mother. This had been our tree, mine and Tallulah’s. We’d sworn to never play in the barn again, but here—here we could see the clouds in the day and the stars at night.

  And after today, I would never visit this place again. Never. I untied the rope and eased my wife’s body to the ground. I returned to her side, unbound the evil rope from her neck and held her lifeless body to mine. I wept over her, calling her back to me, but she was beyond me now. Again I had failed.

  This had been my fault. I should have pleaded with Aubrey, explained to her about the Bad Thing and how that secret had kept Tallulah and me together. I should have told her how I had to watch over my sister to keep her from telling the world about the sin of our father—and later, as we surmised the truth, the sin of our uncle. The dark descended on us and the stars shone down upon us, two lovers, now separated by death. I kissed her cheek, but I knew there was no hope. My agony was complete. Then the rage came, black and full of fire and shadows. I welcomed it with all my being. And in the dark under the giant oak I had another moment of crystal-clear clarity. I alone did not bear the weight of all this.

  Michael’s jealousy, his great envy of me, had driven us all to destruction. For I understood it all now. It was Michael whom Uncle Preston had mistreated, and he hated me for that. He hated the Golden Son, as he liked to call me and taught others to call me. He’d forced me from my home and stolen my inheritance and my wife. And he had killed her. He murdered her with his immeasurable jealousy.

  And now he must pay. He must be brought to heel. I picked up Aubrey’s body and walked up the hill. I felt no pain, and although the grief was great it evolved into brutish anger. I set my head down and kept my eyes focused on the door of the house. The servants saw me first; I heard them call the Master of the House. Perhaps if I had come alone, penniless and begging, they would have had the courage to shoo me away. But I did not come penniless and begging. I brought with me the greatest thing a man could ever have, a loving wife. I did not brook a word from any of them, and they moved out of the way. They even opened the door for me.

  Michael was half-dressed and bounding down the stairs. “Here now, fellow! See here, Sinclair. You are not allowed here. Shamus, call the sheriff!” He grinned at the sight of Aubrey’s dead body. With her head flipped back now you could see the raw stripe the rope left, but that did not move him. “Tell him that someone dumped some rubbish on my property and I want it removed.”

  His words lit the fuse. A fuse that would not be put out with any mortal instrument. I laid my wife’s body on the settee and removed my belt. To his utter surprise I slung the belt and slapped him in the face. The first blow landed him on the ground, but he did not stay there. He would wish that he had by the time I was done with him. He struck me a few times in the beginning, but once the red wash of rage poured over my mind I could not control my desire to kill him.

  “Buggering bastard! Buggering bastard!” I shouted and screamed as I pounded him with my fists and anything else I could get my hands on. Mr. Lofton and another man dragged me off him, and I stared at him pitilessly as he spit blood, his face a battered slab of meat.

  “Please, sir. No more,” Mr. Lofton whispered in my ear. “Go now, before the sheriff arrives. Run, sir. Run away.”

  “No, Lofton. The time for running is over. This family has many crimes to answer for. It is time for a reckoning.”

  “Please, Master Percy. Think of your sister, Bridget. Please don’t do this.” To my surprise, the old man’s pleas softened my heart. Yes, there was still one soul that I could care for. I would make sure my brother paid for his crimes, and I would pay for mine, but Bridget, she would be cared for no matter what I had to do. How poorly I had treated her all her life.

  Mrs. Potts and some other women carried my brother to his bed upstairs, and I sat on the settee with Aubrey’s head in my lap. I waited until dawn for the sheriff to return. And when it came time to release her, I cut a lock of her hair to keep with me always.

  My sweet Aubrey, she’d been a fool, but I’d forced her to play on. I loved her, not like I should have, not until it was too late. But I loved her. And now she’d never know.

  I would never see her again.

  ***

  “Babe, wake up. It’s all right, wake up.”

  I jumped out of the chair in a panic. I realized that Baby Boy was missing. “He’s fine. He’s asleep. Let’s go outside into the hallway.”

  I followed Ashland out to the hall and immediately slid down the wall and cried. He sat on the floor next to me and let me cry my eyes out. When I could talk, I told him what happened.

  “You’re kidding me. Poor Aubrey. What a sad place.”

  “It’s not Michael at the garconniere, Ashland. It’s not. It’s Percy! His hatred has him trapped.”

  “Hatred for Michael?”

  “Some of that hatred is for Michael, but it’s also hatred for himself. He’s not forgiven himself. He still thinks he’s protecting Aubrey in that garconniere. That’s why he kept Rachel’s whereabouts from you.”

  “Do you think he put her in there? Seems like a difficult task for a ghost.”

  I accepted the handkerchief he offered me. “No, I don’t. I think the ghost had human help, but darned if I know who. Maybe we will never find out.”

  “Oh, I think we will. Those kinds of secrets have a way of coming out.”

  “Yes, they do.” I leaned my head on his shoulder.

  He sighed and said, “I have a secret I’ve been keeping, and I don’t feel good about it.”

  I picked my head up off his shoulder and asked, “What secret, Ashland?”

  “I’ve been keeping a secret from you, and I can’t do it anymore.” He sighed with relief, but that didn’t make me feel any better. The other shoe was about to drop.

  My heart felt like Percy’s now, like it floated in my chest and threatened to drop to my feet. “Stop it, babe. You are scaring me.”

  “I’m sorry, Carrie Jo. I’ve been looking for a way to tell you for a while. You were right about Libby. There was a time when we were together—”

  “I don’t think I want to hear this.”

  “I have to tell you. If I can tell you, she can’t hold it over us anymore and we can move on.”

  “I don’t need to hear this, Ashland.” I jumped up and ran to our room. I sat on the bed and stared out the window. It was dark outside—hey, didn’t we have a party to go to? Oh my Lord! The party was here! I could see cars pulling into our driveway. Ashland followed me into the room and closed the door.

  “You better get dressed for the party,” I said, not looking him in the face. I’d pulled my hair up in a side ponytail and tied an Alabama ribbo
n to it. I practically tore off my shirt—man, I was angry. And I was breaking my promise to myself not to talk about it.

  “You are a class-A jerk, Ashland Stuart! I was never unfaithful to you! How could you do this?”

  “Oh God, Carrie Jo! No, that’s not what I meant. I didn’t cheat on you—I would never do that. This was before I met you. I got drunk at a frat party, Libby was there, she was underage, but Jeremy had snuck her into the party. I was blitzed and not thinking clearly. I slept with her, and the next day I didn’t even know I had done it. Until Jeremy called the other day and said he had pictures from that night. She’d taken pictures of me, Carrie Jo. I knew if you saw them you’d leave me. She threatened to use the pictures as proof I’d been harassing her all her life. She’s still after my fortune, a fortune I no longer have. And more than that, she wants to destroy me. Now she’s gotten involved with some legal group called the Creel Society…”

  “Creel Society? Oh my goodness, Ashland. You need to call Austin Simmons. He wanted to talk to you about those people. He called today and said he had a word of caution for you. He must know something about what they are up to! Please swear to me that you will call him.”

  He sat on the side of the bed, his head in his hands. “So you aren’t angry at me? You aren’t going to leave me?”

  “Heck no. In fact, I’m tempted to kick her ass again! What you did before me, was, well, before me. Like me and William Bettencourt. I’m sure you don’t want to know how we…”

  “You are damn right I don’t want to know. And I don’t want to hear his name again.”

  I stood in between his legs and put my arms around his neck. “Did you think I was that shallow? That I would hate you for something you did in high school or college? Please! I’m a grown woman and a real woman. There’s nothing Libby Stevenson could tell me about you that I don’t already know. I love you, blockhead. Now we’re going to miss our party. Unless I can go down in just my bra…” I started heading for the door.

  “Don’t you dare!” He pulled me to him and we kissed. We were tempted to make the guests wait, but that would be too obvious. We weren’t going to behave badly with people in the house. That was just for weddings and large parties.

  “I will never be unfaithful Carrie Jo. Never. I am sorry I was ever with her. Believe me, I am sorry. Please forgive me.”

  “I do forgive you, Ashland. Now let’s go party!” I slid on my red and white shirt—it looked great with my blue jeans—and I grabbed my pom-poms. “I’m ready to yell, ‘Roll Tide!’” I shook the pom-poms at him, but then the baby woke up and started hollering from his room. People were talking downstairs, and I thought I heard my mother’s voice too.

  I offered Ash my pom-poms. “These or the baby? Which do you want?”

  “Um, I’ll take the baby. No way I’m going down there with a pair of pom-poms.”

  “Good idea! See you downstairs!” Feeling happier than I had in a long time, I bounded down the stairs and greeted our house full of guests. The decorations looked great. My mom spotted me looking at them, and I gave her a thumbs-up. She returned it with one of her own.

  I was sorry for what happened to Percy and Aubrey, and Tallulah and Dot. And in a way, I was sorry for what happened to Michael. But that wasn’t my life. I had a good life. A happy life.

  I never wanted to forget that.

  Chapter Fourteen – Rachel

  “She said meet her here at eleven? Seems kind of late, considering what you’ve been through already.”

  “Okay, Gran. Thanks.” Angus sure knew how to worry over me like an old lady. “I just want to go inside, speak to Aubrey and tell her to leave. I’ve got the letter that started it all right here. That should be all we need.”

  “Why would you need a letter?”

  “Well, it’s like a trigger. Something that mattered to her in life. If I told you the whole story you’d understand.”

  “Tell me, then,” he said with a sexy smile. “I’ve got nothing but time right now. Unless you’d like to do something else?”

  “You pick now to swing that on me? As if I’d want our first time together to be in the car? Gross.”

  “Oh, so you have thought about it.”

  I stared at him incredulously. “Am I dead? Of course I think about it. It just seems you aren’t too interested in doing that.”

  “Balls on that. I am very interested, but I’ve never made out with an American girl before. I wasn’t sure what the protocol was. There are no men in your family, no one I can ask for your hand.”

  “Whoa there. We’re talking about having sex, not getting married.”

  “Not where I’m from.” Ah, so that explained it. What had I gotten myself into? Was I dating a purist who believed in sex only after marriage? It was actually kind of sweet.

  “I don’t always live right, but I try.”

  “You don’t seem too religious to me.” Was he putting me on?

  “That’s the thing, I’m not real religious at all. It’s not about religion, it’s about a code of conduct that I live by. I believe in honor.”

  I snorted a laugh. “And that’s why you left me that first day at Idlewood.”

  “I said I believe in it—I don’t always get it right.”

  I laughed and watched Carrie Jo’s Beamer pull up. She had Ashland with her, and love must have been in the air because they were kissing passionately as soon as she parked. Hmm…maybe marriage wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

  “Let’s roll, ghost hunter,” I said with a wink. He stole a kiss from me, and we stood outside my car, stomping our feet to warm up. “Man, who turned down the thermostat! I believe it could snow, it’s so cold. Come on, y’all!”

  “Coming!” They got out of the car, and the four of us walked up to the house.

  “Anyone else coming?”

  “No, it’s just us tonight. Henri and Detra Ann had something else they had to do. I have agreed to let him ghost hunt the house, but if he puts it on his website he has to call it an undisclosed location. And I had another dream about what happened. Let’s go inside the tower, as Ash calls it, and light a fire. I’ll tell you what I know.”

  I smiled at her, finally feeling that everyone would be okay. She wouldn’t lead me wrong, I knew that. Soon the fire warmed us and we sat around the table listening to Carrie Jo tell us about her dream. Unlike some folks, CJ knew how to tell a story. It was as if she were truly there seeing it all; it was very convincing. Chip never believed her, but he was always an unbeliever in the supernatural. More’s the pity.

  After hearing the entire sad story, I cried. Yet I felt peace. CJ’s dream had brought me peace. Aubrey was not here; I had been wrong. It was Percy who needed our help! I walked around the room trying to feel Percy or Michael or Aubrey.

  I started talking to the air, and my friends let me. “Percy, I have something of yours. See it? It’s a braid of Aubrey’s hair. I found it in the attic of the house. It was in her trunk. Can you see it? I’m going to put it right here so you can look at it.” Angus took out his EMF pod and put it near the braid. Then he spoke too.

  “Percy, my name is Angus. We are here to help you. If you can hear me, beep the pod once.” Immediately the pod beeped once. “Okay, Percy. Just to be sure it’s you and not someone else, beep twice if you were married to Aubrey.” And the pod beeped twice. Angus sat down, looking pleased with himself.

  Ashland whispered to him, “I can see him, and that’s not Percy. It’s Michael; he’s standing by the box.”

  “Oh. Michael, my friend Ashland can see you. You can’t trick us, Michael. If that’s you, beep twice.” The pod beeped twice.

  “Michael, you did some bad things in your day. Why are you still here? Do you feel guilty that you caused Aubrey’s death?” Suddenly the pod began beeping nonstop, and then it flew off the table.

  “That was very naughty, Michael.” Angus picked up the pod and put it back on the table.

  “Ow!” I shouted as I stared at my arm. �
��Something scratched me. Michael, did you scratch me?” The machine beeped twice and then three more times. “All right, Michael, calm down. We need to talk with Percy. Can you move away from the pod so we can talk to Percy? Oh!” I pointed at the stairs. There was Percy; his features were faded some, but I knew it was him. He had the same golden blond hair, the slender build, the long fingers. He was a handsome man, even in death.

  “Let me talk to him, please, Rachel.”

  “Sure, Carrie Jo, but be careful.”

  “Percy? Can you come talk to me? Michael has left so we can talk. Can you make the pod beep so I can see that we are communicating?” The pod beeped, and we all—yes, all four of us—saw him move toward us slowly.

  “Percy? Aubrey wants you to know that she has forgiven you for not telling her about the Bad Thing.” Immediately the ghost put his head in his hands, and although I could not hear him, I knew he was crying. “She knows, Percy, and she loves you. Now is the time to go to her. Do you want to see Aubrey again?” He made the pod beep once for a long time.

  “I know, I know, Percy. It was wrong what was done to you. It was wrong, but now it is time to move on. Time to go be with Aubrey and Tallulah and Dot. Would that make you happy?” The pod gave another long beep. “See the braid? We have her braid here. You can touch it and come see it. It is yours.” We saw nothing happen with the braid, but he moved in closer before he disappeared. His face remained serious and unhappy.

  “Percy, Rachel is going to say some words that will set you free. Is that okay with you?”

  He beeped once again.

  “Okay, Percy. Rachel will say the words, and you will be free to be with Tallulah and Aubrey and Dot. Once you hear the words you will immediately go to them. You will not have to search for forgiveness anymore, for you have already been forgiven.”

  She nodded at me, and I stood up and read from a letter I’d found. It was a letter Aubrey had written while she still held out hope that Percy was alive.

  “My love, I count the days until I see you again. Please come home to me soon. Come be with me. I cannot stand to think that I shall never again see your face. I would rather die a thousand deaths than do that. Please, my love, come to me.” I put the paper on the table next to the lock of hair.