The Ghost of Jeopardy Belle (The Ghosts of Summerleigh Book 2) Read online

  I slid the delicate paper out of the envelope. There was an address on the back, a military address, and I knew immediately that this letter was from John Jeffrey Belle.

  Dear Dorothy,

  I hope this letter finds you well, for it has brought me much hope to receive yours. To know that you love me no matter what your father says, that you love me above all others…well, it is more than I deserve. Ever since I first met you, I knew you were the one. You are the love of my life, and I will love no other. Not as long as I have breath in my body. I pray this war ends soon so that I can come back to you and all my Belle girls. I know you worry about Ann, you worry about your father, but you shouldn’t. We love each other, and that’s all that matters. If your father hadn’t interfered in the beginning, none of this would’ve happened. Just think, it’s taken us ten years to discover the truth of what happened that night. I believed that you stood me up, that you left me there at the altar. What a fool I was. I’m sorry, Dorothy. I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you, but I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.

  All my love,

  John Jeffrey Belle

  I stared at the letter and read it again and again. Jesse came in looking for me and found me reading the rest of them. I’d arranged them on the bed and read every single one. After the last one, I leaned back on the pillow, closed my eyes and sighed.

  “This is horrible. What Mr. Daughdrill put those girls through, it’s unreal. All this time, John Belle had been in love with Dot. And he believed them—Ann and her father, I mean—when they said that Dorothy had rejected him. And that she didn’t want Jeopardy. Jeopardy was really Dorothy and John Jeffrey Belle’s daughter. That’s why Ann hated her so much. And that’s why she was so willing to allow Mr. Daughdrill…”

  Jesse shook his head in disgust. “Yeah, all of that. Talk about star-crossed lovers. They didn’t have a chance.”

  I folded up all the letters, put them back in a stack and tied them up with the ribbon. “Let’s put this away and forget about it. And I can tell you what I’m gonna do. I am going to rebuild Summerleigh. It is going to be the most beautiful, happiest bed-and-breakfast that George County has ever seen.”

  Jesse smiled and said, “I like that idea. I like it a lot.”

  “Can’t do it by myself. You on board?”

  “Do you really have to ask?”

  Fifteen minutes later, we were back at Summerleigh. I was surprised to see that much of the house remained intact despite significant fire and smoke damage. We walked around the building carefully and made a mental punch list of where we needed to start on this new project.

  “Forget this. I’m never gonna be able to remember all this. Let me go to the truck and grab a notebook.”

  “I thought writers could remember everything,” I joked with him.

  He didn’t even turn around when he replied, “No, that’s why we need notebooks. Be right back.”

  I heard a sound to my right coming from the bedroom hallway. I walked into the hallway and immediately saw my daughter. Marisol wore a yellow dress with a yellow ribbon in her hair. In life, I’d never seen her wear anything like that. Clearly, someone was helping her dress. And then Jeopardy stepped out of the room and stood behind her. I stared at them both and smiled.

  “It’s okay, baby. You can go play with Jeopardy. Mommy is okay.” She took Jeopardy’s hand, and they turned away from me and walked toward the back wall and then right through it. I went to Ann’s old bedroom. It was the only room that didn’t have any fire damage, and the window there was intact. From the window, I could see the two girls running together, hand in hand.

  And then they disappeared. And I knew I would never see Marisol again. Not in this lifetime.

  And I was okay.

  Connect with M.L. Bullock on Facebook. To receive updates on her latest releases, visit her website at M.L. Bullock and subscribe to her mailing list.

  About the Author

  Author of the best-selling Seven Sisters series and the Desert Queen series, M.L. Bullock has been storytelling since she was a child. A student of archaeology, she loves weaving stories that feature her favorite historical characters—including Nefertiti. She currently lives on the Gulf Coast with her family but travels frequently to exotic locations around the globe.

  Read more from M.L. Bullock

  The Seven Sisters Series

  Seven Sisters

  Moonlight Falls on Seven Sisters

  Shadows Stir at Seven Sisters

  The Stars that Fell

  The Stars We Walked Upon

  The Sun Rises Over Seven Sisters

  Christmas at Seven Sisters (bonus short stories)

  The Idlewood Series

  The Ghosts of Idlewood

  Dreams of Idlewood

  The Whispering Saint

  The Haunted Child

  Return to Seven Sisters

  (A Seven Sisters Sequel Series)

  The Roses of Mobile

  All the Summer Roses

  Blooms Torn Asunder

  The Gulf Coast Paranormal Series

  The Ghosts of Kali Oka Road

  The Ghosts of the Crescent Theater

  A Haunting on Bloodgood Row

  The Legend of the Ghost Queen

  A Haunting at Dixie House

  The Ghost Lights of Forrest Field

  The Ghost of Gabrielle Bonet

  The Ghost of Harrington Farm

  The Sugar Hill Series

  Wife of the Left Hand

  Fire on the Ramparts

  Blood by Candlelight

  The Starlight Ball

  His Lovely Garden

  Ghosts of Summerleigh Series

  The Belles of Desire, Mississippi

  The Ghost of Jeopardy Belle

  Lost Camelot Series

  Guinevere Forever

  Guinevere Unconquered

  The Desert Queen Series

  The Tale of Nefret

  The Falcon Rises

  The Kingdom of Nefertiti

  The Song of the Bee-Eater

  The Sirens Gate Series

  The Mermaid’s Gift

  The Blood Feud

  The Wrath of Minerva

  Standalone books

  Ghosts on a Plane