The Dowry

by C W Lamb

  She knew Cyrus had been anxious for his baby sister to come south as the two had been close as kids and he had been working hard to restore the family estate. Once part of their large shipping empire in Florida, things had migrated away from the river as a source of income. Family pride had prevented the property’s sale at her aunt's passing, her mother Christina, not willing to entertain the notion.

  Both Cyrus and Sarah had childhood memories of living here, back in the late 1870s and 1880s, but the family had been forced to move to Boston, returning to Florida only recently. Their mother had gifted Cyrus the house and lands for his 40th birthday, on the condition that they remain in the family.

  That was the reason for the current celebration taking part all around her. With the renovation complete, Cyrus had invited family and friends to see the newly dedicated Foxworth House. Standing at the end of the wooden pier that extended out into the river, Sarah was happy to be out and away from the gathering crowd up at the house.

  Her brother had spared no expense in providing a lavish party, including the splendidly extravagant dresses she and the other ladies wore. As she stood at the end of the dock, looking out onto the water, memories of childhood swims flooded her head. The summer heat made the water all the more appealing, the dress making her quite warm.

  As a smile crossed her face with the memories of swimming in the river, she felt a firm shove that sent her sailing free of the end of the dock. Spinning in midair and expecting to see Cyrus once more, she was surprised to find no one had been behind her. Hitting the water hard, she floated at first, and then felt her dress beginning to pull her under as it became soaked with water.

  Sarah tried to swim quickly back to shore, but found her efforts proving more and more difficult. Again and again, she struggled to stay above water, with each breath becoming more and more infrequent as she was pulled under by the weight of the garment. Still far from the end of the pier, she submerged in an effort to swim underwater.

  Suddenly, before her, she saw a shimmering Aunt Charlotte’s face, the one from the painting. Her outstretched arms were extended as if reaching for her, to pull her close. Try as she might, Sarah couldn’t reach the vision before her as she sank deeper into the river’s depths. In the end, they drifted farther apart until blackness consumed Sarah completely and she went limp.

  Foxworth House, Present day

  Robert had purchased everything the woman had on the subject of split souls and Intelligent Hauntings and headed back out to the house. Still not convinced he understood a word of it, he had to admit that what she had described certainly fit his circumstances, at least with the house. The reincarnate was another matter, there being no indication such a person still existed. If nothing else, it gave him something to think about.

  Before he had left, he pushed the woman for more information on how to join the souls once they had separated, more curious than concerned. In that area, the salesclerk was less than helpful. All she could provide was that the reincarnate had to be in a state where the two pieces could become as one in living form. It was suggested by several of the authors that the living soul could not bind to its dead half.

  They had referenced that there needed to be a trigger that bound the two halves together, and it needed a bridge to do so. Once a bridge opened between them, they could come together under a common motivation. The motivation had to be so strong that it helped fuse the two parts, united once more, in a common bond. That bond had to be strong enough to allow the bound half to release from the house.

  As Robert considered it, he wondered if the death of the reincarnates was the bridge to allow the binding or the results of a failed attempt. Once bound in death, reviving the living half would in theory provide the union new life as one.

  He wasn’t sure why he was driven to understand the unity process, but it bothered him. With Victoria as the last of her line and obviously not the reincarnate, it looked like the last opportunity for Charlotte perished in the 1940s. It left him with a combination of sadness for Charlotte, bound to her house, his house now, and a sense of loss for the reincarnate as the family line ceased to be.

  With Victoria well past the age of the previous attempts, she should have either perished like the others before her or been joined had she been the one. In the latter case, that would have united the bound spirt to her physical reincarnate, letting them live united happily ever after. The lack of either said she wasn’t her generation’s manifestation, and the late relative was the last hope.

  Once home, he took his purchases up to the study in the back of the house, as it was the first room to be completed. With only some minor electrical upgrades and a vigorous cleaning, the room was painted and dressed out in proper Victorian fashion. Although she was no longer working directly on the project, all of Sandra’s earlier work was being applied by her surrogate.

  It was there that Robert had set up shop, moving his paperwork and all of Charlotte’s books, letters and papers from the parlor. With functioning power and water now, Robert could see the light at the end of the tunnel, so it was here he retreated when he needed quiet. With the desk and chair already in place, pulled out of the carriage house and cleaned, he added a few of his own touches, and he was good to go.

  Returning downstairs after stowing his purchases, Robert headed to the parlor, but stopped off in the kitchen to see the progress there. Inside, he saw the newly installed replica stove and ice box, all period correct, but as modern as they came. At this point, the kitchen could almost be considered complete, and ready for use.

  The dark cabinets and marble countertops all looked as if they were built in the 19th century and were masterfully installed with the attention to detail he expected from the best. The only thing that confused him was the blue and white bowl, placed tastefully in the center of the island, brilliant against the white marble. Unsure of its source, he picked it up and inspected it before he slid it up behind the sink, thinking it a better accent piece than a centerpiece.

  Almost a platter, the blue on white design held the image of a riverboat in its center. Knowing full well that everyone knew the house acted as a landing, he assumed it was a gift from one of his workers. With that, he turned and left the kitchen, heading to the parlor where he was greeted by RD and a man he had never met before.

  “Hey, there you are. I wanted you to meet the pool guy before they get started,” RD announced as Robert entered the room.

  “Robert,” he said as he extended his hand.

  “Gus,” the man replied in kind.

  “I have to say, that’s one hell of a design,” Gus commented as he indicated the plans spread across the worktable. All three talked as they reviewed each aspect of the design detailed in the plans.

  While not technically part of the deal he had struck with Victoria, Robert had repeated the approval process with his pool area, as he had done with the house plans. Having received the same CF initialed signoff, without changes, he was now convinced that Charlotte was the source of the initials.

  He had hatched a plan to try and prove it. He’d pretended to sleep with the drawings nearby in an attempt to try and catch the spirit in the act. Unfortunately, he had nodded off and awoke to find them reviewed, approved as is, and signed off.

  The pool design Robert had settled on was one he had researched as complimentary to Victorian architecture, rather than an extension of it. Lifting ideas from the Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle, on the coast of central California, he had created a Greco-Roman pool area and recreational space.

  Included in the plans was a much more subdued temple structure than the Hearst design, one that acted as an outdoor kitchen and lounging area. The covered path between the house and pool was done in a marbled column arrangement that gave limited shade but had a spectacular visual appeal. The one omission in the original design lifted from Hearst was the statuary. Not huge on the ornate decorations there, Robert had replaced them with planters of various types, adding greenery to the scene instead. />
  His renderings of the final product showed vine-entwined columns of white, with mosaic tile and marble flooring in and around the pool itself. There was enough open area beside the pool to accommodate chaise lounges all around for sunning or just relaxing.

  The final touch was the hidden technology that made the place equal to any upscale modern recreational space. The outdoor kitchen had a sink that looked more like a small fountain on the counter. The refrigerator was hidden behind a faux marble vertical tile. The barbeque cooktop was formed to appear as an ancient Roman cooking grill, with an adjoining wood-fired pizza oven.

  All this window dressing was accented by a hidden stereo system that included surround sound speakers, undetectable to the human eye. Of all the things Robert had done so far, this was the one thing he looked forward to completing the most, as it was 100% his. He intended to make this the best outdoor entertainment spot in the area.

  With that covered, the three men discussed the access required for the heavy equipment as well as the schedule of events. Between the site preparation, concrete deliveries and the stone and tile work, the amount of movement to and from the backyard was going to be extensive.

  Next, they went outside to walk the area. As they passed by the kitchen, Robert noted the bowl was back in the center of the island once more. Confused, he kept walking rather than draw the others into his distractions.

  Leading them down the back steps, he began walking the grounds with Gus wrapping the trees they intended to remove with bright red plastic ribbon; there were only a few. Fortunately, at some point in the past, the trees on most of the property had been thinned to allow for more openness in the back and around the house. In addition, Robert had gone to great lengths to position the pool and surrounding structures to best utilize the natural surroundings with minimum impact to the area.

  With the heat of mid-summer only a few weeks away, he was looking forward to a sunlit pool with naturally shaded retreats at its edges. Satisfied that Gus knew his business from the discussion during the walkthrough, Robert left him and RD to finalize their efforts while he returned inside to look at that bowl more closely.

  ----*----

  After a few days of studying the books he had bought in St. Augustine, Robert wasn’t convinced he knew any more about split soul hauntings than he did the first day he learned of them. All three volumes he purchased made reference to the phenomenon, but none had more than a general notion of how they occurred and even less on how to correct them. The best information any of them had to provide was to find one thing that motivated both halves of the soul into a unified desire.

  The notion was to require the bound half to release its hold on the place or object, while inspiring a common desire in both pieces, as the reincarnate had a natural desire to become complete anyway. The only thing Robert couldn’t discern from any of the material was the triggering event. What would cause this union to occur? Could it happen without the reincarnate at all?

  Why this was important to him became apparent as he did his reading. Accepting the fact that the house was indeed haunted, he now needed to find a way to release the trapped spirit of Charlotte Foxworth, if he was to have any hope of a happy life there. The best way to achieve that goal was to get the spirit to release its hold on the house voluntarily and move on of its own accord.

  As he researched in frustration, he had one bit of good news. Since the last incident with Sandra, no further unexplained activities had occurred to upset the crew working there. RD had even announced the uncovering of Charlotte’s portrait as the men had come to grips with its presence. RD had declared that Charlotte was so pleased with their work that she ceased her hauntings.

  “Whatever works,” Robert had replied.

  The only peculiarity he could not explain was the blue bowl in the kitchen. Initially, he had moved it near the sink, only to find it centered in the island once more. After moving it twice more and finding it back in place, he removed it entirely.

  Placing the bowl in the butler’s pantry, without a word to anyone as to where it was, it still returned to the island the next morning. No matter what he did, it kept reappearing in the center of the kitchen, and no one would confess to its relocation. Locking it in one of the trunks in the carriage house, he was sure he had resolved the issue as he had the only key.

  “OK, enough of this crap,” Robert declared as he once again found the bowl back in the center of the island in the kitchen.

  Grabbing the blue and white nemesis, he strode out the back and down the rear porch steps, heading to the pier. Walking out to the end of the wooden structure, he stopped at its end and peered out onto the river, looking for anyone who might be nearby.

  Confirming he was alone, he reared back and let the vessel fly, watching it sail high into the air before landing with a sizeable splash, far out into the river. Envisioning it settling into the mud, deep in the center part of the waterway, he allowed himself a small smile as he considered the effort required to recover the bowl from its watery grave.

  Turning, he headed back up to the house, taking his time and enjoying the bright Florida sunshine. Entering the house through the smaller door in the butler’s pantry, he turned into the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks. Sitting in the center of the island sat the same blue riverboat bowl he had just seen sinking into the river depths.

  In the end he gave up, accepting it as part of the permanent décor and assuming that Charlotte was behind its placement.

  Chapter 14

  Foxworth House, November 1863

  It had been several months since Charlotte had last seen Jefferson, his absence weighing heavily on her. Since then it had only been the letters they exchanged that provided an outlet for the emotions she felt building between the two. She had never expected to feel this way over a man, her life always focused on her family, house and business.

  But in the last few years, her feelings for her husband had grown to the point where she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. It wasn’t other women she concerned herself with, it was the insane war between the North and South that she feared would take her love away from her.

  She felt he had finally come around to understanding her love of the house and all it represented. He was the first man in her life that possibly even loved the place the way she did. It was her grand hope that after the war, they would make a life together here, possibly have children of their own.

  She stood in the kitchen, once again admiring the blue bowl her husband had presented her. She displayed it proudly in the center of the kitchen worktable, rather than out in the living room or parlor. Those she considered common spaces, shared with her many boarders, while the kitchen was hers alone.

  Beyond the bravado of the papers, Charlotte knew the war was not looking great for the South. While she had no concept of the military aspects of the conflict, what she did understand from her readings was economics and trade. For the South to truly prevail, they needed to end the conflict, the sooner the better, as the economic attrition the South was experiencing was not sustainable.

  Her business was at just short of a standstill, and the Union harassment was making it harder to survive. The few steamboats allowed to travel on the river were under the tight control of the Yankees that held the cities and towns they serviced. Regular boarding for searches was intimidating for the captains and crews just trying to survive.

  One of the few places still independently managed along the river, Charlotte endured constant inspections as the Northern troops returned again and again looking for Confederate sympathizers. With each occurrence, she dreamed of the day the war would end and Jefferson would return so they could begin their life together anew and in peace.

  While the letters her husband sent reinforced their love, the ban on mail from the North deepened the void between her and her sister. Unable to write one another, they had to rely on the infrequent visits of the blockade runners that were familiar to the families. Sailors in their father’s
employ at one time, all had been forced to find other employment when the Union confiscated most of the steamboats plying their trade on the river.

  This was how she learned of the birth of her nephew, Cyrus. Overjoyed at her sister’s safe delivery, it only added to her list of worries. Shaking off her fears, she turned and headed outside to begin her chores.

  Foxworth House, Present Day

  The construction around Foxworth House was at an all-time high, as the work in back, requiring a lot of heavy equipment, offset all the comings and goings from the front. The finish work inside the house was progressing well, with all three bathrooms close to completion. It was the massive amount of detail work to complete that had them hopping.

  Robert had to leave a lot of his final inspections until the evenings as he was tied up at the two renovations in the city. By now both those projects had reached the point where he was the final say on what was complete and what needed more attention before the customer walkthrough.

  Both the Methodist Church and Sammis Plantation held similar challenges in that they were dealing with the ravages of age and the well-meaning repairs of the past. However, each was far different in their construction and intent.

  The church was built with a large amount of brick, while the Plantation house was all of wood. The plantation was at its roots a home, while the church a gathering place for events and worship. Robert never let these differences escape the men and women working on them as it spoke to the essence of what they were trying to do. It was for that reason he felt the need to be constantly available, should questions arise.

  With semi functional bathrooms and a finished kitchen, Robert and Hunter had taken up full time residence in the house, releasing the rented place in town. The hound found the days he needed to stay home far more entertaining since he had a number of people keeping an eye on him as he made his rounds outside. Lunchtime had become his particular favorite because the crew had taken to bringing him treats.