A Red Red Rose

by Susan Coryell

  A Red, Red Rose

  By Susan Coryell

  Published by L&L Dreamspell

  London, Texas

  Visit us on the web at www.lldreamspell.com

  Copyright 2012 by Susan Coryell

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright holder, except for brief quotations used in a review.

  This is a work of fiction, and is produced from the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real people is a coincidence. Places and things mentioned in this novel are used in a fictional manner.

  ISBN- 978-1-60318-445-8

  Published by L & L Dreamspell

  Produced in the United States of America

  Visit us on the web at www.lldreamspelSusl.com

  * * * *

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Special thanks to my helpful and understanding family, especially my husband Ned who never complains when I retreat into my writing shell, and to my daughter Heidi Coryell Williams and daughter-in-law Valerie Coryell who are invaluable readers and editors.

  For my sons, Ted and Derek, and for the magnificent children who call me Granny, all of whom inspire the writer in me in different ways, I am grateful.

  Finally, I acknowledge the influence of my ever proud and supportive parents, Noble Ashby and Emily Robb McDaniel, profoundly missed on this earth.

  For the grandest kids: Shannon, Holly, Jack, Ashby, Verily and Lizah whose lively imaginations take story-telling to dizzying heights.

  PROLOGUE

  Dear Diary,

  Serendipity! Summer at Moore Mountain Lake! Aunt Monica and Uncle Hunter live in historic Overhome, on the lake, and they’ve invited me to be an au pair for my cousin Jefferson. Of course, at first Dad resisted the idea of my traveling alone. You might say he’s a tad overprotective. Then, Mom and Dad won an around-the-world cruise for two this summer. How lucky is that? Since my parents would never think of leaving me at home alone for so long, their cruise ticket was MY ticket to Virginia.

  Dad has a lot of bad vibes about the old family estate. He left Overhome after college and never went back. Some kind of family feud or something. So, that happens, even in the best of families. Now I hope to reconnect, to find the answers to a lot of questions there.

  I know only the basic facts. Three Overton sons were born on the estate—Madison, Washington and Hunter. Washington and Marian, my birth parents, were killed in a car accident when I was two. Then Madison and Helen adopted me. I really dig the funny, old-fashioned names they use in the South! Madison, Washington, and Hunter, descendants of generations dating back before the Revolutionary War. Now only Hunter is left at Overhome—lord of the manor—so to speak.

  They mean well, but Mom and Dad just don’t get it. Never returning to Overhome, never talking about my biological parents. I mean, what’s the big mystery? Why the secretiveness? Okay, they made a safe and loving home for me, but they’ve deliberately kept my entire life completely separate from the reality of my birth.

  I don’t remember my natural parents, and being adopted has never been a problem. I’ve always loved Mom and Dad, and they me. But, there’s a primal feeling in every adopted child, I think. A need to know where you came from. I sometimes dream I’m drifting at sea in a little rowboat. Suddenly, I realize I am tied, by a long rope, to a larger ship. This quiets my fear, yet I still feel my little dingy wobbling and bobbing, while I clutch the sides, hoping to sight land. Looking back at my Psych 101 class, I think Freud would say the line represents the umbilical cord, the ship, my adoptive parents. I’m floating in a sea of unanswered questions about my heredity. Certain things just cannot be ignored. Or forgotten. I am shaking with desire to see, to feel, to know, to connect with my mysterious self. Anything less is a form of blindness. Overhome is the perfect place to dig up my roots, learn about my ancestors, find out all I can about the family history.

  For the record, Mom thinks the old family conflict has gone on long enough. Mom’s all about trying to promote harmony. She’s stayed in touch with my aunt and uncle at Overhome and kept up with the progress of my cousin Jefferson, who’s going on eight. Mom says I will be an ambassador of goodwill. I admit that worries me some, but I’ll do my best. Hey! Nobody’s perfect.

  Anyway, I have an ulterior motive. I’ve always wanted to be a writer. That’s one reason I’m keeping this diary. “Journaling,” my creative writing prof calls it. “Write about your life, your thoughts, feelings, impressions, as often as possible. Think of it as a lifetime assignment. It’s all grist for the mill.”

  I admit I am a romantic, fascinated with the South, especially the old South. Mammoth, white-columned houses surrounded by ancient shade trees. Laid-back aristocratic sons and daughters of the Confederacy sipping mint juleps on the verandah. Ahhh! Virginia, I am ready for you, and every nerve in my body says you are prepared to offer up some good old Southern hospitality—not to mention the setting for my first novel. I feel my muse calling me home.

  So…Overhome, Moore Mountain Lake, Old Virginny—here I come, ready or not! Who knows what’s in store for Ashby Overton? I sense invisible strands stretching back over the centuries tugging at me, pulling me into a new-old world. Bloodlines, Dad would call them. Lifelines from my point of view. Mine and Freud’s, that is.

  ONE

  The pickup fish-tailed through a dizzy S-curve, then straightened and clattered over the planks of a narrow bridge. One more. Just one more bend in this roller coaster road and I’ll hurl, I thought.

  “You okay?” The driver gave me a sideways glance from under his well-worn ball cap with Born to Fish embossed on the brim. He’d told me his name when he picked me up at the bus stop, but his accent threw me off and I wasn’t sure whether he’d said it was Duke or Luke. “You’re lookin’ kinda pale.”

  “It’s been a long trip. I am not a fan of bus rides.” I realized I sounded whiney. “It feels like I left civilization days ago.”

  “Civilization?”

  “You know, like…New Jersey? I caught the midnight Greyhound at Penn Station from Newark. I rode all night and all the next day. Today, that is. It’s like forever to Virginia. The battery to my iPod actually went dead.” When I received no response, I added. “My first trip to Virginia.”

  “Well, I guess we have our own li’l civilization down here.” Doffing his hat to reveal flattened, straw-colored hat hair, he peered straight over the steering wheel without so much as a glance my way. I squirmed at his sarcasm. He appeared not much older than me, probably in his mid-twenties, but he was certainly nothing like my Jersey boys. I felt I was off to a lame start for my summer in the South.

  Reaching into my purse, I retrieved my cell phone and flipped it open to shoot a text to a girlfriend at home.

  “Forget it,” the driver said, still without looking at me. “There’s no signal down in these valleys.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding! You mean I’ll spend the whole summer in a dead zone? No communication whatsoever? How’ll I connect with my friends?”

  “Oh, you’ll prob’ly get a signal at th’ house. Overhome’s on a cliff, y’ know. Above th’ lake.”

  I hoped he was right. My cell was my lifeline. “So, what’s it like? I mean, life at Overhome. At Moore Mountain Lake? I’m going to be a companion for my cousin Jefferson this summer.”

  There was a slight hesitation. “Well, you’ll like Jeff. He’s a good sport—has a lotta energy.”

  I thought for a moment about how to phrase my next question. “And my uncle and aunt? Hunter and Monica? Do—do you know them well?”

  He c
huckled. “Sure do. They pay me t’ work for ’em. An’ I’ve lived on th’ grounds all my life.”

  “Sorry. I should know that. I think I’m sort of, you know, really stressed out right now. My dad is Madison Overton. He left Overhome after college and never went back.”

  “I’ve heard my grandpa talk about Madison,” he said with a nod.

  “Dad wasn’t too happy about me coming here. Thank God for my mom. She’s watched this, I dunno, this growing fascination I have with my Southern heritage. You know, the old family estate, the long, involved history, all the Spanish moss hanging from the trees. Together we convinced Dad it was a good idea for me to spend the summer here.” I did not add that Dad and I had shared some hot words about my being an adult now and capable of navigating on my own. My rational side knew that living at home while attending community college hadn’t helped my case much, but I needed the financial security. Dad still saw me as his little girl.

  “Yer outta luck with th’ Spanish moss. It grows further south. Sounds t’ me like y’ been readin’ too many romances.”

  “Uh-huh. That’s what my mother thinks.” What he didn’t know is I’m always composing romance novels. It doesn’t take much to set off the writer in my mind.

  With the onset of twilight, the sky had turned the color of dull pewter. The tingle of an approaching storm re-charged my exhausted senses. The trees and grass shone green and bold in the waning light. Vegetation in my native New Jersey was never this lush and healthy. The Virginia countryside is so rich and colorful. Primitive. I would not be surprised to see a brontosaurus prowling around.

  Snapping back to reality, I felt a pinch of—what? Excitement? Anxiety? I was a long way from home. Sure, with my shiny new associate’s degree in hand, I considered myself, at long last, self-sufficient. I admit my independence often appeared as full-on stubbornness. My high school guidance counselor once wrote on a college recommendation—Ashby Overton is a high-achieving, goal-oriented student. Dad was less kind. To him I was his bull-headed daughter. So, how could such a strong-willed woman of the twenty-first century already be homesick?

  Shutting out the twang of country music blaring from the truck radio, I stared out the dust-streaked window. Heavy clouds folded into the darkening skies, spilling onto the horizon. Mom and Dad. They’d be stepping up the gangplank of a swanky cruise ship this very moment, claiming their sweepstakes prize.

  “Looks like we’re in fer a real gusher,” my driver said suddenly, peering into the gathering gloom. “It’s not much further. Maybe we c’n beat th’ storm.” He stomped on the gas so that the tires squealed above the soulful steel guitar on the radio. Squeezing my eyes shut, I grabbed for the arm rest. Hold on, stomach, I told myself. We’re almost there.

  “Here we are,” Duke, or Luke, said at long last. He slowed before turning into a narrow, steep driveway with a ceiling of thick trees. Grey-stone gateposts topped with carriage lights marked the entrance. Above them the trees laced their branches together like fingers, so that the effect was that of a tunnel, a living, breathing green tunnel.

  I shivered, but not from fear, my thirst for adventure renewed. Silently, I thanked Uncle Hunter and Aunt Monica for inviting me to spend the summer. With my twenty-first birthday looming, I was ready to spread my wings, take a little time to explore my options and to earn some money for tuition to State. What a great way to head into real adulthood, to be on my own for the first time in my life! I felt grateful to my mother who was determined to heal the rift in the Overton family. Rift? It was more like a chasm.

  At last the truck came to a halt. Looming in front of me was the old house itself. Dumbly, I stared. The ghostly whiteness of the clapboards shone against a dark background of clouds and trees. Black shutters framed endless rows of windows, and a massive slate roof rose so steeply that I could not determine where it ended and the gloomy sky began. A half dozen dormers thrust forth from the peaked roof, their window glass as opaque as the night. In graceful symmetry, four magnificent stone chimneys punctuated the sweep of roof before disappearing into the trees. The lines, the bulk and harmony of the place, the mixture of dignity and informality, age and timelessness, left me speechless. My racing mind had already framed the setting of my own gothic novel; I’d found my muse.

  “Better get in the house quick.” Mr. Born-to-Fish retrieved my bags from the back.

  I slid from my seat and stepped down, straightening my rumpled clothes as best I could. Again, my eyes swept upwards, probing the heights of the house for a dividing line with the sky. Suddenly a gun bolt of thunder rattled my ears and lightning forked the sky. I jumped as a deluge of rain flooded from the heavens.

  “Hurry! You’ll get soaked. This way.” I followed his long strides up the flagstone walkway to a vestibule that housed the front door. Pushing the door inward, he ushered me into the tiny space where a slender, elderly woman stood. “This is Miss Emma Coleville. She’ll show you around.” He looked at the old woman sheepishly. “Afraid we got a li’l wet,” he apologized. “This is—”

  “Ashby,” I filled in quickly. “Ashby Overton.” I extended my hand. “I’ve heard so much about you, Miss Coleville. May I call you Miss Emma?”

  “Everyone does,” she said. White hair formed a pale halo around a colorless, aging face, and she wore a light dress covered with a white apron. She looked for all the world like a tall tallow candle.

  Dad had told me about Miss Emma Coleville. She had been an employee at Overhome since Dad himself was a child. She’d served as housekeeper and nanny, but also as a companion to my grandmother. “Miss Emma and my mother were very close,” Dad had said. “She and Mother grew up together. I think the Colevilles had money once, but I only knew Miss Emma as a servant. She always kept candy in her apron pockets for us boys. She used it to bribe us to behave ourselves.”

  Miss Emma looked at me with sharp eyes. Did she welcome me, or not? The old girl was certainly giving me the once-over. “You can leave the suitcases here, Luke,” Miss Emma said, clearing up the question of my driver’s name. Then she turned to me. “Your aunt and uncle are out for the evening. I’ll show you to your room.”

  Out? Were they to return soon? I hadn’t expected this. Curious about their appearance and personalities, I’d looked forward to meeting them when I arrived. Swallowing my disappointment, I followed Miss Emma through the door and along an entrance foyer that opened up into a cavernous room with a massive, vaulted ceiling. High, wooden catwalks, reached by identical pairs of stairs, hung like decorations facing each other from opposite walls. A fireplace as tall as a man gaped wide from the far wall. The perfect balance of the oversized room somehow soothed the eye, while warm red-and-gold Persian carpets and small furniture groupings softened the huge space. Rich oil paintings, gilt-framed mirrors, and brass sconces stood out against the walls. One entire wall was devoted to formal portraits of men and women dressed in period finery. One bewhiskered fellow looked both official and forbidding in his gray uniform. The overall effect was one of timeless wealth and luxury, though I could not imagine anyone actually living in such a formal space. While I felt like I was touring a museum, my writer’s mind recorded all the details for future use.

  “This is the oldest part of the house.” Miss Emma ushered me to the left-hand staircase which we ascended slowly to the top landing. “The house was built about 1740. Originally the structure was a barn—the only two-story barn in these parts, I understand. Later it was converted to a manor house. Francis and Emilie Overton lived here then.”

  Looking over the railing to the room below, my stomach lurched. Heights and I do not get along. Instantly, I grew dizzy. I clutched the railing and shut my eyes until the vertigo passed. Miss Emma seemed not to notice my discomfort, however, and she warmed up as she talked about the room below. She and Luke shared the same lilting drawl, but, her enunciation was perfectly clear, except for the strange way she said “oat” and “aboat,” for out and about.

  “The living room looks much as
it did a hundred years ago. The Overtons consider it their duty to preserve the traditional furnishings.” Indicating the portrait wall, she said, “These are all paintings of the Overton family.” She would have lingered at the picture wall, I think, but finally sensing my uneasiness, she pressed on. I was afraid to trust myself looking over that balcony for too long.

  As we passed through a narrow hallway and down two steps, it seemed like the ceiling was closing in on us. I had the uncanny feeling I was growing taller—like Alice in Wonderland. We came to the last room at the end of the hall. Choosing a big, old-fashioned iron key from the chain at her waist, Miss Emma inserted it into the keyhole and unlocked the heavy door.

  “W-why do you keep it locked?”

  She replaced the key on her chain. “It’s safer,” she said without looking at me. The cast iron hinges creaked as she pushed at the arched, wooden door. Obviously, it had not been opened in a long time. “Here it is, Miss Ashby—your room. Your aunt and uncle thought you would enjoy the privacy. And the view.” Curiously, my sense of adventure increasing with every heartbeat, I looked around the square room with its low ceiling and floors polished with age. The walls were stucco, whitewashed and trimmed in dark wood moldings. Pushed against one wall was a four-poster bed. A worn, but still beautiful carpet covered the floorboards, its thin, yellowed fringe silky against the dark floor. Opposite the bed stood a heavy chest of drawers made of age-dark wood. Attached was a small oval mirror that tilted. Its glass, though pitted and thin with age, reflected my features without distortion.

  The housekeeper moved to the outside wall, where she satisfied herself that a pair of leaded-glass French doors were secure. “There. Everything’s in order. I hope you’ll be comfortable.”

  “It’s very…old.” Funny. It was not what I’d meant to say. Exhausted and keyed-up at the same time, I felt an unsettling, smothering sensation. It had begun in the claustrophobic hall and intensified with every step. Now, within the room, I had an odd sense of enfoldment, like someone had wrapped me in a warm down quilt, comforting, but restricting, too, like I was in the dark cocoon of a scary dream, knowing I would wake up safely in my own bed.