“And so Hannah coddled Joel even more because she saw him practically ignored by both husbands?”
“Yes, she excused every nasty thing he said or did. She tried to protect him and it became the routine way they interacted from then on. Hannah gave Joel too much latitude and he felt entitled to do whatever he wanted, no matter who it hurt. His mother would always fix it for him.”
“And when he married Josie, was Hannah happy? She must have loved her daughter-in-law, and later her grandchildren.”
“Josie and Hannah were fast friends from the first time they met.” Slim smiled with some memory. Slowly he rose and leaned over the back of the couch to speak again.
“Joel made it clear to Hannah he wanted no interference in his marriage nor in the rearing of his children. Wisely, she moved out to the ranch with Wade. She never knew of Joel’s cruelty toward his wife. As far as Hannah knew, they had the ideal marriage. She lavished her grandchildren with gifts, clothes, and parties. When she visited, she took them to museums and art galleries. She spoke to Joel first for permission, but saw to it they had lessons in dance, piano, and art.”
“None of Joel’s antics reached her? It’s hard to believe a woman as active as she with her many interests wouldn’t have heard something from an employee or friend.”
“She knew of his run-ins with the law and his fondness for frequenting bordellos on the Barbary Coast before he married Josie. She considered him a lusty male with voracious appetites and how could she be surprised at that development? Once he married she cautioned him about curbing his gambling and visits to the wharf area bars. And after meeting Josie, he did for a time. He learned to be discreet for Hannah’s sake. She was the one person he truly had feelings for. He cared little for Wade or the ranch. Hannah spent less and less time in the city as years wore on. Her investments were in place and she managed most from the ranch or through directors she kept on a short leash. She didn’t hear much gossip and was content not to hear anything bad about her son.”
“What happened to Wade? How did he die?”
“Much like Hannah, he died of old age and natural causes. Of course, he passed away at a much younger age. I believe he hadn’t reached seventy.”
“Hannah was without a man for a long time, then.”
“She had Brady once he returned from Great Britain. Hannah was his life now his son was grown and independent. He built his own ranch this time, not far from Wade’s and they got together often. Actually, the only time they led separate lives was when Trey came to visit. Princess was in Sacramento and Joel in the city.”
“And Josie? She spent the rest of her life with this monster?”
“Divorce was unheard of in their set in those days, but Josie out-lived Joel and much before he passed, she came into her own.” Slim sat on the arm of the couch and crossed his arms in front of him.
Hannah noted the satisfied look on Slim’s face. He had as much feeling for these people as she did. How and where did he fit? She mirrored the crossed-arm stance of the story teller and slid to the back of her chair, tucking her feet under her. “How did Josie get away?”
“She didn’t. She fell in love and beat Joel at his own game. One of the men who frequented Joel’s parties was a prominent politician. He fell hard for Josie and plotted to release her from Joel’s tyranny. He hired detectives and gathered every bit of dirt about Joel, both past and present. He threatened to go to Joel’s mother with his evidence since he was one of her business partners and her trusted friend. He gave Joel one out, to live in a separate wing of the house from Josie and never to touch her again. Even if Joel didn’t care about his own reputation, he wouldn’t risk his mother knowing how depraved he was.”
“Josie then carried on an affair with this other man?”
“She did, right under Joel’s nose. Not that he cared about her. He had a mistress down on the Barbary Coast and held sex parties there. He died of venereal disease at the age of fifty-five and Josie married her lover a year later. They both lived into their seventies.”
“And Joel and Josie’s children?”
“They turned out well. You knew your great-aunt Amelia, their daughter was a spinster and their son, Wade, was your great-grandfather who died in his sixties. He named his daughter after his sister and his son was your grandfather Wade. You met him and surely your mother told you stories about her father.”
“I don’t remember her saying much about Grandpa Wade and Aunt Amelia didn’t say much about her brother, either.”
“How about Princess’s child, Hannah?”
Hannah unfolded her legs and planted her feet on the floor. “Wow, another namesake. Maybe they didn’t talk about her because they thought it would freak me out. Was she only a baby when she died?”
“Hannah was twenty-four.”
Hannah felt warmth fade from her face. “My age.”
A storm cloud seemed to have landed on the room. Slim’s face darkened. The room dimmed.
Chilled, and a little frightened, Hannah rubbed her arms and called Slim’s name. He was in a trance and did not respond.
“Slim, Slim, what’s happening?” When he ignored her again, she stood and shook his shoulder. “Slim, wake up. The room is going dark and you look like you’re turning to ash. Slim, please, I don’t know if I can find my way out of here.”
A clap of thunder sounded somewhere deep in the mine. Hannah jumped. She looked around frantically to get her bearings. A mist or fog had blurred the room and she couldn’t locate the doorway. A crash from somewhere to her right stunned her into pounding Slim’s back. Was she in the midst of an earthquake down in the bowels of a long defunct mine with a ghost who had died years, if not centuries ago? She pounded harder this time.
“Slim, wake up or we’ll be buried alive.” She closed her eyes and punched with all her might, short, hard blows to Slim’s shoulders and arms. After what seemed like an eternity, but could only have been seconds, he grabbed her hands. She opened her eyes and the room was clear and Slim was fully formed again.
“What happened?” she whispered as she wiped tears from her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Slim pulled her into his arms and rocked her until she calmed. He released her and stumbled to the bar. He poured whisky into a tumbler and downed it.
Hannah stayed behind the couch and used its back to steady her. “What just happened? Are we buried down here?”
Slim rubbed his forehead. “No, I’m afraid my emotions caused the ruckus, not an earthquake. I apologize for scaring you, but I simply can’t speak of–of…her without growing angry and morose. My anger is what put me here and I can’t leave until I conquer it. Obviously, I haven’t yet learned to do that.”
Hannah strode to him and peered into his eyes. “She was the Hannah I remind you of. She was the Hannah you loved.”
“Yes, and I owe you the story for your patience with me. I just don’t know how to tell it without causing a catastrophe.”
Hannah took his hand. “You don’t owe me anything. If your story is that painful, keep it secret. I have learned all I have a right to know.”
“Do you at last see how I feel about you? For the first time, I feel love exactly as I did long ago. I believe it’s the key to my getting free. If the mortal embodiment of the love I failed can love me and keep the rendezvous she tried to keep with me, maybe I’ll be set free.”
“I do see. The question is, do you? Would I be rushing back here every chance I get, without telling my father, without telling Bolt if I didn’t feel an attachment to you? Would I be so tempted to sleep with you when for ten years no one has come close to tempting me, if strong emotions weren’t involved?” She paused to let her words gel in Slim’s mind.
He took her other hand across the bar top as he searched her face. “Then, I will be free, but only if you still love me after learning who I am and what I did.”
“Do you think you’re calm enough now, to tell me?”
“I don’t know.”
“And if you do tell me, after the telling what happens?” Hannah felt the bottom drop out of her stomach when she realized what his being free would mean. He’d be dead to her forever. She’d lose his love before really having it. The night of love with both Slim and Bolt would never take place. She asked again, “And after the telling?”
“I will fade from sight and you will forget all about me.”
Tears came unbidden to Hannah’s eyes. “I can’t bear to lose you, but if it must be, it must be. Go ahead. What happened to put you here?”
Slim came around to her side of the bar without letting go of her hands. He sat on the stool next to her. “The ranch that had been Hannah and Wade’s last home was up for sale. Joel and Josie were gone and your grandfather wanted no part of the place. He went as his own agent to seal the deal. Because she loved the ranch and was sad it was being sold, he took his niece with him.
“A range-weary cowboy, Cal Boston, alias Slim, was the sole worker in the barn that day. Since it was up for sale only a skeleton crew had been kept on. As your grandpa took the buyer inside to sign the papers, his niece wandered into the barn…”
Thunder crashed and rocks groaned and the mine grew dim. Slim’s hand slipped away from Hannah’s grasp. Slim faded into a purple mist. Hannah screamed, “Stop, Slim. I can’t be buried down here. Stop thinking of her. Think of me and the threesome we’ll have soon with Bolt. Think of me, Slim.”
He took her hand again and the mist dissipated. Slim was whole again and the cavern was bright and silent. “I can’t seem to speak of her without causing mayhem.”
Hannah hugged him and held fast. “Don’t then. Keep your secrets, Slim.”
He pulled away and paced the length and breadth of the room, his fingers riffling his hair. “I have to tell the story and admit what I’ve done or I will never rest in peace.”
“What can I do to help you talk about it without the rafters falling in around us?”
“I don’t know. The one thing I do know and have known from the first time I saw you, is that you are the key. Somehow I have to find the right combination for the lock and I will be free.”
“Is it possible for you to ask someone who would have answers?”
“I can try, but they don’t always appear to me right away. Are you too frightened to return after this demonstration of my weakness?”
“Of course not. I hunger for you the way I’ve only hungered for Bolt before now. Nothing can keep me away. We’ll keep away from your—uh from a certain topic. Tomorrow, will you tell me about my Grandpa?”
“Yes, and more about Princess. If you recall, her name was really Hannah also.”
Slim’s face was impassive as he led Hannah out of the mine, but she recognized his unsteady gait and she saw the slight twitch in his cheek. Would he be here tomorrow?
Night fell as she drove home. All the way, her thoughts for once were about a man other than her father or Bolt. She left the Land Rover in front of the garage and ran inside where Bolt waited for her.
Immediately, he embraced her. “I’ve been worried sick. You went to the mine again, didn’t you?”
“I’m sorry you were worried, but as you can see, I’m fine. What are you doing here?”
“I just got here this minute. I did all I needed to do for the cattle this morning and after dinner Jessica followed me around and cornered me in the barn again. She wore a short skirt with no underwear and kept flashing her pussy at me.”
“So, I should thank her for sending you home for another booty call?”
“No, I would have come anyway. You scared the shit out of me talking about ghosts in the mine and going there alone.” Bolt flailed his arms and strode across the hall and into the first drawing room.
Hannah followed, quite peeved at his cavalier attitude. “Not ghosts, ghost. One ghost. His name is Slim and he was in love with my great-aunt Hannah.”
He swirled to face her, his eyes wild. “For heaven’s sake, Hannah, do you hear yourself? We need to get you help. I’m sure my mother knows a good psychiatrist. She’s been to enough of them.”
“You’re the crazy one. You tell your mother I need a shrink and it will confirm what she already believes about me. She’d never let me in her house again.”
Bolt plopped into a tufted chair. “You’re right. I’m just so upset about finding you out at the mine in the dark, alone and talking about conversations with a ghost. I’m a complete wreck.”
“Calm down.” She knelt at his feet. “Come with me to the mine tomorrow and meet Slim yourself. Then, if you’re not convinced he exists, I’ll never go there or mention it again.”
“You promise?”
She raised three fingers. “Scout’s honor. Now I see you’re still unnerved. Come on upstairs. I know a great way to calm you down.”
He didn’t argue. In her bedroom, she pushed him onto her chaise longue and unzipped his jeans.
“I haven’t showered.”
“Shut up and enjoy.” She sucked and licked his cock the way she had recently done to Slim. Men really loved this and it gave her a sense of power over him as he surrendered to her ministrations and spurted his seed onto his jeans and her blouse.
Hannah brought a warm washcloth from the bathroom and cleaned his genitals. When she finished, she twirled her tongue around the head of his cock until it rose again. She stripped and slid him inside her. As her pussy pulsed around his cock, gradually, Bolt’s temper subsided and his breathing returned to normal. He dug his fingers into her ass and moved her in the rhythm he enjoyed while sucking on her tits. She came first, and he turned her to pound into her with all he had.
The dildo in her butt felt the pressure from his thrusts and the chair beneath her. Hannah was dizzy with sensations she’d never had before. She came again which made him grind into her harder yet.
When he was done, he collapsed on top of her. “Something was different. My cock feels so snug in here.” He moved it around without pulling out. “It is rubbing against something. Your pussy is smaller or something.”
She had to tell him, then. “I bought a butt plug today and I’ve had it in all day to stretch my rear so we can try it that way without it hurting.”
Bolt pulled out of her and sat upright, visibly upset again. “What? Why would you do that? What possessed you?”
“I wanted to. I’ve been asking you to try it that way and you refuse because you think it will hurt me. Well, it doesn’t and tomorrow I’m putting in a bigger one.” She pranced into the shower and removed the plug before he joined her.
They went to sleep naked and entwined, but not completely at ease with each other. In the morning, they went down to breakfast without the morning fuck Bolt usually wanted. The drive to the mine was mostly silent with only a few comments on the weather and the scenery. Bolt parked the car where Hannah directed and they hopped out. Slim’s light was at the entrance without the man himself.
Hannah took Bolt’s hand and led him into the cave as she followed the light. Bolt didn’t appear to see it. At least he said nothing if he did. Hannah was becoming more and more frantic. Suppose only she could see Slim? The last turn was ahead and Hannah said a silent prayer.
* * * *
Bolt gasped as Hannah led him into a den of sorts with modern furniture and a man standing behind the bar. He didn’t look like a ghost, however. He looked like a lean, lank cowboy who’d been out in the sun too long. His face was strong but craggy and his eyes were gleaming as if in victory.
The man removed his Stetson and nodded. “Bolt Carmody, I presume?”
“And you must be the um—ghost of Slim Somebody.”
“Correct. Too early for a brew? I can make coffee if you’d rather.”
“A beer would be great.” Who was this guy kidding? This was no ghost. He was a poacher trying to get into Hannah’s pants. Bolt sauntered over to a barstool and straddled it. He pretended to reach for the beer bottle, but grabbed Slim’s hand instead. “Kind of substantive for a
ghost aren’t you?”
“Here I am as substantive as you, but not anywhere else.” The men eyed each other as they swigged from their beers. “I see you think I’m pulling a fast one. What will it take to convince your boyfriend do you think, Hannah?”
Bolt turned to find Hannah hopping on the stool next to him. He had almost forgotten she was there. He grasped her waist to help her be seated. “I’m certain you can conjure up some magic trick, but I won’t buy it.”
The room dimmed. The bar and all the room’s furniture except the stool Hannah was on disappeared. Bolt rubbed his backside as he struggled off the dirt floor. He reached out to touch the area where the bar had been. Nothing. His jaw clenched and dizziness overtook him. Hannah steadied him with her arms. He went into their protection shaking from shock.
“He’s a ghost, really, and he needs my help to get out of the spell he’s under,” Hannah whispered into Bolt’s ear.
“Why you?”
“Because I am the living embodiment of his soul mate. He needs to somehow show her his love is real and he didn’t mean to hurt her.”
“Hurt her? How?”
“I don’t know. Mostly this is conjecture, but he may have murdered her.”
“And you expect me to let you help him?”
“Whatever happened, he didn’t do it on purpose, I’m sure. Now, he needs to atone.”
Light flashed. The room’s décor reappeared and so did Slim. “She’s almost got it, but not the whole story. I can’t quite get it out yet. I don’t know why. Every time I try, the world we’re in goes haywire. I can assure you I would never hurt Hannah or anyone else for that matter. And I am a ghost.”
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