Shadows and Lies: A World of Gothic: United States

by Raine English

  I opened my eyes, but everything spun, so I squeezed them shut.

  “Jane, please get up. We have to get out of here.”

  Jane? I opened my eyes again and realized I was in a cramped, dark place. I was half sitting and half lying down, with my legs draped over someone’s thighs.

  “Who are you and why do you keep calling me Jane?” I asked, rubbing my head as I sat up fully.

  “Oh, dear. Ya must’ve hit yar head harder than it appeared.” Her voice was tinged with concern.

  “Don’t worry. She’ll be fine. Give her a few minutes, and I’m sure her memory’ll return.” This time, a man spoke.

  “Where am I, and who are you people?”

  The woman sighed. “I’m Mary, he’s Nathan, and we’re in a heap of trouble. If we don’t get out of here now, we might not have another chance.”

  “Another chance at what?” I was totally confused. Images were popping in and out of my head, and faces of people I loved, like my dad and Kelly, were fading. The harder I tried to keep them there, the more difficult it became.

  “Another chance to escape,” Nathan said, slipping his arms under mine and hoisting me onto my feet.

  I wavered a little, but both of them now had a hold of me.

  Nathan opened the door a crack and then all the way. A woman stood outside the closet and waved for us to come out. She had curly blonde hair and wore the most beautiful gown I’d ever seen. She looked vaguely familiar to me, but I didn’t know how or why.

  “Hurry,” she said softly. “There’s a wagon waitin’ round back, by the sugar house.”

  She led the way, and we followed her down the rear stairs and into the pantry, then out the kitchen door. “Don’t worry,” she said, sensing our concern, “no one’s around. They’re all at chapel. But our time’s runnin’ out.”

  We raced through the gardens and out a white swinging gate, past rows of slave quarters and a number of other buildings until we reached the sugar house. Sure enough, in front of it was a wagon full of bundles of freshly milled raw sugar.

  “See there,” she said, pointing to the front of the wagon, “the boards dip down enough for you to hide if you lie flat. Then Bentley will cover you with sugar and take you to a safe house.”

  The wagon’s driver tipped his hat at us. Nathan wasted no time helping Mary in, but when he reached for me, the blonde woman grabbed his arm.

  “There’s only room for two,” she announced.

  His jaw dropped, and his brow furrowed. “Then I stay.”

  Mary gasped. “Nathan, no. Tucker’ll kill ya.”

  “She’s right,” the woman added. “For all we know, he might already have the hounds out. This is your only chance to leave. You and Mary deserve to get married and live a good life. That’ll never happen here.” She looked over at me. “And don’t worry about Jane. There’s a hollowed-out area along the riverbank where she can hide until a boat comes for her. Ellis has it all taken care of.”

  As if on cue, a man walked toward us. He was tall and handsome, with muscles rippling under his elegant white shirt. He had golden hair that hung down across his forehead, nearly covering one gorgeous brown eye. He reached his hand out to me and when I took it, my heart thundered. I knew Ellis Clairmont well. Memories of this strange time and place came flooding back, and those of my dad and Kelly disappeared.

  “Go on, Nathan. Time’s a wastin’. Don’t worry. I won’t let anythin’ happen to Jane.” His grip on my hand tightened, and I knew he meant what he said.

  We watched the wagon disappear out of view, then the blonde woman, who I now recognized as my half sister, Sarah, hugged me tight, tears spilling from her eyes.

  “I’m goin’ to miss you so much. Stay safe, dear one,” she cried.

  I kissed her cheek, fighting back my own tears. “Watch over my ma,” I said before Ellis led me away.

  When we reached the base of a giant cypress tree dripping with Spanish moss, he stopped and took me in his arms. His mouth sought mine. His kiss was gentle at first, but then it turned more demanding. His tongue sent shivers of desire racing through me, and for a moment, I almost forgot the gravity of my situation.

  When our lips parted, grief and despair tore at my heart. “How could you do this to me?” I cried.

  “Shhh, keep your voice down.”

  “I don’t care who hears me. I don’t care about anythin’ now.”

  “Don’t say that. If anythin’ were to happen to you, I don’t know what I’d do.”

  I looked up at him with anger and disbelief. “What do you think your fiancée would say if she knew you’d promised yourself to me?”

  “You know about my upcomin’ marriage to Sarah?”

  “How could you have thought I wouldn’t find out? And to think I’d been so stupid as to trust you. I believed every word you told me. But you lied. How can I trust you now? How do I know you’re not leadin’ me right into a trap and to my death?”

  “Jane, how could you say that? I never lied about my feelin’s for you…about my love.”

  “Yet you’re goin’ to marry Sarah. Is it because she’s a Turnberry—a legitimate one who can produce an heir that would tie the two largest plantations in the region together forever? Is that why?”

  “If there was any way out of this nightmare, I would take it. I went to my father, you know. I told him I didn’t love Sarah and couldn’t marry her. He laughed and said I was a hopeless romantic, and if I didn’t marry her, he’d have Lewis do so in my place. And do you know what that would mean? Sarah and I wouldn’t be able to help any more of your people. They’d stay slaves and be beaten and abused even worse than Nathan had been. My little brother is as brutal as Tucker, and together, they’d terrorize both Clairmont and Turnberry. What do you think would happen to Ellen? Your dad wouldn’t be able to protect her against the likes of those two.”

  I knew he was right about everything he said. My ma would be in terrible danger. Ellis had no choice but to marry Sarah.

  “Your boat should be here soon. But you’ve got to stay out of sight until then. You can hide down here.” He took my hand and started to walk over to the hollowed-out section of the riverbank that Sarah had mentioned.

  However, footsteps behind us made us stop, and when we spun around, we were face-to-face with Tucker Sheldon. His beady black eyes glittered dangerously, reminding me of a rattlesnake about to strike.

  “Did you think I wasn’t aware of your little midnight rendezvous?” His laugh had an evil cackle to it. “Nothin’ gets by me…not that, and not the fact that you helped those two no good slaves escape, and you’re goin’ to pay for that regardless of who you are—Clairmont heir or not.”

  Cold, hard steel whisked by in a flash, the tip of the knife landing in Ellis’s shoulder. Tucker pulled it out, sending blood spraying over us, but when he went to strike again, this time Ellis was ready for him. He pushed me out of the way and was able to dodge the blade. However, Ellis was no match for a madman with a knife. Tucker stabbed at him again, this time making contact just inches away from the first wound.

  I had to do something before he killed Ellis. I glanced around and saw an oak branch a few feet away. It must’ve come down during the last storm. I picked it up and with all my might whacked Tucker over the back of his head. He went down hard.

  I raced over to Ellis, then ripped off the bottom of my skirt, using the cloth to stop the bleeding by wrapping it around his shoulder and tying the ends tightly. “You need to have this tended to.” My bottom lip quivered as I viewed the amount of blood soaking his shirt.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. It’s you—” His words were cut off sharply when Tucker staggered to his feet and then lunged at Ellis. The two men exchanged blows at the edge of the riverbank. The fight ended abruptly when Tucker fell into the water and a strong current swept him under.

  He came up long enough to shout out a curse. “You’ll pay for this, and all the Turnberrys to come. I’ll be back to get my reve
nge. No one on the plantation will be immune. Count on it!” And then the water pulled him down and he was gone.

  I covered my face with my hands.

  Ellis gently moved them to my sides and stared directly into my eyes. “I’ll love you forever, Jane. Nothin’ will ever change that.” His last words were smothered on my lips. His vow sealed with a kiss was both delicious and heartbreaking.

  Off in the distance, the sound of dogs barking pierced the silence. “You have to go now, Jane.”

  I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

  “Run, as fast as you can. Stay close to the water’s edge. When you spot a boat with a red stripe on its side, wave your arms. They’ll pick you up.

  As I started to run, Ellis said, “We’ll be together again, someday…somewhere. I promise.”

  I’d gone about ten yards when I felt my spinel necklace drop. I put my hands up to my neck, trying to grab it, but it was gone. There was no time to stop and look for it. The dogs were fast approaching. I glanced over my shoulder as I ran and saw that Ellis had found it. That was the last image I had of him.

  I ran and ran until I didn’t think I could run any longer. Dusk had set in, and there was no boat in sight. I had to keep going, though, no matter how tired I was. My eyes were blurred by exhaustion, so I didn’t see the log in front of me until it was too late. I fell hard and hit my head on the ground, and then everything went black.

  Chapter Seven

  Present Day – Louisiana

  WHEN I WOKE, I was in the dark. The last thing I remembered was being out of breath from running. I slid my hands over the walls, realizing I was in the secret room behind the closet, but I had no idea how I’d gotten there.

  I opened the door a crack. Standing in the middle of the bedroom was a strikingly handsome, tawny-haired man holding my spinel pendant.

  I put my hands up to my neck, and sure enough, my necklace was gone. I squinted, trying to bring everything into better focus. Images of Ellis, Mary, Nathan, and that horrible Tucker Sheldon faded in and out, and then something warm and furry ran over my legs. Without thinking, I screamed. A second later, the door was pushed open wide, the mouse scampered out, and in front of me stood that gorgeous man.

  “Livvy, what are you doing?” He stuck his head in the room and looked around.

  As I stared into his fabulous blue-gray eyes, memories came rushing back. I remembered packing up my mom’s things and then finding this little hideaway. My necklace must’ve fallen off in the middle of it all.

  I stepped into the bedroom, and he followed. “I must’ve passed out from the heat in there,” I said, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand. “And then I had the most unbelievable dream. It was back in the 1800s, and I was there with my great-great-great aunt Sarah Turnberry. Only in the dream, I was her half sister, a light-skinned Creole slave named Jane. And the necklace you’re holding, it fell off my neck as I was running away, hoping to gain freedom. Ellis Clairmont found it.” My voice cracked when I said his name. “It’s been passed down from generation to generation since then. My mom gave it to me when I was a little girl.”

  “And Ellis gave it to William Turnberry for safekeeping,” Jaxon added, looking down at the spinel pendant in his hands.

  My mouth dropped open. “He did?”

  “According to his journal.”

  “You have it?”

  I was surprised at how his eyes sparkled with excitement. “Yes, and it recounts everything that you just told me, and then some.”

  My bottom lip trembled. “How is it possible that a dream would mimic history?”

  He shrugged. “Maybe it wasn’t a dream.”

  I took a deep sharp breath. “Well, what else could it have been?”

  “Maybe you were experiencing a past life.”

  I stared at him in astonishment. “Nonsense. Don’t tell me you believe in such things.”

  There were touches of humor around his mouth and eyes. “This is Louisiana, remember, the heart of Cajun country. We’re a superstitious lot.”

  I knew that to be true. My mom had been. “Would you mind if I have a look at the journal sometime?”

  He shook his head decisively. “Of course not. Our families have been tied together by generations, even if they did have a falling-out over a century ago.”

  Jaxon checked the clasp on the spinel necklace before placing it around my neck. “You need to be sure it closes tightly when you put it on,” he advised. Tingles ran up my back at the touch of his fingers on my skin—so familiar, so welcome that I closed my eyes, savoring every moment of it. When I opened them, he was staring at me with an odd expression on his face. My cheeks burned with embarrassment for having reacted so strangely to his touch.

  “Thank you,” I said, readjusting the pendant and then moving away from him by crossing the room and picking up the box I’d filled with my mom’s things.

  A second later, he was at my side and reaching out to me. “I’ll get that.”

  I handed him the box, being careful not to let our fingers touch.

  “Where do you want it?”

  “I thought I’d donate it to charity.”

  “The church rummage sale is in a few weeks. I can drop it off there, if you’d like.”

  “That’s perfect. Thanks.”

  “No problem.”

  I followed him downstairs, and after he put the box in the trunk of his car, we went over the plans he’d been discussing earlier with the gardener. Jaxon thought it would be a good idea to remove some of the overgrown shrubbery that contained thorns, since we’d be giving tours of the garden to our guests. I had to agree that the possibility that someone might get pricked was high, so those bushes had to go.

  He was full of lots of wonderful ideas, like redoing all the plantation buildings to their original design, making them historically accurate, including the slave quarters. As he spoke, once again I had the feeling that I knew him much better than I actually did.

  The next two days went by in a whirl as I spent them dealing with painters and carpenters, leaving little time for me to dwell on my grandfather’s death.

  I left his funeral arrangements up to Uncle Paul and Jessica, since I wasn’t familiar with Southern traditions. It wasn’t until I was getting dressed for it that it really sank in that he was gone. As I zipped up my black dress, I fought back tears and wished my dad were here. Although he offered to come to support me, I knew it would be difficult for him to get away, and it wasn’t as if Grandfather and he had been overly close. After all, he’d taken my mom away from Turnberry to move to Boston. It was clear every time we came to visit that Asa had never fully forgiven him for that, despite the fact that my mom had promised to come back one day and turn this place into a bed-and-breakfast.

  I pulled my hair up into a twist and then checked my appearance in the mirror. For the first time, I could honestly say I did look very much like my mother, and that thought brought me great comfort and would provide me the strength needed to get through the day.

  ~*~

  IT SEEMED LIKE the entire town of Kaylene had come out to attend my grandfather’s simple gravesite service. The long procession walked through my family’s private cemetery, following a trio of jazz musicians playing brass band tunes. At the site, people lined up around the coffin, which was covered with a fringed black cloth.

  When the service was over, I stayed behind to visit my mom’s grave, while everyone else went up to the house for something to eat. The kitchen staff had spent days preparing casseroles of every possible variety, several bean dishes, and numerous platters of devilled eggs.

  As I stood in front of her gravestone, the clouds parted and the gray sky that had plagued us for the past few days was replaced with a robin’s egg blue. I took that as a sign that she was pleased that I’d come to visit. “I think you’d be proud of me, Mom. The bed-and-breakfast is coming along better than I ever thought possible. Of course, it’s not all my doing. Jessica has been a big help, and Jaxon
Carter, Jonathon Clairmont’s nephew, is going to be helping me run it. I couldn’t have done any of this without him.”

  “That’s not true.”

  I spun around at the sound of Jaxon’s voice. His tall, black-clad figure projected power and strength. His massive shoulders filled his jacket, and his stance emphasized his thighs and the slimness of his hips.

  “I’m confident you would’ve done just fine without me, and I know your mom is very proud of you,” he remarked.

  “Thanks for saying that.”

  “You don’t have to thank me for stating the truth.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a journal. “Here.” He handed it to me. “You’d mentioned that you wanted to read about Ellis’s life. I wanted to give this to you before I forgot.”

  My fingers tingled as I ran them over the worn leather, and I felt a oneness with the man who’d written his deepest thoughts inside.

  I’ll leave you alone now,” Jaxon added. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  I stuffed the journal into my handbag and then grabbed his arm. “You’re not interrupting. I was just about to go back to the house. I’ll walk there with you.”

  When we reached the French parterre garden, I stopped at the fountain, watching the angel spew water. “I can’t stop thinking about what happened in that secret room I found inside my mom’s closet. I’m not saying I believe in past lives or anything like that, but if I did, how would I know for sure whether what I experienced the other day with Ellis and Sarah and Jane was that or just a regular old dream?”

  He studied me closely, a faint smile curving the corners of his mouth. “If you believed in such things, I’d say you should meet with someone experienced in past life regression.”

  “Past life regression? And how would I find someone like that?”

  “I’m sure New Orleans has plenty. I could get you a name, if you’d like.”

  “You wouldn’t mind?”

  “Not at all. I have to say, I’m quite curious myself at what happened to you.” His voice was deep and husky.