“Don’t forget me,” I whispered to her.
“I have to go—be sure to bring your wedding ring when you come.” She pulled away from me and was out the door before Etienne came up the stairs. My benefactor was all smiles and pleasant manners when she entered the room. She deposited some packages, mentioning something about new clothes, but it didn’t really register.
Etienne handed me a small package and insisted that I open it. I sat on the edge of the bed, as I had with Sulli, and with shaking fingers opened the brown paper. Inside was a dainty gold necklace with a tiny angel pendant. Etienne sat beside me and smiled. “It is for the child. I promise you, Susanna, you don’t have a thing to worry about. I will shower her with gifts and treat her like she was my own. Just like you. Now put your worries to rest, my dear. All will be well.” She inquired about my health again and the baby’s health. She rubbed my belly and left with a greedy look on her face. How I hated her now, more than ever before! But I kept my face a placid mask of indifference. I begged off on dinner, saying I was queasy, and instead lay in my bed until the house full of women settled down for sleep. It felt like forever had passed. I shed all my jewelry and my noisy petticoats, determined to keep as quiet as possible. Just as Sulli had said, the servants’ entrance door was unlocked, and I slipped out without any notice at all. How often was this left unlocked? Had I been free to go all this time? The carriage waited for me, and I heaved myself inside as quickly as possible. Sulli hugged me again, and we traveled swiftly down Lively Street.
“Are you taking me to your home? I never want to go back to Etienne’s, Sulli. Never!”
“Oh, child, I can’t keep you forever. I gave up those rights long ago. But you trust Sulli. I know what I’m doing.” She gripped my hands as she had earlier. In the dimness, I could see her determined face. “You believe in my magic, don’t you? I have powers, Susanna.”
“Yes, I believe in your magic.” A few minutes later, we pulled up to a tiny house with a smoking chimney and more than a few cats on the front porch. The carriage driver waited patiently as I carefully slid down from the seat. I followed Sulli inside and took a seat by the smoldering fire. It was so dark in the house I could barely discern the furniture. After a few minutes, it became easier to see the piles of dishes and unfinished garments lying on a nearby table. Stumps of candles were on the table beside us, but they were so small that there was no chance they would light. Sulli was not wealthy at all—not like Etienne. Imagine someone with such powerful magic being so poor. She began digging through her collection of bowls and bottles, tossing things in a red pot that she propped up on the still warm coals. She stoked the coals to get them going again, and something scampered across the hearth. I moved my feet, hoping to avoid a bite from an angry rodent.
“See why I didn’t keep you, Susanna? This is no place for a child. No place for a child at all. Now give me your ring.” I didn’t argue with her but handed her the ring and tried again to take in my surroundings. She slid a waxy string through the ring and tied the ends together, making it into a necklace. Then she drizzled a sweet-smelling liquid into the small pot and stirred the ingredients together with a metal spoon. She was about to dip the ring into the pot when I stopped her.
“What are you doing? What is this spell?” Fear filled me. I felt again like I was dancing on the blade of a knife. Again, it was a blend of euphoria and agony, and I shuddered under the weight of the moment.
“It’s a binding spell, Susanna. It will keep your man tied to you forever. No one will ever have the power to untie you. Not Etienne, not that white wife of his, not even your husband. Don’t you want that? Like I said, though, the price is high. Are you willing to pay that price?”
I stared at the ring and watched the ruby and diamonds flicker in the dim light. Of course I would part with it if that was what was required. What did I care about a ring? I wanted the man who gave it to me. I wanted to see his bright smile again, feel his golden curls under my hands. I longed to feel safe, as I always did with Chase. Then Ambrose’s face appeared in my mind, and I shook my head angrily. Betrayer of my heart! I released her hand and nodded. “Yes, Sulli. That’s what I want. I will pay the price! I want Chase!”
With a solemn nod, she began to whisper as she dipped the necklace in the scented liquid. It was a poem, then a song. It was a simple song, but the words made the air around us shake and move about like water. As her voice got louder, I could finally discern the words she spoke. They were words I would never forget.
We come against you, Fire.
We come against you, Fate.
We bind this woman forever
To her soul mate.
“Wait! Sulli! No!” I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth fast enough. The pain in my gut twisted and sent me to the floor screaming.
With shaking hands, she slid the necklace around my neck and commanded me. “Don’t ever take it off. Don’t ever let anyone take it from you. I bind this spell to you.”
“But what was the price?” I whispered as she kissed my forehead, and then I watched the dirty shack disappear into the mist.
When I woke, I was back at Etienne’s. Somehow Sulli had managed to get me inside, no doubt with help from her driver, but not up the stairs. Unfortunately for Etienne, my water broke on her couch. That was where my labor began in earnest.
“Your man is going to have to pay for that!” she screamed at me as the water kept coming. “Now let them help you upstairs. I’ll send for the doctor. Poet, you get this cleaned up. What a mess!” She paused once during her tirade to stare contemptuously at Sulli but did not speak to her directly.
“And show our guests to the door, Poet. We have business to attend to.”
The women practically dragged me upstairs. Pain gripped me, but there was nothing I could do to prevent what was happening to me. I glanced over my shoulder at Sulli, my mother, and began to cry as I saw her being led away.
That would be the last time I saw her.
And I would never see my child.
Chapter Twenty-Three – Avery
Rubbing tears from my eyes, I clicked off the television. It was the end of the tape, so unless Grandmother Margaret—or whoever was pushing buttons around here—could put in another one, I felt sure that I wouldn’t have to keep watching. I had the information I needed. I was beginning to see the reason for the message from Susanna.
I sprayed my arms and legs with bug spray and headed back outside toward Handsome’s place. It wasn’t reasonable to think it, but I knew he could help me. He had promised me I could call on him, hadn’t he? Now I knew what he meant. I didn’t know how I knew, but I did.
God, I’m a weirdo!
Since the majority of my family were on the Great Lawn out back, I chose to go out through the front door. Someone had kindly filled the foyer with red roses. They were everywhere—on the tables, in floor stands. There was even a pile of them under the painting of Chase Dufresne.
“Oh my God!” I said as I stared at the portrait. His pleasant smile was gone, and he wasn’t looking off into the distance anymore. He stared right at me, and the frown on his face was obvious. I staggered back and shook my head. A young teen talking excitedly with her mother walked into the room and broke the spell. They greeted me politely, and I waved and walked out the door without any further fuss.
The walk was long and quiet, and when I finally found Handsome, he had just pulled up outside his house. “Miss Dufresne? What are you doing here?”
I jumped in the passenger’s seat beside him. “I need your help, Handsome. I have to help a ghost find her baby. I can’t explain why she needs to find it now, but she does. Can you drive me?”
“Sure, I can help, but are you sure you want to do that? Once you start fooling with ghosts, they will all want you to help them. Except the ones who’ll want to hurt you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“No, you promised me, remember. You said if I ever needed you to just call you. You said to call, ‘Hey
Handsome!’ So here I am saying, ‘Hey, Handsome!’ I need your help now.”
“Well, all right. Where to?”
Yes, where to, Susanna? Where should I begin looking?
“Drive back toward the house, please. I’ll know when to stop. Don’t ask me how I’ll know, but I will.” We drove for about two minutes before I yelled, “Stop!” I saw her—it was Susanna! She was running through the woods, her hair a mess, her gown fluttering behind her. Then she was gone.
He did as I asked, tossing his hat on the seat between us. “Excuse me, Miss Avery. I’ve got to get my flashlight.”
He opened the glove box and pulled out the biggest flashlight I had ever seen. The clouds rolled in around us, covering the fading sunlight, the rising stars and the moon.
“You’ll just have to trust me, Handsome. Susanna needs our help finding her daughter, Minette. We must help her or she can never rest!” When the heck did I become a ghost hunter? This was too ridiculous! Wasn’t it? My heart pounded at the idea of finding a dead child in these woods.
We got out of the car, leaving the lights on so we could find our way back, and walked into the woods. Handsome shined his light in front of us.
“Yes, it is this way.”
“What is, Miss?”
“I don’t know, but it is this way.”
Oh, God! What am I doing out here! This is crazy town!
Then I saw her again. Yes, that was her. Dark brown hair piled on top of her head, a purple gown and a perfect face. She turned, picked up her voluminous skirts and began to run. We ran too. I didn’t know if Handsome could see her, but I could.
We ran until our lungs were burning. It began to rain hard droplets at first, and then sheets of rain poured down from the sky until we could barely see our hands in front of our faces. As I ran, I tripped and threw my arm out to steady myself. I grabbed at nothing. I gasped when I discovered I was at the edge of a deep well and would have fallen in if I hadn’t tripped. Handsome was still behind me, running my way. I stood up to peer down into the well when out of nowhere, Amanda appeared. At least it looked like Amanda for a moment. No, that was not Amanda. That was Etienne! She shoved me into the wall, and down I fell until my knee struck something hard and my leg tangled up with a wooden ladder that broke my fall. I screamed in pain.
“Handsome! Help me!”
“Coming, Miss Dufresne! I’m here! I’m coming down this ladder now. Hold on for Handsome!” The old man cautiously inched his way into the pit. The wooden ladder creaked and complained as he moved toward me. I thought for sure it would break under him. Finally, when he got close enough, Handsome held out his dirty hand to me, and I grabbed it desperately. It was nearly pitch black, and I didn’t know how far I’d fallen into the well. All I knew was that Handsome looked like an angel leaning down from heaven, ready to pull me out of a dark pit. Why had this happened? Why was I here? I thought this was what Susanna wanted. She’d lured me here, of that I was sure. What had I missed? Why was Etienne here—or was it Amanda? I caught a glimpse of something shiny out of the corner of my eye. Water pelted down on me as the well began to fill even more with rainwater. Handsome was strong but not strong enough to hold me forever. I swung onto the ladder, praying it would hold.
“Wait! Handsome! Hand me your flashlight, please! I have to search for something!”
“We’ve got to go! Miss Billie is singing in my ear, and I know for a fact that there’s spirits about. You know it too. Why you want to stay here, Miss Dufresne?”
“Please! Just help me. I have to look!” He handed me the flashlight, and I shined it in the water below me. Carefully I eased down to the lower rung, one step at a time. I clung to the side, dangling carefully over the water, trying to avoid falling to the bottom. The rain came down harder now, as if someone above didn’t like us and had turned the water on full blast. It practically drowned us. Handsome was three ladder rungs above me, and he looked so nervous. I didn’t blame him, but I couldn’t give up now.
I flashed the light in the water, and I heard the voice again. Susanna’s voice filled my ears.
Find her. Please, find her!
Flashing the light up, I could see that Handsome heard her too. “You hear her, don’t you?”
“Only some. My angel, Miss Billie Holiday, is singing so loud in my ear, I can only hear a little of the other one. What does she want?”
“Her daughter is here somewhere! Something is here! Look! What is that, Handsome?” I shined the light furiously until I spotted a glint of gold. It was coming from a hole in the side of the well. There was something else there too. “I have to go down closer!”
The lightning flashed above us, and I heard someone scream. Someone was here with us. Someone who was not Susanna! With the next flash of lightning, I could see her. Her brown hair was plastered wet against her light brown skin, and her hazel eyes were full of hate. Etienne! In the next flash, she disappeared.
I didn’t wait for permission from Handsome. I jumped off the ladder and into the water. The well water was deeper than I thought, so deep that it covered my head. I couldn’t get a foothold and had to tread water until I could get my bearings. Handsome was yelling at me, but I couldn’t hear a word he was saying. Then I felt it. I felt the hand pulling on my foot. I didn’t have to look—I knew it was a bony hand pulling me down, down, down, into the water, into the inky depths. The dead were here. They wanted to keep their own, and they wanted me to join them. “No!” I screamed underwater. I began to panic. I twisted, trying my best to release myself from the hand. The water was cold, foul and full of nasty things that had crawled up from the grave. Or so I imagined. This was like something out of a movie. An unbelievable movie.
I had to breathe now! I could feel my lungs burning. Suddenly two hands grasped mine, and peace came over me. She was there, Susanna Serene. Her dark purple eyes calmed me, and the hands that held my feet released me. I floated up and up to the surface of the black water. I glanced down once and saw her cloud of brown hair disappearing into the murk below.
Find her! Find Minette!
It wasn’t Susanna but Handsome. “Handsome! Help me look! She’s here somewhere. Don’t worry! Susanna is here to protect us! Over there! What is that? I see something.”
Handsome was in the water too now, digging in the square of stone blocks on the side of the well. It was a small bundle of something tied with a gold chain. He scooped it up and shouted, “Let’s go! Time to go!” As if we were in the center of a hurricane, the wind suddenly began to blow above us, tossing leaves, branches and all sorts of debris on top of us. Etienne wanted to bury us here along with this baby. She did not want her secret revealed. Knowing her intentions emboldened me.
“It is over, Etienne! This child belongs to Susanna Serene Dufresne! This is not your child, not in life and not in death! You no longer have a claim on her! She belongs to her mother!” Then as suddenly as it had started, the wind stopped. We climbed out of the old well, dead tired and soaked to the bone.
Handsome and I sat on the ground holding the bundle. Maybe I was wrong, maybe this wasn’t the baby. I had to know for sure. I untied the bundle and saw the flash of white bone. Yes, this was Minette, Susanna’s baby.
“Susanna, I have her! All is well now! No one can take her from you anymore. She is yours now! I know you didn’t mean it! You didn’t know the price when you agreed. We know…”
Trees whipped around us again, and I could see Etienne in the distance. She did not leave the shelter of the trees, and I knew her power had been broken. This was her last stubborn effort to claim the child. Her price, she believed, for her services. But she was wrong. This was a child. A loved child, a wanted child, not an orphan. Minette belonged with her mother. I wrapped the baby back up and heard the sound of an infant crying. I shook the musty, wet bundle, and I could have sworn I felt her move.
“Handsome! This baby!”
“Yes, ma’am. It is her baby! Here she comes!” The wind continued to howl, but we didn’
t back down from Etienne and her useless magic. Susanna stepped out of the well, looking completely dry and perfectly beautiful, just as I had imagined her. I held the baby with shaking hands as she approached me. As she drew closer, I felt the cold seep into my bones. It was death I felt. I hoped I would never feel it again. I knew it because I had died before. I thought I had not remembered any of it, but I was wrong. I remembered everything.
Then I remembered the sound of his voice, the voice of the man who attacked me—it was a familiar voice. The threats were familiar too. It wasn’t Roger Surrette. It was Ed Stanwyck who had come after me that day. It was Ed who cut me and hoped to kill me. It was Ed who did this. But he had failed. I was alive!
Susanna stepped in front of me, and her eyes were filled with emotion.
Merci beaucoup. Ma petite…Mama t’aime….
I handed Susanna the baby, still moving, still waiting to see her mother’s face. She pulled back the leather strap, which suddenly became a soft pink blanket. The baby’s face had light brown skin, and her features were perfect, her eyes soft-looking, not dead at all. Susanna flashed me one last smile and stepped back from us with Minette in her arms. It was a moment that made me cry.
Handsome and I watched as Etienne’s power faded away completely, and then she faded too. We were left sitting on the ground at the top of the well, trying to breathe. I rubbed my face with my hands, trying to get the mud out of my eyes, when I noticed that I had the gold necklace in my hand.
I held it up to see it better. It was a gold chain with a tiny angel pendant. It was a gift suitable for a new baby in Susanna’s time, and now she’d left it for me.
I heard a four-wheeler roll up not too far away and saw police lights in the woods. “Handsome Cheever, you are a true friend. Thank you for saving me.”
Wife of the Left Hand (Sugar Hill Book 1) Page 19