Hidden Voices (Tess Schafer-Medium)

by Deborah Hughes

  I had an uneasy feeling my dreams would be plagued with bizarre images throughout the night and I wasn’t far off that prediction. I dreamed I was a bird soaring high over the land. Then I dove in the ocean and immediately merged with the water. As I flowed toward shore, I felt a rush of emotion so exhilarating I could barely contain it. I wanted to shoot like a geyser into the air but instead, I washed upon the beach and became one with it and the entire Earth. Solid and invincible, I felt sturdy and sure and nourishing. The wonder and awe of being part of everything was beyond description and before I could even try to put it into words, I began to shrink and burrow into the ground, deep, deep down until I became a tiny pod and sprouted, growing with a rush into a tree and bursting into the world of the sun with relish and vigor. The wind wrapped around me like a loving embrace and I suddenly was part of it. Not solid anymore and yet just as significant as when I was the water and the sand. I loved the freedom of movement and knew that I was invincible. A feeling like that took all concerns and fears away. With so much love around us, what was there to worry over? It truly was the most unusual dream I’d ever had and eerily similar to my meditation from the day before. Much as I loved the dream and the feelings it invoked, the entire experience wore me out.

  I startled awake the instant my conscious brain suddenly remembered something important. The fact my room was bright with early morning sunlight made all my sleepiness and lethargy vanish with alarm. It was my intention to rise extra early so I would be showered, dressed, and ready when Kade arrived. A glance at my bedside clock told me I missed the boat on that ambitious plan. It was fifteen minutes to seven. Well, it wasn’t too awfully late and at least I hadn’t missed breakfast.

  But then my heart started pounding with the realization that something was fundamentally different. There was a stirring of excitement in the air that made me quicken with a rush of adrenalin. At first I thought it was the aftermath of my strange dreams that had me feeling that way but then I knew it wasn’t that. The prickling of my skin, like excited little zips of energy told me something important to my waking life was stirring up the stratosphere. I sat up and listened intently to the sounds around me then my pounding heart began to skip and race. Kade!

  The faint sounds of voices, one lighter and one deeper, told me he had arrived already and was talking to Barbara. Of course I could be wrong and it might be Ted but the low timber of the male voice was unmistakable. It was Kade. I jumped out of bed and ran to my door, cracking it open just a tad to better listen. A soft masculine laugh floated up the stairs, followed closely by Barbara’s high-pitched chuckle. I pressed my forehead to the door for a moment and closed my eyes. It was so damned nice to hear his voice and have him near again. Then I lifted my head with sudden impatience and shut the door quietly. What was I doing standing around?

  I raced to the dresser and pulled open drawers. What to wear? Why hadn’t I figured this out the night before? I pawed through my clothes, finally choosing a pair of snug fitting jean shorts and a yellow v-necked t-shirt with pretty embroidered designs on it. I wanted to look casual but nice and I knew Kade liked me in shorts. He told me I had nice legs and should show them off more often. Was it so bad to want to do that now, if only to please him? No, of course not.

  I took a record-breaking shower and hastily dried my hair. Kade loved its length and although it usually got in my way when left to hang free, I didn’t pull it back into a ponytail or pin it on the top of my head like I usually liked to do. After spritzing on a light floral scent that Kade particularly liked, I stepped back to survey myself in the mirror. My eyes looked especially blue today and I figured it was anticipation making them so bright. Not one to wear much make-up, I added a touch of eye-liner and some lip gloss then headed for the door.

  It was quite the task to force a sedate descent down the stairs. My heart was nearly pounding out of my chest by the time I reached the bottom step. And then I saw him and came to a stop, completely arrested by the sight of him sprawled in the chair next to Barbara. He was facing me but looking at her. She was chatting about Max who was sitting beside Kade's chair enjoying his absent-minded chin scratches. Honestly, the man looked impossibly handsome and I drew in an appreciative breath. He was wearing tan khaki shorts and a black t-shirt. I loved how it stretched over his broad chest and accentuated his firm build. He wasn’t beefed up like a weight-lifter (a fact for which I was glad) but he was solid and muscled and in great physical shape. It was nice to have a bit of time to admire him without his knowledge. Then he glanced over and our eyes met.

  Kade had very deep blue eyes and I loved their appreciative intensity. His eyelashes were dark and long and half lowered. I found that particularly sexy. After an intense moment of mutual appreciation, his gaze left mine to sweep slowly down my body and back up again. The very air went still as anticipation built toward our next move.

  Giving a lop-sided smile that made my stomach flip about crazily, Kade stood and started across the room toward me. Since I stood at the low end of average height (five feet four inches), his six foot frame was just right for me. The closer he got, the less I could breathe. And then his bone-melting scent wrapped around my senses. The faint musk of his cologne mixed with his body chemistry in so tantalizing a way that he oozed clean, sexy-as-sin masculinity. I wanted to close my eyes and breathe him in but I couldn’t bring myself to break the hold his intent gaze held on me.

  “Hi, Tess. It’s good to see you again.” His deep voice lowered to a soft rumble and it sent shivers through my entire body.

  “It’s good to see you, too, Kade.” Those beautiful eyes of his narrowed in response to my hoarse reply (it was a wonder I could even talk) and then he was pulling me into his arms for a full-bodied hug and I closed my eyes to enjoy the contact. God, but he felt good. I buried my nose in his neck and took in a deep, quiet breath. Kade’s head dropped to my hair.

  “You smell good.” He whispered the words next to my ear and a hot shiver raced down my spine.

  I pulled my head back to look at him. “So do you.” We stared at each other for a long moment, drinking each other in, then Barbara made a noise behind us and we pulled apart.

  “Well now, you two probably have a lot to talk about. I’ll just see about breakfast. Ted needs to be out of here before eight.”

  Kade turned to face Barbara while I stepped aside to give her a greeting. “Sounds great, Barbara, thank you.”

  Smiling, Barbara looked from me to Kade and then back to me. Her eyes twinkled with gentle amusement. “I make a pretty decent waffle. Got some fresh strawberries yesterday. How about we have waffles with strawberries and homemade cream?”

  “Barbara, you’ll never get rid of me if you feed me too well.” Kade motioned for me to come into the sitting room and have a seat. He nodded to the coffee carafe sitting on the table between the two chairs he and Barbara were occupying. “She brought an extra cup for you.”

  While I busied myself in preparing a cup of coffee, Barbara lingered nearby. “Kade is going to paint me a picture while he’s here, Tess. Isn’t that wonderful?”

  I glanced at Kade and he nodded to confirm her announcement. The pleasant thought raced through my mind that it would take him a few days to do that. So, maybe I’d have him for longer than I thought. Good. “That’s very nice, Barbara. You are a lucky woman. Kade’s paintings are superb.”

  “He’s going to paint a picture of the new bridge that extends from Verona to Prospect and get Fort Knox in there as well. I’m going to hang it above the front desk for everyone to see.”

  Barbara looked quite excited. And so she should. Kade was in high demand, his paintings drawing large commissions. I thought it very nice of him to take on Barbara’s request. I know he was looking forward to a bit of a break and now it seemed he wouldn’t be getting one. Hopefully, it wouldn’t take up too much of his time. It was a selfish thought but I was being honest. I missed him and the idea of having him to myself for a few days had me tied up in excited knots.
“Well, I’ll have to take you for a walk along the river so you can figure out the best viewpoint.”

  Barbara touched my arm to regain my attention. “I told him about our visitor last night.” She looked at me with a touch of concern that perhaps I might not be happy about that. I gave her a smiling nod to let her know she was not to worry.

  “Yes, sounds like you had quite the day yesterday. I can’t wait to hear all about it.” Kade poured himself another cup of coffee and eyed me over the rim of his cup as he took a cautious sip. “I want to hear all the details.”

  Barbara gave my shoulder a pat. “I’ll let you two talk and will just go get that breakfast. Ted is packing up but should be joining us in a few.”

  I sat in the chair opposite Kade and smiled at him. It was so good to see him again. My eyes drifted up to his dark chestnut hair. He kept it short but not as short as it was when he was in the Marines. I loved that it was starting to grow out a bit. It flopped down across his forehead giving him a youthful look. Not that thirty-five was old. He was in prime shape despite the injuries he suffered in the bomb explosion that ended his military career. Although he endured painful spasms in his legs every now and then, Kade didn’t let that stop him from staying active. He took long walks and worked out regularly. He enjoyed racquetball and tennis as well but participating in those activities usually brought on spasms. He was thinking about taking up bicycling for he thought it might help strengthen the muscles in his legs but had yet to do so.

  “What are you thinking about?” Kade’s quiet question brought me out of my reverie.

  “You.” Somehow I managed to throttle back my smile for I felt like I was going to start looking like a grinning idiot if I kept it up. Then he smiled back at me and I couldn’t stop from returning it full force. He made me feel so good it was hard not to let that show all over my face. His eyes dropped down to my mouth, his lids lowering in that sexy way of his and my heart did a little flip as a prickle of heat spread across my face. I took a sip of my coffee to hide my reaction and over did it a tad as a dribble of it slid down my chin. Embarrassed, I wiped it away and tried to pretend I didn’t notice his amused grin.

  “Tell me about yesterday.”

  Yes, I’d do that and stop this silliness of acting like a teenage girl in the throes of her first crush. I told him about my visit with Rid and our discussion about the beads belonging to an Indian shaman. Kade listened thoughtfully and indicated he couldn’t wait to see the beads himself. We then discussed the fact that the red-faced guy was an Indian though I had no idea from which tribe he hailed. Kade agreed that it didn’t make sense for him to be a Red Paint Indian because they had been extinct for so long and wondered, as I did, if any of their kind had integrated with another tribe. “We need to come up with a name for him, Kade. I’ve a feeling I haven’t seen the last of him and I hate referring to him as the big-red-faced-guy.”

  Kade gave me a lop-sided grin that made my heart knock around like an overexcited jumping bean and said, “How about we call him Red? Seems fitting.”

  I nodded. “Red it is.” Before I could launch into my story about my visit with the Rowans, Ted came out of his room and made his way toward us.

  “Morning, Tess.” He gave me a friendly smile as I stood to greet him and turned his attention to Kade when he stepped forward to shake his hand.

  "Kade Sinclair. Nice to meet you. Tess has been telling me about your adventures."

  Ted shook Kade’s hand then nodded toward the coffee carafe. “Any left?”

  Barbara must have heard his arrival because she came up behind him with a fresh carafe of coffee and a full cup. “Here you go, Ted. Waffles will be ready in about five minutes.” She turned about and bustled back out of the room.

  Ted sat in the chair Barbara usually sat in and looked at me. “Speaking of adventures, any more ghost sightings?”

  “Yes actually. The one that showed me that box of beads, well he was here last night.”

  Ted lifted a disbelieving brow. “No way. Why did he come here?”

  I shrugged in response. “Just wants my attention I think. Though why he needs it, I don’t know.”

  “We’ll figure it out,” Kade said, giving me a reassuring wink.

  Ted gave us a knowing look and seemed to find our interaction amusing. He glanced at Kade speculatively and I knew he was curious as to Kade’s thoughts on my talking to dead people. “So she told you about our run in with him at the Tenney house?”

  “Yes she did. I haven’t seen the box you found yet but I’m looking forward to checking it out. I haven’t ever seen any homemade Indian beads before. The fact they are several hundred years old is pretty awesome.”

  “Did Rid tell you to keep them?” Ted finished off his coffee and poured another cup.

  “Yes he did.”

  Barbara appeared in the doorway to the dining room. “Breakfast is ready.”

  In no time at all, we were enjoying Barbara’s delicious waffles smothered in strawberries and cream and talking about the future plans for the Tenney house. It was going to be another up-scale inn that would also have a large open room to rent for special occasions such as weddings and conferences. “Always people coming to Maine. Artists flock here in all seasons. We are thinking of starting a yearly convention.”

  “Really?” I glanced at Kade. “Well there you go, Kade. You could be the first to sign up.”

  Ted’s glance sharpened with interest. “Are you an artist?”

  “You haven’t heard of Kade Sinclair?” Barbara asked. She looked like she couldn’t believe such a thing and I had to hide my smile.

  Ted gave a thoughtful frown, thinking. “I’m not really into the arts all that much.” And then he added quickly, “Not that I don’t appreciate art. I do. But I don’t follow the news about it or anything.”

  “He paints beautiful landscapes.” I looked at Kade and felt such a wealth of pride for him that it brought tears to my eyes. He was a very gifted man and I loved his creations. “Matter of fact, Barbara has commissioned him to paint a picture of the new bridge and the fort across the river.”

  “You should give me your business card, Kade, and we’ll contact you if we ever put it all together. We need to buy the building first and conduct some extensive renovations so it might be awhile.”

  We continued to discuss the Tenney house for a bit longer and then Ted glanced at his watch. “Hey look, I’m going over there to get a few more pictures before I head out. You guys want to come with me?” He looked at Kade and grinned. “Maybe you’ll have your own encounter with that ghost.”

  Kade’s dark eyes gleamed with anticipation. “I’d like that very much, Ted, thanks.”

  “What time is your flight, Ted?” I wondered how much time we’d actually have. I was thinking it wouldn’t be much and I didn’t want to hold Ted up.

  “It was at ten but I switched to a later flight. I’m now leaving at eleven-thirty.” He glanced at his watch. “I have about an hour before I have to head to the airport and return my rental car.”

  Ten minutes later, we were standing in the foyer of the Tenney house. Although it was quite warm outside, it was cool and rather gloomy inside. I gave a small shiver and rubbed my bare arms while wishing I’d thought to put on a sweater. Kade moved close and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

  “You okay?”

  A delighted shiver raced from my shoulders to the rest of my body, warming me up instantly. “I’m fine. Let’s go upstairs. I’ll show you where we found the box of beads.”

  Ted tagged along with us and snapped pictures as we made our way through the foyer and up the wide staircase. The door to the room we’d come to see was standing wide open. Ted, who was walking behind us, touched my shoulder to get my attention. “I was in here yesterday with Mark, he’s one of the financers backing the purchase and flew in yesterday to close the sale. He wanted to see every room and I distinctly remember closing every door and locking them as we left each one. Mark was worried some
one would break in and vandalize the place. I told him if vandals were going to break in, locked doors weren’t going to deter them but he insisted we secure everything.”

  The three of us halted halfway down the hall. We stood looking at each other and then Kade grinned as our eyes met and held. He stepped in front of me and grabbed my hand to pull me along with him. “Well then, maybe I’ll see my first ghost.”

  I immediately sent psychic feelers out in an effort to get a reading on the area around us but didn’t pick up on anything unusual. I remembered how I’d felt the night before, like there were masses of spirits surrounding me and was somewhat relieved to feel nothing. When we reached the open door, Kade and I stood in the threshold and looked in. Ted peeked between us. The room was lit by the sun pouring through the three large windows. Warmth from their bright rays spilled into the cool interior of the dark hallway. I pulled my hand from Kade’s and stepped into the room. “Nothing here.” I motioned toward the fireplace. “The box was found over there.”

  Kade walked with me to the fireplace and crouched low while I showed him the etched arrow in the stone. We both crawled to the fireplace and leaned in while I showed him the small hidden compartment. Kade put his fingers inside the compartment and felt around.

  “Just checking to be sure nothing was missed.” He pulled his fingers away and the two of us gasped in surprise at the same time.

  Kade held up his hand. The pads of his fingers were covered in a reddish stain. Faded to be sure but unmistakably red. He rubbed his fingers together. “Feels like a powder of some sort.”

  Ted leaned over to look. “Could be rust from the box.”

  Kade sniffed at it. “Doesn’t have that rusty smell.”

  Ted gave a small shrug. “Maybe it’s too old to have a smell anymore.”

  I shook my head. “It didn’t come from the box. I’ve held it quite a bit and my fingers were not stained from handling it.”

  “Wonder what it’s from?” Kade pulled his car keys from his pocket. His keychain held a small flashlight. He switched it on and we looked carefully at the place where the copper box had been hidden. What looked like specks of dust lined the corners and edges of the rectangular compartment. Kade gently blew on the dusty particles until it made a small reddish colored pile at one end. “Might have been something else was in here and over time it broke down. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”