Be Still, My Love

by Deborah J. Hughes

  “You didn’t have to come over in the rain, Kade, but thank you!” I really was relieved to have his company. Storms didn’t seem quite so bad when someone else was around.

  We both sat at the table near the picture window and watched the streaks of lightening fork across the sky. I tried hard not to flinch each time the sharp crack of thunder shook the cottage but if one seemed particularly close, I couldn’t help but gasp. The lightning storm lasted about twenty minutes and as it moved off, rain and wind trailed behind it. Kade waited until the rain let up before he made to leave. Our conversation up to this point had all centered around the storm and the spectacular lightning display. As a quiet mumble of thunder sounded, Kade donned his raincoat.

  “Well, I think the worst is over. I best be going and let you get some sleep.”

  I followed Kade to the door and was about to bid him goodbye when a shout caught our attention. We both went very still. It came again. I didn’t think it was a ghost, but the sound did come from nearby. Who would be out in this weather at this time of night? Kade walked around the edge of my cottage and looked toward the house then he waved for me to follow him and started running.

  My heart pounded uncomfortably hard as I reached around the door for my coat and struggled to put it on as I ran full speed after him. Kade was headed for the Garden Cottage. As I followed him, wondering what he saw that made him take off like that, I saw Thomas come to the cottage door and wave at us frantically. Kade stopped for just a quick moment to hear what Thomas had to say and then he disappeared inside the cottage while Thomas waited for me. I saw fear and worry written all over his lined face.

  “It’s Jeanine … she heard something and came out in the rain. When I got to her, she was lying on the ground … near the fountain. I don’t know what’s wrong.” Thomas pulled me inside the cottage and I saw Jeanine lying on the couch; she was shivering terribly and crying. Kade kneeled next to her.

  “I saw a girl … on the roof. I know it. She was screaming. Didn’t you hear her? I was going to get help … something pushed me from behind.” Jeanine dissolved into an incoherent mess of tears, which made it impossible for us to understand anything else she was saying. I knelt next to her and took her cold, thin hand.

  “Jeanine, hush now. You must tell us if you are hurt.”

  Jeanine looked at me with wide, frightened eyes. “I’m okay. Really. But what about that girl? I think she fell. I heard her scream just as someone pushed me.”

  Kade stood and went to the door. “I’ll go check it out and get Nancy and Jack.”

  I looked again at Jeanine and felt the light brush of cobwebs tickle my face. I closed my eyes for a moment and felt a warning of some sort. As I continued to croon soft comforting words to Jeanine, Thomas sank in a chair next to us and watched worriedly. I felt the presence of another in the room and knew instinctively that it wasn’t Sea Willow’s ghosts. It was more like a protective energy … a stirring of concern from the Tri-State. “Are you hurt anywhere, Jeanine?”

  Calmer now, though she continued to shiver, Jeanine made to sit up and I helped her do so. “No, I’m not hurt. I was just so scared … for that girl. And it startled me that someone would push me. But … but I saw no one.” Jeanine was wearing a white cotton nightgown that was soaking wet. She pulled at her clothing. “I need to get out of this wet thing.” She turned to Thomas. “Help me change my clothes, dear.” Thomas came to her right away, wrapping a protective arm around her as he helped her into the bedroom. He turned to me just before shutting the door.

  “We’ll be right out, Tess, as soon as we get Jeanine into some dry clothes.”

  “Take your time. I’ll be right here.” Alone for a moment, I sat on the sofa and closed my eyes. The cobweb feeling was still there and the coldness from within was spreading. A protective energy surrounded the room. I knew it wasn’t Sheila and was saddened a moment by that. I hadn’t felt her near me in two years. The worst of it was that I now questioned her existence. I missed her. But, that stuff needed to wait for another time. Right now I needed to focus on what was occurring at Sea Willow Haven. As for the presence in the cottage, it had to be someone connected to Thomas and Jeanine. They were definitely not alone though I did not sense the energy surrounding them was something that was there all the time. I didn’t feel anything earlier when I met them at dinner. Tonight’s events drew their energy like a protective shield. I wondered if I should tell them that they had others in the Tri-State watching over them. My impression was that of a male. Maybe it was Jeanine’s husband, the one who died of cancer. I mentally sent out reassurance that Jeanine was safe. The energy faded. Still the coldness pervaded.

  Warning bells began clanging in my brain and suddenly I felt quite strongly that Kade was in danger. I jumped off the couch and ran outside. There were lights on in the house. Kade must have wakened Nancy and Jack. But where was he now? I looked up at the turret. A light was on in the sitting room and I could tell the door to the roof balcony was open. Then I could see the shadow of someone moving around up there. I started walking rapidly toward the house, not taking my eyes off the figure on the roof. I knew … just knew … it was Kade. And I also knew he was in danger.

  “Kade! Kade! Go back inside.” He turned and looked down at me but I knew he didn’t hear anything I said. The wind was blowing pretty strong and carried my voice away. The rain had let up though to a light drizzle.

  “Tess? Tess? Is that you out here?” Nancy came running out the back door, Jack close behind her.

  I met them halfway and grabbed Jack’s arm. “Kade is up on the turret balcony. You must make him come down … now!”

  “What’s going on, Tess?” Nancy grabbed my hand. “Tell me everything is okay?” I could feel her trembling but I could do nothing to reassure her. I was too frightened for Kade. “Please, Jack, go bring Kade back down here with us.”

  Jack nodded. “Okay, I’ll go get him. He just wanted to make sure no one was up there. He said that Jeanine saw a woman …”

  “There’s no woman, Jack. It was her … Abigail … she saw Abigail. Please, go. Go now!” Pure panic was setting in. I looked up at the roof. Kade was nowhere in sight. But the light in the turret was on which meant he was still up there. Something menacing hung about that room. Kate experienced it, I experienced it, and Kade … well, the fact that Kade was a man, maybe the experience would be different for him. I didn’t know for sure. I just knew he was not safe. Jack turned and ran and I put my arm around Nancy. “We need to calm Jeanine. She saw Abigail on the roof and is convinced someone fell and died.” We started walking toward the Garden Cottage though I continued to keep my eye on the turret room window. The light was still on. What was he doing up there? It was a small room, how much time did he need to check things out?

  “Oh God, this is awful. She must be so frightened.”

  I hadn’t told her the worst of it. “Nancy–” I stopped walking and held her back. “I must tell you … Jeanine said someone pushed her over by the fountain. Someone pushed her and she fell.”

  “Oh my God. Oh my God. This is awful, Tess, just awful.” Nancy’s face went quite pale and I worried she was going to pass out on me.

  “Nancy, we must approach this calmly and try to figure out who pushed her and why?”

  “But … do you think it was a ghost or a real person?”

  I glanced up at the turret room again. The light was off. Relief washed through me. Jack must be with Kade now. I started to turn when a voice told me to go in the house. To go to the turret room and to go right now! I started running. “Nancy, go to Thomas and Jeanine. I’ll be right back!” I didn’t wait to explain. The coldness in me was strong and the warning in my head clear.

  It wasn’t until I entered the house that I realized it was pitch dark. Hadn’t Nancy and Jack turned lights on as they made their way outside? Didn’t I notice the house flooded with lights only moments ago? Something was wrong all right. My heart was pounding again, hard. Fear for Kade and Jac
k made me lose some control and as I felt my way through the house, I tried to breathe slow calming breaths. I had to keep a clear head here. I was just starting up the stairs when someone with a flashlight appeared at the top of them.

  “Tess? What’s going on? Why are the lights out and where is Jack?” Raymond met me halfway down the stairs but I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pulled him along with me.

  “Jack and Kade are in the turret room. I think they need our help.” We ran to the end of the hall. The door that led up to the turret room was closed and when Raymond tried to open it, the thing wouldn’t budge.

  “It’s locked. They can’t be up there. The door only locks from this side.”

  Warning chills raced through me and the voice in my head told me to hurry. “Break down the door, Raymond. Do something! They are up there and they need our help.”

  “What’s going on?” Mike and Andrea came out of their room. Both of them held flashlights and I motioned for Mike to join us.

  “Come help us open the door. I think Jack and Kade are up there and they need our help.” Mike immediately rushed to our side. He had a go at the door when Raymond stepped back to give him some room. I knew, though, that he wasn’t going to open it. Raymond was more muscular and much stronger than Mike and if he couldn’t open the door, no one was going to open it.

  “It must be locked. Where is the key?” Mike stepped back and looked at first Raymond and then me.

  “It’s not locked.” Raymond picked the padlock up from the floor. “It must be stuck.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to think. Think what to do. Since Abigail’s energy remained connected to the turret, maybe she could help. The sense of danger I felt was not coming from her. The menacing energy was coming from a male presence. Was there another entity in this house that no one knew of? Mentally I asked for Abigail and waited impatiently while the men continued to pull on the door. No sound came from the other side.

  It only took a couple minutes for me to sense Abigail’s sorrowful energy. I stepped over to Raymond and touched his back. “Stand aside for a moment, Raymond. You, too, Mike.” The men stepped away and I stood before the door, focused on Abigail and allowed her energy to surround me. The atmosphere in the dark hallway vibrated with excitement. I felt Abigail’s essence mingle with my own. Holding that to me as best I could, I reached for the door and turned the knob. My hand could have belonged to someone else for all the connection I felt to it.

  Cold air blew over us as soon as the door was opened. Raymond and Mike rushed into the stairwell and I followed close at their heels with Andrea only a step or two behind me. The turret room was empty but someone was pounding on the door to the balcony area. Raymond tried to open the door, realized it was locked and quickly slid the bolt back. The door swung open hard and both Jack and Kade nearly fell into the room. They were soaked from the rain, their hair standing on end as if whipped by the wind … though it seemed quite calm outside at this point. Their faces were pale as … well, pale as ghosts.

  “Thank God!” Jack reached for the rocking chair and sat down. Kade shut the door and leaned against it. Both men were breathing hard and needed a moment to catch their breath.

  “What in the heck happened?” Raymond knelt next to his uncle. “How did that door get locked?” When his uncle didn’t answer but continued to draw in deep breaths, Raymond’s expression grew concerned. “Uncle Jack? Are you okay?”

  It was Kade who spoke up. “I went out on the balcony to check it out and when I turned to come in the door slammed shut, and I couldn’t open it.” I felt Kade’s eyes on me but couldn’t see his expression for everyone was shining their flashlights down so as not to blind anyone. I knew he was confused, troubled, by what just happened. “Then Jack comes along, opens the door …”

  “I joined Kade on the balcony for just a moment and when we turned to go, the door was closed.” Jack looked at Mike and Andrea, thinking they needed some sort of explanation, though not, it seemed, a truthful one. “We’ve been having trouble with these stupid doors. That’s why we’ve kept this place off limits. Thanks for rescuing us.” He stood and motioned for everyone to go downstairs. “Raymond, you go start the generator, or check the circuit breaker first. I’ll walk Kade and Tess back to their cottages.”

  Jack did not want to talk in front of Mike and Andrea. He was trying to preserve the reputation of the resort. My concern at this point was the feeling I had that the resort was not safe and wouldn’t be until we put a spirit or two to rest. I’d never encountered a situation where spirit haunting physically harmed anyone, but danger lurked in this house. The coldness that crept through me would not go away. The cobwebs were gone, though. For now, we were safe again. But we needed to figure all this out and quick.

  Mike and Andrea went back to their room and we parted ways with Raymond when we reached the first floor. The generator was located on the east end of the house. Jack, Kade and I headed for the Garden Cottage where we found the door open to the now still air. Thomas motioned for us to come in. He’d made coffee and Nancy and Jeanine were sitting at the table enjoying a cup. Jeanine was much calmer now, though still a little pale. Thomas looked as if he’d recovered from his earlier shock and was now excited over tonight’s events.

  “Come on in, folks, come on in. I just made another pot of coffee … anyone else want some?” Thomas opened a cupboard door and pulled out three more cups.

  I went to the table and sat next to Jeanine. “Are you okay now?”

  Jeanine gave me a small, shaky smile. “Well, I can tell you that this is more excitement than I’ve had in a long time. I’ve never encountered a ghost before. This will be quite a story to tell.”

  I saw Nancy grimace. She was worried about the resort losing business. Well, maybe she needed to worry. “Tell me what happened. I’m sure you already told Nancy but I’d like to hear it if you don’t mind.”

  Thomas handed me a cup of coffee. “Cream and one teaspoon of sugar, right? Kade told me that’s how you like your coffee.”

  I accepted the cup and did not allow myself to look over at Kade. I felt both pleased and concerned that Kade knew how I liked my coffee. It was something Mike could never remember. “Thank you, Thomas.”

  Thomas sank down in the chair across from his wife. He winked at Jeanine and then motioned for Kade and Jack to pull up a couple chairs from the living room. Once we were all settled around the table and everyone had coffee, Jeanine told her story.

  “I like thundershowers. Always have. So when I realized a storm was upon us, I got up to watch. I was looking out the window when I thought I saw movement up on the roof of the house. Every time a flash of lightening lit the sky, I was able to see that balcony area and there was a girl up there. I saw her clearly. She looked quite real to me.” Nancy had told Jeanine earlier that the girl she saw was a ghost and it was obvious Jeanine was not convinced about that. “I tell you, she was as real as you or I.” Jeanine looked around her, finally making eye contact with me. “I’m not sure about this ghost thing. I thought you could see through a ghost, that they were all shimmery and translucent.”

  “Some people see ghosts that are just as solid to view as we are,” I told her.

  Jeanine nodded, accepting that but not totally buying it. After a moment, she continued her story. “I saw her struggling, like the wind was trying to blow her over that short wall. I ran out of our cottage without even thinking. I wanted to find someone in the house to help her. But as I got near the fountain, I heard her scream. She fell right over the edge. I saw her fall.” Jeanine closed her eyes, shivered, opened her eyes and looked at Nancy. “I could swear to you even now, though you insist that girl was a ghost, I would swear it was real. She was real.” Jeanine gave another shiver. “I think I called out, shouting for help when someone pushed me from behind. I fell on the ground and rolled over to see who had done such a thing but no one was there.” Jeanine smiled at her husband. “That is when Thomas found me.”

  Th
omas returned his wife’s smile and then glanced around the table. “I didn’t see anything nor did I hear anything concerning the girl.” He paused, frowned, thought for another moment and then said, “I came out of the cottage just as Jeanine fell. I saw her going down, and I thought, at least I’m quite sure anyway, that I saw someone behind her. It was too dark to see but when the lightning lit up the area, I thought I glimpsed a man, but only for a moment.”

  “You didn’t see where he went?” Kade asked.

  Thomas shook his head. “It’s almost like he disappeared into thin air.” He frowned, thinking hard, then shook his head as if he didn’t quite know what to think. “Was he a ghost too? And if he was, why would he push Jeanine?” He finished on a note of alarm and concern became etched in his wrinkled features. “Are these ghosts of yours dangerous?”

  Nancy sighed, rubbed her eyes. “God, I hope not but the fact Jeanine was pushed …”

  “It makes no sense, Nancy,” I cut in. I could see where her thought was going. She was worried and afraid; not only for herself but for her guests. I did not want her sending us all away for fear we were in danger. “Ghosts don’t haunt places in order to hurt people. If it was a spirit that pushed Jeanine, then no harm was meant. Somehow the ghost was trying to help her.” I believed what I was saying but I also believed there was something more to it. What that was, I had no idea. I did not believe a ghost pushed Jeanine, but if one had, I don’t believe the intent was to hurt her. Of this I felt certain. Unfortunately, I felt equally certain that the person who pushed Jeanine was alive and well. So the question of the night was why? Why push her? Did someone here at Sea Willow Haven mean to do harm?

  “What do you think is going on then, Tess?” Nancy asked. “Why were Jack and Kade locked out on the roof? Why were you locked out there? Why are the ghosts suddenly so active?”

  “I’m not sure about this ghost thing,” Jack said. His face was grim as he met first Kade’s eyes and then mine. “I know you believe quite strongly in ghosts, Tess, but I’m a bit concerned that someone is here playing bad jokes and it’s getting out of hand.”