Freeing Lost Souls (The Family Tree Series Book 1)

by Tracy Kincaid

  I wake to an empty tent. Bruce must have gotten up already. I change my clothes and go looking for him. I don’t see any of the guys, but Teresa is preparing breakfast, so I join her.

  “How did you sleep?” she asks.

  “Pretty good, actually. All the walking and the outdoors does wonders.” I smile. “Where did the guys go?”

  “They got up early to search the area a bit. Bruce said he didn’t sleep very well. He was a bit on the grumpy side this morning. I think he needed some space. Is everything all right with you two?”

  “My job here will be done soon, and I’ve not made a decision about what I’ll be doing next. We have both been in bad relationships in the past, and I’m not sure I can handle another heartbreak. Plus, how do I know if the only reason we even got together was because of Edward? Am I making any sense? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t go on and on about this.” I hang my head.

  “Sarah, I think you two would have found each other without Edward. You live in the same lofts. You’re right. We don’t know if it was Edward who pushed you both together. What you have to remember is that Edward is not always with you. His presence may have pushed you to meet, but the only time you have been around him has been either at the Wheatfield, in the tent hospital, or in a dream. That being said, I think the rest of it was all on you and Bruce.”

  “I never thought of it that way. That’s the only time we’ve had any time with Edward.”

  “I say wait and see what we find at the cabin before you make your decision. Let Bruce blow off some steam with the guys. He’ll be fine. I knew his ex, and you’re nothing like her. Trust me, Bruce is a good guy.”

  “I know he’s a good guy. I’ve fallen in love with him, Teresa. I just want to make sure that it’s us and not the interference of a ghost, before I give him my whole heart.”

  “I understand.” As the guys come around the corner, they are laughing and carrying on about something. They see us watching them and stop laughing. Bruce walks over, encases me in his arms, and buries his head in my neck.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispers in my ear.

  “Sorry for what?”

  “Sorry for leaving you this morning. I needed to sort out my head.”

  “Don’t be sorry. It’s all right. Teresa said you didn’t sleep well. Why?”

  “I want to get to the cabin and get this ghost stuff settled. I want to prove to you that it’s not just Edward pushing us together. It’s us wanting to be together.”

  “I want to know, too.” I hug him tighter. “We’ll figure all this out.”

  We all eat some food before we set off for the cabin again. It’s warm already and promises to be another hot and muggy day. We pack up everything, make sure the area looks the way it did before we camped, then set off again. We had climbed the hilly part yesterday, so today the path is pretty flat.

  Bruce and I walk alone, like we did yesterday. Since nothing has been built in this area, there are tons of trees, both standing and fallen. The sun peaks out from behind the trees as we walk. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. “I wish I had brought my art supplies with me.”

  “It is beautiful. I can see why you would say that. I own this area, so we can clear the path and come up anytime you want to.”

  “How much longer do you think we’ll have before we get to the cabin?” I ask, changing the subject. I don’t want to get his hopes up in case we feel differently about each other once this is over. I really hope it isn’t just Edward wanting our help that has kept us together. I really do love Bruce; I’m just not ready to say it to him yet.

  “Maybe another half hour or so.”

  As soon as Bruce gets the words out Benny yells, “Hey, I think we may be at the cabin! Come check this out.”

  We all catch up to him and can’t believe what we see. The cabin’s still standing and looks like it was recently built. It looks just like the picture I drew, right down to the placement of the trees. “Wow,” I whisper.

  We all take off our backpacks and walk around the property. It’s overgrown and doesn’t look as if anyone has been here in a long time, but the structure itself is stunning. It’s not very big and looks a lot like a prairie house. Just big enough for a small family to live in. Bruce walks up onto the porch and it groans under his weight.

  “Be careful,” I call to him. God knows how sound the porch is. I watch as he attempts to open the door. It takes him a few tries, but he gets it open and goes inside. Benny has gone around to the back of the cabin to check things out. I look over at Daniel and Teresa, who looks as if she is in a trance. I walk over to them. “What’s wrong?”

  Daniel shrugs as he holds on to Teresa’s waist and arm. “This happens sometimes when a ghost is near,” Daniel explains.

  “Elizabeth is here. I can feel her,” Teresa announces.

  Bruce comes out of the cabin and suggests, “You all may want to come in and see this. I think I know what happened to Elizabeth.” Benny jogs back around to meet us, Daniel helps Teresa into the cabin, and I join Bruce, who takes my hand and squeezes it as we walk into a room that has a kitchen and a small ladder that leads to a loft with a bed.

  In the kitchen there’s a small stove and a table. Most of the furnishings look as if they were never used. A bud vase sits on the table with dust in and around it. My guess is the dust is flowers that wilted and dried over time. A piece of paper is tucked under the vase. I walk over and gently pick it up. The paper is so fragile that when I touch it, it begins to flake apart, so I move the vase and return the note carefully to the table. I blow the dust away to reveal a note. I read it out loud for everyone to hear.

  My name is Elizabeth Finny. I am a nurse for the Union army. I came here after my beloved Edward was killed in battle. I cannot live without my love. So I have come here to die so I may be with my love once again. Please tell my parents and sister that I am sorry.

  “Well, I guess we know where Elizabeth went.” We all look up to the loft. I walk over to the ladder and climb up. Bruce is right behind me.

  At the top of the ladder is a double-sized bed with a nightstand and oil lamp on each side of the bed. On the bed are the remains of Elizabeth Finny. I feel so lost for her. I cannot imagine surviving her ordeal. War is not fair to anyone. The soldiers lose their lives, most of the time for silly reasons, and the ones left behind are left to deal with the loss. Tears roll down my cheeks, and I feel Bruce, who must have been watching me, embrace me. After a few minutes, I pull away a little. “I’m sorry for crying. I just wasn’t expecting this. I guess I really didn’t know what to expect.”

  “I know. I didn’t either,” Bruce whispers.

  “Are you guys going to tell me what’s up there?” Benny questions impatiently from below. Bruce and I climb down the ladder to allow Benny up.

  “Are you all right, Sarah?” Teresa questions.

  “I’ll be fine.” I wipe away more tears as Benny climbs down the ladder and Teresa and Daniel take their turn.

  “So, what do we do now? We shouldn’t leave her here like that,” Benny worries. Teresa and Daniel rejoin us.

  “Benny, do you have cell service up here?” Bruce inquires. Benny pulls his phone out and nods. “Can you call your crew and ask them to bring the big equipment to begin clearing a path up here?” Benny steps outside to make his call.

  “Teresa, are you getting anything from Elizabeth here?” Bruce questions.

  “I am, actually. She is lost and isn’t sure how to find Edward. When she died she thought they would find each other immediately. She didn’t know she would be stuck here,” Teresa tells us.

  “Why did Edward not come here?” I inquire.

  “I’m not sure. It could be that he didn’t know that she died soon after he did. I think her problem was not being able to leave the cabin to find him and that was because she was never laid to rest,” Teresa explains.

  That makes sense. “I think that we should give her a proper burial. Is it possible to bury her with Edward?” I in
quire because, quite frankly, I’m not sure how this all works.

  “I will check with the Historical Society and see what we can do. I don’t see why they couldn’t be buried together, but that may be up to the families,” Daniel says.

  “Do they still have family who live in the area?” I ask.

  “You are looking at one of them. Bruce is Edward’s last surviving relative, until he has children of his own, that is. And you and your family are all who are left in Elizabeth’s family.” Teresa explains.

  Wow, thinking of it like that really puts things in perspective. “So what do we do now?”

  “Daniel, do you think you can call whomever you need to about moving Elizabeth?” I love watching Bruce when he is in charge.

  “Of course. I’ll make a few calls now. Teresa, can you contact the city and let them know what we are doing, including clearing the path? We don’t want any problems. Bruce, the land paperwork is all filed, isn’t it?” Daniel inquires.

  “Yup, I made sure it was all put together when I started working on the house last year.” Daniel and Teresa take out their cell phones and go outside to make their calls. I don’t remember Bruce talking about a house. I wonder what that’s all about.

  Bruce and I are left in the cabin. “How are you?” he asks me.

  “Fine. This is all surreal, you know. Finding her like this. How do you think she died?” The way she is lying in the bed, looks as if she were in the fetal position, hugging her knees. The dress, I’m assuming was her nurse uniform. It’s just rags, falling apart now.

  “With the bottles that are on the floor over here, my guess is she drank too much of the Ether and OD’d. They look like some of the old medical bottles we have on display at the museum.”

  “God, what a way to go. I don’t know if I could survive losing someone like she did. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you like that,” I say as I turn around to avoid him seeing my tears.

  “Hey,” he says as he takes my shoulders and turns me around. “Don’t cry, please. Nothing is going to happen to me. Definitely nothing like what happened to Edward. We’ll get Elizabeth down from here and give her a proper funeral. I’m counting on our freeing her so she and Edward can be together. All right? Come on. Let’s go outside and see what the others have done so far.” He hugs and kisses me before putting his arm around my shoulder and leading me out of the cabin.

  “Why do you think the cabin stayed the way it did all these years?” I inquire.

  Teresa hears my question and walks over to us. “That would have been Elizabeth. She was able to keep the cabin the same in the hope that Edward would someday come and find her. Ghosts sometimes have the power to destroy, as well as keep things from happening. For instance, a ghost in town that doesn’t want anyone around will haunt. What the owners paint in one day, the ghost will remove overnight. In Elizabeth’s case she kept the cabin in order.”

  “Huh.” I never heard of them keeping a place clean like this. That’s crazy.

  Daniel and Benny join us, once they get off of their phones. “All right, I have the crew on their way to us. They are bringing big chainsaws to deal with the monster trees that fell. It will take them a while, but they will get here as soon as possible,” Benny explains.

  “Great. Thanks, Benny,” Bruce says as Benny walks off to take a look around the cabin again. I think he’s looking at the structure to see how it’s still standing. That would be the construction worker in him.

  “I’ve talked to the Historical Society. Since this is the first time something like this has happened, we get to write the law for it. They’re going to want to talk to Edward’s and Elizabeth’s remaining family members and see if you all agree to their being buried together, since they were not married when they died,” Daniel explains.

  “I talked to the city, and they are aware of what is going on and won’t give us any issues. I told them about Elizabeth, as well. They said the police will send the coroner up for her remains. They will want to test them to make sure they are Elizabeth, before we will be allowed to bury her. They said it is protocol,” Teresa explains.

  “I can understand that. With the way people murder each other nowadays, they may think she was murdered. So what do we do now?” I ask.

  “Now we wait,” Bruce adds. “It’s lunchtime. We can eat and explore the area a bit. Maybe see why Edward chose this area to build the cabin.”

  We create a picnic space under a tree not too far from the cabin. We are all pretty quiet as we eat. No one really knows what to say. I’m glad that we found Elizabeth and will be able to get her laid to rest. Now to get her down from here so she can move on.

  We are starting to hear chainsaws in the distance. Benny’s crew must be working on the trees already. That was fast. I guess with there not being very many people who live in town, people can get to you pretty fast.

  After lunch Bruce and I go for a walk. He wants to check out the area around the cabin. It really is a wonderful spot, and I recognize why Edward chose it to begin with. It’s far enough away from everyone else, but has enough land to farm and even have horses.

  “This land is fabulous. So much space,” Bruce says as we continue to walk. Benny has started down the hill to catch up with the crew working on the path. Teresa and Daniel are sitting under the tree, enjoying each other’s company.

  “It is. What do you think you will do with it now that you have seen the land?”

  “I’m not sure. I want to determine exactly what parts are mine. If I can get Benny’s crew to put in a decent road, I think it would be nice to build a house up here. Maybe clear out some of these trees so you could see over the valley. Think of the view.” We walk a bit farther until we see a break in the trees. It turns out that we are on a cliff that overlooks all of Gettysburg. You can see just about every battlefield.

  “It’s breathtaking,” I say in awe as I stare out over the cliff.

  “That you are.” I turn and Bruce is not looking at what I’m seeing, he is gazing at me. I smile at him as he leans in to kiss me. I drape my hands around his neck and thread my fingers.

  Chapter 20

  Bruce and I go back and join Teresa and Daniel, sitting down with them and waiting for the crew to appear. I lean against a tree while he lies with his head in my lap. We are so comfortable, together and around other people.

  It doesn’t take Benny and his crew very long to make it to where we are. Bruce hops up and jogs over to talk to Benny. He is in his own truck, followed by Bruce’s truck. Benny had grabbed Bruce’s keys before he headed off to meet the crew. I notice that most of the crew is made up by the same ones who’d carried Bruce to the hospital during the reenactment. Benny has the men park away from the cabin. We don’t want to disturb anything, just in case we have issues with getting Elizabeth out of here.

  We all stand, gather up everything that we brought with us, and get it all repacked and put into the trucks. Daniel comes to where I’m standing, watching what Bruce is doing. “Have you thought about what you will do when you are done here?” he asks.

  “I’ve been thinking about it. I haven’t gotten any offers for a job since being here. I usually have things lined up, but for some reason I’ve got nothing. It’s weird,” I say.

  “What’s weird?” he inquires.

  “Usually I get a few job offers, but this time I’ve not gotten any. Maybe I’m losing my edge.” I shrug.

  “Well, the board has loved what you have given them. I think you should show them the portraits of Edward. They may want those as well, if you’re willing, of course. They have been talking about possibly asking you to do more work for them. I didn’t want to bring it up until this was all behind you. But if you’re willing to go in and talk to them about it, they would love to have you stay for a while longer at least,” he offers.

  “I think I would like that.” I smile as Bruce walks back over to us so we can make a decision on what to do next.

  “Teresa and Daniel, would you mind goin
g back into town and making sure your phone calls get followed up on? Benny is letting Officer Brown know that we have cleared the path so they can come up now. The sooner we can get Elizabeth checked out, the faster we can get her to her final resting place.” Bruce rubs the back of his neck with his hand, then looks at me and adds, “If you want to go back with Benny, he can take you home. I’m going to stay here and wait until Elizabeth is taken away. I don’t think we should leave the cabin unmanned, now that we have a path that leads up here. I don’t want people coming and checking things out yet.”

  “I’d like to stay, if you don’t mind. I want to make sure she is safe,” I add. He gives a half smile and nods.

  “We’ll give you a call when we have an answer for you. Do you need anything before we leave?” Daniel asks.

  “Just leave the food and drinks. I have everything else we will need. Thanks again, you two, for all your help with this. You’re good friends,” Bruce comments. Teresa leans over and whispers in his ear. I can’t hear what she says.

  She then comes over and says, “Walk with me.” We walk over to Benny’s truck to collect the food and drinks. “Trust your heart, Sarah. I can tell that you and Bruce love each other. It has nothing to do with Edward or Elizabeth. While you’re alone, talk. Put all of your feelings out on the table and discuss them, all of them. That’s the only way either of you will be able to move on. This is a new place for both of you, and in a way, a very romantic place. Granted it’s in a Romeo and Juliet way, but romantic nonetheless.” She gives me a tight smile. I walk back to Bruce as she clambers into Benny’s truck with Daniel.

  Before getting in, Daniel warns, “Be careful up here. Who knows what kind of animals are up here this time of year. Take care of each other, and we’ll talk soon.”

  Benny jogs over to us, handing Bruce his gun. “Take this, just in case. You sure you don’t want me to stay?”

  “We have the truck and our cells if we need anything. We’ll be fine. Thanks again, dude. I owe you and the boys big time. Looks like I’ll have some work for you and the crew soon. We will talk when this is all over,” Bruce explains as he shakes Benny’s hand.