You Are Always on My Mind

by Sable Hunter

  As she nestled up against his body, she giggled. “I just wanted to see if you were real. After last night, I thought I might be dreaming. It’s not every day I wake up to a perfect world.”

  So happy he could shout it from the rooftop, Revel pretended not to understand. “Oh, something good happen to you recently?” He guided her to the kitchen table and presented her with a plate of French toast.

  “Oh, this looks good.” She gave him a thank you kiss. “Despite living in a haunted house, I’m in a good mood.” Playfully, she nipped him on the shoulder. “This really great guy has asked me to marry him.”

  “Really?” Revel swung her up in his arms. “Where is he? I’ll challenge him to a duel!”

  “Ah, you’d lose, I’m afraid. The love of my life is handsome, brave and strong. He’s unbeatable.” Harper’s playful antics enchanted Revel. He’d never really seen this side of her before—and he loved it.

  Holding her still and kissing her deeply, she sighed and sank against him when he finally let her breathe. “I don’t want to wait. I want to marry you as soon as possible,” he spoke softly, but his words had an urgent quality. “I can go to the courthouse today and get the license and we can get married in seventy-two hours. What do you think?”

  Harper’s lips parted, she studied his face, drinking in his excited expression and the joy in his dark eyes. “As long as I’m yours when the ceremony is over, anything you want is fine with me.”

  She couldn’t have said anything more perfect if she’d tried. Revel hugged her tight. “A small ceremony in the little chapel down the road. The church isn’t anything fancy.” He held her by the shoulders and stared into her happy face. “When I went there to pray for your return, I pictured us getting married there. We could invite a few friends, whatever you’d like.”

  “You thought about our wedding, even then?” A wave of sadness hit her hard. She had put him through so much, most of it needlessly.

  “Of course.” He smiled broadly. “I never gave up on you.” He traced the line of her cheek with his thumb. “So, don’t leave me standing at the altar, Bright Eyes. I wouldn’t recover this time.”

  She framed his face. “Look at me. Look at my face.” Harper smiled at him. “I will never hurt you again. If you ever doubt it, if I ever do something that makes you question my love for you—look again. Because something else will be wrong. If I can help it, nothing or no one will ever keep me from you again.”

  Her sincerity warmed his heart. “I believe you. I trust you and I love you.”

  “I love you more than life.” She laid her head on his chest. “I’d like to get a new dress and maybe a bouquet of flowers for the front.” Harper joined in his excitement. “I’ve been to that church but it’s been years. Would you go with me to look at it?”

  “Absolutely.” He rubbed her back. “We’ll do that later today on the way into town for the license. I want to call everyone this morning and get things rolling. Where do you want to go dress shopping?”

  “I don’t have another session with Lucas today, we could go to Baton Rouge,” she mused.

  “We’ll go anywhere you like.” Revel smiled indulgently.

  “How about Lafayette and I could pick up some registration information at the university there and maybe a pad of paper for my sketches.”

  “Perfect,” Revel agreed. “I want to see some of your sketches soon.” Knowing she was making plans, seeking to put down roots again—with him—was wonderful. “Let’s go into the living room where we’ll be more comfortable.”

  “Okay, I’ll leave that up to you and I’ll do more research in Grandmother’s things like Savannah asked for me to do.”

  Arm in arm they exited the kitchen. “What in the world?” Revel asked. They both stood in the doorway and stared at what was on the floor.

  Harper couldn’t believe her eyes. Slowly they moved forward. In a pile, right in the middle of the rug were all of the miniature items from the windowsills. All of the shells, figurines, chess pieces—the anti-rougaroux icons—were collected in a pile about a foot wide and six inches deep. “How?”

  “I don’t know,” Revel said. “Stay there.” He walked over to the strange sight. Was this paranormal or something else? Thoughts of the snake, the books—everything else that had happened which he had no explanation for ran through his mind. Was Harper in danger? “I’ll clean this up and you can decide if you want to replace them later.”

  Harper rubbed her arms, frissons of disquiet crept over her skin. Apprehensively, she glanced around. It seemed as if eyes were watching her from every corner of the room. In all the years she’d been coming to Wildwood, this was the first time she should have felt threatened—but she didn’t. And the reason she didn’t was standing before her. Her champion was with her and Harper knew she was safe with Revel. “I guess our ghost is anxious for us to help her.”

  “Maybe.” He squatted, took a few pictures with his phone, then put everything in a box he’d brought from the pantry. Prickles of awareness were making him uneasy. Revel felt like he was missing something. Even the groceries in the pantry didn’t look right. He’d stared at the canned goods trying to decide if they were still stacked in the order he’d seen them last.

  “I guess we’ll have to be on the lookout for the rougaroux now that all of those things are off the sills.” Harper laughed, trying to make light of the situation. “At least dusting will be easier.” She had settled into a corner of the couch with one of her grandmother’s journals. This time she was going to scan through and see what she could find.

  Meanwhile, Revel put the box into the dining room and fetched his phone. Maybe he needed to go through the house again from top to bottom. Before the last thunderstorm, he’d crawled under the house, making sure there were no snake-size cracks or crevices that something else could gain entry. The only other place he needed to check was the root cellar. He’d been intending to clean it out, but since Harper had come back into his life, his priorities had changed significantly. But her safety was paramount, so that’s what he would do.

  Harper sat with her legs crossed under her, opening the journal to where she left off. If she ever started taking classes, she’d have to find a quiet place to study where looking at the handsome hunk strutting around in front of her wouldn’t be a distraction. Oh, heck, who was she kidding? Ogling him... “Hey, are you my fiancé now?”

  Revel was just about to ring Patrick. Her question made his face light up with joy. “I am! I guess we’d better go ring shopping.”

  Laughing, Harper shook her head. “I wasn’t hinting, I’m just enjoying the idea of it all.”

  Plopping down beside her, Revel put his arm around her as he let the phone ring. She leaned against him and started reading.

  “Hey, Patrick. How are you guys doing?”

  Harper couldn’t really hear the whole conversation so she kept on reading. But Revel’s comments were so entertaining, she couldn’t help but smile.

  “Guess what? I’m getting married!” A big smile. “I mean we’re getting married!” A laugh. “Of course it’s Harper.”

  Harper chuckled, the words blurring in front of her eyes.

  “When? ASAP. I’m going after the license and the ring today.” A pregnant pause. “No, very simple. I’m just calling the two of you, Beau and Harley, and Dandi and Lucas.” Revel looked sideways at her. “I’m fine with Noah and Skye coming…but…”

  Harper elbowed him. “I’m fine with it, too. Noah’s no threat to you.”

  “She says yes, I’ll call him.” He winked at Harper. “Oh, okay, put her on. Hey, girl. What’s that?” He widened his eyes and stared at her. “That would be great! I’ll tell her. Oh, okay.” Harper had been half-listening, half-reading and just about the time Revel handed her the phone, “She wants to talk to you,” she stumbled upon some information.

  In the split second when she was putting the phone to her ear, Harper’s heart wrenched as she read:

  History seems to
be repeating itself in our family. I have just learned my grandbaby, Harper, has been brutalized by her father. This horror has come upon us once again. Sometimes I think Jeanette and Elias cursed us all. Especially after what Elias did to Joby.

  The name Joby jumped out at her, that was the name from the EVP recording.

  “Harper, this is Savannah.”

  She cleared her throat and answered, “Hey, Savannah.”

  “I hear congratulations are in order.”

  Harper could hear the smile on the other woman’s face. “Yes, I’m engaged!” She beamed at Revel, who was watching intently.

  “This is the most wonderful news I’ve heard in a while. I was planning on calling you today about the investigation, but before we get into that, I want to offer my services to help make this wedding come off without a hitch. I know Harley and Dandi would want to help too. It would be our honor and our pleasure.”

  Revel raised an eyebrow, obviously in on the plan. “I don’t know what to say,” Harper stammered.

  “Say yes!” Savannah urged. “We’d love to do this for the two of you. You and I can get together tomorrow and pick out colors, cake, whatever.”

  “All right.” She glanced at Revel, aware of the blush on her cheeks. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “Just knowing you and Revel are happy is thanks enough.” Savannah assured her. “Now, on to something not nearly as wonderful, but quite exciting. I finished going through the evidence and I found something else.”

  “You did? I found something in the journal too, but you first.” Harper grew serious.

  Savannah took a deep breath. “Well, there’s a photo we took in the small bedroom and there looks to be a woman hanging by her neck just outside the window on the balcony.”

  “You think she killed herself after the baby died?” Harper was busy trying to put two and two together.

  “Yes, I think so. And with both of them dying violent deaths, they aren’t at peace. Now, what did you find?”

  “I think I found their identity. We heard the name Joby on the recording and I found a reference to Elias and Jeannette along with the name Joby. I wish I knew more about my family, but I don’t.”

  “No worries. I think we need to do some research and try to find out why these ghosts are still at Wildwood.” Savannah noted. “Has anything else happened since we saw you?”

  “Actually,” Harper locked eyes with Revel, “we just found a large pile of things on the floor that we didn’t put there.” She didn’t explain further and she didn’t have to, Savannah seemed to understand.

  “What kind of things?”

  “Just some tiny figurines that my grandmother always kept in the windows, you know that silly folk custom about keeping a rougaroux out. Anyway, they were all piled in the middle of the foyer, taken from every window and door in the house.” Harper explained and waited for Savannah’s comment.

  “Almost like they were saying you can’t keep me out.” She paused, as if thinking. “Doesn’t really make sense, they were already in the house.” Savannah sighed. “Ah, anything’s possible, I guess. Sometimes, it’s hard to discern what a spirit is trying to tell you. The tidying of the room makes sense to me because that could have been her room, the room where she had the baby, possibly the room where they died. I’m not certain how this could tie in, but we’ll have to do more research. You have more things to read, don’t you?”

  Harper laughed. “Oh, yes, I’ve just scratched the surface.”

  “Give me the phone.” Revel motioned.

  “Hold on, Revel wants to talk. And thank you, Savannah.”

  Revel took the phone back and asked to speak to Patrick again. They spoke about work, then the wedding. “Okay, why don’t we plan on getting together tonight? We’ll have dinner together, a double date.” He glanced at Harper for confirmation, smiling when she nodded her agreement. “Great, we’ll see you there.”

  Once he’d hung up, Revel called his other friends and Harper sat there content, listening. He was so excited and she was thrilled too, almost as much about making him happy as getting married. His conversations with Beau and Lucas were fun to watch, but when he called Tebow Ranch in Texas, she tensed up. Revel noticed and moved beside her, taking her hand. “Hello, yes this is Revel Lee Jones. Oh, Joseph, how are you? Yes, I’m good. Thanks. Actually, I called to talk to Noah. Is he in? Really? Well, will you tell him I called and that Harper and I are getting married and we wanted you all to know. Thank you. Yes, and I hope he finds his mother. If he runs into any problems down in Mexico, let us know. We’ll launch another rescue mission if he needs it.” Revel laughed, said his goodbyes and laid the phone down. Seeing the questions in her eyes, he explained. “They send their congratulations. Noah and several of his brothers have gone down to Mexico following up a lead on his real mother. Joseph is holding down the fort.”

  Harper relaxed. She understood that Revel had made the phone call for her. He wanted to help her put the past to rest and letting the people who had been her friends know she was happy went a long way to healing old wounds. “I hope he finds her. Family is so important to Noah.”

  Revel gathered her close. “Family is important to me too,” he whispered into her ear. “You’re my family.”

  Harper shivered and buried her head in his chest. The future seemed to shine bright in front of them…almost too good to be true.

  * * *

  Heading into town, Harper sat close to Revel. His truck was fitted with bench seats which were much more conducive to cuddling than captain’s chairs. It was a beautiful day. The sun was filtering down through the leaves and the bayou glinted with sparkling diamonds where the rays married with the slow-flowing water. A large white crane waded in an isolated pool next to the road and Harper leaned over to look at it. “I wonder if he’s finding crawfish.”

  “This area is full of them, their little mud chimneys stick up everywhere.” Revel pointed at a group close to where they were passing. Harper moved a few inches toward the window to peer closer and when she did, her eye caught something else in the shadows.

  A man.

  Her eyes tried to focus, but they were by him before she could be sure. A cold chill washed over her. He’d looked like her uncle, Harlow Duhon.

  She almost said something, but Revel started talking and she didn’t want to introduce a topic that would bring him down.

  “We’ll hunt your dress first, then a ring. After we do that, we’ll get the license and pick up anything else you need. Then it’ll be time to meet Savannah and Patrick at Jolie’s.”

  “I’m not familiar with the stores and restaurants anymore. I’ve never heard of Jolie’s and I don’t even know where to tell you to take me to look for a dress.” She gave him a panicked look. “Or a ring.”

  Revel patted her knee. “Don’t worry. Savannah gave me a few tips and Google is my friend.”

  True to his word, Revel drove up to a perfect little boutique. It was in the older part of downtown Lafayette in a rustic brick building, but once you stepped through the doors she could see they had some beautiful things. “Buy two, one for the rehearsal and one for the wedding,” he suggested.

  A clerk came to help and Revel sat down in a chair to wait. After she’d tried on two or three, she stood in front of the mirror wearing a simple white empire dress with a swirly skirt made from some decadent silk mix. The dreamy gown wasn’t too fancy that she couldn’t wear it again, yet it made her feel like a fairytale princess. “I’ll take this one,” she whispered.

  “Perfect choice,” the lady helping her agreed. “Now, try this pink one for the rehearsal dinner. I think you’ll like it.”

  Revel was gazing down at a magazine while Harper changed. Women took their time so he’d been perusing a Hunting and Fishing periodical especially provided by the establishment to keep husbands and boyfriends occupied while their women shopped. When he heard delicate footsteps, he glanced up and lost his breath. She stood before him looking like a beau
tiful vision. “I found the perfect wedding dress, but you can’t see it, not yet. How about this for the rehearsal? Is it okay?”

  He wouldn’t tell her so, but the dress wasn’t what caught his eye. To think this woman would soon be his wife made his heart almost burst with love. He didn’t say a word, just laid down the magazine, rose to go to her and kissed her long and hard.

  The ladies who’d been assisting her couldn’t help but applaud. “I guess he likes the dress,” one of them said. Revel and Harper agreed.

  After they completed their purchases, Revel carried the wrapped dresses out to his truck and helped her in. “Now, for the ring to seal the deal.”

  Harper smiled. “I want one,” she admitted. “Every girl wants a ring. But I don’t need a ring to belong to you. I’m already yours.”

  “Good to know,” Revel said in a teasing tone. “But I’ll feel better once I get one on your finger.” He took her to a nice jewelry store and asked the clerk to bring out a bridal selection. The dazzling gems were a sight to behold, she didn’t know where to start. “What do you like?” she asked, her hands folded behind her. She felt like a kid in a candy store.

  “How about this one?” He picked up a diamond solitaire, round, with a matching band set with baguettes.

  “Much too big,” Harper admonished. “I like this one.” She chose a smaller version.

  Revel tried to decide if she thought the stone was too big for her hand or if the price tag was too big for his bank account. “Let’s try them on and see which looks best.” He knew either ring would only enhance her natural beauty. Handing her the one she chose, he watched her slip it on, then he studied her face. “Now this one.” When she stared at the one he’d picked out, he made his decision. Her eyes told him she loved it, so he took no heed of her protest over the price. “We’ll take the two carat.”

  “Revel!” She tried to sound chastening, but he could tell by the sound of her voice that she loved it.

  Once he’d paid for it, he led her out to his truck. Once she was in the seat, he turned her to face him. “Give me your hand.” It wasn’t the most romantic of spots, but he wasn’t waiting one more second to make their engagement official.