The Belles of Desire, Mississippi

by M. L. Bullock

  Nothing in my refrigerator appealed to me, so I settled on a few fried eggs and some toast. But before I could get the skillet out, I heard a knock at the front door. It was Jesse’s cousin, Renee.

  “Hey, Jerica. I hope you don’t mind me coming by, but I was in the neighborhood with a casserole…” She grinned at me.

  “I don’t mind at all, and perfect timing. I hate cooking for myself. Not to mention I’m not too good at it.”

  “Great, lead me to the kitchen.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t come by yesterday. I’ve been a bit under the weather.”

  “I figured it must be something. I thought for sure you’d come hear Jesse play.”

  “Why would you think that ‘for sure’?”

  “I don’t know. Just a feeling, but honestly, you didn’t miss anything,” she said as she pulled a plate out of the cabinet and served a slice of what looked to be a chicken casserole.

  “Poor turnout?” I asked as I offered her a glass of tea.

  “None for me, thanks. No, we had a great turnout. Poor playing. Jesse is a lot of things, a talented carpenter, even a good short-order cook…but a guitar player, he is not.”

  I laughed to hear that. “Oh no. I’m glad I stayed home then.”

  “Feeling better today?”

  “Sure am. And luckily, I’m a nurse.”

  “Well, if you ever need a good doctor, go see Dr. Leland. He’s the best doctor in George County, as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Leland?” That got my attention. This had to be a relative of Jeopardy’s peach-loving doctor.

  “Yeah, he’s with that group in town. Nice guy. He went to school with my older sister, Rebecca. I think he had a thing for her, but nothing ever happened between them. So, what are your plans for today?”

  The casserole was delicious, so much so I was tempted to ask for the recipe…but who was I kidding? I probably wasn’t going to ever cook such a dish. “I’m probably going to explore Summerleigh. May I ask you a question?”

  “Sure. I’m an open book.”

  “What scared you the other day?”

  She shook her head. “That’s really one of the reasons I came by, I had to tell you the truth. Someone shoved me. I felt a hand in the middle of my back, forcing me out of the master bedroom. I got the distinct impression that it was Ann Belle. She doesn’t like you being here, or me, for that matter.”

  “I can totally see that being the case. She was not a nice lady. How in the world did she ever land a guy like John?”

  “There are rumors about Ann; she was rough on those girls. But at one time she was the loveliest lady in George County. She even represented the state as Miss Mississippi, but her pageant days were cut short. In those days, unmarried and pregnant disqualified you from a lot of things.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “Yep. That’s the rumor, and Jesse verified it with his research. Either Jeopardy Belle was born three months early or something else happened.”

  “Oh, that explains a lot. She must have really resented Jeopardy.” I sipped my tea and then asked, “What about John? Did he ever raise any questions about his oldest daughter?”

  “He never did. John Jeffrey Belle is a town hero, even though he didn’t die in the war. Before the accident he earned many awards, including one for bravery, what do they call it? I can’t remember, but he was such a beautiful man. Did you know they have a statue of him right off Main Street?”

  “No, but I don’t know much about the area. Virginia seems a long way away now.”

  “You’ll do fine. Want some more?” She gestured toward the casserole.

  “No, I’m stuffed. Did JB win the house from a McIntyre? What do you know about Mariana McIntyre?”

  “JB? You mean John Belle? No, I don’t think he won Summerleigh from a McIntyre. They all died out at the turn of the last century. However, it can’t be hard to figure out who owned the house before the Belles. It stood empty a lot of years before John claimed it. Jesse probably knows, but darned if I can remember. As far as Mariana goes, John became kind of obsessed with the family history. When he wasn’t fixing up the place, he was at the library digging up information.”

  “Information about what?”

  “Girl, that was before my time.”

  “Way before your time, of course. Want to walk with me? I’d like to check out something in the attic at Summerleigh, and honestly, I’d feel better if I had someone with me. Would you think I was crazy if I told you that I’ve seen Ann?”

  “Nope. Not crazy at all. And I don’t blame you. Just from my short survey the other day, I knew there were spirits lingering around. Summerleigh has never been a happy place.” I couldn’t hide my worried expression. “Oh, I mean until now. You’ll make it a wonderful place. I’m sure of it.”

  “What else did you see the other day? Anything?”

  “No, that was it. I didn’t see a thing, but I felt that hand as sure as I’m sitting here. The touch of those cold fingers freaked me out. I mean, I knew the place was spiritually active. It had to be; it’s so old and all, and so much tragedy has happened here, but I wasn’t prepared for that.”

  “Do you think Jeopardy Belle is in that house? I’m only asking because I made Harper a promise. I promised I would find her sister, and I’ve been having these…” My face flushed. Imagine telling a near stranger that I’d been dreaming about Harper as a girl, about ghosts, and that I’d seen my dead daughter here at Summerleigh.

  “Go on, Jerica. You can tell me. What have you seen? Have you seen a girl?”

  “I’ve seen a lot of things but not Jeopardy’s ghost. I’m not sure she’s here, but I have to find out. I know this sounds strange, but I think she left clues. Notes in the walls and floorboards of the attic.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  I bit my lip and then took a sip of my tea. “Because Harper told me.” I got up to put my plate in the sink when a wave of dizziness came over me. “Whoa,” I said as I waited out the spiraling scene.

  “Hey, you better sit down. I don’t think you’re up to a field trip today. In fact, I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to go back into Summerleigh alone. Not in your current state. They say negative entities tend to latch on when we’re physically weak. I know for a fact there is at least one negative spirit in that house.”

  “How do you know so much about this stuff?” I asked as she took the plate from my hand and helped me back to my seat.

  “I grew up seeing spirits, hearing voices. My family all thought I was crazy until my uncle came back from the grave and told me where he’d left his truck keys. Nobody’s given me any crap since then.”

  “Really? That happened to you?”

  “Yeah, but it was a long time ago. Nothing as amazing has happened since, but I still see and feel things from time to time.”

  “And Jesse?”

  “Ha! No way would he admit it, but I have my suspicions.” I laughed to hear about it. “May I suggest something?”

  “Sure.”

  “I have a friend, Hannah Ray. She’s the best psychic medium I know. Why not let her walk Summerleigh with us? She might be able to tell us who is in there and who’s not.”

  “I don’t know, Renee. No offense to you or your friend, but I’ve never believed in any of that stuff.”

  “I’m not offended, but I am surprised. How can you not believe in what you’ve seen yourself? And you have someone with you all the time. A child, I think. I can only see her outline, but she’s always near you. And from time to time, she touches you. I’ve seen you turn your head in her direction when she’s close. Is she a relative?”

  I burst into tears, and when I could stop crying I told Renee the complete story. By the time she’d left, she’d called Hannah and made an appointment for tomorrow.

  “If anyone can contact Marisol, it is Hannah. I am sorry for your loss, Jerica, but I am glad you are here. Why don’t you try to get some rest?”

  “I think I
will. Let me walk you to the door first, though.”

  “No need, I can find my way out. I’ll see you tomorrow at eleven.”

  “Bye, Renee.” I heard the door close and crawled onto my wicker couch to sleep. I didn’t have long to wait.

  Chapter Eighteen—Harper

  A month later, Aunt Dot still hadn’t left us despite Momma’s increasingly obnoxious behavior. For all her ugly ways, I felt sorry for Momma and spent time with her a little while every day now that she could move around. Weeks had gone by before we had been allowed in her room; I think she didn’t want us to see her with those bruises on her face. But I had great news today, and as she had made it all the way to the parlor, I had to tell her. Maybe she would be proud of me.

  “Momma, guess what? I got voted into the Harvest Queen Court. Isn’t that wonderful?” I asked nervously as I held her hand.

  “You did? I am delighted to hear that. I knew you could do it, Harper. Of all my girls, you are certainly the smartest.” I noticed she didn’t say loveliest, but if smartest was all I could get, I would happily receive it. “Tell me all about the competition. Were there many girls vying for a court spot? That horrible Loper girl, the one with the frog face, is she in this court?”

  “No, ma’am. She didn’t make the cut.” I didn’t mean that in a mean way, but Momma thought it was hilarious. She laughed and gossiped about Arnette’s mother for a few minutes. I smiled politely even though my subconscious warned me that by befriending Momma I was betraying Jeopardy; I knew it, but I could not help myself. I craved Momma’s approval more than anything in the world. Except maybe Jeopardy’s friendship. How unfortunate that those two things were in direct contrast to one another. After I provided my mother with all the details, she excitedly instructed me to pick a gown from her closet. I would need a nice one.

  Aunt Dot joined our merry conversation, and between the three of us, we found a dress that would be suitable for such an important event. Of course, it was a formal gown and for the life of me, I had no recollection of Momma having ever worn such a beautiful, heavenly gown. It was light blue with shimmering rhinestones all over it.

  “A fairy princess!” My aunt clapped her hands in approval.

  “Oh, but her shoes, Dorothy. We will never get those size nines into my size sevens. Never ever, and without the right shoes, she will be a laughingstock.” Was Momma changing her mind? Would she take the magical gown back?

  Aunt Dot chewed her lip. “I know where to find the perfect shoes. I saw them in a store on Main Street. We’ll go pick up a pair this afternoon, Harper. Why don’t you come with us, Ann? It would be good to see you get out of the house for a while.”

  “No, I think I’ll try to wash my hair; it’s an absolute mess. But you girls have fun.” Momma left my room and went into her own, closing the door behind her. I hated that our pleasant time had ended, but at least she had lent me her gown. Aunt Dot and I chatted about jewelry, but a knock at the front door put a pause in our conversation.

  Aunt Dot opened the door, and my heart sank when I saw our visitor. It was Deputy Lonnie Passeau. He swung his key ring on his finger and gazed down at Aunt Dot as if she were a bug he’d like to squash. Or something. I’d seen him around the school a few times; apparently, some boys had spray-painted the outside of the gym and had gotten expelled for it. And now he was here. That couldn’t be good.

  It could only mean one thing. Jeopardy was in trouble.

  “Good afternoon, Deputy. How may I help you?”

  “Well, good afternoon, Miss Daughdrill. May I come in a moment?”

  “Actually,” Aunt Dot said as she stepped out on the porch and closed the door behind her, “my sister isn’t really up to visitors right now. Is there something I might help you with?”

  “Maybe so, maybe so,” he said as he flipped his key ring around. “The sheriff is really interested in cleaning up the riffraff that tends to congregate around the river on the weekends. Those kids go down there drinking, smoking and doing God knows what, and it has to stop before someone gets hurt…or otherwise damaged. Now, I don’t consider any daughter of John Jeffrey Belle’s to be riffraff—the man was a war hero—but his oldest girl, Jeopardy, she’s been participating in some shocking behavior as of late. I thought it best to tell her mother, in hopes that she could encourage Jeopardy to behave in a more ladylike fashion.”

  “No, sir. I can’t believe my niece would do anything like that.” Aunt Dot was lying; she knew Jeopardy smoked and had even tried to discourage her a few times to no avail. Jep would do what she wanted to do, no matter who said anything to her. “And as far as the river goes, it’s a public swimming hole, isn’t it?”

  Passeau answered in his deep voice. He was clearly losing patience with Aunt Dot. “Perhaps you aren’t the one I should be speaking with after all. Since you don’t have any children of your own, you may not understand how crucial it is to be a good example to a child. When would be a good time for me to speak to Ann, I mean, Mrs. Belle?”

  Aunt Dot’s voice shook. “I couldn’t say. I will tell my sister you stopped by when she wakes up from her nap. I am sure she will call you if she has any questions.”

  “I need to have a word with Jeopardy,” he said as he shoved his keys into his pocket and tucked his hat down over his eye. I think he spotted me behind the lace curtain, and I ducked down to avoid further detection.

  “No, I think that can wait. I’ll speak to Jeopardy, Deputy.”

  He nodded and stepped down off the porch. “I’ll hold you to that, Miss Daughdrill. If I find her misbehaving at the river, she will have to spend some time in the back of my squad car. Good afternoon now.” With a grin, he walked back to his car, and Aunt Dot came inside looking like she’d lost all the blood in her face.

  With her back against the door, she said, “Harper, warn your sister to stay away from that man.” And that was all she said. She went into the kitchen and called someone on the phone, but I couldn’t hear her muffled conversation.

  Just then, Loxley tugged on my hand. “I found a treasure, Harper. A real-life treasure. You want to see it?” Her eyes were gleeful, and she was jumping up and down with excitement.

  “I hope you haven’t been plundering Momma’s jewelry boxes, Loxley.”

  “No, these treasures belong to the lady upstairs. You want to see them?”

  I swallowed at the mention of the Lady in White; that had to be who Loxley was speaking about. I glanced at the doorway, but Aunt Dot was still on the phone. “Yes, show me.” We made our way up to the top floor, and Loxley opened the door of the attic. “Jeopardy won’t like us being in her castle, Loxley. We should go now.”

  “Oh no, I haven’t gotten into any of her things, not even her notes. Did you know she leaves notes for the ghosts?”

  “Does she?” I had seen her once depositing a note but had been unable to retrieve it. “Have you read any of them?”

  “You know I can’t read.” She frowned at me as if I were stupid. “The treasure box is over here, Harper, but you cannot tell anyone that I showed it to you. Not even Jeopardy. She doesn’t come to this side of the attic.”

  “Okay, mum’s the word.”

  We tiptoed through the many boxes and strange finds until we came to an old trunk. It must be old, I thought. I studied the lock and saw the numbers 1870 and some letters engraved near the opening. The letters were scratched, so I couldn’t tell what they were. Two M’s, maybe? “Is it locked?”

  “No, it’s open. I found this treasure; does that mean it’s mine?”

  “I don’t know, Loxley. It must belong to someone. What’s inside?”

  We opened the trunk, and I was amazed at the contents. A ruffled pink gown caught my attention first. We carefully removed it, and I immediately held it up to myself and asked, “What do you think?”

  “It’s my treasure, Harper.” She poked her bottom lip out at me, and I put the dress to the side.

  “Alright, if it doesn’t belong to anyone else, it is
your treasure.”

  “Do ghosts own treasures?”

  “I’m not sure. Why?”

  She dug around in the trunk, obviously looking for something. “She wears that dress sometimes. Only it’s all white when she wears it.”

  I spun around and stared at the dress. She was right! The Lady in White had worn that dress the night I saw her on the stairs, when she scared Momma nearly to death. “Oh, Loxley. I think you need to put this back. This isn’t our treasure. It’s hers.”

  “But she won’t mind. She likes me; she smiles at me all the time. And look at this.” She held a tiny snow globe in her hands. Shaking it up, she held her palm out so I could watch the snow fall.

  “Let me see,” I said, ignoring her pout. She didn’t want to part with any of this stuff, but I could tell she had laid claim to this prize. I held the snow globe up to the light. The water was slightly cloudy…how old could this be? In the center of the “snow” storm stood two tiny figures, a man and a woman. They were dressed for an old-fashioned Christmas. The man wore a plaid coat, and the lady a plaid hat. Their mouths were open in perpetual song, probably a Christmas carol judging by the tiny hymnbook they held.

  I could hardly believe it, but the man in the plaid coat looked exactly like Daddy. Daddy and the Lady in White were standing in the snow together singing their silent song! The room became cold, and I had never wanted to leave a place more than I did right now. “We have to go, Loxley. We have to go now.” I tossed the dress back in the trunk and snatched the globe away from her and placed it back inside the trunk.

  “No, Harper! That’s my treasure. It’s okay that I have it. She doesn’t mind!”

  I took her hand and ignored her complaint. To my horror, the attic door was closing. Even Loxley gasped.

  “It’s just the wind, Harper. It does that sometimes. It’s just the wind, right?” Her whispering gave my goose bumps goose bumps.

  “Hush,” I warned as we tiptoed to the door. I put my hand on the doorknob and slowly began to turn it.