Belle Manor Haunting

by Cheryl Bradshaw

  “You live forever, though. We don’t.”

  Joan drummed her fingers along the car’s dashboard. “You didn’t. With this stone, you will change, your abilities will change. You have far more power now than I ever have. You just haven’t tapped into it yet.”

  “Even so, if you can do what you say, you can help me find Libby.”

  “Don’t underestimate yourself. You can find Libby. When you do, use what you’ve received from the book to the full extent of its power, but exercise caution when you do. You must be careful.”

  “Careful of ...?”

  “Have you ever wondered why the women in your family line are the only one anyone ever talks about?”

  Addison shrugged. “I haven’t thought about it much. When I learned who I was and what I could do, I assumed there had only been women because the abilities we have are passed down, grandmother to daughter to granddaughter.”

  “True. Males were born at one time, though. Earlier, I told you when Sybil left town, she took her girls and abandoned her sons. There was a reason for this. At the time, she believed the girls represented purity, all that is good in this world. The boys represented the evil and corruption that has plagued the world we’ve lived in since the beginning of time. Not that they were evil themselves. They weren’t.”

  “You knew them. What were they?”

  “Cunning, mischief-makers. I never saw them do anything I considered to be bad, but then, after their father died less than a year after their mother left, they left too. It is not known where they ended up afterward.”

  “Do any men in the family line still exist?”

  “There are two. The youngest was born thirty-six years ago.”

  Thirty-six. Years. Ago.

  It couldn’t be.

  What were the odds?

  “I’m thirty-six.”

  Joan stared at Addison a moment. “Yes, you are. The boy is your mother’s son, which makes him your brother. Your twin brother.”

  Her twin brother.

  Addison wrapped her hands around the steering wheel, unable to speak. Every fiber of her being ached, her veins pulsing as the ugly truth filtered through her system. Thoughts raced through her mind like a horse sprinting free from the starting gate.

  “Take your time,” Joan said. “It’s a lot to process.”

  For several minutes, Addison remained silent while Joan’s revelation echoed inside her ears over and over again on a repetitive loop. She wanted to stall, to keep it from sinking in. She didn’t want it to sink in. She wanted the last fifteen minutes in time to disappear, to evaporate and become nothing. It would be so much easier to pretend none of it was real. That he wasn’t real. Because if he was, her history as she knew it today was being rewritten again—another version she’d known nothing about.

  Somewhere inside, Addison knew Joan’s words were true. She’d always felt a presence inside her she’d never understood before until today. It was clear now what Joan meant when she’d said the veil of truth was sometimes easier for people to hide behind. Addison had been lied to her entire life, robbed of the opportunity of having a sibling. And not just a sibling, a twin. A protector. It was the one wish she’d had for as long as she could remember—to have someone else like her in her life.

  The truth was like a thief in the night, stripping her soul to its core.

  It wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t right.

  She wrapped her arms around herself, sucked in a lungful of air, and held it inside until she had no choice but to spew it all out.

  “This is why you’re here,” Addison said. “To tell me about the red diamond, and my brother.”

  Joan nodded. “After the diamond came to be in my possession, I had a vision of you. It was many years ago. I knew we’d meet one day when the time was right, and I’d sit beside you and tell you what I just have. Everything in your life has led to this moment.”

  “But why? Why now? Where is my brother? And why was I never told about him?”

  “I cannot give you those answers.”

  It was frustrating and impossible to accept.

  Joan had the answers.

  Why wouldn’t she share them?

  “What can you tell me?” Addison asked.

  “Visit your father. The truth lies within him.”

  Her father?

  She was angry.

  Angry with him.

  And even angrier with her mother.

  How could they give up their own son?

  “I know it will be hard for you to concentrate on anything but this, now that you know,” Joan said. “Don’t dwell in the past. Live in the present and focus on the task at hand. Finish the job you started, giving peace and eternal rest to those who seek you until you’re sure about the calling which will soon be bestowed on you.”

  “You expect me to help Sara and Libby, and yet you’ve offered me no help.”

  “Haven’t I? You didn’t need it in the past, and you don’t need it now. It’s like I’ve said, you are the key to unraveling the mystery, Addison. And now that you know where you came from, remember who you are. Place the stone in its rightful place. Everything you need and everything you are will be within you.”

  She spoke of it as if today was a new beginning, a time to shed the past and begin anew—the same person she’d been, but better. She wanted to lash out, a place to put her anger, but Joan wasn’t it.

  “I know how I seem right now,” Addison said. “I apologize. I’m not like this. It isn’t me. As difficult as it is, I’m grateful to have met you and for all you’ve told me.”

  “It’s been hundreds of years since I’ve shown myself to one of our descendants. You are far more unique than you know, more like Sybil than all who have come before her. Do not fear. You will always be protected. Be the strong woman I know you are. The woman we both know you are.”

  Joan peered out the car’s windshield and frowned. “A storm is brewing, and I have places to be. Best for you to go.”

  “I’ll always be grateful to you for today.”

  Joan nodded. “I want to leave you with a word of advice. You will wish to seek the raven, as the raven has scoured the earth in search of you.”

  “Who is the raven? What does he want from me?”

  “Many things, but above all to make you like him. You must choose, Addison. You must decide who you will become from this moment forward.”

  “Why will I need to—”

  Before she could finish the question, Joan was gone.

  Addison stood at the front door and steadied her nerves. For a small, fleeting moment, she considered turning around, instead of peeling back yet another layer of an unfamiliar onion. The curtains inside the house shifted to the side. A man pressed his face to the window and smiled.

  The front door opened, and Addison said, “Hi, Dad.”

  “Hey, honey.” He reached out, wrapped an arm around her, and kissed her on the forehead. “How are my two favorite girls?”

  Addison glanced down at Amara Jane, fast asleep in her carrier. “We’re doing fine.”

  He swished a hand toward the inside of the house and said, “Well, come on in.”

  Addison followed her father through the foyer and into the living room, and they both sat down.

  “I’m glad you stopped by today,” he said. “You wanna drink or anything? I have some juice in the fridge.”

  Addison shook her head.

  Her father pointed at a power outlet on the wall. “I’ve plugged those plastic baby things into all of the outlets so she’ll be safe to crawl around.”

  Addison mustered a grin. “She won’t be crawling for a while yet.”

  He smiled at his granddaughter. “I’d like to hold her, but I’ll wait until she wakes. She’s such a wonderful, precious thing. Your mother would have loved being around for this.”

  Addison’s wound had been salted.

  “Dad, I need to talk to you about something,” she said.

  They locked eyes,
and his smile dissipated. “You know, ever since you were a kid, I always knew when there was something weighing on your mind before you ever said a word. Same look you had when I saw you out on the front porch just now. Better to get it off your chest and come right out with it.”

  She considered how to frame what she was about to say, and whether it would be better to ease in or take a more direct approach. Her father had always been fair and kind. She had to believe there were only two reasons he’d keep such a big secret from her. Either her mother had convinced him to keep quiet, or he’d done it to protect her. Any other possibility didn’t make sense.

  “I need you to tell me about my brother,” Addison said.

  He leaned back, clenched his hands together, and bowed his head.

  “Oh,” he said. “Oh, wow. I hoped this day would never come. It’s not because I wanted to keep you from the truth. I wanted to spare you the pain of it.”

  “What happened to my brother? Where is he?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Why did you keep me and get rid of him, Dad? How could you give away your own son?”

  “I didn’t, sweetheart.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Your brother ... well, the thing is, he is not my son.”

  “Yes, he is. He has to be. He’s my twin.”

  “Addy ...”

  His words trailed off, and the two of them sat there, staring at each other. Tears swelled in Addison’s eyes as she contemplated his meaning.

  “Dad? You are my dad, aren’t you?”

  “I mean, yes, you are my daughter, and I will always be your father. It doesn’t matter how it happened. I raised you. I was there for you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “There was someone else, someone before me. Another man. Let me explain. I met your mother right after you were born. It was a terrible, dark time in her life. She was in a lot of pain, and she was depressed. She wouldn’t even eat—not much, anyway. Even in her grief, she lived for you, and somehow between the two of us, we pulled her from the darkness and gave her life again.”

  “But, you’re not my father.”

  “Of course, I am. I don’t have to be a blood relation to be a parent. I’ve loved you like you were mine from the moment I set eyes on you.”

  Addison wiped the tears from her eyes and stuttered the words, “Why didn’t you tell me, before now? Why didn’t either of you tell me?”

  “I have always lived a life of honesty and truth. I never wanted to keep it from you. But your mother felt it was for the best, that if you found out she’d conceived you with someone else, and you had a brother, you’d go looking for them.”

  “I would. They’re my family. Why did you go along with what she wanted?”

  “She said if I told you the truth, it would put you in danger.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Addison bolted off the sofa and slung the diaper bag over her shoulder. She wrapped a hand around the handle of the carrier. Her father reached out to stop her.

  “Don’t,” Addison said. “I’m leaving. I don’t know why I thought I could do this or handle this right now. I can’t. It’s too much. It’s all too much.”

  Breathe, Addison.

  Slow down and breathe.

  “Please don’t leave,” he said. “I know it’s hard, but there’s more you need to know. You’re right to be angry with me. Let’s get it all out in the open, and if you need space to figure it all out, I’ll give it to you. I’ll give you all the time you need.”

  To keep her father from speaking the truth, her mother would have had to come up with a story compelling enough to convince him what she feared was right.

  Addison released her grip on the carrier and lowered back down onto the couch. She threw her hands in the air and said, “All right, fine. No more lies. No more deception. I want to know everything.”

  He nodded. “I guess you want to know where your biological father and your brother are. I cannot tell you because I don’t know.”

  “Are there any other siblings I don’t know about?”

  He shook his head. “No one else. I promise.”

  “Why wasn’t I ever told about him?”

  “I didn’t even know about him at first. One night not long after you were born, we were sitting in bed, and your mother began talking about the man she was with before me. She said she’d become pregnant with twins and had a son and a daughter, which was you. I was in shock. I asked why the boy wasn’t with her, and she said the truth about what happened with him was too painful to talk about. I dropped the subject, thinking one day when she’d moved past it, we’d revisit the subject. It took a long time for her to open up, and I still don’t know all the details.”

  “What do you know?”

  “The relationship with the other man ended right after she had you both. For whatever reason, they split you up. He took the boy, and she kept you.”

  Addison shook her head. “Mom wouldn’t give her own child away and never see him again. It doesn’t make sense.”

  Addison walked to the kitchen, and her father followed. She grabbed a glass out of the cabinet, filled it with water, and downed it in one go.

  “Listen to me,” her dad said. “Everything your mom has ever done has been what she thought was best for you.”

  “How was giving up my brother—and not telling me—best for me?”

  “Your mother wanted you to have a normal life, and she wanted a normal life, a life which didn’t include magic. She wanted nothing to do with the abilities you have.”

  “How does all of this relate to my brother?”

  “The man she was with before ... he wasn’t just a man, like I am. He wasn’t, I don’t know, ordinary, I guess you could say. Your mother said she was unaware of it until she became pregnant, and then he revealed himself to her.”

  “What was he?”

  “I got the impression he had similar abilities to hers. When she spoke of the baby, it was with great emotion and sadness. I questioned her motives, sure, but I assumed she had a good reason to do what she did.”

  Amara Jane stirred in her carrier.

  “I need to make her a bottle,” Addison said.

  He reached out, wrapping his hands around Addison’s arms. “I’m sorry, honey. I am. I should have told you. How did you find out?”

  Addison switched the kitchen faucet on. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Yes, it does. It changes everything.”

  He was right.

  It did.

  He turned and said, “I’ll be right back.”

  Addison lifted Amara Jane out of her carrier. “It’s all right, sweetheart. Mommy’s here. Let’s get you fed, okay?”

  She stared at her daughter, wondering how anyone could let go of their child. And yet, people did for a variety of reasons. Although she couldn’t imagine it herself, there were friends in her life who had, people she knew and respected who’d put their child up for adoption or had the child raised by another family member. In every instance, the only consideration was for the betterment of the child. Sacrifice was about being mature enough to make the hardest decision of all when it was the right decision to make.

  Her father returned to the room with an envelope. He glanced at Addison, saw she had her hands full with Amara Jane, and tucked it inside her purse.

  “What is that?” Addison asked.

  “It’s a letter from your mother,” he said. “She wrote it right after you were born. She told me if anything ever happened to her, and you somehow learned about your brother, I was to give it to you.”

  Addison sat across from Luke and Lia, staring at the letter resting on her lap.

  “I ... umm ... don’t know where to begin,” Addison said. “So much has happened in the last twenty-four hours, I haven’t even processed it all yet.”

  “Is this about Sara Belle?” Lia asked.

  “In a way.”

&nbs
p; Addison relayed the recent events, starting with her meeting with Briggs and ending with the visit to her father’s house hours earlier.

  “Wait a minute,” Lia said. “Your dad’s not your real father? I can’t believe it.”

  “I can’t either,” Luke said. “I never would have suspected.”

  “I’ve spent all these years thinking I looked like him,” Addison said. “Crazy, right?”

  “No matter what’s happened, I know he loves you,” Luke said. “Have you opened the letter yet?”

  Addison shook her head. “I have no idea what to expect. He’s a man I’ve called dad all my life who isn’t my biological father, and I have a different father and a brother I’ve never met. I’m not sure I can handle any more surprises. I might implode.”

  “We’re here with you,” Lia said. “Whatever is in the letter, we’ll get through it together.”

  “She’s right,” Luke said. “You’re not alone, Addison, and you never will be.”

  “Thank you,” Addison said. “I’m grateful for both of you.”

  Lia rubbed her hands together. “All right, well, we’re ready when you are.”

  Addison unfolded the letter and read aloud.

  Addison,

  If you’re reading this now, it means I am no longer with you. It also means you have been told of your brother, and of your other father, and there’s a good chance you’ve become aware of who you are. It’s true. You do have a brother. His name is Corbin. Right now, I imagine you’re angry with me, and I expect you’re hurting to such a degree I can only imagine. You think I kept him from you, and the truth is, I did. Not because I wanted to, but because making you aware of your father and your brother won’t change the series of events from occurring the way they did. Please know every decision I have made was with the best of intentions. It has always been my utmost desire to protect you from the unknown, from things even I don’t understand. I hope you find it in yourself to forgive your father, Bill, the one who raised you. He stayed silent out of honor and respect for me, even though he didn’t agree with my decision.