Night didn’t think it was nearly enough. He looked back and forth uncertainly, between Miles and Elizabeth. Every hair stood on end, but he stopped growling. He hopped off the bed, and probably went under it. That had to be where Pandora was. Trixie was motionless, still blocking Elizabeth from reaching Miles, should she try again. Chip whined, and I felt bad for him. Miles did too, because the doors opened. Chip came in and looked around at everyone assembled in our bedroom, as the rest of us focused our attention on Elizabeth. Reassured that we were all uninjured, Chip sat down beside Trixie. He watched Elizabeth curiously.
She wasn’t shrieking anymore, but she was still huddled on the ground, rocking back and forth.
“You must be Elizabeth,” Miles said, in the same calm voice he uses with Pandora when she’s scared.
She looked up and stared at us both as if trying to comprehend. She looked like… well, honestly, like she was drugged.
“You are… different.” Her voice was thin and high pitched, and her luminous blue eyes latched onto Miles intensely. She then looked at Trixie. “She is different.”
Trixie was still, but every muscle was tense.
“Do you know why you’re here?” asked Miles.
She looked away, and in her eyes I could see understanding and confusion sweeping across like clouds chased by the wind.
“I belong here,” she said.
Huh. She’s telling the truth. I can’t say I was glad to know that!
“Why… do you belong here?” I asked.
She looked at me now. She struggled to find an answer, or to hold onto the question long enough to search for one.
“This place bears my name,” she said.
“Your name?” I questioned.
“My name. It is my own.”
What? That would mean… the previous owner murdered her? Or knew about her murder? I couldn’t think of another explanation, because there were no voices of truth contradicting her.
“The restaurant was named after an imaginary person in a story,” said Miles.
She looked so confused, and gripped her head in her hands.
“It is mine,” she said, her voice strained. “The story is mine.”
Trixie tilted her head first one way and then the other as she watched Elizabeth, as if trying to understand something.
I gave Miles an anxious look and we waited several seconds, but Elizabeth didn’t speak.
“Do you remember what year you were born?” Miles asked.
She looked around the room.
“1852…”
“Do you know who you are?” asked Miles.
She focused on him, confused.
“You are different,” she said, looking at him hard.
“Yes, I suppose I am in some ways,” said Miles.
“Different and yet not as different as the other…” her voice trailed off and she stared vacantly.
“You’re kind of different yourself,” I said.
Chip lay down with a thud.
“I am…” she said, holding out one of her arms. She rotated her wrist slowly so that she could see first one side, then the other. If she’d just be still, she could easily see both sides at once. She was a lot more transparent than Miles ever was, although not as much as I’d expected after hearing Troy’s description.
“Do you know who you are?” asked Miles.
“Elizabeth,” she said, after struggling to remember.
“Do you have a last name?” I asked.
She struggled harder this time.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Do you know why you’re here?” Miles asked.
Confusion, then panic washed over her face.
“Something happened. I shouldn’t be here.”
“Where should you be?” I asked.
Her luminous eyes looked through me.
“In one piece,” she said flatly.
Okay, now that… was creepy. I wasn’t sure I wanted that elaborated on, but Miles did.
“Can you explain what that means?”
“I’m in fragments. I’m… not right,” she said, looking at her arms, a puzzled crease between her transparent eyes.
“Do you remember when this happened?” asked Miles.
She thought. Lucidity faded in and out.
“A very long time ago,” she said, smoothing her long sleeves with her thin hands, and twisting her bracelet.
Trixie tilted her head again.
“Do you know when?” Miles asked.
She gripped her head between her hands and cried out so suddenly, I flinched.
“Help me!” she screamed, and was gone.
Miles and I jumped up and stared at the place where she’d been.
“Wh-what just happened?” I whispered, trembling. I realized that Miles was shaking too, and Trixie looked distressed. I hugged him hard, and Trixie pressed against us. We stood there for several minutes, then I asked again, “What happened?”
“I… I don’t know,” Miles said slowly. He tore his eyes away from the place where Elizabeth so suddenly vanished, and looked at me instead. He brushed aside a strand of hair that fell across my face. There was concern in his eyes, and confusion, but no fear. “We’ll figure it out, Anika. I’ve no idea how, but… we’ll figure it out. We’ll find a way to help her.”
His confidence reassured me, and I nodded.
“Are you going to be able to go back to sleep now?” I asked.
“No, and I know you’re not. It’s too bad room service doesn’t deliver dessert in the middle of the night.”
“Well… it is our Lodge, after all,” I said. “We could go to the dessert, if the dessert won’t come to us.”
“Really?” asked Miles. “Do you want to do that?”
“Yeah, let’s do,” I said. I gave him one more squeeze, then turned to rummage in one of the dresser drawers for attire more suited to walking the halls on our way to raid the Lodge’s kitchen, than my nightgown.
By the time I finished changing into my velour pants, a t-shirt, and jacket, Miles was ready too.
He sat on the cedar chest at the foot of the bed, petting Trixie as they talked. I sat down beside Miles and they both looked at me.
“Everything okay? As okay as it can be, anyway?” I asked.
“Yeah,” said Miles, as he gave Trixie one last pat and we both stood. I ruffled Trixie’s fur, then took the hand Miles offered and followed him. “She’s as disturbed by what happened as we are. This is outside of her… realm. Those are her words. In spite of all that she knows about me, it doesn’t help her to understand Elizabeth.”
“How… strange,” I said, as Miles opened our door, locked it behind us, and pressed the button to call the elevator. “I assumed that everything she knew about your semi-transparent state would be relatable to Elizabeth’s. Why I would think that after what we just witnessed though, I’ve no idea.”
“I’m completely at a loss, my experiences aren’t helping to understand this,” said Miles.
“So… were you ever confused like she was? Even a little bit?”
“No, not at all. When I reappeared in semi-transparent form, I was aware of some things, I think we’ve talked about this before.”
“You said you knew it was irrevocable, and that no one could see or hear you,” I remembered.
“Right. Of course you ultimately changed all of those things. But when I appeared four years after my death, that’s what I knew to be the truth of my situation. I was never confused though, in spite of there being so much I didn’t understand.”
“Elizabeth seems like she’s in pain,” I pointed out. “Were you?”
“Only when I fell in love with you.”
“Me too,” I said, as he hugged me. “I know exactly what you mean.”
“I know you do,” Miles said. The elevator doors slid open. We stepped inside, and he pressed the button for the ground floor. “You were just as tortured as I was. Only… at least I had the hope of oblivion, when you
were working so hard to set me free. You knew you’d be left alone, once you succeeded.”
“I did, but I also knew it meant you’d never be alone again. You already spent over a hundred and forty years like that, and… I couldn’t bear for you to spend the rest of earth’s existence that way, no matter what it cost me.”
Miles didn’t speak right away, and I looked up at him. At the look in his eyes, I began to melt.
“I love you with all my heart, Anika,” he said.
“I love you too Miles, and you better hold onto me, because you’re making my knees weak.”t
“I am holding onto you,” he laughed softly. “I’m never letting you go.”
Then he began to kiss me, and I promptly forgot everything else.
The swish of the elevator door opening dimly filtered in, but I was preoccupied with kissing the most gorgeous guy on earth and ignored it.
“Don’t you two have a room?” I heard Xander say several seconds later, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“What are you guys doing up so late?” asked Miles, and I looked over to see all four of our friends standing in the corridor outside the open elevator door.
“Well we were going to take the elevator to our floor, but clearly… it’s already occupied,” smiled Xander.
“Looks like it’s the stairs for us,” said Annette, with an exaggerated sigh.
“Just you wait,” I said. “Mark my words, you’ll be as hung up on each other after you get married, as Miles and I are.”
“You will,” Miles agreed. “Anika, I notice that no one has asked what we’re doing up so late.”
“I noticed the same thing, Miles,” I said.
“I think it’s pretty clear what you two were doing…” Xander said behind his hand to Jenny, John and Annette, and they laughed.
“Should we tell them, Anika?” Miles asked me, and the laughter in his eyes made me laugh.
“Let’s do, Miles,” I said.
“We’re on our way to Elizabeth’s for dessert, and to discuss the visitation we just had from our resident apparition,” said Miles.
“You saw her?” exclaimed John, as his, and everyone else’s eyes widened.
“We did,” said Miles. “Care to join us? We’ll tell you all about it.”
“I’m in! We’re in, I mean,” said Xander, grabbing Jenny’s hand. She rolled her eyes at him, but not in an angry way.
“Yeah, sure,” said John, after looking to Annette for approval.
“Right this way, then,” said Miles.
Holding hands, we exited the elevator, and our friends followed along beside us. We nodded to the employee working the night shift at the check-in counter.
“How are things, Chad?” asked Miles.
“Going very well, Mr. Bannerman.”
“Very good. Tomorrow I’d like your opinion of the check-in program used here at the Lodge, compared to the one at the hotel. I understand it may not be the easiest to navigate.”
“Yes sir, it’s a lot clunkier than what I’m used to.”
“Send me an email with the details tonight, while you’re between guests, and we’ll talk during your next shift.”
“Yes sir, I’ll do that.”
“Thanks, Chad.”
We continued on through the lobby, where the fire in the huge fireplace still burned.
“I’ll forward Chad’s email to both of you,” said Miles, looking toward John and Annette. “Anika and I’ll let you know when we meet with him, also. You’ll want to be involved in any changes we implement.”
“We should talk tomorrow about the website and cloud security,” said John. “Improvements need to be made, otherwise it’s a matter of time before we get hacked.”
“Let’s plan on first thing in the morning, then. I trust your knowledge and expertise, that’s why you’re here. Whatever needs to be done, plan on doing it.”
Miles unlocked the doors to Elizabeth’s, and we went inside.
A mahogany hostess station with marble top stood to one side. A large chandelier hung from the golden pressed tin ceiling, its prisms faintly reflecting the dim light. The multi-tone gray carpet was as thick as that in the rest of the Lodge, and the walls above the dark wood baseboard and paneling were painted a deep green. Large arched doorways to the right and left revealed separate dining areas. The tables were covered in heavy white cloths, places set, ready and waiting for breakfast in the morning. Through the windows at the end of each dining room, the outdoor lighting revealed snowflakes gently falling. To the right, a step up on a raised platform, stood the baby grand piano.
“Chef Jenny, why don’t you lead the way,” said Miles, and she smiled.
“Absolutely, follow me.”
Jenny walked ahead of us past the mahogany bar. Goblets of various kinds hung upside down above it. Bottles of different sizes and shapes lined the shelf behind it, their images reflected in the mirror that filled the wall in back of them.
“I hope Chef isn’t upset that we’re raiding his kitchen,” I said.
“Are you kidding?” said Miles. “Chef Antonio loves you. He won’t mind. He’ll forgive the rest of us too, since we’re with you.”
I laughed.
“He won’t mind,” Jenny agreed, smiling. She led us through the large kitchen to a walk-in refrigerator. She opened the door, lifted out a large cheesecake covered in white chocolate curls, and handed me the slip of paper that lay on top of its wrapping.
I took it curiously, and read it out loud.
“For Anika Bannerman. Please enjoy. Chef Antonio.”
“Oh my goodness! On top of everything else—I can’t believe he did this!” I exclaimed.
“I can,” said Miles. “He adores you. And who can blame him.”
“He said he didn’t want you to be disappointed when you came to the kitchen looking for a snack in the middle of the night,” said Jenny.
I laughed again, as she set the cheesecake on one of the counters and unwrapped it, and Xander brought over dessert plates.
“I did that a lot at the estate over the summer,” I said. “He’s so sweet to remember! It isn’t as though he wasn’t busier than he’s probably ever been today. Miles, you should give him another raise.”
“Yes, dear,” Miles smiled, as he put his arms around me.
“Is there a pen here somewhere?” I asked.
“Yeah, here,” said Xander, retrieving one from a station which held note pads for taking orders.
I thought for a second, then smiled and wrote on the back of the note. When Jenny finished putting generous slices of cheesecake on the plates and wrapped what little remained, I lay my note to Chef on top. Then Jenny placed it back in the refrigerator, and taking our plates, we carried them to a table in the center of the wall of windows looking out on the grounds in front of the Lodge.
“It’s absolutely beautiful,” I said. It was a white world outside. White lawn, White pine trees, white sky, and white snowflakes falling.
“It seems like it should still be Christmas,” said Annette.
“This scene belongs on a greeting card,” said Jenny.
“You might consider having a photographer take some shots of the Lodge,” said John. “You might want some to replace those that are currently on the website.”
“Good idea,” said Miles. “Anika, do you have the number for the advertising agency we’ve used before?”
“In my phone,” I said. “Want me to call tomorrow?”
“Perfect,” said Miles.
“So what’s the deal, anyway?” asked Xander, his expression belying the annoyed tone of his voice. “Talking about snow, and websites. I had no idea you two were so cruel! Giving us such a lead-in, and then not another word about your middle of the night visitation from Elizabeth!”
“Oh, right,” I said. “Well, you know… considering our background, it’s really not that big a deal for us.”
Of course that wasn’t the truth, I was kidding, and everyone laughed.
“Alright Xander, I’ll take pity on you,” said Miles. “Although Anika, you better start. The first thing I remember is you yelling, and tackling me.”
That made everyone laugh, too.
“I was trying to protect you!” I said, and rolled my eyes as I took a bite of the white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. Oh my word, it was so good! Chef was totally getting another raise. He’d soon be our highest paid employee, at this rate. “Night was hissing and growling.”
“I had no idea cats could growl!” said Annette. “It wasn’t the dogs?”
“No, it was Night,” I said. “The dogs weren’t even in our room. Well—that part’s kind of confusing, somehow Trixie was in there—anyway, Night was hissing and growling, and woke me up. I sat up to see what was upsetting him, and saw Elizabeth standing beside our bed, reaching out to touch Miles.”
“No way!” said Xander, his eyes wide. Jenny and Annette gasped, and John looked concerned.
“Yes, and I sure wasn’t going to let that happen! I was afraid of what that might do to Miles. So I yelled at her to back off, and tried to shield him. That’s what happened.”
I looked at Miles and raised an eyebrow. He smiled and kissed my cheek.
“Thank you, for wanting to protect me. I’m sure you didn’t have time to think things through, but in the future just wake me up. I’ll handle it. I do have quick reflexes, you know.”
“I know, you nearly squished me!”
“Sorry,” Miles smiled. “I knew something was going on behind me, and whatever it was, I didn’t want you near it.”
“Why do you think Elizabeth wanted to touch you?” Jenny asked apprehensively.
“The only reason I can think of is because I’m ‘different,’ as she kept saying,” said Miles. “She was very confused.”
“Well… she’s not touching you, that’s for sure,” I said firmly. “I’ll make sure of it, even if I have to stay awake for the rest of my life to do it. Would you mind getting me a latte machine, dear? That will help.”
Our friends smiled at that. They know how much I love lattes.
“How’s this, honey. Instead of depriving yourself of sleep, from now on I’ll put a force field around us when we go to bed. That way neither you nor I will have to worry about it.”
“I love your plan,” I said. “I’ll be able to sleep as long as you do that.”
The Lodge at Whispering Pines Page 7