The Hauntings Of Sugar Hill: The Complete Series

by M. L. Bullock

  “It’s over, Etienne! This child belongs to Susanna Serene Dufresne! This is not your child, not in life and not in death! You no longer have a claim on her! She belongs to her mother!” As suddenly as it had started, the wind stopped. We climbed out of the old well, dead-tired and soaked to the bone.

  Handsome and I sat on the ground, with me clutching the bundle. Maybe I was wrong, maybe this wasn’t the baby. I had to know for sure. I untied the bundle and saw the flash of white bone. Yes, this was Minette, Susanna’s baby.

  “Susanna, I have her! All is well now! No one can take her from you. She is yours now! I know you didn’t mean it! You didn’t know the price when you agreed. We know…”

  Trees whipped around us again, and I could see Etienne in the distance. She did not leave the shelter of the trees; her power had been broken. This had been her last stubborn effort to claim the child. Her price, she believed, for her services, but she was wrong. This was a child. A loved child, a wanted child, not an orphan. Minette belonged with her mother. I wrapped the baby back up and heard the sound of an infant crying. I shook the wet, musty bundle, and I could have sworn I felt her move.

  “Handsome! This baby!”

  “Yes, ma’am. It is her baby! Here she comes!” The wind continued to howl, but we didn’t back down from Etienne and her useless magic. Susanna stepped out of the well, looking completely dry and perfectly beautiful, just as I had imagined her. I held the baby in shaking hands. As she drew closer, I felt the cold seep into my bones. It was death I felt. I hoped I would never feel it again. I knew death because I had died before. I thought I had not remembered any of it, but I was wrong. I remembered everything.

  Then I remembered the sound of his voice, the voice of the man who attacked me. It was a familiar voice. The threats were familiar too. It wasn’t Roger Surrette. It was Ed Stanwyck who had come after me that day. It was Ed who had cut me and hoped to kill me. It was Ed who had done this, but he had failed. I was alive!

  Susanna stepped in front of me, and her eyes were filled with emotion.

  Merci beaucoup. Ma petite…Mama je t’aime…

  I handed Susanna the baby, still moving, still waiting to see her mother’s face. She pulled back the leather strap, which suddenly became a soft pink blanket. The baby’s face had light-brown skin, and her features were perfect, her eyes soft-looking, not dead at all. Susanna flashed me one last smile and stepped back from us with Minette in her arms.

  Handsome and I watched as Etienne’s power faded completely, then she faded too. We were left sitting on the ground at the top of the well, trying to breathe. I was rubbing my face with my hands, trying to get the mud out of my eyes, when I noticed I had the gold necklace in my hand.

  I held it up to see it better. It was a gold chain with a tiny angel pendant, a gift suitable for a new baby in Susanna’s time, and she’d left it for me.

  I heard a four-wheeler roll up not too far away and saw police lights in the woods. “Handsome Cheever, you are a true friend. Thank you for saving me.”

  “You are my true friend too, Avery Dufresne. We both see and hear those ghosts. Next time you need me, Handsome will help you. All you have to do is say, ‘Hey, Handsome!’”

  I laughed. It meant so much to hear him say that again. Now I knew what he meant. I practiced saying it again: “Hey, Handsome!” Together we laughed and waited for the rescue party to find us. I was a muddy mess, but I had found the baby. That was all that mattered.

  This was the best Fourth of July weekend ever, even without the fireworks.

  Epilogue

  Handsome Cheever

  Handsome Cheever was happy Avery was okay, but he knew that was not the only mystery at Sugar Hill. Minette was not the only ghost. No, indeed.

  There were things in the basement, things that had been trapped for a hundred years in a room with no doors or windows. They wanted to get out, and someone would set them free soon. They’d been talking to him for a long time.

  In a room full of mirrors, a lust-filled ghost waited for his soulmate, but he would settle for anyone who crossed his path. Another ghost wanted nothing less than the life of the new Matrone because the family fortune did not belong to the Dufresnes. No, indeed. At least, that was what the ghost believed.

  No, this isn’t over, Miss Holiday. Not by a long shot. So sing on, Miss Billie! Sing on, Lady! Handsome is going to need your help. You won’t let me down, will you, Lady?

  Handsome loves it when you smile at him like that. He really does.

  Fire on the Ramparts

  Sugar Hill Book 2

  This book is dedicated to my children who allowed me to practice my storytelling skills every night at bedtime.

  Shh! Did you hear footsteps in the hallway?

  He would not stay for me, and who can wonder?

  He would not stay for me to stand and gaze.

  I shook his hand, and tore my heart in sunder,

  And went with half my life about my ways.

  A. E. Houseman

  1859-1936

  Prologue

  Susanna Serene Dufresne

  The Ramparts 1821

  My legs wobbled beneath me, but I couldn’t stop now. Shawntee’s heavy footsteps stomped behind me, and I imagined I could feel his breathing. It was hard and heavy, like his fists. Hoping to lose him in the crowded streets and twisting alleyways of the Ramparts, I turned and turned again. I did not dare look behind me—I did not want to see his ferocious snarl. The dark-skinned man’s eyes were like a wolf’s—narrow and green and absent of any humanity or compassion. All of Etienne’s daughters knew that when Shawntee turned those eyes upon you, you were doomed. Flower knew this.

  And Genevieve. Poor Genevieve.

  How many of Etienne’s “daughters” had he demanded favors from? How many had suffered his wrath when they refused? For all her careful words about the importance of virtue, Etienne failed to protect us from her own brother.

  Oh God, don’t let him kill me.

  It rained hard tonight, and the stones were slick and cold under my feet—I could feel the sliminess beneath my shoes. These shoes were meant for indoor activities, not running through the Ramparts. I tripped through a pile of refuse that littered Poor Man’s Lane, but I could not stop! I would run through hell itself if I had to! I sobbed as I struggled to stay on my weak legs.

  How had this happened to me? I was the wife of Chase Dufresne! I had received no papers of divorce, and no solicitor had come to notify me that Chase and I were no longer married. I would not take Etienne’s word alone. I would see my husband myself, and then I would know the truth. Yes, then I would know what to do. If he wanted to divorce me, he must tell me so himself.

  Please, Chase. Please help me!

  Despite his abandonment these many months, I could not make myself believe he had cast me off forever. I had been a fool, but surely I had paid for my sins.

  Shawntee growled my name. Susanna!

  His deep voice rang menacingly through the alleyway, and no one was there to help me. I looked left and then right, wiping the rain from my face. I felt the blood on the insides of my legs, but there was nothing I could do about that now. I had to escape!

  Etienne had stolen my baby—and left me to die! I had to believe my daughter lived—yes, she must live because Etienne needed her. She would need to recoup the losses she imagined I had caused her. I had not been allowed to see my daughter’s face, yet I imagined it. I had cried and begged Etienne before I passed out to allow me to hold the baby just once, but when I awoke to my cold, empty room, both she and my baby were gone.

  She had what she wanted—her payment for my marriage. I had cried and screamed, but no one came. Sulli’s warning had echoed in my ears, reminding me of what would happen to me if I remained here. I had managed to dress myself and slowly creep down the stairs. Surprisingly, no one was downstairs either.

  Was it Sunday? Yes, it was, and all the house was at Mass for a little while. I knew it was my chance—proba
bly my only chance!

  What of the curse? What of Sulli’s charm? I did not want to believe that Sulli’s charm would unintentionally work against my baby or me, but I knew her magic was strong. Had it ever missed its mark? I’d been laboring for two days, and there’d been no sign of Sulli. Etienne must have forbidden her entrance. Why else would she, my true mother, not help me?

  I’ve lost my mother and my daughter!

  “Stop, Susanna! Stop right now!” The voice did not sound like Shawntee’s, but I dared not answer it.

  I scrambled in front of a carriage, waving my hands frantically trying to force the driver to stop, but he did not. I briefly tripped over my skirts but got up again. If I stayed in the mud, I would stay down forever. This was the moment, the moment that counted. I would look back on this moment one day and say, “Yes, everything changed then. Right then.” I had no tears, my voice was gone and I was emotionally and physically spent, but I would fight on. I got back on my feet and looked for a way to escape. And which way should I go? How much farther could I run?

  Shawntee was on the other side of the street now, waiting for the carriages to pass by. His evil glare told me that he would not only catch me but hurt me in crueler ways than I could imagine. “Someone help me!” I screamed at the carriages that rode up and down. To my utter surprise, a black carriage stopped, and I caught my breath. The carriage had a gold “D” painted on the door panel, and I knew whose it was—this was a Dufresne carriage!

  I ran to the door and stood on the side of the carriage. I was sure I looked a sight, but Chase would have mercy on me. He would have to help me—if he ever loved me, he would have to!

  “Please…” I began my plea.

  “Get in,” the figure said from the darkness of the carriage as he flung open the door. Without question, I obeyed and leaned back against the seat with my eyes closed as I tried to catch my breath.

  Yes, Shawntee. Go tell your sister that I have gone home to be with my Chase—we will be free now, free from your grasp.

  We had at last satisfied her evil terms. She had our daughter as payment! And I heard that Arthur Dufresne was dead. What could keep us apart?

  Then, as if Fate intended to answer me, a shaft of moonlight revealed the face of my rescuer. It was not my own dear husband, Chase. My breath stilled as I stared into the face of my betrayer, the one who had wrought all this agony upon me. Ambrose. It was he who had bade me pledge to be his soul mate, not for this life alone but for all the lives after it. He who had seduced me and left me nude and vulnerable on the tiny island in the pond beside Sugar Hill.

  My skin was already freezing, but now my blood ran cold too. A curl of cigarette smoke wafted between us, and he leaned back in the corner of the coach. His elegantly shod foot rested on the seat beside him, his elbow on his knee as he observed me. It was as if he did not know quite what to do with me. As if I were something repugnant he’d discovered on the bottom of his shoe.

  Perhaps he would finally kill me and end the agony of my hopeless life. Perhaps he would. But couldn’t he have done that already? How many times had I seen him walk past the window of my prison? More than a few months. Usually he did not acknowledge me, yet other times he was mockingly polite and raised his hat or cast his wide smile at me. Beyond that, he did not come to see me or offer me any help whatsoever. Now he was here, my soul mate, my torturer, the man who’d brought me to ruin.

  And there was nowhere left to run.

  I heard a loud sound, a rock striking the side of the carriage. I nearly screamed, and Ambrose stared at me, his dark eyes appraising me, his full red lips keeping the cigarette in place. The carriage came to a stop at a street crossing, and the driver let out a yelp of disgust. To my surprise Shawntee ran to the door of the carriage and swung it open. In a gruff voice he commanded, “Get out, Susanna. Come out and leave the nice man alone. You wouldn’t want to get him hurt.”

  At that, Ambrose flicked out his cigarette through the opposite window and without so much as a word kicked Shawntee in the face with the bottom of his black boot, sending the tall man sprawling to the ground. Shawntee screamed like he’d been shot, but his pain didn’t move Ambrose. He reached in his pocket and removed a few coins, tossed them out the window at Shawntee, closed the door and then slapped the side of the carriage. Etienne’s brother did not come after us again. The last glance I had of him, he was picking up the coins and stuffing them in his pockets. He stared at us but did not make any effort to continue his pursuit. I didn’t know what Ambrose might be thinking, but I knew Shawntee well enough to know he’d try again. Eventually.

  Ambrose was elegantly dressed as he always was, but I appeared as if I had been walking the streets of the Ramparts all night. And if Etienne had had her way, I would have been. She had no love in her. No mercy. What a fool I had been all these years to think she cared for me as a mother loved a daughter.

  And still Ambrose said nothing, but at least now those dark eyes were fixed on the countryside and not on me. I began to worry about where he was taking me. This road would not lead us to Sugar Hill; where was I bound?

  “Are you taking me back to Chase? This is not the way to Sugar Hill.”

  “Oh, the things you say, Susannah. As if I would be a party to bigamy.” He clucked his tongue at me as if I were the silliest woman he’d ever spoken to.

  “Bigamy? What do you mean? I have married no one else!”

  “Ah, that may be true, or it may not be true, but for sure Chase has married Athena Pelham. And they are expecting a son. He does not wish to see you. You are an adulteress, Susanna Serene. There is no changing that.”

  Despite his rescue of me I lashed out at him, “And I have you to thank for that, with your pretty words! Everything you said was a lie! You tricked me and abandoned me, Ambrose. You left me to face it all on my own.” I was weeping furiously now. “Let me out now! I would rather die than stay in your company. You have brought me nothing but misfortune for all your words.”

  He gripped my wrists, pulled me close to him and whispered in my ear, “Why should I let you go? We made a pledge to one another, Susanna! There is no going back! Did you think there wouldn’t be a price to be paid?” He released my wrists, and I rubbed them to ease the pain. I knew that his rough handling would leave bruises on my skin. “You will remain with me at Thorn Hill.”

  I blinked at him, scarcely believing his words. “I cannot believe you would think I would consent to go anywhere with you. I do not want to be with you. I would never agree to that. So unless you want to force yourself upon me…”

  He tossed back his head and laughed at that. “My dear, in your current state you are hardly a seductive morsel. Far from the Belle of the Quadroon Ball now. Fortunately for you, we have a bond that cannot be broken, dear Susanna Serene. And I don’t think I’ll need to go to those extremes. For all the hate you have for me now, one day you will desire me again. I am confident of that.” He dug in his black and gray suit pocket and found another cigarette.

  I had no words after hearing such a ridiculous declaration, so he continued, “You see the smaller picture. I see the larger picture; I have rid us of an obstacle—the obstacle of your unfortunate and unhappy marriage. Now that you have made peace with that bitch, Etienne, we can move on with our own lives, our own plans.”

  “Plans? What plans? You must be mad! I do not want to be with you, Ambrose. I love Chase—I will always love him! I will make him see this was all a mistake.” Then inspiration struck me. Ambrose could make this all go away if he were only willing to tell my husband the truth. Perhaps he would, if he truly loved me. I reached across the bench and touched his hand. “Show me that you are a man of honor, Ambrose. Tell Chase the truth about us, that you betrayed me to take your vengeance on him!”

  With steely anger, Ambrose banged on the side of the carriage again, opened the door and stepped outside. “Is that what you think? That I wanted vengeance? I told you who we were and what we were. I did not make you do anything yo
u didn’t wish to do, Susanna!” The carriage had stopped on a long, dark road. I blinked at him in the darkness. I did not know where we were, but I was still freezing and now even more frightened. I was sure Ambrose would throw me out of his carriage. Instead he walked to the front and spoke to the driver. In a minute, he came back and spoke less kindly now.

  “Go see for yourself, Susanna Serene. Go to Sugar Hill and see what awaits you there. You are a fool! However, if you do go, know that I will never forgive you. If you reject me now, I will make sure you pay for any affection you receive from me later.” I could hardly understand what he meant by that threat, but his refusal to help me with Chase angered me.

  “I will never have any affection toward you, Ambrose. Let me go!”

  With a dark look he jumped up and stood in the carriage doorway. “Then so be it. And when you are finished making a fool of yourself, my soul mate, come to Thorn Hill. When you do return, never will his name pass your lips—in my presence or out of it!”

  Suddenly, Ambrose kissed me savagely, and then without another word he was gone. This surely must be some kind of cruel trick. What is happening? As always, Ambrose confused me. I poked my head out of the window as we drove away. Ambrose walked in the other direction, presumably toward Thorn Hill, and he’d already lit another cigarette.

  I curled up in the seat and after a little while fell asleep in the carriage, uncaring about my stained skirts, my unkempt hair, my swollen red eyes and bare, dirty feet. All I wanted was my own dear love, my Chase, my husband! He would have to hear the truth—he would have to know that I loved him still. When I woke up, the carriage had stopped. Through the Spanish-moss-covered oak trees I could see the bright lights of the house that I had once thought of as my prison. Now I wanted nothing more than to go back there. I could endure anything, even a spirit’s taunts, to be with Chase again. Was I dreaming? Could this really be true? After a few seconds of hesitation I reasoned that I could not linger here in the carriage forever.