by Olsen, Lisa
Yes
“I knew it! He did want to go out with me, didn’t he?”
Yes
“We are not here to discuss your lovelife,” Sara muttered irritably.
“Speak for yourself. Is he okay?”
No
“Christ, is he… is he dead?”
Yes
Sara stared at Joanie over the top of the board. “I don’t want to do it anymore. This is stupid. We’re just winding ourselves up for no reason; we don’t have any more answers than we had before.”
“No, shut up. We started this, we have to finish it. Who killed him? Who killed Hugh?” Joanie insisted.
9
“Answer the fucking question!” Joanie yelled in frustration. “I want to know what the hell is going on!”
In that instant, the windows blew open with a tremendous gust of wind, crashing hard enough to crack the ancient leaded glass. Both women jumped at the sound, but before they could get up, the electricity flickered and went out. Sara struggled to get the windows closed against the raging wind, which died in one last breath, leaving the windows to slam shut in a sudden vacuum of silence.
“I think there’s a flashlight in the drawer,” Sara said, her voice sounding loud to her ears in the sudden stillness.
“I got it,” Joanie replied from the fireplace, where she was already lighting a row of candles on the mantle.
“It’s probably a sudden windstorm that cut the power. Just a weird coincidence,” Sara offered weakly, digging in the drawer for the flashlight.
“Sara… look at this.” Holding a candle over the board, Sara could see the letters had all been obscured, as if charred by intense heat until it was one big scorch mark.
Definitely not a coincidence.
“That’s it; this place is giving me the creeps. I’m telling you, Sara, if not for yourself, think about Jack. You have to get him the hell out of here.”
“Why, because a ghost told me to? Joanie, she couldn’t even tell me he’d be safe if I took him out of here. Maybe it’s better to face the danger head on and deal with it?”
“This is not the right kind of environment to raise him in. A haunted house? This is not normal. You’re gonna end up scarring him for life.”
“Are you kidding me? Compared to LA this is freakin’ paradise. I’ll take a haunted house over gang violence and bullies any day. Besides, where else am I going to find so many people willing to protect him? There’s not a soul in the area who wouldn’t protect him like their own. I can’t top that in LA where his own father won’t give him the time of day.”
“You’re crazy,” Joanie threw up her hands in disgust, stalking off. “I’m not gonna let you ruin your life and Jack’s too. We’ll talk about it tomorrow when you can act like a rational human being. I’m going to bed.”
“Talk all you want, I’m not budging.” Sara leaned back in her chair, kicking her feet up on the desk for emphasis. For all she knew Joanie could be in cahoots with Cole to get her to leave and sell off the mansion. The entire Ouija board thing could have been part of the scheme and maybe Gemma had blown open the windows to stop the travesty? Though she was one of her oldest friends, Sara didn’t underestimate Joanie’s self serving attributes. What had she said at the fair? That she’d talk Sara into caving? If she thought she could get a little kickback from Cole and a fancy new boyfriend out of the deal, who knew what she was capable of?
But to use Jack? Sara’s righteous anger fizzled away. Joanie was the one who stayed by her side in the hospital when she’d gone into labor with Jack. She was the one who showed up for every single birthday party of his, even though no other adults came, not even family. Sara couldn’t believe she’d use him like that; she had to be genuinely freaked out. “Joanie…” she called out, setting her feet back on the floor to chase after her, when she heard an ear piercing scream followed by an indescribable racket and then utter silence.
Chapter Sixteen
Running as fast as she could, Sara slid to a stop on the marble tiles as she found Joanie lying at the base of the stairs, her limbs at odd angles and a growing stain by her temple. “Sweet Jesus… Mrs. Poole!” Sara yelled at the top of her lungs, sliding down to her knees to check for a pulse. “Oh thank God,” she breathed at finding it fast but shallow. Looking around desperately for something to stop the bleeding, she grabbed for a table runner, knocking a basket of fake fruit to the ground in her haste to bring it up to Joanie’s head. “Mrs. Poole! Thomas! Anybody, I need help!” She had almost started to think the house was too big for the sound of her voice to carry to them when Mrs. Poole appeared in her night robe, hair hanging in a braid over her shoulder.
“Good heavens, did she take a spill?”
“Call an ambulance, she hit her head at the very least and she’s out cold. She could have a broken…” Sara’s voice wavered as tears threatened. Anything could be broken. Her arms, legs, spine… she might already be paralyzed. “Just call them.”
“The closest hospital is over forty miles away. I’ll call Doctor Marwick, he’ll know what to do,” she hustled off, her face pinched with worry.
Sara could hear Thomas turning Katie away, sending her back to bed and she wished he hadn’t done that. Even if the girl had no medical training at all, she could have used the extra pair of hands. Salvation materialized as Will arrived, his face drawn with concern.
“Fuck me, what happened?” he breathed, snapping on the main lights and pulling off his coat before returning to her side.
“She fell down the stairs. I guess… I didn’t see it. We were arguing and she stormed off and…”
“Oh Sara…” Will covered her hand with his, “Now’s not the time to bother with that, she’ll live to chew you out another day, I expect,” he offered a grim smile. “Besides her noggin, is she bleeding from anywhere else?”
Sara swallowed back the tears, trying to focus on what she could do to help. “I don’t think so, but I’m afraid to move her. I don’t want to make it worse.”
“Right you are,” he nodded, satisfying himself that her pulse was still there. “I won’t pretend to be a doctor, but I reckon we’ve done everything we can until Marwick arrives.”
“Don’t you think we should call an ambulance? She’s so still… what if she’s bleeding internally?”
“Hey now, no sense in looking for trouble, it’ll find us easy enough. Doctor will know what to do, have faith in that,” he patted her hand gently. “She doesn’t seem to be breathing labored, and her pulse is strong. It’s probably for the best she’s out cold; the body’s way of saving her the pain.”
“If you say so,” Sara sighed, unable to keep from thinking none of it was for the best. In her eyes, she was at least partly to blame for the fall. If Joanie hadn’t been so upset, she might not have stormed off like that. And with those ridiculous heeled slippers… all it took was one misstep.
Dr. Marwick arrived before too long, coat on over striped pajamas. An austere looking man with bushy black eyebrows and jowls that gave him a permanent frown, he gave the Pooles a nod of recognition, surrendering his hat before entering the hall.
“I’ll take over now, my Lady,” he hardly waited for a response before Sara found herself shouldered out of the way.
“She fell…”
“Yes, I can see that.”
“Is she going to be alright?”
“Mrs. Poole, why don’t you make Lady Darling a nice pot of tea and see to it that she settles down some, eh?” The man had little bedside manner, and was brusque in his movements, definitely would have rubbed Joanie the wrong way if she was conscious for it. Sara could care less as long as he knew his job, but she didn’t much like being ordered away from her friend’s side. Looking to Will for support, he shook his head.
“Let’s go wait in the study, leave the man to his work.”
“I’ll be needing your assistance, Will,” Marwick stayed him with a hand. “Let the ladies do what they do best without us.”
Sara’s mouth fell open to give him an earful on what she thought about that sentiment, but instead she turned on her heel for the study. The important thing was for Joanie to get the help she needed, even if the doc was a total jerk. Unable to settle down, even with the soothing cup of chamomile tea Mrs. Poole brought, it wasn’t until the Doctor came back in that Sara stopped tapping her feet against the floor nervously.
“How is she, Doctor?”
“She’ll be right as rain in no time,” the big man replied with a tired sigh. “It could have been much worse by far. She has a mild concussion and I’ve set her arm in a splint, she’ll need to come round to my office for a proper cast tomorrow. Will, if you’ll bring her round at half past ten that would suit me best.”
Will nodded, helping himself to a cup of tea and Mrs. Poole excused herself to fetch more hot water.
Relieved beyond words, Sara needed to see for herself. “Can I go and see her?”
“I gave her something to help her sleep; I think it’s best you let her get some rest.”
“You gave her a sedative?” Sara blinked. Wasn’t a concussion victim not supposed to sleep too deeply?
Marwick seemed not at all concerned with the question. “I did. She seemed most… agitated. I thought it best to keep her from doing further injury to herself.”
“Agitated about what? Was she in a lot of pain?”
“It’s late, my Lady,” Marwick drew himself up self-importantly. “If you’ve no other patients to attend to I’m afraid I’m out of mine. Good night.” With a nod of bare civility, he left without a further word.
“What a…”
“Tosser.”
“I don’t know what that means, but it sounds right,” Sara agreed with a sour smile. “I’m going to have to see what I can do to attract some other medical providers to the area. There’s no way I’m going to see that… tosser.”
Will chuckled, wrapping an arm around Sara to rub her back in soothing circles. “Fair enough.”
“Did she seem alright to you when you took her upstairs? Was she awake and talking; knew her name and the alphabet and stuff?” she asked anxiously.
“She was awake enough when he set her arm, that’s for certain,” he winced at the memory. “No gaps in memory that I could tell, but then again, we didn’t give her much of a test, she could have forgotten her mathematics I suppose.”
“That’s not funny,” Sara sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder; it had been an exhausting night. “That scared me half to death, seeing her lying there all still and broken…”
“I’m sorry it happened, no one deserves to take a nasty spill like that, but it was an accident after all, you can’t blame yourself in any way.”
“What makes you think I’m blaming myself?”
“I can practically hear the wheels turning in your head right now,” he laughed softly, pulling her close. “You mentioned something of a row before she fell. Short of pushing her down the stairs yourself, I can’t see how you could possibly be at fault.”
“Yes, but she wouldn’t have even been going back up the stairs if I hadn’t made her come down here with me.”
“What were the two of you up to down here anyway?” Will frowned, taking note of all the candles in the study. The electricity was working fine again with no sign of the earlier disturbance beyond the scarred board on the desk.
“Oh, it was something stupid,” Sara shook her head. “Joanie found this Ouija board in the village and we thought maybe we could talk to Gemma’s ghost and figure out what she wanted.”
“You’re joshing…” his mouth fell open in disbelief.
“Hey, say what you will, but it worked,” Sara insisted. “Not only did we contact Gemma, she told us Jack was in danger if he stayed here. Of course she couldn’t say what that danger was, or if he’d be safe if we left…” There were still way too many unanswered questions in her mind.
“You’re thinking of leaving?” Will’s face fell, and Sara was quick to shake her head.
“That’s what we were arguing about before Joanie stormed off. She thought I should take Jack and go, right this minute before anything terrible happens to him.”
“And what do you think?” he reached up to brush the hair behind her ear, fingers continuing on to trace the line of her jaw.
“I think… if Jack’s in danger, we should meet it here, where his home is, and where people care about him enough to protect him,” Sara replied, breath hitching at the light touch. “I can count on you, can’t I? To protect him?” It was a lot to ask, but she needed to know how much he’d risk before they found themselves in a predicament.
“Ah, my Sara,” Will smiled; thumb brushing over her bottom lip. “Don’t you know the answer to that?” Leaning down, he kissed her tenderly, almost reverently. “I’m at your service, in any way you’ll have me. Be it chauffeur, gardener, protector, lover… I’m yours to do with as you will.”
Overwhelmed by the declaration, Sara chased after his lips with hers. It was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her, and Sara wondered if he was gearing up to say those three little words that would bind them together. It was fast, they hadn’t known each other very long, but she couldn’t help but feel a connection him that went beyond simple attraction; it was enough to make her want to be his Sara. When the kiss broke, Will’s lips quirked into a half smile, parting, and Sara held her breath to see what he might say next. “And my rates are quite reasonable.”
“Ugh, you…” she poked him in the stomach and he flinched away, laughing. After a half second, Sara was laughing along with him, the earlier worry and tension draining away in the face of his magic. “Thank you, for making me feel better, for being here to help out, for everything. Where did you get off to today, by the way?” she remembered suddenly.
“I spent all afternoon in Dorcester making arrangements to hire excavating equipment, irrigation supplies, a full array of modern equipment, extra labor, a list of requirements my Da gave me as long as my arm. I imagine we’ll need more than an old shed full of rusty rakes and hoes to get this place back to her former glory. I almost thought to stay there for the night, but I wanted to get back to you,” he laid a kiss to her brow.
“I’m glad you did, I missed you today.” It was funny how quickly she’d come to want or even need him around.
“I missed you too, love,” he kissed the top of her cheek, lips brushing against her skin towards the corner of her mouth. “In fact, how about I take you up to bed now?” he murmured against her lips.
Whose bed did he mean? A flare of panic went through her. “I am tired,” she pulled her lips from his. “Very tired.”
There was a light of amusement in his eyes as he nodded, threading his fingers through hers. “Let’s get you up to sleep then, you’ve had a long day.”
Lazily they ascended the stairs, her head lying against his shoulder for the walk to the master suite where he kissed her goodnight with just enough passion to make her wonder if she shouldn’t take the plunge and bring him into her bedroom with her. All too soon he pulled back, a regretful twist to his lips as he bid her goodnight.
“Will?” she called him back softly, leaning against the doorframe.
“Yes, my Lady?” he asked formally.
“Soon,” she promised, leaning up on her tiptoes to steal another kiss, but when she pulled back, he didn’t let her go, wrapping an arm around her waist and hauling her up against his body tight enough that she could feel what she did to him.
“Soon,” he repeated, his voice hoarse with need. “Sleep well, my Sara, I’ll be near enough if you need me for anything. And I do mean anything,” he added with a cheeky grin.
“I’ll remember that,” Sara smiled back, slipping into her room when he released her, leaning against the closed door with a goofy smile on her face for the longest time before she got ready for bed. She didn’t spend one moment worrying over what dreams Gemma might send her in the night. Instead she slipped off thinking of a cert
ain man with stormy blue eyes and a charming smile who’d wormed his way into her heart. When sleep finally claimed her, Sara dreamed of the future; a happy future with no threat of ghosts or danger for once.
*
After the morning checklist with Jack and a bite to eat, Sara took a tray up to Joanie, shooing away Katie who took it as an encroachment on her duties. Joanie barely stirred when she entered, offering a faint smile before slipping back off to sleep again. Sara sat with her for a while, but eventually gave up when it became clear she was still completely out of it. Will came to take her into the village to see the doctor, but even with being carried down the stairs, Joanie did little more than drool against Will’s shoulder.
For the next two days it went like that. Sara would stop by a few times a day, hoping to find her up and around, but Joanie didn’t leave her bed other than to visit the restroom with Katie’s help. When she did find her awake, her friend seemed disoriented and didn’t make a whole lot of sense. On the other hand, she didn’t seem to be in much pain either, drowsing through the day, but on the morning of the third day, Sara caught her in a more articulate state, her face drawn with pain.
“Joanie, are you alright? You look white as a sheet!” Sara exclaimed. “Do you want me to send for the doctor?”
“No,” Joanie hissed, “no more Dr. Feelgood. I think I’ve had enough of his brand of medicine.”
“What do you mean? Are you sure? You look awful.”
“Thanks, Sara. Want to break my other arm while I’m at it? Tell me my hair looks limp and lifeless too?” she muttered and Sara pulled back a little.
“I just want to help…”
“No, I know you do, I’m sorry,” Joanie sighed, throat working as she swallowed. “I’m finally able to think a little more clearly and I’d like to hold onto that feeling, despite the fact that my head feels like it’s about to split in two.
“Let me get you something for that,” Sara reached for her bottle of pills, but Joanie raised her hand weakly.
“No, no more pills,” she insisted, much to Sara’s surprise. “I swear to God I feel like I’ve been strung out on heroin these past few days. What is he giving me?”
