THE VISITOR – THE FINAL
RIDE
Book VI – 1875 - 1928
Barbara Cope Svetlick
BOOKS OF THE VISITOR SERIES:
This is the story of Mirisa Eppes, a young affluent girl from Virginia who is thrown into a world of untraditional love and murder. The story begins on her 16th birthday and takes you through the adventures of her life, the men she loves and their children. There are 6 books in this series.
Book I – The Visitor 1862
Book II – The Visitor – Texas 1863 – 1869
Book III – The Visitor – Colorado 1869 – 1871
Book IV – The Visitor – New York 1871 – 1873
Book V – The Visitor – The Bell Tower 1873 – 1875
Book VI – The Visitor – The Final Ride 1875 - 1928
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and publisher of this book.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s great imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, business establishments or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Copyright @ 2013 by Barbara Cope Svetlick
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Dedication
To my only grandson, Christopher Joseph Svetlick [C.J.], who was born an old soul and whose path I have crossed many times. Always howl at the moon darling!
Mr. Tatoon
The wily raccoon
Sat on the limb of the oak tree
Mr. Tatoon
The wily raccoon
Howled at the moon and cj….
Bebe 1997
To my readers – thank you!
Barb
PRELUDE
Charisse sat on the bar as the police came through both the side and front door with their billy clubs out and ready to use. They were shocked to see that the fight was nothing but petty coats and flying hair. They slowly separated and pulled them off of each other as they put them in the patty wagon. They finally got the Madame up off the floor and took her out the door as Mirisa stood and wobbled until she grabbed the bar for support. Charisse smiled at her moxie. She had never been arrested before but it sure felt good to deal with all that pent up aggravation.
“Officer, the woman on the bar is armed. I want her arrested.”
The Officer walked over and asked her to get off the bar before he searched her and then searched the bar for a weapon but only found the bartenders gun.
“She stashed them somewhere. Ask any of the girls.”
They put both Charisse and Mirisa in the patty wagon and closed the door. The commotion drew crowds on the street wondering what caused the police to close down the Gentleman’s Club.
THE CHARACTERS OF BOOK I and II
The Visitor is a series that takes you through the life of Mirisa Eppes from the age of sixteen until the end of her life. The story begins at the beginning of the Civil War when her father sends her to his birth home of Natchez, Mississippi, as the Eppes family is torn apart by the events of the war. Dr. Eppes hires Dominic Lanfear to protect his daughter until the war is over not realizing that he has changed his daughter’s life forever.
EPPES FAMILY
Dr. Richard Eppes is a country physician and a Virginia plantation owner. He was born in Natchez and raised by his grandmother, a descendant of the Choctaw nation. After completing medical training, he marries a wealthy young woman who borders on frequent and uncontrollable bouts of mental illness. They settle in Virginia where they have seven sons before the birth of their youngest and only daughter, Mirisa.
Lenora Eppes met Dr. Richard Eppes while institutionalized due to sever bouts of psychological instability. He marries her believing he can cure her illness but despite his efforts over the years she continues to worsen as she ages. Her antics have a dramatic effect on her only daughter Mirisa.
Jed, Jes and Gus, are triplets born a few years before Mirisa. They are still living at home when the war starts and take up arms with their father for the South.
Mirisa Eppes is a young, ideological girl who is raised encircled by rambunctious brothers and without the guidance of a loving mother or any female companionship. She knows nothing of love and less of life. Trusting and lonely, Mirisa spends her life trying to create the perfect family while struggling with her love for the men who capture her heart.
LANFEAR FAMILY
Conrad Lanfear was born in the 1700s and lived on the family plantation until he was sixteen when he takes up with a maiden, Algonquin, from the Natchez tribe. Conrad is a hired gun who rides with Algonquin's brother, Sequasi. For over a hundred years, Conrad has been waiting for Mirisa to step across the threshold of the Lanfear Plantation. Conrad is waiting when Mirisa steps out of the carriage on that stormy night and will slowly consume her until she can no longer tell reality from her haunted dreams
Dominic Lanfear is a descendant of the Lanfear family, one of Conrad’s descendants. He inherits the Natchez plantation and continues the family business of growing and trading indigo, tobacco and cotton. The Lanfear family has been beset with tragedy after tragedy since a curse beset the family in the 1700s following the war between the Natchez Indians and Conrad’s family. Dominic’s mother died at his birth, leaving him to be raised by a grieving and angry father who ruled with beatings and heavy drinking. When he was old enough, he left home and enrolled at VMI and began a military career that kept him away from home until his father’s death leaving all his holdings to Dominic. Like Conrad, Dominic's life is one of a mercenary with a cold hearted belief that killing is a necessary part of life.
Dog Moon, Chief of the Choctaw Nation, is the great-grandson of Conrad and Algonquin who seeks to bring wholeness to his people. The visions of Mirisa become stronger after Conrad brings him into the circle forever connecting Dog Moon with Mirisa and her sons.
DOMINIC LANFEAR’S CLOSEST FRIENDS
The four young men become close friends while attending Virginia Military Institute before a stint in the Army stationed around Fort Lared along the Pawnee Fork and Arkansas River protecting and guarding traffic along the Santa Fe Trail. All four decommissioned before the start of the war and worked underground for the South while placating the Northern Army. Their thirst for life and adventure bonds them through good times as well as bad.
Garnett Alexander is a criminal lawyer whose practice takes him up and down the Mississippi River. He was raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi and practiced the circuit down to New Orleans. Despite having a normal upbringing, he is beset with demons that struggle with his constant attempts to find happiness in his life knowing that it may never come to him. He is a cold and sadistic killer.
James Alcorn, a banker and financial investor, has a natural talent to amass fortunes through investments. He was born in New York but raised in Natchez and spent most of his childhood as a close friend to Dominic. Intelligent and compassionate, his ability to kill is instinctual and his passion for life encompassing everything he does.
Alexander Meeks is an independently wealthy entrepreneur. Born in New York City, Meeks took up with them at VMI forming a lifelong friendship with James. His upbringing has created a wall where he refuses to candy coat reality and refuses to let out his emotions. His ability to take a life is calculating but he takes no enjoyment i
n doing so finding it to be only a necessity.
PLANTATION EMPLOYEES:
Mrs. Chauvin is the housekeeper at the Lanfear Plantation. She is a powerful root woman and guide to the other world and her employment at the plantation was not by accident.
Jasmine is Mirisa’s personal maid and closest confidant is a Choctaw Indian. Like Mrs. Chauvin, Jasmine is at the Plantation for the sole purpose of protecting Mirisa as she is taken into the other world by Conrad.
Miss Minnie has run the Plantation kitchen since before Dominic was born. She was raised in the bayou by her grandmother and works with the many powerful concoctions and herbs to heal both the soul and the inflicted. She works in the darkest of magic known only by the mystical people of the bayou.
Simone’ appears in the form of a housecat at the Plantation. His soul is unable to ever leave the grounds for it is his destiny to protect the portal to Conrad’s world but his attachment to Mirisa is unbreakable.
Dog a wild Texas coyote latches onto Mirisa as a protector of her and the children.
BOOK III and BOOK IV NEW CHARACTERS
Charisse and Jack Casper – Alexander Meeks’ sister and brother in law. Jack Casper controls a shipping company and owns a section of the docks in New York City.
Catherine Tyler – A beautiful young woman from New York City who is married to a well to do elderly gentleman. Her past rises to haunt her.
Michael Cotes – A scout in the U.S. Army. Michael served under Dominic Lanfear in the Colorado Territory before the war.
Louis Sampson – A wealthy businessman who has homes in New York, Italy and in the Orient. His manner in business is ruthless and his social manner is polished. He seals his deals with oriental women and opium.
David Yarrow – Served under Dominic Lanfear in the Colorado Territory before returned east to become a United States' Senator.
BOOK V NEW MINOR CHARACTERS
Mr. Alston and Thomas Sinclare handle the charity for Mirisa’s trust.
Mr. Clancey is a struggling street artist.
Mecenda is Dr. Eppes longtime girlfriend and second wife.
John Randell Tyler is Catherine Tyler’s father.
Jacob Mannins is John Tyler’s partner and Catherine’s first husband.
Russell Bellows is a questionable cad who is Catherine’s lover.
Leonard Candlier is Catherine’s third husband.
Members of the Army Unit
Rollie Clark – First Lieutenant and tracker for the Unit
Michael Dobbs – First Sergeant in charge of surveillance
Melvin Dobbs – Michael’s younger brother and munitions expert
John Benning – Ferrier/Blacksmith
TIMELINE OF BIRTHS
At the back of Book V is a timeline of the births of the main characters as well as the children.
WINTER 1875
November 9, 1875 - Reporting on the Indian Wars, inspector E.C. Watkins pronounces that hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne under Indian leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are openly hostile against the United States government, forming U.S. policy. It is hoped that the Indian skirmishes can be contained allowing settlers to live without fear.
Mirisa opened her leaden eyes as the quiet blanketed her. The breeze was so gentle and warm that she wanted to close her eyes and go back to sleep.
Conrad sat down on the grass and pulled out a blade running it through his fingers as it curled. He always loved the springtime when life seemed to bring such freshness to the world as life emerged. He wondered why she always returned to the same spot when her life teetered on the balance of existence. Conrad curled his fingers around Mirisa’s and lifted her hand opening it. The scar was barely visible though it was so much a part of him that he could run his finger along it raising it as though it was a new. Mirisa let out a small whimper as her fingers curled around his.
“I have meditated the path that you chose and keep returning to the fact that it was I who lured you into the circle. Though your coming was foretold long before you crossed the threshold of the plantation house, it was I who led you into my world.”
“What is your world Conrad?”
Conrad looked at Mirisa. “It is not of importance.”
“Then why do you continue to bring me here?”
“You come here when you are struggling. This is the world of the medicine man and the place where all prayers cross over. This is the world where a warrior travels in his quest to find his purpose on earth. When you crossed over before me, you left a part of yourself here for safe keeping.”
“I did not know this place before you.”
Conrad held up his hand and placed a small gold band in her hand. Mirisa looked at it turning it over. It was so tiny with an intricate design etched around the band with her initials engraved so delicately that they could barely be distinguished from the design itself. Mirisa sat up and held the band up between her finger and thumb.
“My baby ring. I only know of its existence because it is in the first portrait my parents commissioned of me. Conrad, I didn’t have it with me when I entered the circle.”
“No you didn’t. Mirisa I want you to close your eyes.” Conrad ran his hand down her face as she closed her eyes and when she opened them she was sitting on the window seat of her bedroom. Everything seemed to be fuzzy as she looked around the room. The coverings of her small canopy bed were folded back and she was in her blue night dress.
The waxing crescent moon appeared in a soft blue hue as the stars danced brightly like fireflies on a summer night. Mirisa slid out of bed as her bare toes touched the bed stool then she climbed up on the window seat and opened the latch on her window as the cool air swept across her cheeks and raised goosebumbs on her little arms.
“Mirisa?”
Mirisa turned from the window and looked at the woman standing at the foot of her bed. Her long black hair was pulled back at her neck and her dress was a simple black cloth with lace around her neck. She always appeared dressed the same and always had such a warm and loving voice.
“Grandmamma, have you seen the moon tonight?”
“I have my darling.”
“Poppa says that the stars are tied to the tip of the moon and they pull it across the heavens as they sprinkle stardust upon the water. He says that the moon loves me so much that it gave me the mark. Poppa is so very smart, is he not?”
“Your poppa is a very smart poppa indeed.”
“Can you tell me a story?”
The woman walked over to the window seat as the sound of her skirts rustled so pleasantly. Mirisa loved the smell of fresh roses that seemed to surround her as she sat down next to Mirisa.
“What story would you like?”
“The one about the moon child.”
The woman smiled for it was the only story that she ever asked for and the only one ever told.
“There once was a young coyote that lived among the people. He would sit quietly just beyond the village requesting nothing from the people but always observing. The people finally sought the council of nan ikhana, a powerful seer, to tell them why the coyote followed the people but sought nothing from them. The nan ikhana told them he would dream upon their question and he gathered up his blanket and sat upon the spirit rock through three sunsets and three sunrises as the weather lashed out upon his body with the frozen tears of the mother battering him but he refused to retreat. He returned to the village as the fires were lit for the evening meal and he placed his blanket upon the dry ground before sitting. The people waited and the meal went unprepared until the crescent moon rose and the nan ikhana raised his head and opened his eyes.
“My children, the coyote is waiting by the opening for he shall guide the holitopa, the beloved princess, through the worlds until she can return to her people. The coyote requires nothing of the people for he shall appear after many, many moons and the passing of the brethren who now sit and listen to these my words. The coyote shall guide her to follow her true self and the purest of inst
incts. She must learn to listen like the coyote for her soul seeks many things in one lifetime and her dreams shall always come into sight under the crescent moon. It is the mother of our spirit that guides our world and she has sent the totem to wait for the moon child. It is the mother’s request that you give your love and homage to the crescent moon for the child shall come twice and her gift will be of her second son.”
“Grandmamma?”
“Yes child.”
“How long did he wait?”
“He knew no time nor did he possess anything other than the patience of his soul. After many moons, a storm rose with the sun sending the rivers swiftly along the village seeking anything that had no roots upon the earth. When the crescent moon rose, the coyote stood proudly. The people turned to the sound for he had never spoken to the sky. He watched then slowly walked through the village to the river. The women bowed as he passed and the men waited for the coyote was the jokester. The coyote paced back and forth along the raging water as though he was agitated at something unseen. After a few moments, the coyote jumped into the river as the people gasped. Surely he was gone but what did it mean.”
“As the braves walked toward the bank of the river, the coyote appeared again dragging something out of the water. He dragged it toward the village and stopped at the center fire lying down next to a small child. Her hair clung to her cheeks and her clothes were torn and her feet were bare. Along her tiny arms and spindly legs were cuts and bruises from being battered in the water. Her soul was wounded as her journey had been long. The people sought out guidance as the coyote slept by her side through the night. The fire was soaring and the people sat and waited as the drums began.”
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