“I guess that’s what happens in an old house,” Ethan offered.
Annie cut her eyes sideways towards the open door. “Plenty of things happen in an old house. The smell is the least of it.”
“Like what?” Ethan asked, intrigued.
“Mr. Muir doesn’t like me talking about this, but things go on in this house that can’t be explained. Some people don’t believe in that kind of thing, but my grandma had the sight, and she saw ghosts all of the time.”
Ethan relaxed. So, Annie was a believer after all. “What have you noticed in this house?” he asked.
She shut the door. “Won’t due to let the mister overhear me. Don’t want to lose my job.”
“I understand.” Ethan motioned her to a chair and sat opposite her. “I promise not to tell.”
Annie leaned forward, her eyes wide. “A lot of time, I smell roses.”
Ethan had been hoping for something more dramatic. There were plenty of bouquets in the house, starting with the one that had been in the dining room that morning. “Anything else?”
“Dripping water. I hear it everywhere I go.”
Dripping water! Exactly what he’d heard that morning. “Do you ever see anything?” Ethan asked eagerly.
“No. Like I said, my grandma had the sight, not me. But I do hear crying sometimes, too. Usually by the nursery.” She frowned at the dirty towels in her lap. “I know that Mr. Muir thinks his wife is crazy to be hearing voices, but if she’s crazy, then so am I. I don’t hear voices, I sometimes hear whispering noises. I just can’t make out the words.”
Ethan had never thought that Tessa was crazy, but having his suspicions confirmed by another member of the household gave him hope that he could help Tessa with her problem. “Where’s the best place to hear these sounds? Or is there a good time of day?”
“I don’t know that there’s a special place or time for them. Just explore the house. Sooner or later, you’re bound to run across them.” She slapped her knees. “I’ve kept you long enough. Lunch is being served right now.” When she stood, she grimaced and put her hands to the small of her back. “I slipped in a puddle yesterday, and I think I threw something out,” she explained.
“You should see Dr. Rosenbaum about that,” Ethan said.
Annie gave a sharp laugh. “Trust that quack? I hardly believe that she’s a real doctor.”
“The Muirs seem to think she is.”
“Mr. Muir thinks she is,” Annie corrected. “I don’t think that Mrs. Muir has any faith in her, what with all those pills the doctor keeps feeding her. Poor lamb. She’s nearly crazy with grief. I’m glad that you and her brother are here to help her.”
Ethan smiled. He’d do whatever he could for Tessa. Hopefully, it would be enough. “Thank you so much, Annie. You’ve been really helpful.”
Annie walked to the door. “Just try to find a way to help Mrs. Muir. She’s a lamb, but she hasn’t been the same since her daughter died. That kind of grief can kill a woman.”
“One more question,” Ethan said. Annie paused. “Were you there the night the baby died?”
Annie’s face darkened. “No, but I do remember there was a terrible snow storm that night. Knocked out the electricity from here to Groveland. It was three days before I could make it from my house to the manor. And just as long for anyone from the manor to get to town.” She shook her head sadly. “It was a terrible night.”
Ethan mulled over Annie’s words as he left his room and made his way down the hall towards the sweeping staircase that led to the main floor. He wondered if one of the ghosts hunting the premises was that of Tessa’s newborn daughter. And if it was the baby, would Ethan be able to communicate with it like he would an older spirit? Would his Scrabble tiles mean anything to a child who had had passed to the other side without learning language?
“There you are!” Dr. Rosenbaum said when Ethan reached the bottom of the steps. “I wanted to talk to you.”
Ethan braced himself, wondering if Tessa had told the doctor about finding her daughter’s necklace. To Ethan, it was proof that a spirit haunted the place, but no doubt the doctor would come up with a rational – and false – explanation.
“Have you found any ghosts yet?” the doctor asked with a wink.
“Would you believe me if I said I had?” Ethan returned coolly.
She frowned. “You’re only fooling yourself if you think you have. Which is why I wanted to talk to you. I understand that Grant talked to you about all of this nonsense? You understand your role in all of this, right?”
He should have guessed that Grant and his doctor were conspiring. “That was a private conversation.”
“Nothing between you and Grant is private if it’s about my patient,” the doctor said. “You might not agree with our methods, but Grant and I only have Tessa’s best interests at heart.”
Ethan had to admit that was probably true. Grant was a petty tyrant, but he seemed to truly care about his wife. Dr. Rosenbaum was only doing what she could to cure her patient. They wanted to keep Ethan from Tessa because they worried what his talk of spirits and the paranormal would do to her. If only they would believe him! But the truth was a sliver of light, not a crowbar. You couldn’t force someone to accept it; they had to open their own minds to let it in. “I understand.” He softened his tone. “I want us to all be on the same side.”
The doctor seemed surprised by his assent. She adjusted her glasses as if needing to see him better. “Good. I’m glad you understand.”
“But I won’t lie to her,” Ethan said firmly. “If I find out, for certain, that Tessa’s problems are related to the spiritual world, I will tell her that.”
Doctor Rosenbaum’s face closed like a fist. “Don’t try Grant’s patience! He’ll have you out of here in a split second if he thinks you’re against him.”
Ethan tensed his jaw. “I thought he wanted his wife cured.”
“He does. Which is why he doesn’t want you stirring up Tessa’s mind with these lies. If you were my patient, and you told me that you heard voices or saw people who weren’t there, I’d label you as schizophrenic and medicate you as well.”
“I do not need medication.” Ethan spoke with quiet fury. It was doctors like Rosenbaum who had made his life a living hell, giving him medication that turned him into a dazed half-being who wandered the earth like a lost soul. He’d spent years questioning his own sanity. Now, more than ever, he was determined to help Tessa.
“What would you do if you were in my shoes?” the doctor demanded. “You see a patient acting irrationally, raving about spirit voices. Obviously in distress. Would you continue to let her suffer?” Doctor Rosenbaum’s hands clenched at her sides. Her voice rose to fill all the empty space of the lofty entry. “There are no such things as ghosts, Ethan. They are delusions of a sick mind! Anyone who believes in them is severely misguided.”
Something like fairy bells tinkled overhead. Ethan raised his eyes to see the massive chandelier shivering. A thrill ran along his spine, and he broke into a cold sweat. There was an entity near, and it wasn’t happy.
The shivering sound grew more frantic. Without thinking, Ethan launched himself at the doctor, knocking her backwards. They fell to the ground with his body covering hers. The doctor’s long nails clawed his shoulder as she fought her way free.
The chandelier fell to the ground with a crash of a thousand crystal wineglasses being thrown against the wall. The sound was almost musical. Shards of crystal peppered Ethan’s back. One large piece sliced the back of his neck.
The incident was over in seconds. Ethan got shakily to his feet and held out his hand to the doctor whose face had gone pale with shock. “Are you alright?” he asked.
“Yes.” Her voice trembled.
David rushed into the room, but stopped when he saw the chandelier. “Oh my God! What happened?”
The doctor swallowed. “The spirits apparently didn’t like me demeaning them.” She gave an uneasy laugh.
“That’s exactly what happened,” Ethan said. He wasn’t laughing.
Fortunately, Ethan’s cut wasn’t deep enough to require stitches. “Thank you for pushing me out of the way,” Doctor Rosenbaum said as she pulled out the piece of glass and cleaned the wound. “I hate to think of what would have happened to me if you hadn’t been so quick to act.”
Ethan winced as she placed a butterfly bandage on the back of his neck. “Do you believe me now about the paranormal activity in the house?”
“No,” she said firmly. “I believe this house is old and in need of repairs. I believe in coincidences, however unlucky. I cannot believe in ghosts.”
There was no point in continuing the conversation. The doctor’s mind was made up. Ethan figured that even if she’d seen the woman standing in his bathroom that morning, she would have explained the drowned woman away as a hallucination or waking dream.
When he was patched up, Ethan went back downstairs to find David sweeping up the remains of the chandelier with a push broom. “Dr. Rosenbaum doesn’t believe that the spirits caused the chandelier to fall,” he lamented.
David stopped sweeping and leaned on the handle of the broom. “I’m not surprised. See that crack?” He pointed to where a long fissure divided the smooth surface of the ceiling. “The ghosts might have yanked down that chandelier, but it was already halfway gone. I’m telling you, this place is ready to fall down around our ears. I think we need some orange cones and a spool of caution tape.”
“Do you think it’s safe to live here?”
David shrugged. “Grant had a structural engineer check out the place before he moved in. The guy said that the foundation and walls were solid.” David laid a hand on Ethan’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I’m just glad that you’re okay. You could have been crushed!”
The simple touch made Ethan’s skin tingle pleasantly and brought up memories of the other times the two of them had been close. Ethan longed to feel that closeness again. How he missed being in those arms! But, as painful as it seemed, if he didn’t back down on those emotions, he would jeopardize his friendship. That was something he wasn’t willing to risk. So instead of pulling David into an embrace, Ethan smiled weakly and picked up the dustpan. “Need some help?”
David shook his head. “I think you could use a walk along the beach,” he said. “There’s a lighthouse out there that you should see.”
“Are you coming with me?” Ethan asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.
“No, but you won’t be lonely.” David lowered his voice and stepped closer. “Tessa’s out there waiting to talk. It’s the only place you two will get a private conversation.”
Finally! Ethan had begun to worry that he and Tessa would never get a moment alone. Without stopping to grab a jacket, he headed towards the back of the manor and out the door.
It was chilly outside, and the breeze off the lake raised goose bumps on his arms. He followed the path that led from the patio at the back of the house, down the hill, and towards the water. Where the rocky shoreline melted into Lake Superior, a point of land jutted out. On the tip of the point was a small lighthouse. Unlike a traditional, round lighthouse, this one perched, spider like, on four steel legs. Ethan stuck his hands in his pockets and followed the shore towards it.
Tessa sat beneath the lighthouse and looked out over the lake. When she saw Ethan coming up the beach, her spine stiffened, but she didn’t leave her place. Instead, she pulled the raincoat she wore more firmly around her shoulders and waited. As if Ethan was a fate she must endure.
When he finally reached the end of the rocky point, Ethan wished he’d gone back for a jacket. The wind picked up, ruffling his hair with icy fingers. Taking a seat on the hard, damp cement, he saw that Tessa held the dainty, silver chain that David had fished out of the sink trap. Her fingers worked it like a rosary. Ethan had the feeling he’d been disturbing her in prayer or meditation.
“This seems like a good place to come and think,” he offered.
“It is,” she agreed. “Sometimes the manor suffocates me. Although I’m not supposed to leave on my own. They’re afraid that I’ll try to drown myself.”
Ethan hadn’t realized things were so bad with David’s sister. Tessa was two years older than David, but between modeling jobs, she would hang out with them. Ethan remembered a beautiful girl with a bright spirit and a promising future, not the quiet, broken woman sitting next to him. “I’m sorry about your daughter.”
Tessa nodded. “It’s as if my heart has been torn out of me. Grant feels it too, but he reacts differently. He throws himself into his work. We hardly see each other.”
“Can you talk about what happened that night when you found Faith – when you discovered she wasn’t breathing?”
The wind picked up tendrils of Tessa’s dark hair and blew them into her eyes. It made ripples appear on the dirty-mirror surface of the lake. With the clouds overhead, it was a mournful day. Ethan wondered what it would look like on a sunny day. Or if there were ever sunny days way up here.
When Tessa spoke, it was as quiet as the sigh of the wind. “I don’t remember it. I’ve tried – I think it would help if I could recall it – but there’s a black hole where the memories should be.”
“I heard that it was snowing that night,” Ethan prompted.
“Yes. That I do remember. I took Faith to the window so I could watch the flakes. It was like someone was shaking a down comforter outside. It was so pretty. Then the wind picked up, and the snow started to drift. I rocked Faith to sleep and tucked her into her crib. Then –” Tessa shook her head. “I don’t remember.”
“What is the next thing you recall?”
“I was sobbing in Grant’s arms. I knew my baby had died.” She pressed her hand to her heart. Tears ran down her cheeks. “That was only three months ago, and it still hurts so badly.”
He put his hand on her shoulder. “Of course it does.” There was a sympathetic ache in his own heart. He couldn’t bear to see Tessa in so much pain. “Maybe if you left this house, you would feel better.” The house had to be a constant reminder of what she had lost.
She set her chin. “I’m not leaving. Grant begs me to move back to Grand Rapids, but I won’t leave my baby behind. I’m her mother, and she still needs me.”
“She’s contacted you?” Ethan asked.
“Sometimes, I hear a baby crying. It’s not Faith, but I don’t care. I won’t leave the house until the crying stops.”
“And the voices?”
“There’s a young woman who speaks to me. I can’t hear her words, but she’s pleading with me to do something. Something is wrong in that house, and I need to set it right. No one will be at peace until I do.”
Tessa’s desperation touched him; he’d done the right thing by coming to help her. And no matter how well-meaning Grant Muir was, Ethan wouldn’t let him dictate what he said to Tessa. She was a grieving mother who deserved the truth. And that was what he was going to give her. “I’ve felt a presence in the house. It may be the woman you’ve heard.”
For the first time since he’d been there, Tessa’s eyes lit up. She seized his hand. “It’s so good that you’re here! I can’t talk about this with anyone else. David will listen, but he can’t do anything about it.”
“I’ve been trying to contact the ghost,” Ethan said. “So far, no luck. But I’ll keep trying, and I won’t give up until I do.”
Once more tears welled in Tessa’s eyes, but this time she looked hopeful. “Thank you.”
She trusted him. If only he could warrant that trust! He wanted to believe that he could, but the Ladd incident still weighed on him. He hadn’t been able to help their daughter, what made him think that he could help Tessa? Then he shook his worries off. He could do this. He just needed to find the right way to reach that spirit.
He noticed the necklace in her hand. “Can I see that for a minute?”
Tessa drew away and clutched the chain to her chest. “Why?”
> “Sometimes personal items help me to get in touch with the otherworld.”
Slowly, as if she was offering him a piece of her heart, Tessa handed him the necklace. He took it gently, aware of how much it meant to her. Carefully, he ran his fingers along the delicate chain. He closed his eyes, aware of Tessa’s attention on him. The steady sound of the waves washing onto the shore was the perfect background noise that helped him to ground his thoughts and block out the distractions.
“Well?” Tessa asked after a few minutes.
Ethan sighed, defeated. Nothing had come to him. Not even a remote image of the child who had once owned the necklace. “Sorry. I’m not picking up on anything.” He surrendered the chain.
Tessa blinked her wide eyes. “Does that mean that Faith’s spirit isn’t in the house?”
“Not necessarily. It just means that she’s not communicating right now.” Ethan leaned back and braced himself on his elbows. Lake Superior stretched before him like an enormous bolt of gray cloth. This place was so desolate. He tried to imagine how it must have felt to Tessa on the night that Faith died. The snow storm had left her and her husband alone and cut off from the rest of the world.
The two of them stared out at the lake. Tessa ran the chain through her fingers. “He loves you, you know. My brother.”
“I know. I love him, too.” Though it pained him to think of it. He doubted that David’s affection would ever reach the levels that his had. They’d go through life side-by-side as friends, not entwined like lovers.
“No, I mean he really loves you,” Tessa insisted.
“He has a girlfriend,” Ethan said bitterly.
“He’s lost right now, but he’ll come around,” she said. “Having you here with him is going to change the way he feels about Jessica.”
Maybe, maybe not. Ethan wasn’t sure how long he’d be staying. Every moment next to David was torturous. “I don’t want to push him.”
“Maybe he needs a little push,” Tessa said. “He has a lot of baggage that needs to get shoved out of the way.” She smiled. “I’ll admit to doing a little pushing of my own. I want for you two to be together.”
Restless Spirits Page 6
