By
Brynn Morgan
Copyright © 2023 by â Brynn Morgan â All Rights Reserved.
It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited.
Chapter 32
The air was thick with excitement about what that night would bring. Lainie left with Bella as soon as she got home and took her to the Barnes and Noble in town to buy some new books. She had packed a bag for Bella to stay overnight with her friend from the hospital. Davis and Emily were alone at the house. He had walked out to check on the horses, but when he returned home, he saw Lainie leave with Bella. He had not seen Emily go with them, so he knew she was there alone.
Davis went inside, and Emily was on the phone with someone, sitting at the island. "Were you able to find out anything?" she asked. Davis came up behind her and ran his fingers down the length of her slim arms. She shivered and held her hand over the receiver."It's Hillary," she whispered to him. He sat down beside her, and she put it on speakerphone.
"Well," Hillary said softly. "I spoke with my brother, and he said that Daddy used to keep a ledger of Hastings employees in the executive desk in the library. There should be a record of everyone that has worked there through the years. You may find something there," she finished.
Emily straightened up in her seat."That is a good idea."
Hillary paused."Have y'all been back in the house?"
"That is another reason I wanted to contact you," Emily said. "We are going there tonight, and a medium will perform a seance."
Hillary was extremely quiet and then sighed."Ok. Do you know anything of her?" she asked, concerned. "I don't want just anyone in my house."
Emily was very reassuring."She is very good, Hillary, and has a reputable reputation. She has helped out the police and found missing children. Her name is Vivian Salley."
Hillary sighed again."I suppose that I must trust your judgment on this," she said with uncertainty. "I have never heard of her."
"This needs to be done tonight," Emily said. "The seance."
"I suggest looking in the ledgers. You might find something there. Listen. I am on call at the hospital, so I have to go. I am being paged. Please let me know how it goes." Hillary said.
"I will." Emily ended the call, and Davis looked at her with concern.
"What are you thinking?" he asked slowly.
Emily looked at him."We need those ledgers. We need to see what we can find."
Davis stood up and pulled her up with him."We will go over there then, but first things first, ma'am." he looked at her with heat. She felt her body began to ignite with passion.
"Should we ask one of the sisters to go in there with us? She asked. "For protection."
Davis pulled her toward him and lifted her face to his. He kissed her gently and tenderly. The heat rose between them, and she gasped for air as his kiss deepened. She touched his chest and felt the muscle beneath his shirt."We are alone," she whispered. He smiled at her.
"Yes - we are." He grabbed her and scooped her up into his arms. She removed his John Deere hat and put it on her head backward.
"It's true what they say," she said, as he carried her to the bedroom.
His voice was rough and hoarse."What's that?"
She smiled up at him. "You should take advantage of alone time when the kids are gone."
He laughed huskily and kicked open the bedroom door."That's a fact."He let her slide slowly down his body until her feet reached the floor. "Stay right there," he ordered.
Emily walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. She heard the water turn on in the shower, and he walked back out. She looked up at him and felt an overwhelming sense of peace and lightness that she had not felt in a very long time. She felt that Luke would want her to move on, so she had no trepidation at standing up and walking over to Davis. She took off his hat and tossed it on the bed.
Emily was all sticky from the South Carolina humidity, and a shower sounded heavenly. She unbuttoned her white Cami and slid the straps down her tan shoulders. Davis looked at her with raw hunger in his eyes.
He reached for her, but she backed away slowly, teasingly. It was making him want her and desire her more. It was very freeing to have him look at her that way. It felt good to know that she was still wanted and desired.
Emily released her shirt to the floor and unbuttoned her blue jean shorts. She shimmied out of them, and he took in her lengthy, sleek legs. He was not to be denied any longer. Davis pulled her to him and lifted her onto the bed. "I'll take care of the rest if you don't mind." He said softly. He pushed her down onto the mattress. Davis grabbed her panties and pulled them down her legs. He knelt in between her legs, and she trembled as he looked at her and smiled rakishly.
He began to please her slowly and drove her to madness with his fingers and tongue. She grabbed his hair and pulled it, arching her back in the most exquisite pleasure. Wave after intense wave hit her hard, and she moved desperately beneath him. Emily wanted more. She wanted him.
Davis leaned over her. His gaze was intense and dark.
"You are the most fucking gorgeous woman Em."
He pulled her up to a sitting position and, reaching behind, undid the clasp of her white bra with his nimble fingers. He lowered the straps down her shoulders and kissed them, licked them slowly, enjoying her taste.He pushed Emily back down onto the bed. Davis stood up and took off his shirt. She took him in hungrily with her eyes that were dark with passion. He let her look him over in the sunlight coming through the window.Davis Griffin was gorgeous and all man. He bent over, taking off his jeans, and she looked at his butt, which was strong and muscular. His back rippled with muscle beneath his swarthy skin. He turned around, and she saw the dark, fine hair that covered his chest, pecs, and cut abs. She lowered her gaze to his waist, where it dipped, and thoroughly looked him over.
"God..." she muttered throatily. Her mouth went dry as she saw the evidence that he wanted her. She had only felt it last night but never saw it, and he was worth the wait to see. She grew wet just looking at the size of him and moaned.
Davis reached down and picked her up. He tossed her over his shoulder and walked to the bathroom with her. The walls were steamy from the hot water. He opened the door and stepped into the shower with her. He backed her body up against the wall. "Can't leave this unattended." He murmured. He lowered his mouth to her breast and played with one while he sucked the other.
Emily rammed her hand into his hair and grabbed onto his shoulder with her other hand as his lips teased and he squeezed. Davis kissed her face, neck, and throat and lingered at her collarbone. He then grabbed her leg, lifted it around his waist, and entered her deeply. "I wanted you again, Em. I will always want you. I won't ever get my feel of you babe." Davis pushed hard into her and hit every place that he needed to hit. She screamed his name as he made Emily orgasm again and again, and when she thought he was done, he would thrust again. He was insatiable.
He pushed her back beneath the spray from the shower head, and the hot water trickled, sluiced down, and rolled over her slender body. He kissed her deep and long, and then she moved out from under his arm and knelt before him.
"Your turn." She said huskily and looked up at him. She held on to his hairy legs as she slid him into her mouth and made him moan. He tried to grasp the sides of the shower walls for support, but the walls were slick with steam. She ran her tongue down his length, driving him crazy with need, and he pulled her out of the shower.
"Lay down on the floor." He said gruffly. Emily did, and he spread her legs wide with his hands; this time, he wasn't gentle. Davis gave her every bit of him, like burying a sword fully to the hilt, and stretched her to the max. She moaned and threw her head back, and he pinned her down with his arms. He released inside Emily and collapsed, exhausted, on top of her slick body.
Davis kissed her long and slowly, moving his lips to her eyelids and forehead. Emily rubbed her hands over his back, feeling his muscles ripple beneath her hands.
They rose from the floor, dried each other's bodies, returned to the bedroom, and dressed slowly with silly grins.
As Davis and Emily walked out the front door, Lainie pulled up in the driveway. She got out of her SUV and looked at them curiously. "Where are y'all going? Davis looked at Emily and back at Lainie.
"Following a lead back at the mansion," he said and opened the door on the passenger side for Emily.
Lainie looked at them."What lead?" She asked softly.
Emily turned and looked at her once she was in the truck, "I spoke with Hillary after you left, and she said that they used to keep a work ledger in her mom's desk in the library that contained the names of all employees for the Hastings down through the years. It might help us to find someone who might have some clue as to who this girl is!"
Lainie nodded and said,"True. I hope that we can find out something before tonight." She said with a look of worry in her dark eyes like her brothers. "I could come with you, but I will investigate Bella's room and look at her sketches in her book. She has a pile of them in her closet," she said. "Be safe, y'all, going in there."
***
Davis drove the short distance to Hasting's house. He got out and came around, and opened the door for Emily. The heat was oppressive, and they walked hand in hand up the steps to the front door.
Davis pressed down on the handle and looked back at Emily. "Just stay here. I can go in alone," he said protectively. Emily grabbed him around his arm.
"No way, Davis! We are going in together!" She said, and leaning up on her tippy toes, she kissed him. Davis smiled.
"Let's do it then."
Opening the door, they walked inside the entryway and saw the sunlight streams illuminating the stairs. Emily led Davis to the library, but she could not help but glance up to the top of the landing. Did she expect to see something there? She wasn't sure, but she was relieved when she saw nothing. They entered the library, and saw dust motes flew gently through the air. A huge executive desk was placed in the middle of the room on a very expensive-looking oriental carpet.
Emily made her way over to the desk and started looking through the drawers."I'll hit the other side since you are looking there," Davis said.
They searched through stacks of papers and files, and finally, in the last drawer at the very bottom, Davis located a leather-bound ledger that had Hastings stamped on the front of it in gold letters."Hot damn!" He shouted. "I think that this is it." They suddenly heard a loud bang, and Davis handed Emily the book and walked out to investigate the sound. He looked and backed slowly into the room, motioning for Emily to approach him. "The chandelier is moving, Em! We need to get out of here now!" He yelled. Emily ran across the room to him, and he grabbed her hand, and they fled.
The chandelier swung back and forth erratically, and Davis pushed Emily out of the door; he followed, slamming the door behind them. When they were safely back in the truck, Emily opened the ledger on her lap and started scanning the pages. "I'm not sure exactly what should stand out here. Am I looking for Clara's name? There are tons of names!" she exclaimed. Davis rubbed her left shoulder.
"How far back does it go?" he asked.
Emily flipped through pages and pages and went back to the eighteen hundreds. "The first entry that I see is eighteen fifty-eight. I guess that is when the family started keeping a record of those that worked for them?" She questioned.
Davis nodded his head. "Probably so."
She kept searching and then said."They had a lot of O'Shaughnessys working for them. A whole lot from what I see here." She stopped when she came across the name of Jedadiah O'Shaughnessy. "Hold on just a second," she said slowly. She looked at Jedadiah's name, and something rang a bell for her, but she could not quite put her finger on it, and then it hit her right between the eyes. She grabbed her phone and dialed Clarrisa's number. Clarrisa answered on the third ring.
"What's up, Emily?" she had saved her as a contact.
Emily was quick when she spoke.
"Why does the name Jedadiah sound familiar?" she asked.
Clarrisa was quiet."What?" she asked confused.
Emily needed to explain. "We went in the house and got the work ledger that dates back to the eighteen hundreds, and in eighteen fifty-eight, they have a name written down of Jedadiah O'Shaughnessy."
Clarrisa thought for a moment, and she then gasped.
"The journal! In Clara's journal, there is a mention of Jed. He would bring bricks up to her and Penelope in the winter so that they could keep warm in that horrible room. She mentioned that she thought he liked her and that she should run away with him." Clarrisa said. "Emily, I know a bunch of O'Shaughnessy's in the area. I could ask and see if we can find out more about Jedadiah."
***
Lainie entered Bella's room and walked over to the closet. She opened the door slowly and looked in the back of the closet, where she knew Bella kept her sketchbooks. Lainie picked them up, carried them to the bed, and started flipping through the pages. She did not see anything that stood out to her. She looked through quite a few and saw typical drawings that a child would draw at Bellas's age of the horses and her puppy Brandy; she sighed deeply. Maybe this was a wild goose chase. She went back to the closet and turned on the closet light. Lainie pushed Bellas's clothes aside on the rack and toward the back of the closet, and under some sweaters were more sketchbooks; the sketchbooks looked older. She started flipping through them and saw what appeared to be Bella's attempt to draw Hasting's house some years ago.
***
"I know a Ginny O'Shaughnessy that I went to school with," Clarrisa said loudly. "I will call her and see if maybe she has heard of that name associated with her family," she said.
"Sounds good," Emily said and ended the call.
***
Clarrisa had gone to high school with Ginny, and they had been in cross country together. They still stayed in touch with each other on Facebook, and they had each other's numbers. She knew that she worked at the hospital where Lainie worked. She dialed her number, and she answered on the first ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Ginny!"
Ginny was silent. "Uh. Who is this?" Ginny asked curiously.
"This is Clarrisa Gordon."
Ginny gasped.
"Oh my God, girl! How are you? How have you been? It has been ages!" she gushed.
Clarrisa now remembered that Ginny was a chatty Cathy, and once you got her started, it was hard to stop.
"I have been busy with the store and other stuff. How about you?" Clarrisa asked.
Ginny sighed."Busy at the hospital and planning my wedding next June," she said happily. "I have a new phone so that is why your number showed up unknown!"
Clarrisa needed to speed things up."Listen. I called you for a reason. I am doing a more in-depth report on the Hastings House, and I wanted to learn more about it and how things operated here. I know your last name is O'Shaughnessy, and many employees worked for the Hastings with your family's last name." She said.
Ginny giggled. "That's my family, alright! I remember when you did that report on Hastings! How can I help you?" she asked kindly.
"Have you heard of a Jedadiah O'Shaughnessy? He appears to have worked for the Hastings family in the mid-eighteen hundreds. He could have also been known as Jed."
Ginny was contemplative and then responded. "I don't know. There are so many of us. We breed like rabbits." Ginny laughed good-naturedly. "But my Aunt Maude?She will know if anyone knows about our history and a man named Jed or Jedadiah." She said.
Clarrisa felt encouraged by that and said. "Could you ask her about him and see if he was married and what her name might have been?" she asked.
Ginny responded. "For sure! I will contact her tomorrow and see what she can find out!" she exclaimed.
Clarrisa gasped. "Uh. Time is of the essence here. I need this information quickly, Ginny."
Ginny chuckled. "Ok. It seems mysterious, but nobody loves a mystery better than me. I will call her now and call you back with what I find. Ok?"
Clarrisa had one more thing on her mind."Find out all you can for me, and I will be so stinking grateful to you! We will do lunch for sure!"
"Let me get on it for you, and I will call you back," Ginny said.
Clarrisa did not call Emily right away. She wanted to see what Ginny would find out about Jedadiah O'Shaughnessy.
***
"Lainie looked closer at the picture, and then she saw the trees that surrounded the property. Bella had drawn colorful flowers around the base of the trees, and Laine's eyes were drawn to two stick figures in front of the house. Their stick hands were joined together as if they were friends. One stick figure had yellow hair, and the other had black hair. Lainie looked through the sketches. There were different pictures, at least six of them; in each one, it was the two stick-figure girls standing in front of the house, and that is when she saw something that made her gasp aloud. Bella had labeled one stick figure with her name and the other with dark black holes for eyes and a gaping creepy mouth... She looked closer and felt her heart began to speed up. Lainie flipped frantically through the remaining drawings, which were all identical: that same terrifying grin and the soulless eyes.
***
Ginny called Clarrisa back about fifteen minutes later, and her voice was excited."I swear! There is nothing my Aunt Maude doesn't know!" she laughed.
Clarrisa was very impatient; she needed to keep her calm."Did she know anything about Jedadiah?" Clarrisa asked anxiously.
Ginny laughed again."Well, I should say so!" she exclaimed.
"What did she find?" she was bursting to know.
"Jedadiah O'Shaughnessy came from Ireland and worked for the Hasting's for many years. He was old when he stopped working for them. He was known as Jed, and he was great with horses," she said.
"That is good info, Ginny. Did she find out anything else? Clarrisa asked eagerly.
"Yes!" Ginny said. "He was married to Clara, and they had six children together. They were known as Papa Jed and Mama Clara by their children and grandchildren," she ended.
Clarrisa felt the inside of her palms grow clammy, and she gasped."Clara? she asked incredulously.
Ginny was insistent."Yep. That is what Aunt Maude said. She said their love story was well known through the years."
Clarrisa asked."What love story?"
Ginny sighed dramatically."She was being held captive in a room for sleeping with the Mistress's husband, and in a fit of rage, the Mistress locked her in the room with no intentions of letting her out, but Jedadiah begged the Master for Clara's hand in marriage, and so the Master ordered her to be let out of the room, and they got married. Aunt Maude says that they were married for years."
Clarrisa's face went white with shock, and she shook all over.
"Are you there, Clarrisa?'' Ginny asked.
Clarrisa stuttered."Uh. Ye...s. I uh. I need to go now. Thank you, Ginny. I will be in touch." she hung up the phone abruptly.
***
"Oh, my God! Lainie gasped, and her hands started shaking. She dropped the sketch pad on the floor, picked it back up, and looked at the picture again.
Lainie raced down the stairs and grabbed her phone off the kitchen counter.She quickly dialed Davis's number, and it rang a couple of times.
"Hello?" He answered.
"Davis! Oh my God! She said in a panic.
Davis heard the fear in her voice. Something was very wrong. "Lainie, I need you to calm down. I can't understand you," he said.
Lainie tried to calm herself and felt the coldest chills cover her body. She shivered, terrified at her discovery, and went outside on the porch in the heat and waited for Davis and Emily to return. She was petrified."It's her! It's Penelope!"
I hope you enjoyed tonight's chapter! Let me know!