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The next day went off without a hitch. The weather was bright and warm for the time of year—all the way up to 35 degrees with nary a snowflake in sight. Sophie was stiff but able to make it to the courthouse to get the marriage license. John was full of smiles and radiated hope. She loved seeing him that way.
“Will you be happy with a honeymoon in Mexico?” He asked, looking striking in a pale blue leisure suit. His cane tapped along as they walked.
“Mexico?” Sophie gasped. “I would love to go somewhere warm and sunny, but only if Maya can come.” The thought of getting away from Haven House for a while appealed to her even more than the climate change did, but Sophie didn’t mention that.
“Of course she can. Did you think I’d even consider leaving her behind?” He asked, hugging Sophie tightly as they left the courthouse, license in hand.
“Then, the answer is yes,” Sophie said, snuggling next to him as they walked down the stairs toward the car.
The Black Hills loomed in the distance as did the local tourist attractions. There would be time to see them all, but there was too much to be done today for her and John to linger in town.
“Good. Let’s get back and make sure everything is ready for tomorrow,” John said, kissing her lightly on the cheek.
He still seemed to be wary about pushing her too far in the romance department, but the shared feeling of interest between them was undeniable. Sophie believed, with time, it would blossom into love.
* * * *
Once Maya was snuggled in her crib that night, Sophie went back to her bedroom. She wanted to try the wedding dress on again. It was gorgeous, with glimmering beads, some sequins, and yards of lace—something she could only have dreamed of—fit for royalty.
She slipped the silken piece of perfection on over her underclothes and studied her reflection. Her red hair was aflame, her skin smooth and youthful. She was transformed—a woman in the first blush of love, glowing, and ready for her husband.
At that moment, the phone on the nightstand in her room rang. It never had before. The bedrooms had their own personal extensions, but one had to know the proper extension of the particular bedroom to dial it. Sophie frowned. “Who in the world could that be?” Then, she smiled. It had to be John, wanting to wish her well before the wedding tomorrow morning. They wouldn’t see each other until she walked down the aisle of the family chapel, after all.
She picked up the phone, her heart fluttering. “Hello?”
“Sophie, it’s Evan. Can you come out to the greenhouse? I wanted to show you the orchids for tomorrow and your bouquet.”
“Evan?” Her heart flipped in disappointment, but she tried not to show it. “Oh, okay. I guess so. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” She glanced at her watch. It was 8:30. Not too late, but she was surprised Evan was calling her to the greenhouse now. He had insisted on doing the flowers for the wedding and would be decorating the chapel with them tomorrow morning. Maybe he was still trying to make nice for how ugly he had been to her before.
She would let him try.
Sophie changed into jeans, an old blue sweatshirt, and her tennis shoes. She swept her hair into a ponytail and darted into the nursery to check on the baby. She just couldn’t resist it. Her daughter was sleeping deeply, taking sweet little breaths.
“Goodnight, little one. Tomorrow, our lives will change,” Sophie whispered, touching the baby’s warm head and then leaving. She took the elevator downstairs, unwilling to brave the stairs after her recent fall. Sophie didn’t care if that made her a coward. She would rather be safe than sorry—or have a panic attack the night before her wedding. The elevator creaked down to the first floor.
She found her coat in the closet near the door. The house was silent, as if it were waiting for something. Sophie and John had parted ways after dinner, and she supposed he was busy, or just enjoying his last night of freedom as a single man.
She grinned at that thought as she buttoned her coat and walked out the front door. The wind howled, and Sophie shivered, in spite of the relative warmth for a February evening in South Dakota. She hugged herself and walked as quickly as she could across the mostly dark yard. The greenhouse shimmered in the distance as she rounded the corner, the glass walls reflecting in the few lights outside.
Sophie paused as she neared it. It looked dark inside, but Evan was supposed to be working there. With a sense of trepidation, she knocked on the door. It moved inward. She realized that it was hanging open, and wind was gusting into the greenhouse. Something was very wrong.
“Evan?” She called, a tremor in her voice.
A single bulb in the back of the greenhouse lit the place. The flowers and plants looked eerie in the dim light, as if they might reach toward her at any moment and pin her to the spot.
“Evan?” All was quiet—too quiet.
“He’s not here,” said a scathing voice, a voice she recognized. Pain split her skull, and everything went black.
* * * *
“Why are you doing this?” Sophie asked. Her head throbbed with every word she spoke.
“You really don’t know?” Carla laughed. All softness was gone from her voice. Her face was even changed into a snarling, animal-like visage. The sweetness had been a front all along.
“No, you could have married John. I don’t understand any of this.” Sophie was stalling for time. She could look at Carla and tell she was mad, but she hoped someone would rescue her.
Evan lay on the ground, knocked out cold. He had apparently called her to have her come look at the flowers at Carla’s suggestion. Then, Carla had hit him over the head with the same thing she had used on Sophie. Sophie didn’t know what the object was, but it hurt.
“I didn’t want John. He was a means to get to his brother, but Evan, idiot that he is, rejected me.” She laughed. “I loved him, and I love this house. My mother worked here when I was a young child. She more than worked here. She was the mistress of Thaddeus Granger.”
“Oh my God,” Sophie said. “The woman who came between him and the boys’ mother?”
“Yes, exactly. And it came full circle with me. I seduced old Thaddeus, and I’m carrying his child. After you’re dead, he will marry me, and this house will be mine. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll kick every last Granger out the moment he dies. The beauty of it is that no one will know I killed you—or Evan. They’re going to think you both died in a terrible fire here while carrying on a lover’s tryst.” She laughed, her eyes rolling up in her head.
“No, you wouldn’t do that. John would be—”
“Devastated? Yes, he will be. He loves you, or he’s almost in love. He never loved me, so don’t worry. I was just here as a maid before I was the nanny and seemed like a good choice.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s weak. Marrying him was a most unsatisfying proposition for me. I wanted to get to the source after Evan rejected me—Thaddeus—and I did. He knows about the baby, and he knows who my mother is. I told him last night, and now, I think he’s afraid of me, but he doesn’t know the half of what I’m planning.” She giggled like a small child. The young woman was truly insane. “He probably thinks tomorrow will go off without a hitch, and the house and his legacy will be secured despite me and the baby.”
“Please, there’s another way—” Sophie hugged herself. She was so cold, and all she could think about was Maya in the crib alone. She would have no mother, just as she already had no father.
“Shut up.” Carla struck a match, her eyes glittering in the near darkness.
Sophie smelled the gasoline then. She had missed the acrid odor somehow before. Carla already had the place set to burn.
“No, no!” She cried.
“Oh, yes. Say goodbye to this world, Sophie,” Carla said.
Behind Carla, a shadowy figure flickered. Chills ran down Sophie’s spine. It couldn’t be. It made no rational sense, but it was her. It was Mona Granger, or her ghost. Carla suddenly screamed and fell backward. The lit match fell on top of her, and flames shot from her body.
Sophie gaped for only a moment. Then, she grabbed Evan and dragged him by the legs to the door, tears running down her face at the pain from her bruises and the effort.
He grunted, starting to stir. “What’s going on?” Evan mumbled, not fighting her.
“I’m sorry. We have to get out of here!” She managed to push and pull him out of the greenhouse door. Then, she rolled him down the slight slope as far as she could and ran behind him. She waited for an explosion, but it never came.
Somehow, Mona Granger, or what was left of her, had taken care of that detail, but Sophie had no doubt Carla was dead.
* * * *
Two weeks later, on a bright, cold day, John and Sophie walked down the short aisle of the Granger Chapel and gave themselves to each other as man and wife. The shadow of Carla’s misdeeds still hung over the wedding as did the sad death of the life she had carried inside of her, but the past was put to rest, finally. The coroner’s inquiry showed that Carla had died of a heart attack. Only the family knew that there was more to it than that when Sophie told them of seeing Mona Granger’s ghost. Thaddeus Granger admitted he had seen her too and that she had warned him of danger.
In a tearful reunion, father and sons had talked for many hours about Mona Granger’s death. It had been an accident, Thaddeus promised them, in tears. He had been nowhere near his wife when she had tumbled to her death. The man was bereft that they could have suspected differently. They believed him.
“The future is ours,” John said, smiling at Sophie as he took her hand at the door of the chapel and they walked out into the small waiting crowd that included Sarah with Maya in her arms, Abby, and even Sophie’s father. As rice pelted them, Sophie laughed. “Yes, and how lucky we are.”
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Thank you for reading! Find more of my books and the latest releases and pre-orders at www.lisalgreer.com and get a free read while you’re there. If you enjoyed this novella, please leave a quick star rating and/or review. It means the world to me. ~Lisa