Danielle Marlow, then Danielle Boatman, had just turned thirty when she moved to Marlow House five years earlier. She had inherited the property from her great-aunt, the wife of her paternal grandfather’s brother. When she moved to the small coastal town of Frederickport, Oregon, to turn the property into a bed-and-breakfast, she never realized how much her life would change in such a short time, or how many close friends she would make. Moving to Frederickport proved to be the best decision of her life.
One of the biggest changes, she was now a mother to twins and married to her soulmate, Walt Marlow, who had willed the Marlow estate to the mother of Danielle’s great-aunt. Of course, if Danielle shared that information with someone outside of her close circle of confidants, people would think she was insane, because Walt looked like a man in his mid-thirties, not like someone who had been born in 1899 and who had been murdered in 1925, fifty-nine years before Danielle’s birth.
The twins, Jack and Addison, were almost two months old now. Danielle had quickly lost the baby weight and weighed less than when she had first moved to Oregon. At five feet five, Danielle’s greatest body change wasn’t losing fifteen pounds, it was the increase in her bra cup size, which she found annoying because none of her blouses fit. She had recently stopped pulling her long dark hair into a fishtail braid and instead wove it into a french braid, which took her less time.
When helping Walt bathe Connor, Danielle had set her cellphone on a hall table outside the bathroom door, where she had forgotten it. She was still standing with Walt outside Connor’s room when the phone rang.
“Maybe that’s Ian!” Danielle rushed down the hallway, Walt trailing behind her. A moment later, Danielle answered the call while Walt silently listened to her side of the conversation. She was obviously talking to Ian.
When the call ended, Danielle turned off her cellphone, slipped it in her back pocket, and looked up at Walt. “Lily started having contractions on the way to the hospital. He didn’t say how far apart they were; I didn’t ask. But she’s okay and in a labor room.”
“I heard you ask him if he wanted you to call anyone.”
“He said not to. I think he’s afraid if his sister finds out Lily’s at the hospital, she’ll show up and want into the labor room. He doesn’t want to deal with that.”
They were still discussing Lily and standing by the hall table when Sadie and Max came upstairs, walking toward them. Walt looked at the dog and cat, who had stopped several feet away, staring in his direction. Silently, Walt conveyed the update concerning Lily and told Sadie it was alright to go into Connor’s room, where the golden retriever wanted to sleep.
Max remained standing with Walt and Danielle in the hallway while Sadie walked by the pair, rubbing against each of them before continuing to Connor’s room. Danielle leaned down to Max and picked him up. He began to purr. “The twins are sleeping, and we haven’t heard a peep from Connor since we put him to bed. But I don’t think I’m going to sleep, not thinking about Lily.”
Before Walt could respond, barking came from Connor’s room.
“What the heck?” Danielle muttered as she set Max back on the floor and rushed with Walt down to Connor’s room. By the time they reached it, Connor was sitting up in his bed, crying, while Sadie stood facing the corner of the room, still barking.
“Sadie!” Walt snapped.
Sadie stopped barking and looked at Walt. Danielle rushed to Connor and picked him up, soothing the boy. She then heard crying coming from the nursery. Sadie had woken the twins.
“Sadie, I can’t believe the barking. You never bark in the house when the babies are sleeping,” Danielle scolded as she absently patted the toddler’s back, trying to calm him while glancing toward the open doorway, the cries of her babies calling out to her.
Walt turned to Danielle and took Connor from her arms. “Go check on the twins, and I’ll see what’s up with Sadie and get Connor back in bed.”
Connor had stopped crying and sat on the side of the bed with Walt while Sadie stood by Walt’s side, silently telling him about the man she found in Connor’s room when she first walked in, and how the man disappeared when she barked at him.
Walt looked from Sadie to Connor. “Who was the man Sadie barked at?”
Connor looked up into Walt’s eyes. “Clown.”
“It was a clown?” Walt frowned.
Connor shook his head. “Bubble.”
Danielle had finally gotten both the twins back to sleep when Walt stepped into the nursery with Max.
“Where’s Sadie?” Danielle whispered.
“I told her to stay with Connor.”
Danielle arched her brows. “Is that a good idea?”
“Let’s go to our room and talk.” Walt glanced down at Max and added, “You stay with the twins.”
“What’s going on?” Danielle frowned from Walt to Max, back to Walt.
Walt motioned for Danielle to follow him out of the room while Max jumped up on one rocker and curled up. Reluctantly, Danielle followed Walt out of the room, down the hall, and into their bedroom.
“What’s going on?” Danielle asked, her voice no longer a whisper. She took a seat on the edge of the bed and watched Walt, who was still standing.
“Sadie started barking because when she walked into the room, there was a man standing at Connor’s bedside.”
Danielle stood abruptly. “A man?”
Walt waved for Danielle to sit back down while he took a seat at the bench of her dressing table, his back to the dressing table as he faced her. “More accurately, a spirit, considering he vanished not long after Sadie started barking.”
“You mean a ghost?”
Walt shrugged. “Apparently.”
“Whose ghost?”
Walt shook his head. “I have no idea. Dogs aren’t great at giving descriptions, but according to Connor, it was a clown.”
“A clown?”
“Let me rephrase. When I asked Connor who the man was, all he said was clown. I assumed that meant the ghost looked like a clown, but when I asked him if the man was a clown, his answer was bubble.”
Danielle frowned. “What does that mean?”
“I have no idea. And how Sadie described the ghost, it doesn’t sound like someone in a clown costume. Sadie is staying in the bedroom with Connor and promises to come get us if the ghost returns, and not to bark. It’s not like a ghost can hurt Connor. Plus, according to Sadie, Connor didn’t seem to be afraid of the ghost. He was actually engaging with him when Sadie came into the room, and Connor only started crying after Sadie barked and the ghost disappeared. Max is staying with the twins, and he’ll come get us if the ghost shows up there.”
The two sat in silence for a few minutes, each thinking about the evening’s events. Finally, Danielle said, “This isn’t the best night for a new spirit to come calling.”
“I suppose we should give Heather and Chris a call; have them be on the lookout for our new ghost.”
Heather Donovan lived two doors south of Marlow House. Her boyfriend, Brian Henderson, had brought her home thirty minutes earlier, after the two of them returned from the movies. Since Brian had to get up early for work the next morning, he gave Heather a kiss after walking her to the front door and headed back to his car to drive home.
Heather had just finished taking a shower and was wrapped in a towel when she walked into her bedroom and heard her cellphone ringing.
“It’s kind of late,” Heather muttered aloud as she walked to the dresser and picked up the phone. Before answering it, she looked to see who was calling. It was Danielle.
“Hey, what’s up?” Heather plopped down on her bed, the damp towel still wrapped around her body.
“Sorry to call so late. I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“No. Brian and I went to the movies tonight. He has to work early, so he didn’t stay over. What’s up?”
“Connor had a visitor tonight—a new ghost.” Danielle then told Heather about the visitor.
“What is the deal with Marlow House? Is it like a ghost magnet?”
“According to Eva, mediums attract spirits, especially spirits who want to communicate with the living. And since there are four of us on Beach Drive—”
“That we’re aware of,” Heather interrupted.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, there are four mediums we know about on Beach Drive. But there could be more.”
“True. Anyway, I wanted to give you the heads-up.”
“Okay, I’ll be on the lookout. Is this freaking Lily and Ian out? They figured with the poltergeist gone, Marlow House would be ghost-free except for Marie and Eva.”
“They aren’t here.”
“Where are they?”
Danielle cringed inwardly but said, “Please don’t tell anyone. And whatever you do, don’t let Kelly know you knew.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Lily’s water broke tonight. She’s at the hospital in labor.”
“Oh, my gosh! She’s not due for three weeks. But why don’t you want Kelly to know I know Lily’s in labor?”
“Because Kelly doesn’t know.” Danielle then explained why Kelly wasn’t told.
“Why would she want to be there? That would be awkward having random people in the delivery room.”
“Kind of like when I had the twins?”
“Hey, Brian and I were helping you deliver those little impatient imps!”
Danielle laughed. “Which I appreciate.”
“So how is Lily doing?”
“I haven’t heard. It’s not like we can go down there and hang out in the waiting room. We have Connor and the twins. But we talked to Ian about thirty minutes ago. All I know, she’s in the labor room, and I assume Ian is with her. Hopefully, the labor is quick, like it was with Connor.”
“Well, that’s exciting. Glad it’s not me.”
Danielle and Heather talked a few more minutes before saying goodbye. When the call ended, Heather tossed her cellphone onto the nightstand and got out of bed. She finished drying herself off, dropped the towel onto the floor, and slipped into an oversized T-shirt. Just as Heather leaned down and picked up the towel to take to the bathroom, a man appeared in her bedroom.
Clutching the damp towel in one hand, Heather stood up straight and let out a shriek before yelling out the man’s name. “Clay Bowman!”