Wild West Hauntings, page 15
Past memories of the times she spent with her grandmother flashed through her mind. She touched the necklace and smiled. And then the memories of the night Damon presented her with the bracelet came to mind. It’d rained heavily that night, but the weather hadn’t dampened the mood, especially when he’d gifted the jewel between a bouquet of stargazer lilies. Her favorite flower.
“Girlfriend, you coming anytime soon?” Cassie’s voice broke through her reverie.
“Yes. Let’s hit it.”
Happy with her appearance, she gave the pearl beaded bodice of her white wedding dress one more glance, rubbed her palm over her baby bump and pulled Cassie’s hand into hers. Roxy had done well with the selection of dresses she’d brought over for her. Two out of the four had made her look like overly stuffed sausage meat in white casing. A third dress had been too snug. But the last, a sheath column dress with cap sleeves was absolutely beautiful. Under the squared neckline bodice that fit perfectly around her breasts was a satin band and below it the swaths of flowing white pleated chiffon material covered her so well that from the front she almost didn’t look pregnant.
“You look like a dream.” Cassie smiled and then looped her arm around Bristol’s. “Soon to be Mrs. Damon Dougan.”
“Who’d of thou—” The last word stuck in her throat as a sharp pain jabbed her stomach almost sending her entire body to the floor. Had Cassie not had her arm she would have hit the floor. She clutched her stomach.
“Bristol!”
Red hot pain seared through her belly. Frightened beyond words, she sucked in an unsteady breath and tried to straighten her body. She let out a jagged sigh. “I’m fine. He just kicked a little harder than usual.” She coughed. “I think he’s going to be a linebacker, soccer player or a rodeo rider with those legs of his.”
The alarmed expression on Cassie’s face told her that she wasn’t so sure. Her maid-of-honor hesitated for a moment. “Do you want me to call Damon?” Cassie stabilized Bristol, taking the brunt of her weight.
“No. I’ll be fine. Just need a minute to steady myself.”
She lied.
The intense pain weaved an unsettling path through her consciousness. This wasn’t the baby’s normal kicking pattern. She took in a slow deep breath and let it out even slower.
“I hear the music starting below. Are you good to go?” Cassie inquired. “Seriously, Bristol you don’t look good.”
“Yes. Nothing’s going to stop me from marrying Damon. Especially not some strong kicks or Braxton Hicks or whatever is going on. Let’s get this show on the road. As we say on Broadway, the show must go on.”
Cassie, her arm still hooked around hers, led her downstairs.
‘Music of the Night,’ Bristol and Damon’s favorite song from Phantom of the Opera, played through the sound system. She tried to concentrate on the music to take her mind off the slices and cramps causing havoc inside her. But breathing and listening to the music did nothing. The pain didn’t cease. Instead it intensified so that by the time she’d made it down the aisle and reached for Damon’s hand she could barely stand.
He leaned in toward her to whisper in her ear. “Darlin’, are you alright?”
“Yes. Fine,” she stated more calm and steady than she thought she would, considering the cataclysm going on inside her.
Determined to become his wife, she stood wincing against the pain as the ceremony started. Pastor Ryan spoke of love and commitment, added in their anecdotes, then had them recite their vows. Each line and word seemed to draw out for infinity as the aches rolled through her. Her most important day and she could barely pay attention to what was happening around her. All she wanted was for the ritual to end. When he’d pronounced them husband and wife and finally told them to kiss, she let the pain overtake her.
Damon’s arms enveloped her before she’d blacked out and hit the floor.
“Bristol, breathe. It’s okay. Paramedics are on the way.”
Paramedics? How much time has passed? Her eyes fluttered open. A frightened blue-eyed gaze bore into hers. Damon. Yes, her husband. Despite the pain induced fog in her head, she reached for him only to be stopped short from another stabbing sensation ripping through her belly, followed by darkness again.
An agonizing scream sounded. Mine? Moisture dampened her cheeks.
“Hold on baby. They’re at the ranch entrance.”
Already?
Another man’s voice sounded. “Hold on, little brother. Help is coming.” Dakota’s voice sounded through some static. That’s when she noticed the radio in Damon’s hand.
Help, yes. A soft voice whispered. Help.
“Did … you hear that? Damon?”
Damon’s wide-eyed clueless expression confirmed he hadn’t.
Wait, was the voice in her mind?
The pain. It was so hard to decipher reality through the throbbing.
And then every hair on the back of her neck stood at attention as the barely audible whisper came again. Help … mommy. Please.
Mommy?
Another sharp pain lanced her. She screamed as a surge of warm liquid gushed from between her legs.
“My baby. Oh. God.”
In the midst of the commotion the paramedics crashed the room. Immediately they came to her with an oxygen mask in hand.
“Looks like her water broke,” a deep voice confirmed as gentle hands slid the mask over her nose and mouth.
“Take short, even breaths, Mrs. Dougan.” The paramedic kneeling beside her smiled, his boyish features easily marking him as in his late teens or early twenties, his beautiful shade of strawberry blonde hair slicked back perfectly. A nice young man.
As her breathing steadied, Cassie came into view above her. “The guests are settled into the dining hall.” Her words were meant for Damon. “Miguel and Rachel are taking care of things in there.”
Boom. Boom. Boom. The thuds startled everyone, seemed to come from everywhere.
A second later the room fell into darkness and dropped several degrees in temperature.
Pandemonium let loose. Chairs rose into the air then dropped to the floor. Decorations on the tree rattled as the poinsettias under the tree tipped over. Flowers flew into the air in a whirlwind. The swirling rush of air sounded like the loud roar of a train.
“What the fuck,” the paramedic kneeling next to her hollered to the other man taking her vitals.
No … mommy. Help. I’m scared. The little voice in her head begged.
Her child was in danger. An anger like none she’d ever known bubbled inside her, and she silently whispered to the trickster. She knew he could hear her. Stay away from my baby. Do not touch a hair on his head. I will kill you.
She needed the only man who could help her.
Kane.
No sooner had his name left her thoughts Damon’s voice echoed from somewhere in the room, “Kane. Someone find me Kane.”
Another excruciating pain splintered through her body, forcing an animal-like scream from her lips. And then the desire to push—a desire almost frightening, controlled by someone or something stronger than her willpower took control. As if her body had a mind of its own, her legs spread.
“She’s having this baby.” The paramedic beside her pulled scissors from his bag and cut the center length of her wedding dress until her bare belly protruded and legs were exposed. “It’s time. This baby is coming.”
As the medical man positioned his body between her legs to assist with the birth, the room dropped another several degrees. The strong wind funneled through the room, knocking the kneeling man onto his side. Then the stormy air sucked him and the other medic away, kicking and screaming, leaving in its wake a black transparent figure of a man.
Oh. My. God.
Beside the transparent figure of a man stood a solid, real man. Tall, dark and fierce.
“Do. Not. Touch. Her. Or her unborn child.” Kane wore the same outfit he had on the night he performed the protection spell in her and Damon’s bedroom. The wind swept his hair back and every muscle in his body rippled as he spoke the same words he’d just spoken a second time.
A low, wicked laugh sounded.
Panic remained glued in every vein running though her body. The pressure to push the baby out intensified. She tried a second time to close her legs only to have the unseen force keep them parted.
The baby moved, and she knew without a doubt he’d positioned his tiny body in the birth canal. Tears practically choked her.
“That’s right child. Come to me.” The evil voice laughed.
“I said be gone, evil spirit.” Kane dropped to his knees beside Bristol’s waist and protectively put a hand against her belly. “Relax, child. It is not time for you to arrive just yet. Stay put.”
A deep, feral moan shattered one row of the track lighting that had turned on when the spirit took form in the room earlier.
Mommy? The small voice whispered in her thoughts.
Damon dropped to his knees on her other side opposite Kane. His shocked and then concerned gaze found hers. “I heard him. In my thoughts. Our child.” He caressed her cheek. “He’s talking to you.”
She blinked. And the tears where there again.
Damon clutched the side of her belly not occupied by Kane’s hands. “Stay put, son. You’re safe. Daddy’s here.”
Daddy … you’re here?
Bristol and Damon whispered yes at the same time.
“Medicine man, I will kill you if you do not release your protection from this child.” The non-corporal figure threw a punch in Kane’s direction.
The action sent swirling air around Kane. It hit him and knocked him to the ground.
Only briefly.
Kane threw his head back and laughed. “Is that all you got, trickster?” He repositioned his body right where he’d been, next to Bristol.
A deep dark growl came next. “Child! Come forth now.”
“Not on your best day, Seth.” It was Kane’s turn to laugh. A low, dark, almost sinister sound came from him. His hands reclaimed Bristol’s stomach.
Warmth emanated from his fingertips. Calmness surrounded her, and she closed her eyes as the heat from his touch snaked through her body.
“What’s happening to my wife, Kane?” Frantic concern colored Damon’s tone.
“I have put her and your son under a second protection spell.”
Kane’s explanation was the last thing she heard before drifting into the open arms of the beautiful Native American woman before her.
****
Rachel still couldn’t believe what was going on before her eyes. Kane was magnificent in his strength, fighting off the poltergeist and helping Bristol. The experience was something for the books.
Things seemed to happen all at once and in slow motion around Rachel. Everyone had been called back into the recreation room when Kane arrived. After the soon-to-be shaman sent Bristol into some kind of trance and calmed her new husband, the Native American instructed the group to surround him and Bristol and hold hands, including the paramedics who finally came to after being attacked. They balked about not attending to the woman who was about to give birth. Kane assured them she was safe for the time being, and the baby wasn’t about to enter the world.
The smell of the incense Kane lit in a long thin box along with the sage in a black shell filled the room with a sweet, earthy scent. Smoke lifted from the shell and curled in gray-white ribbons in the air, which he feathered around the inside circular area as he chanted. Once he put the items back on the ground, Kane hovered his hands over Bristol’s body and requested that everyone repeat the words of his chants as best as they could.
Seth’s dark figure jumped onto Bristol and bounced away as if she had an invisible bubble around her. With each chant Kane uttered, the figure thinned, became more wispy. Kane’s voice grew louder while Seth’s cries of complaint became weak. It seemed like they stood in the circle for hours, when in actuality it was only minutes.
In what appeared to be a last ditch effort, Seth screamed and charged at Bristol again. “The child is mine! My chance at life again.”
“You are hereby ordered to depart, Seth,” Kane’s voice boomed in the area. He flung his hand up into the universal sign for ‘stop.’ The evil mass froze in the air. “You had your chance at life once upon a time and chose to live in such a manner that it got you killed. Though you died on this ranch, you are no longer welcome here. Be gone.”
The faded black form shot to the ceiling, twisted and writhed. It gyrated as if in pain. The cloud disappeared. A sinister laugh lingered in the air for several spooky seconds. Then all was quiet.
Kane knelt next to Bristol, woke her from the state he put her in.
“The woman? Where is she?” Bristol asked with a raspy voice.
“She is a spirit guide of mine. She watched over you as we rid the world of the trickster Seth.”
Damon and the paramedics rushed to her side. “Oh my God, Bristol. You had me scared shi…” He glanced around, his gaze landing on Pastor Ryan who seemed completely unfazed about what just happened, then looked back at his wife. “You had me scared.”
“I’m sorry, Damon. I didn’t mean to worry you.” She surveyed the people standing around her. Her gaze lingered on the paramedics. “I gather we won’t get to have our reception?”
“Don’t trouble yourself. It wasn’t your fault. As for the reception, we’ll have a party to celebrate our nuptials when you’re better and through having our child.” He placed a kiss on her forehead.
“Sir, could you step back for a moment?” The older of the two medics asked. “We need to check her vitals.”
Damon moved, and the paramedics examined her.
“Still dilated,” the young man stated. “Water’s broken, but she’s stable. Baby’s heart rate is a little weak. We need to take her to the hospital now.”
“Darlin’?” Damon held her hand. “We’re going to get you to the med center now.” He kissed the backs of her fingers.
The medics put her on a gurney and started to wheel her to the door.
“Stop, please,” she requested.
“Ma’am?”
“Just for a minute.” She turned her head, stretched to look around. “Kane?”
“Yes?”
“I heard my baby. He’s okay, and he thanks you. He says the bad man is gone.”
“That he is.” Kane nodded.
The medics and Damon wheeled her out.
Cassie and Dakota announced they were going to follow the ambulance. They grabbed their coats and left.
“Anyone interested in a drink?” Miguel inquired of the remaining people. Everyone agreed it was time to crack open some alcohol.
Thinking about what a wild trip she’d been on, Rachel picked up a chair, righted it and dropped down onto it. She’d hoped to have a relaxing vacation, a nice Christmas and birthday with her sister and those on the ranch. But instead, entered the world of the paranormal that she’d read about and researched.
So much for well made plans.
There were ghosts and poltergeists. There was something about shamanism and pregnant women could communicate with their children in their womb.
Marianne handed her a glass of beer. She offered a half smile—the best she could muster under the strange circumstances—and drank a third of the pint. The amber liquid washed down her throat. A chill—a good one this time—from the frosty beverage ran through her. In a few minutes the beer was gone, and she felt relaxed. Miguel brought her another drink. The additional alcohol calmed her even more.
There just better not be any more surprises around the corner.
She didn’t know if she could handle another round of paranormal activity without turning in to a drunk.
Chapter Fifteen
Christmas Morning
The atmosphere of the lodge had changed over night. The gloom that’d been hanging over the ranch and its inhabitants for so long due to Seth’s evil spirit had lifted. Everyone seemed more buoyant, their nerves no longer wound tight.
Rachel lounged on a couch in front of the roaring fire with a steaming mug of coffee and a plush afghan thrown over her legs. She’d come downstairs to see that all the furniture and tables were back in place, the wedding decorations were gone and the tree was decked out with shiny gold and silver bulbs. Marianne had explained that after everyone left the night before Billy, Hugh, Jake and Miguel decided to clean up and put everything back.
It looked like a wedding had never taken place, like they all didn’t have a brush with the diabolical side of the afterlife nor witness mystical greatness.
“Strange, isn’t it?” Marianne stood in font of the couch with her coffee. “Move your feet. Let me sit with you.”
Rachel tucked her feet under her butt and tossed her sister the other half of the blanket to share with her. She didn’t have to ask Marianne what she meant by her question. Everyone that morning had been feeling the same way. “Yeah. It’s almost surreal. Like yesterday never happened.”
“I’m sure glad it did though. I don’t know how much more of Seth’s antics I could have taken. That and how his presence cast a negative pall on everything. I think that’s one of the reasons Miguel and I weren’t nice to each other.”
“Did you ever get a chance to speak with him about how you feel?”
“Yeah, I brought up the whole wife in the kitchen thing, and you’re right. He was just messing with me. But he also didn’t want to discuss taking our relationship to the next level. I know he and I haven’t been together all that long, but he’s the only man I’ve ever truly thought about being with for the rest of my life. All the others…” She waved her hand in the air. “Pffft. They were crushes compared to what I feel for Miguel. What am I going to do if it turns out he doesn’t want to go the distance with me?”
