The Ghost and the Poltergeist (eBook)

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Spring arrived in Frederickport several weeks before the birth of Walt and Danielle’s twins. The impatient pair was supposed to arrive in mid-May yet showed up on the last Saturday in April. Two weeks after their birth, Danielle sat with her best friend, Lily, in the living room of Marlow House, while Walt worked upstairs in his attic office, and the newborns napped in their bedroom on the second floor. Nearby, the baby monitor emitted a soft hum, keeping tabs on the sleeping babies.

Lily sprawled out on the living room sofa with her shoes aban‐ doned on the floor. She lounged against a throw pillow propped against the upholstered arm, while her stockinged feet rested on the opposite end of the sofa, and her hands absently stroked her protruding baby belly.

Danielle sat on a recliner facing Lily, her feet up on its footrest. Lily had brought her golden retriever, Sadie, over with her, but the dog stayed in the backyard with Danielle’s cat, Max. It was too lovely a day for them to stay inside. Lily’s young son, Connor, was at story time at the library, with his grandmother and aunt.

Lily, her red hair fastened into a high ponytail, glanced briefly at her watch and then looked at Danielle. “June and Kelly should be dropping Connor off any time now. I texted them earlier that I’d be over here.”

“It was nice of them to take Connor today. Give you some quiet time.”

“Yeah. And I must admit, June’s been pretty good lately. I think it’s that talk Ian had with her a while back.” Lily paused a moment and looked over at Danielle. “Oh, I was wondering, did you hear about Pearl Cove’s new Monday brunch?”

“What’s that?”

“Pearl Cove expanded its Sunday brunch to Monday brunch. Same menu, just two days a week instead of one.”

“I can understand adding another day. Their Sunday brunch has gotten crowded.”

Lily let out a sigh and slumped back against a throw pillow. “Although, I don’t know when I’ll be going out for Sunday brunch again. Not with Connor and a newborn.”

“You could go now. We can watch Connor,” Danielle suggested.

“To be honest, I’m not sure I feel like getting all dressed up and going to a fancy restaurant right now. I’m so ready to have this baby. But I have another two months.” Lily groaned. “I’ll also be so freaking happy to have this addition done. I’m sick of dealing with all the mess, chaos, and noise. And it’s just going to get worse. Last night Ian explained what they need to do before they finish. I really hate living in the middle of a construction zone.”

“There’s no reason for you to deal with all that. Come stay here. We have plenty of room for all of you. We told you, you’re more than welcome.”

Before Lily could respond, the doorbell rang. Both glanced at the living room window. So engrossed with their conversation, neither one had noticed anyone walking by the window to the front door .

“It’s probably June and Kelly, dropping off Connor.” Lily started to stand.

“I’ll get it.” Danielle stood up. “You stay there. I need the exer‐ cise. You rest.”

A few minutes later, Danielle returned to the living room with Lily’s mother-in-law, June; her sister-in-law, Kelly; and Connor, who immediately ran to a basket of toys by the fireplace. He promptly dumped the toys onto the floor before sitting down to play .

June laughed at her grandson. “He certainly makes himself at home.”

“How was he at story time?” Lily asked without standing up.

“I think we now know what his imaginary friend, Marie, looks like,” Kelly said with a snort.

Danielle arched her brows and exchanged a quick glance with Lily .

“What do you mean?” Lily asked.

“He was sitting like a little angel during story time,” June began. “They were reading a book while showing the children the pictures. But then—”

“She turned to a page with a little old lady with gray hair, wearing a straw hat and a flowered dress, and Connor immediately pointed to the picture, stood up, jumped up and down and started saying Gamma Marie. Over and over again,” Kelly said after inter‐ rupting her mother’s explanation.

Lily smiled weakly. “Really?”

June nodded. “Really.”

“I remember when Laura told me about your imaginary friend, Rupert. I just assumed imaginary friends were imaginary kids. Or something from a storybook, like a dragon or hobbit. But a little old lady?” Kelly chuckled. “What was Rupert?”

“As best I remember, a little boy,” Lily lied. Fact was, Rupert wasn’t an imaginary friend; he had actually been a ghost, but he had been the ghost of a little boy.

“My guess,” Danielle improvised. “The book they read at the library is one Heather has read to Connor, and she probably pointed to the picture of the little old lady and said she reminded her of our friend Marie.”

Lily resisted her temptation to roll her eyes at Danielle’s suggestion.

June shrugged. “He seemed to recognize the book.” She looked at Danielle and asked, “Are the twins napping?”

“Yes. Although they’ll probably be waking up pretty soon.” Danielle motioned to the recliners for them to sit down, while Lily moved over, giving Danielle room to sit on the sofa with her.

“Kelly told me about the quilt Lily bought you,” June said right after she sat down.

“Yes, I love it.”

Lily had purchased the quilt the previous Sunday while thrifting with her sister-in-law, Kelly. Lily had affectionally dubbed it the Twins Quilt because the large, square, handmade, colorful quilt appeared to have been made for twins, considering its unique appliques. It was the type of blanket one might spread on the floor or at the beach for the babies to play on. While it looked old, it did not look used. It currently hung over the back of one rocker in the nursery.

“I’d love to see it,” June said. “When I was at the library this morning, I enrolled in a quilt class. The flyer suggested we bring pictures of our favorite quilts to the first class. I really have nothing to bring. But how Kelly described the quilt, I’d love to share a photo of it.”

“It would be awesome if your teacher recognized it or suggested someone who might,” Danielle said. “I’d love to learn its history. Of course, it’s possible it just ended up in Frederickport, and no one locally made it.”

Sound interrupted their conversation when the hum of the baby monitor competed with the faint cries of an infant. Danielle immediately stood and looked at June. “You can come upstairs with me if you want. I’ll show you the quilt. You can take a picture of it now.”

A few minutes later, June and Kelly walked upstairs with Danielle while Lily remained in the living room with Connor.

BY THE TIME Danielle reached the nursery and opened its door, both infants were awake, squirming, and making faint sounds. Danielle walked into the room, hesitantly followed by June and then Kelly .

“I thought they’d be crying up a storm by the time we got up here,” June whispered.

Danielle thought the same thing, yet instead of commenting, hurried to the closest crib and picked up Addison. She stepped to her son’s crib and placed Addison next to her brother and then proceeded to change their diapers.

Now standing at the edge of a crib beside Danielle, June and Kelly watched the squirming babies while Danielle adeptly changed both their diapers. Had they watched her do this a week ago, it would have looked comical instead of efficient.

“They are so little,” Kelly cooed.

“Which is a good thing for Danielle, since she had to deliver them. And she wasn’t even at the hospital!” June turned to Danielle and asked, “Now, what is the boy’s full name again?”

“Jack Brian Marlow.”

While Kelly and June knew the Brian was for Brian Henderson, who had helped deliver the twins, they didn’t know Jack was for Walt’s best friend, from Walt’s previous life.

Danielle picked up Jack and turned to Kelly. “Could you hold him for a second while I get Addison and sit in the rocker so I can feed them?”

“Are you going to feed them both at once?” Kelly asked. Danielle nodded, handed Jack to Kelly, and then said, “Yes.” Kelly gently cradled Jack while June watched. Jack eagerly
rooted for a nipple. Kelly chuckled and whispered, “Sorry, little guy, but mama will help you in a minute.”

The rocker Danielle and Walt had selected for the nursery had upholstered and padded arms, making it more comfortable for nursing two babies. Lily and Ian had given them a second, matching chair as a shower gift.

Danielle took her place in one rocker, adjusted Addison on one side, and before opening her blouse, she looked up and said, “If the sight of a couple of boobs bothers either of you, I suggest you look away. Frankly, having two to nurse, I don’t have the energy for modesty in the nursery.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” June said, “but if it makes you uncomfortable, I can leave.”

“Hey, after having Brian help deliver my babies, I think my modesty died when these two arrived,” Danielle said with a laugh. A moment later, Kelly gently placed Jack on Danielle’s lap, and soon both babies eagerly nursed.

“The quilt you’re asking about is on the other rocker,” Danielle told June.

June moved to the empty rocker and picked up the quilt. “This is beautiful.” She looked at her daughter. “Kelly, come hold it up. I want to take a picture.”

A few minutes later, Kelly stood facing the window, holding up the quilt while her mother snapped several pictures. Meanwhile, Danielle focused her attention on the babies in her arms.

When she finished taking pictures, June looked at what she had just taken and frowned. “Something’s wrong with the camera on my phone.”

Kelly set the quilt back on the empty rocker and walked to her mother. Standing beside June, she looked down at the pictures as June scrolled through each one.

“It’s like they have spots of water on them,” June muttered, her eyes still on her phone’s screen.

“They look like orbs. Did you see them when you took the pictures?” Kelly asked.

“I wasn’t looking behind you when I took the pictures. I was looking at the quilt. What do you mean, orbs?” After asking, June looked up and froze. She stared at the rocker next to Danielle. It silently rocked in tandem with the one Danielle sat in, while Danielle, engrossed by the babies in her arms, failed to hear the conversation going on between June and Kelly, or notice the empty chair rocking next to her.

Kelly, seeing her mother stare blankly ahead, turned to the rock‐ ers. With a frown, she walked toward the empty rocker. Yet once she reached it, it stopped rocking. The next moment, a small stuffed elephant, sitting on a shelf behind the rocking chairs, flew from its place toward June. It hovered a moment just inches in front of June’s nose and then fell to the floor when June let out a scream before she collapsed to the floor in a faint.
Startled by June’s abrupt scream, Danielle looked up, inadvertently pulling her nipples from the infants’ mouths. The babies cried.