When the Moon Falls Read online

  Not that she knew of.

  If not electricity, everything needed batteries or at the least, winding.

  The electricity to the house was turned off.

  Then she saw a light coming toward the room.

  Ella swallowed.

  It didn’t matter that her half-brother might be inside.

  No matter which way she spun it, this whole thing was just plain creepy.

  Ella had never been into creepy.

  She was probably the only person in the country who’d never been to a haunted house at Halloween.

  Still.

  She couldn’t look away.

  The soft glow of light grew slowly brighter, then a man holding a candle walked past in the hallway.

  That was definitely not Daniel. Daniel was older than she was. But less than ten years older.

  This man was an older man. At least in his fifties. Maybe older.

  She moved away from the window.

  At least he hadn’t seen her.

  The rain had stopped. But it was still cloudy.

  She would just get in her car. Go back to the hotel and change. Call the police and let them come check it out.

  That was the smart, logical thing to do.

  Then the back door opened.

  4

  Samuel stood at his bedroom window and watched as the clouds moved aside, revealing a clear, full moon.

  His Great Great Grandfather Nathaniel had been thought to be touched in the head.

  Samuel sometimes wondered if some of that insanity had been passed down the line to him.

  Bloodlines didn’t lie.

  He watched the trees.

  Looking for some sign of the girl he’d seen earlier.

  He saw nothing but lightning bugs.

  The grandfather clock downstairs began chiming the hour.

  He stared so hard into the trees that his eyes hurt.

  The clouds drifted, hiding the moon again, leaving behind nothing but darkness.

  Squeezing his eyes closed, he listened to the echo of the clock as it reverberated through the house.

  He rubbed his eyes. He should just get some sleep.

  He had to go into town tomorrow with his brother John. Meet with a group of men putting together a troop of soldiers for training.

  Putting his hands on the drapes to pull them closed, he opened his eyes and looked out into the trees one more time.

  There. He saw a glimmer of a light.

  He refused to think that he was crazy.

  Turning on his heel, he grabbed a coat and a candle and headed out.

  The house was quiet. Everyone had gone off to bed when the storm had rolled in.

  Good sleeping weather.

  When he reached the landing, he slowed.

  If he had any sense, he’d just turn around and go back to his room.

  But he was drawn to keep going.

  Reaching the foyer, he turned and slowly walked down the hallway toward the back door.

  He passed the parlor, then his father’s study.

  The soft glow of candlelight came from the dining room up ahead. So Samuel wasn’t the only one up and about. Probably his father. He had to tendency to work late at night on his books.

  Samuel hadn’t come downstairs to talk with his father. Besides, his father liked his quiet evenings alone.

  Samuel stopped at the door leading outside. And realized his hand was trembling.

  Shaking himself, he grabbed the doorknob and turned it.

  Pulling the door open, he stepped outside onto the veranda.

  He looked left, then right.

  At first, he thought he was alone.

  Then he spotted her.

  The girl was standing there, her back to the wall. Watching him with wide eyes.

  “Daniel?” she whispered.

  He shook his head.

  Phantom girls didn’t speak. Did they?

  “I’m Samuel,” he said, taking a step toward her.

  He wanted to see her more closely.

  This phantom girl he’d seen earlier.

  She took a step back. Bumped into the wall.

  Samuel stopped.

  “You’re looking for Daniel?”

  Her expression brightened.

  “Yes. Have you seen him?”

  Samuel shook his head.

  “Unfortunately, no.”

  She took a step forward. “But you know him?”

  “I wish I did, ma chérie,” he said. “Actually there was a fellow named Daniel came through here last fall, but he moved on.”

  He didn’t like to think about the Daniel who’d come through here and broken his sister’s heart. She wouldn’t even talk to him about it. And he considered them to be close.

  She walked toward him, studying his face. She was soaked. Her hair, her shirt. Her pants.

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  This young lady was clearly in distress. It was a perfectly clear night and she was soaked.

  Had she come from the river? Perhaps fallen from a boat?

  Steamboats traveled up and down the river all the time.

  And there were more accidents than he could keep up with. The captains would race each other, pushing the engines beyond their capabilities until one of them would explode.

  “Has there been an accident?” he asked. “Are you hurt?”

  She looked confused by the questions.

  She shook her head. “No.” She glanced over her shoulder.

  Then settled her gaze back on his.

  “Are you sure you don’t know Daniel?” she asked.

  5

  Ella took a step closer to this man who called himself Samuel.

  She needed to see him more clearly.

  But the only light came from the muted glow of the candle he held in his hand.

  It had been some time since she’d seen Daniel.

  But this man appeared to be about the right age and height.

  It was possible that Daniel didn’t know who he really was.

  She’d learned about dissociative fugues in her advanced psychology classes. It was true she only had a bachelor’s degree in psychology and had no real world experience in mental health, but she had been a very good student.

  She tried to remember the last time she’d seen Daniel.

  It had been six years ago. Nearly seven.

  Father had brought Daniel to the house with him. It wasn’t the first time. But it was the last.

  She’d been a senior in high school. On her way to a Friday night football game. Wearing her cheerleading outfit, her long hair pulled back up in a ponytail.

  A quick hug for her father. A quick greeting for Daniel and she’d been out the door.

  That was before.

  She searched for a resemblance between her vague memory of Daniel and this man standing in front of her looking at her with a puzzled and concerned expression on his face.

  Though she felt bad about it—he was her stepbrother after all—but she just couldn’t say for sure.

  So much had happened since then. So much water under the bridge.

  She hadn’t even so much as looked at any photographs to help keep his memory alive in her head.

  So if he said his name was Samuel, she had no reason not to believe him.

  That meant she was intruding at someone’s home.

  “I should go,” she said.

  “Nonsense. It’s late. You’re soaked.”

  “It’s ok,” she said. “I can just go into town.” She ran a hand over her soaked jeans. “Get out of these clothes.”

  “It’s late,” he said again. “I can’t in good conscience let you travel alone.”

  She looked behind her again.

  He was standing between her and the only path off the porch. Odd. She hadn’t noticed the railings before.

  The moon had come out again. A full moon.

  The soft moonlight made the house look cleaner. Brighter. Newer.

  The m
an—Samuel—held out a hand toward the door.

  “Come inside,” he said. “My sister has some clothes you can wear.”

  He smiled at her then.

  And her heart sped up.

  He was handsome. Thick dark hair with a lock that he swept absently from his forehead.

  Lips that turned up at the corners, sending little creases to the corners of his eyes.

  He had a five o’clock shadow.

  And as she stepped closer, she saw that he was a good head taller than she was.

  She took a deep breath.

  Sighed.

  Maybe if she stayed, she could find out something about her half-brother.

  She was tired.

  She could drive into town in the morning.

  What could it hurt?

  6

  Samuel held the door as she stepped inside the house.

  She was skittish.

  It was understandable, seeing that she seemed a bit confused.

  If there had been a steamboat explosion, she was lucky to be alive.

  He led her toward the foyer. The door to his father’s study was closed. That was a relief. He didn’t want to put her through his father’s questions.

  His father had a propensity to ask too many questions. It could be off-putting to say the least and the girl was in no state for an inquisition.

  As they passed through the foyer, the grandfather clock began to chime the hour.

  She stopped and looked up into the clock’s face.

  Watched as it chimed eleven times.

  And Samuel watched her.

  There was something different about her. Something inexplicable. It wasn’t just the way she was dressed, though that was certainly part of it.

  She had the darkest, longest eyelashes he’d ever seen. And he’d never seen skin so clear as hers.

  Once the clock had cycled through its chiming, leaving only its echo in the house, Samuel lightly touched her elbow.

  “The guest room is up here,” he said.

  Together they walked up the stairs, using the light from his candle to make their way.

  The guest room was the first room across the hall.

  He held the door as she stepped inside, then he waited with one hand on the doorknob.

  A gentleman would never enter a lady’s bedroom.

  She looked around the room, then turned and faced him.

  “You might need this.” He handed her the candle.

  “Thank you.” Her hand brushed lightly against his as she took the candle from him.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Ella.” She stared at the candle’s flickering flame.

  “Ella,” he said softly. “Do you have a last name?”

  She looked up at him from beneath those dark, thick eyelashes.

  “Sinclair,” she said.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Ella Sinclair,” he said with a slight nod.

  Her skin glowed in the soft light of the candle.

  “Do you have a candle holder?” she asked.

  “Of course.” Without thinking, he went over to the nightstand and came back with a candle holder.

  “Let me,” he said.

  To his disappointment, she was careful to keep her hand from his this time.

  After securing the candle in the little glass holder, he set it on the nightstand.

  Then he opened the wardrobe and made a quick check.

  “You’re welcome to any of the clothes in here,” he said. “If nothing suits you, I can get something from my sister in the morning. I’d rather not wake her…”

  “Please,” she said. “don’t wake her.” She waited a second. “How many people are here?

  “Myself. My sister Beatrice. My brother John. And my parents.”

  Her eyes widened. “A lot of people.”

  “Not really.” He smiled. “It’s a big house. And sometimes—a lot of time—my brother lives in the garçonnière.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s a bachelor’s quarters.”

  “I see,” she said, walking over to stand in front of the open wardrobe. “But you don’t live there?”

  “No,” he said quickly, stepping back to the door. “Sleep well.”

  He stepped into the hall and closed the door behind him.

  He didn’t want to talk about the garçonnière.

  He didn’t want to explain why he never went there.

  It was bad enough having to deal with his family about it.

  He certainly didn’t want to have to make an excuse to Ella about it.

  Leaving her alone, he went back to his own bedroom.

  Tomorrow they’d figure out what to do about her.

  7

  Emma watched as Samuel just walked out of the room, leaving her there.

  After a minute or two, she walked over to the nightstand to stand near the flickering candlelight.

  A pale slice of moonlight steamed in through the window casting a shadow on the wood floor.

  Her encounter with Samuel was one of the oddest she’d ever had.

  He hadn’t seemed concerned that she had no luggage.

  The only thing he’d really been concerned about was that her clothes were soaked.

  He’d given her, a complete stranger, full access to his home.

  For all he knew, she could be a serial killer.

  Well, in the meantime, she needed to take him up on the hospitality and get out of these wet clothes.

  The wardrobe he’d left open had three quilts and some gowns. And what looked like half a dozen old-fashioned formal dresses.

  A cursory glance told her there were no pants and shirts.

  Her t-shirt would dry by morning. Her jeans, not so much.

  She chose one of the gowns and after changing into it, stretched her wet jeans out on the floor and laid her t-shirt on the back of a chair to dry.

  She caught sight of her reflection as she walked past the little dresser.

  And froze.

  The glass was hazy, and in the darkness, with her wearing the white gown, she looked like a ghost.

  Shaking off the eerie feeling, she climbed into the bed. The mattress was heavenly soft and the sheets were a soft cotton.

  She hadn’t realized just how exhausted she was.

  She’d flown from Denver that morning, then rented a car in Alexandria. The drive from Alexandria, Louisiana to Natchez had taken her two hours.

  Definitely a long day.

  Before blowing out the candle, she picked up the little piece of shattered telescope glass and held it up to the light.

  Everything had been different since she’d looked through it.

  It was almost like she’d fallen through a rabbit hole.

  But instead of odd Cheshire cats, she’d encountered one handsome man who lived in a house that was supposed to be vacant.

  And she still hadn’t located her missing half-brother.

  This man Samuel was not her Daniel. She’d figured that much out.

  Perhaps things would be more clear in the light of morning.

  Closing her eyes, she stared into the darkness. There was nothing she could do about it right now.

  The grandfather clock downstairs tolled the midnight hour.

  As she drifted into that gauzy time just before sleep, it occurred to her that the electricity in the house was out.

  And yet… she’d seen no light fixtures.

  8

  “I’ll bet money they’re going to appoint officers today,” John said, stuffing his mouth with a forkful of eggs.

  Samuel sipped his hot coffee. “Probably.”

  His brother’s enthusiasm for the newly formed Confederate army was more annoying than anything else.

  “What time do you want to leave?” John asked.

  Samuel picked up a biscuit. Set it on his plate.

  “Not sure—” he said.

  We should leave early,” John said. “Get some lunch at the
café.”

  Samuel’s night had been restless.

  He couldn’t think about anything other than the girl. Ella.

  It had taken all his self-control to not knock on the guest room door this morning. To see, first if she was still there. And second to see how she’d fared overnight.

  Throughout breakfast, John continued to chatter about today’s meeting with the newly formed army of Natchez.

  “I’m not sure I’m going,” Samuel said when John slowed down to finish drinking his coffee.

  John looked at him like he had three heads.

  “What do you mean you’re not going?” he asked. “You have to go. They’ll be electing officers.”

  Samuel shrugged. “Have something else I need to do,” he said.

  Samuel had really planned on going to the meeting with John.

  It was only after listening to John go on and on about it that he realized he’d rather stay here and get more acquainted with Ella than meet with a bunch of overzealous men about forming an army.

  Besides, Ella might need him.

  It didn’t seem right to just leave her here with his parents and sister by herself.

  Father was already in the fields and mother was still in her rooms.

  His sister was doing whatever in her room.

  If Samuel just up and left her here, how would Ella explain herself?

  She didn’t even know herself that she’d been in an accident.

  He asked too many questions last night. She needed her rest. But today he would find out just how much she remembered.

  Yes. He was definitely staying here.

  “Suit yourself,” John said. “but don’t say I didn’t warn you if you get passed over for a commission.”

  Samuel stood up. He wouldn’t be so lucky.

  If John only knew how little he cared about all that.

  But being accused of being a traitor wouldn’t do him any good either.

  So he put a cocky grin on his face.

  “I’m not worried,” he said. “I know you’ve got my back.”

  He made his escape while his brother had that to chew on.

  9

  Ella scowled at the open wardrobe.

  There wasn’t much she could do with formal dresses and some gowns.