A Rocky Path (17 page)

Stunned by his outburst, tears began to run
down her face and she stood up and buried her face in his
chest.

“I’m sorry, Patrick, please forgive me. I
didn’t mean to upset you. I know you feel the same way I do. It’s
just so frustrating!”

“I know it is. I know, Love.”

He stroked her hair and her back gently. She
held onto him tightly. Then he drew away from her. He seemed to do
that a lot.

“Let’s sit down,” he said.

They sat back down on the blanket, their
backs against the cave wall. He had brought some pillows that they
could use to put between them and the wall to keep the chill off of
them.

Patrick entwined his fingers in hers. It felt
good sitting in front of the warm fire just holding hands with this
man whom she loved so dearly. She could stay here beside him
forever.

“Patrick, I need to ask you something. I know
this might be painful for you, but I have to know some things. I
hope you don’t think that I’m prying into things that are none of
my business.”

“Emily, nothing is secret from you now. I
would tell you anything you wanted to know if I could. Ask anything
of me.”

“It’s about that time, 150 years ago. I know
you were betrayed by your fiancée. I would like to know everything
that happened. I want to know everything about you. The things that
made you happy. The things that hurt you. I would like to know what
happened between you and your fiancée. And what happened when….you
know.”

“When I died?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

Patrick looked thoughtful for a minute,
staring ahead as if he was reliving another time. Then he turned to
her, his eyes full of an emotion she wasn’t quite sure she could
identify.

“It’s a very long story, Emily. Are you sure
you want to hear it?”

“Yes, I want to hear every word. I want to
know you as intimately as I possibly can. I want to know why you
are still here. I want to know about the woman who hurt you so
badly.”

“Alright, my love. I will tell you
everything. It’s a sordid story, believe me. You are not going to
believe how my fiancée betrayed me and with whom. It’s pretty
shocking.”

“I don’t care. I want to hear it”

“Alright, I will tell you. This is my
story.”

Chapter Twenty Five

“When I was 25 years old, I met the daughter
of a friend of my father’s. Both of our families wanted us to marry
since the two families had been friends for many years. We started
spending a lot of time together and we fell in love. We were
engaged for five years. During that time, we spent a lot of time at
each other’s homes. The two houses were miles away, so when one of
us came to visit the other, we usually stayed at least two weeks.
Sometimes some of our family members would go with us.

“My fiancée’s name was Bridgett. She was very
beautiful, as you well know since you have seen her portrait. She
and my sister became very good friends, and my sister’s beau
started spending time with us, too. The four of us had so much fun
together. We were great friends.

“Pretty soon, Bridgett and I started sleeping
together. That kind of thing wasn’t as common as it is now, but it
certainly wasn’t unheard of. We were to be married, after all, so
we didn’t feel too guilty about it. The more time I spent with her,
the more I loved her. I thought she was an angel, a dream come
true.

“About six months before I died, Bridgett
started acting differently. She started having problems looking me
in the eye. She found excuses not to spend time with me. I asked
her what was wrong and she just laughed and said I was imagining
things. When we were in bed together, she seemed to be distracted,
as if she were thinking about something else, or maybe someone
else. She started wanting me to do different things when we were
making love; our usual lovemaking didn’t seem to satisfy her
anymore. Some of the things that people do now weren’t as common
back then. I was naïve and knew very little about lovemaking.
Bridgett was my first lover and I wanted to please her. I found
that I enjoyed the things that she wanted me to do, but I started
wondering where she had learned about these things. I asked her and
she said she just had a good imagination.

“As young and naïve as I was, I still had
enough sense to know something wasn’t right. I started suspecting
that she was seeing someone else. I was sick about it. But I didn’t
know how to confront her. So many times, I started to ask her about
it, but I was afraid that if everything was brought out in the
open, she would leave me. The thought of that terrified me because
I loved her to the point of obsession.

“I finally decided to try to catch her with
this person. I began to wonder if it was my sister’s fiancée that
Bridgett was seeing. I started watching them when we were all
together, but I didn’t really sense anything between them. But who
else could it possibly be? I was determined to find out.

“One night, when Bridgett was staying at my
house, I was having trouble sleeping. I had wanted to come to her
room that night, but she had begged off, complaining of a headache.
In fact, she had gone to bed early, right after dinner. I was lying
there in bed, thinking about her and wanting to get up and go to
her. I heard a door creak open down the hall and soft footsteps
coming toward my room. Then the footsteps stopped at another door.
I heard that door open and close softly. I couldn’t tell which room
the footsteps came from or which room they entered. So I crept out
of my room and listened for any noises.

“When I reached Bridgett’s room, I heard
voices. One of the voices was a man’s voice. I heard him murmuring
softly, but I couldn’t make out any of the words. Then there was
moaning, and soft cries that I knew was Bridgett’s voice. Well, you
get the picture. I knew that someone was in my fiancée’s room
making love with the woman I was supposed to marry.

“I was furious. In my rage, I crashed into
the door and broke the lock. I rushed into the room, ready to beat
this man to a pulp. I was pretty sure it was my sister’s fiancée.
When I saw who was in the bed with Bridgett, the shock I felt was
more than I could bear. There, on the bed, were two bodies writhing
together. My fiancée and my father were in each other’s arms, doing
unspeakable things. I stood there like a statue, not able to move
or say anything.

“Bridgett screamed and they both tried to
cover themselves with the sheet. Both of their faces had gone pale
and I’m sure mine was the same. Finally, the spell was broken and I
was able to move. I didn’t say a word. I just turned around and
left the room.

“I can’t describe to you how I felt at that
moment. My world had been shattered into a million pieces and I
knew that nothing could ever put that world back together. I told
you before about how naïve I was. I saw then the reason Bridgett
had been able to teach me new things. She had learned everything
from a much more experienced lover. I didn’t know what to do. I was
so devastated that I couldn’t even think.

“I rushed down here and paced back and forth
by the water. I had always liked to come down here to think. My
mind couldn’t comprehend what I had seen. A part of me wanted to
jump into that cold water and end my life right there. Then I saw
Bridgett coming down the path. I really didn’t want to see her yet.
I needed to think first, but there she was.

“She was crying and begging me to forgive
her. She said that she really loved me and that my father had
seduced her and that she couldn’t resist. I told her that if this
had been going on for six months, then obviously she had made the
choice to continue the relationship. We argued for a long time with
her crying and me shouting. Then things started getting physical
between us. I don’t mean sex, I mean fighting. And then….the next
thing I knew, I was in this world as a spirit being. To this day, I
don’t know if my death was an accident or if she killed me on
purpose.”

Emily stared at him, stunned at the story he
had just told her. She was almost shaking with anger at what the
people he loved had done to him. She took his face in her hands and
kissed him softly. Then she gathered him into her arms as if he was
a little boy and she was the adult. She stroked his hair
softly.

“I can’t believe what happened to you,” she
murmured softly against his ear. “I don’t understand how that woman
could have betrayed you like that. And with your own father. I have
to say, I’m shocked at who the lover was. I would never have
believed it could be your father.”

Patrick raised his head to look at her. There
were tears glistening in his eyes, and the pain was there, even
after all these years.

“You can’t imagine the hurt I felt when I saw
those two together. I could almost have stood it if it had been my
sister’s fiancée who replaced me. I had suspected that. But my own
father!”

Emily sighed. “Who knows what causes people
to make the choices that they make. It wasn’t anything that you did
wrong. It was all about what they wanted. Maybe your father did
seduce your fiancée. Maybe Bridgett didn’t ever think she would do
what she did. But it happened and we can’t change it. What we do
need to do is find out how you were killed. If it was an accident
or a murder. I think that’s the only way you will ever go home to
your eternal rest.”

“But how? I can’t remember. Or maybe I never
really knew. How am I going to ever find out?”

“I have some ideas about how I can help you.
But please don’t make me talk about that tonight. I want to be with
you a little while longer. It will be so hard to lose you if we are
able to send you home.”

“It may be hard at first, but things would
get better in time. And I’ve told you before…you need to find
happiness with a real man who can give you a family. Something I
will never be able to do.”

“You are the only man I want, Patrick. I need
you. I have never felt this way before. I lost my husband and that
was hard to get over. And as much as I loved him, that feeling
pales compared to what I feel for you. How am I going to possibly
cope with losing you?”

“Like you said, let’s not talk about it. We
are both here now. Let’s make the best of what we have tonight and
let tomorrow take care of itself.”

“I think that’s a good idea.”

He kissed her long and deep, his hands
running up and down her back. He was careful about how he touched
her, remembering what had happened once before. It would be easy to
let their passion run wild and then he would lose control. He
couldn’t risk Emily’s life, so he summoned every bit of will power
he possessed.

Emily moaned softly. “I love kissing you. I
wish you could make love to me. I wish we could get married and
have a normal relationship. Are you sure there is no way?”

“I’m sure. It’s all I can do to stay in
control of myself.”

He touched her breast lightly and she
shuddered with pleasure, but then he moved his hand back down to
her waist. She uttered a cry of protest and he smiled wryly.

“I can’t touch you too long. I would go nuts
and you would be dead. That’s something I’m definitely trying to
avoid.”

She smiled at him. “You’re so serious most of
the time, but then every now and then a little humor will creep
in.”

“I didn’t use to be this serious. I was
always laughing and having a good time. I loved life. But when bad
things happen to you there is a tendency to lose that happy go
lucky attitude.”

“Patrick, I’m really sorry that you had to go
through that. Then you died before you could get anything resolved
between you. There was no closure. And then to not even know how
you died! I can’t imagine how that would feel.”

“It was hard. And I have been roaming around
here for 150 years. But one good thing came out of it. I met you.
That is the best thing that has ever happened to me. It took me 150
years to find the woman that I love more than anything in this
world.”

He kissed her softly on the lips, then let
his mouth trail down her cheek and to her neck. He bit her softly
then let his tongue trace a path down to her shoulder. He nibbled
on her skin lightly. Then he raised his head back up to look at her
with his beautiful sapphire eyes.

“I love you,” he whispered softly.

They lay there holding each other and
kissing, being careful not to get too carried away. Emily thought
about how unfair this was, not being able to love each other like
they wanted to. After awhile, Patrick stood up and took her hand,
pulling her to her feet.

He smiled at her tenderly. “Time to go, my
sweet. I can’t stand much more.”

Emily smiled. “I’m glad I have that effect on
you. But I guess you’re right. I need to get back. It’s just so
hard to leave you!”

“And to leave me hard,” he said, grinning
wickedly.

“See, you do have a sense of humor at
times!”

They walked back to the garden and he kissed
her goodnight. They parted reluctantly, promising to see each other
the next day.

Chapter Twenty Six

The next day, Emily went down to work out
just as Jamie was finishing up. It was Saturday and she didn’t have
to work in the office.

“Hey, there. You’re a little bit late this
morning. Late night again?” asked Jamie.

“Don’t start with me, Jamie,” warned
Emily.

“Hey, I’m just making conversation. I’m not
giving you a hard time.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just a little jumpy this
morning. I didn’t sleep well.”

“Anything you want to talk about?”

Emily said, “No, I just need to get a good
workout in. I’ll feel better afterwards.”

Jamie left her to her workout then. Emily
worked harder than usual. By the time she was finished, she was
sweaty, wisps of her hair sticking to her forehead. She was getting
a diet soft drink out of the small refrigerator when she heard
someone come down the stairs.