Free The Ghost and Jacob Moorhead by Jeanne Savery Page A

fumble his way between the sheets.
    * * * * *
     
    Honey ?
    “Mel, dear?”
    There better not be another who can contact you from this side !
    Jenna chuckled. “I agree. It was hard enough to accept when it is only you.”
    Ah , my love . I miss that .
    “What do you miss?”
    Your gentle sense of humor … Other things as well . A ghostly hand approached hers but not so near the cold hurt. There is something you must know , the voice said much more abruptly.
    “Tell me.”
    Mary is in danger . Tomorrow she will explain to Jacob . I think we should all hear the tale .
    “Danger… What? Why?”
    I don ’ t know , do I ?
    Jenna tipped her head, stared at the ghostly replica of the man she’d loved for so long. “Jacob will do something. I’m sure he will know exactly what to do.”
    That foreign man who arrived with Mary ? He ’ s her bodyguard .
    “So you do know something.”
    Not enough .
    “Tomorrow.” Jenna yawned.
    Oh , my love . You are tired and I keep you awake with my nonsense .
    “If Mary is in danger it is hardly nonsense.”
    True … But sleep now . I will watch over you .
    “Nonsense. Go watch over Mary. Then if something happens you can warn Jacob.” She stared at him. “You can, can you not?”
    He hears me . Even when he isn ’ t drunk nearly out of his mind , he hears me .
    Jenna smiled at the satisfaction she heard.
    But you are correct — as you usually are . I will go watch over my daughter . He floated up off the bed and toward the door just as if he had to move through space to reach Mary’s room. At the door he paused. I love you . I wish you ’ d had the courage to marry me when we could have done the trick . Then I ’ d not worry so much about you now .
    Jenna’s smile faded and her lips compressed into a stubborn line.
    Her lover’s ghost sighed…and disappeared.

Chapter Five
     
    A poorly dressed man burst into the one room fit for human habitation in the abandoned house. “They’ve gone.”
    “Lady Mary? Gone?” The second, a seedy-looking man, looked up from where he cast, one hand against the other, a pair of dice.
    “You heard me,” said the first, a vicious note creeping into his voice. “Gone, and what do we do now?”
    The dicer straightened, stared into the hard stare the other sent his way. “Gone…”
    “The foreigner won’t be happy.”
    “The foreigner will be livid.”
    Eyes flickered, glanced to one side then back to meet again. “You go tell him,” they said simultaneously. Each shook his head. Quiet descended on the only room in the deserted farmhouse that still boasted four walls and a roof.
    “What we gonna do, Alf?”
    Alf heard fear in the younger man’s voice. He tossed the dice, caught them one-handed and closed his fist around them. “I don’t know about you , my boy, but I know a certain captain that works off the coast just east of Brighton. I think I’ll go see if he’s got room for a passenger on his next trip across the channel.”
    “Think he’d have room for two?” asked the other after a moment.
    “Think he might… But the foreigner has got to be told.”
    “Write him a letter?” suggested the younger.
    Alf looked startled. “You can write?”
    Embarrassed, the other nodded. “Not very pretty but so you can read it.”
    “So some can read it, maybe,” said Alf on a dry note. “Think the foreigner can read English?”
    “His problem.” The younger man shrugged. “We’d ‘ave done our duty by informing him.”
    Alf thought about that and nodded. “You go buy paper and whatever else you need while I pack. We can drop the letter in the mailbag at the posting inn in Richmond before heading south.”
    * * * * *
     
    Jacob looked around Jenna’s room and nodded. “We’re all here. Now, Cousin Mary, a round tale and don’t leave out any bits you think unsuitable for anyone’s ears.” He glanced toward Verity and away.
    Verity scowled. “If you mean me then say so.”
    “Very well. Anything unsuitable for