Page 2 of Devil's Haunting
“The storm?” I whispered the question in pure disbelief because he couldn’t possibly mean the massive hurricane which almost took the city out. Right?
“Katrina was such an unfortunate event,” he responded drolly.
I blinked and shook my head while trying to wrap my head around everything I was learning. “Why would she leave anything to me? I never even met her,” I pointed out, not being at all helpful.
Didi let out a little huff and turned away from me while muttering under her breath, your guess would be as good as mine as far as what she was saying. I rolled my eyes in her direction, thankfully she wasn’t looking at me.
“You’re some of the only family she had left, Ms. Weber,” Mr. Black informed me. I looked at my Didi sharply, but she was turned away from me. It didn’t stop her shoulders from going up to her ears like she knew I was looking right at her. “She wanted the estate to stay with her family, and she thought you would appreciate the home given your artistic career.”
I was stunned, but we managed to set up a time for a video conference to go over everything more thoroughly. Once we did that, I didn’t have a lot of details about the property I was inheriting, but the money was laid out very clearly. Did I ask myself why? Not really, I just didn’t want to rock the boat and find out the whole inheritance thing was some fever dream.
It was only after a plan was made for when I would travel down to see the place and sign necessary documents that Didi’s grumbling became a little easier to understand.
“That Marilyn,” she snarled. “I should have known she’d try to do something to take you away from me. She didn’t even try when she was alive, but now that she’s dead?” She huffed and shook her head ruefully. “Marilyn always did have a flair for the dramatic and always had to have the final word on things.”
I took a chance and asked, “Why have I never even heard of her before, Didi? She was your sister,” I almost couldn’t believe the words I was saying, my tone affronted.
Didi let out the longest, most pathetic filled-with-suffering sigh I had ever heard. “It was her husband,” she admitted with her lip curled. “He wasn’t a good man, but he was a rich man, and it was all Marilyn cared about. She wanted luxury, not love. And it is exactly what she got. The price she paid was losing her family and never seeing us again because we weren’t going to stand idly by and let a man be a prick to her and everyone else around him.”
I choked on air when Didi called the man a prick since she wasn’t one for name calling. Sure, she could curse with the best of them, but she never directed such language toward a person. She always said it was beneath her, and I appreciated the lesson more as I got older.
“You lost years with your sister because of a man?” I’m sure my disbelief showed all over my face.
Didi looked away in shame. This was the same woman who always told me how important family was. The same woman who encouraged me to let go of the resentment toward my mom; not for her, but for me. The same woman who reminded me how blood couldn’t be changed, even if family could be so much more than the ties woven by biology.
And she was the same woman who walked away from her own sister. Because of a man.
“I’m not proud of it, Laiken,” she murmured, “but we all warned her about the type of man he was. We only wanted the best for her. We wanted her to find love. We wanted her to be happy, but all she wanted was status. Well, she got the status,” her voice was all sass. Then her shoulders dropped. “And I lost my sister and a part of my soul.”
“Oh, Didi,” I lamented and gripped her hand tightly, hoping to ground her, hoping to help her find her footing in a situation which has clearly caused her pain for so long.
“I don’t have many regrets in this life,” she whispered, “but turning my back on Marilyn is one of them. Now it’s too late to change anything and make it right.” Her voice cracked, “I didn’t even know she died.”
Sadness swirled around us for a few minutes, and we simply sat with it because, frankly, there wasn’t anything else for us to do but live in the moment.
Then Didi’s shoulders straightened and her eyes hardened. “You best be careful, though,” she warned me. “I might have regrets when it comes to Marilyn, but that doesn’t mean I trust the woman. She had issues, like we all do, and we don’t knowwhat hers turned her into or how that man twisted her up.” She shook her head, finishing the conversation on the entire situation by saying, “She’s up to something, even in death. Be careful Laiken.”
I shake off the warning in my grandmother’s words as I make the last turn and head down a surprisingly long driveway. The land around me is overgrown making it feel like it’s encroaching on my car, almost reaching for me. It’s creepy and not a great omen for how this is going to go.
When I follow the bend and a huge house comes into view, it’s obvious it has seen better days. No, it’s seen better decades, maybe even centuries.
Dilapidated is a kind word to use to describe this place. It’s also huge and, if you can look past all the work it needs, gorgeous. With some love this place could be a dream home.
A car is already waiting on the circular part of the driveway near the front door. I’m not surprised considering Mr. Black was to meet me here to finalize everything. I’m grateful he suggested it, but now I wonder if it was to give me an opportunity to run in the opposite direction. It’s tempting, but I’ve never turned my back on a challenge, and I won’t start now.
In this town, with all its history, there must be some construction companies who can take on this kind of work and turn this teardown back into the jewel it had to have been at one point. It’s too grand to be lost to the land and it would be a shame to allow it to happen.
The moment I step out of my vehicle, the front door of the other car opens. Just as I turn toward the sound, I swear I see movement in one of the windows in the house. But that can’t be right.
I shake it off as I smile at Mr. Black and close the distance between us, my hand outstretched, and my lips forming a greeting. It’s time to find out what this next chapter in my life is all about. Creepy house and all.
CHAPTER 2
HAMMER
While stepping into the common room of the clubhouse, the feeling of a new day, with all its possibilities, rushes through me. It’s the same feeling I always get when I’m starting a new job, especially jobs like the one I was called about a few days ago.
Construction is always a rush for me, and I love building something from nothing. Still, there is something special when I’m called in on restoration jobs. And if the client wants to keep the old charm and modernize at the same time? It’s my perfect storm.
