Angel’s Promise by Aleatha Romig

Emma

After Rett left, I sent Ian on an errand. I knew the dress I wanted to wear and where he could find it. I’ll also give him credit; he too tried to encourage my relocation. “If you were downstairs,” he said, “you would have your entire closet.”

“But I don’t need the entire closet. Remember what you said?”

Small lines formed near Ian’s gray eyes as he grinned. “Yes, one dress at a time.”

“And, Ian?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“The shutters?”

“Thomas will work on them while you’re at dinner.”

It was my turn to smile “Thank you. And please thank Thomas.”

As I stepped into the bathroom, there was another knock. Making my way through the bedroom and opening the door, I began speaking, “Did you forget...” I was met by Miss Guidry’s worried expression. “Miss Guidry.”

She wrung her hands. “Why are you here?”

“I believe it’s where I live?” I said as I opened the door further. “Would you like to come in?”

Her white hair flittered as she nervously shook her head. “This isn’t your suite.”

“It was and I’ve decided to reclaim it for the time being.”

She reached for my hand, tugging me into the hallway. “Miss Emma, the spirits are worried.”

“Tell them it will be all right.”

“He needs you. If you’re up here, you aren’t with him.”

I stood taller, still with my damp, tangled hair and wearing my robe. “I’m certain that Mr. Ramses is capable of taking care of himself. I need some time.”

“But this is your honeymoon.”

Her revelation caught me off guard. I hadn’t even considered our honeymoon. “I guess you’re right.”

She tugged my hand toward the staircase. “Let me help you go back downstairs.”

I pulled my hand away. “I’m staying here for the time being.”

“Those rings.” She tilted her head to my left hand. “Let them remind you of your promise.”

“Miss Guidry, I’m not the only person who made promises. You said that Rett didn’t marry a woman like Miss Marilyn and that it was a good thing. Right now, I’m not happy with Mr. Ramses. It is all right. It’s what people do. We both have growing to do.”

“You still want to be married, yes?” she asked as her hazel eyes grew wide.

“Yes.” Perhaps it was my first true verbalization of what I wanted, but that didn’t lessen its truthfulness.

She exhaled in relief. Her gaze went to the open doorway and back to me. “You don’t belong up here. It’s not right. Miss Marilyn and Miss Delphine can’t help you up here.”

Can spirits not climb stairs? Did they climb or float?

I shook my head and asked, “Why do they need to help me?”

Her lips came together in a straight line. “Isn’t it better to have help?”

“Why can’t they help me up here?”

“You see, the suite downstairs, that’s what they know. Mr. Ramses was wrong to bring you up here in the beginning. I appeased the spirits. I told them you would be where you belonged when the time was right. That was then. Now...well, now this isn’t where you belong.”

I reached out and squeezed Miss Guidry’s hand. “I need to get ready for dinner.” We both turned as footsteps came up the staircase. Soon, Ian appeared with all I’d asked for: the light blue dress from Rett’s and my first dinner, and accessories.

He handed everything my direction. “You didn’t ask for the shoes...”

I reached for the dress and shoes as my smile grew. “They’re perfect. Thank you, Ian.”

After nodding, he turned to Miss Guidry. “Ruth, we should let Mrs. Ramses prepare.”

Miss Guidry nodded. “Please don’t be misguided, Miss Emma.”

I didn’t know what she meant. I did, however, know that my time was wasting away. “Thank you.” With a nod, I went back into the suite and closed the door. As a cold shiver skirted my skin, I looked at the handle, the skeleton key in the lock, and the dead bolt higher up.

Who would that lock protect me from?

It was a question I wasn’t willing to pursue nor interested in pursuing.

Thirty minutes later, looking at my reflection, I smoothed the skirt of the light blue dress. My hair was pulled back on each side and the diamond earrings reflected the lights above the mirror. From the moment that I’d closed the door, I’d spent most of the time in deep conversation with myself.

Apparently, talking to oneself was what happened when one found herself in a situation that neither made logical or even emotional sense. Or maybe it was the influence of Miss Guidry’s spirits. Either way, together we—me and I—had gone through the positives and negatives associated with again signing the marriage certificate.

We reasoned that fate had given me another opportunity, one with my eyes wider open than a day before. While there was nothing about Rett’s earlier behavior that could or should be justified, there was a glaring reality that he’d so plainly pointed out.

Everett Ramses hadn’t lied.

He’d omitted information, such as with Ross Underwood’s death.

Yet if I were to believe what Rett finally revealed about Ross, by process of elimination, it was clear that Kyle had been the one who lied. Everett did have a hand in influencing Ross’s official cause of death, it being ruled suicide. From what Rett had said, he didn’t do that because he was hiding his crime. He did it as a means to protect me.

I admittedly had a difficult time recalling Kyle’s appearance last night without recalling Liam’s. During our—me and I—conversation as we did our hair and makeup and then dressed, I unsuccessfully avoided a lingering question: was I ready to forgive Rett and move on with this relationship because of the feelings that seeing Liam resurrected?

Or was it the way of New Orleans, the presence of ghosts from the past?

I admitted to myself that my feelings about Liam were complicated at best.

I was a different person when Liam and I had been together—young, trusting, naïve, and undefined. I was what most girls were in their mid-teens—infatuated with an older boy. Since Greyson and others saw me as the little sister, it seemed unbelievable that William, older than Greyson, would notice me.

Our attraction to one another came in stages.

We’d known each other most of our lives. Years passed and over that time, boys became more interesting. Our interests and bodies changed. It was as those changes occurred that Liam and I had a recurring lure.

Shy and unsure, we shared stolen glances. There were tingles when I’d catch him looking my way. My friends thought I was making it up, but then one day, Liam stopped me at school. I was only a freshman and he was a junior, an upperclassman.

Our secret relationship grew.

I’d tell my parents I was with a friend. He’d tell his he had late football practice. Together we’d steal away. Sitting in the front seat of his muscle car, we shared our secrets, hopes, and plans. We shared more than that in that car.

Liam was my first in many things.

And yet we didn’t make our relationship public until I was at the University of Pittsburgh, Kyle and Greyson were at Duke, and Liam showed up at my dorm.

Two years ahead of me, Liam was studying engineering at Penn State, only two and a half hours away.

We quickly picked up where we’d left off.

My thoughts, when not concentrating on school, were on him. Weekends were split between my dorm and his apartment. I recalled the big fight the weekend Kyle and Greyson showed up for a football game and found me in Liam’s bed. At the time I didn’t know which one of us Kyle was the most upset with, me or Liam.

During my senior year at the university, when I received news of the car crash, Liam drove to Pittsburgh to be at my side. He drove me back to North Carolina, helping me as I planned the funeral. He stood beside me as I accepted condolences, and helped as I made legal decisions. And then I returned to school.

Done with his bachelor’s degree from Penn State, Liam was living back in North Carolina, working as an intern for the city engineer of Hendersonville, a city south of our hometown.

I couldn’t say what happened exactly.

It wasn’t gradual.

The end of our relationship was abrupt, as if a switch was suddenly turned off.

While I no longer wanted to be in North Carolina, Liam demanded to stay. There were a few months of emails, calls, texts, and social media. It was too much for me with the loss of my family. Following the advice of my counselor, I turned off my old social media. I moved on and left the people of North Carolina behind, including Liam.

However, it felt as if before I made that final decision, he’d pulled away from me and my pathetic pleas.

As I prepared to sign my wedding certificate again, I admitted that seeing Liam last night brought back feelings I’d buried. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was willing to forgive Rett to avoid the feeling of abandonment that seeing Liam evoked.

A new life had found me.

When I’d told Rett that I’d fallen for his talk of lore, fate, and deals, I was as transparent as possible. And now I realized that the promises Liam made were never fulfilled. I’d caught Kyle in so many lies it was hard to keep them straight—the biggest being his death.

Had Rett lied?

Was I blind or was he truthful?

My thoughts went back to the bar near Broussard’s. It was in that courtyard that I first saw Everett Ramses. My breathing hitched as I recalled the scene.

My hands were in his grasp, held high above my head. My body was on fire as a man I didn’t know caressed and teased me. His question was too personal and inappropriate. “Are you wet, Emma?”

Yet I answered truthfully.

His words came back as if recorded in time, deep in my consciousness. “Listen carefully, sweet Emma. The deal is done. You’re now mine. As mine, you will be pampered beyond your wildest imagination. The world is yours. I will lay the heads of your enemies at your feet and indulge your every desire. Your one task is to be mine, ready for me and willing to obey whatever I ask.”

Earlier today, Rett called the task due.

I was upset.

I was dismayed.

I was still angry.

And yet, as Rett said, he’d been honest with me from that very first night.

I wanted to trust him.

Another knock came to my door, pulling me from my inner monologue and thoughts.

When I opened it, I was met by Ian.

“Mrs. Ramses, Mr. Ramses is waiting in his front office.”

“I’m ready.”