She turned and ran back into her room, closing the balcony doors and throwing the bolt, her heart pounding.
As if that would keep a ghost out...
But that simple act made her feel better. She quickly crawled back in bed with Jack and curled up next to him. He grunted and rolled toward her, running his hand up her back.
“Mmmmmm...you’re cold,” he mumbled, burying his face in her neck.
Charli shivered, and he pulled her across his body. “Come here, baby. Let me warm you up,” he murmured, still half asleep. As she finally began to drift off, draped across his chest, a thought came to her—she had to find out what had happened to Amelia’s baby. Her instincts told her that was a major piece to the puzzle.
* * * *
“Oh, Charli. This is just a lovely place,” quipped Faye, who turned in a circle. “I knew Dottie had moved in here several years ago, but I’d never had a chance to see it in person.” She set a small shoebox on the kitchen island. “I hope you don’t mind me just dropping by.”
“Of course not!” Charli assured her. “I was just working in the office.”
Faye’s brows rose. “You’re still working? Are they okay with you doing that down here rather than in Boston?”
“Oh, no.” Charli waved her hands dismissively in the air. “I’ve taken a sabbatical so-to-speak from my legal career for the time being. I was actually compiling my notes on Amelia.”
Faye’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, that sounds interesting!”
Charli nodded. “It is and there’s so much detailed information in her diaries that I’m taking notes so I can access them easily. I’m adding that to all the info I found at the library, that way I won’t research the same thing twice.” She shrugged. “It’s the lawyer in me. Research is in my blood.”
“That’s so exciting! Can I see what you’ve put together so far?”
“Of course,” Charli answered. She turned and began walking through the living room. She waved a hand over her shoulder. “The office is this way.”
Faye ooohed and aaahed over the records Charli had compiled splayed out over the large desk which included census records, notes from the diaries, a tentative timeline, and several plat maps. A largefamily tree was drawn on the whiteboard that took up most of the west wall.
Charli ran her finger over the family tree. “This should help make things a bit more clear.” She pointed to Amelia’s entry. “We know her sailor’s name now. It’s Ian Kennedy. And I’m nearly done with the last diary, so I can’t be certain that she had the baby. However, she was definitely pregnant and her family shipped her up to Jacksonville to stay with her Aunt Celia until she had the baby.”
Charli paused when Faye gasped.
“Yes, it must have been horrible,” Charli responded. “Amelia also mentioned in her diary that her father still planned to marry her off once she had the baby. It was their intent to give the child away.”
Faye’s eyes watered. “Oh, that’s so awful and sad. I can’t even imagine giving away a grandchild to strangers.” She sniffed and put a finger beneath her nose. “We’ve always known about the legend of Amelia’s ghost, but to know that it’s so real and so tragic is almost too much to handle.”
“It really is,” Charli answered. “And now I’m invested in this investigation, so I can’t stop.” She pressed her lips together as the memory from the other night came back to her. “In one entry, Amelia said that she promised Ian she’d leave a lantern lit in the Widow’s Walk every night for him.” Charlishivered. “A couple of nights ago, I saw that light from my balcony.”
Faye’s eyes bulged, and she put a hand on Charli’s arm. “I’ve seen it, too. But honestly, we all thought it was Dottie having a little fun.” She drew back a bit. “Do you mean that true as well?”
Charli sighed. “Yeah, it’s true. I’m starting to believe that there’s more to this ghost story than just Amelia losing Ian to a shipwreck and killing herself.”
Faye’s head tilted. “What do you mean?”
“Well, there’s the child. I want to know what happened to it. Most likely it was placed in an orphanage, but I feel like I need to track it down. Then there’s her family.” Charli pointed at the family tree. “Amelia’s father had married Elizabeth off in 1868, to a wealthy wrecker who was nearly two decades older than her. He planned to do the same to Amelia.”
“In fact,” Charli continued, “there’s an entry she made that said her parents had chosen a widowed merchant with two children for her, but that was before they knew she was pregnant. I think they had planned to marry her off to someone else once she returned to Key West, which we know happened because she died here.” She paused for a moment.
“There’s a photo of Amelia in a wedding dress hanging on Aunt Dottie’s bedroom wall in the oldhouse. Amelia was in an elaborate lace gown and is holding a bouquet of flowers. She looks so incredibly sad and lost that it almost made me cry the first time I saw it. Now, I believe that picture was taken after she returned from Jacksonville without her child and right before she died.”
Faye’s hands came up to her face. “Oh, that’s so sad.”
“Then there’s Gordon,” Charli continued, “who married very well several years later to a senator’s daughter, and here’s Elizabeth. She was the oldest and was married to Timothy Sullivan when she was nineteen. Amelia was sixteen at that time.” Charli’s finger moved over Elizabeth’s name.
“Now, Amelia made an entry in December 1870 when she learned that she was being shipped to Jacksonville. She said Elizabeth was upset with her because Amelia was with child and Elizabeth apparently couldn’t get pregnant.” She tapped the name just below Elizabeth’s. “But here’s the interesting part. Elizabeth’s son, Malcolm, was born in 1871, the same year that Amelia died. But according to Amelia’s diary, Elizabeth hadn’t been able to conceive.”
Faye’s lips pursed. “That is odd. Although, Amelia died in April, Elizabeth easily could have been pregnant and not known it before Amelia’s death.”
