Haunting Danielle 27 The Ghost and the Mountain Man by Bobbi Holmes (great novels to read TXT) 📕

abruptly shoved her left hand in his face and said, “Joe and I got engaged!”

“Congratulations,” Lily said as she stood up, waiting for her turn to check out the ring.

“When’s the big day?” Ian asked, giving the ring a cursory look before Lily took his sister’s left hand.

“We haven’t set the date yet,” Kelly said, snatching back her hand from Lily, allowing her only a quick look.

“When did he ask you?” Lily asked.

“Last night. We had dinner at Pearl Cove; he asked me there. I wanted to tell you in person, and I had so much to do today, so I figured I’d stop by before I have to pick Joe up at work. I didn’t want my big brother to hear about my engagement from someone else.” Kelly leaned up and kissed her brother’s cheek.

“Did you tell your parents yet?” Lily asked.

“Yes, I called Mom this morning. I told her not to say anything to you or Ian yet, that I wanted to tell you myself in person.” Kelly grinned.

“Well, congratulations. You guys planning a big wedding?” Lily asked.

“We haven’t gotten that far yet. Everything happened so fast,” Kelly said.

“Fast? You guys have been together almost four years,” Ian grumbled.

Kelly playfully smacked her brother’s arm. “Oh, stop. You sound like Mom.”

“Let me get a look at the ring again. I barely saw it,” Lily said, snatching her sister-in-law’s left hand.

Lily stared at the ring for a moment, and before she could comment, Kelly blurted, “It was Joe’s grandmother’s. It’s a family heirloom.”

“That’s really sweet,” Lily said. “So sentimental.”

Kelly took back her hand, rubbing her right palm over the ring, and muttered, “Yes, yes, it is.”

“Are you having an engagement party?” Lily asked.

“Engagement party? I’m not sure. But I really need to pick up Joe from work. Is Connor awake? I’d love to pop in and see him.”

“Yes. He’s in his bedroom playing with Evan,” Lily said.

“Evan? I heard he was over at Walt and Danielle’s?”

“He came over to play with Connor,” Ian said.

When Kelly reached Connor’s open bedroom door, she looked in and smiled at the two boys so engrossed with the trucks and blocks spread along the floor that they didn’t notice her standing in the doorway. Before she called out to Connor, motion from behind him caught her eye. The empty rocking chair rocked back and forth in a steady rhythm. Dumbfounded, Kelly stared at the chair as it continued to rock. She didn’t notice when Evan looked up a few minutes later and spied her standing in the doorway. But when he called out, “Hi, Kelly,” the chair abruptly stopped rocking.

“Oh dear,” Marie muttered after Kelly made a hasty departure after saying hello to Evan and her nephew.

“What’s wrong?” Evan asked Marie.

“Nothing, dear. But I think I’ll be going now. You boys have fun.” Marie vanished.

Ian and Lily stood on their front porch and waved to Kelly as she pulled out of the driveway.

“What do you think happened in Connor’s room?” Ian asked. “She sure left in a hurry. Seemed rather frazzled.”

“I can’t imagine why. We should ask Evan if something happened.” Lily stepped back into the house.

Ian followed Lily inside. “Perhaps she’s just in a hurry to pick up Joe. And excited over the engagement. To be honest, considering how long they’ve been together, I was beginning to wonder if Joe ever intended to ask her to get married.”

“Ian, don’t hate me for saying this, but that is the most gawd-awful engagement ring I have ever seen.”

Ian chuckled. “It wasn’t just me?”

Lily turned to Ian and smiled. “You noticed too?”

“Well, yeah. Hard not to. Rather ornate. Not Kelly’s style at all.”

“She said it belonged to Joe’s grandmother. It has a nice diamond, but the setting…” Lily cringed.

When Kelly entered the Frederickport Police Department fifteen minutes later, she found Brian Henderson standing in the front office, talking to Joe.

“I understand congratulations are in order.” Brian gave Kelly a quick hug.

“Thanks,” Kelly muttered.

“Gee, you don’t seem too thrilled about your recent engagement,” Brian teased.

“Is something wrong, Kelly?” Joe asked.

“I just stopped by Ian and Lily’s to tell them about the engagement,” Kelly began.

“Are you saying your brother isn’t happy we’re getting married?” Joe asked.

“Of course not. It’s just that it happened again,” Kelly said.

“What happened?” Joe asked.

“The weird stuff that’s always happening at their house,” Kelly said.

“Like what?” Brian asked.

“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” Kelly said, lowering her voice at the end of the sentence and glancing around to see if anyone else was around.

“What happened?” Joe asked.

“I walked in Connor’s room to see him. Evan was there. The two boys were playing on the floor. And you know the rocking chair in Connor’s room?”

“Yes, what about it?” Joe asked.

“It was rocking,” Kelly said in a whisper.

“It is a rocking chair. That’s what they do,” Joe reminded her.

“No one was in it. And it was rocking,” Kelly said.

“Isn’t that the rocking chair that used to belong to Marie?” Brian asked.

Kelly looked to Brian with a frown.

“Marie Nichols,” Brian explained. “Adam’s grandmother.”

“Yes, I know who you mean. What about it?”

“Maybe Marie’s haunting the chair.” Brian grinned.

“Not funny, Brian,” Joe said.

“He might be right,” Kelly muttered. “That would make as much sense as anything.”

“I’m sure one of the boys probably sent the chair rocking before you got to the room,” Brian suggested.

“You think?” Kelly asked.

“Sure,” Brian lied. I bet it was Marie, he thought.

Kelly laughed nervously and then said, “I guess I was being silly. But there always seems to be something going on over at that house. Weird stuff that makes little sense. But I’m sure you’re right, Evan was probably making the chair rock before I got there.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s it,” Brian said.

Kelly smiled at Brian. “I’m surprised to see you working today. I thought the chief told you to take some time off.”

“I wanted to get back to work,” Brian said.

“Are you working tonight?” Kelly asked.

Brian glanced briefly at his watch and then looked back to