Protecting His Windflower (A Spirit Hunters Series Novel Book 1) by Temperance Dawn (best black authors .txt) 📕

“Feeling like we’re being watched, constantly,” Liam confirmed. “Cold breezes. The rumbling in the walls has become more frequent. Em’s nightmares have gotten worse, and she’s having multiple dreams a night now. So am I. I stay awake as long as possible, so I can wake her up when she’s having a nightmare.”

Liam took a seat on one of the steps. “Before we go in, Trey, fill me in on what’s going on. What did you find? I need to know so I can be there for Em as much as possible and not be shocked when I hear. She’s scared to hear what you found out. I wanna give her some time alone before we go in.”

“Alright. This took a lot of digging. I was able to trace Phil to a distant relative. A great, great, great grandfather, named Charles Randall. He used to live in this house. He was a butler here. But here’s the kicker.” Trey placed one foot on a step in front of him and leaned in. “Remember we learned about Robert Banks in that news article when we were in Carmel?”

Liam felt his face pale at Trey’s mention of Banks’ name but nodded to let Trey know to continue.

“Charles was Banks’ butler and his cousin back in the mid-eighteen hundreds. They both lived in this house.”

“Phil’s last name was Randall. So, it’s very possible that they were distant relatives,” Liam stated. His head spun from the new information he’d received. Phill had been distantly related to a man who killed him and Emily.

“Yeah. I’m still doing some digging with that. It’s a popular surname, so it’s going to take some time for me to sort that out. But that’s not what interested me the most.”

“What did interest you?” Liam asked hesitantly. Not sure he could take any more news.

Trey reached around and pulled a file from his bag. Liam took the file and opened it. He was instantly frozen with shock. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at. An old printed photo of himself standing next to a man who he knew as Robert Banks. A man who he had only met in his dreams.

The men in the photo had their arms around each other, each with a cigar in their hand, and they were smiling. Liam was speechless. He flipped the paper over, revealing another photo, one of Emily standing with an older gentleman and an older woman, whom he assumed was Abigail’s parents. They were dressed in party attire, standing outside of the house he and Emily now resided in. Before he could utter a word, Trey said, “Her name was—”

“Abigail,” Liam interjected, finishing his sentence. “Emily was Abigail.”

“Holy Shit!” Luke muttered, “So she’s Abigail from the EVP we caught?”

The bile in Liam’s stomach churned. The validation of Trey’s research confirming his suspicions overtook him. Without warning, he stood, leaned over the railing, and heaved into some bushes below, emptying the contents of his stomach.

When Liam was finished, he sat back down just as Luke walked back over from his truck, carrying a bottle of water. He handed it to Liam. “Thanks.”

“What’s going on, brother?” Trey asked.

Liam dropped his head. “I don’t know. This is a lot. We knew what we were dealing with, but this,” he held up the file to his friends, “this confirms it. It’s surreal.” Blowing out a breath, he took a sip of the water and let his head hang down again.

“What else, man? We’ve never seen you like this. Talk to us,” Luke said while taking a seat next to Liam.

Trey moved in closer, leaning against the railing.

Liam turned his head toward Luke. “I love her.”

“Yeah. We know.”

“I’m scared of losing her again. I couldn’t protect her then. What if I can’t protect her now?”

“You didn’t have us then. You have us now,” Trey stated. “You’re family. That means Emily is family. We won’t let anything happen to her or to you. Have you told her? That you love her?”

“Not yet.”

“You should. Because she feels the same.”

Liam looked at Luke again. He squinted his eyes as he asked, “How do you know?”

“I see the way you two look at each other. You practically undress each other with your stares. She’s only got eyes for you, man. Look. I don’t know much about falling in love and shit. It’s never happened to me. But if it does, I want my girl to look at me the way Emily looks at you.”

“So much has happened these last few weeks. We found out we were lovers in another life. That we were murdered by a man who now haunts this house. Emily’s been tormented by him her entire life.”

“So, tell her,” Luke reiterated. “I’m telling you. She loves you right back.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah! I really think so. The woman’s practically got fuckin’ heart emojis coming out of her eyes when she looks at you.”

All three friends bellowed in laughter for what seemed like several minutes. Leave it to Luke to always find a way to lighten a mood. After they were able to pull themselves together, Liam asked, “Were you able to find out anything about her parents?”

Trey shook his head. “No, I’m still trying. But it’s like she told us. She was abandoned. Left at a fire station. Her mother never stated who she was. I think that’s a dead-end for us.” Trey paused, giving Liam a moment. “From what I can gather, the two men in the first picture are Robert Banks and James Watson. James worked for Robert.”

“Yeah, I know. He was a bookkeeper. His father was a business partner of Banks. James started working for him after his father died. I remember all of it from my dreams. There are more details now.”

Trey continued, “The man behind them is this man here…” Trey pulled another copy of a photo from the back of the stack of papers. “This is Charles. One of Phil’s great grandfathers.”

Liam stared at the photo. The man bared a