Family Secrets Read online

  “You okay, Jilly? It’s not like you to turn your nose up at anything chocolate.”

  “Just don’t feel like it.”

  The mall was noisy; full of shouting kids and toddlers pitching fits. The piped-in carol music was grating my nerves. Mom put a hand on my forehead.

  “You don’t have a fever.”

  “Are we done yet? All this noise is killing me.”

  “Well, ‘bah humbug’ to you, too! C’mon, Jill. Christmas is supposed to be fun,” said Dad with a grin. My eyes threatened to well up. Mom noticed and took Dad’s hand.

  “Well, I’m done my shopping, and it’s already dark out. Why don’t we go take a drive around town and look at all the Christmas lights?”

  Soon, I was in the backseat, halfheartedly staring out the window as Dad drove us around the downtown light exhibitions and looped the winding streets of the more wealthy outlying neighbourhoods. My parents seemed in high spirits, gazing at the garish displays on all the big houses. I didn’t care, but at least I wasn’t stuck in the mall anymore. I shut my eyes and leaned my head back against the seat.

  “You’re sure quiet back, there. How ya doin’, kiddo?”

  Actually, I wasn’t doing well at all. How could I even begin to explain? Before I could answer, Mom piped in. “I think she’s asleep, Dan. The mall must have worn her out.”

  “You wanna go home?”

  “No. Just let her rest a bit longer. This is nice. Besides, I need a breather before we head back. I have a lot of baking to do yet, and I haven’t even started cleaning the guest room.”

  “How long is your Dad staying this year?”

  Mom didn’t answer right away.

  “Yes, well… I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.”

  “Sounds serious, babe. What’s up?”

  “Dad looked so frail in the summer.”

  “That’s not a surprise, hon. He’s had two strokes over the past year, remember?”

  Still feigning sleep, I strained to hear their voices over the car radio. Robert had been right: this seemed the perfect way to find out about stuff the grown-ups didn’t want us kids to know. As if reading my mind, Mom suddenly turned down the music.

  “Exactly. I don’t like the thought of him all alone up at the farm over the winter. I’ve been thinking we should ask him to stay on with us until spring.”

  I bit into my scarf to keep from crying out.

  “You really want to do that, Cheryl? Chuck is just over on the next concession from your Dad. He checks in on him a few times a week.”

  “That’s not the same as having someone around all the time. What are you saying? That I should just leave him to cope on his own?”

  “He’s always managed before.”

  “Yeah. Before he started having strokes.”

  Mom paused for dramatic effect. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure they’d hear me. Dad heaved a sigh.

  “Look, I’m sorry. You’re right. It’s just that he’s a bit… set in his ways. It might not be easy having him under the same roof for that long.”

  “I know he’s not the most cuddly old man in the world, but he is my Dad. And Chuck and Bill would never think to take him in. They don’t seem to see just how weak he’s been getting.”

  “Yeah. You are definitely the soft touch in the family!”

  Their voices lost their argumentative edge and my stomach lurched. I didn’t like where this was going at all.

  “Are you sure, Dan?”

  “I’m sure. Give him a call when we get home. Who knows? He may not even want to, anyway. You know how stubborn he can be.”

  “True. But at least I’ll know I tried. Thanks, sweetie.”

  The small amount of hot chocolate I’d had at the mall burned like acid in the pit of my stomach and the back of my throat. Somehow, I made it home without throwing up in the car.

  Dad ordered Chinese food when we got in, then parked himself on the couch in front of It’s a Wonderful Life while Mom got on the phone. I sat on the stairs listening… hoping against the odds that Grandpa would turn down her kind offer.

  He didn’t.

  “You will, Dad? Oh, that’s great. It’ll be a nice chance for you and Jilly to get to know one other better. You don’t see each other nearly often enough.”

  Beside me on the stairs, Benny nudged his head under my arm and whimpered. He knew something was wrong. I sunk my hand into the thick black fur on his neck for comfort.

  “Yes, she’s here… sure. Just a sec--Jilly! Come down here!”

  Slowly, I entered the kitchen. Mom held the phone out to me with a smile. I kept my hands pinned to my sides.

  “Here--take it, silly Jilly. Your Grandpa wants to talk to you.”

  “H-hello?”

  “Looks like you ‘n’ me are gonna be spendin’ lots of time together.”

  “Uh… yeah, I guess.”

  “You didn’t say goodbye up at the cottage that day. Fact is, we never proper got ‘round to that little chat I was after havin’--did we, now?”

  My mouth dried up.

  Grandpa chuckled with a nasty rattle in his throat. I could make out a sneer in his voice.

  “You never have much to say, girl. That’s fine. I got plenty to say to ye. And we’ll be sure to find a chance for a quiet conversation. Just you ‘n’ me. Eh, Jilly-Belle?”

  “Here’s Mom.”

  I thrust the phone back at her and raced upstairs, nearly tripping over Benny. I made it to the bathroom just in time before I threw up.

  The final days before Grandpa was due were a nightmarish blur for me. There was no way I could keep away from Grandpa for months at a time--not with his guest room right next to mine. Mom and Dad slept clear down at the other end of the hall. They might not hear in time if he came into my room one night for our ‘little chat’. I was doomed. We never went to church when I was a kid, but I prayed to God at bedtime anyway… just in case He’d listen.

  “Please, God. I know I’ve never spoken to You before, but I really need Your help. Uh… or maybe Jesus could save me… ”

  It was pointless. Why should They care about me? My parents had me baptized, but that was about it as far as me and religion went. I’m sure Jesus had better things to do for His birthday than worry about some little girl who didn’t believe in Him.

  Rising from my knees, I looked up at the wall over my desk at a framed photo of Grandma Annabelle and my Mom when she was about my age. Belle gazed back at me with her sad, dark eyes. Maybe she would hear me.

  “Please, Grandma. Don’t let him hurt me like he hurt you. I’m so scared.”

  On Christmas Eve, I was still lying awake as the clock in the front hall chimed eleven o’clock. My aunts and uncles, Robert and our older cousin Sheila and her new husband were all due the next day at noon. Uncle Chuck was driving Grandpa down from the farm. Downstairs in the living room, my parents sat by the Christmas tree, wrapping some last minute presents and watching the news. The phone rang in the kitchen downstairs.

  "Who’s calling at this hour?" I heard Dad say as he went to answer. Moments later, I heard him call out to Mom in an urgent voice, and her footsteps hurried to the kitchen. I sat up in bed and strained to hear what they were saying, but I couldn't make out their words. Suddenly, Mom gave a cry. I jumped out of bed, went downstairs to the kitchen and peered around the doorway. Dad was saying 'goodbye' in a quiet voice. With a grim expression, he hung up the phone and sat with his arm around Mom’s shoulders as she huddled over the table. Her face was hidden in her hands and she was weeping. I subtly cleared my

  throat to let them know I was in the room. Speechless, they stared up at me.

  "What's going on? Who called?"

  Rising, Dad came over and led me to the table to sit down next to Mom. He crouched down beside my chair and rested his large hands on my knees. His palms felt hot through the flannel of my pajamas.

  “Jill,” he said, “that was your Uncle Chuck on the phone. I‘ve got some bad ne
ws for you, honey.” He paused and took a deep, shaky breath, glancing at my mother before he continued. “Your Grandpa’s passed away.”

  “When? What happened?”

  “Earlier tonight, Chuck stopped by the farm to check up on him and… found him at the bottom of the cellar stairs.”

  Mom rubbed my back in a gesture more to comfort herself than to soothe me. Her eyes were red and she looked lost. “He fell. Just like Momma,” she said, her voice choking. “He probably had another stroke and lost his footing.”

  “Is he really dead?”

  My whole body gave an involuntary twitching shudder. Uncomprehending, I stared at them both for a long moment until the full weight of the revelation hit.

  I had been delivered.

  I turned to the table, put my head down on my arms, and gave voice to my relief in a flood of heaving sobs. Beneath the table, Benny laid his silky head in my lap and huffed a sigh. He alone understood the real reason I wept.

  "I know, Jill. It's hard for us, too."

  Mom’s hand continued to stroke my back in gentle circles. When my tears subsided, Dad lifted me into his arms and carried me back up to my bed, and I fell at once into a safe, dreamless sleep.

  A Bonus Peek Inside Ruth Barrett’s Novel BASE SPIRITS

  ‘Murder has took this chamber with full hands

  And will ne’er out as long as the house stands.’

  ~A Yorkshire Tragedy, Act I, Sc. v

  In 1605, Sir Walter Calverley’s murderous rampage leaves a family shattered. The killer suffers a torturous execution… but is it truly the end? A noble Yorkshire house stands forever tarnished by blood and possessed by anguished spirits.

  Some crimes are so horrific, they reverberate through the centuries.

  As an unhappy modern couple vacation in the guesthouse at Calverley Old Hall, playwright Clara, and her scholar husband, Scott, unwittingly awaken a dark history. Clara is trapped and forced back in time to bear witness to a family’s bloody saga. Overtaken by the malevolent echoes, Scott is pushed over the edge from possessive husband to wholly possessed…

  Inspired by a true-life drama in Shakespeare’s day, this is itself a play within a play: a supernatural thriller with a historical core.

  Only one player can survive.

  Readers love Base Spirits! Here’s what they’re saying…

  “Strong characters, vivid descriptions and historical detail join together to create a world where I could lose all thought of myself and dive headlong into the unknown and not want it to end.”

  “Base Spirits stays with the reader long after the final pages are consumed and the bedside light extinguished, lingering in the dark, just on the edge of our senses.”

  “I can't say enough good things about this book. It grabbed me from the beginning and sucked me in to the story. Ruth Barrett weaves an incredible tale of suspense and horror and tragedy.”

  “This isn't a book to be read at night - so realistic, such a marvelously eerie setting and story - that it will keep you up and reading until the end!”

  “The author has caught well the dark voices of madness in this ghost story. A real page turner.”

  Sound good? Here’s an excerpt from Base Spirits to whet your appetite…

  York, England, 1605

  Sir Thomas Leventhorpe had failed the victims in life. He could not fail them now.

  Though he longed to be anywhere else that August dawn, his choice was irrefutable. The noble family murders had left him as the village of Calverley’s highest-ranking citizen, and he bore a duty to witness the conclusion of its history’s most tragic chapter. It was his sacred charge to stand present for those innocent lives cruelly dispatched by the very man that should have loved them most.

  He lingered in the stark main corridor of Clifford’s Tower, waiting to accompany the killer on his final procession. There seemed to be a delay. From what Leventhorpe could gather, the entourage was incomplete. He glanced about the small, silent group and caught the eye of the anxious man standing at his side-- the only other soul afflicted with first-hand knowledge of the horrors that had led them to the Tower. Leventhorpe ventured an encouraging smile at the murderer’s former servant, but John's pale, scarred face was stony. Sir Thomas touched the younger man on the shoulder and felt him quivering like a nervous beast, his arms tightly wrapped about himself in a desperate embrace. The brutal April morning at Calverley Hall had shattered John. Withdrawing his hand, Leventhorpe wondered why the lad had come to this dread place to be reunited with his nemesis. Perhaps in his own way John had no choice but to see the tragedy through to its conclusion. Leventhorpe could offer him no real solace but to share the burden of bearing witness.

  In the Tower’s stairwell door, a grizzled magistrate stood lost in thought, tugging gently at his beard. The elderly head gaoler, Master Key, waited outside the prisoner’s cell door. A younger, assistant gaoler tapped his foot loudly against the flagstones and glowered toward the doorway at the opposite end of the corridor, a sneer playing on his lean face. Turning to his superior, he grumbled in a low voice:

  “That idiot boy is late again-- and today of all days! I say we have tarried long enough.”

  Master Key held up his hand. “Be thou patient, Jack. The magistrate is not yet concerned with the time. Hugh must be present to learn the proper order of how matters proceed.”

  Leventhorpe’s skin prickled at the thought. He dreaded having to witness the ‘matter’ in question, and felt pity for the unseen boy who would today be taught the finer details of his trade.

  Footsteps pounded up the outside stairs and-- as if overhearing his cue-- a scrawny lad of no more than twelve skidded into sight. White-faced and out of breath, Hugh blanched still further as the men turned as one and fixed him with expectant looks. Giving an awkward bow of his head by way of apology, he staggered as he took a halberd down from the wall hooks. Jack strode over to collect the apprentice and hauled him into place by the ear. Leventhorpe was close enough to hear the gaoler’s hissed threats.

  “Yer in luck, boy. The magistrate himself was late to rise, else ye’d be wishin’ ye could trade places with our esteemed prisoner.”

  Master Key shot his underlings a sharp glance from beneath his heavy grey brows and they ceased their disruption. Key unlocked the door, and he and Jack entered the cell. Leventhorpe heard the muted clanking of chains and after a moment, Sir Walter Calverley was led out between the two men. Leventhorpe’s stomach twisted at the sight of his former friend and neighbour. He caught John by the arm, steadying him as the lad’s knees buckled. Neither had seen Calverley for months-- not since his hellish rampage. Although Calverley was thin and drawn, he held himself with dignity. He wore a fine black doublet, and his lace cuffs and collar gleamed in contrast to the gloom of the corridor. Leventhorpe couldn’t help but think that Calverley was very well dressed for a dead man: he must have set this outfit aside in anticipation of the occasion. Calverley did not so much as glance in their direction.

  Master Key cleared his throat and nodded to the magistrate. The procession began its descent into the bowels of the Tower, the close quarters of the stairwell making for an awkward single-file progress. The stately magistrate set a careful pace for those behind. Leventhorpe and John followed next, with Master Key leading Calverley. Jack and Hugh took up the rear to prevent any chance of the prisoner’s escape.

  Time of day carried no meaning as they moved down into the still depths of the Tower. No one spoke: the only sound was the scuffling of heavy-booted feet. Flickering torches from the wall sconces lit the way, casting long, dancing shadows on the muted grey stones. Leventhorpe had the sensation of being buried in the earth as they moved ever deeper. He kept his eyes lowered, mindful of the uneven stairs, eroded by countless footsteps over several lifetimes. Suddenly, a rush of iridescent green-and-black beetles scattered out of the men’s path. Leventhorpe felt a brief flash of delight to see something so lively-- these animated jewels-- existing in such a bleak place. />
  At the foot of the tightly coiled stone staircase lay a narrow, low-ceilinged passageway. Leventhorpe glanced along a seemingly endless succession of closed doors and gaping antechambers. Today’s method of execution-- ‘peine forte et dure,’ less elegantly known as ‘pressing’-- could take several hours. His throat constricted. Already he found the dank air putrid and hard to breathe. The clammy walls, coated with an orange mildew, gave off a pungent odour. Here and there between the cracks in the stones grew a strangely pretty fungus with pale yellow flowers. Leventhorpe touched a curious finger to a cluster of the petals as he passed by. They disintegrated instantly and left a lurid smear on his fine lace cuff.

  Lord, I pray this ends quickly--

  At last, the magistrate came to a halt and peered around to catch the eye of Master Key. Jack and Hugh stepped ahead to replace their Master’s hold on the prisoner. Hugh’s hand clearly shook as he tried to get a firm grip on Calverley’s arm, but he was met with no resistance: Calverley kept his manacled hands clasped before him in the manner of a clergyman and focused his dark eyes into the shadows at the far end of the passageway. Leventhorpe was again struck by the man’s poise. Of those present, he seemed the least moved by what was about to take place.

  Fumbling at his belt for an oversized key, the old Master slipped to the front of the group to unlock the low, windowless portal. He heaved his stooped shoulder against the recalcitrant door and swung it inwards. The magistrate ducked his head as he entered the chamber, followed by the others. As Key lit the torches in the iron wall sconces, Leventhorpe blinked and looked about the room. A wide plank of coarsely hewn oak leaned against one wall. Beside it was a heap of stones, each roughly the same size-- twelve to fourteen pounds in weight. Four iron rings were set into the flagstones in the centre of the floor. The room was otherwise barren. Once the condemned man was safely inside, the door was shut and bolted. Leventhorpe felt trapped.