Forget Me Never by Sable Hunter (books successful people read txt) 📗

Savannah wrapped her arms around herself tightly and made her way to the front door.  “I’m okay,” she assured the dog who walked so closely to her that it seemed to Savannah that Ciara was trying to support both of their weights.  “That’s the only way I can be with him now, I have to remember.”  She had become a master at reliving the moments they had shared.  And since her nights were filled with confusing and horrifying images of him, she made sure she preserved his memory every way she could.  During their time together, Patrick had told her what he had been thinking and how he had felt – so now her dreams were two-dimensional, she could experience their love and closeness over and over again.  God, a psychiatrist would have a field day with her.

Opening the front door, she stepped out onto her front sidewalk.  The lab bounded out into the yard and scattered a small flock of black birds.  It was a crisp autumn day – for Louisiana – which meant the humidity and heat were finally dissipating and the promise of cooler weather was on its way.  Patrick haoved her house and as she walked to the mailbox, she could still see him throwing a Frisbee to his dog, cutting her grass and chasing her around the yard – they had played like children.  God, she missed him.

“It’s here!” She pulled the small package from the collection of mail and waved it at the dog.  “I can’t wait to try this out, Ciara.  We might even get Harley to let us come back to Willowbend and see what more we can learn from her spirits.”  When Savannah had met Harley Montoya, she had made a friend.  Making her way back into the house, she hurriedly unwrapped the contraption and sat down to inspect it.  “Oh, this is going to be fun.”  She read the small brochure about how the box had been used and what to expect.

This is what she had needed at Evermore.  Investigating Patrick’s former home had been hard.  At first she had been reluctant to do so.  But Jeremy and Garrison had convinced her. It was a night she wasn’t likely to forget.

She could still remember every detail . . . .

A Memory

When they had first contacted her about the filming, Jeremy and Garrison, they had appealed to her ego.  “Are you kidding?  Of course we want you with us.  You’re a regular spirit magnet.  None of our other episodes have even come close to having the ratings that we’ve had when Southern Belle Savannah was with us.”  Jeremy was quite persuasive. 

“The Grove episode and the Broussard house you helped us with were actually nominated for awards.  And the evidence we recorded was out of this world!”

“Where will we be investigating?”

“Just exactly where you wanted it to be, we aim to please.”

“Evermore?”

“Exactly.”

Savannah knew then that she couldn’t turn it down – Evermore.  The chance to contact Felix, and even Patrick, was just too important to pass up.   They had requested that she send them some information and she had.  Evermore was a fascinating place.  The PROOF audience was going to love it.  It was the most intact plantation in the South with thirty-seven buildings including twenty two slave cabins still standing from when Evermore was a working sugar cane plantation.  

Savannah thought it was the most beautiful of all the plantations.  The Doric columns, the wide double galleries, and the two huge winding double stairways reminded her of a palace fit for Cinderella to leave her glass slipper.  She so regretted that she didn’t get the chance to dress up and go somewhere with Patrick.  Oh how handsome he would ha>oked in his dress uniform or a tux.  He would have put her to shame, but she would have tried to look her best and she would have been as proud as punch of him.

They had arrived before dark on Halloween night.  And all Savannah could think about was that she was walking where Patrick had grown up.  She could see him everywhere.  He had talked lovingly about exploring the pegionniers or dovecotes where the original owners had housed pigeons which had been available for ready-made meals and they produced good fertilizer for their flower gardens.  “We need to really check out the garconieries.  They were built as dwellings for a family’s young boys – lots of risqué activities, I understand.” 

Jeremy got a laugh out of that.  “You mean they had a special house for that?”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but my fiancé grew up here in the caretaker’s house and he spent the night in one of these and he encountered the spirit of a little boy named Felix.”

“Damn!  A full body apparition?  That’s better than sex.”

Savannah didn’t think so, but she could see his point.  “Yes, and he talked to Patrick.  He said the people who lived in the plantation house were mean to him.”

“A mystery!”  Garrison was excited at the news.

“I’d like to help him if we could.”  Even after the heartbreak of losing Patrick, she never had forgotten the lonely little boy of Evermore. 

PROOF had brought their equipment trucks, vans and a crew of five in addition to Garrison and Jeremy.  When they headed down to the slave cabins, she had asked curiously.  “What’s going on?”  She had expected for them to set up near the main house. 

“We’re spending the night in the cabins.  We’ll start out in the main

house, but we’ll end up here.  Tell us what you’ve found out and where you think we should concentrate in addition to the garconieries.” 

Savannah had her information ready.  She had talked to some of the locals and read a few diaries at the Cultural Center.  “There are a few things we can watch for.  One is the apparition of a young school