Taken by Storm (Give & Take) - By Kelli Maine Page 0,55
a sideboard by the door and poured herself some before joining Rachael at the table. “It was nice. Thanks.”
Rachael grabbed Maddie’s left hand. “I see you still aren’t wearing a ring.”
“No. I didn’t manage to get it back.” She took a small sip of OJ.
Rachael squeezed her hand. “Are you sure you want it back?”
Maddie nodded, yawning, exhausted from her late night with MJ. “I’m not accepting the proposal. I need to give the ring back.”
A smile broke on Rachael’s face. “You and MJ?”
“No. I’m staying single for a while. I have to get my head on straight, find a job and a place to live when I get back to Michigan.”
Rachael studied her for a moment. Maddie knew she was wondering what last night was all about if Maddie wasn’t back with MJ. The last thing Maddie needed was more guilt.
Maddie rested her chin in her hand and tapped the map on the table in front of them. “What’s all this?”
“All of this,” Rachael said, straightening a stack of papers, “is the history of this island. The founder, Archibald Weston, and his wife, Ingrid Burkhart, didn’t leave much information about their life together, but I did find this.”
She pulled out an oversized document, yellowed with age from underneath the map and slid it over to Maddie. A sprawling family tree was drawn in calligraphy on the fragile page with crumbling corners. “It’s the ancestry of their family. The Weston’s owned a sugarcane plantation northwest of here, up by St. Petersburg. Look,” she said, pointing to the limbs branching from where Archibald and Ingrid’s joined. “She and Archibald had five kids.”
“Wow, that’s a big family. Looks like they had…” Maddie ran her eyes over the next set of branches and counted quickly, “seventeen grandkids!”
Rachael spread her arms wide. “And they all would stay here visiting their grandparents. Can you believe that? We’re sitting here today where Ingrid and Archibald sat with their kids and grandkids eating their brunch almost one hundred and fifty years ago.”
Maddie couldn’t quite grasp the level of enthusiasm that Rachael had, but she wasn’t the one who renovated the entire property after all. “It’s amazing,” she said, hoping it conveyed the pride she felt for her new friend.
“It is,” Rachael said, then frowned. “Now, if I can just find proof that Ingrid is buried on this island.” She returned the family tree to its spot under the map. “I’ve poured over the topography and I figure if her grave is here, it has to be near the tree house. It’s almost the center of the island and the highest spot. She wouldn’t be buried where the water level would rise and wash her away.” She shivered, then glanced up at Maddie, her eyes still lost in the past. “Does that sound right?”
Maddie rubbed her chin. “Makes sense to me. Maybe you should have one of those ghost hunting teams come out and film for their TV show. They might be able to find her.” She was only joking, but her mind slammed back to the night before.
“Oh my God. Rachael!” Maddie reached across the map and grabbed Rachael’s arm. “Last night MJ saw a woman with a flashlight in the woods. What if it was Ingrid? You know how they say ghosts always appear as a glowing orb? That’s what the flashlight could’ve been.”
Rachael’s eyes grew wide. “He’s sure he saw a woman out there?”
Maddie nodded. “He was positive. Ask him.”
Both of their frozen faces cracked into smiles, and then they fell into a fit of nervous laughter. “It can’t be,” Maddie said. “I mean, those ghost hunting shows are all a bunch of made-up crap.”
“You never know,” Rachael said. “Stranger things have happened. This place definitely has a power to it. It keeps you captive. Once you’re here, you don’t want to ever leave.” She ran her eyes over the family tree on the table in front of her and smiled. “Ingrid felt the same connection to this island that I do. It brought her here, like it did me. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was still here.”
Rachael sat back in her chair and gazed up at the sky. “Either way, I need to find her grave, if just to sit with her for a while.” She cut her eyes to Maddie. “I feel like I know her, like I am her. I can’t explain it, but I can’t give up until I know where she is.”
Maddie wasn’t sure she understood Rachael’s conviction to