Cradled by the Night by Lisa Greer

 
     
     
    Cradled by the Night
    by
    Lisa Greer
     
    Cover Art: Lisa Greer and canva.com
    Editing: Juliette Adams
    All rights reserved. Copyright, 2016.
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter One: Omens
    “I love it, Brad! Yes, I want the house. It's exactly what I imagined it would be when you told me about it.”
    Amelia Bronson gazed up at the towering house as it came into view through the parted oak trees along the winding gravel driveway. It stood, dark gray and hulking against the sunny landscape—like something out of a gothic romance novel women read in the 1970s. It only lacked a comely, green eye-shadowed virgin running from a man outlined in a lighted window. Still, the place called to her with its Greek Revival style and massive columns. She had always adored old houses and the character they held—nothing gleaming and new for her. Aged, dark, and menacing was fine. After all, it was just a house, not a person. People were the real things to be afraid of—not creaking old houses.
    This one had character. It almost seemed to breathe like a slate-colored monster, guarding itself and its secrets.
    Amelia shook her head at the fancy, a frisson of uneasiness writhing up her spine. She had a premonition of disaster, of everything going wrong after all she had done to turn her life around. Especially with a baby on its way. Amelia couldn't stand the thought of losing her child or any other disaster now, just as she and Bard were on the cusp of happiness—perhaps for the first time in her life, anyway. She pushed the morbid thoughts out of her mind.
    “You want it? My love, you haven't even been inside yet. You know, they call it Stormcliffe. Isn't that something else?” Bard laughed and squeezed her thigh.
    “As for the name of the place, I adore it. I think it's romantic, as in the true meaning of the word—imaginative, intuitive, all of the things the poets wrote about in the nineteenth century.” She stopped and glowered at him. “But you know I hate it when you squeeze my thigh. It makes me feel even bigger than I am.” She swatted his hand away, gazing back up at the house.
    “I love you just like you are. Why don't you want until you see the place inside to decide if you want to live here, though?” He winked at her.
    Amelia gave him a dirty look and sighed, her belly pressing against the seat belt. “Yeah, you love me just the way I am...like a whale. And, I know I want the house. It's perfect.” She sighed and smiled.
    “You're a cute, small whale who is very impulsive about house buying.” He ducked.
    She punched his arm playfully.
    “Ouch. Hey, babe. Just another month of jokes, and you'll feel more like yourself again.” Bard stopped the car in front of the house. “It's unlocked. The realtor told me to take the time I need. She'll be back to lock up in an hour or so. She had too many other appointments today, and apparently, newly hired researchers for Genewise are trusted around these parts.”
    Amelia clapped her hands together, feeling like a small child. “You are amazing. Have I ever told you that, because if I haven't...wow!”
    Bard shrugged as he helped her stand up from the bucket seat of the car. “I know. You've mentioned it a time or two.”
    They linked arms and walked toward the house. Amelia sighed and patted her stomach. She didn't even need to see the inside. The house called to her like a dear, old friend, and she would answer.
    “You know, there's a spooky family graveyard out back. You can't see it from here. It's actually sheltered by trees and a little walk from the back door.”
    “Oh, really?”
    A loud crack sounded in underbrush and trees to their right, a dozen yards away.
    “What was that?”
    “Probably just an animal.” Bard shrugged and smiled. “We're a little out of the way here.”
    Amelia had an uneasy feeling, but tried to shrug it off. That hadn't sounded like an animal. It had sounded like a person, sneaking around in the brush. “So, about that