Echoes in the Bayou by Ursula Dukes Read Free Book Online Page A

before. Maybe she had sensed it earlier too but the abrupt manner with
which she came upon the place had caused her to conceal it. And she shared her
feelings with Magnus when he showed her to the room he had prepared for her.
The moment she entered, it was as if a bright flash bulb went off in her face.
The light in the room changed and all of a sudden, it felt as if she was looking
through someone else’s eyes.
    In the
back ground she could hear the faint sound of men talking and somewhere far
off, someone was singing. It was also no longer the evening, the warmth of the
sun was almost overwhelming and she felt suffocated. "Ava are you
alright?" Magnus asked. He had gently nudged her trying to bring her out
of her trance. "Where were you just then?" He asked with concern in
his voice. Even though he’d just met her, he felt as if he knew her, knew her
well enough to know that something spooked her.
    "Ava,
look at me, what just happened?"
    Ava shook
her head and blinked her eyes. The room had returned to its normal state and
the sun was setting. "Nothing happened,
just tired," she said and tried to laugh it off. But Magnus didn’t believe
her, he could tell by the look in her eyes that something drastic had just
happened to her and he hoped that she wasn’t assaulted by a ghost. He held her
firmly in his arms until she gently tugged free. "This room is
beautiful Magnus, thank you."
    The large
bedroom looked quite luxurious with its massive four poster king sized bed
complete with lace coverlet. A large fireplace dominated the opposite side of
the room while two plush Edwardian chairs sat on either side of it.  An
elongated oval shaped mirror hung above the fireplace and the dresser, armoire,
and dressing table, along with the night stands were all handmade antique
furniture.
    "This
is really beautiful. I absolutely love anything antique, I plan to open my own
shop one day but I might never leave," she said and ran her fingers along
the delicate lace coverlet.
    " That’s fine with me," Magnus grinned. "As
you can see I’ve redecorated some of the bedrooms too," he said glancing
around. "There are several rooms here that I haven’t even gone into,"
he sighed.  "But I hope that in time you’ll help me with that."
    " Of course, that’s what I'm here for," she smiled
at him.
    He
realized that he hadn’t been this happy in a very long time. Not only did he
come up with a brilliant idea for his new book, but standing in the room next
to him was a beautiful woman telling him that she may never want to leave. Maybe I should rethink selling this old place after
all, he thought to himself. "Ava
Montgomery, you couldn’t have shown up at better time." He took a risk and
told her so. "Make yourself at home, I’ll go and get your bags."
    After he
excused himself, Ava plopped down on the bed; she knew she’d have a few moments
to think about what she’d just experienced. Why was it that she felt so
comfortable in this room? Like she’d been in it before? And what the hell was
that strange vision about? Maybe she visited the place as a child and that was
a flashback, like when her parents took her to Virginia and they visited a
museum that recreated American life back in the 1800’s. Yes, that must have
been what she was seeing, it was just a flashback.
      But when Magnus returned and she began questioning him
about the history of the place, he told her that as far as he knew, the
plantation had never been set up to recreate anything and after Katrina it had
been and put up for sale, that’s when he bought it. Before that, it stood
vacant for several years. "No one wanted to buy the place because of its
location," he told her.  "Although some people like its remote
location, most do not, they need it to be a little closer to civilization so to
speak."
    "Well
what made you buy it Magnus?" She asked with curiosity.
    " Me? Well I had just gotten engaged and my fiancé and I
had just returned to New Orleans several months