Chapter 15
Lucy arrived back home to her apartment and collapsed on the couch, relieved that she had survived her shift at Meade’s Tavernwithout fainting again or having a stroke. She knew a lot of her fear was her own fault, the way she psyched herself out. Still, she couldn’t help that she was terrified of ghosts. A touch of anger broke through her fear. Why did those soldiers have to come and torture her like this? Just so they could settle some bet because they hated each other? Why couldn’t they have just left her alone?
Theresa walked in from the kitchen.
“Thank God you’re home!” Lucy said.
“Awww. It’s so nice to be loved,” Theresa said with a sigh.
“We have a lot to catch up on, girl,” Lucy told her.
“Really,” Theresa said, her eyes wide. “Do tell!” She flopped down on the couch next to Lucy and looked at her expectantly.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” Lucy said. “First of all, you have to promise that you’re gonna believe me.”
“This is gonna be good, isn’t it?” Theresa said enthusiastically.
“Well, that’s a matter of opinion I suppose,” Lucy said. “Hasn’t been too great for me. It’s about Joel and Jesse.”
Theresa’s face fell. “Oh no, honey. Does Jesse have a girlfriend?”
“No. That much I know for sure. I-I just… You will believe me, right?” Lucy asked.
“Lucy! Of course I will. How can you even ask that?”
Lucy nodded. “Okay. Well, you were right. They don’t work at that reenactor store.”
Theresa nodded, looking worried.
“So, Jesse came to see me at the restaurant. At night. When I was closing up.”
Theresa’s eyes grew wide. ”Oh, my God. He didn’t try to hurt you, did he?”
“No, no. Nothing like that. We were just talking, joking around, you know. And I went to swat him on the shoulder, like this…” Lucy swatted Theresa on her right shoulder. “And-and my hand went right through him,” she whispered in a shaky voice. “I-I mean, my hand went right through his body. And-and-and it felt really cold but there was nothing solid…nothing at all…”
Theresa stared at Lucy. What she was saying was crazy, but the fear in Lucy’s eyes made it clear that it had really happened.
“What?” Theresa asked, still trying to process Lucy’s words.
“They’re not reenactors, Theresa. I think… I think they’re really Civil War soldiers.”
Theresa slowly sank back into the couch.
“I mean, think about it. Have you ever seen them eat anything? They always sit with me at lunch but they never eat. And I’ve never seen them wear anything but their Civil War uniforms. And-and you know, when I ask them about themselves, they kinda laugh it off and tell me they’re soldiers who fought in the war. And when they fight, which is all the time, they argue about the war and stuff.”
“Oh, my God…” Theresa said, her mind spinning.
“Oh God, ’Resa. I’ve never been so scared in my whole life. The last thing I remembered I was just staring at Jesse, then the next thing I knew I was on the floor and Craig was trying to wake me up. I must have fainted. And then last night I came home and you weren’t here and I was by myself and—” Lucy covered her mouth with her hand and started to cry.
Theresa sat back up and put her arms around her. “I’m so sorry, Lucy. I know how much this stuff scares you. You should have called me! I would have come home. I could have brought Steven over so you’d feel safer!”
Lucy nodded. She grabbed a tissue from the coffee table and wiped her tears. “It’s okay. It was so late by the time I realized you wouldn’t be home. I’m so glad you don’t think I’m crazy.”
“No. I know you’re not crazy.” Theresa squeezed Lucy’s hand. She drew in a deep breath. “I’ve never told this to anyone in my entire life, but…I saw my dead grandmother once.”
Lucy’s eyes grew wide. “Are you serious?”
Theresa nodded. “It was the day of her funeral. I was seventeen when she died. We were really close. Anyway, it was late at night on the day we buried her. She came and sat down on my bed and told me that she was okay and not to worry.”
Lucy drew in a shaky breath, and Theresa squeezed her hand again.
“It wasn’t even scary. Really! She made me feel better. And I’m sure Jesse didn’t mean to scare you.”
“No. No, I’m sure he didn’t. The last thing he said before I passed out was I’m so sorry.”
“You know what this means, don’t you?” Theresa asked. “Jesse really is a sweet farm boy from Texas.”
Lucy nodded. She’d been so overwhelmed with fear that she hadn’t thought much about that yet. Her head was reeling with everything she knew about Jesse. His life as a Texas farmhand, his Southern manners, his accent…it was all real. She felt stupid for thinking he might have been interested in her romantically. She was grateful that she’d never told him anything about her feelings for him. Except for that time she’d called him Rebel-of-my-Heart.
“I feel like such an idiot for thinking he might ask me out sometime.”
“Well, jeez, how the hell were you supposed to know?” Theresa said. She looked at Lucy curiously. “Do you think we could find anything about them online? Did they keep records of soldiers back then?”
“I’m not sure.”
Theresa picked up her laptop from the coffee table and flipped it open. While she waited for it to boot up, she asked Lucy, “Do you know which regiments or whatever they were in?”
“Jesse fought with the First Texas Infantry. Joel was…um…I don’t remember.” Theresa shot her a wry look. Lucy sighed deeply. “Yes. Of course I would have picked Jesse. And you’d have picked Joel if it were up to you.”
“Hell, yeah. He’s got a face and a body to die for. Get it?” Theresa nudged Lucy, making her groan at the horrible pun.
“Ugh. I don’t know. He was in some regiment in New York. Oh, I know! They were nicknamed the Orange Blossoms. I remember Jesse calling him a delicate Orange Blossom.”
Theresa nodded. She looked up Orange Blossoms Civil War. “124th New York Infantry?”
“Yeah. That sounds right.”
“Okay, cool. Here’s a search engine from the National Park Service. You can search by regiment and by name.” Theresa typed 124th New York Infantry, then typed in Joel Casey. She took a deep breath.
Lucy’s hand flew to her mouth when the name got a hit. There it was. Joel Casey. There really was a Joel Casey in the 124th Infantry.
“Now do Jesse!”
“Bet you’d like to do Jesse,” Theresa quipped. Lucy was too shaken up to respond. Theresa typed in First Texas Infantry, then typed in the name Jesse.
Private Jesse Spenser came up.
Lucy dropped her hand from her mouth. The room started spinning. She drew in a deep breath and put her head between her knees.
“Lucy? Lucy?” Theresa said. She shut the laptop and tossed it onto the coffee table. She put her hand on Lucy’s back. “Lucy? You all right?”
Lucy took in a few more deep breaths, then lifted her head. Pale and shaken, she said, “They’re dead, Theresa. They’re dead.”