Chapter Five
Jillian got a feeling she would only find out if she found Matilda’s diaries as well. Glancing up at the ceiling, she wondered which of the remaining rooms upstairs had been Matilda’s.
And what about those sounds she heard last night?
Jillian found herself climbing the stairs and going from room to room in search of something that would tell her which room belonged to Matilda Belmar. She searched each one thoroughly until she came to the last room in the hall, the one with the door that wouldn’t open for the Pruitt’s.
Jillian had a creepy feeling about this room.
She took a deep breath and reaching for the doorknob she tried to turn it but she found it wouldn’t turn.
Squatting down, she looked at the handle.
There didn’t seem to be any obstruction in the lock.
Jillian tried it again but the door was truly stuck shut.
She was determined to get inside the room.
She went back downstairs and around to the back of the house.
Jillian could see the bedroom window and the glass was black.
It wasn’t the same as the others but then she believed that the others had been replaced when the Pruitt’s owned the Inn.
She wondered why they hadn’t changed this window.
Jillian went to the garage in search of a ladder.
She found one lying along the side of the garage and carried it over to the bedroom window.
Climbing up the ladder, she found herself looking to a bedroom.
She saw a big bed in the middle of the room and everything in it told her that this was Tilly’s room.
A suitcase was open on the bed and she could see there were clothes packed inside.
On the bed were at least two piles of clothes that needed to be packed yet.
Drawers in the dresser were left open and the closet door stood open. The room looked as if someone had just left and would be coming back at any minute to finish packing.
She wondered what had happened to delay the packing and why the door wouldn’t open. She tried to lift the window sash and was surprised when it slid open under her hand. She pushed the window up as far as she could and climbed up the last bars of the ladder to gain entry into the room.
It smelled musty and dusty in there but she found no sign of the fire that had destroyed the Inn. In fact, since she arrived, she had yet to find any sign of the fire and she was beginning to have doubts about there being a fire at all.
Jillian looked around the room then went over to the open suitcase on the bed and looked inside. A beautiful white linen dress was lying on top. She touched the fabric and it felt smooth. How could this still be sitting here?
Moving over to the closet, she opened the door.
This closet looked similar to the one in Claire’s room. Jillian checked the wallpaper for any tears. She was disappointed when she didn’t find any. With a small gasp, she swung her gaze back to the suitcase on the bed.
If Matilda was leaving would she take the diaries with her?
Jillian went back to the bed and began taking the clothes out of the suitcase.
Piling them up neatly on the bed she discovered that Matilda was indeed taking the diaries with her.
Jillian found four handsomely bound books on the bottom of the case.
She went over to the door and tried to open it from this side but she couldn’t get the door to move. Tucking the books under her arm she went over to the window and climbed back down the ladder. It was trickier trying to hang on to the books at the same time but she did finally get to the ground.
Going back around to the front of the house she sat down on the porch and opened the first book.
It was as she expected... Matilda’s diary.
Jillian wanted to skip the parts that didn’t deal with Matthew but she knew if she did she wouldn’t get the whole story.
She wanted to know Matilda as well as she felt she knew Claire.
As she read the entries, Jillian noticed a distinct difference in the two women. Claire was more of a dreamer while Matilda was more down to earth. Matilda had no illusions of grandeur and she spoke of herself as less than beautiful but all that changed when Matthew came to stay with them.
Matilda spoke of how she didn’t trust Matthew Nixen and how she thought him nothing more than a ladies’ man:
“I don’t trust him.” She wrote. “The look in his eyes reflects more knowledge about life than he lets on. I can see my sister is becoming infatuated with him and his stories of his travels. Funny tales of the fancy places he’s been to and famous or rich friends that he claims to have.
But it’s his eyes that captured my attention.
They are a color not usually associated with eye color.
I’ve never seen eyes the color of lavender blooms in summertime.
They often change from lavender to gray without warning. ”
Jillian frowned at the description of Matthew’s eye color. Her words said one thing but her description said something else entirely. She continued to read...
“Matthew Nixen is probably nothing more than a flirt waiting and hoping that either my sister or I will give him the time of day. He looks at the world through weary eyes and I think he’s looking for a soft place to lay his head, away from the worries and troubles of the world outside these walls.
I can’t help but be wary of his intentions and yet...
I have to wonder what it would be like to be held in his arms and kissed.
He has the loveliest lips I’ve ever seen on anyone. ”
Jillian raised her eyebrows and laughed out loud. Matilda might not think of herself as a dreamer but her words betrayed her as one. Jillian turned another page.
“Matthew has found out about my secret attraction to him and I’m worried that he will exploit it or worse yet... he will tell my sister about my wanting him and they will laugh at me. I have noticed that they have become close, closer than I care for.”
Jillian shook her head. Matilda didn’t know her sister very well.
Claire never would have laughed at her feelings.
The sisters had been very close, often sharing each other’s dreams and desires.
They had grown up together to complement each other, a way of life often missing in today’s world.
Jillian wished she could have met the sisters and Matthew for herself.
She had a feeling she would have liked all three of them.
She went to the kitchen to make herself a sandwich. As she came through the doorway she happened to look up and she gasped in fear.
A black mist drifted into the corner of the kitchen. It seemed to hover briefly and then it was gone.
Jillian felt a shiver of something unexplainable. It raised the hairs on the back of her neck. She turned around and went back outside to the porch. Sitting down in the chair, she had to remember to breathe.
Poppy looked up at her from her spot on the porch and cocked her head at Jillian.
Jillian took a couple of deep breaths and exhaled slowly several times. She turned her head to stare in the general direction of the doorway to the kitchen. She got up and went back inside.
Poppy got up and followed her into the house.
Jillian felt comforted by the presence of her dog. She grasped Poppy’s collar to lead her to the kitchen door.
She waited for Poppy’s reaction to the kitchen door before she moved forward. Glancing around she didn’t notice anything out of place, nor did she find anything that shouldn’t have been there.
Jillian tightened her grip on the dog’s collar and moved forward into the room. Sweeping her gaze around she found nothing to be afraid of anywhere. She let go of Poppy’s collar and felt foolish for imagining the worst.
“There is nothing here to be afraid of,” she spoke the words aloud. Her voice echoed in the empty Inn. When Jillian didn’t hear or see anything else, she didn’t know if that fact offered her comfort or not. She wouldn’t find anything out about this happening either.
She went about the task of making a salad and a glass of iced tea. Then she took her lunch out to the back porch. She looked around the backyard as she ate her food. Her mind was busy thinking about Tilly and Claire.
Suddenly a sound caught her ear and she looked off into the distance.
Poppy had run off a few minutes ago and she could see her barking at something.
Jillian got up to investigate. As she headed to Poppy she took note of the beauty around her.
She walked about ten minutes before she found Poppy waiting for her just outside an old cemetery plot surrounded by a low picket fence.
The fence had at one time been painted but age and weather had stripped the paint off most of the wood.
Jillian looked at Poppy and asked, “I wonder who’s buried here?
Shall we find out?” She stepped over the low fence and Poppy jumped over it.
Here, the grass was longer and the cemetery plot hadn’t been tended in years.
She made her way to the mass of headstones in the center of the plot.
She began pulling weeds and tall grass to clear the headstones.
Brushing the debris away she began reading the names carved on the stones.
“Thomas Eugene Belmar, Beloved Father and Husband. Mary Ellen Belmar, Beloved Wife and Mother, Ian Belmar, Loribelle Belmar.” Jillian noted that Ian and Loribelle died as young children in the mid 1900’s.
She continued to pull the long grass until she could see all the headstones.
The oldest one belonged to Jeremiah Belmar.
His date of death was 1908 and beside him lay his wife and seven children.
There were other family members but she couldn’t find any headstones for Matilda or Claire.
Finally, Jillian sat down nearby and stared at the headstones. She couldn’t help but wonder why the sisters weren’t buried in the family plot.