Dream

Chapter 2

Lucy parked her car on the edge of a dirt road that ran alongside a large brick wall. She didn't know why she felt the need to stop there instead of pulling into the drive that was less than fifty feet in front of her, but it was a gut feeling that said she needed to approach the old house on foot. She got out of her old car while noting that the air around her was utterly still. To her left was open marshland that led to the river, and to her right was the large brick wall that surrounded the LeClair house, an antebellum mansion built in the 1840s, well before the civil war.

Following the wall, Lucy stopped in the drive, looking at the massive house before her. The gates that had once kept people out were long gone, and there was an air of neglect and sadness to the home.

Checking her watch, she realized that she had at least ten more minutes before Thomas was supposed to meet her, so she turned her attention back towards the building in front of her.

Slowly, she started up the drive, taking in the massive columns and wide porches that would protect the house in a storm or from the heat of the summer. Since she and Thomas had spent so much time in the house as kids, she knew what the inside looked like; she also knew that there was a large hill behind the house that led down to the river. The owner designed the house so that it sat in the u-bend of the river, and this allowed for it to catch the crosswinds no matter which way the wind was blowing.

She walked towards the porch, pausing as if to ask for permission to approach her. The house had a soul; she could feel it just as she could when she was a girl.

The house wanted salvation, and she wanted a family to live in her and love her. Lucy reached out and placed her hand on one of the columns, rubbing it soothingly, as if to tell her she was alright and that everything would soon be better.

A car pulled into the drive at a dangerous rate of speed and braked hard at the foot of the broad steps that led to the porch above. Lucy recognized it as a local police car, and she knew the man who was getting out if it. It was Joel Bradley. Joel had been harassing her since they were kids. When they were younger, she had suffered a child's harassment; pulling pig-tails, making fun of her hair, or her family. Now, as an adult, it was a completely different type of bullying, and it scared her.

"Why Lucy Monroe, I haven't seen you around for quite a while," Joel said as he exited his car, slamming the door behind him, his thick southern drawl antagonistic.

"I try to stay out of trouble," Lucy responded in her deep husky voice while trying to force a polite smile to her face

"If that's true, then why are you trespassing right now?" He looked up at the house behind her as he placed a hand on his handcuffs in a threatening manner.

"I'm not trespassing, I was invited to meet Thomas Kane here," she informed him, moving further up onto the porch as if the house would protect her.

"That's funny, I don't see Thomas here, and even if I did he would also be trespassing," Joel drawled, stepping onto the porch, following Lucy.

Lucy didn't say a word. She knew that anything she tried to say would only make matters worse. He was looking for a reason to harass her, and he thought he had found it.

"Now, perhaps we can make a deal," he said as he let his gaze travel over her.

There was nothing spectacular in the way that she looked. She had tucked her short-cropped silver hair under her ball cap and, because it was early spring and still cold, she was wearing a thermal shirt under her baggy work overalls with a flannel shirt over the top. Her work boots added an extra few inches to her small stature, but not enough to intimidate Joel.

"There's no need to make a deal Joel, I'm not doing anything wrong," insisted Lucy as she silently prayed for Thomas to arrive.

"You're up to something Lucy Monroe, even if it's not trespassing. You Monroes are always up to no good." His hand reached out towards her, and Lucy stepped back just as Thomas's truck pulled into the drive and parked right next to Joel's squad car.

"Joel!" Thomas greeted as he jumped out of his truck.

"Thomas," Joel greeted in return. "I was just checking on things here, making sure that Lucy wasn't trespassing." Lucy couldn't help but note that his whole demeanor changed at Thomas's arrival. Joel had always been a coward. He looked over Lucy one last time; his look implied that he would catch up with her sooner or later.

"She's not trespassing, we have a meeting," Thomas confirmed as he climbed the steps, pulling out his key and opening the door, proof that he was there legitimately. "If you don't mind, I don't have much time, so we need to get started." He held out his arm, welcoming Lucy past him, and she wasted no time in rushing past him and into the safety of the house.

Thomas didn't wait for Joel to leave. Instead, he joined Lucy in the cold foyer of the house, closing the door behind them.

Joel would probably have it all over town that Lucy and Thomas had had a secret meeting planned, and he would put the worst possible spin on it.

"It looks like I got here just in time?" Thomas said as he threw an arm around her shoulders.

"You always manage to somehow." Lucy smiled, not bothering to remind him what would happen once Joel returned to town.

It would be one more thing for people to hate her for, and she should be used to it after living with it for over twenty-six years.