Beckoning Spirit (A Romantic Paranormal Short Story) Read Online Free PDF Page A

continued to stare at the painting. “I wonder why they committed suicide together. Such a tragedy. Did the president of the Historical Society offer any information on that?”
    “As a matter of fact, she did. Legend is the families wouldn’t allow them to marry. There was a long-standing dispute between the clans. Darla was being forced to marry another man she didn’t love. Kenneth couldn’t bear to think of her with anyone but him. According to a letter the two wrote and signed on the day of their deaths, they explained how they had secretly commissioned the portrait to be painted as a symbol of their eternal love in hopes of bringing an end to the feud between their families. Then they committed suicide, choosing to remain together for all eternity.”
    “Wow. True love can make people do crazy things.”
    “True or not, it’s stupid to kill yourself over love,” Kipp said.
    She lightly punched his arm. “I can see you’re not a romantic.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Her romance novelist’s mind switched into high gear. “Kenneth and Darla must have been so desperately in love that they preferred to die and spend eternity reenacting their suicide rather than be separated in life, married to other people.”
    Kipp chuckled softly. “That sounds like the plot of a romance book.”
    Devin beamed. “It could be,” she replied slyly. “I do know a thing or two about romance.”
    His eyebrow arched. “That’s interesting. We have something else in common besides being dead ringers for a suicidal couple.”
    “Do you write romance novels?” she teased. “Because that’s how I earn a living. Or, at least, I try.”
    “No kidding? I don’t write, but I’ve read a few romances in my time.”
    “Do tell.”
    “I broke a leg one winter and was laid up for a couple of months. My mother brought over a box of books to keep me from going stir crazy. She didn’t realize she had mixed up some of her romances with the sports books. I read them and got hooked. Do ya promise to keep my secret?” His eyes gleamed devilishly.
    “I promise.” She turned back to the portrait, feeling her heart contract. “I wonder if my grandma ever saw this painting. Who is the artist?”
    “The signature is small, but it looks like the first initial is A.”
    “A? I have a very strange feeling, Kipp.” To prove her point, she pushed up the sleeve of her robe to show him the prickles racing over her arms. She pressed her face close and squinted into the bottom right-hand corner. In tiny block print were the letters ASF.
    She gasped. “ASF! Those are the same initials as my grandma. Her name was Amelia Suzanne Fuller. What do you think it means?”
    Kipp plowed a hand through his dark mane. “I know it doesn’t mean your grandmother painted this portrait because ya told me she died last year. The date on this metal plate is eighteen eighty-nine. Your grandma wasn’t one hundred twenty years old, was she?”
    “No. Of course not.” She leveled a gaze at him. “I hope you don’t think I’m a certifiable basket case, but I believe my grandmother led us here. These are her initials on this painting. I believe more than fate brought us together today.”
    “What are ya getting at?” he asked.
    “Do you believe our loved ones can speak to us from beyond the grave? Do you believe in past lives?”
    “Reincarnation, you mean?”
    She nodded.
    “I didn’t ever think about it before. But now… It does seem hard to deny. The moment I saw ya on the pier at Boothbay Harbor, I knew I’d met ya before. It felt like I’d known ya all my life. And then, when we touched…”
    She grabbed his hand. “Yes! It was the same for me. The world seemed to tilt on his axis, and I felt swept back in time. It was like I’d always known you. I remember Grandma telling me stories about spirits caught between this world and the next, and about the ones who live their lives over and over again. I always thought they were just made-up tales