Hacienda Moon (The Path Seekers) Read Online Free PDF Page A

“What happened, son?”
     
    “Life happened. My work and a few other things.” Eric hesitated. He didn’t want to tell him about the other women, so he changed the subject. “Looks like stiff neck Saul Chelby sold that old plantation.”
     
    “Not yet. He’s renting it to the young writer, I hear.”
     
    Eric perked up. “Writer? I thought she was a psychic?”
     
    “Hmm interesting. It’s funny how he decided to sell the place. But I’m not surprised that the person he chose happens to be a psychic.”
     
    “Why’s that?” Eric asked, feeling the same way but wanting to hear what the Pastor would say. His parents trusted this man with all their secrets and heartaches and Eric trusted him too. “Don’t tell me you bought into all that witch talk?”
     
    “No, not witches. But there’s something in that house. It brings out the worst in people. Even Saul Chelby doesn’t want to live there.”
     
    “He hired me to do the contractual work on it,” Eric said. Quite frankly, he wanted to warn the woman living in there about what the pastor said. “I got the work request from Saul a few weeks before I came here.”
     
    A worried look crossed the pastor’s face. He studied his plump hands before speaking. “I hope you turned it down.”
     
    “What? Why? Pastor with all due respect, my company needs the money.” And I need to get closer to the woman living in the house , he wanted to add.
     
    Eric’s family lineage was strange.   The Fontalvo history even came with its own mythology. One of his ancestors named Enrique sailed to the island on a Spanish warship that attacked Brunswick Town back in September of 1748. It was called the Fortuna. Soon, his ancestor set up a shop and met the wealthy Chelby family who quickly became his fastest clients. Later on, Enrique had told his customers that an evil spirit brought him across time, proving his sanity was questionable to say the least.
     
    There was no use in concentrating on what some called a lunatic’s ranting. Instead, Eric resolved to focus on Saul Chelby’s decision to sell the old mansion, even though he was renting it at the moment. And it fascinated him that that person just happened to be a psychic, a gorgeous one too. He kept thinking about the day he met the woman at the airport. Coincidence, he didn’t believe in it; fate that was a different story. If this woman was the way to ending his family’s tortures and pains then Eric resolved to find the way. He promised his mother that he wouldn’t return without some kind of answer on how to save his brother.
     
    “Son, please consider turning that job down,” Pastor Jeffries said, his eyes filled with fear and worry. “I’m not a superstitious man. I believe the Lord Jesus has all in control. Evil don’t stand no chance against a good heart. But I’m also a prudent man. Throughout the years every single Fontalvo male has died before he reached the age of forty-two. Your father was the exception. Now I don’t know a whole lot about witches and things, son, but I do believe because your father left this place that he was spared. Do the same thing, Eric. And don’t ever look back.”
     
    Eric swallowed hard. He didn’t want to lie. “I’ll consider it, Pastor.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    4
     
     
     
    The water problem escalated over the next week. Tandie spent more time turning off faucets than pecking out Marsha’s next best seller. She finally turned to using electrical tape as a remedy for Chelby Rose’s quirks as Marsha so eloquently named them.   She sat down at her desk, enjoying the Carolina sunshine brightening the dark room. She’d awakened her writing eye, the zone where writers of all types and levels described as the ideal place to reach.
     
    She had just lifted her hands and placed them on the guide row keys, when a noise that sounded like heavy rain cut through the ambience, startling her.
     
    “What the—What now?” Tandie said