Timeless Desire Read Online Free PDF Page A

for
ages. We just need to work out what it is.”
    “Umm, okay,” Emily said, her brain processing what
George had said. She knew he was right, but how would they find out how they
could help William? “So, what do we do now?”
    “I don’t have the answers, Emily, but I do know where
we can start. You remember that box I told you about earlier? There may be
something in there.”
    Gently disentangling their hands, George stood up and
indicated Emily should follow him. He walked over to the wall on their left,
and crouched down in front of one of the wire fronted bookshelves. Opening the door,
he carefully pulled out several boxes one at a time and placed them on the
floor beside him. When they were all there, George stood up and looked across
the room at the desk Emily had been using. Seeing it was full of all her
cleaning paraphernalia, not to mention the few books she still hadn’t replaced
on the first shelf, he simply sat on the floor, cross-legged. Reaching over to
flip open the lid of each box in turn, George found the one he was looking for,
and pulled it towards him.

Chapter Three
    Emily had been standing nearby, ready to start moving
boxes around if necessary. But when it became apparent that George’s chosen
workplace was going to be right there on the floor, she raised her eyebrows in
surprise, then moved and sat down beside him. He turned to smile at her, and
indicated the box he was about to start rummaging through.
    “This is the one,” he said. “Now let’s see what we can
find out.”
    He pushed the box to his left a little, so Emily could
also reach inside and start examining the contents. Before she started, she
gave voice to something that had been bugging her. “Why does he only haunt the
library, do you think? He was born here, so he’s got links to the whole
property and grounds. He could appear anywhere, but chooses the library to make
his appearances.”
    George pulled his bottom lip into his mouth and
nibbled it. Emily tried not to watch, to wish she could nibble his bottom lip
as they kissed. Then he shrugged. “I dunno . Some
ghost fanatic types say that spirits are tied to things that belonged to them,
but that includes all sorts of stuff in this place. On top of all the papers
and diaries in here, there’s his old bedroom and everything in it, and much
more, probably. What I’ve read so far hasn’t given me a clue, unfortunately.”
    “I guess we’ll never find out. Never mind. I just
wondered.” She paused, still thoughtful. Then took a deep breath and steeled herself to carry on. “Okay.” She carefully lifted a pile of
papers, letters and photographs from the box and placed them on the rug in
front of her. “Here goes nothing.”
    The two of them worked in silence for a little while,
reading through various documents about and belonging to the Elliott family,
and looking at photographs. Every item plucked at Emily’s heartstrings as she
learned more and more about a tragic love story and two lives that had been
lost. After a while, she came across a particularly interesting photo. A lovely one. When she saw George looking at her
quizzically, she realized she must have made a noise.
    “Sorry,” she said, “but just look at this.”
    She handed him the worn black and white image. It
depicted a family; mother, father and young teenage boy. They all looked happy.
There was nothing written on the back of the photograph, but having seen the other
picture of William, Emily recognized the boy and knew it was the Elliott
family.
    George studied the photo for some minutes, then passed it back to Emily. “They look happy. It’s a shame
that the war had to come along and rip their family apart.”
    “Hmm,” Emily replied, unable to think of anything more
eloquent to say. Then she had a thought. “What happened to William’s parents
after…you know. They must have been devastated.”
    “I guess so. He was their only child. There are no firsthand accounts—neither of them