Capricorn Cursed by Sèphera Girón Page B

over to kiss her. “You are magnificent,” he said. “A great violinist and a great lover.”
    â€œYou were fabulous too,” Natasha said.
    Her stomach growled loudly.
    â€œYou need to eat,” he said. “Eat something.”
    â€œI will. I will. Later. I want to savor the moment.”
    They sat on the couch for a few moments, holding each other and sipping another glass of wine. The silence was welcome as exhaustion held them both in its grip.
    â€œI guess I should get going,” Craig said. “It’s probably almost morning by now.”
    â€œYes, I need to get some sleep.” Natasha yawned.
    Craig put his clothes back on. He got his guitar and turned to face her. “We should do this again.”
    â€œWhich? The jamming or the sex?” she playfully asked.
    â€œBoth.” He laughed.
    â€œMaybe we will.”
    Once he was gone, Natasha sat in her music room for a few more minutes. At least she had been able to quiet one of her hungers for the moment. But the other hunger made her restless, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep very well.
    Reluctantly, she headed for the bedroom. The ghosts were waiting, as always, and through her annoyance, she was able to block them out.
    For a little while, at least.
    Â 
Chapter Five
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    A partnership may lead to new beginnings.
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    Kelly Proctor
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    Before Natasha left the house, she reviewed her diary and checked her horoscope. The diary helped her to remember events, and her horoscope spoke of partnerships. Kelly Proctor had lived a long and torturous life under the iron fists of her father and stepmother. In the early 1900’s, Hermana had less than 500 residents, plus a seasonal influx of another 500 or so tourists and shippers. The town was growing, and in the summertime, the sound of hammers and saws were heard over the roar of the ocean. Houses were built, babies were born, people moved away and new people replaced them.
    The deliveries made by water were often shady shipments of contraband smuggled in from larger docks by varying degrees of riffraff. The person in charge of the docks and, therefore, in control of the ring was Kelly’s father, Edwin Proctor.
    Kelly’s birth had been the result of carelessness during a drunken date with a visiting girl named Trinity. Once Trinity had realized she was carrying the evil older man’s baby, she was beside herself. She went to him for help, and he took her in, much to everyone’s surprise. When the baby came, he was the proudest father that ever was. Trinity went on to bear him two more children before her untimely death.
    No one ever found out how she died in her bed one morning. She had been fine one day. And the next, she was gone.
    Edwin didn’t take long to replace Trinity with Marguerite, a fiery Spanish woman who had different ways than his. She was cold to the children, yet she and Edwin were together until husband and wife were found dead on a hot September day. Their heads had been smashed in with some sort of instrument. There were no suspects, but Kelly had behaved oddly that day.
    The summer had already been unbearable. The headlines were rampant with musings about the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Borden over in Fall River. Had it been churchgoing, hard-working daughter Lizzie who had killed them? The speculations were the entertainment of the summer.
    When the double-murder tragedy struck in Hermana, in a house that had already stored a wealth of horrors, people wondered if Kelly, too, had been pushed to the edge.
    Natasha learned that Kelly’s life may have looked glamorous to the outside world, yet in reality, her dear old dad was a big old thug, and his actions were monstrous. Daily routines were set to a tee. There was no room for error or lateness. Breakfast was served like clockwork. There were errands for Kelly and household chores, such as laundry and shopping.
    Kelly had learned at a young age that her father was a