Haunted

Haunted A novel by: Melissa Tilley Hall Copyright © 2023 Melissa Tilley Hall. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the e-mail address below. ISBN: 9798396894266 (paperback) ISBN: 9798396899308 (hardcover) Library of Congress Control Number: 2023908733 Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination. Website: www.melissa-tilley-hall.com Email: [email protected] This book is dedicated to my daughter. Elizabeth Waldo, Always remember you are enough! I love you. Other Books by: Melissa Tilley Hall Diamonds in The Dark (2023) Coming Winter of 2023-24 Hidden Treasure Chapter 1Amara- Age 181838Amara sat looking at herself in the mirror of her dressing table, so many emotions were running rampant through her head. Today, of all days, she should have been feeling overjoyed and excited. However, for some peculiar reason, she just felt a heaviness weighing on her heart. She walked over to the window and looked out at all of the people that were starting to gather in the yard. The whole town was gathering out there for her and Timothy Hanes’ wedding party. Tomorrow their wedding would take place at noon. Even though it was the talk of the town, she could not understand what the big deal was. All she knew was that she was finally marrying the man she had loved for as long as she could remember. Most of the people that were in attendance for the festivities did not agree with her being allowed to marry Timothy, with him being from a vastly different social setting than her. It was unheard of in this town, and a lot of people were upset that her father was allowing the wedding to occur. The wealthy men, in the small Georgia town they had grown up in, believed marriage should be treated as a business deal and that you should never marry beneath your social status.Several of the men in the area had pined after Amara since she was just a child, hoping to have the chance to make her their young trophy wife. She had always been breathtakingly beautiful even at a young age. With flaming red hair that hung in long flowing ringlets, and piercing emerald-green eyes, she always drew everyone’s attention when she entered a room. The even greater appeal to these men was the fact that she was also the heiress of an exceptionally large fortune. That had the men of the town salivating to get their greedy hands on her and her money. Most of the men that had come to Richard Hammonds, Amara’s father who was a very prosperous plantation owner, asking for permission to court her, were much older than her. It repulsed Amara to think of having to marry one of them, but mercifully, Amara’s father had wanted her to marry for love and not for money. This led to him continuously turning them away. This had raised a lot of questions within the community because Richard was not following their traditions, but he paid them no mind. He had known what he wanted for his child since the day she was born. He had wanted her to be happy and nothing less would do. He had not wanted her to be a pawn in someone else’s financial gain game. He didn’t care about the gossip and rumors it caused. She was his only child and all he cared about was her health and happiness.He had raised Amara on his own with the help of her nanny, Anna, after his wife Laura died giving birth to Amara. Anna had been Laura’s best friend while growing up and had also been the daughter of the woman who had been Laura’s lady maid. Anna had been learning to be a midwife when Amara was born, and she had been aiding in Laura’s birth room. She was the closest thing Amara had to a mother growing up.Anna walked into the room. “Amara, are you about ready?”Amara turned around and looked at her with unshed tears in her eyes.“Oh, honey what is wrong? Please do not cry.” Anna said as she pulled Amara into her arms and hugged her.Amara struggled to pull herself together as she melted into Anna’s embrace.“Anna, all of those people out there and not one of them genuinely wants to see me and Timothy together. What does it matter that Timothy comes from a family that doesn’t have much money? Shouldn’t the only thing that matters be that we truly love each other? They are all here because they feel obligated because of who my father is. Sometimes I just wish people were different. Why can they not be happy for us? I have loved him since I was a child. He is my other half, and I knew it the day he stumbled into our yard while fishing with his cane pole and a bucket of worms all those years ago. Why does money and status mean so much to them?” she asked as tears rolled down her face.“I honestly do not understand the thinking of the wealthy in this town. Women should not be looked at as a business deal, but how are you going to change the thinking of men that have been doing this exact thing for generations to better themselves and their own family’s status? If the truth be known, every one of those men that marry because of status, have affairs with women that fall well below them in status, out of love or attraction. They abuse and neglect their wives because they do not truly feel anything for them, and those