Author/Uploaded by Pamela Crane
IF ONLY SHE KNEW IF ONLY SHE KNEW PAMELA CRANE Tabella House Raleigh, North Carolina Copyright © 2023 by Pamela Crane Tabella House Raleigh, NC All rights reserved. No part of this book...
IF ONLY SHE KNEW IF ONLY SHE KNEW PAMELA CRANE Tabella House Raleigh, North Carolina Copyright © 2023 by Pamela Crane Tabella House Raleigh, NC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without written permission. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author. www.pamelacrane.com ISBN: 978-1-940662-343 (eBook) ISBN: 978-1-940662-350 (Paperback) Thank you for supporting authors and literacy by purchasing this book. Want to add more gripping reads to your library? As the author of more than a dozen award-winning and bestselling books, you can find all of Pamela Crane’s works on her website at www.pamelacrane.com. The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson Chapter 16 Chapter 17 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 From the Pen of Doctor Edgar Valance Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 About the Author Enjoy what you read? For Jess and Em, my teenage ride-or-dies that I would face any curse for. Long live our nineties memories. The Diary of Cordelia Bloodson June 27, 1836 It is a sensation more potent than knowledge, a suspicion stronger than truth. I can feel it claiming me—death, that is. The contractions grow intense today. The baby is pushing his way out, searching for bright freedom from my dark, swollen womb. Yet something feels wrong. The pain is as heavy as my heart, but it is not the discomfort of childbirth. It is altogether something different. I have seen a change in my husband, an anger untapped until recently, and I fear I will not be on earth much longer to pick up the pieces of Reginald’s inevitable destruction. The ghost of my father visited me in a dream last night. Or perhaps it was a nightmare. The two have been intertwined as of late. Father brought a warning that something terrible is about to happen that will bring ruin to my home and disgrace to my family. How can I bring a fifth child into a world so full of evil? I spoke of my concerns to Reginald, but Prologue June 27, 1997 When you’re the descendant of one of history’s most notorious killers, you’re born with a dark mark. No matter how far you try to run from the reputation, it always catches up to you in the looks you get when people connect the dots between you and that infamous name. Jack the Ripper. Lizzie Borden. Ted Bundy. And then there is Reginald Bloodson, the man who left my family legacy in ruins. As if being related to a killer wasn’t enough, add to that a curse passed down for generations, and you spend your whole life with a scarlet letter plastered on your chest. The town of Bloodson Bay blamed my ancestor for the unexplained mysteries that happened every year, on this very date, June 27, for as long as anyone could remember. But that’s not the worst of it. When a murder happens in your own backyard and you’re forced to cover it up…well, there’s no coming back from that. That kind of thing condemns the soul. No matter how many secrets I