Deceptions: Whispering Willows, #7

By Diana Dawn

Lily is now hiding a secret that she is terrified that Thomas will discover. But with these recent 'ghost sightings', will she decide to choose Nate over Thomas? Are the villagers really seeing ghosts from their past, or could it be the witch simply wreaking havoc upon the Willows? And what about the disappearance of their dwarf friend, Ben? 'Deceptions' is the seventh book in the Whispering Willows series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diana Dawn
• Release date: Jul 8, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393702245

Diana Dawn

Finally, I want to thank you the reader, for coming along on this ride. I hope you had as much fun as I did, and enjoyed getting to know the heroes and heroines of Whispering Willows. If so, please take a moment to post a review and tell a friend.  I would love to read your review!         The adventures are just beginning, so if you'd like to follow along, and get notifications of new releases, freebies and special offers on my books, please join my email list by going to www.DianaDawnBooks.com or drop me a line at [e-mail].  I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thank you and happy reading!

Book preview

Would you like a FREE e-book of your choice from the Whispering Willows series?  Simply visit my website at http://www.dianadawnbooks.com and sign up for my newsletter by entering your email address and I will send you a FREE copy of an e-book of YOUR choice in my Whispering Willows series! Just drop me a line and let me know which one you would like.  Plus, then you can be sure to stay informed of my latest book, giveaways, freebies, promotions, news, 'swag' and more!

Whispering Willows

Book 7: Deceptions

Chapter 1

Rude Awakenings

Thomas didn’t sleep a wink all night. It wasn’t the hard floor of the mill keeping him awake, it was that he couldn’t stop thinking of what had just happened to him. To his horror, what he thought was Rein coming back into the cabin that night, when he opened his eyes, was really a ghost. Well it had to be, right? Beth was dead, wasn’t she? Yet there she was, as real as he was, standing there smiling at him. Thomas was disturbed by the fact that he never really saw what happened to his wife and son. Perhaps they lived. Maybe they got out of the house, away from that monster. Maybe they were still alive somewhere. But here? Could Beth really be here in the Willows?

Thomas could see the faint hint of dawn creeping through the mill house window. Where yesterday things seemed so clear, he would find Lily in the morning and straighten things out about what happened at the lake on their date. He’d wanted it to be so perfect. And then, he saw HER over in the trees. He had brushed it away as some sort of fluke hallucination, and was prepared to patch things up with Lily … make her understand that she was the only one. It was so clear to him, until he saw her again last night. Beth. Was it really her? She talked to him. She touched him. She was so real. He played the night over and over again in his mind, trying to make sense out of the whole thing … trying to find the truth somewhere, anywhere. She had sat down on the bed next to him. She touched his face. She kissed him. He was stunned. What could he do? What should he do? He kissed her back, he couldn’t help it. He really had missed her. But was it her? Her kiss seemed different than he remembered.  As they kissed, he felt her pull back the covers and slip into the small twin bed with him. Then her hands began to wander. There was definitely something different … wait, what’s happening here? Thomas pulled back and slid across the bed to stand on the other side and in a panic, he quickly backed up against the window, shaking the glass dangerously in its pane.

What’s wrong? she’d asked. He didn’t answer. He merely shook his head. Then before another word was spoken, on instinct he flew out of the cabin, not grabbing a robe or slippers or anything. Here is where he’d ended up, the mill. It was the craziest night he’d ever experienced. It was only for a second that he pondered the strange looks he’d get when he wandered back into the village that morning in only his nightclothes. The rest of his thoughts were filled with doubt and confusion … over Beth, over Lily. Was Lily right after all? Was he perhaps still grieving, pining over his wife? Did he really see Beth, or was it simply his mind seeing what it wanted to see? And if that’s the case, why wasn’t he seeing Lily? Maybe he indeed was subconsciously using Lily as a ‘substitute’ for Beth. The thought saddened him greatly, and he knew that would be terribly unfair to Lily. Instead of talking to Lily as he’d originally planned, Thomas instead decided that perhaps he needed first to take some time to sort the whole thing out … sort out his true feelings. Was he in love with Lily, or was it merely a desperate attempt to gain back what he’d lost with Beth?

The memories of his wife came flooding back to him … her kiss, her touch, her whispers to him that little Thomas couldn’t hear as he played across the room … those little whispers that would never fail to drive Thomas wild and make him wish they could send their son to bed early. He wanted it. He wanted to make love to Beth last night. That’s why he had to get out of there. He didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. Was she real or not? These few months, where he thought he wanted Lily … did he really? Or does he really just want Beth back in his life? He was confused. He really thought he wanted Lily, but after last night … he just wasn’t sure about anything. He wasn’t sure of his feelings for Lily, he wasn’t sure that Beth wasn’t alive somewhere, maybe here in the Willows. Strange things do happen here. What was going on, he didn’t know. But he surely didn’t want to subject Lily to any more pain.

Don’t be a stranger, Natalie smirked, as Rein re-locked the jail cell with the spare key he ‘borrowed’ from Thomas’ wall hook.  He winked back at her as he strolled outside in quite a dandy mood.

As he headed back to his cabin, his grin turned to a chuckle as he spotted his roommate also heading toward their cabin in only his nightclothes, What on earth…?

Thomas quickly raised a hand to stop him, Don’t! Don’t even ask! I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to get dressed and have some coffee. Thomas then thought, what he’d rather have was a stiff drink. But it was quite early in the morning for that. Still pondering as to what or who may still be in the cabin, he stopped at the door and motioned to Rein, After you. He was relieved to find their cabin free of any occupants but themselves. Quickly he got dressed, avoiding the constantly questioning stare of his cabin mate, and went on to the hut for breakfast.

Lily had gotten to the hut early. She’d had problems sleeping that night as well. With her head in a fog, she quietly set the table for breakfast, being careful to avoid anyone’s gaze lest they may ask that most annoying question, ‘Is anything wrong?’ Yes, something was wrong, but she surely didn’t feel like talking about it to anyone. She’d preferred to be alone, but was actually looking forward to her date with Nate on the lake the next day. It would be nice to have a casual conversation with someone who knew nothing about her recent troubles, Lily thought.

It was then that her thoughts were immediately halted by Thomas’ entrance into the hut. As Kate observed the look between them, she noted to herself that the air seemed to suddenly be thick enough to cut with a knife. Thomas quickly averted his gaze to the floor as he proceeded to the kitchen for some coffee. Still angry in thinking of herself as being the latest ‘substitute’ for Thomas’ real object of desire, Lily felt a hint of disappointment that Thomas didn’t seem at all eager to speak with her. Where here, she thought he would seek her out and badger her relentlessly about what happened at the lake, he didn’t appear to be at all concerned with speaking to her that morning.

Breakfast didn’t look any better. She wasn’t hungry in the least.  As Lily tried to focus her eyes and her mind away from Thomas, she happened to catch Nate’s friendly smile. She’d hoped he hadn’t noticed her melancholy mood. Where Thomas was usually famished in the mornings, he hardly ate a bite there at the table that particular day. He just wasn’t hungry either. Pushing out his chair, he excused himself, wrapped up a few biscuits and some deer sausage into his napkin and headed to the workshop. Work. If he could just keep his mind occupied with something, anything, he thought.

Lily decided she should do something to get her mind off of everything, so she asked Snow to give her some pointers on archery. Snow was a wonderful archer, giving even Eddy a run for his money.

Yes, Father gave me my choice at what lessons I wished to have. I chose archery, along with singing of course. I had the best teacher in the land. He was the best shot with this thing. You should have seen him!

Snow aimed her arrow at the make-shift target they’d prepared on a bale of hay, His name was ‘Bo’, which was of course funny in itself. I asked him if he’d changed his name to fit his sport. He just laughed and said he never thought of it that way. I couldn’t imagine him NOT thinking of it that way, frankly!

She let her arrow fly before giggling, then giggled all the harder when her arrow missed the hay bale completely,