A Crescent Creek Haunting

by Viviana MacKade

Every place has its heart, which is made from all of its people’s feelings, all of their lives. People make bricks and rocks come to life, turn houses in homes. Make them come alive. Which is why I’m sure every place has ghosts.

Crescent Creek is a Contemporary Series, so you won’t find any ghost or supernatural thing happening there.

It doesn’t mean Crescent Creek doesn’t have its own ghosts.

It’s Florida, after all, and even if we are the Sunshine state, we have our fair share of dark, creepy stories (take a look at this page, which is a report of 24 creepy stories. Now, picture #4 is from Port St Lucie. My town. For real. I’m not happy about it.)

Here’s Crescent Creek’s.

~*~

Crescent Creek is a quiet little town. Safe, well looked after, and loved by the local folks. Nice people, most of them. Even in the stories I told, trouble came to Crescent Creek, are never from within.

But the old men, those whose great-great-grandparents were born and died inside the town limits, love to recount the tragic tale of what’s known as the Town Hall’s Lady.

It’s the second half of the 1800, and a young girl married to Joseph Jones, the richest and most influential man in Crescent Creek. Helen Jones, the girl, sinned by falling in love with Nokosi, a warrior of the Ais/Costas Tribe.

It caused frowns and scuffles between Jones’ men and the tribe, but the whole thing didn’t amount to much in the Newspapers, as troubles with the native Indian Tribes were a daily occurrence.

Crescent Creek News, July 18, 1864

After reported disturbances with the Costas tribe, the Commissioner of Indian Affair informed them if they created disturbances with the whites a sufficient military force would be sent to put them down.

Of course, there’s more to it than a 3-line article. We do know the real story from a letter that the Helen sent to a friend in her native Boston, and it’s the tale of a broken heart.

Dearest Laura,

My heart died.

Joseph paid the Commissioner to send troops in Nokosi’s village to destroy it. I know he will not see tomorrow’s sun, not with how much Joseph paid. Not with how many men are sent there. What I do know is the wrongness in my doing, as no wife has the right to yearn for another man but her Husband. For that sin, I will pay in this life and in the next.

Yet, my heart was, is, will be, Nokosi’s. Today and always, my tears will fall for him.

I’d leave this place I hate to embrace a life of seclusion in a monastery but here, in the few places I shared with Nokosi, is where I can feel him.

I’ll stay in this house, within these walls that had seen our brief joy, and remember him and what we had.

And so she stayed, even after she died many years later.

The Jones’ house became Crescent Creek’s Town Hall and to this day, it is said you can hear Helen crying on the third floor, where her bedchamber was.

Now Available: Crescent Creek Bundle

All Crescent Creek Books have returning characters, but can be read as stand alone.

PRESALE DEAL – 3 stories, 0.99 cents until release day February 14^th.

From the cold Canadian border, the US1 runs along the east coast with patience. Southbound, always south, until it reaches the Sunshine State.

Not the fastest way, sure, but if you have time to drive it all the way down, you might find yourself lost in one of the coastal towns that dot the US1 like little jewels.

Maybe that town’s name is Crescent Creek.

These are the stories of its people.

All those Miles I Walked–Crescent Creek 1

At eighteen, DJ made a choice–her heart or her dreams. Neither was wrong, yet either would break her heart. She chose the world. Over a decade later, she returns to Crescent Creek and to the one regret she’s ever had–Scott.

Scott’s always been steady as a rocky reef. He’d loved once and when she’d left, his strong heart had crumbled like a sandcastle. Now DJ is back, and Scott wants nothing to do with her. If only Eva, his and DJ’s old friend, didn’t need their help. Because of her, he’s stuck with DJ and he’d be damned, she still gets under his skin.

DJ is a free spirit who needs the road under her feet. Scott is a family man who wants to groom his roots. With danger on their doorstep and a baby to keep safe, how much are they willing to compromise for love?

Painted Love ~ Crescent Creek 2

Thou shalt not steal.

Oh, but Florence had, and would do so one last time. Ten pieces her grandfather painted for her because he loved her. Ten pieces her mother lost, along with anything else, for loving the wrong man. She couldn’t get back everything he’d wasted away, but she’d be damned if she’d give up those paintings.

Easy and genuine, Rhett loves his life–his family, his market, his town. Until he meets a British woman with grey eyes and a cute little smile. The woman he’s been waiting for. The thing is, to love her is easy, but can he trust her?

When Rhett pushes to uncover her agenda, Flo knows she will lose something–the man she loves or what she’d been fighting for years. Which road will she choose?

His Midnight Sun ~ Crescent Creek 3

Tormented, fierce, and broken, sculptor Aidan Murphy has judged himself guilty. He yearns for love but pushes everyone away. He longs for acceptance but has lost the key to open his heart. Until he meets Summer Williams.

Beautiful and smart, Dr. Williams promises haven for a man who believes he deserves none. All he has to do is let her in and risk his heart and soul.
Summer’s managed to keep her inner light alive, even through tragedy. She’s created a new life for herself and her daughter in Crescent Creek with loving, caring and fun friends–well, except brooding, breathtaking Aidan. She’s used to keeping away from his type, though. All she has to do is ignore the pull of a man who’s turning up to be much more than snarls and storms. Will her compassion and medical instincts let her?

Love can heal a broken soul and shake up a timid heart. Or it can unleash devastation and revenge.

Will Aidan and Summer survive the hurricane?

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Meet Viviana MacKade

Beach bum and country music addicted, Viviana lives in a small Floridian town with her husband and her son, her die-hard fans and personal cheer squad. Besides beaching, she enjoys long walks, horse-riding, hiking, and pretty much whatever she can do outside with her family.