The Ghost of Valencia Dupree

By Tanya Orr

In a world where decorum, duty, privacy, and family ties were of the utmost importance, it was sometimes made difficult for the innocence and timidity of a young woman such as Valencia Dupree to carry a strong voice. In an age where strength and position were thought to be safer in the hands of men, Valencia found a way from within her own self to be counted among the bearers of truth and justice. Although she could not grasp the entirety of it in life, she discovered a way to make her voice heard even in death. In life Valencia found only confusion, pain, and sorrow. However, in death she found acceptance, peace, and love. In the land of the living, life ends when death enters the room; but in the world of Valencia Dupree, death was just the beginning.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781642990942

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The Ghost of Valencia Dupree

Tanya L. Orr

ISBN 978-1-64299-093-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64299-242-7 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-64299-094-2 (Digital)

Copyright © 2018 by Tanya L. Orr

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. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

1

Hurry, my love, I’m waiting.

Royce looked around in a panic, trying to get an idea of where the voice was coming from. He began to call out, Who are you? Where are you? What is it that you are waiting for?

He quickly paused and stared into the darkness. Suddenly a delicate scent of vanilla filled his nostrils.

Royce called out again, Jessica, is that you?

He eagerly waited for a response, but none came. He listened closely, hoping to hear the voice again. It took him back to a place that he had not visited in a long time. A place that he thought had been lost to him forever.

As he began to stir from sleep, he softly whispered, Jessica.

All of a sudden a barrage of noise came rushing into his ears. The sound pierced through every fiber of his being, rattling his senses without mercy.

As he cracked open one of his eyes, he looked at his alarm clock violently ringing as though it were attempting to awaken both heaven and hell. Royce frowned as he tossed off the restraints of his bedcovers and reached for the clock. He threw it across the room, smashing it against the wall. He groggily sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed and stared across the dimly lit room at his brand-new alarm clock lying in broken pieces on the floor. He hated that stupid clock, but without it, he would never get out of bed. After the death of his wife, Jessica, Royce lost all interest in living. It wasn’t unusual for him to remain in bed for days at a time—sometimes not eating or drinking and getting very little sleep. He felt so lost in her death; it was as if he himself had died. It was so difficult for him that at times; just breathing was a burden. It was only at the insistence of close friends that Royce became convinced that his pulling away from the world would not bring Jessica back to him. It was they who suggested the alarm clock. It was a way of reminding Royce to join the living every day, or to at least acknowledge that life still existed and that he was still a part of it. The clock made him wake up whether he wanted to or not.

While sitting on his bed and staring at his broken clock, he whispered, Another one bites the dust.

He shook his shoulders and chuckled softly because he knew that just a few feet away, stacked neatly in his closet, were at least fifty boxes of brand-new alarm clocks just waiting to have their turn.

Slowly Royce slid his feet into his black leather house slippers and groggily walked into the bathroom. He carefully reached in and turned on the shower. As the warm water rained down, Royce sat down on a small, narrow leather bench next to the sink and yawned. He wiped his eyes and rolled his neck, trying to wake up. As he yawned again and stretched his arms and back, he thought back to his dream.

In his mind, he could still hear a faint residue from that soft voice still ringing in his ear, and he could almost swear that he could still smell the vanilla. As Royce sat on the bench, trying to recapture those faint moments from his dream, he noticed how steamy his bathroom was becoming. He quickly shook himself out of his sleepy haze and then stepped into the shower and stood under the water’s flow. He closed his eyes and felt the water engulf his middle-aged body. In a very methodical way, the water raced to find its passageway into every wrinkle, every crease, and every secret compartment he had. Carefully Royce took his shampoo and gently messaged it into his strands of salt-and-pepper hair as thoughts about his dream began to return. Royce was a man who was well acquainted with bad dreams. However, this one did haunt him, but not in a bad way. With this dream, he felt a sense of joy and even happiness because in his heart, he was certain that the voice he heard wasn’t that of a stranger. Instead, he believed that it belonged to his beloved Jessica. As he stood under the rushing water, feeling every ache and pain coming from his sixty-two-year-old body, he tried to recall those faded moments between dreaming and sleep, but he couldn’t because his mind was too awake. So for now, those moments would have to elude him like a phantom.

All of a sudden his eyes began to sting. The suds from his shampoo had found their way under the delicate creases of his eyelids. Immediately he immersed his face under the water, trying to rinse the suds away before they could seep into his eyes. Frantically Royce washed his face while screaming in agony and swearing that from now on, he would only use baby shampoo. After recovering his ability to see again, he reached for his shower mate fondly known in most circles as a back scratcher and began to wash his back. It was then that his eyes caught sight of something that had escaped his notice for far too long. As he stretched his arm behind his neck, there it was, as big as a soccer ball protruding out from underneath his chest. It stared up at him without any apologies; it was his stomach. It looked as if it were ready to give birth at any moment. Royce whispered a gentle sigh, quietly acknowledging his neglect of himself. It was quite clear that something needed to change.

As he stood under the warm water, enjoying its caress, he suddenly shouted, Oh my goodness, I almost forgot, I have an appointment with Stewart this morning.

All of a sudden he began to feel a sense of woe and distress. The thought of leaving the safety and seclusion of his apartment became frightening to him. Since the death of Jessica, most of his waking hours were spent in solitude. He very rarely ventured out of his four walls; however, that was not always the case. Before he lost her, Royce enjoyed taking those trips downtown to Stewart’s office. He truly enjoyed placing his finished manuscripts into Stewart’s eager little hands. He liked the look of satisfaction on Stewart’s face as his gleaming eyes reflected his thoughts of continued wealth that he, the publishing house, and Royce would enjoy. But sadly for Royce, those days were now gone. Everything that was once joyful had become intolerable because Royce had become a recluse. Instead of receiving those personal deliveries like he once had, Stewart now received everything by paid courier.

As he turned off the water, Royce felt his body shiver. It wasn’t from the sudden breath of air that hit his wet skin as he carefully stepped out of the shower, but it was from the fear-provoking thoughts of him having to step outside into the world again. Just the idea of mingling with people outside of the characters in his books was sickening to him. The world for Royce had become a lonely place, and he had no desire to be a part of it anymore, not without Jessica.

However, today wasn’t an ordinary day; today he was being forced to leave his sanctuary. Today he had to meet with his publisher and friend Stewart Lynch. Ordinarily, Royce would have simply made a phone call to the office. But because of the telegram he received from Stewart’s assistant, Mamie Croft, he made the unusual decision to venture out. The fact that she did such an unorthodox thing as sending a telegram was more than enough to get Royce’s attention. In the body of the telegram were references to this being a matter of life and death. Simply saying such a thing was enough to make Royce’s heart skip a beat. Slowly he dried off his overweight body and tightly wrapped the towel around his waist.

As he thought about what to wear, he remembered how happy it used to make Jessica to help him pick out his attire, especially when he had an important meeting to attend. He walked over to his closet and reached for the door handle. Suddenly he froze as he stared down at a small delicate square-shaped pillow hanging from two thin pieces of pink satin ribbon. Royce gazed at the small pillow as though he hadn’t seen it before. Of course, the pillow had always been there; however, for reasons unknown, he had not noticed it before. As he stood at the closet door half naked, staring down at the pillow, Royce suddenly had the urge to sniff it. So he carefully took ahold of it and gently raised it to his nose and inhaled. At that moment, his senses wrapped themselves in the scent of jasmine. All of a sudden his entire being was quickly transported back into the past where his mind and his heart once again remembered Jessica. While standing frozen in time and with every whiff of jasmine from the pillow, something wonderful and unexpected began to happen. For Royce, it was as if someone had opened a window into yesterday and was inviting him to take the trip of a lifetime. For him, it was like gazing into a mirror that was reflecting a time already lived but not forgotten.

As those precious yesteryears pressed up against his heart, in his mind Royce began to see Jessica reaching into the closet. She pulled out one of his suits and held it up for her inspection, trying to decide if it would be a good candidate for that day’s events. She believed that one should always make a good impression when meeting with the boss. As if it were yesterday, Royce could hear her laugh as she pulled out a tie that really didn’t match the suit. However, it was one that she thought looked charming nonetheless. Standing at the closet with the pillow pressed against his face, Royce continued his gaze into the shadows of the past. Suddenly he felt his heart swell with emotion as it reached out to embrace his dear, sweet wife. As it swelled, and his emotions grew more intense, his thoughts began to travel further back in time to a sad place, a frightening place. It was a place where he lost her and almost lost himself as well. The awful journey for Royce began over five years ago in this very apartment that he and Jessica once shared.

It was during the time of a promotional group tour for which Royce was contractually obligated to participate in for his publishing company. It wasn’t a trip he wanted to take because he had just returned from a tour of his own in which he promoted his new novel Can’t Wait to Love, which had just been released. After such a long tour, Royce was really looking forward to spending some relaxed time at home with Jessica. But because Stewart had set up that particular group tour months prior, Royce’s hands were tied. Since he had the name recognition and such a large fan following, the publisher wanted him to lend his celebrity toward helping their other young literary upstarts promote their work. He tried every persuasion he could think of to be excluded from the tour, but the publishing company insisted. So reluctantly Royce agreed to go. Everything was fine; it was life as usual for both Royce and Jessica, until fate stepped in and turned their world upside down.

About two weeks earlier, Jessica went to the doctor for a routine checkup. She had been experiencing some things with her body that didn’t seem normal to her. So the doctor ran a few tests; some of which were standard and some that were more targeted. Jessica didn’t mention any of this to Royce because she didn’t want to worry him over nothing. As he and Jessica prepared for his trip, neither one was prepared for the knock that fate was about make at their door.

It was on a Thursday afternoon when Royce, a very devoted husband, received the worst news a man in love could get. The news came to both of them by way of a phone call from her doctor. The tests she had taken earlier confirmed that Jessica had ovarian cancer. She was told by her doctor that treatment was an option; however, she would need to begin immediately.

Jessica was crushed. How could this be happening to her, to them, she thought. Jessica knew that something was wrong, but she never expected to hear ovarian cancer. As she hung up the phone, her heart felt as heavy as a stone. The only thing that terrified her more than having cancer was the devastating effect she knew it would have on Royce. Jessica was hesitant about telling Royce right away because she knew that he would refuse to go on the book tour. She was aware of how much he loved her and that he would abandon everything to be with her. However, for him to be sued by the publisher for breach of contract was not an option she was willing to accept. Besides, what if it interfered with the sale of his new book? She would never forgive herself. Jessica understood what a critical time this was for Royce’s career, and she could not permit him to jeopardize everything he had worked so hard to achieve. Besides, staying home with her and hanging around the hospital watching over her like a mother hen would drive them both insane.

So with much love in her heart, and a grain of courage, Jessica attempted to do the impossible. She had to convince Royce to entrust her welfare into the charge of her doctors while he went on the book tour.

Who was on the phone, dear?

Jessica paused before answering. She didn’t want Royce to hear the trembling in her voice.

"Sweetheart, I think you had better sit down. There is something I need to talk to you about.

Royce looked at Jessica with a concerned stare as he walked into the bedroom.

Jessica darling, what’s wrong? Who was that on the phone?

With shaking hands, she gently took hold of Royce’s hands and began to explain to him what the doctor said. As she spoke, Royce’s eyes quickly filled up with tears. When she finished, he sat quietly. His mind was in shock, and his heart was stunned. Even though he remained calm, every impulse in his body told him to scream foul. Jessica stared at her husband as he stared blankly into her eyes.

Sweetheart, say something. I need to know what you’re thinking.

Royce closed his eyes and then opened them, and then closed them again.

Finally he looked at Jessica and replied, There is no way that I am going on some stupid promotional tour and leave you here alone to face chemo therapy. We have always faced challenges together, and we will face this one as a team.

Jessica stood to her feet. Royce, listen to me please. I understand how you feel, but—

Royce quickly cut her off and then blurted, There is no but in this discussion. I know what you’re going to say, but the answer is no! I will not abandon you for the sake of some stupid book tour.

Jessica tried to interject, but Royce refused to listen. He stood to his feet and threw up his hands in protest.

Hell no, Jessica, I’m not going to do it, let them sue me, you’re more important. To hell with this tour, Stewart can arrange another one later.

Jessica looked at her husband, feeling so much love, pride, and respect for him. She walked up to him and placed both arms around his neck.

As she drew him close, she thought to herself, How many women are blessed enough to have such a love come into their lives and demand to stay forever? She hugged him tight and gently kissed him on the cheek.

"Royce, my love, I know how much you love me, and believe me, I don’t want to be separated from you. However, missing the tour just to stay here with me isn’t going to help either of us. You’ve worked so hard on Can’t Wait to Love, and Stewart went through a great deal of planning and expense to put together this tour. Besides, what about the other young writers who have their work invested in this project? You can’t let them down, you are the drawing card. It’s your name and success that’s opening the doors of opportunity for them, you must go."

Royce shook his head no. What kind of husband would I be if I went off and abandoned my wife at a time like this? If something were to happen to you while I was away, I would never forgive myself.

Jessica smiled and kissed him gently on the lips. Sweetheart, I’ll be just fine, I promise. Besides, you will only be gone for a few weeks. Now, what can happen in a few weeks?

Royce looked at her with weary eyes and said, I don’t know, Jessica, anything, I suppose. Suddenly he shouted, For God’s sake, I’ve never dealt with anything like this before.

Jessica looked at her husband quickly becoming unglued. That was the last thing she wanted or needed. Royce continued on about how irresponsible it would be for him to leave. She allowed him to continue his protesting until finally she had enough. She understood her husband’s feelings, but he obviously didn’t understand hers.

Out of her own frustration, she shouted, Will you please just go on the darn tour and leave me alone!

Immediately Royce stopped his protesting and stared at Jessica in disbelief.

What did you say?

Jessica let out a hard sigh. She looked into his eyes and softly replied, I need time to wrap my mind around this horrific thing that has happened to me. Can you understand that? I really need this time for myself. Royce, I don’t quite know how to say this without hurting your feelings. She paused and wiped her eyes. I need some time alone to process everything that has happened to me, and I can’t do it with you hovering over me every second of the day. She paused again while staring into his eyes. I know that you love me, and I realize that you mean me nothing but good. However, you and I both know how you are.

Royce stared at his wife as he struggled to hold back his emotions. And how is that? he asked.

Jessica smiled tenderly. You would be all over me with loving attention. In other words, you would smother me to death. Royce, don’t you see, I need you to go on this tour. I need time to regroup.

As he gazed into her beautiful eyes and listened to her words, he wasn’t sure how to respond to her. Then suddenly it dawned on him just how blind a person could be with their eyes wide open. It never occurred to him that she might need or even want some time alone, without him. As she continued to speak, trying to convince him that his going was