Page 27 of Can't Fight the Moonlight

"How did the lake get its name? Is there a story?"

"Of course there's a story," she said with a smile, as they reached the shore of the lake. She took a seat on a nearby bench and he sat down next to her, somewhat amazed by the vast body of water in front of him.

"I didn't realize the lake was so big," he commented.

"It takes almost an hour to drive all the way around it. It's very clean and very cold. It doesn't really warm up for swimming until July. But you asked about the story…"

"I did," he said, seeing the gleam in her gaze.

"Have you ever heard of the orphan trains?"

He shook his head. "No."

"The trains took homeless children from New York City to points across the Midwest and rural America, dropping them off to work on farms. This was in the late eighteen-hundreds until 1929. One of the trains broke down on the northern shore of the lake on its way to Denver. There wasn't much of a town then, just a bunch of farms."

He smiled at the passion in her voice. Clearly, this was a story she liked to tell.

"But that night," she continued, "the farmers heard the cries of the children on the broken-down train, and they went to rescue them. There were about thirty of them plus a few adults to run the train and chaperone. It was a long winter, and no one could get in or out of town. When spring came, and they were able to fix the train, the families at the lake wouldn't let the kids go. They were part of their families. And a town was born."

"That's a cool story."

"Yes. There's a little more."

"Go on."

"The kids said during their journey across the country that every night they would whisper prayers for a new family, and that's where they came up with the name Whisper Lake. It was the place where they'd found their families. Ever since then, the lake has been known to be a refuge to all who are needy, who are lost, who are looking for something new. There's a summer camp on the eastern shore that my cousin remodeled and reopened, and it embodies the spirit of those kids. They bring in underprivileged children from all over the country for at least several months a year."

"Interesting. I thought you were going to say something about hearing whispers in the wind."

"Oh, sure, that is part of the lore. A couple of the kids didn't make it through that first winter, that's the sad part of the story, and sometimes at night, people swear they can hear their cries. When I was a teenager, I went to the lake one night to drink tequila sunrises, and I don't know if it was the tequila, or the ghost stories we were telling each other, but I definitely heard something on the wind."

"It was probably the tequila."

"You don't believe in ghosts?"

He hesitated. "No, but sometimes I wish I did. Unfortunately, my logical brain doesn't take me there."

"There's supposed to be a ghost at the inn."

"Really?"

"Yes, in room ten. Guests have reported odd things: the stirring of a curtain, a ticking clock, a rocking chair, footsteps in the night. I forced myself to sleep in there twice, and my imagination was working overtime. I didn't really hear anything, or I didn't want to admit I did."

"Then you did hear something?"

"Maybe. Or it could have been in my head."

He smiled, thinking that was the more likely scenario. Clearly, Lizzie had a big imagination. "Where is room ten? Is someone in it now?"

"No, it's in the attic. It's our least popular room, and I leave it open for emergencies, just in case I get a late booking, or someone can't get out of the area because of a snowstorm. It has low ceilings, so it's not comfortable for very tall people." She paused. "The previous owners of the inn told me that the ghost is alleged to be the daughter of the first couple who lived there. She died as a teenager. She was thrown from a horse, apparently. That was back in the nineteen-forties. That was her room."

"I'm surprised you don't have people who want to stay there just because there might be a ghost."

"We have had a few ghost hunters come by," she admitted. "The ghost was mentioned in an article about ghostly inns in a travel magazine about five years ago, and I've had two people stop in specifically to stay in that room, but they never heard anything."

"You can still use the story as a drawing card. It's legend, and who doesn't like a good legend?"

"Some people specifically ask not to stay in any room that might be haunted."

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