Black Rose (in the Garden #2)

The second book in Nora Roberts's In the Garden trilogy, Black Rose continues the story of Harper House, a centuries-old estate outside Memphis, Tennessee, haunted by the ghost of a young woman known as the Harper Bride. This installment shifts focus to Rosalind Harper, the estate's owner, and her intertwined pursuits of love and the truth about the spirit that has walked her halls for over a century.

A prologue set in December 1892 reveals the ghost's origins. Amelia, a young woman kept as mistress by the wealthy Reginald Harper, confronts him after months of declining health and mental anguish, convinced that the child she bore was stolen from her rather than stillborn. Reginald coldly confirms it: He took the boy deliberately to raise as his legitimate heir at Harper House, with his wife Beatrice's forced compliance. He offers Amelia money and passage to England, threatening institutionalization if she resists. Her mind breaks, and she walks upstairs humming a lullaby.

The story moves to December 2004. Roz, 47, is a widow with three grown sons: Harper, who works at the family nursery; Austin, a charismatic middle child; and Mason, a medical student. She survived a disastrous second marriage to Bryce Clerk, a liar and cheat she caught with another woman at one of her own parties, and has since built In the Garden, a thriving plant nursery, from the ground up. Her household includes David, a surrogate son who manages the house; Stella Rothchild, the nursery manager engaged to landscaper Logan Kitridge, who has two young sons; and Hayley Phillips, a distant cousin with an infant daughter, Lily.

While Christmas shopping, Roz runs into Dr. Mitchell Carnegie, a genealogist she hired the previous spring to research the Harper family tree and identify the ghost. Mitch has finished a book on the poet Baudelaire and is ready to begin full-time work on the Harper project. They negotiate terms: He will work from the house library, interview household members, and access family records, with the right to publish his findings. Shortly after, Amelia appears briefly in Roz's bedroom, smiling faintly before fading.

Mitch begins building detailed family charts and tracking down records. He and Roz develop an easy rapport, and the household speculates about a romance between them. Roz throws a holiday party where Bryce crashes uninvited, escorting Mandy Overfield, a wealthy young woman from Roz's social circle. Roz ejects him with icy composure while Harper, Mitch, David, and Logan stand ready to intervene.

Amelia's interventions grow pointed as Roz's connection with Mitch develops. After Mitch asks Roz to dinner, the ghost writes "Men Lie!" on her steamy bathroom mirror. On New Year's Eve, over supper, Mitch shares his history of alcoholism: He began drinking at 15, destroyed his first marriage, and has been sober for 14 years. At midnight, their first kiss prompts Amelia to slam doors and set clocks chiming wildly. Roz tells Mitch she is interested but does not take lovers rashly.

Through the winter, Bryce's harassment escalates. A fraudulent credit card appears in Roz's name with over eight thousand dollars in charges. Harper drives to Mitch's apartment to interrogate him about his intentions toward Roz. After a tense exchange in which Mitch is forthright about his past and his feelings, the two men reach a mutual respect.

The romance deepens into intimacy. On an evening when the house empties, Roz leads Mitch to her bedroom. Amelia throws open terrace doors and slams doors, but they ignore her and make love for the first time. Afterward, the house goes quiet, and Mitch tells Roz she is "a black rose, rare and exquisite." Their relationship strengthens through winter and spring, and when Mitch tells Roz he is falling in love with her, she is frightened but acknowledges how serious the relationship has become.

Amelia's manifestations grow dangerous. She hurls books and detonates a crystal perfume bottle. In her most insidious attack, she traps Roz in a waking vision, forcing her to see Bryce cheating, then morphing the image into Mitch and finally into her late husband John Ashby, all mocking her. The vision drops Roz to the floor in tears. Mitch theorizes that Amelia targets their relationship because, unlike previous partners, Mitch genuinely matters to Roz.

Mitch's research reaches an impasse. He has eliminated every documented woman named Amelia from the Harper records and proposes that Amelia was Reginald's mistress, making Roz's grandfather, Reginald Jr., Amelia's biological son rather than Beatrice's. Meanwhile, Mitch visits Roz's elderly Cousin Clarise Harper, a bitter, imperious woman who denies knowledge of the ghost and claims to have no family journals. Mitch notices Clarise's meek great-niece, Jane Paulson, start to speak and catch herself. Roz meets Jane privately, learns she is trapped in Clarise's service, and helps her secure a job and apartment. In gratitude, Jane reveals that Clarise keeps old diaries locked in a desk drawer.

At the country club spring dance, Bryce incriminates himself. In a corridor, he boasts to Roz about his schemes, not realizing that Jan Forrester, a social acquaintance; Mandy; and Cissy Pratt, a local gossip, have stepped out of the restroom behind him. Roz gestures so Bryce turns and sees his audience. Mandy attacks him, and Jan's husband, Quill Forrester, punches him, sending the evening into chaos.

That night, Amelia's most violent attack occurs. While Roz soaks in the tub, gray mist fills the bathroom, the water turns ice cold, and invisible hands drag her under. Roz fights for her life and breaks free by telling the ghost that killing her will leave Amelia trapped forever. The mirror reads "Forgive me." Roz and Mitch agree to keep the attack secret to avoid upsetting the household before Stella's upcoming wedding.

The day before the wedding, Roz retrieves 16 leather-bound journals from Clarise's apartment, including diaries by her grandmother and great-grandmother. When Clarise storms Harper House demanding their return, she calls Amelia "nothing but a tramp" and tells Roz she always knew "blood would tell." Her outburst confirms that Amelia is connected to the Harper bloodline. Reading the journals, Roz discovers the truth in Beatrice's own hand: Reginald informed his wife he had impregnated a mistress, and if she bore a son, Beatrice must claim the child as her own or face divorce. A later entry records Reginald bringing the baby home, naming him Reginald Edward Harper Jr., Roz's grandfather.

Stella and Logan's intimate outdoor wedding provides a moment of joy. Driving back for champagne afterward, Roz discovers Bryce vandalizing In the Garden with a baseball bat. He strikes her across the face, and she fights back. Amelia manifests with terrifying force, choking Bryce supernaturally. Roz pleads with her to stop, calling her "Great-grandmama" and acknowledging their shared blood. Amelia relents. Harper and Mitch arrive, and the police are called.

Sitting amid the broken glass, Roz proposes to Mitch, telling him she wants to share the rest of her life with him. He accepts, promising to learn to tend a rose, his "black rose." They walk hand-in-hand through the gardens, planning to rebuild. The novel closes with Amelia still walking the grounds of Harper House, raging and grieving, her full identity not yet uncovered.