Red Lily (in the Garden, #3)

In Nora Roberts's Red Lily, the residents of Harper House, a grand mansion near Memphis, Tennessee, work to uncover the identity and fate of the ghost haunting its halls, while a young single mother and the estate's heir fall in love.

A prologue set in January 1893 establishes the ghost's origins. Amelia Connor, once the calculating mistress of Reginald Harper, one of the wealthiest men in Tennessee, traded sex for a life of luxury. When she bore Reginald a son, the doctor and midwife told her the baby was stillborn. Amelia believed this was a lie and that Reginald had stolen the child to pass him off as his legitimate heir. Desperate and in crisis, she traveled to Harper House to reclaim the boy. Reginald's wife, Beatrice, refused to return the child and had Amelia removed. That night, Amelia returned in the rain with dark intentions shaped by a visit to a voodoo practitioner.

In July 2005, Hayley Phillips, a young single mother and distant cousin of Rosalind Harper (Roz) by marriage, lives at Harper House with her 14-month-old daughter, Lily. Roz gave Hayley a home and a job at In the Garden, Roz's nursery business. Hayley's household includes Stella, her best friend and coworker; David, the household manager; and Harper Ashby, Roz's eldest son, who works at the nursery and lives in the converted carriage house on the estate. Hayley acknowledges a growing attraction to Harper but tells herself he is off-limits. One night, she encounters Amelia's ghost, known as the Harper Bride, singing a lullaby in Lily's rocking chair. The apparition fades when Hayley asks her to leave.

When Roz and her new husband, Mitch Carnegie, a genealogist she hired to research the Harper family history, return from their honeymoon, the household gathers to discuss the investigation. Mitch reports that a descendant of the former Harper housekeeper recalls talk of "blood money and curses" surrounding the child. The group debates whether Amelia was murdered and her death covered up. That evening, Hayley and Harper witness Amelia's calm face contort before her flesh melts away to a skeleton in rags.

Harper arranges to teach Hayley chip-budding, a plant-grafting technique, using the lesson as a pretext to spend time with her. Their closeness during the demonstration intensifies the mutual attraction, though both pull back. Meanwhile, Amelia begins infiltrating Hayley's thoughts: At work, Hayley experiences resentful thoughts about her friends that feel foreign and ugly. She confides her attraction to Harper to Stella, who encourages her. That evening, Hayley dozes on the couch, and her daydream about Harper shifts into a graphic sexual experience from Amelia's perspective, seducing Reginald and viewing sex as a transaction. Disturbed, Hayley reports the vision to Roz and Mitch, who theorize that romantic relationships trigger escalations in the ghost's behavior.

Roz warns Hayley that involvement could make her a target, but Hayley stays. Emboldened, she kisses Harper at his carriage house, and they agree to take things slow. That same night, Amelia destroys Harper's kitchen, smashing every dish and writing "I will not rest" on the wall. The next day, Amelia takes over Hayley's body for the first time: Her voice changes to a Memphis accent, her eyes go cold, and she speaks of men as liars. Harper calls Hayley back by invoking Lily's name. Shaken, Hayley tries to end things with Harper to protect him, but Roz encourages her not to let the ghost dictate her choices.

Harper comes to Hayley's terrace one night and confesses he has wanted her since he first saw her. She surrenders to his kiss, but Amelia appears in the doorway, drenched and muddy, carrying a sickle and a rope. Harper steps between Hayley and the ghost; Amelia's force throws him against the wall. As Hayley lies awake afterward, Amelia's influence seeps into her thoughts: She begins scheming about claiming Harper House before catching herself and rejecting the intrusion.

On a date on Beale Street, Hayley tells Harper about Lily's biological father. Mitch then identifies the ghost as Amelia Ellen Connor, born in 1868 in Memphis, traced through census records to a house Reginald Harper owned. Harper plans a romantic evening at the Peabody Hotel, where they make love for the first time and Hayley realizes she is in love with Harper. The next morning, Harper buys her a ruby and diamond heart bracelet that Hayley later realizes matches jewelry she saw Amelia wearing in a mirror vision.

Back at Harper House, Amelia takes over Hayley during a conversation with Roz, demanding what is hers and oscillating between rage and grief before Hayley collapses and returns to herself. Hayley confirms the bracelet was Amelia's, recalling the mirror vision. Harper and David trace the bracelet's provenance, confirming it belonged to a wealthy man's mistress who vanished. Roz tells Harper about falling in love with his father under a willow tree on the estate, a tree struck by lightning the next night, which they now believe was Amelia's doing. Harper plants a new willow in his mother's honor as a gesture of defiance.

During an intimate moment, Amelia seizes control of Hayley's body, taunting Harper and seeing Reginald instead of him. Harper calls Hayley back by telling her he loves her, and they reclaim the moment. They confess they are in love. Mitch reads a letter written by the housekeeper, Mary Havers, in January 1893, confirming Amelia's visit, Beatrice's refusal, and Havers's suspicion the baby was never Beatrice's. As Mitch finishes, Amelia takes over Hayley, demanding her son. Harper addresses her, and she replies: "Find me. I'm lost."

The group goes to the old third-floor nursery, where Hayley channels Amelia's final night. Amelia walked through the rain for rope, then made her way to the nursery where her infant son slept. She fashioned nooses for them both, intending to die together. The nursemaid, Alice Jameson, woke to the baby's screams and saved the child. Amelia hanged herself in the nursery.

During a shopping trip, Hayley confirms she is pregnant. Harper is awed and excited, immediately declaring they will marry. He proposes under the flowering plum tree his parents planted when he was born, and she accepts. Hayley asks David to walk her down the aisle, telling him he is the closest thing to family she has. One night, Amelia takes over Hayley's sleeping body, walking her to the third-floor terrace in a reenactment of Amelia's final journey. Harper finds Hayley whispering "Death for life" and holds her until she returns to herself. Roz proposes that the three women, Roz, Stella, and Hayley, return to the nursery without the men, reasoning Amelia distrusts men. Hayley channels the aftermath of Amelia's death: the darkness, the cold, the sense of sinking and being lost.

Harper connects the sinking with the estate pond. He scuba dives and, after hours of searching, finds bones at the bottom, weighted with bricks and bound by rope. Amelia's ghost attacks him underwater. Harper fights back by cutting his palm, letting his blood cloud the water, and invoking their shared bloodline. He promises to take her home, and Amelia releases him.

Amelia's remains are recovered and buried in the Harper family cemetery beside her son. Roz drops a red rose on the casket, promising a marker for Amelia Ellen Connor. Hayley senses the connection to Amelia has been severed. Alone at the grave, Harper slides the engagement ring onto Hayley's finger, and they walk away together. Harper House stands quiet and sun-filled, its gardens in bloom.