At seven o’clock Simon called to say that Penny was still alive, but failing. They were basically on a deathwatch. He said Jeffrey simply sat like a man carved out of stone and had raised no objections to Simon’s and Tyler’s presence. Simon emphasized that Jeffrey hadn’t even asked Tyler’s identity, as if he already knew. Blake and Lenore also sat vigil, Lenore hovering over Jeffrey, Blake looking like he was steeling himself for a storm that lay ahead. “I have no idea when we’ll be home, Diana,” Simon told her. “How is Clarice?”
“All right. We’ve just been talking about old times.”
“You’re too young to remember old times,” Simon informed her crisply. “And Willow?”
“Still sleeping. We decided not to wake her to force dinner on her.”
“Good idea. Well, love to you all. I’ll call again as soon as . . . well, soon.”
As soon as Penny dies, Diana thought, feeling oddly numb. She supposed the body could withstand only so much stress, and then it simply went into a hibernation mode until it could gather enough strength to face another blow.
“Clarice, Penny is still alive but she won’t be for long,” Diana told the woman gently. Clarice’s face puckered. “Jeffrey isn’t putting up any fuss about Simon and Tyler being there, thank goodness. They both should be with her.”
“Yes, they certainly should. I suppose you and I should, too, but I’m such a weakling. I’m so ashamed of myself. What kind of friend am I to Penny?”
“The same kind of friend I am,” Diana said. “We love her. She knows we do, but I don’t think she’d want either of us at the hospital. She’d want to know we’re here with her little girl.”
Clarice wept into a handful of tissues for a good five minutes. Diana made no move to comfort her, knowing nothing could comfort the woman. When her sobs finally began to lessen, Diana said, “I think you should go in your room and rest for a while, Clarice. I know your arthritis has been worse and you look exhausted. I’ll make some tea. Chamomile. It’s supposed to be relaxing. Want to see if the claims are true?”
“They are, dear. I’ve had the tea before and I suddenly feel as if I’d like a cup. Or a whole pot.”
Even with Diana’s help, Clarice had to use the walker to reach her bedroom. Diana turned down the bedspread, blanket, and sheet, helped the woman take off her shoes, and tucked her in as if she were a child. “Be back in a jiffy with the tea.”
Later Diana sat in Clarice’s room while each drank tea and talked desultorily. Soon the elder woman began to look drowsy. Diana told Clarice to nap if she could. Clarice put up no argument—she just nodded and closed her eyes. Diana left the bedroom door opened an inch and ambled back into the library. As soon as she sat down, she heard the elevator descending. She rose and when she reached it, she saw Willow standing inside with Romeo and Christabel.
“You’ve never worked the elevator by yourself,” Diana said.
“I didn’t wanna bother anybody.” Her clothes were rumpled and her cheek bore a pillowcase crease. “I haven’t heard Tyler and Simon talkin’ for a while. Did they go someplace?”
“Yes.” Diana’s thoughts scrambled as she anticipated Willow’s question of “Where?” Instead the little girl held up one of Diana’s CDs. “I got this in your room. I hope that doesn’t make you mad, but the picture of the big yellow sun and the beach on the front is just like a CD Mommy has. It’s her favorite by some boys who live at the beach. Would you play it for me, Diana?”
Diana took the CD—a compilation of songs by the Beach Boys called Sounds of Summer. “Certainly I’ll play it for you, honey. Uncle Simon has a big stereo in the library.”
Diana put in the CD, then honored Willow’s request that they sit on the window seat beneath the pane of glass with the blue-water-lily inlay. Willow leaned against Diana, who stroked her hair as they listened to the happy-go-lucky sounds of “California Girls,” “Surfin’ Safari,” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” When “In My Room” began to play, Diana felt teardrops on her arms. She put her fingers under Willow’s chin and raised it.
“My mommy loves this song.” Willow wept. “She plays it when she was sad, though. She kept playin’ it the day our house blew up. That’s how I knew somethin’ was wrong. That’s why I went out to get her some sparkle bugs. She liked sparkle bugs almost as much as I do.” Willow’s chin drooped. “But she didn’t get to see the sparkle bugs.”
“But if you hadn’t gone out to get them, you would have been caught in the explosion, too, and that would have made your mommy so unhappy.”
“I guess.” Willow stroked Christabel who had jumped up to sit on her lap. “Diana, when I was asleep this afternoon, I had a dream.”
“About what?”
“About Mommy. I’ve been tryin’ real, real hard to act happy ’cause everybody looks all upset when I don’t, but today I felt weird. When I said I wanted you to take a picture of me and Tyler so I could give it to Mommy, I knew I’d never get to give it to her. Then when I went to sleep, I dreamed of Mommy dancing. Did you ever see Mommy dance?”
“Just at the country club with Glen.”
“That wouldn’t be a real dance. Sometimes she danced at home just for me. She’d put on a dress with a real full red skirt. It even had ruffles. And she’d put on red lipstick and dangly earrings and she’d dance so beautiful you wouldn’t believe it. Some of it she said was ballet, and some was what she called Latin. I never saw her look so happy! And she’d dance over to me and end up bowing down at my feet. I always clapped and then she’d try to teach me how to dance like her, but I wasn’t very good. She said I would be when I got bigger.”
Willow paused. “In my dream this afternoon, she was dancin’ but she didn’t dance over to me. She was dancin’ away from me. She went farther and farther away and I kept chasin’ her and askin’ her not to leave me, but she said, ‘Don’t be sad. We’ll dance together another day.’ And she said she loved me and then she was gone.” Willow looked up, dry-eyed and bereft. “My mommy’s dyin’ tonight, isn’t she?”
Diana had an overpowering desire to tell the child, No. Of course your mommy isn’t dying. But she knew that would be the cruelest thing she could do. Simon and Tyler would be home soon, when Penny was gone, and Willow would be totally unprepared.
“Willow, darling, I’m afraid you’re right,” she said softly. “Someone from the hospital called earlier. Tyler and Simon went to be with her. Your mommy isn’t gone yet—”
“But she will be soon. I knew it. Diana, I wish people and animals didn’t have to die,” Willow said brokenly.
“Me too, Willow. Me, too.”
“Can we just sit here and listen to the music until Uncle Simon and Tyler come home?”
“Honey, we can sit here and listen to the music all night long, if you want.”
2
Almost an hour later, the music was still playing while Diana sat on the window seat with Willow lying asleep with her head in Diana’s lap. The child had never cried—she’d simply folded up nearly twenty minutes earlier and drifted off. Diana was relieved that Willow could find comfort in the oblivion of sleep. She, on the other hand, felt as if she’d never sleep again.
Even with daylight saving time, dusk was beginning to fall. Far earlier than this, Simon always turned on the lights in the library, the drawing room, the stairs, and the second-floor hallway. Without the lights and the enormity of Simon’s personality that permeated the whole dwelling, the house had an empty, desolate aura. Diana had never experienced a moment of uneasiness in this house, but tonight she felt small and alone in a house large, dark, and somehow threatening. Fleetingly, she thought the house wanted her to leave then told herself she was being absurd. Too much sadness and turmoil had turned her foolish.
Her cell phone rang and she jerked then grabbed it before a second ring could awaken Willow. She expected to hear Simon’s voice. Instead, silence followed her soft “Hello?” Nothing. “Simon?” she asked.
At last came a thin, distant, whispery v
oice. “Diana. Diana.”
Her heart thudding, she looked at the caller ID. It read GLEN AUSTEN.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Diana sat frozen, holding the phone to her ear, for at least two minutes. Glen. He was coming. Or he was already here. What was he going to do? What could he do when the house was locked tight and a police surveillance car sat at the base of the long driveway leading to the house? Still, the police must know she’d just gotten a call from Glen.
Over the sound of the music, she heard with relief the roar of Simon’s Porsche. He had said he would call from the hospital, but maybe he’d decided to come home and tell everyone in person that Penny was dead. Diana gently scooted Willow’s head off her lap without disturbing her sleep, turned off the music, laid the cell phone on a table, and hurried to the front door.
She looked out one of the sidelight windows flanking the front door to see Blake Wentworth stepping out of the Porsche he’d parked in front of the house. For once he looked drained and slightly disheveled, not quite dashing but still tiredly handsome. Diana opened the door. “I didn’t expect you,” she almost cried.
Blake stopped in his tracks and stared at her. “Diana, are you all right?”
“Glen just called.”
“Glen?”
“Glen Austen. The man we’re sure killed Penny and Nan and tried to kill Willow and me last night. You don’t know about last night—we didn’t want Jeffrey to know—but the police know all about it. They haven’t been able to find him, but he’s around here. At least I think he is. I don’t know what he’s going to do. I have to call the police—”
Blake held up his hand. “You have to get your breath before you faint. There’s a police car at the foot of the driveway. I’ll go back down and tell them. If you call nine-one-one, you’ll have to go through a complete explanation of the problem.” He started backing toward the Porsche. “Close the door and lock it while I go down and tell them. I’ll be right back, Diana. Right back, I promise.”
Diana closed the door and locked it just as Blake had ordered. He slid into the Porsche, made a sharp U-turn in the driveway, and headed back for the main road. When she went to the front bay window, Diana could see the Porsche stopped beside the patrol car. Blake stood beside the car, talking, gesturing, once leaning down, probably resting his elbows on the edge of the door while the police called in the report of Glen’s call. After what seemed like an hour, Blake returned to the house. Diana unlocked the door and motioned for him to come in.
“Okay, mission accomplished. Those guys were told to stay here, but they reported the call. I think some backup will be here soon if we’re lucky. And I’m glad I got here when I did. You must have been scared out of your mind.”
“Yes. He didn’t make any threats, but—”
“But anyone would have been frightened. Lenore would have probably screamed her way right down to that patrol car. She scares more easily than you.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Diana said without really thinking about Lenore. “My God, I didn’t even ask. Penny?”
Blake nodded sadly. “Penny died about half an hour ago.”
“But Simon said he would call.”
“Simon is in the middle of a most unseemly fight at the hospital over who gets control of Penny’s body.” Diana’s eyes widened. “I know. It’s awful but it’s happening nevertheless. May I come in and sit down before I fall down?”
“Oh, of course,” Diana said, ushering him into the living room instead of the library.
“I’ve never been in this room,” Blake commented.
“We seldom use it. My great-grandmother called it the drawing room and it’s always struck me as unbearably cold and formal. Maybe Simon will let me redecorate it some day. Anyway, Willow is asleep in the library. I’d rather talk with you before I wake her.”
“I understand. And before you offer me anything to drink, I will decline. My stomach is on fire from the awful coffee offered by the hospital vending machine.” He drew a deep breath. “We’ve been at the hospital for hours. I don’t think Jeff said one word until the doctor told him Penny was drawing her last breaths. He went into the burn unit and stood by her bedside. Lenore couldn’t bear it, I just didn’t want to see Penny that way again, and your uncle and that guy named Tyler Raines stayed with Lenore and me.” He looked at her. “I told you Jeff didn’t say anything all afternoon, but I was mistaken. When Raines walked in with your uncle, I asked Jeff who he was. He said, ‘Tyler Raines. He’s Penny’s foster brother.’ Did you know she had a foster brother?” Diana nodded. “Have you ever met him?”
“I met him the night of the explosion. He just showed up out of nowhere, carried Clarice out of her house that was beginning to burn, went back and helped the firefighters at Penny’s house, and then later found Willow in the woods. I didn’t know who he was then—only his name. It wasn’t until last night I found out he was Penny’s foster brother.”
“And what’s he doing here?”
“I guess he’s been coming every now and then since Penny moved here. And he’d come this time to help her move away.”
“Why was she moving away?”
“She thought someone had found out her true identity. That’s all I know, Blake. Please tell me what happened at the hospital.”
“Yes, well, when the doctor pronounced Penny dead, Jeffrey acted like he did the day she woke up, only worse. He roared past us like an enraged bull. He’s big, you know, and it was frightening. Lenore just stood frozen for a minute, then went after him. As soon as she left, the doctor asked where the body was to be sent. Jeff was gone, so was Lenore, so Raines stepped forward and said he was Penny’s foster brother. He’d make arrangements. The doctor said no way—Raines wasn’t family. Your uncle pointed out that Penny’s only family had vanished. The doctor said they’d just send Penny to the hospital morgue.
“Tyler got furious. He kept saying she was his sister, no matter what the courts said, and she was not going to lie in some awful morgue until Jeffrey Cavanaugh decided what to do with her body. Another doctor came to back up the first one. I thought Tyler was going to get physical. I will say he looked like he was at the end of his rope. Finally your uncle called his lawyer to come down and straighten out the mess.”
“Oh, my God,” Diana moaned. “How awful for this to happen right after Penny’s death. I hope the strain isn’t too much for Simon.”
“I think he can hold his own. I said I’d tell you and Willow about Penny’s death in person and Simon agreed. Raines was still yelling at the doctors and the hospital administrator. I went down to the parking lot. Jeff’s car was gone, and so was the second car I’d rented. I suppose Lenore missed Jeff’s exit and went after him in the other car. I went back up and told your uncle, who was back on his cell phone with his lawyer. He tossed me his keys and said, ‘Take the Porsche.’ And that’s how I wound up here in your uncle’s car. Also, I have one of the worst headaches I’ve ever had in my life. I know I turned down refreshment, but could I have a couple of aspirins, or better yet Excedrin and some water?”
“Right away.” Diana jumped up and went to the kitchen, glad that she could concentrate on getting water and Excedrin rather than thinking about the ruckus going on at the hospital, not to mention the fact that Penny was actually dead. She’d known since Friday night that Penny couldn’t live. Still, the news of her death came as a bludgeoning shock.
Blake swallowed the pills and took only a couple of sips of water. “God, what a day,” he murmured then said, “That must have sounded unforgivably self-centered. I’m so sorry about Penny. That she was in the explosion, not that she’s dead. You must think me cold, but she’s out of her suffering, and if she’d lived—”
“I know. The suffering wouldn’t have ended in a few weeks or months. The physical pain would have gone on for years. The psychological pain forever. I can’t even bear to think about what her life would have been like.” Blake gave her a sympathetic smile. “Would you do me a f
avor in spite of your headache?” Diana asked.
“Name it.”
“I heard Willow beginning to stir in the library. I’d like to take her back up to bed, but I don’t want to wake her completely. Would you carry her up for me? I have a sprained wrist. Besides, I’ll have a cat to carry.”
“A cat?” Blake asked.
“You’ll understand when you see him,” Diana said.
They walked quietly into the library. Romeo had curled into an unrecognizable mass of gray fur on the floor and Christabel sat beside him, alternating her gaze between him and Willow, her two charges. Willow lay curled up on the window seat beneath the water-lily glass inlay she’d always loved. She wasn’t awake, but she was murmuring and twisting uncomfortably. In a minute, she would fall off the seat.
Blake stood and looked at her for a moment, a soft, unreadable smile on his handsome face. “She’s a beautiful child,” he murmured.
In a flash, Willow turned over and nearly fell off the window seat. Diana stooped and caught her before she hit the floor. When she stood up, Blake reached out to take Willow. Diana had caught her at a bad angle and now nearly dropped her. Blake stepped closer, his body almost touching Diana’s as she began slipping Willow from her arms into his. Diana bent her head to kiss Willow at the same moment as Blake. Their faces met, lips pursed, arms touching.
And suddenly Lenore stood midway inside the library, her face twisted with rage, a gun pointed at the three of them.
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