was no immediate threat. Still, she wasn’t the nicest child he’d ever run across. In fact, he found himself disliking her intensely. “I see,” he replied. “Don’t you like school?”
Lisa shrugged. “It’s okay. I just can’t stand the snotty kids around here. If you weren’t born here, they never want to be your friends.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Cal replied. “Michelle’s made some friends.”
“That’s what
Cal felt himself flush. When he answered, his voice was gruff. “She can walk just fine. There’s nothing wrong with her, and pretty soon she’ll be as good as new. She just got banged up a little.” He knew he was lying, but he couldn’t help himself — it made things easier if he pretended Michelle was going to be all right. And maybe — just maybe — she would be.
“Well, that’s not what I heard,” Lisa said, hopping off the examining table. Her expression changed suddenly, and her face took on a vulnerability Cal hadn’t seen since she showed up in the office. “I don’t have a mother, either,” she said softly.
For a moment Cal wasn’t sure what she meant, but then it came to him. “But Michelle has a mother,” he said. “We adopted her when she was just a baby.”
“Oh,” said Lisa, and Cal thought he could see disappointment in her eyes.
“Still,” Cal went on smoothly, “I suppose the two of you do have some things in common. Neither one of you was born here, and even though Michelle’s a full-fledged orphan, you’re half a one, aren’t you? Maybe you should come out and see Michelle sometime.…” He deliberately left the question hanging in the air. For a moment he thought Lisa was going to pick it up. But she didn’t, not quite.
“Maybe I will,” she said halfheartedly. “But maybe I won’t, either.” Before Cal could reply to her rudeness, she was gone.
• • •
When Cal came into the office they were sharing, Josiah Carson pretended to be engrossed in a medical journal. Only when Cal had seated himself at his makeshift desk did Carson glance up.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
Cal shrugged. “She’s a difficult child.”
“She’s a brat,” Carson stated.
“Well, life isn’t easy for her.”
“Life isn’t easy for any of us,” Josiah said pointedly.
Cal flinched visibly, then met Carson’s eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
The old doctor shrugged elaborately. “Make of it what you will.”
It was as if he’d pulled a plug. Cal sagged in his chair, his eyes as lifeless as his posture. He looked bleakly at Carson.
“Josiah, what am I going to do? I can’t face Michelle, I can’t talk to her, I can’t even touch her. I keep thinking about Alan Hanley, and wondering what I did wrong. And what I did wrong with Michelle.”
“We all make mistakes, Cal,” Josiah said. “We can’t blame ourselves for showing bad judgment under pressure. We just have to accept our limitations, and live with them.”
He paused, trying to assess Cal’s reaction. Maybe he’d pushed him too far. But Cal was watching him, concentrating on what he was saying. Josiah smiled and took another tack. “Maybe it’s all my fault Certainly what happened to Michelle is my fault. If I hadn’t sold you that damned house—”
Cal glanced at Josiah sharply. “ ‘Damned house’? Why did you say that?”
Josiah shifted in his chair. “I probably shouldn’t have. Call it a slip of the tongue.”
But Cal was not to be put off.
“Is there something about that house I should know?”
“Not really,” Carson said carefully. “I guess I just think it’s an unlucky house. First Alan Hanley. Now Michelle.…” His voice trailed off.
Cal stared at him, feeling cheated. He loved the house, more every day, and wanted to hear nothing bad about it. “I’m sorry you feel that way,” he said. “For me, it’s a good house.”
He took off his white jacket, ready to go home for lunch. He was at the door when he suddenly turned back.
“Josiah?”
Carson looked at him inquiringly.
“Josiah, I just want you to know — I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I don’t know how I’d have gotten through all of this without you. I consider myself very lucky to have a friend like you.” Then, embarrassed by his own words, Cal hurried out of the office.
Alone once more, Carson’s mind went back to the words that had caught Cal’s attention.
And that’s what it is, he thought. An image came to his mind, an image of a stain, spread thickly on the floor of the potting-shed.
A stain that no one had ever been able to get rid of.
A stain that had haunted his life. Irrationally, he was convinced that it was somehow connected to Michelle Pendleton’s doll.
Now, he was sure, it would haunt the Pendletons.
Indeed, it was already beginning.
Josiah Carson didn’t pretend to know exactly what it was about the house that made things happen to the people who lived there, but he had his suspicions. And it was beginning to look like his suspicions were correct. For Michelle, it had already begun. And it would go on, and on, and on.…
Michelle stood in the cemetery, staring at the tiny stone with the single word on it:
AMANDA
She tried to make her mind blank, as if by closing out her thoughts, she would be able to hear the voice better. It worked.
She could hear the voice, far away, but coming closer.
As the voice approached, the bright sunlight faded, and the sea fog dosed around her.
Soon Michelle felt as though she were alone in the world.
Then, as if something had reached out and touched her, she knew she was not alone.
She turned. Standing behind her she saw the girl.
Her black dress fell nearly to the ground, and her head was covered by her bonnet. Her sightless, milky eyes were fixed on Michelle. She was smiling.
“You’re Amanda,” Michelle whispered. Her words hung in the fog, muffled. Then the girl nodded her head.
“I’ve been waiting for you.” The voice was soft, musical, and soothing to Michelle. “I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. I’m going to be your friend.”
“I–I don’t have any friends,” Michelle murmured.
“I know. I don’t have any friends, either. But now we’ll have each other, and everything will be fine.”
Michelle stood still, staring at the strange apparition in the fog, vaguely frightened. But Amanda’s words appealed to her, and comforted her. And she wanted a friend.
Silently, she accepted Amanda.
CHAPTER 13
“Now, you’re sure you’ll be all right?”
“If I need help, I’ll call you, or Miss Hatcher will, or
