“Of course you can,” Melanie replied. “Consider it done. Now go up and tuck them in, and let me finish up down here. Then I’m out of here, I promise. I can’t believe I came to say hello and stayed the whole evening. That’s terrible!”
“Actually, it’s wonderful. I’d been having a truly miserable day until you showed up. Now I’m starting to think I might survive.”
“New friends,” Melanie said, giving Caroline a quick hug. “We can all use them, right?”
A little more of the weight of the day lifting from her shoulders, Caroline returned Melanie Shackleforth’s hug, then went upstairs to say goodnight to Laurie and Ryan.
“How are you feeling?” Caroline was perched on the edge of Laurie’s bed, and she reached out to brush a lock of hair away from the girl’s forehead.
“I’m okay,” Laurie replied, but there was a note in her voice that belied her words.
“Think you’re going to be well enough to go to school in the morning?”
Laurie shrugged. “I guess.”
Frowning at the listlessness in her daughter’s voice, Caroline laid her wrist against Laurie’s forehead. Cool and dry — no sign of any fever at all. “Is there something else that’s wrong, sweetheart?” she asked.
Laurie hesitated, and when she finally spoke her eyes avoided her mother’s. “I’m just — I don’t know. I’m just—” She fell silent again, then finally met her mother’s eyes. “Do you think something’s happened to Rebecca?”
“Rebecca Mayhew?”
Laurie nodded.
“Why would something have happened to her? Did you talk to her today?”
Again Laurie hesitated, but then she shook her head. “I went up to see her, but she wasn’t there.”
“Not there? Where was she?”
“Mrs. Albion said she went to New Mexico.”
“New Mexico? Why on earth would she have gone to New Mexico?”
“Mrs. Albion said she went to visit Mr. Albion’s brother. She said they thought the desert might be good for her. But…” Again her voice trailed off.
“But what?” Caroline prodded.
“I don’t
As a tear overflowed and ran down Laurie’s cheek, Caroline hugged her daughter close. “Oh, honey, that doesn’t mean anything — dreams are just dreams. The things we see in them don’t really happen.”
“I know, but—”
“No
Laurie seemed on the verge of saying something else, but then nodded. Caroline leaned down and kissed her. “You sleep tight, and tomorrow morning you’ll feel much better. And if you have another nightmare tonight, come and wake me up. Okay?”
Laurie slid her arms around her mother’s neck. “I’m scared, Mom,” she whispered. “I’m afraid—”
“Shh,” Caroline whispered. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. I promise.” Yet even as she spoke the words, she knew they weren’t true. Brad was dead, and Andrea Costanza was dead, and despite the promise she’d just made, she was certain that there was, indeed, something to be afraid of.
Perhaps Laurie would sleep tonight, but Caroline was already certain that she herself would not.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Ryan said. He was sitting up in his bed, his back against the headboard, his arms wrapped tightly around Chloe the way they had clung to his teddy bear when he was much younger. “And I don’t like her!”
“You hardly even know her,” Caroline said, wishing she’d waited until morning to tell him that Melanie Shackleforth would be staying with him while she went to work. At least that would have let the evening end as peacefully as it had begun. But now the storm in Ryan’s eyes was threatening to break, and she braced herself for it. “She just arrived here today, and we hardly know her, so you can at least give her a chance.”
“Tony knows her!” Ryan blurted out loudly enough to startle Chloe who wriggled free and jumped off the bed. Realizing what he’d said, his eyes widened with fright, and he clamped his hands over his mouth.
Caroline stared at her son. What on earth could he be talking about? How would Tony know her? And even if he did, how would Ryan know? She pulled the boy’s hands from his mouth. “What are you talking about? What makes you think Tony knows Melanie?” Ryan’s face paled, and now Caroline saw fear in his eyes. But fear of what? “Honey, what is it? Did something happen?” Ryan hesitated a long time, but finally nodded, though the movement of his head was so slight that Caroline almost missed it entirely. “What?” she asked softly. “What happened? And no matter what it is, I promise I won’t be mad at you.” She could see uncertainty flickering in his eyes, but then his hands tightened on hers.
“You won’t tell him I told you?” he whispered, his eyes darting around the room as if his stepfather might be lurking in some shadowy corner, listening to every word he spoke.
“Of course not,” Caroline replied.
“I–I snuck into his room one day — that room we’re not supposed to go into.”
“You mean his study?”
Ryan nodded. “And I found an old album.”
“A photo album?”
Ryan’s head bobbed once more. “On a shelf under a table by the fireplace. It was full of pictures — there was a picture of Tony, dressed in old-fashioned clothes. And there was a picture of that woman, too.”
“Melanie Shackleforth?”
“Unh-hunh. And there were a lot of other people too, and all of them were dressed like Tony.”
Caroline searched for an answer. “Maybe they were dressed up for a costume party.”
This time Ryan shook his head. “Tony said it wasn’t him at all. He said it was his great-grandfather. But it looked just like him.”
Several long seconds ticked by as Caroline tried to sort out what Ryan’s words could possibly mean. Even if he’d found an old photo album with pictures of Tony’s great-grandfather in it, why was he so frightened? “Maybe I’ll ask Tony to show me the pictures,” she suggested, but once more Ryan’s face paled, and now he squeezed her fingers so tightly they hurt.
“No! He — he told me I wasn’t ever to touch anything in there again, or even go in that room! And he told me not to tell. If he finds out…”
The fear in his voice was so palpable that Caroline wrapped him in her arms, cradling him almost like a baby. “Oh, honey, there’s nothing to be frightened of. You’re not afraid of him, are you?”
Ryan peered up at her, his eyes glistening as brightly as had Laurie’s only a little while earlier. “Just don’t tell him, okay? You promised! You said you wouldn’t.”
Caroline laid a soothing hand on his brow. “And I won’t,” she breathed. She reached down and picked up Chloe, putting her back on the bed next to Ryan. The little schnauzer instantly snuggled up against the boy, whose arms immediately wrapped around her. “I won’t tell Tony, or anyone else,” Caroline promised. “And I promise, there isn’t anything to be scared of.” But as she turned off Ryan’s light a few minutes later, closed his door, and started back down the stairs, her last words kept echoing in her mind.
But no matter how many times she repeated them, she still couldn’t make herself believe them.
There was something to be scared of; she was sure of it.
