Amaryllis

'I have no idea.'

'Of course not. Stupid question. There's no way to test you, either, is there?'

'No.' Lucas settled deeper into his chair. 'But I've got my papers. Class nine. Faked the talent certification exam. Lied through my teeth.'

'As you now know, that's an old family tradition. Ever burn out Amaryllis?'

'No.'

'I knew she was strong.' Sophy watched two of the children chase the ball into the shadows at the edge of the garden. 'Talent or prism, it's all psychic energy. A very volatile component of our being. We all have to wage our own private struggles to learn to cope with our sixth sense.'

Lucas thought about the long hours he had spent in his secret grotto. 'Yeah.'

'I have a hunch that the stronger it is, the harder it is to manage. Personally, I went a little wild during my younger days. Gave my family fits. Amaryllis chose the opposite approach. She tried to control her world, herself, and her psychic powers with lots of personal rules.'

'She didn't invent all those rules just to control her psychic abilities,' Lucas said. 'She needed them for other reasons, too.'

'Yes,' Sophy said. 'She did. Growing up in this town as Matt Bailey's illegitimate daughter was the kind of experience that was bound to make or break her character. She came through it with flying colors, I'm pleased to say.'

'But she paid a price,' Lucas said.

Sophy shrugged. 'We all do, one way or another. I asked you to come out here tonight because I wanted to make certain you understood that. I can see that you do.'

Lucas contemplated the shape of Amaryllis's derriere as she climbed up the barn loft ladder ahead of him. It was a pleasant sight, one he would have been content to enjoy for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, there were not many rungs on the ladder.

'This is it,' she announced as she scrambled off the ladder and tumbled into the straw. 'No beautiful green pool and no dripping rock walls for atmosphere, but on a farm you take what you can get.'

Lucas reached the top rung of the ladder and looked around the shadowy loft with great interest. This was Amaryllis's secret place. Sunlight seeped through the small cracks in the wooden walls. The scent of the stored feed and straw was rich in his nostrils. Down below, a big ox-mule shifted on its six legs.

'It's a good place,' Lucas said.

'Yes, it is, isn't it? But it seems smaller now than it did when I was a kid.'

Lucas eased himself off the ladder and sat down beside her. 'I guess things in the past often seem smaller when we go back and face them as adults.'

Amaryllis rested her chin on her knees. 'I'm going to test that theory this afternoon.'

'What do you mean?'

'I'm going to call on Elizabeth Bailey.'

Lucas nodded. 'What changed your mind?'

'You did.'

'Me?'

'What you did for Dillon, even though his parents had shunned you for three years. It was the right thing. The kind of thing one does for family. It made me think.'

'Fancy that,' Lucas murmured. 'Me, a model of family values.'

Amaryllis smiled. 'A regular paragon of founders' virtues. But, then, I always knew you were a hero.'

Elizabeth Bailey was, indeed, smaller than Amaryllis had remembered. No taller than Amaryllis, herself, to be exact. But she was no less formidable than she had seemed that day all those years ago when Amaryllis had run up to her on the street and asked her the question that defined their relationship. Are you really my grandmother?

Elizabeth was still every bit as striking as Amaryllis recalled. Her aristocratic features were firm and strong. Her eyes were a sharp, vivid green, the same shade of green that Amaryllis saw in the mirror every morning.

'I suppose you are wondering why I asked you to visit me.' Elizabeth put down her delicate porcelain coff-tea cup. She regarded Amaryllis and Lucas with the cool, contained expression of a woman who had encountered many obstacles over the years and who has surmounted them all.

'Yes,' Amaryllis said. 'I am.'

Elizabeth flicked an assessing glance at Lucas. Then she looked at Amaryllis. 'I understand that the two of you are engaged.'

'Yes,' Amaryllis said.

'Congratulations.'

'Thank you.' Amaryllis waited.

Other than the soft hum of the mantle clock, there was no sound in the vast, elaborately draped and carpeted living room. The atmosphere was heavy and oppressive. Amaryllis had to resist a strong urge to open a window. It felt as if there had been no fresh air in this house for years.

'I requested this meeting so that I could give you something,' Elizabeth said after a moment.

Amaryllis barely managed to conceal her surprise. 'That's not necessary. I don't want anything from you.'

'Yes, I know.' Elizabeth's smile was bitter. 'Your mother's family has given you everything you've needed.'

'Yes, they did.' Amaryllis put down her untouched cup of coff-tea. She glanced at Lucas. 'I've been very lucky.'

'I have not been lucky at all,' Elizabeth said. 'But it is only now that I see the woman you have become that I realize the true extent of my misfortune.'

Amaryllis stilled. 'I don't understand.'

'No, I don't suppose you do. Well, that is not important any longer. I am responsible for most of my own ill luck, and I have no one to blame but myself.'

Amaryllis thought of what Sophy had said about Elizabeth assuming the guilt for what had happened in the past. She smiled in spite of herself. 'My great-aunt once said that you had a talent for drama. She thinks it's a shame that you didn't go into the theater.'

Elizabeth looked briefly disconcerted. 'Am I being melodramatic?'

'A little, but that's all right.' Amaryllis felt herself begin to relax for some inexplicable reason. 'It's a somewhat melodramatic occasion, isn't it?'

'It certainly strikes me that way.' Elizabeth picked up a small box that had been sitting on the table beside her chair. 'Well, I mustn't keep you. This is for you.'

Warily, Amaryllis took the box from Elizabeth's hand. She opened it slowly and looked inside. A heavy, masculine ring set with a large, brilliant fire crystal rested on a small, white satin pillow. Amaryllis knew little about jewelry, but everyone knew the value of fire crystal. She hurriedly closed the lid.

'I can't possibly accept this.' She held the box out to Elizabeth. 'It's much too valuable.'

Pain flared in Elizabeth's eyes. 'It belonged to my son Matthew. Your father. I want you to have it.'

'My father.' Amaryllis clutched at the small box. 'This was his ring?'

'Yes. He would have been very proud of you, Amaryllis. Any parent would have been proud of such a fine daughter.'

Amaryllis stared at the ring box. 'I don't know what to say.'

'Many years ago you asked me a question.'

Amaryllis raised her gaze from the ring box to Elizabeth's face. The anger and the pain still stood there between them, an impossible wall that could never be climbed.

But there are other ways to get past a wall, Amaryllis realized. If one felt strong enough, one could walk around the far end of it and find oneself on the other side. It didn't mean that the wall suddenly ceased to exist. It simply meant that there were methods of dealing with walls.

'Are you really my grandmother?' Amaryllis asked.

The gleam of hope in Elizabeth's eyes warmed the cold room.

'Yes,' she said. 'I am.'