Something in her mind clicked.
She’d fainted.
They had been on the path leading down from the mausoleum, and then they’d turned off to the left, along a steep side trail. After a few yards, they’d come to a little clearing, and while Beth explored, Carolyn had sat down to rest.
She’d been looking out over the village, enjoying the view, and then, gradually, she’d begun to notice something at the far side of town. It seemed to her that it had crept slowly into her consciousness, but then, as she’d become aware of it, she’d found herself staring at the mill.
It was burning.
Clouds of smoke were billowing from it, and flames licked out from the windows.
And even though the entire village separated her from the mill, she could hear screams, as if people were trapped inside.…
The memory seemed to wobble in her mind, and Carolyn found herself struggling to keep it in focus.
Struggling.
That was it.
She had struggled to her feet, and called out to Beth, and then the whole sky had seemed to turn black, as if smoke were covering it.
And she had felt dizzy.
After that, there were only fragments.
Beth, calling to her, begging her to wake up.
Then Hannah’s face, a mask of worry, looming above her.
How had Hannah gotten there?
Then hands, lifting her, carrying her.
And now she was in the hospital.
For the first time since waking, she tried to move, and immediately felt a warm pressure on her hand.
“Don’t, honey.”
At the unexpected sound of a voice, the memories faded out of her mind.
Phillip’s voice. Why hadn’t she been aware that he was here? Had he been holding her hand all along? She turned her head slightly, and saw him, sitting by the bed, his blue eyes clouded with worry.
“Phillip? How … how did I get here? What happened?”
“You fainted. Hannah and Ben managed to get you back to the house, then had you brought down here.”
“Hannah and Ben?” Carolyn repeated. “How did they—?”
“You helped. You were half-conscious, and you kept talking about a fire. They said you seemed to think there was a brush fire or something.”
Carolyn frowned. “No … no, it was something else.” Her hand tightened on Phillip’s. “It was the mill. I saw the mill burning.”
“The mill? What on earth are you talking about?”
Carolyn hesitated. Now that she thought about it, it seemed much more like a memory from a dream than something that had actually happened. “I … I don’t know. It was all so strange …” Her voice trailed off, and she glanced around the room. “Where’s Beth?”
“Right outside,” Phillip replied. “I’ll get her.”
A moment later her daughter appeared at the bedside, her eyes wide with worry. “Mom? Are you okay? I … I was afraid you’d—”
“Died?” Carolyn chuckled, managing to lend her voice a strength she didn’t feel. “Not quite yet. Your old mother has a few more years in her.” She smiled, and hitched herself a little higher in the hospital bed. “But let me tell you, if that’s your idea of a fun little hike, you can get somebody else to go next time.”
Phillip’s brows arched, and he winked at Beth. “Obviously she’s feeling better. All of a sudden it’s your fault.”
Carolyn twisted her face into a grimace of comic indignation. “Well, you don’t expect
“Oh, absolutely,” Beth replied, nodding solemnly. “You were just standing there yelling at me, and pointing, so I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to make Mother faint? And you fell right over.”
“See?” Carolyn asked Phillip. “That’s the kind of child every mother dreams of having.” Then her expression turned serious. “Beth, did you see anything? Just before I fainted, did you see anything happening down in the village?”
Beth frowned uncertainly. “Like what?”
“Well, it was strange,” Carolyn said. “I could have sworn that I saw the mill burning. You didn’t see anything like that?”
Beth shook her head, then suddenly remembered what had happened up at the mausoleum before her mother had arrived. For a minute, while she’d been sitting in the marble chair, she
Phillip immediately rose to his feet, but the doctor waved him back into his chair, turning to Carolyn with a little smile playing around the corners of his mouth.
“Mrs. Sturgess,” he asked, “you and your daughter wouldn’t by any chance have been rabbit hunting this morning, would you?”
Carolyn blinked. Rabbit hunting? What on earth was he talking about?
“Because if you were, the hunt was a success. You’ve killed a rabbit. Or, if you haven’t yet, I’m prepared to guarantee that you will.”
Carolyn stared at the doctor, and slowly the light began to dawn. “You mean — I’m pregnant?”
“Congratulations. And to you too, Mr. Sturgess.”
Phillip’s eyes fixed on the doctor, then slowly shifted to his wife. “A baby?” he asked. “You and I are going to have a baby?”
Carolyn nodded, suddenly feeling almost stupidly happy. “That’s what the man says,” she said, grinning foolishly. “You know — little tiny critters, with ten little fingers, and ten little toes? Keep you up late at night? That’s what he’s talking about.” Phillip looked dazed, and Carolyn’s surge of happiness was suddenly tinged with fear. What if he — But then his arms were around her, and he was hugging her close. “Who ever thought — I mean I just didn’t think — we never even talked about it!” Suddenly he drew away, and his forehead creased with worry. “Honey, is it all right with you?”
Carolyn squeezed him hard. “Of course it’s all right with me. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”
As Carolyn and Phillip gazed happily at each other, neither of them saw Beth slip quietly out of the room.
*
A baby.
The idea of her mother and Uncle Phillip having a baby had never occurred to her before, and as Beth left the little Westover hospital, walking slowly along Prospect Street, her eyes fixed on the sidewalk in front of her, she wasn’t at all sure how she felt about it.
It was bad enough living at Hilltop already. What would happen when there was a baby there, too?
Her mother would spend all her time with the baby, and not have any time for her.
Which wasn’t fair, and Beth knew it.
In fact, now that she thought about it, she knew that she’d always wanted to have a baby brother. Or a sister — it hadn’t really mattered. But after her parents had gotten the divorce, she’d just sort of given up the idea.
And then, when Carolyn had married Phillip Sturgess, it had just never entered her head that her mother might have another baby.
Which was kind of a dumb thing to have thought, really. After all, lots of the kids in Westover had half-
