“Why not?” I sit up again. “Should I find somewhere else to stay? I don’t want to burden you.”
“Nonsense. Of course it’s not that.” Mrs. Bentley nudges the cookie tray toward me and I take another one. “But you’ll be eager to get settled on your own, I’m sure. Where is your man, anyway? Why isn’t he with you?”
I feel the heat rise in my face, my cheeks staining with color. “Well, that’s—”
“Lydia!” Dr. Jacob Bentley is standing in the doorway. I get up from my seat as he approaches me with both hands held out. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
His fingers are warm and dry in mine and he squeezes once before letting go.
“Dr. Bentley.” I smile and sit back down in my chair. “It’s been so long.”
He moves next to Mary on the couch, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses as he takes a seat. Like Mrs. Bentley, his dark hair has a bit more gray in it, stretching along the side of his head and down into his short beard. “You’ve returned, and the news is reporting that Hitler is dead. It’s a good day.”
“We’re not sure it’s true yet, though,” Mrs. Bentley says. “There are rumors he might be faking it, since he knows our troops are closing in on him.”
“Don’t worry, it’s true. Hitler’s dead.” The words are out of my mouth before I have time to process them.
Mary moves forward in her chair. “How do you know that?”
“I mean, I’m sure it’s true. . . . I want to believe it’s true.”
Dr. Bentley nods. “You were in Europe, weren’t you, Lydia? We heard you followed your fella overseas for a while. Do you have any adventures to tell us about?”
“Um, not quite,” I hedge. “I’m more interested in your family. How have you all been?”
No one speaks. Even Mary is silent, her knuckles white against the delicate china of her teacup.
I press my lips together, realizing my mistake.
“I’m sorry,” I say quietly. “I shouldn’t have . . .”
“Oh, don’t be sorry.” Mary rests her cup back on the tray, then reaches over to take my hand. “It’s just that Dean went missing last year, around the same time. We’re all not . . . well, it’s been a real hard time.”
“I’m so sorry,” I repeat. “Dean was . . . kind to me.” I glance down, remembering the last time I saw him at that hotel in 1989. He didn’t recognize me then, and he wouldn’t recognize his family now. The Project stole everything from him. But of course I can’t tell the Bentleys that.
“He was always a good boy.” Dr. Bentley clears his throat and reaches for a cookie. “It would be easier if we knew what happened to him. It’s the wondering that makes it hard.”
“It would be hard either way,” Mrs. Bentley whispers.
Mary squeezes my hand and then lets go, reaching up to wipe at the corners of her eyes. “I’m being a real pill these days, Lydia. I just can’t seem to stop crying.” She forces herself to smile, her teeth white against her signature red lipstick. “I’ll just go take a powder. When I get back we’ll stop talking about all this unpleasantness.”
Mrs. Bentley watches Mary closely as she leaves the room. Dr. Bentley sits back with a sigh. “Mary isn’t taking it well.”
“She and Dean didn’t always get along,” Mrs. Bentley adds, “but she secretly idolized him. She can’t seem to move past it.”
I think back to something my grandfather said, about how his aunt Mary was never the same after she lost her brother. It’s why she eventually left town with her husband and almost never returned to Montauk. “Is Lucas helping at all?” I wonder.
The two exchange a glance. “Perhaps Mary should tell you more about that.” Dr. Bentley dusts the crumbs off his hands and stands up. “I need to get out to the hospital for a few hours. But I’m glad you’re back, Lydia. Mary sure missed you. Losing both you and Dean at the same time . . .” He shakes his head. “Anyway, maybe you’ll be able to reach her. We certainly haven’t been able to.”
“I’ll try,” I promise, though I know I don’t have much time.
I’m glad to see the Bentleys, but I can’t lose sight of what I need to do. I will no longer be able to infiltrate the Facility by trying to apply for an assistant position—the TM is already up and running, and I can’t spare the few months it would take to get a job there. That means I’ll need to do a hit-and-run mission, stealing into the Facility at night and destroying the TM and Tesla’s notes without getting caught.
But everything is different now. If I don’t have enough time to help Mary before the mission, I can do it afterward. I’ll have the Bentleys in my life again.
Before, I thought I would be stuck in the past forever, with no one who remembered me. But now if I succeed in killing Faust and ending the Project, I will not be trapped here without a family. I will not be alone.
Mary appears in the doorway again as Dr. Bentley moves to leave the room. He touches her shoulder as he passes and she smiles up at him, though we can all see the dried tear marks on her cheeks.
“Lydia, get up!” She waves her hand at me. “There’s someone you just have to see. You are going to flip your wig, I swear it. I’d tell you who it is, but I’ve decided that it’s going to be a surprise, and there’s nothing you can say to change my mind.”
“Thank you for the tea,” I say to Mrs. Bentley as I stand.
“We’re so glad you returned.” Her voice is soft and serious. “Our house is your house, you know that, Lydia.”
“Come on!” Mary bounces over to me and grabs my arm. “I can’t wait to see the look on your face.”
I smile one last time at Mrs. Bentley before Mary pulls me from
