A Stranger in Wynnedower (20 page)

Jack’s voice brought
her back to the dining room combo studio. “You can get up now.”

“Oh? Okay.”

“I don’t want to use up
all of your goodwill in one sitting. Can we do this again tomorrow morning at
ten?”

“Shorter than I
expected. Not so bad, after all.”

“You sat for an hour.”

“No way.”

“You were lost in your
thoughts. Not all of them looked pleasant.”

“I’d better go change.”
But she stood there, shoes still dangling from her fingers.

“Is something wrong?”

“I’d like to know how
this dress ended up in my room.”

It was a long moment
that stretched across the six feet separating them, a moment that drifted on
the sunlight streaming in through the many tall windows in this room. It
floated and hung there. She fancied Jack saw it, too, and knew it was time to
be honest with her.

“My sister saw you
liked it.” He watched her face.

“Helene.”

“Yes. You aren’t
surprised?”

“No. Does she live in
the old nursery quarters?”

“Yes, the
governess/nursery suite. Don’t disturb her, please. She’s very fragile.”

“Okay.” Rachel turned
away and headed toward the door, her bare feet cool against the wood floor.

“Wait.” He frowned.
“You’re curious about everything. Aren’t you curious about her?”

“Yes, but you’ll tell
me about her when you’re ready. Now I’m going to change.” She walked away,
sashayed, in fact, swinging her hips. Suddenly those watched moments, the wispy
figure disappearing around the corner, and that first night when she’d
awakened, the floral scent she sometimes encountered in the halls—it all made
sense now. Watched, but not threatened. Helene satisfied her curiosity in her
own way. Rachel could respect that.

****

She went to her room,
carefully unfastened the pearl buttons and slipped the gown down to the floor
so that she could step out of it. She laid it on the settee in the sitting
room, arranging the fabric and lace so it wouldn’t wrinkle. She pulled on her
shorts and blouse, and made her way to the nursery suite.

Rachel knocked softly.
She put her face close to the wooden door and spoke, “Helene?”

After a full minute
with no response, she backed off. After all, she didn’t know how extreme
Helene’s emotional problems might be. The gift had been like an invitation
—
one that didn’t
involve her brother, Jack. But perhaps not. Maybe it was less an invitation and
more an acknowledgement.

Helene confined
herself, except for nighttime excursions around the house, to her suite. And
the attic? Jack had told her to stay away from that side of the attic. The
facts were falling into place. If she wanted to meet Helene
maybe it would
be there.

Jack had asked her not
to approach Helene. She had no trust in what David had told her, and Jack’s
tone when he spoke of Helene was gentle. Yet if there was any chance of Helene
being in trouble and needing help, then she had to do something about it. She
couldn’t count on David’s unreliability or Jack’s seemingly caring manner to
put the question to rest. She needed Helene to do that.

A few Sweet Gums were
tinged with brownish-red. Not yet autumn, but it had been hot and very dry.

Rachel held her phone
tightly, much the same as she would’ve held Jeremy if he were here in person.
“I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear from you. We have a better
connection this time, thank goodness. When are you coming back?”

“In two weeks. It’s
been an unbelievable trip. We’ve been mostly backpacking.”

“We? Is that male or
female?”

“Most definitely
female. Her name’s Lia, and I can’t wait for you two to meet. You’re going to
adore her.”

“Was this trip her
idea?” She tried to keep the edge from her voice, but didn’t succeed. Jeremy
was silent. She envisioned some dark-eyed, dark-haired femme fatale seducing
her relatively innocent brother into taking an exotic trip
—
camping and
hiking in the Rocky Mountains. Or maybe not a femme fatale and not exotic.
Maybe a tall blonde Viking type who could lug a pack with the best of them.

“You knew I was coming
to visit. Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t going to be here?”

“I was going to be
there, but you arrived early. You’re not even due in Richmond yet.”

“I got worried when you
didn’t call me back, so I moved my trip up. I expected to find you here. You
never mentioned going off anywhere.”

“My phone died on the
way out of town. It took a hard fall going through airport security. I’ll
replace it when I get back.”

He’d avoided responding
to her charge that he hadn’t mentioned a trip. She sighed and let him get away
with it. “How did you know then? That I was already here? When you called
before, you called Wynnedower.”

“I called Wynnedower
after I tried your cell phone. I tried your cell phone because I called John
Brookes, my former…my boss. He told me you’d been there looking for me.”

She’d run out of words.
She didn’t feel like number one any longer, that was for sure.

“Sis, I want to talk to
you about it, but not until I return. We should speak face to face. How much
longer will you be at Wynnedower? Which, by the way, I find it unbelievable
that you’re still there.”

“I don’t know. If you
have something to tell me and you don’t think I’m going to like it, then I’d
much rather you told me now.”

“When I get back. If
you’ve already returned to Baltimore, I’ll come there to see you.”

“I think you need to
spend some time worrying about your job and grad school.”

“That’s part of what I
want to speak with you about.”

She bit her lip.

“I love you, sis. We’ll
talk in two weeks. Please don’t worry about me.”

The call ended
abruptly. She waited to see if he’d call back, knowing he wouldn’t.

So, what didn’t he want
to tell her? That he was in love and getting married? That he was throwing away
his opportunity to be a CPA? She’d worked so hard to get him what he wanted.
Her heart felt bitter.

Dried leaves, their
edges brown and brittle, were caught here and there along the brick wall,
leftover, discarded, unwanted—futile. She shook herself. She’d done her best.
That’s all she could’ve done.

Jack’s big show was just
over a week away. She hadn’t promised for certain sure that she’d stay all the
way through. She stared out at the woods, glad to be alone. She felt bereft and
knew it showed on her face, but it didn’t matter because there was no one here
to see or care.

 Slowly, she returned
her attention to her list. She’d met with an appraiser and wanted to make the
notes while it was fresh in her memory, but she couldn’t stop herself from
glancing down at her phone every few minutes.

Jeremy, oh, Jeremy
.

The appraiser had given
her pointers about differentiating the less valuable from the valuable. He also
seemed excited, and she knew Jack would be pleased. She was a little sorry
about that because he might be tempted to sell it all off, and having done that,
he might find it easier to make the decision to abandon Wynnedower. Jack was in
town for the day, tied up with something. There was still no sign of Helene.
May had already cooked some casseroles, and left.

Rachel was heartily
sick of casseroles. Too much of a good thing.

The phone rang.
Startled, she dropped the clipboard. Loose papers took flight on a breeze. She
grabbed the phone and scrambled for the papers at the same time.

“Hello?”

“Rachel, hi. I’m on my
way. I’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

“Daisy? Great. It’ll be
good to see you.”

“Is something wrong?
You sound odd.”

She set the clipboard
like a paperweight on top of the papers. “I’m fine. I just got off the phone
with Jeremy.”

“He’s okay, right? He’s
not hurt or anything?”

“No, he sounded fine.
Maybe too fine.”

“The girl?”

“We can chat when you
get here. How long can you stay?”

“An hour or so, that’s
all. It’s a long drive to South Carolina. Is the master of Wynnedower in
today?”

“He’s not here now.
Could be back any time. Maybe not.” She cleared her throat. “Daisy, sometimes
your sense of humor takes you a little too far. Don’t embarrass me, okay?”

“Well, that’s real
nice. After all the trouble I’ve gone to?” She laughed. “No, now I really am
teasing. I won’t embarrass you, but tell me how it stands between you so I can
watch where I put my big feet. You’ve been down there forever. Are you two
friendly? How friendly?”

“He has these moods and
tempers. Not dangerous, but disconcerting. He’s been much better lately. He
asked me to stay for the inventory and to help watch the house and now for
modeling. So, I think that means we’re getting along well.”

“Unpaid labor is what
that means. And did you say, ‘not dangerous’?”

Rachel ignored the last
question. “He contacted my employer and arranged a part-time assignment, so I’m
officially on the books, but only part-time so I can do what suits me.
Part-time caretaker, part-time inventory specialist, part-time model.”

“Sounds interesting.
I’ll see you when I get there.”

“You know the way?”

“I have GPS.”

“Drive carefully.”

She hung up, then
gathered up and clipped the errant pages back with the others. What would Daisy
think of this place? Of her host?

She had a visitor. He
strolled out of the woods and to the terrace as if he owned the place.

“Where do you come
from? Aren’t you afraid Jack will spot you?”

He laughed softly.
“There’s lots of old tracks and paths in these woods. You probably don’t know
that I live near the main road. A nice walk. I don’t mind going to a little
extra effort.”

“You’ve gone to that
effort for nothing. I told you I wouldn’t spy for you.”

His smile never
faltered. “I understand and respect that. You look well. Wonderful, in fact.
I’m going out of town and wanted to make sure you were doing okay here before I
left.”

“Don’t concern
yourself. I’m fine.”

He leaned back against
the brick wall, half-sitting on it with his arms crossed. “No word about
Helene, I guess.”

He mentioned it
casually. Did her expression slip? Did she see a hardening of his expression?
Along with a trace of smugness?

“I told you I wouldn’t
spy or pry.”

“But you know
something. I can tell.”

“No.”

“Don’t protect him.”

“There’s nothing to
protect. He hasn’t done anything wrong that I know of.”

“If he hasn’t done
anything wrong, then tell me what you know. I told you, I want to be sure she’s
safe.”

“There’s nothing to
tell.” Rachel slapped the concrete ball with the flat of her hand. “I’ve said
this before, but let me be clear and unmistakable. Leave and stay gone. You’ve
been trying to manipulate me. I don’t appreciate it.”

“Yet you haven’t told
Jack.” He paused. “No answer, so you haven’t. Maybe because you’re not so sure
about him after all?”

“What I think is none
of your business. I’ve tried being nice, I’ve been rude, but you won’t accept
it. I didn’t say anything to Jack because I didn’t think it mattered. You’ve
forced me to change my mind.”

As she spoke, she
watched the muscles in his jaw tighten. His crossed arms tightened and ceased
being a place to hang his hands. She knew he was trying to hide his anger, but
his color gave him away as his complexion reddened.

“Go now. I’m not
bluffing.”

Without further
argument, he said, “I apologize. I’ll leave.”

He walked off, leaving
her fuming.

A quandary. Should she
tell Jack? Yes. Not yet, though. He wasn’t here and Daisy was on her way.
Rachel grabbed her clipboard and went inside to get ready for Daisy.

****

Daisy arrived in her
shiny red Audi and parked it next to Rachel’s not-shiny older sedan. She slid
from behind the steering wheel and stood, never taking her eyes from the house.
Rachel ran down from the porch.

“It’s big,” Daisy
breathed.

“It is. But more than
that, it has twisty-turny hallways and doors, door, doors.”

They climbed the steps.
Daisy’s head turned this way and that, taking it in.

Rachel smiled. “What
are you thinking?”

“
Dark Shadows
,
that’s it. Do you remember that show…well, the reruns. I can loan you the DVD
set.”