Embers (13 page)

Meg threw the sash all the way up.
"
Hey, down there! What
'
re you doing?
"

The third man turned and looked up at her from under the rim of his baseball cap.
"
Deliverin
'
the dollhouse. The furniture is still being boxed up; we
'
ll bring it soon
'
s it
'
s done.
"

"
Waitaminnit, hold the phone! Wait till I get down there
—
"

"
Meg! For heaven
'
s sake, whatever is going
on?
"

Comfort, winded and panting, was standing behind her sons with a look of absolute bewilderment on her face. She held out a business-size envelope to Meg.
"
He gave me this. From Orel Tremblay, he said.
"

Meg took it,
tore it open
, and read the wobbly handwriting
.

Dear Mrs. Hazard
,
Thi
s is yours, free and clear. You'
re the only one can see the connection and do what
's right by Margaret Mary. I don'
t pass on this burden lightly.

The letter was accompanied by a formal-looking document, signed and witnessed, bequeathing the dollhouse and all its contents to Meg.

Meg handed the letter to Comfort, who read it, collapsed on the lower bunk
bed, and read it again.

"
But you
'
re not even related,
"
she said blankly.
"
And Mr. Tremblay
'
s not even dead!
"

"
Those aren
'
t always requirements,
" Meg said, distracted.

T
hey were to Comfort.
"
Won
'
t someone else want it? The niece you talked about?
"

"
Probably,
"
Meg admitted. She turned to the twins.
"
Don
'
t even
look
at a box of matches. Ever!
"
she warned. She rushed downstairs, with Comfort and Coughdrop close on her heels.

Working through a rising tide of excitement, Meg cleared away a brass lamp and some gardening books from a gateleg table in the sitting room. In the meantime Comfort filched a blanket from the nearest guest room and threw it over the dark pine tabletop, then swung open the old French doors that led to a patio surrounded by rhododendrons and mountain laurel, some of it in bloom.

"
In here,
"
Meg said breathlessly to the three struggling workmen. It was beginning to dawn on her that the dollhouse was coming to
her,
Margaret Mary Atwells Hazard, direct descendant of Margaret Mary Atwells, and that both their fates were bound up in the fate of the little house itself. She didn
'
t know why, she didn
'
t know how. But Orel Tremblay believed she would see the connection; right now, that was good enough for her.

But first they had to get t
he dollhouse inside, and Cough
drop wasn
'
t
having it
. The dog was on the threshold of the sitting room, barking noisily and pacing back and forth across the width of the French doors, determined to keep the intruders out.

"
Pay him no mind,
"
said Comfort to the deliverymen.
"
He wouldn
'
t bite a biscuit.
"

She called the dog back and he came, but he wasn
'
t happy about it. Two seconds later he lunged back toward the dollhouse. In trying to hop out of his way, one of the men ended up stepping on the dog
'
s paw, sending Coughdrop into a yelping fury and scaring the dickens out of one of the others, who promptly let go of his end of the dollhouse, upsetting the balance. The unsupported end dropped to the floor, popping two of the pillars on one of the roofed verandas.

Aghast, Meg cried,
"
Oh,
no,
"
and grabbed the dog by his collar and tried to separate him, still barking furiously, from the house and its movers. At the last minute Coughdrop remembered that he was part retriever and lunged for one of the fallen pillars, then broke free of Meg and took off for the garden with the stick between his teeth. Comfort chased after him, screaming his name in a tremulous, shrill voice that brought the twins downstairs instantly to see what the ruction was all about.

In the meantime Meg was refusing to let any of the workmen move an inch until she had a chance to look the patient over, as it were, for other, more serious broken bones. Into the middle of all the chaos strolled Allie with her new and fairly constant companion, Tom Wyler. And since it was Wednesday, Chicken Pie Night, Uncle Billy was right behind them.

"
Good Lord,
"
said Bill Atwells, stopped cold by the sight.
"
Eagle
'
s Nest! Damned if I don
'
t remember it after all!
"

Allie knew at once what was going on.
"
Meg, he
'
s giving it to you, how
wonderful.
Well, he
should,
when you think about it; he owes us. Why is it half on the floor? Oh, God, it
'
s broken already! Oh, for Pete
'
s sake
—
"

"
What happened?
"
asked Uncle Bill.

Meg was on her hands and knees, still checking for damage.
"
Oh, Coughdrop went crazy.
"

"
I said it before and I
'
ll say it again: that dog
'
s dumb as a bucket of fish manure.
"
With a muffled
"
oof,
"
Bill Atwells lowered his ample weight to the floor.
"
It don
'
t look too bad. Them pillars
'
ll stick right back in.
"

"
I
'
ve never seen Coughdrop behave like that,
"
Meg said, wondering.
"
Listen to him out there.
"
She stood up and directed the dollhouse onto the table, then gave the men a little something for their trouble and saw them to the door.

Everyone was gathered around the empty house, marveling at its craftsmanship. Allie wanted to know if the furniture came with it, and when Meg explained that it was being packed up for delivery, her sister said,
"
Great! We
'
ll have a house-decorating party. It
'
ll be like a tree-trimming party, only with tables and cradles instead.
"

Meg
'
s first impulse was to say,
"
Not on your
life,
"
but her uncle made that unnecessary.

"
Don
'
t be silly, Allie,
"
he said.
"
You can
'
t go risking breakage that way. These ain
'
t Barbie doll accessories. This kind of stuff
'
s for the collector.
"
He turned to Meg with a broad grin, obviously pleased at the turn in the family
'
s fortunes.
"
It
'
s a fairy tale, Meggie,
"
he said,
"
and you
'
re our crown princess.
"

"
I don
'
t think crowns are my style,
"
Meg said thoughtfully. She ran her finger along a delicately wrought banister of the dollhouse. For all its power to please and enchant, the house seemed to have an equal and opposite power to disturb and repel. She thought of haunted houses and witches behind cobwebby curtains and suppressed a shudder.

Was she alone in feeling that way about the house? Everyone else seemed pretty delighted by it, including Tom Wyler.

"
Well, Lieutenant?
"
she couldn
'
t resist asking.
"
Don
'
t you think this proves how serious Orel Tremblay is?
"

Uncle Billy looked up from the dollhouse.
"
What d
'
you mean,
'
serious
'
?
"

Damn.
Meg had forgotten her uncle was there. She
'
d forgotten
anyone
was there besides Tom Wyler. It was becoming awkward, the way she kept picking fights with Tom. If only he
'
d bend a little and get involved.

"
I only meant, how seriously Mr. Tremblay feels about the history of
Bar Harbor
,
"
Meg said quickly.
"
He wants to make sure the dollhouse stays right here.
"

Uncle Billy grunted.
"
You
'
re the right owner for it, then.
You'll
never leave
Bar Harbor
.
"

Tom, hands in his pockets, had been watching Meg lie her way out of her jam. Out of the blue he said to her,
"
How about joining Allie and me for dinner in town?
"

Allie
'
s head shot up in amazement.

Meg saw the warning look her sister was firing across her bow.
"
Gee
...
no, I
'
d better not. I have to get the dollhouse settled in.
"

Allie slipped her arm through Tom
'
s and chirped,
"
See you all later, then.
"

Wyler extended his hand to Uncle Billy and said,
"
Nice to see you again, sir.
"

Uncle Billy, surprised no doubt that Allie was seeing someone with old-fashioned manners, said,
"
You betcha. And by the way,
"
he said to his niece,
"
how
'
d that interview go in
Boston
?
"

"
They want me,
"
Allie said with an elegant shrug of her off-shoulder top.
"
But it
'
s too far away from
...
where I want to be,
"
she added, giving Wyler the kind of look that made men leap over tall buildings.

They left, with Allie carefully avoiding Meg
'
s wide-eyed look of surprise, and Meg was left to control her rage as best she could. She
'
d brain Allie when she got back.
She
hadn
'
t known that they wanted Allie. So Allie
'
d thumbed her nose at
Boston
.
Boston
! The best possible choice! Not too far for the family, not too close for Allie. They
'
d talked about
Boston
constantly during the last year.
Boston
was it, as far as Meg was concerned. Maybe a job as guest representative
wasn't
the moon and the stars. Maybe the pay
was
piddling. In fact, Allie
had
come back unenthusiastic. But to turn it down because of the
location.
Boston
was
perfect.

Boston
was as far from
Chicago
as you could
get
.