The Girl from Summer Hill (36 page)

The melody, the words, and Tate's tenor voice were so beautiful that the audience inside and out grew utterly silent. Even the kids who'd been running around like hooligans stopped and listened.

When he finished, the other players didn't know what to say. What he'd done wasn't in the script, so the lines they were to say wouldn't make sense.

It was the audience that reacted. They spontaneously came to their feet and applauded Tate's singing. Outside, they yelled and cheered.

Casey knew that her lines were next. She was to tease Mr. Darcy about how he'd snubbed them at the dance at the assembly hall. When the applause quieted a bit, Casey said loudly, “Perhaps, Mr. Darcy, if you had honored us in this way at Netherfield, you could have saved my sister Mary from any hint of impropriety.”

With a swish of her silk skirt, she turned away from him and went to Colonel Fitzwilliam. But before she left, she had the great satisfaction of seeing shock on Tate's face. He wasn't the only one who could ad-lib.

The scene finished with Colonel Fitzwilliam telling Lizzy that Darcy had broken Jane and Bingley apart.

During the quick break, Tate didn't go to Casey's dressing room. Coming up was the scene where she tells him what he can do with his marriage proposal. Earlier, he'd said that pre-scene kissing didn't inspire anger onstage. “And you know this how?” she'd asked, but he'd just laughed.

Olivia helped Casey with the dress change.

“How is Lori?” Casey asked.

“No one is questioning her until the play is over.” Olivia's hands were shaking as she fastened the back of Casey's dress.

“Does she know that her mother was adopted?”

“Yes. Portia found out when she was seventeen. Estelle said the news made her very angry. I don't know how the girls are going to feel about…about us.”

Turning, Casey hugged Olivia. “How could she not be pleased to know you and Kit? And Lori…” She didn't know what to say about her.

“Let's go,” Olivia said. “Give Darcy hell.”

Casey kissed her cheek, then ran up the stairs.

Onstage, she was alone in the parlor of Charlotte and Mr. Collins's home when Darcy entered. Tate looked so good and his eyes were so full of love that Casey wanted to throw her arms around him.

But then he picked up a prop. It was her wineglass—the one Devlin had stolen. The glass was an antique, one of a set of four that her mother had given her to celebrate her graduation from the cooking academy. Casey used them only for special occasions, but that's what she'd thought the dinner with Devlin was going to be. She'd been so attracted to him and he'd been so charming that she'd had visions of a future with him. Instead, he'd left her asleep on the table and had taken the wine and her pretty glass. And when she'd asked him about it, he'd flat-out lied.

Casey glanced from the wineglass to Tate's eyes, and when she delivered her refusal of his marriage proposal, all the venom she felt came out. She practically spit the words at him.

When he left the room, he looked like a man who'd just lost everything he valued in life.

The last scene of the act was of Lizzy sitting at a desk and reading the letter from Mr. Darcy. A prerecorded tape of Tate's voice told of Wickham's lies. Casey remembered the video Nina had prepared and how bad she'd felt when she saw what a fool she'd been—and that memory showed on her face.

When Tate's voice stopped, Casey put her head down on the desk and genuine tears came to her eyes. The curtain came down. End of act two.

“You're sure?” Casey asked Tate. They were in her little dressing room and she was again changing her costume. “I did all right?”

“You were great. Excellent. I was impressed. When you turned down my marriage proposal I was genuinely hurt.”

“Like you didn't plan that! How did you sneak that wineglass out of my house?”

“I didn't. You left it in the car.”

She was pinning up pieces of her hair that had fallen down. “I guess I did, but then, I was hurrying to get started on the acting contest.” Her face turned serious. “Did you talk to Rowan?”

“No. He's not talking to anyone except Kit. The last time I saw them, they were arguing. I think Rowan wants to slap handcuffs on Haines right now and the play be damned.”

Casey looked at him in the mirror. “I almost feel sorry for Devlin. Since Lori lied to us about her age, she probably lied to him as well. I guess it could be argued that she led him on.”

“I don't think that makes a difference. Legally, age is pretty cut and dried, and if he kept her against her will…I'd like to hear Lori's side of it all.” He paused. “What bothered me so much during the divorce was that nothing bad ever happened to Haines because of his lies. He always ends up the winner. The things he did to Nina were horrific, but they weren't illegal and couldn't be prosecuted.”

“And you ended up paying his bills,” Casey said.

“Hey! Why are we talking about him? We have time before you have to be back onstage. Let's do something else.” He pulled her into his arms and they began kissing. Tate was guiding her toward the wall, his hand sliding up her bare leg, when the door flew open.

Lori, in full costume, burst into the room, slammed the door behind her, and leaned on it. “No one cares!” she said. “No one even
noticed
that I was gone.”

When Tate released Casey, she went to the girl and led her to sit on the chair by the dressing table, and handed her tissues.

“No one's said anything to me since I got back! Grams is in the front row, but she looks like she's drunk.” She looked up at Tate, her eyes pleading. “I know you're related to Devlin, and I know you're best friends, but I don't know who else to talk to. He says that Grams isn't a blood relative because she adopted my mother, so that makes
him
my legal guardian. Through
you.
And Mr. Kit—who I think is my grandfather. Maybe. None of that makes any sense to me, but—” She broke off, her hands over her face. “Devlin says I have to leave with him after the play.”

Tate had to swallow a couple of times before he could speak. “I'm not his relative or his friend, and you're never again going anywhere with him. I want to know everything, including about the note you left.”

“What note?” Lori blew her nose.

Casey sat down and took the girl's hands in hers. “Your grandmother isn't drunk. She's full of tranquilizers because she was hysterical with worry over you.”

“Was she?”

“Tell me why you left with him.” Tate was looming over her.

“Devlin invited me to a party in Richmond that he said would be full of movie stars. He said even Taylor Swift would be there and that she was his friend. I believed him, since he's part of that world and stars know each other.” Lori looked at Casey. “It was the girls. I only went to school in Summer Hill for six weeks, but I had a lot of girlfriends. We had fun together. Then the play was announced and we all said that we'd try out. But we knew Ashley would get the role of Lydia.”

“Let me guess,” Casey said. “She was the first girl who tried out to be Lydia. The cheerleader.”

“That's her. She's been the star of all the school plays since she was in the sixth grade. Her father owns the Bank of Summer Hill. She's very popular.”

“But you got the role,” Tate said.

Lori sniffed. “I didn't mean to win over Ashley, but I don't know what came over me. I just thought of what Lydia was like and I sort of became her.”

“It's called talent,” Tate said. “Great, deep, natural talent.”

“You think so?” Lori asked.

“Yes, he does,” Casey said. “I take it that afterward your so-called friends turned nasty.”

“They said I'd betrayed Ashley and they quit speaking to me, then they posted some horrible lies about me online. I couldn't tell Grams about any of it because she worries so much, so…so…” She glanced at Casey.

“Devlin was there and he listened to every word you had to say,” Casey said.

“Not at first, but suddenly he became my best friend. At least I thought he was. When he invited me to go with him to a party that would be full of movie stars, I thought it was a solution to all my problems. If I could get some autographed CDs for the girls, maybe they'd forgive me and we could be friends again. I didn't want to go with Devlin because I didn't really know him, but he said we were related so it was okay. Then Grams started saying that I was spending too much time with the theater people, and we had a fight and…” Lori gave a helpless look. “I was so angry that I stopped thinking. I just threw things in a bag and went. It was stupid of me. Really, really stupid.”

Tate knelt down beside her, took her other hand, and stared into her eyes. “We all do things that aren't very smart. It's part of growing up. Right now you need to tell us the facts about when you left with him.”

“Devlin said I'd need my passport to prove my age to get into the adult party, but I couldn't let him see that I'd lied. Did you know that Taylor Swift and I are exactly the same height? My friends said that boys hate tall girls and that's why I never have any dates.”

Tate stood up. “Lori, heterosexual boys love any and all girls. And I'll get you a date with a six-foot-two pop star if you'll just tell us what happened.”

“Oh,” Lori said, and blinked a couple of times. “Devlin took me to a motel. He said we had to wait for the others to arrive, but they didn't. I told him I wanted to go home, but he said we couldn't leave. He wouldn't let me leave! He watched me every minute. He…”

Casey took her hand. “Did he touch you in any way?”

“No,” Lori said. “I think he wanted to. The first night, he lay down beside me on the bed, but I started groaning. I said it was the wrong time of the month. I've never, you know, with a guy, and he's really old. Too old to do
that
. Sorry, Mr. Landers. I know he's your age.”

“That's all right,” Tate said, smiling. “What about the note you left for your grandmother?”

“I didn't write one. I wanted to, but Devlin said I shouldn't. He said that if I left on my own it would show Grams that I'm an independent being and that I'm tired of being treated like a little kid.” She looked down at her hands. “The girls were posting that I was a spoiled brat, so he was saying what I wanted to hear. He told me to pack a party dress and a bikini and that's all I'd need. I put a lot more in my suitcase, but when we got to the motel, he took away my cellphone and my laptop. He wouldn't let me talk to anyone. I tried to use the phone in the room, but he cut the line. By the second day I was really scared of him.” She started crying again.

Hugging her, Casey looked up at Tate.

“Lori,” he said, “listen to me. Did you see those men in suits backstage? They're FBI agents, and they're here because Haines took you away. He is
not
related to you; he has no rights of guardianship over you.” He glanced at Casey. “I think you've had enough of all this. We're going to the FBI now.”

“But what about the play?” Lori asked.

“Forget it,” Tate said. “We can't put you through any more of this.”

Lori stood up. “No! I can't do that to people. The whole town is looking forward to this. And there are the charities and…”

“And if you're the cause of stopping the play, the girls will butcher you,” Casey said, and Lori nodded in agreement.

Tate gave a one-sided grin. “Besides, you love the spotlight, don't you? You like to hear the applause.”

“I do,” she said, staring at him as though daring him to contradict that.

“If anyone understands, it's me,” Tate said. “So here's what we're going to do. For the next hour and a half, you're going to be a professional actor. You're going to be Lydia. Not Lori with her problems, but Lydia. Got it?”

She nodded.

Tate continued: “After the play ends, you're going to be asked a lot of questions. Hundreds of them. And through it all, you're going to be strong and answer everything honestly.” He put his hands on her shoulders. “It might help to imagine that you're playing a role. It's a cop show and you're a fifteen-year-old kid who has escaped a kidnapping by an older man. Does that sound like something you can do?”

“I think so.”

Outside the room, the stage manager yelled, “Five minutes to curtain. Everyone onstage
now
!”

Tate didn't release Lori's shoulders. “I want you to remember that you are a born actor. It's in your blood from your grandmother Olivia, and you need to live up to your talent. No more lies, no more feeling guilty. You did nothing wrong or stupid. Understand?”

Lori nodded again, and Tate stepped back. “Now go, both of you. I'll see you on the set.”

Casey made more swipes at Lori's face to remove the last trace of tears, then held the door open for her.

As they started down the hall, Lori said, “Is Mr. Landers actually my cousin, and do you think he could introduce me to Taylor Swift?”

Standing at the door, Tate rolled his eyes. But he was glad that the child hadn't been physically molested. He went in search of Rowan.