Gates of Paradise (Casteel 4)

"Oh, I almost forgot yer Je11-0." He put the dish on my tray.

"Sorry 1 can't have your chocolate cake, Rye. It looked delicious."

"Oh yes, she brought that right down again." He looked back and then leaned toward me. "Course, find away to sneak a piece back up. Jest ya wait."

"Thank you, Rye. And come back to see me, please."

"Sho' will."

"Well, what's this?" Tony said, suddenly appearing in my doorway. "The chef checking up to see how well his food's gone over?"

"Someone had ta bring up some Jell-O, and I thought it was as good a time as any to pay my respects, Mr. Tatterton." He turned back to me and winked. "Gots ta be gettin' back ta my kitchen now."

"Thank you, Rye," I called as he hurried out. Tony watched him leave and then turned to me.

"Why didn't Millie bring up the Jell-O?" he wondered aloud.

"I asked Millie to send him up."

"Oh?" His blue eyes narrowed.

"I hope that was all right," I said quickly. He looked upset.

"I was going to tell him to come see you after dinner. It's all right," he added, his eyes softening. "He's still one of the best chefs on the East Coast. I'd wager his Yorkshire pudding against any."

"He's everything my mother said he was. He must be over eighty, right?"

"Who knows? He can't really remember his birthday, or he lies about his age. So, how are you doing? Feeling a bit stronger?"

"Tired from the therapy, and frustrated. I want to get out and about the mansion and the estate."

"Well, maybe Mrs. Broadfield will approve a short trip down this corridor late tomorrow morning. The doctor will be here the day after."

"Has Luke called?" I asked hopefully. "Not yet."

"I don't understand why not." My heart plunged. Had Drake's predictions already come true?

"Just giving you a chance to get settled in, I'm sure."

He brought a chair up beside the bed. When he sat down, he crossed his legs and meticulously ran his fingers down the sharp crease of his gray trouser leg.

"It's not like him. We're very close," I explained. "Did you know we were born on the very same day?"

"Really? How extraordinary!"

Luke's and my birthday was such a major touchstone in my life that it seemed incredible Tony would know nothing about the coincidence. How completely my father and mother had shut him out of their lives, I thought. I wondered if he knew that Luke and I were really half brother and half sister.

"Yes. And since then our relationship has been sort of what my mother's was like with her brother Tom, the one who died tragically in that circus accident."

"Oh yes." He gazed at me with the same intensity again, staring so hard I could almost feel his eyes drilling into my soul. "Your mother had a very hard time of it, but she was a very strong woman, as I am sure you will be. 'What doesn't destroy me, makes me stronger,' as my father used to tell me. He'd borrowed the expression from some German philosopher, I can't remember which one.

"Anthony, he'd say," Tony recalled, pulling himself up stiffly into what he must have remembered as his father's posture, "you've got to learn something from every defeat in life or life will defeat you." He relaxed and smiled. "Of course, I was barely five or six when he was giving me all this advice, but oddly enough, it stuck with me."

"The Tattertons are a fascinating family, Tony." "Oh, I'm sure some of my relatives are quite boring. I've never spoken to half my cousins. Dreary people. And Jillian's side of the family wasn't much better. Both of her sisters and her brother passed away some time ago. Actually, I only found out by reading the obituaries. Once Jillian died . ." His eyes became somewhat glassy as he got lost in a memory.

"Tell me about your brother, Tony. Please," I added quickly, seeing his face begin to harden and his eyes say no.

"I should really let you rest."