Web of Dreams (Casteel 5)

complained.

"No, but it's not going to be that much longer before she returns and it would be better if she decided something like this," he said softly.

"Why? It's not a major decision in my life. I just want to invite some friends for a weekend. It's not that we don't have the room or can't afford the expense," I insisted.

"Of course we have the room and can afford guests. But you're still a minor and decisions about where you go and who you see must be made by your legal guardians," he replied. "Besides, after what happened once when you were alone with a young boy . . . I would have to spend all my time acting as chaperon and . . ."

"That's not fair," I cried.

"Still, it's an enormous responsibility. I would feel much better if we wait until Jillian returns. It's not that much longer and besides . . ."

"I'll be bored to death until Momma comes home!" I cried. That was when little Troy's eyes filled with tears too.

"No, you won't," Tony said, suddenly smiling. "I'm taking a short vacation and with the weather so wonderful, there will be much to do. We'll go horseback riding. I've filled and started heating the outdoor pool . ."

"It's not the same thing!" I declared. I threw my napkin down on my plate of food. "I feel trapped."

"Now Leigh, please don't have a tantrum. Everything has been going so well while your mother's been away, I would hate. . ."

"I don't care. It's not fair," I repeated and got up from the table.

"Leigh!" Tony cried, but I ran out of the room and upstairs to my suite, throwing myself over my bed. I held Angel and sobbed until I could sob no more. Then I sat up and wiped my eyes and gazed at my beautiful doll. She looked so sympathetic and sad, too.

"Oh, Angel," I said, "why can't I be like other young people my age and live in a normal home with a normal family, so I could do things girls my age want to do? I don't care about all this wealth. What good is it if it doesn't make me happy?"

I sighed. Of course, my doll couldn't answer, but it made me feel better talking to her.

I stood up with Angel in my arms and went to the window that overlooked the front grounds. "It's going to be like being in prison, Angel My friends can't come here and I can't go to see them until Momma returns. What will I tell Joshua when he calls? What will I tell Jen? It's embarrassing.

"How can Tony think I would be happy just being with him? I like to go horseback riding and swimming, yes; but I would like to do some of that with my friends and not my mother's husband."

As if he heard me speaking about him, he suddenly appeared below, walking briskly down a garden walkway, heading for the English maze. In moments he disappeared within. I was sure he was going to the cottage. But why? Why did he keep it as an art studio still? Why had he lied to me too, about the new painting when I had asked him? He said he wasn't designing a new kind of portrait doll. Then what was he doing?

Out of curiosity as well as boredom and frustration, I put Angel back on my bed and hurried downstairs, slipping out a side entrance of Farthy to follow him. I didn't want Troy to see me and want to know where I was going or what I was doing. He'd cry to come along.

Daylight lasted much later now, but the bright orange sun dropping reluctantly below the horizon made the world seem so dreamlike and ethereal. The birds had already settled in, only a few still chirping. There were no terns crying. The blue sky was turning inky in the east and I thought I could see the first twinkling of a distant star as it emerged slowly out of the great vastness of space.

I hurried over the grass and slipped softly like a spy into the long, wide shadows cast by the tall hedges. I looked back only once at the great house. I had left the lights on in my suite and saw my wallpaper and curtains. Then I turned, listened, and stepped into the maze.

Never had it seemed as quiet in these corridors or as dark. I realized I hadnever gone into it this late in the day and never at night. How would I find my way back? Would it be too dark in the middle, even now? I hesitated. How did Tony get through it and how would he come back?

Still driven by overwhelming curiosity, I continued down the first corridor, turning quickly around the first and second corners and then moving as quietly as I could through the center of the maze. The only sounds were the soft crunch of my feet over some fallen twigs and my own heavy breathing. Finally, I steeped out on the other side and confronted the cottage. The shades were still drawn, but I could tell that the lights within burned brightly.

Could it be that Tony had another young model, someone he wanted kept secret? Was he afraid I would be jealous? Or that Momma would be angry ad jealous? Hovering in the shadows now cast by the trees, I scurried down to the small fence and listened. There was some soft music playing, but I heard no voices.

Carefully, I passed through the front gate and went to the first window. It was difficult to see within because the shade had been drawn so tightly. I could make out only the legs of the easel. I moved down to the second window. This would offer me a much better view of what was going on within because the shade was short of touching the bottom by at least four inches. The window looked in on the room from a rear perspective. I would be looking toward the front door from behind the easel.

I knelt down slowly and peered over the bottom of the window frame through the opening. Tony wasn't in the room, but the painting I had discovered when I had brought Joshua to the cottage was there.

I gasped when I saw what Tony had added to it.

He had drawn and painted in himself lying naked beside the female figure that combined so many characteristics of my mother with me. Why did he do that? What did it mean?

Before I could rise and leave, he emerged from the kitchen.

I gasped again. He was stark naked!

He stopped abruptly and looked my way. I felt icicles dripping down my neck and for a moment, I couldn't move. Did he see me?