Daughter of Light (Kindred 2)

“You are probably in a little shock,” Mrs. Winston insisted. “Just listen to Mrs. McGruder.”

I nodded and followed them to the stairway.

“How is Mr. Lamb?” Mrs. McGruder asked me as we went up.

“He’s still in radiology. He had some bad facial trauma from the airbag deploying.”

“Didn’t yours work, too?”

“Yes, but I was lucky,” I said. “I was leaning away at the time and took the brunt of it lower down.”

“Well, didn’t that hurt?” Mrs. Winston asked.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“You should probably take a warm bath and get into bed,” she said.

“I’ll bring you some tea and toast and jam,” Mrs. McGruder told me as we reached my room and they carried my bags in.

“Let me help you put your things away,” Mrs. Winston offered.

“I’m fine,” I told her. “Really. No need to worry.”

“Um,” she said, pressing her lips together. “What happened with Mrs. Addison? How did you come to have Mr. Lamb taking you home?”

“Maybe you’re being a little too nosy, Amelia,” Mrs. McGruder told her. They looked at each other.

“Maybe, but something doesn’t smell right to me,” Mrs. Winston suggested.

“Let the girl settle herself. I’ll bring up your tea and toast,” she told me, and left.

Mrs. Winston hesitated, then said, “Mr. Lamb doesn?

?t strike me as being a careless young man. Was he driving too fast?”

“No.” I gave her an abbreviated version of the story.

She didn’t look satisfied, but she nodded, offered to put away my new things again, and then, after I insisted I was fine, finally left, mumbling to herself.

I laughed, thinking about how she would attack Naomi Addison the moment she stepped into the Winston House. I had all of my new things put away by the time Mrs. McGruder arrived with my tea and toast.

“How are you doing?” she asked.

“I’m fine. Really. This is very kind of you. Thank you,” I said.

“Well, don’t hesitate to call on either of us if you need something. Sometimes you don’t realize how hurt you are until much later. That happened to me one winter when I slipped and fell on some ice. I thought I was more embarrassed than anything, but it turned out I had a fractured hip bone.”

I started to sip the tea and eat some of the toast and jam. Mrs. McGruder smiled and left, and then I did decide to soak in a hot bath and go to sleep. A little after midnight, I awoke to the sound of loud voices and realized that Mrs. Winston had been waiting to greet Naomi Addison.

“When you offer to do something for someone, you don’t just up and leave her like that. If you had done what you promised, she wouldn’t have been in any accident, and Mr. Lamb wouldn’t still be in the hospital. They have him under observation because he suffered a slight concussion,” I heard Mrs. Winston say.

“They’re both adults. You can’t blame me for that. How is Lorelei?”

“She’s fine. Luckily. I can tell you this,” Mrs. Winston added. “If you’re hoping to get to my nephew through her somehow, you can bury that plan in the cemetery of bad ideas.”

“I don’t need anyone to help me get to any man,” Naomi retorted. “I’m giving you notice. I don’t have to tolerate this.”

“Your notice is welcomed,” Mrs. Winston said.