No matter how I turned or scrunched the pillow against my cheeks. I was soon uncomfortable, turning and tossing again and again until it was nearly morning. Then. I finally fell asleep the way someone would accidentally step into a poorly covered old well, descending in a panic down into the darkness, my screams rushing out above inc as if they were tied to a hot red ribbon. The moment I hit bottom, my eyes clicked open. Sunlight was already streaming in, flooding the room with wave after wave of insistent, unrelenting illumination.
I groaned. Every part of me ached. I panicked with the possibility of my getting sick. If there was ever a wrong time for that, it was now, today of all days, I thought. When I rose. I poured some of Grandmother Hudson's sweet-smelling bath powder into a hot tub and soaked for nearly twenty minutes before I got dressed and went down to make myself some coffee.
The phone rang almost as soon as I entered the kitchen. It was Mr. MacWaine, the administrator of the Burbage School of Drama in London, the man who had discovered me and, with Grandmother Hudson's help, had brought me to England.
He wanted to know how I was doing and what I was planning for my immediate future.
"If I've had one inquiry concerning you. I've had ten." he told me. "We do hope you'll be returning. Rain," he said.
"Thank you. I expect I will. I was going to contact you about arrangements to live in the dorm this time. Mr. MacWaine."
"That won't be a problem," he assured me. "I am happy to see you will continue with us. I am sure Mrs. Hudson would have wanted that," he said.
I thanked him for his concern and interest.
"Oh, before I forget." he continued. "there was one inquiry I promised I would pass on to you. Apparently you won the admiration of a London professor. a Shakespearean scholar. Doctor Ward. He's an acquaintance of one of the board of trustee members and he's asked after you. Was he at our showcase?" Mr. MacWaine wondered.
"Yes," I said. I didn't know what else to say, but almost immediately after I said it. I regretted lying. Whenever I lied about my secret past. I just added to the deception, the false foundation beneath this family now, I thought. I hated being any part of that.
"Lovely," Mr. MacWaine said. "Do keep me informed as to your arrangements. In the meantime. I'll see to the dormitory space," he promised.
Speaking with him lifted my spirits and reminded me that I did have a place to go, a future just waiting for me to fulfill it. I was certainly not stuck here. How wonderful that my real father was asking after me, thinking about me, looking forward to seeing me and getting to know me. Grandmother Hudson had been disappointed in people too often to believe there would be any value for me in pursuing my real father. I understood her cynicism. but I wasn't at all ready to accept it.
Buoyed. I discovered I was hungry and prepared myself some breakfast, Then I went through the house, dusting and cleaning some so that Victoria couldn't point to anything and say, "See, see how she is letting our property deteriorate."
As I was cleaning up after breakfast, the phone rang again. This time it was Aunt Victoria.
"Your mother," she said punctuating the word with such venom, she turned it into a curse word. "and Grant are flying in this morning. We will be at the house by two o'clock. We're meeting with our attorney for lunch first," she added, which was clearly meant to intimidate me.
"It seems like lawyer's day," I replied coolly,
"What's that supposed to mean?" she fired back,
"I'm meeting with my attorney for lunch here at the house. too," I said.
I wasn't, of course. but I wanted to do her one better and show her I could be just as intimidating. There was a long pause.
"You're making a big mistake being so obstinate," she said.
"Isn't that odd?" I countered.
"Isn't what odd?"
"I've been thinking you're making a big mistake being so obstinate."
If a moment of silence was ever packed full of explosive energy, this was it.
"We'll all be there at two." she repeated. "Make sure you're there as well."
"I have no place I'd rather be today," I said. "Thanks for the warning."
When I hung up, my heart was pounding.
But to me it sounded like all the ghosts in the house were clapping.
2
Fortune Hunter