Secret Whispers (Heavenstone 2)

“No!” I screamed, loudly enough to blow her out of my mind. I thought my cry would bring someone to my room, but apparently no one had heard me. I was no longer hungry but continued to eat what I could so Mrs. Dobson wouldn’t wonder why I had lost my appetite.

After all, the last thing I wanted anyone to know was how much Cassie spoke to me from beyond the grave.

And how much that upset me.

Wedding Plans

LUCILLE HAD DADDY’S limousine and driver at her disposal. When we got in, she handed me a catalogue of wedding cakes.

“I’d like your opinion on them,” she said. “It has to be a rather big cake. We’ve decided to pare down the guest list to eighteen hundred. Of course, we could invite many more, but we want these eighteen hundred to feel special on our special day.”

“Eighteen hundred people?”

“Yes,” she said, laughing. “I suppose that sounds rather large, but this is a huge property, and your father and my father have made so many important acquaintances over the years, it would be difficult to invite fewer. Notice I said acquaintances, not friends,” she added. “That’s something I want you to digest for a moment, the difference between a friend and an acquaintance.”

Although she was acting like a teacher, I didn’t feel she was being condescending.

“A real friend,” she continued, “is even more important than a relative. Relatives are too often envious of each other and easily persuaded to believe that this one or that one was handed everything on a silver platter, especially siblings who are always feeling their parents favored the others.”

That was Ellie, I thought, and when it came to Daddy and Cassie, I had certainly used to believe that. Lucille was right. Maybe I should listen to some of what she said.

“Now, a real friend, who is so rare, is someone who is genuinely, sincerely happy for you when good fortune occurs. She or he doesn’t resent it or feel more envy than happiness. A real friend is selfless when it comes to doing things for you, especially at your time of need, and if you’re a good friend, you’ll do the same for him or her. Have you any real friends, Semantha?”

“Not like that,” I admitted.

“Precisely. I have only three, maybe four, I’d consider real friends out of all of the acquaintances I’ve made over the years, and as you can see, that’s a lot. With real friends, time and distance don’t matter. We never stop being true to each other. I hope someday you’ll have some real friends, too, even if it’s no more than I have.

“Of course,” she continued, “no one can be more of a friend to you than your husband, as you are to

him. Your father and I became real friends, in fact, before we became lovers. Did you feel this was possible eventually with this boy you were seeing, this Ethan?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “We really didn’t see each other that long, Lucille.”

“Still, you might reserve your judgment about him until you find out what his reason was for not attending your graduation and meeting us. We’ll see.”

Why was this so important to her?

“How?”

“Time will tell,” she said.

“What if I never see or hear from him again?”

“Well . . . then time told, didn’t it?” she said with a grin. “Now, look at those designs for wedding cakes. I’m anxious to see what strikes your fancy.”

I gazed at the book. There were multitiered cakes with all sorts of flower decorations. The traditional cakes were round, but there were also hexagon- and octagon-shaped cakes. The variety was dazzling. I had no idea how any bride would go about choosing, until I saw a design that resembled the cake in Mother and Daddy’s wedding photographs. It was shaped like a richly wrapped present with the silhouettes of the bride and groom airbrushed.

“You like that one?” she asked, seeing me spend so much time gazing at it.

“Don’t dare recommend the cake that our parents had at their wedding,” Cassie warned.

I shrugged and turned the page.

There was a huge hexagonal cake with a jade topper of an angel. At the bottom of the page was an estimate of one hundred dollars per serving. I started to turn the page.

“That’s my favorite,” she said.

I quickly did the multiplication.