Heavenstone 01 - The Heavenstone Secrets

Perry looked at Daddy, who nodded, and then we all walked out of the room.
    “What’s Moffet saying today?” Uncle Perry asked Daddy.
    “He has a therapist coming to see her late this afternoon. He wants to keep her a few days.”
    “What about the bleeding?”
    “It’s under control. Thank God,” Daddy told him, and smiled at me.
    Uncle Perry nodded and looked at Cassie and me. “You girls have got to stick together and pitch in.”
    “Oh, they’re doing a great job already,” Daddy said.
    “We do stick together, Uncle Perry, and we always pitch in,” Cassie said sternly. Then she smiled. “Especially now, with all this pressure from the new store opening.”
    “Good. Well, as long as your mother is on the mend and—”
    “I thought you had a very good idea with thatlottery,” Cassie continued. She sounded disinterested in talking about anything else.
    He raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”
    “Only I suggested we don’t simply have people fill out a coupon. We automatically include everyone who buys anything at a Heavenstone store that day.”
    “Oh … Teddy?”
    “I thought it was a good suggestion, Perry. Helps the bottom line.”
    “Fine.”
    “Now, then,” Daddy said, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s go to lunch.”
    “Where we can talk more about the opening and get my father’s mind off this situation,” Cassie added, leaning toward Uncle Perry.
    Uncle Perry looked at me. It didn’t take a genius to see the difference between Cassie’s emotional state and mine. I was still hovering close to tears. He smiled at me. “C’mon, Sam. You can ride with me,” he said and put his arm around my shoulders.
    I looked at Cassie. She shrugged, and as we walked to the elevator, she whispered, “Better you than me.”
    “Your sister is one tough cookie,” Uncle Perry said when we got into his car. “Your father and I had a great-aunt like her, Great-aunt Agnes Loomis, who was married to your grandmother’s brother. He died while they were on vacation in Florida, and she kept him in storage until she finished the holiday. She didn’t want to lose the money they had spent. I hated the way she looked at me whenever we saw her. I used to have nightmares about her. I still do, matter of fact.”

    We saw Daddy pull out of his parking spot, and Uncle Perry started his car and followed.
    “If you’re in a crisis, however, Aunt Agnes and, I suppose, Cassie are the types of people you want.” He glanced at me. “How do you two get along? You’re pretty different.”
    It wasn’t the first time I had been asked about Cassie’s and my relationship. Another one of Cassie’s Commandments was that Heavenstones never say anything about each other that they wouldn’t say to each other, especially to someone outside our immediate family.
    “Okay,” I said.
    “Just okay?” he followed quickly.
    “Cassie is my older sister,” I said. “She looks after me, and she is much smarter than I am.”
    “There’s two kinds of smart,” Uncle Perry said.
    “What are they?”
    “There’s book smart, and there’s people smart. My guess is you’re people smart, which means you’ll get along better out there, meeting people, working with people, socializing. Cassie doesn’t have many friends, does she?”
    “I don’t like saying bad things about Cassie, Uncle Perry.”
    He nodded. “I understand. That’s admirable. Loyalty is admirable, but,” he said, looking at me again and smiling, “don’t forget to be loyal to yourself, too.”
    I said nothing.
    His words hung in the air between us as we drove on, staying close enough to Daddy’s car for me to see Cassie talking to him continuously.

    Cassie was never at a loss for words when it came to talking to Daddy, whereas she could sit in a room for hours with Mother and not say a single thing.
    “You guys will be all right,” Uncle Perry said, believing my silence was all worry about Mother. “I’m sure.”
    It was only the two of us in the car, but strangely, all I could hear was what I was sure Cassie would say:
How would he know?

Hospital Visit
    C ASSIE KEPT OUR conversation at lunch focused solely on the gala opening of the new Heavenstone store. Uncle Perry looked amused at her determination to control the discussion. Every once in a while, he threw me a smile, but I looked away or down, afraid that Cassie would realize he was including me in his amusement with her. I sensed that Daddy wanted to talk more about Mother and the