Heavenstone 01 - The Heavenstone Secrets

will you, honey?”
    “Okay, Daddy. I’ll just go put my school things away and change. I’ll be right down, Mrs. Bledsoe.”
    She nodded and smiled at me, and I followed Cassie up the stairs. She was waiting for me at the top with her shoulders drawn up, which always made it seem as if her head and neck were sinking into her body. One look at her face, and I could see immediately that she was even more enraged, angrier, than I could ever remember. She wagged her head and smirked at me.
    “I heard you. ‘Okay, Daddy. I’ll be right down, Mrs. Bledsoe,’” she imitated. “How nauseatingly sweet.”
    “What should I have said, Cassie?”
    She turned away, started toward her room, and stopped. “Why did he bring her here? We don’t need her. I can do everything for Mother. I was doing it before, wasn’t I? Now we have a stranger right in the middle of our personal lives and personal business, astranger in a Heavenstone home. Bledsoe. Her name is quite appropriate, don’t you think?”
    “Why?”
    “Bledsoe … bled … Mother hemorrhaged. She nearly bled to death. Get it?”
    “Oh. It’s just a coincidence.”
    “There are no coincidences in life. Everything has a purpose, a reason. She won’t be good for Mother and especially not good for us. Don’t be so nice to her. Once she sees how unwelcome she is, she’ll leave.”
    “But Daddy wants her here, Cassie.”
    “He’s … just being overly cautious now. It’s absolutely the wrong tactic. He’s still babying Mother. She won’t get stronger if she has a crutch like that hanging around.”
    “He’ll be upset at us,” I warned.
    She thought a moment and then smiled. “You’re right. Forget what I just said. You can be nice to her. Don’t worry. Just follow my lead,” she said, and went to her room.
    Forget what she just said? I had no idea what she meant by following her lead. Confused, I went to my room to change. Afterward, I wondered if I should go down to see what Mrs. Bledsoe needed, as I had promised Daddy, or wait for Cassie. What did Cassie want me to do? I stepped out of my room and looked across the hallway. Her door was open. I went to it, expecting to see her, but she wasn’t there. She wasn’t in her bathroom, either.
    When I came out and started toward the stairway, I heard a door open and close and saw Cassie come out of the guest room Mrs. Bledsoe was using.

    “What were you doing in there?” I asked.
    She looked at Mother’s bedroom door and brought her finger to her lips, waiting to get closer to me before whispering, “I wanted to be sure everything was all right with the guest room. Daddy just assigned her the room without checking to be sure she has everything she needs in the bathroom. We haven’t had anyone use that room for some time.”
    “Oh,” I said, surprised that she was concerned for Mrs. Bledsoe now.
    She saw it in my face. “This is the Heavenstone house, Semantha. We don’t run a third-rate boardinghouse.”
    “I know.” I looked toward Mother’s bedroom.
    “I checked on her. Don’t worry.”
    “She was awake?”
    “She was for an instant but fell back to sleep.”
    “I thought we weren’t supposed to go in.”
    “No one tells me when I can and can’t see my mother. She’s groggy, so for now, we’ll let her sleep. Let’s go down and see what we can do to help Mrs. Bledsoe in the kitchen,” she said.
    “Help?” I wanted to be sure I heard right, that Cassie really did have a change of heart and maybe was beginning to see things Daddy’s way.
    She paused and turned back to me. “There are ways to help, and there are ways to help, Semantha,” she replied, and continued to the stairway.
    What did that mean? Why must Cassie speak in riddles? I followed her down. Mrs. Bledsoe was in the kitchen, obviously searching for things. She was squatting by one of the lower cabinets and was takenby surprise when she turned and saw Cassie and me standing in the doorway, watching her silently. It flustered her for a moment, and she dropped a pan.
    “Oh.”
    “Let us help you, Mrs. Bledsoe,” Cassie said in a sweet, soft change of voice that surely would make anyone wonder if she was schizophrenic. “I’m sorry we got off on the wrong foot before. We do want to be cooperative for Mother’s sake.”
    “Oh, thank you, dear. I was looking for a blender.”
    Cassie nodded to me, and I stepped into the kitchen and retrieved the blender from one of the lower cabinets.
    “What are you