Heavenstone 02 - Secret Whispers

“I had partied so much the night before that I nearly fell asleep on the stage.”
    “Then how can you say you’ll never forget it? How do you remember anything about it?” Cassie urged me to ask.
    “Well, I hope we have time for some lunch,” Daddy said, looking at his watch. “What time do you have to be in the auditorium?”
    “Three-thirty.”
    “That gives us a few hours. Know somewhere nice not too far away?” he asked.
    I thought of the coffee and sandwich shop Ethan had taken me to just last week and nodded.
    “Wasn’t there someone you wanted us to meet?” Uncle Perry asked with an impish grin.
    “I was hoping he’d be here early, but he had an urgent family matter, and I’m not sure if he’s going to make it,” I said.
    “Too bad, but you have me,” Uncle Perry added, offering his arm.
    “Should we put her things in the limousine now, Teddy?” Lucille asked. “To save time?”
    “Good idea. Let’s do that, Semantha,” he said.
    I glanced at Lucille and saw how pleased she was to have her suggestion followed. I led them back to my room. Some of the other girls looked with interest at my family. None of them had much to do with me after Ellie and the others were expelled, so I didn’t introduce anyone to my father. They turned away quickly anyway, showing me their backs and acting more interested in themselves. Actually, they weren’t acting.
    “Sorry you had such an unpleasant finish to your school years,” Lucille commented, looking toward the other girls. “I can only imagine how difficult it was for you to have a roommate like that.”
    “What doesn’t Daddy tell her?” Cassie whispered.
    I said nothing and continued leading them to my room.
    “How nice,” Lucille said. “I can tell you this is head and shoulders above what I had at my finishing school.”
    “We paid enough for it,” Daddy told her. “One year here is equivalent to my whole college education, and that’s not just because of inflation.”
    “She deserves it,” Lucille said, smiling at me.
    “Oh, brother, give me a break,” Cassie whispered. “She probably slides instead of walks half the time.”
    I put a few more things into my carry-on bag. Uncle Perry went for my two suitcases, and I took one last look through the closets and dresser drawers. When I looked into the bathroom cabinet, I saw the birthday candle. I stared at it a moment and then closed the cabinet.
    Lucille came up behind me. It was as if she didn’t want to miss a thing I did.
    “Have everything?”
    “Yes,” I said quickly. Had she seen the candle?
    “Despite how cozy and well furnished this is,” she said, “if you’re anything like me, I’m sure you don’t regret leaving.”
    “I’m looking forward to going home.”
    “Have you thought about what you want to do next?” she asked as we walked down the corridor to the lobby.
    “No,” I told her.
    “If you had, you wouldn’t tell her before you told Daddy and Uncle Perry anyway ,” Cassie whispered. “What nerve!”
    Lucille slipped her arm through my father’s and said, “Young people today take so much longer to settle down than we did.”
    “That’s because we were always in a rush,” Uncle Perry offered.
    “I wouldn’t call it a rush, Perry. I’d call it a sense of responsibility, ambition.”
    “Semantha is one of the most responsible young women I know,” he said. “I’d trust her with the keys to the kingdom any day, hey, Sam?”
    I simply smiled. If I were Cassie, I thought, the keys to the kingdom would fit neatly in my hands, but I doubted I knew more about our business than the average customer.
    “How sweet,” Lucille said. “You have quite a cheerleader in your uncle.”
    “And her father,” Uncle Perry said. “Right, Teddy?”
    “Absolutely. She’s my girl,” Daddy said.
    I hope so, I thought. How I hoped so.
    I anticipated some complaint about the restaurant because it wasn’t anything special, but even Lucille thought it was “delightfully quaint,” whatever that meant. I was surprised at how much control she had over what Daddy wanted to eat. She seemed already to know what agreed with him and what didn’t, what was good for him and what wasn’t.
    “She’s after me to lose the ten pounds Dr. Moffet wants me to lose,” Daddy told me when she advised him not to have the heavy garlic-bread club sandwich and fries. He ended up eating the same salad she ordered. Uncle Perry and I had the hamburgers I told him the