Heavenstone 02 - Secret Whispers

wounded heart. Denying what Cassie had done, ignoring it, or searching for a new, more comforting interpretation diminished what had happened to me and to Mother. Daddy was still thinking more about Cassie than he was about us, and especially me now, even after all that had happened. But what was I to do about it? It made me sick even to talk about it, and I didn’t want to get him any angrier at me than he was already. I turned back to him.
    “When are you and Lucille getting married? Next week?” To me, it wasn’t a foolish question. Look at how quickly he had gotten engaged to her.
    His grouchy, old-crumpled-sock face softened into a new smile. “Oh, no, not next week. It’s not going to be something simple and quick. We’re planning a grand wedding that we will hold here on our grounds. She’s already begun a good deal of the work. She won’t do anything shoddy, that’s for sure. She says protocol requires eight weeks normally for the invitations, but we’re planning on taking the honeymoon suite on the Ecstasy Cruise the last week of August, so she’s agreed to what she says is the absolute minimum of six weeks. The invitations will go out in two days.”
    “Two days? So, you already have the invitations and the wedding list made up?”
    He smiled. “You’ll find that Lucille is like me in that regard. When there’s something to do, she goes at it body and soul until it is done and done well. She’s a woman of action and will be quite an asset to the Heaven-stone management. She basically ran her husband’s four car dealerships and after he died worked a very lucrative deal for herself in their sale. She’s not just the daughter of a bank president; she is as capable as a bank president. You’ll learn a great deal from her. And I mean about everything in life.”
    He leaned forward.
    “I won’t say I was any real help to you during your own difficult period, Semantha. You needed the wisdom of a mature woman, and with your mother gone and no one close enough to us to trust, you had to sink or swim on your own. Oh, I got you all the medical and psychological attention I could and sent you to the best private high school I could find, but it would have been much better for you if there had been someone here who could have understood things from a female viewpoint. Well, now there is.” He slapped his palms down on his knees and stood. “I don’t know about you, but I’m very tired, and tomorrow’s another big day. We’re going through some major changes in the Lexington store.”
    He crossed to me and reached for my hand. I stood up, and he hugged me and kissed my cheek.
    “Welcome home, Semantha. I hope your life is much, much better in the days, weeks, months, and years to come.”
    With that, he turned and walked out of the den. I stood there a moment and then sat.
    “Did you ever hear such a crock of crap about any woman?” Cassie muttered. I shook my head. I could feel her standing beside me, looking toward the doorway. “That man has changed. He would never sugarcoat anything. He wasn’t afraid of the truth and would certainly never invent lies to make himself happy. Our ancestors must be squirming in their graves, their bones rattling. I know mine are. That woman must be a witch to have put such a spell on him so quickly. And what about that business with how organized she is? If she ordered the wedding invitations already, she shouldn’t have been surprised by the engagement ring. The whole thing was an act.”
    Yes, I thought, Daddy had changed, and the engagement ring and the announcement did feel like an act put on for my benefit.
    “Of course it was. You certainly can’t trust or like Lucille Bennet. She gave me a bad feeling, a cold feeling, the moment she appeared. I could see it in her eyes when she looked at you. She knows you’re the only thing between her and Daddy, the only person who could in any way get him to deny her something.
    “I bet if you investigated, you’d find out she somehow was responsible for her husband’s heart attack. She’s bad for you, Semantha, and she’ll be very bad for Daddy. It’s up to you to stop her. Stop her!”
    How was I supposed to do that? I’m not you, Cassie, I thought. I’m not going to put sleeping powder into her drink. I rose and started out.
    “You heard him. Mother did it to herself. I was just being cooperative. You heard him!”
    Yeah, right, I thought. Now who’s sugarcoating?
    I walked away quickly and