Heavenstone 02 - Secret Whispers

with the list of magazines I know girls my age read.”
    “Thanks, Sam. Have a great night tonight,” he said. “I love you very much and want you to be happy.”
    Tears came to my eyes. I thanked him and hung up. His call was just the right medicine, however. My enthusiasm and excitement came galloping back. I was up and at it again, rushing about the house until Mrs. Dobson gently suggested that I might want to freshen up. It was nearly three!
    I ran up to my room and did just that. Then I went to my window and watched our front gate.When people are nervous, they claim that they feel butterflies in their stomach. To me it felt as if I had swallowed a bag full of marbles and they were all rolling about.
    When I saw the gate opening and a strange car coming through, I gasped and for a moment couldn’t move. Then I shot out and down the stairs so quickly I nearly twisted my ankle on the last steps. I heard Mrs. Dobson’s laughter but kept going, opened the front door, and rushed to the steps of our portico. Ethan pulled in behind my car and got out slowly. He was wearing a thin yellow cotton short-sleeved shirt and jeans. He wasn’t gaping at everything stupidly, but it was obvious he was quite overcome, and he turned slowly to look at it all. Finally, he noticed me standing there and laughed.
    “Hi!” he cried, walking toward me.
    I came down the steps slowly. I didn’t speak. He smiled, and then he just kissed me as if we were in the last scene of a romantic movie, the kiss long and warm.
    “You look great,” he said. Then he laughed again. “What happened? Did you lose your voice?”
    “I can’t believe you’re really here.”
    He nodded, looked up at the house, and said, “Neither can I. I guess you weren’t exaggerating about any of this. It’s like a palace or something.”
    “It’s just where I live,” I said.
    “Well, something tells me it’s a little better than the motel I was thinking of checking into when I arrived. But I like the way you put it,” he added. “Let me get my bag.”
    I followed him back to the rental car. He took out his suitcase and paused to look at my car.
    “This is an Aston Martin,” he said. “Someone else visiting?”
    “No, this is my car. It was my graduation gift.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    “Don’t make a big thing of it,” I said, pretending to be annoyed. “You’re driving it tomorrow. We’re going to Lexington to visit the store and have lunch with my uncle and dinner with my father and Lucille.”
    “Well, I’ll cancel my appointment with the president in that case.”
    “You’d better,” I quipped. He laughed and put his arm around my shoulders as I led him up the steps and into the Heaven-stone mansion.
    I didn’t notice it until after I had introduced him to Mrs. Dobson and Doris and after I had shown him his room, but it was something I had been feeling all day.
    Or, rather, something I had not been feeling.
    Cassie was gone.
    And in my heart, I harbored the hope that it was forever.

Arrival
    I T WAS M RS. D OBSON who told me, “For goodness’ sake, let the young man catch his breath, Miss Semantha.”
    I had immediately been dragging him through the house and was about to show him the grounds as well. She leaned over to add in a whisper, “He hasn’t even unpacked.”
    Ethan laughed, but I realized I was overdoing it and insisted he march back up to his room and get his things out of his suitcase.
    “Just leave anything on the bed that needs ironing,” Mrs. Dobson called after us as we started back up the stairs. “Doris will stop by in an hour.”
    “You always live with this sort of service?” Ethan asked as we turned to go to his room.
    “No. Before my mother passed away, we all worked on keeping the house and our things in order. Cassie was probably the best at it and the most dedicated. Despite the size of this house, my mother wanted to be in charge of its maintenance. It was a lot of work, but she wasn’t at all involved in the Heaven-stone business, and she enjoyed our privacy, our intimacy.”
    “I’m sure that was hard to do, considering how famous your family is in the state. She must have been quite a woman.”
    “She was,” I said. “And she was very beautiful. I’ll show you albums and pictures later, unless Mrs. Dobson thinks I’m overwhelming you again.”
    He laughed and pulled me closer to him. “I like it when you overwhelm me, Semantha. Don’t stop,” he said, and kissed my cheek.
    “My