down the stairs during the night. I had gone to my door and listened harder and heard Cassie, too. She sounded very pleasant and concerned for her. Mrs. Bledsoe kept thanking her.
“I’m bringing Daddy and Mother’s breakfast up to them,” Cassie told me. “Everything you need for your breakfast is right here on the counter.”
“Does Mother know about Mrs. Bledsoe?”
“Daddy told her last night. She wasn’t very upset about it. I knew she wasn’t fond of having her. I can see a change in her already.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Being under that added tension only harmed her recuperation. It was too stressful. Hurry and eat, and then go up to say good-bye for the day. You have to make the bus, Semantha, and the clock doesn’t wait for anyone,” she added, which was one of Daddy’s favorite expressions.
She fixed the tray and left. What Cassie had done to Mrs. Bledsoe frightened me, but, like her, I did feel things were more normal in our home. Because we had never had sleep-in help or even part-time house help as long as I could remember, we were closer than most wealthy families who had servants. Perhaps Mother was right about that. Whenever something made one of us unhappy, the rest of us felt it and reacted and were not ashamed to show it. There was no one here to make us feel embarrassed about our emotions, and nothing about our personal lives could become fodder for gossip.
After school and on weekends, when Daddy, Cassie, and I were here with Mother, our house was more like a protective cocoon. Thinking about all of that now convinced me that Cassie was right when she said there was something special about us, about the Heavenstones. We were like four parts of one person. No family members felt the blood of their ancestors running through their veins as much as we did and only because we were in this great house, this monument to our heritage. When I was younger, I believed I saw different expressions on the faces of our ancestors. I’d glance at a portrait and think, she just smiled at me or winked at me. The house and all that was in it was as alive as we were. It wasn’t something I would tell anyone else, but I still had those feelings.
I thought about this as I ate my breakfast, and it had the effect of calming me. Things were tumbling back to the way they had been. It was as if the past months had been erased. It was like the day before Daddy had announced Mother’s pregnancy at dinner. Happy and energetic again, I hurried up to Mother and Daddy’s bedroom. Cassie hadn’t come down. Daddy, already dressed in his light-blue suit and tie, was standing by the window sipping some coffee. Mother was sitting up, and Cassie was standing by her bed, overseeing everything and looking as if she was in total charge.
“As you can see,” she said the moment I entered, “unlike yesterday, Mother has eaten most of her eggs this morning.” She nodded at Mother’s nearly empty dish. “Mrs. Bledsoe might be a good nurse, but she’s certainly no cook.”
“What a dreadful thing to happen,” Mother said when I kissed her good morning. “That poor woman.”
“It’s a wonder more medical personnel don’t get sick, being around so many infected people. More people get sick in hospitals than out of them,” Cassie said, and Daddy nodded.
“Still, I’m not happy about your missing so much school, Cassie,” Daddy told her.
“Don’t you spend a second worrying about that, Daddy. I’ll arrange for Semantha to pick up my work. I usually do the week’s work in one day, anyway. Mother,” she added, looking at her, “shouldn’t need more than a few more days, and then she’ll be on her feet again.”
“We’ll see what Dr. Moffet says. He’ll be upset about Mrs. Bledsoe and want me to hire someone new.”
“Once he stops by and sees how well I’m taking care of her, he’ll change his mind, Daddy,” Cassie insisted. “I can make sure she’s well fed, much better fed, and rested and takes her medications just as well as Mrs. Beldsoe could. We already see how Mother likes my cooking better.”
Daddy shook his head and smiled. “What am I to do with such a daughter, Arianna?”
Mother forced a small, short smile and then took a deep breath. “That’s all I can eat, honey,” she told Cassie.
“One more bite, Mother, and please finish your juice. As Mrs. Bledsoe would say, you need your vitamin C if you want to get well faster.”
Mother smiled a real smile this time. In fact, it was the best smile I had seen on her face since she had gone to the hospital.
“Now I know what an ogre you girls thought I was when I would pester you to finish when you girls were sick,” she said.
Daddy laughed. “Cassie did sound like you for a moment there. I’m off, gang. Final preparations for the gala opening. I’ll call you as soon as I hear from Dr. Moffet, Arianna,” he said, and leaned down to kiss her. For a moment, they just looked at each other. I saw how Mother’s lips were starting to tremble. “Now, don’t keep thinking about it,” he whispered. He held her against him. Her whole body shuddered.
I looked at Cassie. She seemed disgusted, shook her head, picked up the tray, and started out. “You’d better get moving. You’ll miss the bus,” she told me.
Daddy seemed unable to release Mother. He held her against him so long it brought tears to my eyes. He didn’t let her go until I said, “I’m off.”
I rushed to kiss Mother good-bye and then hurried out after Cassie. She was still descending the stairs and waited for me to catch up.
“I can’t help crying every time I look at them, Cassie.”
“Cry if you want to, but do it in private. One more mourner in this house, and we’ll be able to register as a funeral home.” She paused on the stairs. “I’ll have my teachers send my work to the office. You’ll have to speak to that horrible Mrs. Whitman. She can be very nosy, so if she asks you anything, just stare at her without answering and leave.”
“Can you really miss all this work in school?”
At the bottom of the stairs, she paused. “I’ll tell you a secret, Semantha, and you know how I feel about keeping our secrets.”
I nodded.