of counseling the broken and abused, it seemed to him that few escaped youth unscarred.
He had a few scars himself. His mother had been warm and loving, and his sisters were great, as were his aunts and cousins and the rest of his extended family, but his own father hadn't been a winner. The man had been a philanderer with a violent temper. The best thing he'd done for his family was abandon it while Greg was still young, but it had left him to be the little man of the house. He'd grown up being told over and over that he was "the only good man out there." It was a lot of weight for a boy to bear, and probably part of the reason he was still single. He didn't want to go from being the "only good one out there" in his mother's and sisters' eyes, to one of the bad ones should he mess up.
Greg's thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the bedroom door opened again. Lifting his head, he peered at the woman entering, the brunette in the red baby doll. She eased the door cautiously closed, then released a pent-up breath of apparent relief at arriving in the room undiscovered. Turning from the door, she approached the bed.
"Oh good, you're awake," she whispered, pasting a bright smile to her lips.
Greg raised an eyebrow, wondering what was coming as she paused and settled herself on the edge of the bed to eye him pensively.
"Everyone thinks I've gone to the lavatory, but instead I snuck up here to see you," she explained, then added, "I'm Elspeth, and I wanted to talk to you about my cousin Lissianna."
"Ah." Greg nodded, doing his best not to gape at all the pale ivory flesh exposed by her skimpy nightwear. It would seem rude if he were to ogle her, he was sure.
"I gather Aunt Marguerite brought you here to treat Lissianna, but Lissi seems to think you'll be so annoyed at Aunt Marguerite's high-handed tactics, that you'll refuse to help her, and she really, really needs your help." Elspeth paused expectantly.
"I see," Greg murmured, to fill the silence, but when she continued to simply stare at him with quiet expectation, he asked, "What exactly is Lissianna's phobia?"
The brunette blinked in surprise. "You mean no one has told you?"
He shook his head.
"Oh." She bit her lip. "Well, perhaps I shouldn't tell you then. I mean, Lissianna claims she can't read your mind, but Aunt Marguerite apparently can, and if she reads that you know what the phobia is when she hasn't told you, she might go looking for how you know and realize I snuck up here to—" Her eyes widened in sudden horror, and she stood abruptly. "Damn! She might be able to read that I came up here anyway."
Greg simply stared. Lissianna had mentioned something about not being able to read his mind the first time she'd been in the room, now this woman was going on about it. What was the matter with these people? Surely they didn't really think they could read minds?
Of course they did, he realized as he recalled that the mother had actually done so. Perhaps psychic abilities run in the family, he supposed. How fascinating.
"Oh look, I'd better go." The brunette was all in a tizzy now. "But please try to forget I was here. Just—Won't you please help Lissianna? She's really sweet and nice and funny and smart, and this phobia has been such a burden. You really should help her. You'd like her, too, if you got to know her, and if you helped her you'd get the chance to know her," she said, backing toward the door. "Now, just forget I was here and try not to think about it when Aunt Marguerite comes to see you in the morning, okay?"
Elspeth didn't wait for an answer, but opened the door, stuck her head out to see if the coast was clear, then gave him a little wave and slid out of the room.
Greg gave his head a shake and let it drop back on the bed. He felt like he'd entered an episode of The Twilight Zone, and one he hadn't seen before.
Treat Lissianna? They all needed treatment, he thought, then stiffened as he heard the door open again. This time he didn't raise his head to peer toward the sound, but waited, eyes closed and listening to the hushed whispers as the door was eased closed and