I’m not going to sit in the library and drink hot chocolate with the old folks like I’m ninety-five years old.”
Lily didn’t try to suppress her laughter. “That’s fine. I might not go, myself. I’m growing old fast, but not that old.”
“It was more fun when Cee Cee and I stayed up late drinking hot chocolate by ourselves in that cool library.”
Lily’s instincts went on full alert. “When was this?” Her daughter paled. “Was it after the party?”
“What’s the big deal? We sneaked back down there in our pajamas because Cee Cee loves all those books, and Stephen told Lurch to make sure we had plenty of hot chocolate and popcorn.”
“Graden?” Her daughter nodded again. “Is there anything else about that night you forgot to tell me? Every little detail could be important.”
“Mom! I told you everything. We went to bed about two thirty, and the next morning she was just gone.” Annabelle looked close to tears, and Lily hugged her close.
“I know, I know. It’s okay. I’m grasping at straws. That’s all. Don’t worry. We’ll find her. “
She kissed her daughter on the cheek then climbed back into her Jeep and drove to Stephen’s office complex. She had to tell him that Graden was possibly the last person besides Annabelle who saw Cee Cee, and she needed to find out exactly how Graden had risen to such a position of authority at Allistair Manor considering his criminal record.
She parked her Jeep and entered the office.
“Is Stephen here?”
“Yes.” Glenda Jane glared at her then reached up to adjust her black wig, which had tilted over her left eye. “But you can’t go back.”
“What do you mean? I can’t go back?”
“Boss’s orders. He said nobody was to disturb him.”
“Is he with a client?” Glenda Jane shook her head. “In a business meeting or on a call?” Another shake of the head. “Then I’m sure he didn’t mean me.”
Lily started down the hall, but the assistant actually blocked her way. “He said nobody.”
“Are you kidding me?” The phone in her pocket rang, and she wanted to climb the wall backward. She didn’t have time for this, for any of it.
“I specifically asked about you, and Mr. Allistair specifically told me nobody is to disturb him. That includes you.”
Lily’s face blazed with embarrassment, humiliation, and a deep anger she hadn’t known she was capable of feeling until the frightful woman who haunted the kitchen garden stood between her and her fiancé.
She squelched the urge to shout, I specifically want you to get out of my way. But she wasn’t about to argue with Glenda Jane. What she had to say, she would say to Stephen’s face. And it would not be charming or lady-like or any of the other virtues she’d belatedly learned he treasured in a woman.
As she drove off, she wished she’d renewed her lease instead of moving into Allistair Manor. She wished she had heeded her own inner voice and dated Stephen long enough to really know him before she committed herself to a marriage that at this point seemed ill-advised and doomed to failure.
Given her current mood, the mere sight of the blue front door of the manor depressed her. Graden opened the door as if he’d been expecting her. Was that a smirk on his face? Had Stephen overheard her conversation with Glenda Jane and called the house to make sure Graden was at the front to witness her banishment to the manor?
“Shall I get you some tea?” he asked.
She started to snap at him that she wouldn’t drink his tea if her insides were on fire and he had the only cup in the world.
How childish.
“Yes.” She didn’t bother to say thank you. Gracious moods were for the woman she’d been before she moved into Allistair Manor. “Bring it to my room, and bring a ham sandwich, too.”
She didn’t say please, either. She marched off with her head high, as if she owned the whole place. She would, too, when she married.
If she married.
Lily stormed into her room, slammed the door, and called the detective to report what Annabelle had told her about Graden. Though she’d missed two phone messages from the painter who was going to redo their bedroom, she didn’t immediately return his call. Instead, she went online in a desperate search for marital advice. As she powered up her laptop, the irony of their bedroom didn’t escape her.
FamilySecrets.Life
What do you do if you change your mind before the wedding? Is it cold feet? Is