Страница 43 из 64
“I didn’t know they’d be here so early,” Cora Lee said, picking up Kit and holding her, watching a flatbed truck as it backed carefully up the far side of the drive. It parked well away from Eleanor’s squad car. The forklift ambled between them, to the garage door; and when the two women and the child headed downstairs, Eleanor holding the little girl’s hand, Kit padded down behind them and out the front door.
She paused on the front porch, watching Eleanor’s squad car pull away, and Cora Lee and the truck driver disappear into the garage. The driver was a big, bald, sad-faced man who resembled a grieving bloodhound.
In a moment the garage door rumbled open to reveal the bright, many-colored playhouse that nearly filled the interior. Lori and Dillon stood talking with the driver, both girls gesturing and looking as anxious, Kit thought, as two mother cats protecting their kittens.
But soon, under the girls’ hands-on direction, the truck driver and the ski
Kit watched, hiding a smile, as Lori and Dillon shepherded every move, Dillon’s short red hair rumpled every which way, her old blue T-shirt torn and stained. Lori’s long dark ponytail had come loose from its ribbon and hung in a tangle, and her own T-shirt was stained with red and green paint.
The girls might look scruffy, Kit thought, but their finished creation shone perfectly groomed and impressive. They were so excited about the contest, and so afraid some accident would mar their work, that they gripped each other’s hands, white-knuckled as each piece was loaded onto the flatbed. Kit could see, inside Cora Lee’s car, where the bright turquoise and blue and red floor pads waited, along with the rope ladder neatly piled on top.
The two men were tying padding around the three sections when Do
“We’re going to have some pie and milk first,” Cora Lee said. “The girls need fuel before they get to work putting the house back together.” She put her arm around Do
She looked at Lori, who was fidgeting to get started. “We’ll be up there, Lori, by the time the truck is in place. The men will have to wait in line at the gate and be directed in, and there’ll be a mob waiting.”
“We’ll be in, in a minute,” Lori said, “as soon as they’re finished tying down.”
“Sometimes,” Cora Lee said as she and Do
“And yet,” he said, “we’re the same people. We’re the same two kids we were. Only the packaging is different.”
Cora Lee laughed. “A bit frayed around the edges?”
Kit padded into the kitchen behind them, watching Cora Lee set out the pie and begin to cut it, while Do
“You’re proud of the girls,” he said.
“They’ve worked hard on this project, and with such excitement. They did a huge amount of library research into architectural styles, surveyed every kind of structure and style from French Country to African huts to those Dutch-influenced hex-sign details from the Caribbean-and put it all together in their own way.”
“Including the hex signs,” he said. “I like that.” The hex signs were no more than big, primary shapes-triangles, circles, rectangles-painted on the shutters and walls in bright, contrasting colors.
“I so hope the girls will win,” Cora Lee said. “But whether they win or not, they should realize a nice profit. That money would give Lori a leg up for college, with her father in prison. And Dillon…her folks can pay for college, but she wants to contribute as much as she can. Dillon has come a long way since the bad time she had when her parents nearly divorced.”
“I understand a lot of credit goes to the police chief?”
Cora Lee nodded as she dished up the pie. “Teaching her to ride and handle horses, to be responsible for an animal, that has steadied her. As has Ryan’s training.”
“Ryan Fla
“Ryan hired Dillon as a carpenter’s gofer and then helper. She had to get special permission from the school. Between the two experiences, Dillon’s a different person now, much more sure of herself and what she can do. Much more responsible.” She changed the subject when they heard the girls coming.
“We read the Cajun Night Before Christmas, today,” she told him. “Do you know the book? We were grown, when it came out. But it was so like the Christmas stories that your dad used to tell.”
Do
Cora Lee laughed. “No, to the little girl who was found in the plaza. Where the murder was reported. An officer brought her up to visit-they just left. I’m sorry you weren’t here, you’d love her. She’s so solemn, and so hurt, Do
“But maybe later. I’m sure one of the officers will bring her back.” She looked up when Lori and Dillon came in, and asked Lori to give Kit some milk and a few crumbs of gingerbread.
“Those were happy times,” she said to Do
Do
He answered, listened; then, “I’ll take it in Gabrielle’s study,” he said. “Would you hang up for me? The co
Gabrielle’s bedroom and sewing room/study were just across the hall from the kitchen. Cora Lee waited until she heard him pick up. When she heard his voice, she reached to hang up. Do
Or maybe he was talking about her, because she had rehearsals and then the concert. But who would he be talking to, about her? She wished she’d had the nerve to listen to the rest of the conversation-if the girls hadn’t been there, she might have. Something in Do
But then, seeing the girls’ impatience, and that they’d hastily finished their milk and pie, she called to Do
Opening the front door, she was startled at the brush of fur across her ankle, but then she smiled as the tortoiseshell kit raced past her and up a pine tree. As the girls headed for the car, Cora Lee stood a moment watching the kit vanish across the rooftops, delighting in the cat’s bright and eager nature, and wondering where she was headed. She’s such a strange little cat, Cora Lee thought. So inquisitive and so wildly impulsive.