She Waits (20 page)

That left the four of us. Before Maggie opened the book, Teri explained to Hannah what she thought. Hannah sat there, wide-eyed, listening.

"You think the woman in the woods is Miranda?" Hannah asked.

I laughed inwardly at her incredulous tone.
My sentiments exactly.

Teri thought for a moment before she spoke. "I don't think that is too far fetched at all. However, since I arrived, and heard about what has happened, I admit I've had a feeling of some presence around me. When our mother died, Kate and I felt the same thing. It is a strange feeling. You don't know if it's happening, or your mind and heart are wishing so hard, and missing them so terribly that you think they're there. I will tell you, whether it happens or not, it is a comforting feeling. I truly believe the deceased are allowed to hang around for whatever reason," Teri finished.

Maggie and Hannah looked at me. I shrugged. "I believe anything is possible. The whole idea spooks me, though."

"Now, Kate and Maggie, what exactly did this woman look like, please tell me again," Teri said.

"Well, I didn't see much of her, but she was in a white summer dress and she had long dark hair. I never saw her face--she was hidden by the trees and vanished when we started after her," Maggie said and looked at me.

"I saw pretty much the same, though I remember her hair. The dress was white and sleeveless, like a summer dress, and her hair was long and ..."

I looked at Maggie for a moment.

"Like yours: beautiful, long and wavy," I said and continued to look at Maggie, who smiled and gave me a raised eyebrow. I blinked a couple times. "B-But darker," I said.

Hannah's face was ashen. She took the album from Maggie.

"What's wrong?" I asked, panicking just a little.

Hannah leafed through a couple of pages, and stopped at one page. She looked at Maggie and put the album in front of me.

There was a picture of the woman. She was wearing a white summer dress. Her auburn hair looked like it was blowing in the wind. Her arms were folded in front of her as she stared off at nothing. With the woods behind her, she stood by a huge oak tree. She appeared to be in her mid thirties and a looked great deal like Maggie. I stared at the picture and looked up at Maggie. Both she and Hannah had tears in their eyes. I showed the picture to Teri, who didn't seem at all surprised.

"This is the woman in the woods. Is this your mother?" I asked.

Maggie nodded, but Hannah spoke. "It was taken a few days before her death. We all walked around to the other side of the lake that day and had an end-of-the-summer picnic, Miranda's idea. We took that picture when we were down at the lake. I've always loved it. She looks so far away, but happy." Hannah smiled as she looked at the picture.

Suddenly, a light fragrance wafted my way. I sniffed and turned to Teri.

"Do you smell it?"

Teri nodded. "It's the same scent as in the library."

Hannah shivered. "What happened in the library? What is that?" She hesitantly sniffed the air.

I briefly explained what had happened. "It is the same." I looked at Maggie who agreed.

The fragrance was getting a little stronger. We all sat there, stupidly smelling the air.

"I think it's lilacs or something," Teri said.

I nodded. "Like honeysuckle, sort of sweet."

Maggie shook her head, "No, it's not that sweet. God, what is it and where in the world is it coming from?" She looked around the kitchen.

Hannah looked at me. "Kate, please tell me that this is not the scent on the intruder." She looked ashen. Maggie put her hand on Hannah's arm.

"Aunt Hannah, what is it?"

I closed my eyes and sniffed again, trying to remember. I shook my head confidently. "No. No, this is not the smell. That perfume was heavy, the kind that makes you sneeze. I believe Sarah was wearing it tonight, but I don't think she was the only one." I remembered the small group of women at the party. I sniffed and smiled. "This is almost a clean..."

Teri interrupted me. "A spring-time smell. I'm telling you it
is
lilacs," she insisted.

Hannah looked at Maggie. "Hyacinth," was all she said.

Maggie now lost all color in her face.

I looked at Teri who was studying both faces. She appeared to understand. I'm glad someone did.

"Okay, what is it?" I asked impatiently, the fragrance filling the room now. I was getting the creeps. Where was this coming from?

"When Maggie was a little girl, about six or so, Miranda and she planted purple and white hyacinths around the house. They spent the weekend laughing and planting."

"I barely remember, but I was happy and I remember my mother laughing as we planted. When we were finished, she said, 'They'll come up every spring and we'll watch them together.' I remember now." She stared at the picture. "We watched them come up, every spring. We would sit at this table with the window opened and the smell of hyacinth filling the kitchen. I remember sitting here, as a little girl, watching Mom make breakfast, humming and laughing."

Hannah smiled and took Maggie's hand, saying nothing.

"Well, we're not imagining this. We all smell the hyacinth." Teri smiled affectionately at Maggie and Hannah. Teri was so calm. I was so... not.

Maggie took out my overworked hanky, dried her eyes, and looked at the picture again. "I have felt several times in my life that my mother was near. I feel that now. I know it sounds stupid, but I do."

"Maggie, it's not stupid. I have several friends who have experienced the same thing that we are right now. I don't know why it happens, but I believe Miranda is here," Teri said softly.

"This is almost too much for me." Hannah sighed.

"Me too, Hannah," I said as I shivered.

"I do remember when dad took this picture, though," Maggie said.

"Margaret, your father wasn't there that day, honey. Don't you remember, he was in Chicago and didn't make it home?" Hannah asked.

Maggie frowned at her. "Of course it was Father." She looked around the room, confused. "It was a long time ago. But, who took the picture?" She looked at Hannah.

"It was your uncle, sweetie. He and I were standing by the shore remember? And he said Miranda looked beautiful and took the picture."

I sat there for a moment and looked at Teri. I could tell by her look she was thinking of something.

"Do you have a picture of your dad?" I asked casually.

Maggie seemed confused as she leafed through the pages and I looked at a man who was handsome, tall with lighter colored hair than Maggie. He looked... I don't know. I couldn't put my finger on it. There was a family resemblance between him and Nathan and Hannah.

I leafed through the pages. There were pictures of all family members: Charlie and Maggie when they were kids, the aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers as grown-ups and when they were younger.

Then I recognized the picture of Nathan. He sat with Maggie on his knee; they were smiling at each other.

"This was the picture of the two of them in the locket," I said and looked at Maggie. "When was this picture taken?"

Maggie looked at the picture. "I was six I think. It was a party like this. I used to love to sit on Uncle Nathan's lap. Doc too, I felt safe. Like a grandfather, you know?" She looked at me and Teri with tears in her eyes, and Teri smiled at her affectionately and nodded.

"The same year you planted the hyacinth?" I asked.

Maggie thought for a moment. "Yes, I think it was."

Something was here--this was a piece of the puzzle, I could feel it.

They sat in silence. I looked at all the photos in the album; I leafed through them, back and forth.

As a photographer, I don't think of the people in the picture but, instead, of who was taking the picture. All of the pictures of Maggie had Nathan or Hannah in them. I never saw her sitting on her father's lap. I never saw Miranda with Jonathan. Never saw the three of them together, happy and smiling, as Maggie was when she was sitting on her uncle's or Doc's lap. Who was taking these pictures? I could only think of Miranda taking pictures of the people she loved.

I knew what a photograph was worth; it stopped time. For an instant, it made the impossible, possible. Take a moment and freeze it in time. Take a picture of the man you love, with your daughter on his knee and put it forever in a locket, wear it around your neck and close to your heart.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Too many loose ends, I thought. I needed a common thread to pull it together. Then I remembered my common thread was all the secrets in the Winfield family.

Poor Hannah was still looking a little frazzled over the picture of Miranda.

"So, you think Miranda was in the woods?" she asked staring out the window.

"I wasn't completely sure until I saw that picture. Now, yes Hannah, I do," I said gently. I reached over and held her hand tight for a moment.

"I think I feel good that she is here, looking out for Maggie," Hannah said.

All at once, she started crying. Maggie put her arm around her and they both quietly cried for a minute or two.
These Winfield women can turn on the water works.
I handed each of them a napkin.

I looked at Teri and she, too, had tears in her eyes. Soon we were all sitting there either crying or tearing.

I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes. "Okay, if we don't quit, we'll flood the kitchen."

We all laughed and took a few deep breaths. We all noticed the fragrance of hyacinth fading. I got a little sad, it was comforting, in a way. In another way, it scared the crap out of me.

"Well, let's go to bed, for heaven's sake." Hannah got up slowly. She looked exhausted.

It was almost two in the morning and I was more tired than I thought. My shoulder ached wildly and, when I yawned, I thought my jaw would crack.

"Kate you looked absolutely done in. Go to bed. Goodnight," Hannah ordered.

"I'm going to check the doors and windows," I said and Teri and Maggie followed me. "I'm just going to check the cellar door. I'll be right back."

"Oh no, you don't. I'm coming too," Maggie said and I grunted.

Teri declined graciously and went off the bed. As she was leaving, she gave me that look again and I nodded my understanding. I'd see her before I went to bed.

Maggie followed me down the cellar stairs.

It was a bit creepy. I didn't like cellars. As we descended into the darkness, the musty, damp smell transported me back to that other dark cellar years ago. I begged the gods above as I desperately fought the vision and the wave of nausea that always accompanied it.

Lying face down in a pool of blood, I couldn't move. Through my haze, I heard gunshots. I opened my eyes to see her lying beside me, a mirror image; her lifeless eyes staring at me as if looking into my soul.

I stopped and ran my hand across my eyes. The vision, having it done its damage, vanished. I stood at the bottom of the stairs and realized Maggie was holding the back of my shirt.

"Okay, all clear, let's go," she said in a hurry.

"Will you let go of my shirt? You're panicking me, woman." I slapped at her hand. "Let me check the door, then we're done."

I walked up the four or five steps to the cellar door and gave it a confident tug. To my surprise and horror, the latch was open, the door was unlocked, and it flew open and out of my hand.

Maggie suppressed a scream. I did not.

I pulled the door closed, slammed the latch and shivered violently. "Dammit, who the hell opened that door? Did the caterers have to use this door at all?"

"No, no reason for them to use it," Maggie said, shaking her head quickly.

"What happened when you and Allison came down here?"

"Just what do you mean?" She frowned indignantly.

"Did you leave her alone down here at all?"

"Oh. No, we picked up four or five bottles of wine and we left, together," she said.

"Well, it's locked now. Let's go to bed. This place gives me the creeps."

Still unnerved about the cellar door, I rechecked all the doors and windows downstairs. I left a small light on in the kitchen and another in the living room. Maggie followed me around like a shadow.

"Good grief child, go to bed."

"Don't call me a child and I'm not leaving you down here alone. You'll probably trip over something and break a leg." She smiled sweetly.

"Very amusing, I see you've been talking to Teri. I knew it was a mistake to bring them here."

"Well, we did have a very pleasant talk this evening."

"Really? About what?" I asked absently. I stole a glance her way then checked the French doors.

"Nothing. Just that she and Mac love you and they think you spend too much time alone at this log cabin you keep talking about," she said casually. "You must like your solitude."

Mental note: Strangle sister.
"There's a lot to be said for being a recluse."

"She also said you were reticent."

"There's a lot to be said for that, too. Now, you missed your calling. You should have been a psychiatrist. I could have used you a few years ago."

"I wish I knew you then," Maggie said quietly and walked upstairs, leaving me with nothing to do but follow her.

I stood in the doorway of my room and saw my faithful cur, sound asleep on my bed. Chance lifted her head and let out a yawn.

"Oh, go back to sleep, you lazy mutt."

We stopped at Maggie's door. "I'd like to check you room, if you don't mind."

"No, help yourself." She opened her door and I went in and checked the closet and windows, then the bathroom.

"All clear?" She smiled.

"Go to bed. Goodnight," I said lazily and yawned.

"You need a good night's sleep, Kate."

"No, I am not taking any more witches' brew."

For an instant, we stood there looking at each other. I found myself mesmerized as I looked down into her blue eyes; they sparkled wildly. Then I stepped back into the hall.

"Well, um, have a good sleep," I said.

"Good night," she said and closed her door.

I walked over and knocked on Teri's door. She immediately opened it and I jumped. Teri laughed as she pulled me inside.