Chapter Thirty-Seven – Expect the Unexpected

Two days after Mandy's abrupt departure from Collinwood, Quentin and Amanda received a call saying that their precious baby girl was perfectly fine, although in the future she may develop some difficulties. Just grateful that their daughter was alive, they went and picked her up from the doctor's.

As Quentin drove up the driveway of Collinwood, Mandy immediately started crying. A concerned look on her face, Amanda started bouncing the baby, trying to quiet her cries; however, Mandy was stubborn, and her cute face became redder and redder as the intensity and volume increased with each passing second.

"What's wrong?" Quentin asked worriedly.

"She's just fussy," Amanda said, trying to quell her own fears. She'd been through this with Jamison; he, however, was not as temperamental. Amanda sighed as she realized that a girl would be fussier than a boy – they have so many more emotions!

Amanda tried to stifle a giggle, but Quentin heard. Unaware of the humor in their baby crying, he asked, "What's so funny?"

"Get used to it, Quentin," Amanda said laughingly, "Mandy's going to be quite the drama queen."

Quentin smirked. "Just like her mother," he said as he kissed his wife's forehead, "Let's get her into the house."

Amanda climbed out of the truck and slammed the door. "Did Shondra say where Mandy's room was?" Amanda asked.

"No," Quentin said thoughtfully, "Maybe she thinks we'll put her in with Jamison."

"Oh," Amanda said, "Do you think Jamison will mind?"

"Look," Quentin said as they started walking towards the forbidding mansion, "If Mandy doesn't have her own room, we'll put her in with us."

Amanda smiled, and, with her free hand, grabbed his. "Of course," she said as Mandy wailed once more. "I can't wait to get her up to her room," Amanda said, "The wind is probably making her more irritated."

"My irritable girls," Quentin joked as he laid his hands on Amanda's shoulders thereby allowing her to walk ahead of him.

Amanda's child-like laugh pierced the roar of the wind. "That's what you get for loving me," Amanda giggled.

Quentin bent down and placed a kiss on Amanda's cheek. "I knew it was too good to be true," Quentin laughed.

Soon, they reached the front door, and opened it to be greeted with silence. Quentin looked at Amanda and shrugged, heading towards the Drawing Room. Opening the double doors, he found no one there, either. "Did they go out?" Amanda asked.

"Without telling us, and with our son?" Quentin replied incredulously. "I hope not."

Another squall from Mandy vibrates off the ancient walls. "Maybe we'd better take Mandy upstairs," Amanda said as she clutched her baby tighter to her breast.

Quentin slung an arm around Amanda's shoulders as they climbed the stairway together. Entering their own room, they found an incredible surprise waiting for them. From the ceiling hung a bowed ribbon saying, "Welcome Back, Mandy!" as well as confetti being thrown by all participants. Everyone in the house was there (excluding the servants). What was more the surprise for Quentin was seeing his aged brother, Edward, sitting in a wheelchair, smiling proudly at his baby niece. Also there was Nora and her husband. In the midst of everything, though, Mandy felt even more uncomfortable, and started crying louder. Over the ruckus, Shondra shouted, "I'll take you to Mandy's room!"

"Ho-ho," Quentin said with raised eyebrows, "A room for Mandy. Who's is it – or should I say who's was it?"

"Just follow me," Shondra said with a mischievous smile.

She led the tiny family out of the room. Before they proceeded down the hall, Amanda felt a tiny tug on her skirt. Looking down, she saw her son with an anxious smile on his face. "Can me an' Gray Spots come, too?"

"Of course, darling," Amanda said warmly.

They walked down a hallway that Quentin knew was quite familiar. As soon as they stopped at the door to his daughter's bedroom, he knew that her new room would be Jamison's old one. However, when Shondra opened the door, the room was completely transformed. The walls were painted beautifully, black with silver sparkles everywhere, like the night sky. Amanda walked into the nursery absolutely awe-stricken. A crib lay in the very center, and a rocking chair sat not far away. Amanda absent-mindedly soothingly patted her daughter until Mandy's cries quieted and the little baby began to look around this foreign room. Amanda placed her daughter in the crib and fingered the baby books stacked so neatly on a tiny bookcase against a wall. "When did you do this?" she finally asked.

"The last couple weeks," Shondra said, her face brimming with happiness, "We just knew this would surprise you."

"Me helped, Mama," Jamison said proudly.

"You did wonderfully, darling," Amanda said as she knelt by her little boy and hugged him, "Mama loves you so much for doing this, Jamsey. Mandy loves you, too."

Smiling ear-to-ear, Jamison walked over to his baby sister, and said, "Hello, Mandy."

Mandy's eyes were still fixed on the stars, but she made a subtle movement – an indication that she knew she was being addressed. Quentin clapped a hand on his son's shoulder, and said, "Jamison, she's too little to understand you."

"Oh," Jamison said, his brow furrowed in thought. After a moment, his expression brightened as he said, "But she can still hear me?"

"Yeah," Quentin said.

Grinning, Jamison held Gray Spots out, and said, "This is Gray Spots, my bestest friend ever. I have him for the longest time." Mandy rolled over so she was facing her brother, and stared curiously at the small animal. Babbling softly, she situated herself so she was facing the night sky again. Jamison faced his parents, and said, "She look at Gray Spots, Mama!"

"I know, sweetie," Amanda smiled.

Jamison happily ran out of the room – probably in search of Elizabeth. Quentin snaked an arm around Amanda's waist, and pulled her to him as they both stared at the nursery in wonder. Shondra, knowing when couples wanted to be alone, left silently. The happy parents didn't say much as they took in their daughter's marvelous nursery – they just couldn't believe it.

Quentin and Amanda lay sleeping side by side in their soft bed. Mandy's first night was troublesome for them since her nursery was in a separate hallway, but Amanda had a keen mother's intuition that recognized whenever her baby girl was crying.

However, both baby and parents were sleeping – sleeping so they didn't know what was occurring in their own room, for as they slept, a silvery cloud appeared in a corner of their room. Out of the cloud came a ghost of a woman – a governess which worked in Collinwood in 1897. Her dress was blood-stained, and her expression one of unequaled sadness. She stared at the couple sorrowfully. Jealous? No, she wasn't jealous; just because Quentin had taken a liking to her did not mean that she had responded. Envious? Perhaps. They had just had a baby, something that Rachel wanted more than anything – a child she could teach to be upstanding and forgiving – and perhaps a little romantic, like herself.

Slowly, she walked over to Amanda's side of the bed, and stared down at her. She began to talk, but her voice was one of wistfulness and echo – like she wasn't even in the same room with them. "You have a family," she said, "You can take care of it."

Without further words, her hand moved towards her stomach, and entered it, pulling out what looked like a silvery bead, and she placed it in Amanda's stomach. "I love you," she said as the light of the bead slowly dissipated into Amanda's skin. Without a cry, without a tear, Rachel went back into her corner, and disappeared from sight. Nobody saw her, and nobody would – but the bead would prove to be quite visible.