Blanche snapped the photo album closed and placed it in the box next to others identical to this one. She'd been afraid Jane had thrown out most of her old stuff, but to her great delight she hadn't destroyed almost anything of hers. She'd merely put it somewhere out of sight. The clearest example of that was the empty frame above the fireplace where Jane could have hung her own portrait if she'd wanted to. Blanche had wondered about that at first. Maybe it had been more gratifying for Jane to see the empty frame her sister's portrait had once occupied than to see her own picture there.
It was not easy to keep thinking about Jane. Each time she did, Blanche ended up thinking what they could be doing to her now, and what Jane must be feeling.
"Where should I put these?" Lynn's voice came from behind her, and Blanche turned her eyes to the large mirror in front of her and the young woman's reflection in it. Lynn was holding a packet of what seemed like old sheet music of Jane's.
"Oh, any box with Jane's things will do," Blanche replied, returning to the cupboard she was currently emptying. "I'll have time to decide what to do with them in the new house."
Lynn nodded her head quickly, and set about to leave the room, but then she hesitated. "Miss Blanche?"
Blanche looked up at her insecure tone. "Yes?"
"You haven't told me what will become of me once you've settled into your new home," Lynn said, idly sitting down on one of the larger boxes. "If it's a single-storey, you won't need me to help you upstairs or..."
"Oh, Lynn." Blanche set down the photographs she'd been about to go through, and reached down to the wheels of her chair. Swinging around, she looked with a warm smile at the hesitant-looking girl across the room from her. "I'll still need your help," she said, wheeling herself towards her maid. "I thought it was understood that it's not just going to be my new home, but yours too. A smaller house would mean less work for you. I thought you'd like that." She stopped in front of the gradually brightening girl. "Would you like to move into a smaller house with me?"
Lynn let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, and smiled happily. "Of course, Miss Blanche," she said with bubbling excitement. "I'd love that!" Lynn could barely keep herself from jumping forward and hugging the older woman. The last thing she'd wanted to do was to have to move back in with her family after her first taste of freedom, and start looking for a new job once Miss Blanche was settled in her new house.
"But," she added with a flicker of doubt, "how far were you thinking of moving?" Blanche's face took on an enquiring expression. "My family lives in Los Angeles, and I'd hate to move too far away from them. My father has not been well lately."
Blanche addressed her with an encouraging smile. "You have nothing to worry about; we're not even going to leave town."
The house was a small white building with wide windows and a very decent-looking front porch. There were two steps up to the front door, but the house was a single-storey just as planned. Small purple flowers beside the footpath, a white honeysuckle and a wild grapevine climbing the facade next to the door gave the house a sunny and welcoming look.
Blanche marvelled at the small fairy house in blissful silence for a moment or two, until she heard an excited little squeal from behind her. Looking up, she came face to face with pure joy itself. Lynn's eyes were pleading with her persistently.
"The moving truck should be here any minute," Blanche said, concealing her contentment with the house with diplomatic kindness. "You may go explore until then."
Lynn's face lit up with girlish enthusiasm, and giving Blanche a small grateful nod, she took off across the front porch and towards the house.
Blanche chuckled with amusement. The young woman in Lynn had been turned in the blink of an eye into an adventurous little girl. It was delightful to be surrounded by happy people, and Lynn was the happiest, most optimistic girl Blanche had ever known, except maybe for Margaret Carroll.
Blanche looked ahead and watched as Lynn tore open the front door and dashed inside, leaving the door wide open behind her. Glancing around quickly, she ran straight ahead, through the spacious living room and the wide gallery beyond and right out of the terrace door. Even from where she was seated Blanche could see that the other side of the house had tall windows nearly covering the whole of the wall. Sunlight was pouring into the house, and with the front door opened Blanche could see straight through the house. Lynn had slowed down in the garden.
The sound of a car door closing startled Blanche out of her happy reverie. She recognized the footsteps on the pavement immediately.
"Do you like it?" asked Bert Hanley with a tone of self-satisfied pride, walking up beside Blanche. His floppy hat shielded his eyes from the sunlight, but Blanche knew they were bound to be glimmering with anticipation. Ever since Blanche had finally called him and told him to sell the old house and find her a new one, Bert had warmed up to her again. It was almost as if the years that had torn their comfortable friendship apart hadn't been.
"Oh, I love it," Blanche sighed blissfully. "It's exactly what I dreamed about." She smiled up at the man by her side trustingly. "I knew you would find me a perfect house."
"Well, you described your wishes pretty well," Bert replied. "And after seeing that old gloomy place again, I understood perfectly how much you needed a change of scenery." Bert looked to the house, probably noticing the young happy woman floating around behind the windows. "Aren't you going to go inside?"
"Of course." Blanche's hands moved mechanically to the wheels of her chair but she didn't move. "But my maid ran off," she added quietly when Lynn appeared in the doorway again.
"Oh, hello, Mr. Hanley!" she called cheerfully, skipping back towards the street. "This is wonderful! Miss Blanche, it's so beautiful! The garden is huge! We're gonna need Miss Pauline's help if we want it to stay that pretty. Oh, look! The truck's here! Do you want me to take you inside, Miss Blanche? You have to see everything!" She took a long blissful breath at the end of her ecstatic monologue.
"Not inside, Lynn. To that beautiful garden." Blanche smiled brilliantly. Everything seemed to be going better after she'd left the hospital. It was a new beginning. And Blanche was positive she deserved it.