Chapter Nineteen
All At Sea
"Where are we going?" Carolyn asked breathlessly. She did her best to keep her feet steady against the increased rolling and pitching motions of the ship, and the mounting waves began to claw at her creaking timbers.
She wasn't about to admit the movements were already making her feel queasy as her immediate horizon moved alarmingly. Confusion set in. 'How can I become seasick in a dream?' The answer eluded her.
"Somewhere you'll be safe enough to ride out the storm that's about to hit us," her terse rescuer replied with a grim smile. "I do not have the time to keep a close eye on you."
He pulled open the stout, nail-studded door to a small, windowless deckhouse that had been built around the base of the main mast. He motioned her inside with an impatient hand. "Stay inside and donotcome out again. Not under any circumstances," he ordered brusquely. "I will come for you when the storm has finally abated."
Carolyn baulked at the open door and the dank smallness of the dark room beyond. "Oh, but…" she began to say. "Surely none of this is necessary. You don't understand. I could—"
"I understand only too well," Webster replied harshly. "You stowed away on my ship. We will talk about how you will work off your passage at a more convenient time. For now, I have a full-blown Atlantic storm to do battle with on my own, because of you…" He pushed her inside and slammed the door shut, leaving her to stare in consternation at the sturdy wood.
"Well, excuse me…" Carolyn muttered crossly as the fetid darkness closed in around her.
The impatient sound of the captain's sea boots striding across the deck quickly faded as he walked away. Then all she could hear was the rushing sound of the mounting waves and the rising scream of the strengthening wind outside her tiny prison.
"Daniel…" she whispered, as she pressed the fingers of one hand to her lips.
She knew the ghost of Gull Cottage and Captain Joshua Webster were one and the same. She was slowly beginning to put the two men together in one person.
But the stark reality of the moment still accelerated her breathing. If the Mary Anne hadn't survived the storm, then she and Daniel Gregg would never have met in this life. He would have sunk to the bottom of the stormy Atlantic and been doomed to a watery grave without a marker.
And, as Daniel had so rightly said, Carolyn would have been married off to another man. Her mother would have made very sure of that. Running away to a cottage by the sea would not have been an option. The house would not have existed, thanks to Claymore's need to pull it down and erase even its memory.
The reality of it shivered through her. She knew it would be foolish to open the door and run after her departed captain. That would put them both in harm's way. But nor could she remain in this small, airless prison, waiting for his return like any meek and mild nineteenth-century woman.
But just as she put one hand on the door handle, the decision to stay or leave was suddenly ripped from her control. The Mary Anne groaned as she heeled over and began to hurtle forward through the mounting seas. The waves seemed to be crashing in from every angle, hitting the ship's stout planking and sails. Cold seawater washed in around her boots, then retreated to rush in again.
Carolyn braced herself against the stout wood of her tiny prison. Everything began to creak and groan, snap and strain against the banshee howling of the storm's rising winds. Seawater rushed along the ship's keel, pitching her from side to side in a sickening fashion.
"Oh, God…" Carolyn pressed the flat of her hand to her mouth as the deck beneath her feet kept pitching, first one way, then the other.
Bitter bile rose in the back of her throat. On a rational level, she knew she had nothing to fear from this dream. Daniel had full control over it, but that didn't make the reality of the moment any easier to combat. She wasn't sure she could take much more of this altered reality.
She remembered that Daniel had single-handedly fought the storm for the life of his ship and her crew for forty-seven long, gruelling hours. The terrifying idea of being forced to endure those grim hours in this dank little cell stretched before her and everything within her revolted at the horror of such close confinement.
She dropped her hand from her mouth and reached again for the handle of the stout door. "I've had enough of this…" she muttered.
Immediately, the ship stopped pitching and rolling. Everything went still. The sounds of the raging storm faded away to be replaced by the soft sounds of seawater chuckling beneath the keel as bright sunshine forced its way into the tiny deckhouse through the narrow gaps in the walls.
"Thank you…" Carolyn whispered as she turned the handle, and the door opened.
She stumbled out onto the open deck and stood looking all around. The sunlight seemed overly bright after the dark confinement of the tiny deck house, and she raised a hand to shield her eyes. She blinked, trying to reestablish her bearings.
There was no one in sight. Picking up her skirts, she moved forward slowly, making her way back to the lifeboat where she'd first been found by the crew, stowed away aboard. Its cover had been lashed down tight, and she stopped beside it. She looked up to the bridge, where the ship's wheel stood out against the bright blue of the cloudless sky.
It was unmanned. It appeared to have been tied off to the railing, thereby maintaining a steady course through the sea that had now turned to glass. The only disturbance was the ship cutting her way steadily through the water toward the glowing orb of the sun as it began to sink into the west.
"Daniel?" Carolyn questioned, looking all around for any sign of him. "Where are you?"
There was no reply. Nothing moved beyond the billowing of the taut sails overhead and the seawater passing beneath the ship's keel. She might as well be alone.
"'Finally, the sea turned to glass, and I fell exhausted onto my bunk…'" Carolyn repeated Daniel's grim comment from 'Maiden Voyage.'
She looked toward the hatch through which they'd all gone below. The rebellious crew, the redoubtable Captain Webster and herself.
She shook her head as she picked up her skirts in one hand. "I guess there's only one way to find out…"
She unlatched the hatch and pushed the cover back to expose the gloomy descent of the steps that led below. Firming her grip on her cumbersome skirts, she descended into the dank and fetid interior of the lower deck. As her boots landed on the planking, movements away to her left told her she was no longer alone.
As soon as they saw her, the hard men of the Mary's Anne crew pressed up to the bars of the brig. All eyes became fixed on her. They looked as disgruntled as the last time she'd seen them before the storm had hit.
"Ah, have a mercy for us, lady…" one called out to her as she stood still at the bottom of the steps. "Let us outta here. We's promise to toe the Captain's line. Honest. Not one of us will look to hurt you."
"Yeah…" Smeaton wheedled. "We's only want outta this iron box. We ain't got any food or water. The captain locked us in here for revenge. It ain't right."
He extended one arm through the bars, waving his fingers to draw Carolyn closer. "You have our words as honest seamen. We won't harm you…"
"I doubt any of you have ever been honest," Carolyn replied sharply, as she wisely kept her distance. "Your mothers would be deeply ashamed of you all."
"Smeaton never had a mother…" One man chuckled nastily. "He was born bad and mean. Just like his Pa."
"I… can't help you. I must go and find the captain," Carolyn explained. "He may need me."
"We need you! You'll come over 'ere and do as you're told, woman!" Smeaton snarled suddenly, turning his pleading hand into a fist.
"Not without your captain," Carolyn replied as she picked up her skirts again and turned toward the narrow corridor that seemed to lead to some cabins.
She had to assume that Daniel was behind one of the closed doors. Muttered curses and harsh words from the imprisoned crew followed her progress as she walked down the corridor toward a large, nail-studded oak door at the far end. It looked impressive. It seemed to shout it would lead her to the man she now sought. She glanced back over her shoulder as she raised her closed hand to knock on the door.
But her knuckles never made the connection. She knocked on nothing as the door was snatched open and a tall, broad-shouldered man, with dark curling hair and piercing blue eyes, filled the door frame.
His black trousers and open-fronted white shirt looked dry and clean beneath his unbuttoned jacket. He looked very much alive and totally magnificent. Just as Carolyn had imagined him in 'Maiden Voyage' when the ghostly Daniel had dictated the tale to her.
"Ah…" Captain Webster smiled knowingly. "Here is the grateful maiden come at last. You look very eager to reward my heroism for saving your life, and that of my ship and motley crew."
His smile became taunting. "So, fair maiden, have you come below to remove more than just my boots this time?" He bowed his head ironically.
"Very funny…" Carolyn glared up at him as her cheeks warmed. "You know I want to see you. And you know why."
"Oh, there is no need to blush, Madam," the good captain replied as he stood aside to indicate the large cabin behind him with a sweep of his hand. "Do you have the courage to enter my domain? I swear by all that's holy, your virtue is safe with me."
"Why are you being like this?" Carolyn asked as she gathered her skirts and walked into the cabin.
"Like what, Madam?" Webster closed the door behind her. "I am simply being myself. The man needed to take this story of yours to its successful conclusion."
"No, you're not," Carolyn accused quickly as she looked around the commodious cabin. "You're trying to be someone else. Someone you have assumed I would like. You're still jealous."
"Jealous?" The Captain stroked his bearded chin. "May I not become the swashbuckling hero of this romantic novel of yours?" he asked softly. "I thought he was the man you expected to meet again when you came below. The magnificent and dashing Captain Webster."
"You know very well that Captain Webster is a figment of my writer's imagination," Carolyn replied as she turned back to frown at him. "He is a means to an end. He is based on you but he's not you. I want to meet you properly, Daniel. Not some fictional man without substance."
"Ah, I see…" the Captain's arch expression changed and became thoughtful. "I could hope the real me would not be too much of a disappointment." His lips curved wryly. "But I have been known to buckle more than one swash in my time. And there was that incident with the tattoo parlour on the Barbary Coast…"
"Stop it…" Carolyn walked back to him to stand close. "Stop pretending and just be yourself. We don't have a lot of time. I love that you have given me this dream with all its terrors and insight. But we both know I must wake up soon and go on with my life. And we have a manuscript we must finish if I'm to become a full-time novelist."
"Yes, we do…" Daniel stood looking down at her. "Time has always been against us. I must confess, I will miss Captain Webster. Fresh from the cradle he might be, but he had a way about him that I could admire."
"Why did you stop the storm?" Carolyn asked then. "In 'Maiden Voyage' you said you fought it for forty-seven hours until you finally won. But you nearly died."
"You said you'd had enough of it," he replied with a shrug. "There seemed no point in continuing with such a harsh lesson that had already served its purpose. You showed great restraint in not pursuing me from the deck house when you could have. I feared you would be reckless enough simply to prove your point."
"Yes, well. I was too busy trying not to be seasick," Carolyn admitted honestly. "Your dream reality was a shade too real."
"Ah, of course…" Daniel gazed down at her with a rueful smile warming his blue eyes. "Mal-da-mar had been known to affect even the most hardened of seamen."
"What do we do now?" Carolyn asked, as her heart skipped a beat and began to accelerate. "I mean, what more is there for us in this new dream of yours?"
"The dream is ours," he replied. "It is what we both wish to make of it in the small amount of time we have left of this night."
Daniel lifted one hand to run the tip of his forefinger from her temple to the point of her chin. "I've lived a man's life and I'm not ashamed of any of it. Nor did I regret one single moment, until you came into my afterlife and turned everything on its head. I knew I had truly met my match in you. I would have carried you away with me and not counted the cost."
"What do you think you did to me?" Carolyn accused softly. "Moving about the house, ordering us this way or that, all to suit yourself and your nineteenth-century ideals of how women and children should be. That we needed the guidance of a man about the house."
"Confound it, Madam…" Daniel muttered as he tipped her chin up on the back of his hand. "Remember when those three escaped convicts invaded my house and took you all hostage. You admitted you needed a man around the house then, even if that man was a ghost."
"I remember…" Carolyn whispered as she became lost in the depths of his eyes.
"And when Duke saw my portrait, you told him that I was your husband and about to return from the sea. I was complimented to be raised to such a high status in your feminine esteem."
Carolyn stood her ground. "And I also said that, at times, you can be absolutely infuriating!"
Daniel smoothed the line of his bearded jaw with his free hand. "I already knew that. Beautiful women have often told me so. I also said then that the few moments we were married were among the happiest of my afterlife. I still stand by those words. I would give up eternity, for you…"
Carolyn trembled as she stared up at him. "And I said I wouldn't marry you if you were the last ghost on earth…"
"But now, Carolyn?" Daniel stepped closer, enclosing her newly flushed cheek in the strength of his warm palm. "What do you say now?"
He took her hand and raised it to his lips, all the while looking down into her eyes. He kissed her fingers with lingering intent that said he was about to explore further.
"Dance with me, Carolyn," he said then, drawing her close to him. "I have waited over a hundred years to dance with you…"
From nowhere, once more, that same waltz began to play. Carolyn sighed as she placed one hand on his broad shoulder and her other hand raised in his. Their eyes locked as they began to circle the space between the door and the stout oak desk set before the large window that looked out to the ocean beyond the cabin.
Carolyn stepped closer, bringing them together from breast to hip. She felt Daniel stiffen slightly. "This is how we dance in the twentieth century," she said softly as they continued to dance. "You could get used to it."
"As I have observed, my dear," he replied. "When you danced with that womanising fraud, Sean Callahan, he held you indecently close just like this."
"Just as you're doing now?" She smiled at him as she felt his hand move a little lower on her hip. "And I was wearing a great deal less then than I am now…"
"Madam…" Daniel shook his head. "I wish we could have more. But I'm afraid, time is fast running out for us in this ship of dreams. The rest of the voyage from here to Boston was quite uneventful and you do know how the real story ended. And how this one needs to end for your romance. That ending must come from the depths of your feminine imagination."
He smiled at her. "My gallows-bait crew had learned a valuable lesson and never gave me another moment's concern after I released them to return to their duties. Miss Ryan became the ship's cook and earned their grudging respect. The moment we docked in Dover, she thanked me and quickly departed my ship. I never saw her again. I have to assume her betrothed was happy to see her."
"Yes, I know…" Carolyn shivered. "But, Daniel, I wish –"
They stared at each other as Daniel bent his head and drew her closer with his hand on her shoulder. Carolyn didn't resist, remembering the fractured moment from her fever dream where they had been about to share a longed-for kiss when suddenly –
The romance of the moment was brutally interrupted by the strident sound of the alarm clock going off beside the bed.
"Blast!" they both said in frustrated unison as they stared at each other.
Then they fell into helpless laughter as the stout timbers of the Mary Anne faded from view to be replaced with the safety and normality of the main bedroom in Gull Cottage. They were back where they both belonged and still nothing had been resolved.
Carolyn compressed her lips as she opened her eyes reluctantly. "Blast…"
She reached out one hand to silence the alarm clock. She glanced down the bed and was surprised to see Daniel was still seated on the end. He appeared reluctant to move.
"Good morning," she said softly, watching him as she leaned back on her pillows.
"Good morning, Madam," he replied as he nodded to her. "Watching you awaken in the morning is another of the secret pleasures I have allowed myself through the years."
"You seem to spend a great deal of time in my room without my being aware of you," Carolyn accused wryly as she pushed herself up against her pillows. "You could let me know when you're around."
"My apologies, my dear," he offered. "It became a sweet habit I have been unwilling to break. And when I feared you were thinking of leaving me to marry another…"
"I will forgive you…" Carolyn sat up to wrap her arms around her raised knees. "If you promise me one thing."
"Please name it, my dear," Daniel replied. "And if it is within my powers to perform…"
"Oh, I think you will find it is well within your powers," Carolyn assured him with a smile. "But first, we have a manuscript we must complete. We need to concentrate on that. After it has been mailed away to Bridget, then I will tell you what I'm thinking about."
"Very well, Madam…" Daniel stood up. "Like all women, you do like to have your secrets and hold them close. I will impatiently await your pleasure in the wheelhouse." He bowed formally as he disappeared, but his expression said he was not pleased.
Carolyn smiled as she watched him leave. She secretly enjoyed making him wait. Just a little revenge on all the times he'd made her wait for him.
※※※※※
The following afternoon, Candy pulled her cap down over her eyes and averted her head as she got onto the school bus to go home. She tucked herself into a corner seat and didn't speak to Jonathan.
He sat beside her but appeared just as disinterested in talking to her. So, they remained mired in silence all the way home and Candy ran inside as soon as the bus drew up outside the gate.
"Okay, suit yourself…" Jonathan muttered as he watched his sister run up the stairs. "I still haven't forgiven you for voting to leave me behind last Saturday, ya know."
He went in search of better company in the kitchen. He could smell freshly baked cookies. "Her loss…" He shrugged.
Candy was crying by the time she threw herself onto her bed. She lay face down with her face cradled in her arms. Scruffy ran into the room and jumped onto the bed beside her.
The dog carried Candy's favourite doll in his mouth. But she paid him no attention, even when he whimpered and pushed at her with his wet nose.
The Captain heard the sounds of crying. He was seated at Carolyn's desk, working on fine-tuning the manuscript while she was in town shopping for the last few things they needed for the school play. She did say she wouldn't be long.
He looked up from the work. "Blast…" he said, wondering where Martha was.
The sound of the crying girl's distress intensified, and it distracted him from the work at hand. He listened again for any female footfalls on the staircase, but all he heard was Martha out in the back garden talking to Jonathan as they gathered in the dry washing from the line.
"Double blast…" he complained. "Why is there never a woman around when you need one?" He sighed as he put the manuscript aside and vanished.
He reappeared beside the bed in the kids' room. "Candy? What's wrong?"
"Go away…" the girl groaned.
The Captain refused to heed the sad command. He sat down on the side of the bed. "Scruffy, let's do something to cheer Candy up. Up, boy!" he ordered with a flick of his hand.
The dog did as he was bid and jumped off the bed. He proceeded to dance around on his hind legs with the doll still clenched in his teeth.
"Candy…" The Captain watched the animal. "Look at what Scruffy's doing for you…"
But Candy wouldn't be diverted and continued to cry. The dog whimpered as he went on dancing.
The Captain sighed. He was unused to being ignored by any member of his crew. But a weeping female member was beyond his experience… He looked hopefully toward the open door, but no salvation appeared in the form of Martha or the girl's mother returning from town.
He inhaled deeply and expelled a rough sigh. "Candy… Tell me, what is the matter? Why are you crying?"
"Men…" Candy responded succinctly.
The Captain's eyebrows rose ironically. "Oh, is that all? Now what have we done?"
"You like Penelope Hassenhammer!" Candy cried.
The Captain looked taken aback. "Penelope Hassenhammer? I do? I'm afraid I have never heard of the woman."
"And I don't have any sex appeal!" Candy added for good measure.
"Oh…" The Captain looked thoughtful and felt well out of his depth. "Well, Candy, that comes with age."
"Penelope Hassenhammer is the same age I am, and she has it."
"I see…" The Captain stroked his chin. "Ah, and how do you know that?"
"He talks to her, and he carries her books home…"
The Captain nodded. "Oh, and you like him too…"
"No! I hate him!" Candy stated vehemently.
"Oh, that is serious…" The Captain tried not to smile.
"My whole life is passing before my eyes…" Candy sniffed. "I'll never get married. No one likes me."
"Don't cry. Just leave everything to me," her confidante advised.
Scruffy dropped the doll and barked as Candy sat up and rolled off the bed. She ran from the room, leaving the dog and ghost behind.
The Captain looked after her thoughtfully. "Now, let's see… How did the women who got me, get me?"
Scruffy barked again, looking disapproving.
"Yes, I know she's only a little girl," the Captain replied. "Surely, I don't have to tell you anything about puppy love?"
The dog whined and looked confused. The Captain vanished and then the dog rose into the air and floated out of the room, tucked neatly under the Captain's invisible arm.
※※※※※
It was very late in the afternoon by the time Carolyn finally returned home. She walked into a disrupted household. She was tired from her shopping trip which had taken longer than she'd anticipated because some items had been hard to find.
"If only there was one place where I could buy everything," she muttered as she pushed the front door shut behind her with her elbow.
The first warning sign all was not well was when Jonathan appeared from the kitchen, looking deeply disgruntled. "Candy didn't talk to me all day at school," he said. "She went off to play with her gang. And then she ignored me all the way home on the bus too!"
He waved a hand up the stairs. "She went right up to her room and hasn't come down. Something's wrong with her." He rolled his eyes. "Females…"
"Well, I wonder what's the matter with her now?" Carolyn mused as she walked into the kitchen with her bags of purchases. She put them down on the kitchen island. "She was walking on air yesterday."
"Don't ask me," Martha replied with a shrug. "I called up to her to come down for milk and cookies just before, but she didn't answer. I heard Scruffy barking, but he hasn't come down for his dinner either."
She frowned. "Come to think of it, it isn't like that dog to go without food. Maybe I'd better go on up and see what's the matter with them both."
"No, I'll go," Carolyn replied, as she took off her coat. "No doubt that Mark Helmore has done something she doesn't like." She picked up the bag containing her sewing box and the things that needed stitching for the costumes.
"Mark Helmore?" Martha's eyebrows rose. "Who's he? No one's told me anything about him."
"It's a long story…" Carolyn shook her head before she left the room.
"Mark's a new guy at school," Jonathan replied to the housekeeper's question. "He's come all the way from London, England. All the girls like him."
"London, England, you say?" Martha replied. "Here. Have another cookie and tell me more about this new boy…"
Carolyn smiled as she arrived at the top of the stairs. She walked to the children's room and looked in but it was empty.
"Candy?" she called as she walked to her own room. "Where are you? I need to talk to you."
She was surprised to find the girl seated in the large armchair beside the fire. Her face was averted towards the wall and she had her chin in her hand. Scruffy was sitting at her feet looking worried.
"Candy?" Carolyn asked again as she walked to her bed and sat down. "Why are you sitting in here in the dark?" she asked, giving the girl some room to confess her problems.
She took her sewing box from the shopping bag and opened it. "You could give me a hand with sorting out these materials for your play costume."
"I don't care about the stupid play," Candy muttered. "And I don't care about school either! I never want to go back there again!"
Carolyn frowned at her tone. "Go on now, Scruffy…" She pointed for the dog to leave the room, and he went willingly.
"All right. So, why are you in here?" Carolyn asked again.
"'Cause Jonathan's likely to come into our room," her daughter replied moodily. "And I don't feel like answering any stupid questions. I just want to be left alone." She half-rose from the chair and turned toward the door.
"Oh, no, young lady…" Carolyn forestalled her. "Jonathan's very worried about you. He said there's something wrong. That you won't talk to him."
She put aside her work. "But you won't be going anywhere until you've talked to me."
Candy sighed dramatically. "Okay, Mum…" She walked back to the bed.
Carolyn stared at her and the dark bruising around her daughter's left eye. "Candy! How did you get that?"
"I got a fist in it," the girl replied in a disgusted tone.
"Whose fist?" Carolyn demanded to know.
"His fist!"
"Mark Helmore?" Carolyn asked in astonishment. "But I thought he liked you."
Candy sighed and nodded. "I used to. But not now."
The Captain materialised beside them. "He hit you?" he demanded in an outraged tone. "Why did you not say before?"
"Well, I'll talk to his parents," Carolyn retorted.
"That blackguard!" the Captain raged, looking down at the damage. "The infamous scoundrel! Walking the plank will be too good for him! I will throw him to the sharks!"
Candy shook her head. "Thanks, Captain. But it was a fair fight."
"Well, what was the fight about?" Carolyn asked.
"Well, it wasn't really a fight. We were boxing."
The Captain looked scandalised. "No gentleman boxes with a lady. I've a good mind to shake out my cat-o-nine tails, Madam."
"Well…" Candy sighed. "It's all my fault. He thought I was a boy."
"A boy!" Carolyn stared at her.
"What on earth can have happened to the British schoolboy?" the Captain demanded to know. "A blind coward, as well." He turned away into the window embrace, shaking his head.
"Candy, are you sure?" Carolyn asked.
"Positive…" The girl drooped. "Can I have a training bra?"
"A what?" Carolyn frowned.
Candy grimaced. "A training bra. With some padding in it." She looked down. "I need all the help I can get."
She was about to start crying again. "Look at me!"
Carolyn shook her head. "I think you look adorable."
"You're not him! You're my mother!" Candy accused before she turned and ran from the room, slamming the door behind her.
Carolyn looked after her. "A boy? My daughter, a boy?"
The Captain walked back into the room. "I could not but help overhear your troubles, Madam." He cleared his throat. "May I offer some advice from a masculine perspective?"
"Do you have any other perspective?" Carolyn asked with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I guess half of this mess is a male problem."
"Precisely…" The Captain began to pace with his hands in the small of his back. "May I suggest you dip into that sewing box of yours and find a few frills?"
He stopped and frowned at the closed door. "And mayhap Candy would benefit from a few curls being added to her rather boyish-looking locks?"
"It's a thought," Carolyn allowed cautiously. "But others are wearing pants suits and jeans. Not all girls wear frills, and Candy has always hated getting dressed up."
"And that is the whole trouble with modern times!" The Captain slapped his hands together. "Women in trousers or jeans. Only working men ever wore denim! A very serviceable material but not at all suitable for a lady's wardrobe."
"I wear jeans," Carolyn added softly. "I like them."
The Captain turned to her. "Every woman is a positive vision in long ribbons and organdy. You cannot go wrong with organdy."
His lips quirked for a moment. "And a parasol."
"Next you'll want her to wear a corset and crinolines," Carolyn replied as she stood up. "Why not add a bonnet and kid gloves?"
The Captain stared at her. "I truly enjoyed seeing you in your corset and crinolines…" he said softly. "You were a true vision of feminine loveliness. You took my breath away…"
"Yes, well…" Carolyn's cheeks warmed. "We both know that was only a dream. I had no control over how you decided to dress me."
"Was it, my dear?" he asked softly, looking her up and down. "I think that, in your mind, you had already chosen your costume. You know how much it flattered you."
"I see…" Carolyn shook her head as she avoided his gaze. "Well, right now, we need to see about Candy. Her heart is broken, and Mark Helmore has a lot to answer for."
She walked to the door. "Candy…" she called as she left the room.
※※※※※