The Lost Sister. Megan Kelley Hall

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СКАЧАТЬ Abigail had been diagnosed with cancer—the silent killer that had worked its way through many of the women in town—the result of a town too close to a faltering power plant. Madeline always found that morbidly ironic. Most people from this town were too afraid to leave—scared of the evils that existed beyond the boundaries of Hawthorne—and yet the biggest threat came from staying too long in this town and being exposed to the harmful leakage from the power plant. Abigail Crane was dealing with a form of cancer that required bed rest. Maddie should have known that her mother wouldn’t listen to the doctor’s recommendations. Even though she was a sick, frail woman, not even cancer could stop her from doing things on her own terms.

      “How are you feeling?” Maddie said, looking around and noting how nothing had changed at all in the house since she’d left.

      “Never mind that. I’m fine. Now, let’s get your things upstairs so your bags don’t clutter up the hallway. When you unpack your clothes, you can put the empty suitcases in the guest room.”

      The guest room was actually Cordelia’s old room, and yet Abigail still couldn’t bring herself to say Cordelia’s name out loud. It was as if the brief time that Cordelia had spent in Hawthorne was just a bad dream…a nightmare brought to life. And her mother would never forgive her cousin for all the unwanted attention on the family.

      “Fine, I’ll put my bags in Cordelia’s old room,” Maddie said firmly, not just to hear her cousin’s name out loud again in this house, but also to gauge her mother’s reaction.

      She turned back to Maddie, holding her gaze for a few beats, as if she was not quite sure what Maddie’s intentions were, and then continued up the staircase, spine perfectly straight, head held high.

      “It would still be Cordelia’s room if she hadn’t run off the way she did,” she said sternly over her shoulder.

       Okay, here we go , Maddie thought. It would be an interesting visit.

      Later that evening, after they had eaten dinner, Abigail steered the conversation to the local gossip. She filled Maddie in on the big debate over Ravenswood and how the Endicott family was fighting the town to have it made into a hotel. The red tape that was expertly set up by the historical society was suddenly coming under scrutiny, and it seemed, as usual, that the Endicotts would end up winning in the end.

      “You know that Kiki Endicott,” Abigail clucked. “She’s a pit bull, that’s for sure. She never gives up until she gets what she wants. Well, you know that with Kate. ‘Apples don’t fall far, my dear.’ You remember Tess was fond of that expression.” Abigail smiled softly at the mention of Tess. Though the women never seemed to get along in life, now that Tess had passed on, Maddie wondered if Abigail regretted her treatment of her mother.

      Maddie felt as if she would start to cry if she spoke about Tess, yet she chose that moment to broach an even more delicate subject.

      “Speaking of Tess, did she—had she known about…about me and Cordelia? That we were sisters?”

      Abigail’s face hardened. “That you were half sisters? Yes, I’m sure that she knew. We never spoke openly about it. Rebecca and I made a pact to never discuss it. It was something that we all regretted. An unfortunate predicament, that’s for sure. But when Rebecca left with Simon, I thought it best to leave it all alone. After that, your father and I—well, let’s just say that some fences were never meant to be mended.” Abigail’s face soured at the mention of Malcolm Crane. “But you know your grandmother, she always seemed to know things that she’d have no way of actually knowing. Tess was a smart woman. She must have known. But she was wise enough to let it stay silent.”

      Maddie remembered her mother’s philosophy and said dryly, “If you don’t talk about it, it’s not real, right, Mother?”

      Abigail held her daughter’s gaze, lifted her chin, and then nodded firmly. Maddie sighed. Some things would never change.

      Maddie decided to excuse herself, knowing that the conversation would only go downhill from there. She’d only been in Hawthorne for a few hours and already her stress level was rising.

      After unpacking a few of her clothes, Maddie got ready for bed. Nothing had changed in this room. Her old oak dresser still contained the Crabtree & Evelyn scented drawer liners, making the room smell faintly of spring rain. It didn’t show the signs of all that had transpired over the past year.

      Already irritated with her mother, Maddie collapsed onto the bed. Why wouldn’t Abigail accept her part in Cordelia’s disappearance? Why was she acting like nothing had changed when their entire world had been flipped upside down? Cordelia was gone. Rebecca locked up. Tess had passed away. And Maddie had started a life far from Hawthorne. Things couldn’t be more different, and yet Maddie started to feel that familiar sense of dread.

       Chapter 4

       THE HANGED MAN

       Loss. Lack of commitment. Preoccupation with selfish and material things. Despite drawbacks, a preference for the status quo. Oppression. Apathy in pursuit of goals. Failure to act with an inability to move forward or progress.

       A s the sun spread lithe and steady across the pink-hued morning sky, Madeline sat up and looked at herself in the old vanity mirror that hung directly across from her bed. She imagined herself peering into the mirror before she left many months ago—younger, softer somehow. I guess that’s what losing people you care about does to you, she mused.

      Maddie flopped back into the covers and stretched catlike in the bed before pushing back the covers and getting up. She pulled a silver-plated brush from the vanity table and started delicately brushing the pillow-kinks out of her hair. It was the start of a new day in Hawthorne and Maddie Crane had no idea what to expect.

      She headed downstairs, surprised at the silence that filled the house. Abigail was still in bed. This was something that completely rattled Maddie. In her entire life, she’d never been the first one awake in the house. Maddie couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t come downstairs to a brightly lit kitchen, filled with the smell of breakfast cooking and coffee brewing. It was like a ghost house.

      A list of groceries was waiting for her on the kitchen table.

       Mom and her lists, Maddie thought.

      But Maddie was happy for an excuse to get out of the house—the quiet was too much for her to bear. Getting out and seeing people—even Hawthorne people—was better than the funereal silence that was all around her.

      “That’ll be one hundred and sixty-four dollars,” the cashier said in a monotone.

      “What? Are you feeding an army?” came a voice from behind her. It took Maddie a moment to realize that the comment was intended for her.

      “Looks that way, doesn’t it?” Maddie laughed politely and turned to leave, angling her head toward the door so that she wouldn’t get caught up in a conversation. Not now, not this early, she thought. She was pushing the carriage toward the exit when a hand reached out and grabbed her firmly by the arm.

      “Not even a hello. Well, I guess a semester away makes you too cool to talk to me,” said the guy in the harbor patrol uniform standing behind her.

      Maddie had to blink her eyes before she could believe what she was seeing. Trevor Campbell? The last time she’d seen him was at Tess’s funeral. She’d managed to avoid him for all these months, СКАЧАТЬ