Page 66

But Tony would know, I thought. I felt sure of that now. For some reason he knew and was involved with so many things concerning Luke and his life. I couldn't wait to get back to find out why he had kept it all a secret. Did he think he was protecting me somehow? I was no longer a child; he had no right to hide anything from me.

I put the clipping with the pictures and the rabbit and some other things I wanted to take and started to look through the closets when I heard the front door bell. I paused to listen as Logan went to see who it was. A moment later I heard a familiar voice. Fanny's! But there was a second voice, also very familiar to me. She had come with Randall Wilcox. By the time I came out, she and Randall were already in the kitchen.

"Drake, honey," Fanny drawled, "I'm yer sista Fanny, the one yer Pa loved the most." Before Drake could respond, she scooped him off his chair and into her arms, covering his face with kisses and leaving lipstick streaked over his cheeks and forehead.

"Yer the spittin' image of him, jus' as handsome as he was."

"Hello, Fanny," I said softly. She had come dressed in a sleeveless, black lace dress with a frilly bottom and a low-necked bodice. It fit her a size too tightly around the hips and bosom, but I could see little evidence of her pregnancy--perhaps only a slight thickening around the middle. She wore a widebrimmed black straw hat and had her hair pinned up behind her head. As usual, her makeup was too thick--the blue eye shadow, the rouge, and the bright red lipstick.

"Well, hello yerself. Say hello ta Randall," she demanded, turning toward him. With his hat in his hands he had been standing in the kitchen doorway looking in. He was dressed in a plain, dark brown suit and looked much older than I remembered. Life with Fanny must be aging him quickly, I thought. He smiled shyly and nodded.

"Hello, Heaven," he said. He looked toward Logan. "Logan."

Logan simply nodded.

"Ya'll could be more cordial," Fanny said quickly. "Randall was kind enuf ta escort me on this sad journey," she added, threading her right arm through his while she held on to Drake with her left, "especially with me bein' in a delicate condition," she added, looking slyly pleased!

"That is very kind of him." didn't respond to her insinuation. I wanted to rescue Drake from Fanny's clutches. "Logan, weren't you giving Drake something to eat?"

"Yeah, sure. His sandwich is ready." Logan suddenly regained the composure he had lost at the sight of Fanny and put the dish down on the table. "I made him some chocolate milk, too. That's what you wanted, right, Drake?" Drake nodded and Fanny reluctantly brought him back to his seat.

"So," she said, looking around, "ya skinned this place ta the bone yit?"

"There's nothing to skin, Fanny," I said coldly. "There's little of value here. Everything that belonged to Luke and Stacie is going to be placed into a trust for Drake. The lawyer is working on it."

"I'll bet," she sneered. "Told ya she'd have it all wrapped up 'fore we got here," she said to Randall.

"I didn't have to wrap anything up, Fanny. As a matter of fact, it was all set in motion before I arrived. Instructions were left," I said, leaving out that Tony had left them. I still didn't understand his role in this myself.

"What 'bout the funeral and such?"

"The funeral's tomorrow at eleven at the Kingsington Cathedral in Atlanta, burial at the church cemetery."

"You payin' for that?"

>

"It's all been taken care of, Fanny," I reiterated.

"Ya stayin' here tanight?" she asked and looked at Logan. He refused to meet her eyes and busied himself putting away the milk and peanut butter.

"No, we're going to stay in Atlanta at a hotel tonight," I said. I wanted to make sure Fanny dealt with me, not Logan. "But you can stay here and search the house to see if there's anything you might want."

"Well, he was ma pa. He loved me the most. I gotta right," she declared stubbornly.

"I suppose you do," I said softly. "Here are the keys to the house. Just bring them with you tomorrow and we'll give them to the attorney in charge of the property." I dropped the keys into her palm and she looked up at me with surprise.

"What about Drake?" she said, turning to him. "You wanna stay here with Randall and me, Drake, honey? Then you kin go ta the funeral with us tommorrah."

For a long moment Drake just stared up at her. Then he looked at me and then again at her.

"I'm goin' to a hotel," he said, "and then on an airplane. And then to a toy factory!"

"Oh, ya are?" She looked at me. "Ya takin' him back ta that castle?"

"He's coming back with us, yes. We'll make a home for him."

She stared at me a moment, the strangest blankness in her eyes. It was a blankness devoid of all feeling which I hadn't seen in her before. Then she turned back to Drake. "Well, honey, wouldn't ya rather be in yer own bed tanight?"