I nodded. “Yeah. But I couldn’t go a day without our girl.”
She smiled at me. “Well, Daisy Stevens, what can I say? You are absolutely what we want in a foster parent.”
My heart raced. What did that cryptic sentence mean?
“And so I’m thrilled to tell you in person that, when Jane Doe here is released, she will be released into your care.”
I was so excited I could have done cartwheels. But I was holdinga baby, a bottle, and a door, something that Allison finally must have noticed because she walked through it.
“Allison! This is the best news ever!”
“We’ll be here to support you in any way.”
Allison ran her hand over Maisy’s head. “Daisy’s going to take good care of you while we keep looking for your mommy and daddy.”
My stomach turned for two reasons. One, I knew who her mommy and daddy were, and I hadn’t told anyone. And two, what if Sarah and Drew did come forward? What if Sarah changed her mind?
I looked down at Maisy and took a deep breath. None of that was mine to sort out. For now, all that I could control, all that I could promise, was that I would take the best care in the world of this little baby girl.
TILLEYWorn-Out World
Tilley couldn’t remember the last time she had actuallydanced.Dolly Levi wasn’t a terribly complicated dancing role, as these things went, but for a woman who hadn’t been on a stage in four decades, nerves were to be expected. Oh, of course, Tilley had taken a turn around the dance floor plenty of times in the last years. At the Summer Splash and Fish where the town congregated each summer, at the country club dances, at a wedding or two. The men of this small Southern town would never let a widow—or almost widow, as it were—sit alone in the corner. And for that she was grateful.
Tilley could feel today, as she worked her way through a kick-ball-change combination while holding her parasol, that everything was shifting for her. Her sister and Olivia were in the audience. And, while the two almost never stopped chattering, for now, it seemed that all eyes were on her. They were mesmerized, and Tilley was thrilled.
“Tilley, you are so light on your feet!” Tony Kennedy called. He was a wonderful director. And he adored her, which didn’t hurt. Tilley got the feeling that the other actors were tiring of his constant praiseand attention on her, but, well, she couldn’t feel sorry. She practiced morning, noon, and night to get this just right. She deserved to be praised.
What stunned her most was how her body seemed to remember the combinations. It was like her girlhood self had just stepped back into her tap shoes and never missed a beat—literally. Oh, it was hard, of course, remembering the combinations and relearning the steps. But it was a million times easier than Tilley had feared.
“Milton!” Tony called. “I need you to be a little cheekier when you ask Tilley whether she is going to try to marry the half-a-millionaire man herself!”
Tilley scolded herself. She was in character. She needed to stay that way. She positively could not afford for her mind to slip to the real-life Mr. Horace Vandergelder, a much more than half-a-millionaire who she had thought about more than a woman ought to since their last meeting over Christmas. Amelia had urged her to try to move on. But could George McCannevermove on from his beloved wife? Tilley scolded herself again. This was nothing more than a flight of fancy. George would surely be an eternal bachelor, and any flirtation she had felt was nothing more than her imagination. Right?
Tilley snapped back to the stage in time to nail her line. She had practiced in the mirror many times, being as charming as one Ms. Barbra Streisand, and she supposed she had gotten it right because her sister and Olivia laughed audibly from the audience.
An hour later, in the car, Elizabeth turned to Tilley, who preferred to sit in the back seat and be driven, even if no one was in the passenger seat as Olivia was now, and said, “Till, I will be the first to say that I was wrong. You were dazzling.”
Olivia nodded. “Forget Cape Carolina theater. You, my friend, should be on Broadway.”
The mention of Broadway caused Tilley’s stomach to turn. But, no, she wouldn’t go back to that day. Not now.
Tilley knew that part of this praise was stemming from the fact that she hadn’t had one of her “episodes” all week. For five consecutive days, she had been Dolly onstage and Tilley in real life, and she was as shocked as anyone. She was taking her medications. She was going to therapy. She was coming back. Damn it, Tilley was going to be Tilley again. (But sheneverwould have said “damn it” out loud. How unladylike.)
“Well, thank you, my darlings. I haven’t been this happy…” Tilley trailed off. “Maybe ever. I can’t think of ever being this happy. And I appreciate your driving me.”
Tilley didn’t drive, though there was no real reason. Even dressed as Queen Victoria, she could certainly understand the rules of the road. Maybe she would try that next. Changing the subject—and knowing this conversation was going to ultimately lead to the place she was trying to go—she said, “Well, we had a visitor for breakfast this morning. I made myself scarce, of course, but I found it quite interesting.”
Elizabeth gasped. “Do we think Mason is taken with the pretty blond nurse?”
Olivia put her hand on her heart. “I never thought I’d say this, but he seems fully smitten with her, doesn’t he?”
Tilley nodded. “He does indeed.”
“Do we think he’ll invite her to Easter?”
Everyone loved Christmas most, but Easter was where Tilley shined. She loved the idea that Easter was a sign of rebirth—especiallythis year. Because wasn’t she experiencing a rebirth of her own? She loved Easter ham and making hot cross buns and bunny cake and hiding Easter eggs and helping Amelia and Parker with the baskets. She loved everyone in their finery at the Sunday service and placing fresh flowers on a wooden cross, a sign of hope and light in the darkness of this worn-out world.
“I think we should encourage him to,” Elizabeth said. She looked over at Olivia. “I mean, if you do, of course. This would be your future daughter-in-law we’re talking about.”
