A hotel, maybe? But the thought of being alone made me feel too vulnerable, too exposed. Whit had said he’d made arrangements for our protection, but I had no idea who he’d contacted or even how to find out. We hadn’t had time yet to go over all the particulars now that our lives had been combined.
No, we’d go to Dottie’s tonight. And then I’d figure out the rest later. There was no other option. Besides, Dottie was my friend, my confidante, and, quite literally, the only other person I knew in the city. And she clearly knew more about the residents of Dawes House than she’d let on.
It was only when she opened her upstairs apartment door and ushered us in without a single question did I begin to wonder why.
Chapter twenty-five
It was the first time I’d been in Dottie’s apartment above the bookshop, but it was as cozy and inviting as the shop itself and just as eclectic. I sat at her little round wooden table in the kitchen, gripping a mug of tea she’d prepared, letting it warm my cold fingers.
“Drink your tea, honey,” she urged softly, joining me at the table with a cup of her own and a plate of cookies. “It’ll help you feel so much better. It’s my own special blend of herbal teas. I’ve used it for years to calm my nerves.”
I dutifully took a sip and gave her a shaky smile. “Thank you, Dottie. I’m so sorry to intrude on you like this.”
“Don’t you fret over it,” she assured me, patting my arm. “I’d hoped you would come to me.”
I took another sip of tea. It really was as delicious and soothing as Dottie had promised. “What do you mean?”
I peeked out of the kitchen to the red velvet couch where Henry lay on his stomach, sleeping soundly. My poor baby. He was so emotionally exhausted, he’d fallen fast asleep within minutes of finishing the hot chocolate Dottie had made for him.
“Well,” she said, “you seemed so distraught when you left earlier. I was worried about you, honey.”
I experienced such a powerful surge of gratitude and relief that I nearly allowed my barely restrained tears to start flowing again. “Thank you, Dottie. I didn’t know where else to go.”
“Why don’t you tell me what happened,” she suggested. “That might help.”
I started to tell her she wouldn’t believe me but reminded myself that she’d been the one to show me the photo album, so she’d had to have at least suspected something was going on at Dawes House.
So, I told her everything. From the ghostly intruder at our previous house to the full story of the intruders at Dawes House to the attempted assault on Henry and me by our supposed “family” to my conflicted emotions about Whit’s betrayal and my love for him.
Dottie listened, making no comment, taking it all in stride. When I finished my story and my tea, Dottie took my mug and set it in the sink before returning and taking my hand. “You poor dear,” she said, her voice soft, hypnotic. “Why don’t you come into the living room to get some rest?”
Rest? I wasn’t sure I could ever rest again after what had happened! And I needed to go back for Whit as I’d promised Henry. But I didn’t know what to do, who to call. If I called the police, would they believe me that anything had happened? They hadn’t seemed too concerned when I’d called about Kitty and look how that had panned out.
Still, I had to dosomething. “Thanks, Dottie,” I told her. “But I have to go. I can’t leave Whit there. God knows what will happen to him.”
Dottie nodded. “I understand,” she said. “There was a man I loved like that. I still do. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. Or him for me.”
I gave her a grateful smile for understanding and stood up to tell Henry where I was going, but the room started spinning. I gripped the table to steady myself, grateful Dottie grabbed my arm to keep me from falling.
“What the hell?” I mumbled.
I tried to take a step, but my legs were like lead weights, and I collapsed back into the chair. I blinked several times, trying to clear my blurry vision, keep everything in the room from distorting cartoonishly. It reminded me of when I’d had too much of Junior’s elderberry wine.
I turned my eyes to Dottie, her face swimming before me. “What did you give me?”
I tried again to get up, determined to get the hell out of there, but fell against the table, nearly knocking it over.
“What’s happening to me?” I demanded.
Dottie grinned. “You’rebecoming, honey.”
I stared at her, trying to make sense of what she was saying. “Becomingwhat?”
Dottie put her arm around me and gave me a squeeze. “Everything you were meant to be.”
Fear shot through my veins. I launched myself from the table and took several stumbling steps out of the kitchen toward Henry, groping along the wall, using it for support to stay upright.
“There’s nowhere to go, Zellie, honey,” she called after me. “There’s more to the family than just what lives at Dawes House.”
