were the first reasonably stable family Gwen had experienced during her rocky sixteen years, Savannah could understand how hard it must be for her to be away from Coldwater Cove for any length of time, even if the teenager who dreamed of following in Ida’s physician footsteps was doing something she loved—something Savannah dearly hoped would help keep her mind off the baby she’d recently given up for adoption.
“Well, the day’s not getting any younger, and neither am I,” Ida announced suddenly. “If we’re going to get our futures told, we might as well get going.”
“Please promise that you’ll keep an open mind,” Lilith asked her mother with a deep, exaggerated sigh.
“Does this palm reader friend of yours wear a turban?”
“No.”
“How about talking to the dead?”
“That’s not her field of psychic expertise.”
“Then we’ll probably get on well enough.” The pewter bird nest of hair piled precariously atop Ida’s head wobbled as she nodded with her typical decisiveness that eased any lingering concern Savannah might have had about her earlier confusion. “So long as you girls both keep your clothes on.”
With that pointed reference to Lilith’s nude Beltane dancing, she marched toward the car, leaving her daughter to follow.
“Wish me luck,” Lilith murmured as she bent to kiss Savannah’s cheek. “After this outing, the meeting with Henry this afternoon should be a piece of cake.”
Eight hours later, Savannah discovered that her mother’s prediction had been optimistic.
The Evergreen Care Center was a redbrick building nestled in a grove of fir trees at the far end of town. The designers had done their best to make the center appealing, with outdoor patios, a sunroom, bright colors, and framed paintings designed to stimulate both the eye and the mind. A bulletin board, covered in grass green burlap, announced a crowded activity schedule that included wheelchair bowling, a morning newspaper group, and the monthly visit of Pet Partners, an organization of dog owners who’d bring their pets to visit the residents.
“Can you imagine ever putting your grandmother in a place like this?” Lilith murmured as they entered the lobby furnished with tasteful antique reproductions.
“Not in a million years.”
Savannah thought that there must be a better way than to warehouse people at the end of their lives. Not that Ida was at the end of her life. She may have edged into her late seventies during Savannah’s time away from Coldwater Cove, yet except for that little unexplained dizzy spell that had landed her in the hospital a few months ago, her grandmother was as energetic and strong-willed as ever.
Despite the fact that Savannah and Lilith had arrived at the care center ten minutes early, Henry Hyatt was already waiting for them in the sunroom.
“Oh, dear,” Lilith said under her breath. “That’s him, in that chair upholstered in the bright nautical-theme sailcloth.”
The elderly man’s back was to the glass wall, which, Savannah noted with a grudging respect for his negotiating tactics, would force her to look directly into the setting sun. The scowl on his face could have withered a less determined woman.
Refusing to be intimidated, Savannah reminded herself that getting into a power contest with this frail, elderly man was no way to achieve her goal.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Hyatt.” Her brilliant smile, an unconscious replica of her mother’s, revealed not an iota of her churning emotions. An emerald ring once given to her by a Saudi prince who’d hired her to cook his fiftieth birthday dinner flashed like green fire in the slanting rays of tawny light streaming into the room.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” When his talon-like hand stayed right where it was atop the carved wooden cane, Savannah slowly lowered hers. “I’ve admired the Far Harbor lighthouse for years.”
“You and all those other tourists who keep coming around,