Ghost Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

herself.
    ‘‘Callie, how dreadful! Phillip just told me that Big John collapsed! Do you need a ride to the hospital?’’ A tall, slender blonde in perhaps her midthirties ran up to them, long-legged in high-heeled black pumps, and placed a hand on Callie’s arm. She had rather sharp features that were carefully made-up, chic, chin-length blond hair, and wore a simple, sleeveless black linen sheath that looked like it had cost the earth. A stocky, dark-haired man in a red polo shirt, khaki shorts, and boat shoes with ankle-length socks followed a step behind her, looking agitated. Olivia recognized the man as Seth’s cousin, Phillip Vernon. Actually, she had always thought of him as her cousin, too, although he wasn’t. He and his brother Carl were the ones who had once thrown her in the lake, for which heinous deed Seth had obligingly beaten them up. Phillip would be about thirty-four now, Olivia calculated, some three years younger than Seth. He was quite a bit heavier than he had been the last time she had seen him, but Olivia would have recognized him anywhere.
    ‘‘Oh, Mallory, yes, I do mean to go to the hospital, right away, but Ira’s already fetching the car,’’ Callie said, her voice quivering. ‘‘I am just about out of my mind—’’
    ‘‘Olivia!’’ Phillip interrupted, his eyes widening as they moved past Callie to fix on Olivia’s face. ‘‘By all that’s holy! What the hell are you doing here?’’
    ‘‘I asked her to come, Phillip,’’ Callie intervened. ‘‘She and her daughter are my guests. And watch your language, if you please! Olivia, this is Mallory Hodges, Seth’s fiancée. Mallory, this is Seth’s cousin Olivia Morrison, and her daughter, Sara.’’
    Seth’s fiancée. As they all hurried toward the house, and Olivia and Mallory Hodges exchanged hasty greetings, Olivia turned the knowledge over in her mind. She had known that Seth had married and divorced, but she hadn’t known he was planning to marry again.
    But then, how should she? It was she, after all, who had cut the connection and chosen to stay away. For nine years.
    ‘‘Did my father go with Big John in the ambulance?’’ Phillip asked as they neared the house.
    ‘‘Both your parents did, and so did Seth,’’ Callie replied, glancing around distractedly. ‘‘Olivia . . .’’
    They reached the Big House’s wide front steps as Callie spoke, and began to ascend in a group to the firstfloor veranda. The house was built in the fashion of southern Louisiana, with the first floor some ten feet above the lawn to combat groundwater. The cellar beneath was only partially underground, and had windows half the size of the upper-story windows looking out onto the mass of shrubbery that surrounded the house. The cellar walls were made of stone, as were the steps. The rest of the house was built of white-painted brick. Those used for the center section had been handmade and fired on the former sugar plantation by slaves before the Civil War.
    A white Lincoln Town Car stopped by the walkway that led from the driveway to the house, and honked twice, causing Callie to break off in midsentence, stop climbing stairs, and glance toward it. Everyone else followed suit.
    ‘‘Oh, thank goodness! I must go. Olivia—’’
    She was interrupted again.
    ‘‘Do you mind if I ride with you? I feel I should be there for Seth, in case . . .’’ Mallory’s voice trailed off delicately, but her meaning was clear: in case Big John died.
    Hail Mary, full of grace . . .
    ‘‘Oh, dear, oh, surely he won’t need you that way! But of course you may come, Mallory. You’re one of the family now. Olivia . . .’’ Callie cast a wild-eyed glance at Olivia. Olivia wondered if the icy shock she was experiencing was as visible as Callie’s distress.
    Before she could finish whatever it was she had been trying to say, Callie was cut off by a blond sprite in an ankle-length blue cotton nightgown who darted out the front