She looked up to see Greta, a short blond woman who always wore cowboy boots and two large turquoise rings.
"Oh, G.o.d," Sydney whispered.
"I"m sorry," Greta said, kneeling in front of her. "I"m so sorry. I tried parking here, but the guy living over there caught me and told me he was calling a tow truck. I"ve been driving by every half hour, waiting for you."
"Oh, G.o.d."
"It"s okay." Greta pulled Sydney to her feet and led her and Bay to a Subaru wagon with plastic over a broken window on the pa.s.senger side and rust spots from fender to fender. "Be safe. Go as far as you can."
"Thank you."
Greta nodded and got into the pa.s.senger seat of the Jeep that had followed her into the parking lot.
"See, Mommy?" Bay said. "I knew it was going to be okay."
"Me too," Sydney lied.
The morning after Anna Chapel"s party, Claire went to the garden for a basket of mint. She was going to start on the food for the Amateur Botanists a.s.sociation"s annual luncheon in Hickory on Friday. Being botanists, they liked the idea of edible flowers. Being a bunch of rich eccentric old ladies, they paid well and could give a lot of referrals. It was a coup to get the job, but it was a big job, and she was going to have to buck it up and hire someone local to help her serve.
The garden was gated by heavy metal fencing, like a gothic cemetery, and the honeysuckle clinging to it was almost two feet thick in some places, completely closing in the place. Even the gate door was covered with honeysuckle vines, and the keyhole was a secret pocket only a few could find.
When she entered, she noticed it right away.
There, in the cl.u.s.ter of Queen Anne"s lace, tiny leaves of ivy were sprouting.
Ivy in the garden.
Overnight.
The garden was saying that something was trying to get in, something that was pretty and looked harmless but would take over everything if given the chance.
She quickly pulled the ivy out and dug deep for the roots. But then she spied a hairy vine of it sneaking up a lilac bush, and she crawled over to it.
In her haste, she hadn"t closed the garden gate behind her, and a half hour later she jerked her head around in surprise when she heard the crunch of footsteps on the gravel pathway that snaked around the flowers.
It was Tyler, carrying a cardboard milk box and looking around as if he"d entered someplace enchanted. Everything bloomed here at once, even at a time of year when it wasn"t supposed to. He stopped suddenly when his eyes found Claire on her knees, digging up the roots of the ivy under the lilac bush. He gave her a look like he was trying to make her out in the dark.
"It"s Tyler Hughes," he said, as if she wouldn"t recognize him, "from next door."
She nodded. "I remember."
He walked over to her. "Apples," he said, crouching beside her and putting the box on the ground. "They fell over the fence. There are at least a dozen here. I didn"t know if you used them for your catering, so I thought I"d bring them over. I tried your door, but no one answered."
Claire scooted the box away from him as subtly as possible. "I don"t use them. But thank you. You don"t like apples?"
He shook his head. "Just occasionally. I can"t figure out for the life of me how they got in my yard. The tree is too far away."
He didn"t mention a vision, which relieved her. He must not have eaten one. "Must have been the wind," she said.
"You know, the trees on campus don"t have mature apples on them at this time of year."
"This tree blooms in the winter and produces apples all spring and summer."
Tyler stood and stared at the tree. "Impressive."
Claire looked over her shoulder at it. The tree was situated toward the back of the lot. It wasn"t very tall, but it grew long and sideways. Its limbs stretched out like a dancer"s arms and the apples grew at the very ends, as if holding the fruit in its palms. It was a beautiful old tree, the gray bark wrinkled and molting in places. The only gra.s.s in the garden was around the tree, stretching about ten feet beyond the reach of its branches, giving the old tree its room.
Claire didn"t know why, but every once in a while the tree would actually throw apples, as if bored. When she was young, her bedroom window looked out over the garden. She would sleep with her window open in the summers, and sometimes she would wake in the morning to find one or two apples on the floor.
Claire gave the tree a stern look. Occasionally that worked, making it behave. "It"s just a tree," she said, and turned back to the lilac bush. She resumed pulling at the roots of the ivy.
Tyler put his hands in his pockets and watched her work. She"d been working alone in the garden for so many years that she realized she missed having someone there. It reminded her of gardening with her grandmother. It was never meant to be a solitary job. "So, have you lived in Bascom long?" Tyler finally asked.
"Almost all my life."
"Almost?"
"My family is from here. My mother was born here. She left but moved back when I was six. I"ve been here ever since."
"So you are from here."
Claire froze. How could he do that? How could he do that with just five little words? He just said to her the very thing she"d always wanted to hear. He was getting in without even knowing how he did it. He was the ivy, wasn"t he? She very slowly turned her head and looked up at him, his lanky body, his awkward features, his beautiful brown eyes. "Yes," she said breathlessly.
"So, who are your guests?" he asked.
It took a moment for the words to penetrate. "I don"t have any guests."
"As I was coming around the front of the house, someone pulled up to the curb with a car full of boxes and bags. I thought they were moving in."
"That"s strange." Claire stood and took off her gloves. She turned and walked out of the garden, making sure Tyler was following her. She didn"t trust the tree alone with him, even if he didn"t eat apples.
She walked along the driveway curving beside the house, but then she came to a sudden stop beside the tulip tree in the front yard. Tyler came up behind her, close, and put his hands on her arms, as if aware that her legs had turned boneless.
More ivy.
There was a little girl, about five years old, running around the yard with her arms stretched wide like an airplane. A woman was leaning against an old Subaru wagon parked on the street, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, watching the little girl. She looked small, frail, with unwashed light-brown hair and deep circles under her eyes. She seemed to be holding herself to keep from trembling.
Claire wondered absently if this was how her grandmother felt when her daughter came home after years away, when pregnant Lorelei showed up on her doorstep with a six-year-old clinging to her leg. This relief, this anger, this sadness, this panic.
Finally making her legs move, she crossed the yard, leaving Tyler behind.
"Sydney?"
Sydney pushed herself away from the car quickly, startled. Her eyes went all over Claire before she smiled. That insecure woman with her arms wrapped around her was gone, replaced by the old Sydney, the one who always looked down her nose at her family name, never realizing what a gift it was to have been born here. "Hi, Claire."
Claire stopped on the sidewalk, a few feet away from her. She could be a ghost, or maybe someone who looked incredibly like Sydney. The Sydney Claire knew would never let her hair look like that. She wouldn"t be caught dead wearing a T-shirt with food stains on it. She used to be so meticulous, so put together. She always tried so hard not to look like a Waverley. "Where have you been?"
"Everywhere." Sydney smiled that spectacular smile of hers, and suddenly it didn"t matter what her hair or clothes looked like. Yes, this was Sydney.
The little girl from the yard ran up to Sydney and stood close to her. Sydney put her arm around her. "This is my daughter, Bay."
Claire looked at the child and managed to smile. She had dark hair, as dark as Claire"s, but Sydney"s blue eyes. "h.e.l.lo, Bay."
"And this is...?" Sydney asked suggestively.
"Tyler Hughes," he said, extending a hand past Claire. She hadn"t realized he"d come up behind her again, and she gave a start. "I live over there, next door."
Sydney shook Tyler"s hand and nodded. "The old Sanderson place. It looks good. It wasn"t blue the last time I saw it. Just a hideous moldy white."
"I can"t take credit for it. I bought it like that."
"I"m Sydney Waverley, Claire"s sister."
"Nice to meet you. I"ll just be going. Claire, if you need me for anything..." He squeezed Claire"s shoulder, then left. She was confused. She didn"t want him to go. Yet of course he couldn"t stay. But now she was alone with Sydney and her quiet daughter, and she had no idea what to do.
Sydney wagged her eyebrows. "He"s hot."
"Waverley," Claire said.
"What?"
"You said your last name was Waverley."
"Last time I checked."
"I thought you hated the name."
Sydney shrugged noncommitally.
"What about Bay?"
"Her name is Waverley too. Go play some more, honey," Sydney said, and Bay ran back to the yard. "I can"t believe how great the house looks. New paint, new windows, new roof. I never imagined it could look so good."
"I used Grandma Waverley"s life-insurance money to remodel."
Sydney turned away a moment, ostensibly to watch Tyler climb the stairs to his front porch and then walk into his house. She had stiffened, and it occurred to Claire that this was shocking news to Sydney. Had she really expected to find their grandmother here, alive and well? What was was she expecting? "When?" Sydney asked. she expecting? "When?" Sydney asked.
"When what?"
"When did she die?"
"Ten years ago. Christmas Eve, the year you left. I had no way to contact you. We didn"t know where you went."
"Grandma knew. I told her. Say, do you mind if I pull this clunker behind the house?" Sydney knocked on the hood with her fist. "It"s sort of an embarra.s.sment."
"What happened to Grandma"s old car, the one she gave you?"
"I sold it in New York. Grandma said I could sell it if I wanted to."
"So that"s where you"ve been, New York?"
"No, I only stayed there for a year. I"ve been around. Just like Mom."
They locked eyes, and suddenly everything was quiet. "What are you doing here, Sydney?"
"I need a place to stay."
"For how long?"
Sydney took a deep breath. "I don"t know."
"You can"t leave Bay here."
"What?"
"Like Mom left us here. You can"t leave her here."
"I would never leave my daughter!" Sydney exclaimed, a touch of hysteria tinging her words, and Claire was suddenly aware of all that wasn"t being said, of the story Sydney wasn"t telling. Something big had to have happened to bring Sydney back here. "What do you want me to do, Claire, beg?"
"No, I don"t want you to beg."
"I don"t have anywhere else to go," Sydney said, forcing the words out, like spitting sunflower-seed sh.e.l.ls to the sidewalk, where they stuck and baked in the sun, getting harder and harder.
What was Claire supposed to do? Sydney was family. Claire had learned the hard way that you weren"t supposed to take them for granted. She"d also learned they could hurt you more than anyone else in the world. "Have you had breakfast yet?"
"No."
"I"ll meet you in the kitchen."
"Come on, Bay, I"m pulling the car around back," Sydney called, and Bay ran to her mother.
"Bay, do you like strawberry Pop-Tarts?" Claire asked.
Bay smiled, and it was Sydney"s smile made over. It almost hurt Claire to look at, remembering all the things she wished she could take back from when Sydney was a child, like chasing Sydney out of the garden when she wanted to see what Claire and their grandmother were doing and hiding recipes on high shelves so Sydney would never know their secrets. Claire had always wondered if she was the one who made Sydney hate being a Waverley. Was this child going to hate everything Waverley too? Bay didn"t know it, but she had a gift. Maybe Claire could teach her to use it. Claire didn"t know if she and Sydney would ever reconcile, or even how long she was going to stay, but maybe she could try to make up for what she"d done with Bay.
In mere minutes, Claire"s life had changed. Her grandmother had taken in Claire and Sydney. Claire would do the same for Sydney and Bay. No questions asked. It"s what a true Waverley did.
"Pop-Tarts are my favorite!" Bay said.
Sydney looked startled. "How did you know?"
"I didn"t," Claire said, turning toward the house. "Evanelle did."
Sydney parked the Subaru beside a white minivan at the back of the house, in front of the detached garage. Bay hopped out, but Sydney got out a little slower. She took her tote bag and Bay"s backpack, then she went around to the back of the car and unscrewed the Washington State license plate. She stuffed it into her bag. There. No clues as to where they"d been.
Bay was standing in the driveway that separated the house from the garden. "This is really where we"re going to live?" she asked, for about the sixteenth time since they"d pulled in front of the house that morning.