Free The Mysterious Stranger (Triple Trouble) by Susan Mallery Page A

September so I hadn’t made a lot of friends, but I miss the classes and the teachers.”
    Ariel put down the shirt she’d been folding and reached forward, resting her hand on Anna Jane’s bare knee. “It’s tough being the new kid, huh?”
    “Yeah. Some of the girls talked to me, but most of them were real snobs.”
    “And really stupid,” Ariel said, giving her a quick squeeze before returning to her folding. “You’re a great kid and they were too dumb to figure that out. Hey, if they’d taken the time to get to know you, they could have visited you here. It’s their loss.”
    “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Her comments made Anna Jane feel better. It was funny. On the outside Ariel and Nana B. didn’t look anything alike. Her nanny had been nearly sixty and tiny, with white hair and snapping black eyes. Yet Ariel reminded her of Nana B. It was more what she said.
    “Do you have any children?” Anna Jane asked.
    Ariel glanced at her and opened her mouth. She frowned. “I’m not sure.”
    Anna Jane rolled her eyes. “I keep forgetting you don’t remember who you are. I’ll try not to ask so many questions.”
    “I don’t mind the questions. There’s stuff I don’t realize I know until I answer. But children. How strange.” She got up and put her shirts and shorts into the dresser at the foot of the bed, then returned to her seat. “My first instinct was to say that I don’t have children, but then I wanted to say yes.” She tilted her head as she thought. “I don’t think I have any of my own, but there are kids in my life.”
    “Like friends?”
    “Maybe. Or kids of friends. Maybe nieces and nephews. I’m not sure.”
    Anna Jane realized she didn’t want Ariel to have other children in her life. She wanted to be the only one. Which was silly. After lunch Leona had explained to her that Ariel was just here temporarily. Anna Jane knew that. Yet part of her didn’t want to believe it. Part of her wanted to pretend that Ariel was going to be here for a long time.
    She wanted Ariel to love her the way Nana B. had loved her. She wanted to belong to someone. Her mother had belonged to her father. Uncle Jarrett belonged to his empire. Anna Jane didn’t belong to anyone or anything. Belonging to Ariel would be very nice.
    Ariel looked at the pretty young girl sitting so quietly on the bed. “You’re looking serious about something,” she teased. “Tell me what it is.”
    “Nothing,” came the quiet response.
    It was definitely something, Ariel thought, trying to read Anna Jane’s expression. Unfortunately she’d inherited the Wilkenson ability to hide what she was thinking.
    “There are still a couple of hours until dinner. Maybe we could do something.”
    Shrug.
    “Do you want to play a game?”
    Shrug number two, this one accompanied by a small hand picking at the bedspread.
    “How about exploring the house? I haven’t seen very much of it. It’s big enough that we could even pretend to get lost and have Leona come look for us.”
    Silence. Ariel replayed their conversation. They’d talked about Anna Jane not fitting in at school and her, Ariel, not being sure if she had children. Bingo!
    She scooted up until she was sitting next to Anna Jane, then draped her arm around her shoulders. “You miss your mother, don’t you?”
    Anna Jane raised her head. Tears filled her eyes, then one slipped down her cheek. The young girl slowly shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “I’m very bad.”
    Ariel’s heart ached for the child. “Honey, you’re a lot of things, but bad isn’t one of them. Tell me what’s wrong.”
    “I can’t. You won’t like me.”
    “Unless you plan on selling me to pirates or burning down the house, I can’t think of anything you could do that would make me not like you.” She gave the girl a gentle shake. “Come on. Out with it. I promise I’m not easily shocked.”
    Anna Jane swallowed hard. “My mom died.”
    She clamped her lips shut.