Free Heaven Made by SaraLynn Hoyt Page A

instead completely
changed the subject.
    "Did you still want to join me for dinner, Mr.
Northcliffe? I can have Mr. Roland put an extra table setting out."
    "I’ve suddenly lost my appetite," Ford said,
disturbed by what had just happened. He obviously couldn’t discuss it with
Sabrina. "I think I need some fresh air. I’ll be at my club if anyone
needs me."
    "Of course," Sabrina said, keeping her grin almost
under control. "I’ll have Mrs. Dixon keep a plate warm for you. Enjoy your
evening, Mr. Northcliffe."
     
     
    ****
     
     
    Sabrina was so relieved she almost dropped to the floor.
They had nearly been found out! What in the world had Alice been thinking?
Running around the house in her nightgown and right past Ford’s study. When she
found her daughter, she was going give her a lecture about proper deportment
while they were living under someone else’s roof. Ghosts again. Sabrina was
growing very weary of everyone talking to her about ghosts. And a man of Mr.
Northcliffe’s intelligence talking about spooks, was too ridiculous. Sabrina
followed the path that Alice had just traveled and found her daughter in the
kitchen with Mrs. Dixon and Mr. Roland. She took a deep breath to try to calm
herself before she began to chastise her little girl.
    "Alice Elizabeth Macaulay Tremaine! What in the world
did you think you were doing, running through the house in your nightgown where
anyone, and I do mean Mr. Northcliffe, could see you?"
    "Wasn’t it funny?" Alice said around a mouthful of
cake. "Did you see the look on his face, Mama?"
    "Did you see the look on my face?" Sabrina asked,
with her arms crossed over her chest and one foot tapping in anger.
    "Oh, Mama, don’t be angry. Papa wanted Mr. Northcliffe
to see me. He said I look just like Piper, and her brother would think I was
her."
    Her head spinning with this latest revelation, Sabrina collapsed
onto the nearest chair, dropping her forehead into her hands. "You and Mr.
Northcliffe and your talk of spirits. Are the two of you trying to drive me
mad?"
    Mrs. Dixon and Mr. Roland gave each other a confused look
before unobtrusively leaving the kitchen. Sabrina was relieved she at least
wouldn’t have to answer their questions too.
    "Alice, darling, there is no such thing as ghosts. You
have to believe me."
    "Cassiopeia believes me," Alice said stubbornly.
    "Miss Blakemore was just being nice." Sabrina
looked at her daughter and wondered what she could possibly do to help her
child get over her father’s death. This was starting to become a problem she
didn’t know how to handle.
    "I think we should go ask Madame Lou what she thinks."
Alice wasn’t giving up so easily.
    "Who is Madame Lou?" Sabrina asked. The name rang
a bell, but she couldn’t quite remember where she had heard it before.
    "Madame Lou is Cassiopeia’s neighbor," Alice said
with a child’s superiority. "She has a tearoom and reads fortune cards."
    Yes, now she remembered who Madame Lou was. The psychic
woman who talked to spirits. Well, Sabrina was certainly not going to fall for
any of that hocus pocus.
    "Alice, darling, why do you keep insisting that you
have been talking to your father?" Sabrina was too tired to argue any
further about the subject, but she couldn’t let it drop until they had come to
some sort of an understanding about it. "I know you miss him terribly, but
there is no reason to make up stories about him. You can come to me anytime if
you want to talk about Papa. He loved you very much and someday you will get
see him again in heaven. But for now, he’s really gone."
    Alice sighed and seemed to droop where she was sitting. "I
know you don’t believe me, Mama. But Papa really does come and talk to me.
Maybe if we visit Madame Lou she can prove it to you. Can I take my cake up to
our room?"
    Sabrina knew she shouldn’t let her, but she nodded her
assent and watched as Alice wrapped the cake in a linen napkin and disappeared
up the back stairs to their suite.
    What in