Free The Whisper Of Wings by Cassandra Ormand Page A

Mrs. Avery, I...didn't know what to think, what to expect. It confused me that Mrs. Smythe didn't answer the door. She always answered the door."
    "So, you remember her well."
    It was a statement of fact, one she couldn't deny.
    "Yes," she managed. Now surely she had incriminated herself. How could she possibly remember Mrs. Smythe if she couldn't remember anything else?
    "She's a relative of yours?"
    She shook her head. Her throat felt constricted. He was slowly but surely dragging the answers from her, and she had to fight the urge to turn and flee. How far would he get? How much would she admit to him? And how angry would he be when he discovered her secret?
    "Michaela?" His voice was a whisper, almost a caress. She shivered a little at the sensation it gave her when he spoke her name aloud. She dare not look at him. She didn't want him to see the truth reflected in her eyes.
    By his very presence alone, he silently urged her to answer. She couldn't pretend not to have heard him, nor could she refuse to answer. Could she?
    She swallowed the lump in her throat and plunged in despite her fear. After all, she had come this far without a reprisal. "I was looking for Mrs. Hollingsworth."
    An odd look crossed his face, one she couldn't fathom, and she felt a sudden stab of intense panic. Perhaps she had gone too far, told him too much. Did he know? Could he tell she didn't really have amnesia? Was he angry now, angry with her for deceiving him? Would he put her back out on the streets?
    With an exquisite wrench of some elusive emotion spreading inside her chest, she became startlingly aware of how painful it would be to have his wrath directed at her. She didn't want this magnificent man to be angry with her, to have cause to despise her. But the truth was her burden to carry alone, and she didn't feel comfortable telling him just now. Perhaps not ever. She was too afraid of the consequences, of what these nice people would think of her afterwards, and she didn't want to disturb the fragile fantasy that had begun to construct itself in her mind, the fantasy that for once in her life she was truly accepted. They seemed to like her, and she couldn't bear it if that were to change.
    He recaptured her attention when he half turned away from her. He lifted a hand to massage the back of his neck, as if there were sudden tension there. Michaela held her breath and waited. There was no anger in his demeanor. It seemed more like he was puzzling over something, like he found himself in a very awkward position, a dilemma he wasn't entirely sure he could resolve.
    "My dear, I'm afraid you won't find Mrs. Hollingsworth here."
    He said it so quietly, with such absolute certainty, that she was temporarily shocked into speechlessness. But then the import of his statement began to sink in, and her mind began to buzz with a confusing whirl of possible explanations for his pronouncement.
    "Then...I have gone completely mad. Everything seems so familiar. The driveway, the yard, the hall. Everything. Even the dining room table. It's all the same."
    She was babbling, her voice rising in panic. She knew it, yet she couldn't seem to stop herself. The doctor was right. She did have amnesia. Or perhaps she really was insane. Was it all just part of her madness, the crazy flight from her home, the man in the alley, the days in the streets? Was none of it real? Had it never even happened? Had her mind conjured a past for her so that she might be better equipped to deal with the trauma of her life, of living?
    "Please." His voice insinuated itself into her thoughts. She looked up at him, only just then realizing that he had his hands on her shoulders. "You mustn't get so upset. You're not insane. It is the same house. It's simply that...Mrs. Hollingsworth has passed on."
    "What?" she whispered, her voice tremulous with emotion. "No. It can't be. She can't be dead."
    "I assure you, she is," he insisted.
    She stared at him, horrified, hot tears already