Glow (Glimmer and Glow #2)(66)
“It’s not a matter of you doing anything harmful to her. These are facts. It’s her history. She deserves to know. Events are going to start unfolding now; things that neither you nor Alice can control. Better the truth comes from you than from a stranger.”
He made a frustrated sound. Sidney was right, and yet—
“You weren’t there,” Dylan said edgily. “You don’t know what it was like, telling her that the woman whom she considered her mother was a knowing accomplice to her kidnapping.”
“No, but I can imagine how difficult it was for you,” Sidney replied. “Neither of us thought any of this process was going to be easy, and yet here we are, getting through a step at a time, right along with Alice.”
“What I’m experiencing is nothing compared to what it must be like for her,” Dylan said grimly. His gaze sharpened on his old friend. “And since when are you such an advocate for aggressive action when it comes to this topic? Since when did you stop advising caution when it comes to exposing her past to her, or subtle nudging at worst.”
“Since I met her,” Sidney said without pause. “She’s quite unique, and very strong in her own way. The news from the camp is that she continues to excel and demonstrate unique leadership ability. This despite what we know about all she’s endured this week.”
Dylan grimaced, partially mollified but not convinced. “What have you heard about Kehoe’s temperature when it comes to hiring her—not that it makes an ounce of difference in the end,” he added.
“She’s a top runner for a position, although I get the impression Kehoe is looking for any excuse to push her down lower on the list.”
Dylan shook his head. “I wish I got him. He’s always performed at the highest level, for Alan and for us, but he’s . . .”
“Got his own agenda. And he’s not an easy man to warm up to,” Sidney finished for him. “I remember Alan was ambivalent about Kehoe, but his work was always top notch. It was Lynn who admired what he’d done with the camp so much. You know the camp was always her baby. She and Kehoe collaborated on it a great deal to make it what it is today: a valuable program that demonstrates every aspect of Durand’s philosophy while seamlessly benefitting children at the same time. I think if it weren’t for Lynn valuing Kehoe so much, Alan might have shifted Kehoe to some foreign office years back.”
“I didn’t know Alan wasn’t particularly fond of him,” Dylan said. Or that Lynn was. The sound of the hand dryer going on in the bathroom down the hall distracted him. He turned toward the door.
“She’s shaken some by having the testing done today, Dylan,” Sidney said quietly. “It hasn’t defeated her, though. I’m beginning to wonder what would. You’re going to have to tell her how Lynn died eventually.”
He pressed his mouth together, unwilling to promise the psychiatrist anything yet. Alice was his sole guide in this, not Sidney.
*
“DID you plan ahead for us to ride at Riley Stables this evening?” Alice asked him in amazement ten minutes later. They were flying down the rural route that followed the Lake Michigan shoreline, Dylan at the wheel. He’d just told her they were going to ride and then have dinner.
“I did. I have some clothes for us to change into in the trunk. You seemed a lot more comfortable on Kar Kalim yesterday morning, so I thought the time might be right for another lesson.”
He referred to the fact that after she’d dodged her follower and they’d had that impulsive, scorching tryst in the woods, he’d taken her back to the stables on his horse.
“I was too busy thinking about other things to be nervous,” she said wryly. “But I was more relaxed than I was with Quinn. Kar Kalim is an amazing horse.”
“So you don’t mind?”
“No,” she said honestly. “It sounds nice.”
In fact, it had been a unique and wonderful experience for her last Saturday, to go to the stables and their special dinner, to escape for a period of time from the shadows and mysteries of Castle Durand . . . to share stolen moments with Dylan. It’d felt as if an entire new aspect of her personality had flowered, being with him on that sunny day and romantic, star-filled night. The Durand home and grounds drew her in so many ways, but there was a darkness to it, too, an oppression that felt so hard for her to shake at times.
Presently, sunshine filled the sedan and glowed all around them like a warm embrace. Dylan looked so handsome and in control behind the wheel of the luxury sedan, his suit jacket in the backseat and his tie loosened. She felt happy. The moment of existential angst she’d experienced at the hospital had entirely faded, thank God. Dylan was right. They just needed to deal with things one moment at a time.
He glanced over at her and did a double take.
“Why are you smiling?” he asked, his mouth twitching.
“I’m just glad you planned this. That’s all.”
He arched his brows, staring at the road again. “Then I’m glad. I was worried about you, back there at the hospital.”
“I’m fine,” she assured. She was starting to feel like a tape recording, saying that over and over again.
He gave her a quick smile that went all the way to his eyes, and Alice experienced a rush of relief. He wasn’t going to push her into talking about what had happened at the hospital. Not now, he wasn’t.