The Lost Sister (12 page)

“Y
ou aren’t really living here, are you?” Maddie joked as Reed welcomed her into the foyer of his current residence.

Seeing Reed Campbell’s new digs, which were straight out of a
Better Homes and Gardens
magazine, was the last thing she’d ever expected. She couldn’t comprehend how any normal person could reside in such a meticulous, picture-perfect home. The massive Colonial had a cutesy nautical theme that most houses in the area adopted. Every piece of artwork was painstakingly placed, each ribbon was expertly curled, each window treatment raised to a carefully determined height—allowing for the right amount of light in the mornings and afternoons without the threat of too much sun fading the sumptuously upholstered sofas.

Maddie wasn’t sure if it was trepidation or excitement that she saw in Reed’s eyes when she decided to drop in on him unexpectedly. But what did it matter? How could she compare with Bronwyn? The Maxwell family was one of the founding Hawthorne families; her trust fund was bigger than the Campbells’ and the Endicotts’ put together. Even though her family only recently came into their inheritance, they weren’t shy about letting people know about it. Abigail had told her how it was almost vulgar the way that Bronwyn and her mother wore their Cartier Love bracelets (in both eighteen-karat gold and platinum) like cheap bangles and flaunted their never-ending supply of Louis Vuitton purses, Lilly Pulitzer clothes, and Birkin bags. If the patriarchal grandfather hadn’t passed on all of his wealth that he’d kept hidden away for years, no one would have believed the transformation of the all-American girls’ hockey coach to the spoiled socialite of Hawthorne. From what Maddie had heard about Bronwyn’s rise to the elite, her actions would put even Kate Endicott to shame.

But Reed didn’t seem to be fazed by his opulent surroundings.

“Off and on,” he said about his current living arrangement. They hugged awkwardly and he stepped back, welcoming her into the house. Maddie walked uneasily over to the overstuffed couches and waited for Reed to sit across from her. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in the back of her throat. She was sure that the sound of it was filling the room—the space between them. Her breath was uneven.

He watched her for a few moments, as if gauging her reasons for the visit, and then sat down in the worn leather chair (obviously his one contribution to the frilly room). An uncomfortable silence settled over them, and Maddie wondered if he was remembering the last time they had seen each other and the passionate kiss they shared. She could still feel it in her knees and she had to consciously force herself not to run over and embrace him. The attraction was still very much alive on her end. She tried to gauge his feelings, if he regretted their kiss or not. Obviously, he wasn’t pining away for her if he was living here with another girl.

Just as Maddie was about to speak, the front door opened and Bronwyn Maxwell swept into the hallway adjacent to the living room where Madeline and Reed sat, her head buried in the day’s mail, hands cluttered with shopping bags.

“Whose car is outside, hon?” she asked as she walked into the room. Upon spotting Maddie, she pursed her honey lips for a second in displeasure before breaking into a wide, tight smile.

“Well, hello! Who do we have here?” Her annoyance was not evident in her voice, but in her cold, watery blue eyes.

“Maddie is one of my former students,” he offered.

Former student?
Maddie thought. She felt like a stake had just been thrust through her heart.
Is that all I am to him?

“Well, good,” Bronwyn said coolly, already losing interest in the unwelcome visitor. “It is almost seven o’clock, you know. A little late for a tutoring session, wouldn’t you say?”

She brushed past them and stuck her purchases in the closet, undoubtedly more outfits from Ann Taylor or Lilly Pulitzer, similar to what she was wearing.

“This is Madeline Crane. Madeline, this is my…um…girlfriend, Bronwyn.”

“Nice to see you, Bronwyn,” Maddie said quietly. It was obvious that her former field hockey coach hadn’t placed her. She wasn’t the star athlete that Kate Endicott was, nor was she a die-hard team member like the other girls in the Sisters of Misery. Bronwyn had always treated Kate, Bridget, Hannah, and Darcy with kid gloves. Maddie wondered if Bronwyn was a former member of the Sisters of Misery, or if she was secretly afraid of the group of women that ruled Hawthorne with an iron, yet impeccably manicured fist.

“Mm-hmm,” Bronwyn mumbled, passing by as if Madeline no longer existed and had suddenly become part of the furnishings.

“You’re a tutor now?” Maddie asked.

“Well, if I can’t teach high school classes, I can at least help students pass their SATs,” he said glumly.

“At least he’s putting his teaching certification to some use,” Bronwyn said. Maddie noted a tinge of harsh sarcasm in her voice. Maybe things weren’t as picture-perfect here as they’d like them to appear.

Reed cleared his throat disapprovingly as he watched Bronwyn flit around the house, plumping overfluffed pillows, arranging perfectly placed decorative accessories.

“Madeline and I were just catching up. Her cousin, Cordelia, was also a student of mine.” Just hearing him say Cordelia’s name—the way his voice huskily wrapped around each syllable—made her feel sharp pangs of jealousy.

“Cordelia?” She turned around, her interest suddenly piqued. “Where have I heard that name? Does she belong to the club?”

Reed shook his head. “No, honey. Cordelia LeClaire. The girl who disappeared last year.”

“Oh my.” Bronwyn rushed over to Madeline’s side, grasping her hands. “Of course, I remember that. I am so sorry, Maddie. My heart goes out to you and your family.” She gave Maddie’s hand a squeeze with her own perfectly manicured ones, then cocked her head to the side and looked at Maddie quizzically. “Weren’t you on my team last year? You didn’t graduate, did you?”

Maddie shook her head, slightly happy that she wasn’t completely forgettable. That there were a few memories left of her in this town that she’d lived in all her life, other than only being known as the cousin of the girl who disappeared.

“I transferred to Stanton Prep in Maine,” Maddie stated, not willing to go into further explanation.

“Really? They have a crap field hockey team. Are you on it?”

Reed interrupted. “Bronwyn, cut it out.” Maddie couldn’t understand what he saw in her. Granted, she was a beautiful, blond athlete who came from tons of money, and this house was a major step up from the boat he used to live in, but that didn’t cancel the fact that she was a straight-out bitch. Kate Endicott had always despised her, but it was most likely because they were too similar to like each other. But now that she had more money and a higher social status than Kate, it must be an all-out war, Maddie mused.

Bronwyn continued the interrogation. “So, if you’re at Stanton now, why are you back here? Don’t they have winter sessions, college-readiness programs, internships?”

“My mom kind of needs me,” Maddie said softly. She turned to Reed. “My mom is pretty sick with cancer and she needs help with the house and with my aunt. Now that Tess is gone, she’s all alone in that big Victorian. She could use the company.”

“Well, aren’t you a doll for taking care of your family like that?” Bronwyn said disingenuously. Then she looked at Reed and her mood suddenly shifted. It was obvious that she had more important things on her agenda to worry about than her former field hockey player and her sick mother. “Speaking of family, we are having dinner with my family tonight at the club and we’ve really got to get going.” She patted Reed’s knee and spun around heading toward the stairs.

Halfway up the stairs she called down to them, “It was good seeing you again, Melissa. Give our condolences to your family.”

Reed waved her off as she rushed up the stairs, as if telling Maddie to pay no mind to his new girlfriend’s insensitivity.

“I see we’re moving on to bigger and better things,” Maddie joked.

“You’re hilarious,” Reed said, giving the trademark grin that she remembered so well. Without Bronwyn around, Reed and Maddie fell back into their old comfortable ways. It was as if they just picked up where they had left off so many months ago.

“Seriously, Reed,” Maddie said in a hushed tone. “What’s with the Stepford Wife in training?”

Reed sighed and looked into Maddie’s eyes for a long time. “This is a small town where everyone wants to get into everyone else’s business. And since the only interesting girls I know are under my age limit, it was suggested by my family and Bronwyn’s that we start seeing each other.” He seemed pained to talk about the arrangement.

“What?” Maddie laughed. “Are you in an arranged marriage or something? Is this the eighteen hundreds? Did I escape a time warp when I crossed the town lines?”

“Ha, ha,” Reed said in a tone that was not amused. “Listen, you get to go out and live your life and date whomever you want. I’m stuck in this town if I want to have access to my trust—”

“And let’s not forget about your new girlfriend’s bust—I mean trust,” Maddie joked.

Reed rolled his eyes. They both were fully aware that the merging of the Campbell and the Maxwell families was something that was desired for many years. Relationships seemed to be more of a corporate merging than anything else in Hawthorne. Even Kate Endicott and Trevor Campbell’s arrangement was more of a relationship of convenience and assets than of true love. It was the Hawthorne way.

“Besides, I hear you’ve taken up with a Fortune 500 brat,” he said. “Aren’t you dating a billionaire’s son? The Richard Branson of the U.S.?”

“Luke is a friend. My
best
friend. He’s helped me through a lot over the past few months. He’s been my rock. But really, we’re only friends.”

“Friends with benefits?” Reed said with a gleam in his eye.

“Ew, excuse me, Professor. Isn’t that a little inappropriate for you to ask me?” Maddie said, laughing. She could put up with his taunts because there was nothing lecherous about him. If anything, he was the one to put the brakes on anything ever happening between them before she left Hawthorne. And now that she was seventeen, the age difference seemed to melt even further away. Besides, what did age matter when the feelings you had for someone were so strong?

Plus, their innocent flirtations began way after he was let go from Hawthorne Academy because of his alleged involvement with Cordelia—something to this day Maddie still refused to accept. He definitely helped Cordelia out of a hard place, either by guilt over what Trevor did to her, or by an honest caring and concern for her. Both reasons were enough to satisfy Maddie, allowing her to realize that his intentions came from a good place.

“Crane, you know I’m just joking around with you,” he said as a cloud seemed to sift across his perfectly chiseled features. “I just want to make sure that you’re happy and that you’re being treated right. After everything you’ve been through, you of all people deserve to be happy.”

“Me
and
Cordelia deserve to be happy.”

He leaned forward conspiratorially and asked in a hushed tone, “Have you heard anything from her? Has she tried to make any contact? With you or her mother?”

Maddie shook her head. She didn’t want to go into the fact that she felt like she was communicating with Cordelia through her dreams. How could she explain that to him without setting off all sorts of red flags that she was just as loony as her aunt and needed to join her at Fairview Hospital?

“But—” She stopped herself, unsure how much she should confide in him.

“But?” he asked, his voice going up an octave.

Maddie weighed whether or not she should clue Reed in to the delivery she had received prior to returning to Hawthorne and the letter that mentioned that Cordelia was back and looking for her. “Did you ever send me a letter at school?”

“Me? Write a letter? I’m a recovering English teacher. The closest I come to writing is e-mail and texting. If it doesn’t come with spell-check, I’m not doing it.”

“It’s just that I got this letter up at school and I thought…” Maddie said, her voice trailing off. It must have been Finn who sent the note about Cordelia being back and coming for her. But why hadn’t he mentioned it earlier? Maddie shook her head and gave up trying to ignore the stomping around upstairs by Bronwyn. She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Sounds like your warden is giving you the sign that it’s time to wrap things up.”

“She can wait a little longer. God knows how long I have to wait for her when we go on our shopping excursions. Or her new kick, going to libraries and doing genealogy and family trees.”

Maddie rolled her eyes and fought back a laugh.

“Seriously, though,” Reed continued, “what did you get in the mail up at school?” He sounded a little edgy, concerned even.

Maddie started slowly, giving herself ample opportunity to amend her statements accordingly, just in case it was a member of her own family—namely Rebecca—who was sending out the threatening notes and cards.

“Well, when I first got up to school, my mother wrote to me about the whole Endicott Hotel debacle and how Finn and the historical society put a halt to tearing down Ravenswood.”

“Yeah, your friend Finn isn’t at a loss for enemies in this town. People are losing millions, especially the Endicotts. Their investors are dropping like flies. You might want to warn your friend to watch his back.”