Shadows on the Ivy Read Online Free Page B

in the side pocket of her purse for a business card. “If anything happens to Sarah, I’m the one who’ll have to tell her little girl her mother’s not coming home.” She paused, suddenly overwhelmed by what she was about to say. She took a deep breath. “I’ll be Aura’s guardian.”

Chapter 3
    Wee Willie Winkie. Lithograph of small boy in nightshirt carrying a lantern through city streets, knocking on windows. Dark blue border of stars with words printed below: “Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town, Upstairs and downstairs, in his nightgown, Rapping at the window, crying through the lock, ‘Are the children in their beds, for now it’s eight o’clock?’” Delicate pastel version of the old nursery rhyme. London, circa 1890, from Rhymes of All Times. 3.25 x 4.25 inches. Price: $40.
    “You! Why will you be Aura’s guardian?” Dorothy’s concern had suddenly changed to anger. “How did that happen? You’ve only known Sarah two months!”
    Dr. Stevens backed away. “Then I’ll call you, Professor Summer. And you will keep Mrs. Whitcomb informed.”
    “Of course.”
    As the doctor disappeared through the emergency room’s swinging doors, Dorothy turned on Maggie. “Why would she make you Aura’s guardian? What have you got to do with Sarah?”
    Everyone in the waiting room was looking at them. Maggie put her hand on Dorothy’s arm and headed her toward the door to the parking lot. She wouldn’t want the college trustee to think she had wielded undue influence over Sarah. But why should Dorothy be reacting so dramatically? Maggie spoke softly as they walked. “Most of the Whitcomb House residents made out wills after we had that legal seminar in September. Sarah has no family, and no close friends outside of Somerset College. She was worried that if anything happened to her, Aura would go into foster care.” Foster care could be wonderful or awful. Unfortunately for Sarah, her experiences in the system had been horrendous. She’d never told Maggie the details, but she’d been very clear that she never wanted Aura to be a foster child.
    “I’m sure she wouldn’t have wanted Aura to have foster parents,” Dorothy agreed. “But she could have asked Oliver and me. Then Aura would have had two parents. You aren’t even married!”
    Maggie swallowed hard, fighting down the urge to be defensive. “Sarah asked me to be Aura’s guardian because at the time she couldn’t think of anyone else. It was an interim decision. She was young and in good health; she hoped she’d marry in the next few years and her husband would adopt Aura. There was no reason to think her decision would mean anything immediate for Aura. It was just a way to protect her.”
    Until tonight, Maggie thought. She felt a strong urge to go to Whitcomb House, to hug the little girl with the red hair. To keep her safe. She wanted so much to be a mother, and now there was a child who needed her. She felt the muscles in her shoulders tighten with stress. Aura was still Sarah’s child. Sarah would recover. Maggie must control her emotions.
    “I’ll stop at Whitcomb House and talk to the other students. Maybe they’ll know more about Sarah. Something that will help the doctors figure out what’s wrong with her.”
    Dorothy nodded. “Yes. Do that. But”—she reached out and took Maggie’s hand—“let me know if you hear anything.”
    They separated in the parking lot, Dorothy walking toward her navy BMW sedan, and Maggie toward her faded blue van.
    She lowered her head to the cold plastic steering wheel for a moment. If only Will were here. She wanted to feel safe and sheltered in his arms; to have his protection; to have him assure her that everything would be all right. A hug couldn’t protect you from the world, of course. But it could allow you to pretend for a few precious moments. Had Will written her an e-mail note in the past few hours? Maybe she’d call him when she got home. He was headed for Ohio to do an