Stranger in the House Read Online Free

asked.
    A pained look crossed Iris’s face. “Oh, we’re giving a party. For the Hospital Guild. It’s going to be rather a large affair, to raise money for the new cardiac wing.”
    Anna nodded. “I read about it in the paper. I didn’t know the party was going to be here.”
    “Well, Edward is the chairman of the fund-raising committee, you know.”
    Anna nodded, noting that Iris was clenching her hands together in her lap. “You’re good at organizing things,” Anna reassured her. “It will be a great success.”
    Iris gave a small sigh. “I hope so,” she said. “There’s one for you in there.” Iris pointed to the stack of envelopes.
    Anna found the envelope addressed to the Langes and smiled. “Tracy, too?”
    “Older children.” Iris shrugged. “That was my idea, I thought they’d pep things up.”
    “Great,” said Anna. “When’s the party going to be?”
    “A week from tomorrow. The thirtieth. I hope you’re free. I’m a little late with the invitations.”
    “The thirtieth,” said Anna softly, staring down into her glass of tea. “That’s Paul’s birthday.” She looked up at Iris. “He’ll be fifteen this year.”
    Iris’s eyebrows rose slightly. For a moment she regarded her friend thoughtfully. “Is that so?” she murmured. “Well…that’s good. Where’s Tom today?”
    “With Tracy. They’re playing tennis. Is Edward home?”
    “Oh, no. He had a business lunch today. He just bought another company. The Wilcox Company, I think it’s called. They have something to do with helicopter parts.”
    Anna stirred the ice in her glass and looked up under her eyelashes at Iris. You would never know to look at her, Anna thought, that her husband was a millionaire. Edward, whose company manufactured private aircraft, was always a model of correctness and elegance in his appearance, while Iris dressed simply and seemed to give only the minimum attention to her hair and makeup.
    Nonetheless, they seemed to get along together, and Anna had always ascribed it to opposites attracting.
    “Well, I’ve got to be getting back.” She placed her empty glass down on the end table and got up.
    “Anna, I meant to ask you. How’s Tracy’s job at the vet’s working out?”
    Anna frowned, thinking of her daughter. “Oh, she loves being around the animals. She doesn’t get paid for it, but she seems to enjoy it.”
    “There, you see! That’s great,” said Iris. “I had a feeling that all she needed was an interest.”
    “It’s helped,” said Anna absently, although she felt a twinge of annoyance at Iris’s simplistic solution to the problems she had with Tracy. Her shy, introverted daughter was turning into a moody, difficult teenager who seemed to resent her mother more each day. But Iris always acted as if a little change in the routine would solve everything. And perhaps in Iris’s pampered, childless life, that was all the solution she needed, Anna thought ruefully.
    “Why don’t I ask Henry to get you those mint plants right now?” Iris suggested, opening the glass door to hail the gardener in a straw hat, who was crouching in a flowerbed beyond the pool. Anna realized that she had been unconsciously staring at him.
    “No, no,” she protested hurriedly. “Don’t bother him.”
    “It’s no bother,” Iris insisted.
    Anna shook her head but smiled at her friend’s kindness. She felt guilty for her uncharitable thoughts about Iris, remembering how often she had taken comfort in Iris’s confidence in Anna’s ability to make things right. Often, when she had been down, it was a visit from Iris that had forced her up. She gave her friend a brief impulsive hug. “Not today,” she said. “I’d better be getting along.”
    “If you have to,” said Iris. “Don’t forget. Put that party on your calendar.”
    “I will,” said Anna. She walked out the door and down the steps, then headed down the incline past the pool, greeting Henry, the gardener, as she went by. Her