Winter's Daughter Read Online Free

maneuvering between a white BMW and a yellow Honda scooter. In the stuffy semi–darkness she pulled off the brown gloves, and then, with a grateful sigh, the purple knit cap and a lank, gray–streaked wig. Her fingers touched the cool petals of the flower woven into the cap, and she paused, frowning, while a little whirlwind of troubling feelings twisted and turned inside her. Then she tossed the cap into the shopping cart, closed her eyes, and indulged in a vigorous massage of her scalp, combing and fluffing her dark blond hair, reveling in the coolness of drying perspiration.
    The door to the house opened, and a small woman with short blond hair and a worried crease between her eyes peered into the gloom. "Tan? Oh, good, it is you. What are you doing home? I thought you were going to be staying in town all week."
    "Was," Tannis answered, shrugging out of the coat and placing it carefully across the top of the cart. Methodically she continued removing layers of shabby, shapeless clothing. "Changed my mind." Realizing she was still speaking in the gruff phrases she affected on the streets, she cleared her throat and gave a short laugh. "I couldn’t stand it anymore, Lisa. You wouldn’t believe how much I’m longing for a shower!"
    "Oh, I believe it," her sister said pointedly, wrinkling her nose and watching with a mixture of distaste and awe as Tannis removed the pads from the insides of her cheeks and peeled bits of latex from her eyelids, nose, and chin. "Isn’t it kind of cheating though?"
    "What do you mean?" Stripped to her panties and bra, Tannis stepped out of the heavy, oversized shoes, then bent over to peel off three layers of mismatched socks. Holding them fastidiously by thumbs and forefingers, she dropped them on top of the mountain of clothing that had grown atop the shopping cart. Feeling lighter by about a thousand pounds, she closed her eyes, lifted her arms high, and dropped her head back, letting her hair swing free across her shoulder blades. "Oh Lord, how marvelous that feels!"
    With curiosity rather than judgment in her tone, Lisa said, "Isn’t it a little like putting on a blindfold to see what it’s like to be blind? Or sitting in a wheelchair to feel what it must be like to be paralyzed? I mean, you know you can always take off the blindfold or get up out of the chair."
    "It isn’t the same thing," Tannis said, frowning. "I’m not doing this to see what it’s like. I’m doing it to find out what
they’re
like." She jerked her head toward the kitchen. "Uh—who’s in there? Is it okay if I—"
    "It’s just me and Josh. Parade on through." Lisa swung the door open for her. "Richard’s flight got grounded in Boston. He won’t be back until this weekend at the earliest."
    Tannis poked her head cautiously into the kitchen. Her nephew was sitting on the kitchen table, swinging his feet. His small shoulders were hunched, and there were suspicious smears across both cheeks.
    "HI, Josh," she said softly. "What’s the matter?"
    The little boy’s expression was woebegone but stoic. He straightened his shoulders gamely, gave a prolonged sniff, and said dolefully, "Oh, I just fell off my bike. I skinned my knee, see?" he held it up for her inspection.
    "Ouch," Tannis said, impressed. "That smarts. Oh, well, some antibiotic ointment will make it feel better."
    "And a Band–Aid," Josh said firmly. The deal had obviously already been struck.
    "And a kiss." Tannis planted a noisy one on her nephew’s smudged cheek and got a gratified sniff in response. "Better now?"
    Josh nodded. She ruffled his hair and went on through the sprawling house to her room.
    As she stripped off her bra and panties and stepped into the shower, she was frowning. It
isn’t
the same thing, she told herself, but what her sister had said bothered her anyway. Even though her reasons for doing what she was doing might be different, it was true that she could take off the blindfold whenever the going got too tough. She could