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"Aren't you even gonna fix your hair?"
"M-maybe I should." Sitting on the edge of the bed, Addie jerked on her shoes. There was an
ivory-backed brush on the painted dresser, and she pulled it through her hair after plucking the pins from
the tan-gled mass. Same face, she noted as she looked in the mirror. Same eyes, same hair. "Leah," she
said des-perately, turning to face the little girl, "do I look the same to you as I always have? Is there
anything differ-ent about me? Anything at all?"
Leah seemed puzzled by the question. "No. Nothin' is different. Do you want something to be?"
"I'm not sure." Addie faced the mirror again and brushed until her hair was smooth. She couldn't
man-age any styles as elaborate as those she had seen that day. Using a few hairpins, she pulled the front
locks away from her face and let the rest fall down her back. After smoothing her bangs, she set the
brush down and squared her shoulders. "I'm ready to go down now."
"Like that?"
"Yes. Is there anything wrong?"
"I guess not."
As they went downstairs, Addie noticed how beau-tiful the house was. The furniture was polished and
elegant, draped with lace table covers and embroi-dered tidies for all the chairs and sofas. The curtains
were made of expensive coarse linen in shades of chocolate brown and Thrkish red, while the carpets
were boot-heel deep. The appetizing smells of food and coffee wafted through the air, awakening
Addie's appetite and reminding her she hadn't eaten in a long time.
"There aren't going to be any leftovers when I get through with dinner," she said, aware that her
stom-ach was beginning to growl insistently.
Leah wrinkled her forehead. "There aren't gonna be what?"
"Leftovers," Addie said, and as the girl continued to look confused, she realized the word wasn't
famil-iar. "Extra food."
"Oh." Leah's brow cleared. They neared the dining room and the sound of easy conversation and
clinking dishes. As they came to the doorway, all sound van-ished. Everyone was staring at her. Even
Cade had paused in mid-bite. The room was filled with people, most of whom seemed to be family
members.
Addie's attention was drawn to a pair of icy green eyes, and she saw that Ben Hunter was seated at
Rus-sell's right hand. Ben was looking at her with subtly veiled contempt. His glance encompassed every
detail of her appearance, the loose hair and flushed face, the warm and tumbled picture she presented,
and a cyni-cal smile touched his mouth. What was wrong? Why was everyone looking at her like that?
The silence deepened, and she stumbled forward to sit at the first empty chair she saw. "Don't you want
to sit at your usual place, sugar?" came May's quiet voice. Addie stopped and went to the other side of
the table, sinking gratefully into the chair beside May. Her appetite had vanished completely.
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"Caroline, fix a plate for your sister, please," May directed, handing Addie's empty plate to a pretty
blond woman across the table. Caroline . . . that was the name of Leah's mother. Does that mean she's
my sis-ter? Since she'd been cast in the part of Adeline Warner, it probably did. You'll know you're
really in-sane when all of this starts making sense to you Addie.
"Heard you had quite a day today," Caroline said, giving Addie a teasing smile. "I also heard you're not
tellin' a thing about it. Since when have you started to keep secrets from us? If it weren't for talkin' about
your latest exploits, dinnertime conversations around here would be as dull as a Sunday stroll."
"It was quite a day," Addie said cautiously, her eyes darting to Ben Hunter's face. His mouth twisted
sardonically before he picked up a roll and broke it apart.
She was relieved as everyone began eating again, and her tension faded a little. Her appetite came back
with a vengeance as she received a plate heaped with fried chicken breasts, steaming potatoes, and string
beans glistening with butter. It was difficult to eat slowly when she was this hungry, but Addie didn't want
to attract any more attention to herself. As the conversation around the table resumed, May leaned over
and whispered in her ear.
"You're too old to be wearin' your hair down, Ade-line. It's too late to change it now, but tomorrow
night I want it pinned up like always."
Addie looked at her with round eyes. Was that why everyone had acted as if she had walked in the
room with her dress unbuttoned? Just because her hair was hanging down? "Was that why everyone was
looking at me like that?" she whispered back, and May gave her a wry, reproving glance.
"You know the answer to that."
So that was why Ben had looked at her so contemp-tuously. He thought she was trying to attract
attention to herself. A knot of embarrassment and resentment tightened in her chest. Addie kept her eyes
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