Drina heard the worry in the girl’s voice and frowned, but the suggestion worried her as well. It would be harder to hide Stephanie’s abilities—and trouble handling them—from Lucian if they were in Toronto . . . and Drina was worried about what he would do. She wanted to help the girl learn to block the voices and perhaps deal with the electricity and energy she claimed to feel around life mates, and had spent a good portion of her night in the kitchen considering how to do that. The problem was that it was the complete opposite of what new turns usually needed to learn, and she had no idea how to go about it.
Realizing she shouldn’t be thinking about this with the girl so close, Drina pushed the thought from her head, and said, “I don’t know, sweetie. But if so, I’ll be with you. Don’t worry. And it would probably only be temporary until Casey Cottage was habitable again.”
“Right,” Stephanie murmured. She was silent for a minute, and then said, “Sorry to interrupt your bath.”
“You aren’t interrupting,” Drina said with amusement, scrubbing the tomato-soaked cloth over her leg.
“Yeah, but I mean, you probably want your privacy and stuff.”
Drina chuckled at the suggestion. “Steffie, when I was young in Egypt, servants would help me with my bath. They would pour water over me and so on. And in Spain, I always had a maid who helped me bathe. Well, until that went out of fashion. I am not bothered by your being here.”
“Really?” Stephanie asked curiously. “Did they have soap in Egypt?”
“Not the hard bars used today. Ours was a cream made up of lime, oil, and perfume.”
“That sounds nice.” Stephanie sighed. There was a rustle, and then the flushing of the toilet, followed by the squeak of the taps being turned.
Teddy needed some oil on that, Drina thought absently as she continued scrubbing.
“Well, I guess I’ll go back downstairs,” Stephanie announced, turning off the taps. “Do you want to play cards or something when you come down?”
“Sure,” she said easily. “I’ll be down in a minute.”
“Okay.” Drina heard the bathroom door open and thought Stephanie was leaving, but she suddenly said, “Oh, I forgot, Teddy went out to pick up sandwich fixings before heading to the police station. I was going to make myself a Kitchen Sink sandwich. Do you want me to make you one too?”
Drina stilled and asked uncertainly, “What is a Kitchen Sink sandwich?”
Stephanie chuckled. “That’s what my dad calls them because it includes everything but the kitchen sink. It’s tomatoes, lettuce, onions, radishes, green peppers, cucumber, cheese, mayo, Italian dressing, and ham or whatever. It’s basically like a sub sandwich, but on bread.”
Drina was actually salivating by the end of that long list of ingredients. “That sounds delicious.”
“Oh, it is,” Stephanie assured her on a laugh. “So you want one?”
“Yes, please.”
“Okay, see you soon.”
The door closed, and Drina promptly unplugged the stopper and switched the shower on. She was suddenly in a hurry to get downstairs and try this Kitchen Sink sandwich.
“I hear that Lucian finally called.”
Drina glanced up from her cards and smiled at Teddy as he settled at the table with his plate of pork chops, potatoes, and salad. Leonora had made dinner tonight with Drina, Harper and Stephanie basically getting in her way as they tried to help. Everyone else had eaten two hours ago, but Teddy had just gotten home. She suspected the poor man had worked late to avoid coming home to his presently overcrowded house. She couldn’t blame him.
“Yes, he called just before we sat down for dinner,” she said finally, and then smiled apologetically. “Lucian’s going to make arrangements, and then call back. I’m not sure what’s going to happen.” She discarded so that Harper could take his turn, and then added, “Tiny should be waking up soon. He’s calmed considerably and hasn’t needed to be drugged for the last couple of hours. That usually means they’re through the worst of it.”
Teddy nodded as he started to eat.
“Does that mean Leonora, Dawn, Alessandro, and Edward will go home soon?” Stephanie asked, reaching for a card when Harper finished and discarded.
“Yes,” Drina said, and then added wryly, “In fact, I suspect they’ll leave the minute Tiny opens his eyes.”
“Oh,” Stephanie murmured, but Drina could see the relief on her face and knew it was for two reasons. One, while everyone was being really considerate, they were all exhausted, the house was just too small, and they were getting on each other’s nerves. On top of that, though, she knew Stephanie would be relieved to have four less life mates in the house. Drina and Harper had been playing cards and board games with the girl all day to try to distract her, but she didn’t think it had helped much. It would have been nice if they’d been able to take her out to Wal-Mart or a restaurant or something to give her a break from the energy and voices bombarding her, but all the vehicles were still back at the house, and Teddy had been at work. They’d been stranded here in his house in the country, which might be for the best until they sorted out who was behind the attacks. They were guessing Leonius, and Teddy and his deputy had been asking around about any sightings of strangers in town, but no one had seen anyone fitting his description.