"No. Does it bother you?"

"I"ll admit I"m trying not to think about it."

"Because, you know, it would be like Kingsley and Claire together."

"Eleanor, are you trying to make me carsick?"

She laughed openly, easily. It felt so good to be alone with him, teasing him, being near him.

"Sorry. I promise Claire and I will be cool."

"Good. I"ve been worried about her lately."

"What"s wrong?"

"I don"t know." S0ren adjusted the seat to give himself more legroom. This was not an issue she ever had. "Claire has been a marvelous correspondent. I have almost a thousand letters from her. She"s been writing me since she first learned how. I receive at least one a week. Or did until two months ago, when she stopped writing. I"ve spoken to her on the phone a few times and planned to talk with her at Thanksgiving. She"s been secretive, unusually so. I"m hoping she"ll talk to you since she won"t talk to me."

"I"m not going to spy on your sister and report back to you. That is a violation of the Girl Code."

"The Girl Code? Is this something you"ve invented or is it actually codified somewhere?"

"It"s a real thing. You can"t write the rules down because that"s also a violation of the Girl Code. Boys might find a written copy, and then they"d know the secrets."

"Are you violating the code by telling me about the code?"

"Yes, but the Girl Code is really f.u.c.king stupid, and I only follow it when I feel like it."

"And I a.s.sume you feel like following it now?"

"Right."

All the way to New Hampshire, she and S0ren talked. They started with music. She confessed that for the past year she"d been trying to learn about cla.s.sical music. He confessed he"d borrowed Sam"s copy of Pearl Jam"s Ten so he"d know about this mysterious band she adored.

"So Sam"s a Pearl Jam fan, too?" Eleanor asked.

"She is."

"Can I ask a theological question?"

"I have no idea why you think I would be interested in theology, but ask anyway."

"If I were to fool around with a woman, would it count as s.e.x?"

"If the rumors about Sam are even half true, I can guarantee she would make it count."

"You have the coolest friends."

The four hours pa.s.sed in what felt like minutes. She"d been worried the trip would be weird or awkward, but instead she discovered S0ren, despite being a pompous, pretentious, arrogant, overeducated sn.o.b, was the easiest person in the world to talk to. As they neared the house, Eleanor almost regretted the end of the trip. She could talk to him forever.

"Is that it?" she asked, stopping the car at the end of a long driveway.

The sun had set two hours ago, but a spotlight shone on the house ahead. S0ren had called it a "Federal" style mansion, whatever that meant. He said his father had married into money and gutted his first wife"s family home, remodeling it to his exact specifications. It had two stories, two wings, twelve bedrooms, fourteen bathrooms and six thousand square feet. S0ren also added that he"d rather be back in the leper colony than back at his childhood home.

"That"s it."

She saw his jaw clench and his eyes narrow.

"What"s wrong?"

"Nothing, Little One. Only bad memories from that house."

She reached over and covered his hand with hers.

"I"m here. I don"t know if that helps any."

S0ren raised her hand and kissed the back of it.

"It helps more than you can imagine."

She eased the car down the driveway and at S0ren"s instructions followed the winding path to the back of the house, where they parked. She turned off the car, got out and stretched a few seconds before pulling her bag from the trunk.

"Oh, another thing, Eleanor, before we go in the house."

"Is it the body? Is the body in the house?" She tried not to make a face. "No offense but dead bodies creep me out."

"No body at the house, I promise."

"Then what"s up?"

"You"re here with Claire, not with me."

She knew she was here with him, for him. Still, she nodded.

A light on the back porch flipped on.

"Here we go," S0ren sighed. "Brace yourself."

"What"s wrong?"

"Hurricane Claire is about to hit."

20.

Eleanor A DOOR SLAMMED, A LOUD SOUND THAT WAS FOLLOWED by an even louder sound-a squeal and a laugh and then a blur of arms and legs racing toward the car.

A girl launched herself into S0ren"s arms and wrapped herself bodily around him.

"I"m so glad you"re here," she said, burying her head against his shoulder.

"I would never have guessed," S0ren said, breathless. The girl must have knocked the wind out of him with the force of her attack hug.

He put her down and leaned back against the car.

"I missed you, Frater," the girl said, grinning broadly.

"Missed you, too, Soror."

"I didn"t miss either of you," Eleanor said, deciding to interrupt if only to get the awkward introductions out of the way.

"Claire, this is Eleanor." He crooked his finger and Eleanor stepped out of the shadows. At one glance Eleanor could see Claire and S0ren were related. She had his mouth and nose, his pale complexion and long dark eyelashes. She didn"t have his height, however, or his blond hair. And although very pretty, she wasn"t nearly as striking as S0ren. "Eleanor is a friend from church. I didn"t want you alone here at the house."

Claire looked up at S0ren.

"Sure," Claire said, glancing at Eleanor and then back at her brother. "She"s here for me. Got ya." Claire gave him an exaggerated wink. Eleanor liked this girl already.

"Hi. Call me Elle. He only calls me Eleanor because he has a stick up his a.s.s."

"You noticed that, too?" Claire asked.

Eleanor turned to S0ren.

"Oh, yeah, she and I are gonna get along fine."

"If I had a white flag," S0ren said, "I"d wave it first to surrender and hang myself with it after."

The three of them walked into the house together. With that auspicious start, Eleanor expected a pleasant evening of hanging around the house and chatting. But as soon as they entered through the back door, S0ren lost his smile and his sense of humor.

"Is Elizabeth here?" he asked Claire. S0ren had his sister"s hand in his and seemed unwilling or unable to let it go.

"She said she"d be back soon."

"Did anyone give you a room yet?"

"I"m upstairs in the red room. I took the one with the big bed."

"Good. I want you in your room now. You and Eleanor."

"It"s only ten-thirty," Claire protested. If she hadn"t argued the point, Eleanor would have.

"I don"t care. I need to talk to Elizabeth, so I can"t keep an eye on you two. It"s late, we all have a big day tomorrow and I can"t have either of you roaming around the house by yourselves at night. If you leave the room, you two leave together. And you lock the door and don"t let anyone in the room but me. You understand?"

"Fine. Fine. If you insist. He"s so bossy." Claire said the last sentence to her and Eleanor started to agree, but S0ren shot her a "don"t you dare" look. Claire stood on a step so she could face her brother eye to eye. "Good night, Frater. Tomorrow you"re going to play with me, though."

"Have you been practicing?"

"Yes, and I"m awesome."

"Then we"ll play. Tonight you sleep."

Claire kissed S0ren on the cheek and grabbed Eleanor by the arm.

"Let"s go," Claire said, dragging Eleanor up the steps. "We can talk about him behind his back, and then he"ll regret introducing us."

"I already do," S0ren said from behind them.

Eleanor followed Claire to the red room and found that the girl had d.a.m.n good taste. Giant four-poster bed, huge couches, portrait art on the walls-it looked like a room from an English estate rather than an American mansion.

"Nice." Eleanor nodded her approval.

"It"s okay. Old-fashioned. Are you in love with my brother?"

Eleanor dropped her bag on the floor.

"Can you tell me the right answer to that question before I answer it?"

Claire grinned ear to ear. With that big smile she came darn close to being as striking as her older brother.

"If I wasn"t his sister I"d be in love with him. I am in love with him, but not that way."

"He"s worried about you." Eleanor hoped a careful change of subject would work. "He wants to know why you stopped writing him letters."

Claire groaned and threw herself onto the bed. She buried her face against a pillow and laughed.

This seemed like entirely inappropriate behavior for a girl whose father died that week. Eleanor decided to roll with it.

Claire flipped onto her back and smiled up at the ceiling. Eleanor dug through her duffel bag for the boxer shorts and Pearl Jam T-shirt she"d packed as pajamas.

"It"s very weird having a brother for a priest."

"You mean, a priest for a brother?"

"Right." Claire nodded.

"I don"t have any brothers or sisters, so having a brother would be weird enough to start with. But the priest thing, yeah, that"s gotta be weird."

"It"s beyond weird. Plus he"s thirty and I"m sixteen so he should be the one out there doing stuff, dating, getting married, whatever, and I should be the innocent virginal one, right? Instead he hasn"t dated anybody since he was a teenager and I"m ..."

"You have a boyfriend." Eleanor stripped out of her shirt and unhooked her bra.

"I do."