Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evie by Marianne Stillings Read Free Book Online

treated a person depended on his mood at the time, what he wanted, and how he felt about them.
    Her heart felt bruised inside her chest as she remembered the first time she’d seen him. She’d looked up from her chair next to her mother’s coffin to see him standing in the doorway of the dingy funeral home, gazing at her.
    Fifteen years ago Thomas Heyworth had been lanky and a bit worn around the edges, but he hadn’t seemed frightening, not like Maggie’s boyfriends. He’d seemed fatherly, right from the very first moment. Approaching her, he’d hunkered down to her level.
    “You Maggie O’Dell’s girl?”
    She’d nodded.
    “What do they call you? ”
    “Evie,” she replied. “Evangeline May Randall, sir.”
    He blinked, hard, the way people do when they’re caught off guard, and even at eleven she’d known that to be true. “Randall, eh?” He seemed to search her face for a moment, then gave an absent sort of nod.
    His brown eyes were kindly as he’d smiled at her. “My name’s Thomas Heyworth. I’m a famous writer. Not a very good one, if you want the truth, but a famous one. You ever heard of me?”
    She’d shaken her head.
    “You got any family anywhere, Evangeline May Randall?”
    “They’re looking,” she whispered.
    He nodded again. “Do you know what a ward is, Evie?”
    “It’s a place in a hospital where they keep sick people.”
    “Yes, that’s one definition. But a ward the way I mean it is when a grown-up takes care of a kid, like me taking care of you. I’ve arranged for that to happen. Would you like that?”
    Her little body had stiffened, and she eyed him with suspicion. “I don’t know you. Why do you want to ward me?”
    He’d chuckled, then grown serious. “I knew your mother, Evie. Not very well, a pparently, but I as sume she’ll rest easier knowing you are being well cared for. Uh, you see, last year, I lost my wife.”
    “I’m sorry.” She leaned forward. “Did you need me to help you look for her?”
    For a moment he’d gone silent, licking his lips and swallowing. Finally, he said gently, “Not that kind of lost. Lost, like you’ve lost your mother.”
    She’d felt her cheeks flush. “Oh. I see. I knew what that meant, but I forgot. You probably think I’m dumb, and now you won’t want to ward me.”
    He’d lowered his head for a moment, and when he looked at her again, his eyes were rimmed with red. “I don’t think you’re dumb at all. And I think offering to help me find my lost wife tells me everything I need to know about you, Evangeline May Randall. And more.” Tapping her on the knee with the back of his finger, he said, “I haven’t got anyone now, and neither do you. So, what do you think, kiddo? Shall we be alone together?”
    Since Maggie O’Dell’s child care system had been somewhat haphazard, Evie wasn’t sure if her mother would care one way or the other about her future, but she didn’t want to tell this nice stranger that. Instead, she’d looked at him, trying in her child’s mind to make some sense of his remarks.
    “Sort of like, would you be my father?”
    He’d blinked that hard blink again and said, “No. But I can make sure you have a roof over your head, food, clothing, and safety. Above all, a litt le girl needs to feel safe. Am I right?”
    Since Evie had never felt particularly safe, she wondered just what that might feel like.
    He’d reached his hand out to her, and she hesitated only a second before taking it. Many times over the years, she’d replayed that first meeting in her head, looking for clues, coming up with nothing.
    While he may not have admitted to being her father, she had certainly thought of him as one. Her innocent heart had opened to him, accepted him, and made him her own.
    He’d brought her to the island, to Mayhem Manor, where she met Edmunds. Wonderful, gentle- hearted E dmunds. Between the two middle- aged men, she’d never felt safer in her life. While they were each emotionally