The Cinderella Hour by Katherine Stone Read Free Book Online Page B

preventable psychiatric
catastrophe is an opportunity I’ll gladly take. You know that, Vivi. I know you
do. Five minutes could save a mother’s life, a baby’s life, a family’s life.”
    “I know, Blaine. I know . That’s very important to me,
too. It just infuriates me that she’s using you to boost her ratings.”
    “She’s using the topic, maybe. Not me. And you have to admit
that postpartum depression is a risky choice for her first on-air week. But she’s
insistent on doing it. The WCHM powers-that-be have scrambled to adjust the
schedule accordingly. They believe she knows what she’s doing, and that she’ll discuss
issues all of Chicago wants to hear. She took her afternoon-commute show into
primetime in Atlanta—so successfully, the producer told Louise, she even lured
an audience from TV. The bet at WCHM is she’ll do the same here. Vivian?”
    “What?”
    “Not once in the eight months I’ve known you have I caught
you listening to nighttime radio. True?”
    “True. And maybe no one else in Chicago will listen and she’ll
skulk away again.”
    “Or maybe she’ll become the toast of the Windy City. And if she does, so what? It has nothing to do with you, or with us—does it?”
    “No, Blaine, it doesn’t . . . except that you’ll be spending
time with her.”
    “That can’t possibly worry you. Even if a radio studio was
the most romantic venue on the planet, which it isn’t, I’m not going to become
enthralled with Snow. Or anyone else. Although,” Blaine admitted, “you have
definitely piqued my interest in meeting her.”
    “Don’t! Please, Blaine. Stay away from her. Please promise me.”
    The plea was so un Vivian, so not in control, that all
remnants of Blaine’s teasing disappeared.
    “I’ll do the interview by phone. I promise. But, Vivian, you
need to make a promise to me in return. There’s more to this story. We both—we
all—know that. You need to figure out why Snow is still so upsetting to you and
let it go. I’d be happy to help you. And I’m sure Mira would be, too. Isn’t
that right?”
    “Of course.”
    Mira’s reply was mechanical. And truthful. She would help
Vivian at any time and in any way. But Vivian wouldn’t come to her with even a
slightly personal problem, much less one that made her more vulnerable than
Mira would have ever imagined Vivian could be.
    Mira could reconsider her own plans involving Snow.
Could. But didn’t. She would merely risk incurring Vivian’s wrath as well as
Luke’s.
    Her plans weren’t going to change, any more than Blaine was going to rescind his agreement to appear on The Cinderella Hour.
    Dr. Blaine Prescott was committed to the psychiatric
enlightenment of Chicago.
    Mira’s commitment was a bit narrower in scope. The
enlightenment of Snow herself. About Luke.
    “Vivian?” Blaine asked when only Mira had concurred with his
suggestion that Vivian resolve her unresolved issues regarding Snow.
    “I promise,” she replied. “It was silly of me to let this
upset me—and worthwhile to figure out why. A nice Sunday afternoon of
soul-searching, while you and Mira exchange emails about a lunatic who’s actually
worth worrying about, ought to do the trick. Unless . . .”
    “Unless?”
    “She would have to disguise her voice—as Mira’s caller has.”
    “You’re saying Snow is making the calls?”
    “I’m saying she could be. It’s no secret that she was obsessed
with Luke Kilcannon and was willing to go to any lengths to snare him. Maybe
she thinks Luke is living in the rebuilt version of his boyhood home, and Mira,
the female voice who answers the phone, is his wife. Or maybe she’s just making
obscene phone calls to the address . . . and to the past.”
    “She would have to be pretty delusional to be harassing an
address, Vivian, much less a past. That kind of dysfunction would be incompatible
with the success she’s obviously achieved. As stunning a case report as it
might make for the psychiatric