“You still haven’t told me the message from my grandparents, Vicki.”
“I’ve told you most of it, or you’ve guessed it. They want to give you all the advantages and good things which they feel you, as their granddaughter, are entitled to.”
Lucy murmured, “That’s wonderful,” then asked what made them change their minds, after so many years? Vicki explained how Mr. Bryant’s severe heart attack had made him stop and take moral stock of his life. She added that Lucy’s grandmother had for a long time grieved about the family separation.
“Now they want you to come live with them, Lucy, or near them, if you wish.”
The eagerness drained out of Lucy’s voice. “They don’t really want me.”
“Lucy, they do want you! Very much!”
“But I can’t decently leave Mrs. Heath now. If you had brought me this news a few weeks ago, it would have been wonderful—it would have transformed my life! But it’s impossible now. I’ve promised to stay with her—she needs me.”
“Why did Mrs. Heath talk at dinner about going abroad?” Vicki asked. “Have you also promised to go out of the country with her?”
“It’s just a vague plan Mrs. Heath has had ever since I met her. I don’t know exactly what she has in mind.”
Vicki asked whether they would go soon.