"Sarah," she said, just above a whisper as her cell phone rang. A look of panic crossed her face, anticipating bad news, but when she answered she smiled.
I gleaned from her side of the conversation Timmy was awake but feeling poorly. Karen demeanor change entirely as she spoke to her father. Paul asked to speak to me. Karen held the phone behind her back and said in a whisper, "Don't tell him! Please?" She handed me the phone.
I must have stuttered, bewildered by Karen's sudden request, because Paul asked if everything was all right. I answered we were about to have breakfast.
"Mrs. Waterman can make anything you want," he said. It dawned on me he didn't know we were in a hotel. Is that what Karen was pleading for me not to tell him? Not sure, I brushed off the question and asked about his plans now that Timmy seemed on the road to recovery.
"I'm with our family doctor now but I have to wait around for a neurologist to evaluate Timmy," Paul said, and added, "Mrs. Doberchek isn't doing well. Thatcher is trying to locate her brother in upper New York State. Things are very hectic. Will you be okay on your own for the rest of the morning?"
"Don't worry about us," I said after expressing my condolences for the elderly house matron. "Karen and I will have a fine time." At least I hoped so.
We ate our breakfast with nothing said about the promise Karen elicited from me. Instead she talked about Timmy with noticeable relief that he was healing. I enjoyed her lighter mood far better than the earlier gamesmanship. Her reaction to Mrs. Doberchek's condition was polite but restrained.
"According to your father, Mrs. Doberchek has been with you a long time."
She shrugged. "Since before I remember. She was my mother's. I'm sorry she's sick but she doesn't like us."
"What makes you think that?"
"I don't think it; it's a fact. She calls us spoiled brats when my father isn't around she goes to her room to sleep when she's supposed to do stuff with us. She knew things she should have told."
How can you respond to a statement like that? I answered by being mealy mouthed as usual. "I'm sure there were times you didn't like her very much . . ." Mealy-mouthed didn't work very well on Karen.
"How would you know?" she said sharply. "You weren't around."
"Why don't you speak to your father about it?"
Karen shrugged. "He'd just fire her and hire someone else. Timmy and I don't need her around anyway. We just don't pay her any attention." A concerned look passed over her face. "Don't tell my father!"