reasons. His Ellen sat alone, isolated in the seat of honor, while the other guests formed their own clusters on either side of her. None of the girls seemed to be paying her any attention at all.
Jeff ached with helpless worry. A more outgoing child might have bridged the gap and made friends. But Ellen had experienced so much aloneness in her young life that she only invited more. Worse, there seemed to be nothing he could do for her. The therapist said these things took time. But how much time? It had been more than eighteen months since Meredith—
Brooding over the past wouldn’t help, he reminded himself harshly. Ellen could only heal in her own time. As for him, the single antidote to what had happened was work.
As he turned to leave the window, his attention was drawn once more to the clown. She was prancing before the group, juggling a rainbow of multicolored balls. Jo-Jo, or whoever she was, had been right about nine-year-olds, he conceded. The lady had drawn one tough audience. But at least she was in there pitching. Not only was her juggling ability impressive, but she was making a real effort to involve the girls.
He watched as one of the balls disappeared into thin air, only to be plucked magically from behind one little blonde’s ear. The young audience giggled—more at the girl, Jeff suspected, than at the trick itself, but at least they were laughing. Jo-Jo the Clown knew her stuff.
Giving in to an impulse, he settled himself against the window to watch. A vague, yearning tingle passed through him as he remembered the husky timbre of her voice and the flash of those intriguing eyes. It would be an interesting challenge to find out what she looked like under that ridiculous wig and makeup. She sounded like a cuddly Lauren Bacall—but then, a man’s imagination played strange tricks. He was probably just as well off not knowing.
She had finished the juggling routine and was digging something else out of her lumpy green duffel. From where he stood, it appeared to be a box of long, thin balloons. Yes—she was blowing them up now, twisting them into clever animal shapes for each of the girls. As entertainment, it was corny, but her skill was mesmerizing. Although he would never have believed it possible, she had those jaded youngsters in the palms of her deft little hands. She damned near had him!
For another minute, perhaps, he remained glued to the window, fascinated by the puzzle of the woman beneath Jo-Jo the Clown. There was something about the quaint little figure—an air of grace and spirit….
But enough of this time wasting; he had work to do!
Reluctantly Jeff forced himself away from the view and back to his drafting table. Shutting out the distractions of the warm summer day and the disturbing little clown, he refocused his thoughts on the hospital plans. The ideas were just beginning to flow again when he heard his mother’s no-nonsense tread coming up the stairs.
“Jeff!—” Her agitated breathing told him she was upset. “You’ve got to come down and help me! It’s Ellen! She’s left her own party! She’s gone!”
Now what?
Kate rummaged in her duffel bag, wondering how much longer she could hold this show together on her own, with no guest of honor and no hostess.
She had glanced up from inflating the last few balloons to see Ellen Parrish slip away from her table and wander off in the direction of the house. If the other girls had noticed, none of them had spoken up, and Kate wasn’t about to call attention to the poor child, who was more than likely just feeling sick to her stomach. It was only a few minutes later, when Ellen’s grandmother caught sight of the empty chair, that the strain had burst into the open.
“Where could that child have gone?” she’d exclaimed, visibly at her wit’s end. “You—Clown—carry on while I go and find out what’s gotten into her!”
Jo-Jo hadn’t been doing too badly up to that point, but now things were beginning to come apart. The girls were whispering and giggling like a flock of restless budgie birds, and Kate knew the cheap pocket toys she’d brought along as favors would be no help at all. Groping in the duffel bag, her hand closed on the spare makeup case she carried for touch-ups. Suddenly she had an idea.
“Say, who wants to be a clown?” she exclaimed, speaking for the first time as she opened the case on a tabletop. “Come on, I need a volunteer!”
The girls buzzed and twittered, then shoved one of their peers to the center of the circle. It was the little Shirley Temple blonde Kate had noticed earlier.
“So, what’s your name, dear?” she asked in an encouraging tone.
“Muffet. Muffet Bodell. My father is—”
“How would you like to be a clown, Muffet?”
“Uh, I guess it would be—”
“Wonderful!” Kate plopped the little girl onto a chair and swiftly fashioned a makeshift cape out of a táblecloth. “Come closer and watch, girls. Then we’ll see who’d like to be next! Now…the first step in putting on clown makeup is to rub on lots and lots of white…”
The other girls crowded around, fascinated, as their playmate acquired a clown-white face, red cheeks and big, round, painted eyes. Kate was just adding some eyelashes when she heard a horrified gasp from behind her.
“No! Oh, no, no, no!”
She turned around to see Mrs. Parrish descending on her like a lavender steam locomotive. “How could you do this?” she snapped. “Muffet is Congressman Bodell’s daughter. Her mother is coming by to pick her up and take her to a wedding. She’ll be here any minute—and just look at the child!”
Kate grabbed a jar of cold cream and a handful of tissues. “I’m sorry, but no one told me a thing. We were just—”
“Here, I’ll do that!” The woman snatched the tissues out of Kate’s hand. “You’re already in enough trouble! I just talked to the cook. Ellen has disappeared with your daughter!”
“Flannery?” Kate’s heart plummeted. “But I told her to stay right there with Floss! She wouldn’t just disobey me and—”
“Well, it seems she did! Floss told me that Ellen wandered into the kitchen and the two of them started talking. The next time Floss turned around, they were both gone! My son’s out looking for them now, but I’m warning you, if anything’s happened to my granddaughter, I’ll hold you responsible!”
Worry, chagrin and indignation yanked at Kate’s emotions. “Look, I know you’re upset, but they shouldn’t be in any danger. Flannery knows the neighborhood and the beaches. She may have disobeyed me, but she’s not foolhardy enough to—”
“Never mind!” the woman snapped. “The party is over! I’ll look after these girls until their parents come for them. Meanwhile, if you have any notion where your daughter might have taken Ellen—”
Kate’s frayed emotions snapped. “Merciful heaven, you’re making it sound as if Flannery’s kidnapped her!” she burst out against her better judgment. “If you think you can just stand there and imply that—”
“I’m implying nothing! I just want my granddaughter found forthwith! Now if you wouldn’t mind—”
“I’m going. And don’t worry, I’ll find them.” Kate waddled off toward
