Read Online An Illustrated Death by Judi Culbertson - Free Book Online Page A

hanger draped in clear plastic with a dry cleaner’s logo. It looked like a woman’s jacket made of nubby, olive green silk.
    Gretchen came in behind him. “That’s mine.”
    “Why, it’s your Saks Fifth Avenue suit,” said Eve, bemused. “Imagine.”
    “I took it in to be cleaned for the memorial.”
    “Does it still fit?” Bianca asked.
    “I hope so. I may have an important announcement to make, something I know Nate would have wanted.”
    “Don’t tell me,” Puck said. “You’re expecting.”
    No one laughed.
    “Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” Lynn smiled at her.
    “I have one more thing to check out tomorrow.”
    Eve pushed back her chair, signaling that lunch was over.
    I wanted to catch up with Bianca, but going down the front steps Puck said into my ear, “This family is so screwed up.”
    He was the last person I wanted to talk to, but I stopped. “I thought this was supposed to be like the Garden of Eden.”
    “That’s what they wanted us to think. I know you think I’m terrible, but you know what they used to call me? ‘The Accident.’ Because I was the youngest. If it hadn’t been for my parents, they would have drowned me too.”
    Drowned you too ?
    I started to ask him what he meant, but he winked and turned in the opposite direction.
    A T B IANCA’S CHALET, I called to her through the screen door.
    “Delhi? It’s open.”
    It was the first time I had actually been inside the cottage. Compared to Rosa’s identically shaped living room, the space was calm and harmonious. The predominant colors were daffodil yellow and leaf green, and the tiny tables held interesting objects—small framed photographs, a china cat in a calico design, miniature enameled boxes.
    On a smaller chair sat a teddy bear with a red bow around its neck, waiting for someone who would never hug it again. Its innocence broke my heart.
    Bianca was sitting on a puffy quilted sofa with a yellow flower design, a photo album in her lap.
    “Are you okay?” I asked.
    She gave me a bleak look, her eyes a map of red lines. “That’s the definition of insanity, isn’t it—doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? They never cared about Morgan. Gretchen was the only one.”
    “But why?”
    “Because she wasn’t really an Erikson. Isn’t that silly? I had five miscarriages before we adopted her, so I thought they’d be happy for me. Hah. Puck’s right about one thing though. Morgan was a hard case.”
    “Morgan was adopted?” I didn’t want that to change my perception of the tragedy, but something inside me eased a little. I hadn’t understood what Puck meant when he accused Bianca of bringing Morgan into the family. I’d thought he meant it metaphorically.
    Bianca leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes. “When we finally brought her home from Romania, she was almost two. It was too late, she’d been too neglected. She’d have these tantrums sometimes and bite anyone who tried to get near her. She had to be supervised constantly. I even had an au pair so I could get some sleep.”
    She reached back to the table behind her and handed me a small framed photograph of a dark-haired child. “She was the most beautiful child you’d ever seen. I finally knew what it felt like to love someone more than anything. And she loved me. When we saw her in the orphanage I opened up my arms and she ran right into them. I didn’t believe them when they said it was a bad sign.”
    “Why was it bad?”
    “They called it an affective disorder. She’d go to anyone at all. But she was so alive and loving and hopeful, she didn’t understand when people got angry with her.” That brought fresh tears.
    “Look.” She stood up and motioned me to follow.
    We went into the hall to a room filled with shelves of stuffed animals. A large castle stood in one corner with a princess figurine on the balcony. Bianca opened the closet and showed me a long row of little dresses, princess costumes,