Will drew her closer. Tristan glanced over at Ivy and saw her quickly turn her head away.
"You're not cracking up, Beth. It's just that you have some kind of gift that-" "I don't want this kind of gift!" she cried.
"Shhh. Shhh." With his hand, he smoothed Beth's hair.
"She's watching us," Beth said. "She'll get the wrong idea. You'd better ask her to dance."
Tristan knew at that moment what Will would be thinking. He gazed at Ivy and thought how it would feel to put his arms around her, to pull her to him, to let his fingers get lost in her bright hair. In that instant they matched thoughts, and Tristan slipped inside Will.
Will suddenly sagged against Beth. "It's that feeling again. I hate the feeling."
"I need to talk to Ivy," Tristan told him, and Will spoke the words aloud.
"What are you going to say to her?" Beth asked.
Will shook his head, bewildered.
"Ask Ivy to dance," Tristan said, and once again Will spoke the words as if they were his own.
"You ask her," Beth replied.
Will's jaw tightened. Tristan could feel his struggle, how Will's instinct told him to thrust the intruder out of his mind, and how his curiosity fought back against this instinct. "Who are you?" Will wondered silently.
"It's Tristan. Tristan. You've got to believe me now."
"I can't believe," Beth said.
Will and she had stopped dancing and stood looking at each other, trying to understand.
"He's inside you, isn't he?" Beth asked, her voice shaking.
"It's his words you're saying."
Will nodded.
"Can you make him leave?" she asked.
"Don't!"
"Why don't you leave us alone?" Beth cried.
"I can't. For Ivy's sake, I can't."
Will and Beth clung to each other. Then Will led her to the edge of the patio, where Ivy was sitting. "Will you dance with me?" he asked Ivy.
She glanced at Beth uncertainly.
"I'm beat," Beth said, pulling Ivy up out of the chair and taking her place. "Go on. I've got to give these dainty, size-nine feet a break."
Will walked quietly with Ivy to the least crowded part of the patio.
Tristan felt him tremble as he put his arms around her. He felt each awkward step and remembered how he himself had felt the previous spring when he had first tried to get to know Ivy. Face-to-face with her, he couldn't manage a sentence with more than four words.
"How are you?" Will asked.
"Fine."
"Good."
A long silence followed. Tristan could feel questions forming in Will's mind. "If you're there," Will said silently to Tristan, "why aren't you telling me what to do?"
"I'm not that fragile," Ivy told him.
"What?"
"You're dancing with me as if you think I'll break," she said loudly, her green eyes shooting brilliant sparks.
Will looked at her, surprised. "You're angry."
"You noticed," she said sharply. "I'm tired of the way people are acting-everyone's being so careful around me! Tiptoeing, as though they're afraid they'll do something to set me off. Well, I've got news for you, Will, and everyone else. I'm not made of glass, and I'm not about to shatter. Got it?"
"I think so," Will said. Then, without warning, he spun her around twice, pushing her away from him and drawing her back like a yo-yo. He dropped his arm so she fell back, then he caught her at the last instant, leaning over her and pulling her up.
"Is that better?"
Ivy pushed back the hair that had tumbled over her face, and she laughed breathlessly. "A little."
Will grinned. Both of them were more relaxed now-it was time to speak to her, Tristan thought. But what could he say that wouldn't anger her again or scare her away?
"There's something I want to talk about," Will said, using Tristan's words.
Ivy pulled back a little to look into his eyes, then quickly glanced away. Eyes a girl could drown in- that was how Lacey had described Will's. And that's why Ivy looked away, Tristan thought, struggling to control his jealousy.
"It's about… Beth. She's kind of shaken up," Will said for Tristan.
"You know how she has premonitions."
"I know I gave her a good scare a few weeks ago," Ivy said, "but that was just a-" Will shook his head quickly, as Tristan did. "Beth is more afraid of the future than of what happened then."
"What do you mean?" Ivy asked. Her tone was indignant, but Tristan heard the slight tremor. "Nothing more is going to happen," she insisted. "What do I have to do to convince everyone that I'm okay?"
"You have to remember, Ivy."
"Remember what?" she asked.
"The night of the accident."
Tristan could feel Will pulling back now, wondering what his words were leading to. "What accident?" Will asked silently. "The one you died in?"
"The accident?" Ivy repeated. "Is that a nice, polite way of talking about my attempted suicide?"
"Ivy, you can't believe that! You know it's not true," Will said, passionately speaking each word Tristan gave him.
"I don't know anything anymore," she replied, her voice breaking.
"Try to remember," Will pleaded for Tristan. "You saw me at the train station."
"You were there?" she asked with surprise.
"I've always been there for you. I love you!"
Ivy stared at Will. Too late Tristan realized his mistake in speaking directly.
"You can't, Will."
Will swallowed hard.
"You should love someone else. I–I'll never love you."
Tristan felt Will take the blow.
"I'll never love anyone again," Ivy said, stepping back, "not the way I loved Tristan."
"Tell her it's me speaking," Tristan urged.
But Will stood still and said nothing. Other couples bumped into them, laughed, and danced around them.
Will held Ivy at arm's length, and Ivy would not meet his gaze. She turned suddenly, and Will let her walk away.
"Go after her," Tristan ordered. "We're not finished."
"Leave me alone," Will muttered, and started off in the other direction, his head down.
Gregory, who was leading Suzanne into the crowd of dancers, caught Will by the arm. "You're not giving up, are you?"
"Giving up?" Will repeated, his voice sounding hollow.
"On Ivy," Suzanne said.
"On the chase," Gregory said, grinning at Will.
"I don't think Ivy wants to be chased."
"Oh, come on," Gregory chided him. "My sweet and innocent stepsister loves to play games. And take it from me, she's a pro."
A pro at escaping you, Tristan thought as he moved out of Will.
"I'd never give up," Gregory said, glancing at Ivy, who was standing at the edge of the patio. His lingering smile made both Suzanne and Tristan turn toward Ivy uneasily. "There's nothing I like more than a girl who plays hard to get."
"Therefore," Philip told Ivy on Wednesday evening, "I can watch Jurassic Park again."
"Therefore?" Ivy repeated with a smile. Leaning over her mother's hand, she quickly repainted Maggie's nails. Her mother and Andrew were headed for another college fund-raiser.
"Andrew said so."
"So he's already checked your homework?" Ivy asked.
"He said my story about the party was highly imaginative and very fine."
"Highly imaginative and very fine," Maggie mimicked. "Before you know it, we're going to have a fourfoot-tall professor walking around here."
Ivy smiled again. "Go set up the VCR," she told Philip. "As soon as Mom and I are finished, I'll be down."
She lifted the scarlet brush just in time as Philip jumped off the bed, leaving her and her mother bouncing.
When he was outside the door, Maggie whispered to Ivy, "Gregory said he'd stay around tonight, so if Philip gives you any trouble-" Ivy frowned. She had always been able to handle Philip much better than either her mother or Gregory could.