The Best Thing (Stevens Book 8)

Chapter 13

Beth was back in her place at the top of the stairs, watching the party from afar as she checked her emails on her phone. It was hard for her to keep her eyes off Wyatt, and she found that focusing on her phone helped.

"So that's the Wyatt everyone keeps talking about?" Alistair asked as he joined her.

"Yes, and I don't know why they keep talking about him." Beth shrugged as she pocketed her phone.

Alistair laughed. "You do an excellent job of hiding it, but I know you well, and you like him." Alistair leaned his elbows on the railing in front of them as he watched the crowd below them.

"And you like Katherine," Beth responded.

"I admit to interest, but she seems to be with your Wyatt." Alistair nodded his head in their direction, and Beth followed the movement. They were on the floor, slow dancing.

"I'll say this for your benefit and not mine; there is nothing serious between them." Beth watched Wyatt and Katherine and noticed once again that they made a beautiful couple.

"Then tell me, if it's not Wyatt, what is it. I know you well enough to know that something is on your mind." Alistair looked down at her as she frowned.

It was Wyatt in part, but she was also worrying over what had happened with Mary Alice. Beth trusted Alistair, but sometimes he could be a lot like his father by disbelieving things when there was a lack of evidence to prove them. "Promise you'll keep an open mind, and you'll keep it to yourself?" Beth wanted desperately to talk to someone about Mary Alice. It was weighing on her.

"Sure." Alistair turned his back to the crowd below and focused his attention on Beth.

"I had a dream about grandma a while back. One part of me knows there is a good chance it was my subconscious manifesting as her, but another part of me says her visit was real. It felt real."

Alistair didn't say anything as he waited for her to continue.

"I met this lady name Mary Alice. She lives in one of the assisted living homes that my students were visiting last year for a project. I enjoyed so many of the residents that I still go back every Saturday to visit with them."

"Of course you do." Alistair smiled.

"Mary Alice told me last week that she has been talking to Grandma." Beth stopped as she said the words out loud. It sounded outrageous even when leaving out the part about Mary Alice pretending to channel Elizabeth.

To Alistair's credit, he kept a straight face. "What did Grandma have to say?"

"That's just it. Mary Alice repeated what Grandma said to me in my dream, saying it was almost time-"

"Almost time for what?" Alistair asked with a frown.

"That's not important.," Beth brushed it off quickly before any more questions could be asked. "Then Grandma said that I needed to tell Uncle Quinn to talk to Henry and get him to go the ranch because Fiona will need help." Beth looked up at Alistair, who was still frowning. "Is it crazy that I believe her?"

"Has she asked for anything from you?" He was looking for a reason, just as Beth had spent the last week doing.

"No, not a thing. Mary Alice said that Grandma told her she needed to reach out to me because it will benefit us all in the end, but that Grandma wouldn't tell her specifics." Beth smiled. "Then she said that Grandma was a hard woman to tell no."

Alistair laughed. "Well, it sounds like Grandma, both vague until the time is right and stubborn." He turned to look down at the crowd. "Go with your gut Beth. You are one of the best judges of character that I have ever met, and you've never been wrong to my knowledge."