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Odelia opened her eyes and stared at the man for a moment, then also smiled.“Conway. How did you know I was here?”

“A member of the crew heard you had an accident, so I made it my mission to find out which hospital you’d been taken to.”

“That’s very sweet of you.”

He strode further into the room, and spirited a large bouquet of flowers from behind his back and offered it to Odelia. She was almost hidden behind the huge selection of blooms.

“They’re lovely,” she said, taking a sniff. “You shouldn’t have.”

“They’re from the entire crew, wishing you a speedy recovery.”

He took a seat next to the bed, then a tentative peek at the bandages that covered the right part of Odelia’s head. “So how are you feeling?”

“Oh, it looks a lot worse than it is,” she assured him. “Just me being clumsy, I guess. Tripped over a carpet, if you can believe it. Silly me.”

“Could happen to anyone,” he said. “In fact it happened to me once. I broke an arm in the process.”

“In that case I guess I was lucky.” She waved her arms. “No broken bones.”

He laughed and settled back in his chair, which creaked.“I have a proposal for you, Odelia.”

“Oh, not a wedding proposal, I hope. I’m afraid I’m taken already.”

He laughed again, throwing his head back.

He looked like a nice person, I thought. He had one of those rolled-out-of-bed hairdos and a three-day beard that made him look what most women would consider extremely sexy. He was dressed in a black leather jacket, skinny jeans, and cowboy boots. The ultimate bad boy. I wondered if he was an actor, too.

“No, nothing like that, I’m afraid,” he said. “The thing is, we’re going to continue the Hampton Cove Bard in the Park shows. We’re actually going through with it. We had a big meeting this morning at the manor and it was decided we don’t want to give this up. Even Don agreed, if you can believe it. Though he demanded a bigger part for himself, of course.”

“Of course. So you found another director.”

“We have. I don’t think you know her. Vita Bogdanovich. She’s very good. Not like Wolf, of course, but she’s one of the best at what she does. The thing is, Emily and I have been thinking things through. What with Wolf being in jail and all, and in light of the terrible things he’s done, we’re going to rename the company, and do some restructuring. We’re also going to have to reconsider our production slate, and now I’m finally getting to the point,” he said when Odelia yawned.

“Don’t mind me. It’s the stuff they put in my drip. It just makes me woozy.”

What made Odelia woozy was probably the slight concussion she’d suffered, I thought, but my own eyes were also drooping closed. The hospital room was nice and warm, and the couch soft and comfy.

“The thing is, we’re staging a production of Mary Poppins in the spring, and Wolf had been looking for someone to play Mary. He’d mentioned a couple of times how he thought Dany Cooper was perfect for the part. So now with Dany gone—and Wolf…” He looked at Odelia expectantly. “I was hoping that you’d be interested.”

“You want me to help you find your Mary Poppins?”

“As far as I’m concerned, we’ve found her already, and with your permission I’d like to make it official. I talked to Emily, and showed her some of your footage, and she agrees.”

Odelia frowned.“With my permission? Why do you need my permission?”

“Because you’re she. You’re our Mary Poppins. Only if you want, of course.”

Odelia let out a little squeak of delight.“Me? You want me to play Mary?”

He was grinning widely.“Yes, we do. We can’t think of a better person to embody the spirit of Mary, and from what we’ve seen you’re born to play the part. A natural.”

Odelia didn’t know what to say, that much was obvious. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but her eyes were sparkling, which probably meant she liked the idea.

“Who’s Mary Poppins?” asked Dooley, who’d been listening intently.

“She’s a governess who can fly and do all kinds of magic,” I said. “Don’t you remember? We saw the movie just the other day. The one with Emily Blunt.”

“Fly? A governess who can fly?”

“She’s from England,” I said, and he nodded, as if that explained everything.

Brutus yawned.“So Odelia is going to be an actress. Cool. I just hope she won’t have to travel the world. I hate to travel.”

“And who says she’ll take us along on her travels?” said Harriet. “I know for a fact that actors never take their cats along with them. Shanille’s human has a sister whose second cousin twice removed is an actress and when she flies out for some movie she’s shooting up in Canada or wherever, she always asks Father Reilly’s sister to take care of her cats for her.”

“She’s not going to take us along with her?” asked Dooley. “But that’s just wrong.”

“Cats don’t travel,” said Harriet decidedly. “Everybody knows that. Dogs do, which is why many people who travel a lot prefer to get a dog and dump their cats at the pound.”

“I travel,” I said. “I would love to travel with Odelia.”