Child of Darkness Read online

  "The phone rang?" I asked, sitting up and looking at it. "I didn't hear it." I ground the sleep out of my eyes and took a deep breath.

  "Did something happen in the car with Basil?"

  "Happen? No. What could happen? He was actually very nice," I said.

  She relaxed a little, but still looked at me with the suspicion of a doctor, her eyes perusing my face, looking for symptoms.

  "We're going to see my doctor next week. I'd like you to have a physical. I bet you didn't have very good medical treatment at the orphanage. How could you?" she asked before I could respond.

  "I've never been seriously sick," I said. "Just a little cold once in a while, but nothing terrible. I didn't need a doctor."

  She nodded.

  "Yes, I know that, but still . . . I'm worried about you. I'll make the appointment," she said. "And remember, I want to know when your period starts. Immediately," she added. Then she thought again. "It didn't start, did it?"

  "No, Ami."

  "Okay. Don't forget. All right. I wasn't going down to dinner tonight, but I'll throw something on. It's just us. Basil left," she said. "Just wash your face and brush your hair. We don't need to dress up for Wade. I'll be out in ten minutes," she added, and left.

  There was a heavy atmosphere at dinner. Wade barely looked up from his food, and Ami looked like she was still suffering from her migraine.

  "You really should go to the doctor about the headaches you've been having lately, Ami," Wade finally said.

  "I am going to the doctor. We're both going," she replied.

  "Both?"

  "Celeste and myself. For a physical. I'm making the appointments tomorrow," she told him.

  He looked at me.

  "Aren't you feeling well?"

  "That's not the point, Wade. We didn't tell you all of it. She was physically attacked."

  "Attacked? Now listen, Ami--"

  "We want to be sure everything is all right, don't we, Celeste?" she asked, her eyes wide.

  "Yes," I said.

  "So don't butt into female business, Wade," Ami immediately told him.

  He shook his head and looked down again.

  "If you start a story like that, we will have some legal problems," he muttered.

  "No one is starting any stories. Celeste has not really had a good physical anyway. It's only smart to have one."

  "Whatever," Wade said.

  No one was in the mood for any desert. Wade excused himself and went to his office, and Ami went back to bed.

  As I ascended the stairway to go to my room, I saw

  Mrs. Cukor standing in the living room doorway, looking up at me. She didn't look fearful or angry.

  She smiled.

  But it was the smile of someone who knew she was soon to be proven right.

  And that sent more chills into my heart than anything else she had done or said.

  15 The Alarms Return

  . On our way to school the following day, Wade was quieter than usual. I tried to start a conversation about my book assignment for the newspaper. He listened politely, but he lacked the enthusiasm he had shown before whenever I talked about books and my studies and work. He seemed very distracted. I thought he might be worrying about Ami's headaches. When I asked, he said only that she would be all right, but he said it with an underlying tone of bitterness sharper than I had heard before in his voice. I pretended to be involved in studying notes for a firstperiod quiz.

  Trevor was at school, just as he had promised. His cast went over his shoulder and the upper part of his arm so that his arm had to remain somewhat extended. It was quite impressive, and he was the object of everyone's attention. Many of his friends signed it and wrote silly things on it. He showed them to me at lunch. He had smeared over what Waverly had written.

  "Too disgusting," he said when I asked him why he had rubbed it out. "When are you signing?" "I haven't thought of anything yet," I told him. He looked disappointed.

  The chatter about us went up ten octaves every time we spoke or walked the halls together, and especially when we sat next to each other in the cafeteria. I was torn between keeping my distance and being with him, helping him. I did copy over notes for him, but I knew our closeness was increasing the gossip, and that gossip would reach Ami.

  "I've got to talk to you about the math tonight," he said. "I'm still taking some pain medication, and I wasn't paying good attention."

  "You're only going to talk about math?"

  "Maybe just about multiplication," he joked.

  I laughed too. I couldn't help liking him, no matter what ideas Ami had planted in my mind. He was handsome and funny. Maybe all this will pass over, I dared think. Maybe in time we would be like any other young couple. However, it was apparent that even the faculty had heard and talked about our incident. I could feel the way our teachers looked at us walking in the hallway together or sitting near each other in classes. It made me even more self-conscious. Mrs. Brentwood glared at me with obvious

  disapproval, and later, before the day ended, she saw me coming out of the girls' room and crossed the hallway to speak to me.

  "I see you've already made yourself the center of attention here, Celeste," she said. "I wouldn't advise you to get into any trouble in school."

  "Why would I do that, Mrs. Brentwood? I'm so grateful I'm here," I said drily. I held my eyes on her the way I used to hold my eyes on Madame Annjill years and years ago when I was just a child.

  Mrs. Brentwood pulled herself back.

  "Just be sure you obey our rules and

  regulations."

  "Thank you for the reminder," I said, and I smiled at her so coolly she simply turned and walked back toward her office.

  I'm a stranger in a strange land, I thought. It made me pensive all the remainder of the day. At the end of the day, Waverly was to drive Trevor home. He asked me if I wanted to come along for the ride.

  "Some other time," I said.

  Of course, I expected Ami to be right there waiting for me as I emerged from the building anyway.

  But I was surprised when I stepped out. Instead of her waiting for me, there was Basil, leaning against his beautiful Mercedes sports car, waving and smiling at me.

  "Whoa," Waverly teased. "She's going home in style."

  "Talk to you later," I told Trevor, and quickly walked toward Basil. "Why are you here instead of Ami?" I asked, wondering if she had gotten more ill.

  "I thought, why waste an opportunity?" he said. "Get in the driver's seat."

  I looked back and saw both Trevor and Waverly and some of the other kids watching. I heard Waverly's whistle as I got into the automobile. Basil smiled their way and got in.

  "That's the Foley kid with that monster, cast on him, huh?" he asked, gesturing back with his head.

  "Yes."

  "I'd say he's really fallen for you," he said, and laughed.

  I couldn't help smiling.

  "I guess so," I said.

  "Let's go," he said. "Show me yesterday wasn't just a fluke."

  It was truly exciting driving his car, and once again he told me he was considering getting a new one and leaving this one at the house for me. "It's all broken in. Why waste it?" he said.

  He had me drive on different roads and took me out to a different area to show me some land he had bought four years ago.

  "I own forty acres here," he said. "I can see a house on the rise there someday. Of course, not for me. I'm too old and I'll never marry again. You know what they say, 'Marriage is not a word. It's a sentence.'

  He laughed.

  "It doesn't have to be that way," I commented. "Maybe it won't be for you. How would you like to live here one day?"

  "I have a farm I've inherited," I told him. "Someday I'd like to return to it."

  "Yeah, Ami told me about it. That area of the state isn't doing anything. You won't get much for it. Now here, here property is like gold."

  "How could 1 live here anyway?" I asked. "It's your land." />
  "You never know," he said.

  I checked the time.

  "I've got a lot of homework to do," I told him. "And a report to write for the school paper."

  "Make a perfect U-turn," he commanded, and I did so.

  "Excellent. You handle this car as if you've owned it for years, Celeste. I'm going to have the driver's test appointment set up for you right away. We can get in a few more lessons beforehand, but I don't think you'll need them."

  When I drove in through the gates and up to the house, he opened the glove compartment and pulled out a pair of brand-new ruby leather driving gloves. "For you," he said. "If you're going to drive a car like this, you should look good doing it. Not that you can be anything else."

  "Thank you," I said, taking them. They were butter soft leather.

  "You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow and tell you your date for the test," he said, getting out with me. He reached back, got my books for me, and came around to my side to hand them to me.

  "Thanks," I said.

  "No problem, sweetie," he said, kissed me on the cheek, and got into the car. He rolled the window down. "Looks like I have to talk to my car dealer about a new car sooner than I expected," he said.

  I stared after him as he drive off. He has to be joking, I thought. Just like that, he wants to give me a car that costs over one hundred thousand dollars? I shook my head in disbelief.

  When I turned toward the house. I saw a curtain closing, but I caught Mrs. Cukor's face glowing like a skull in the late afternoon sunlight before she disappeared within. There was no one around when I entered, so I went directly to my room and began my work. Less than ten minutes later, however, Ami appeared to tell me she had made our doctor's appointment for the day after tomorrow.

  "I'll let Basil know," she said, "in case he's planning to give you another driving lesson after school."

  "I think he is," I said. "He said he's going to arrange for my driving test very soon."

  She nodded.

  "He bought me these driving gloves," I said, showing them to her.

  "Very nice. I don't even have a pair as nice as these," she commented, turning them in her hands. She handed them back to me.

  "Ami, I don't know if he's kidding me or not, but he told me a few times that he was going to give me his car to use, and he was getting a new one."

  "Why should he be kidding?" she replied with non-chalance. "I promised you that you would be happy here, and you will be," she said, sounding more determined than ever. "Just keep in mind that all I want for you is for you to be very, very happy. It's all I want for all of us," she added softly. For a moment she looked like she was going to cry. Then she smiled and left me swirling in a world of wonder and confusion.

  Wade didn't join us for dinner that night. He sent word home that he had to remain at work and would stop someplace to eat much later. Ami wasn't upset. In fact, from the way she sounded when she told me, I gathered it was not unusual.

  "It's why I end up going out myself to some of the places I've taken you to," she told me.

  I sat there, imagining them both eating alone or distracted by strangers. Dinner had always been a sacred time when I was very little, I remember, and it was al-ways our special time of the day at the orphanages. All of us fantasized about having family dinners, being at a table with loved ones, everyone eager to share his or her day's activities. It was the glue that would bind us to whatever new family we had found and had found us. In our minds it was almost a religious event, a session of silent prayers of gratitude. For orphans every dinner was truly a Thanksgiving dinner.

  To see it cast aside so casually both saddened and angered me.

  Basil was waiting for me the following afternoon to take me on another driving lesson. He put me through every maneuver he could and seemed more determined for me to pass my driving test than I was. When I mentioned it, he said he wanted to be sure he was leaving his car in good hands.

  The next day Ami was there promptly after school to take me to her doctor, a female doctor named Dr. Bloomfield. She put me though a full physical, including blood tests and X-rays. She even gave me a gynecological exam. Although not all the blood tests were in, she told Ami I was in perfect health.

  "There's nothing wrong with her? Nothing happened as a result of . . ." And started to ask.

  "No, nothing," the doctor told her. "She's fine. Someday she'll have wonderful, healthy children, I'm sure. You have no worries, Mrs. Emerson," she said.

  Ami looked very relieved. I had had no fears about it before we came and expected no other response.

  "When are you being examined for your headaches?" I asked her when we started out of the office.

  "I was already. It's nothing," she said quickly.

  Two days later, Basil took me for my driving test after school. He did appear to know people at the motor vehicle bureau. When I returned with the examiner, I was told immediately that I had passed the test, and I was given a temporary license.

  "We'll celebrate tonight," he declared when he left me off at the house. "Tell Ami I'm making reservations at Fishers Lobster Pot."

  I thought about all my homework, but he was so excited, and I was in such a happy daze, I dared not mention it. I would just do it all later, I thought. And was excited for me, and when Wade returned from work, he was full of congratulations as well, though of course he was more reserved. Later, when I was getting dressed to go out to dinner, I had a bout of cramps and discovered my period was starting. The moment Ami came in to check on my preparations, I told her.

  She clapped her hands.

  "Thank goodness," she said.

  "I told you there was no danger, And. Despite what happened, Trevor is a very responsible young man."

  "That's an oxymoron," she said. "You know, like cruel kindness, a seeming contradiction? A young man by definition can't be responsible."

  "That can't be true for all of them, And, can it?" I asked in frustration.

  She stared at me a moment and then smiled.

  "No, I guess not. You're right," she said. "I shouldn't put all my prejudices into you. You have a right to form your own opinions. I just want you to be careful and not to ruin everything now that you have this wonderful new beginning. Promise me," she asked.

  "I promise, And," I said, although I wasn't quite sure what it was I was promising.

  "Good. Now let's go out and celebrate the hell out of the Emersons," she added, and laughed.

  She was suddenly back to being jovial and happy. The migraines were gone, as if the coming of my period was the cure to all her woes.

  Little did I know then that it would be the beginning of all mine, but I was never good at predicting anything for myself, only for others.

  That was especially true when I looked at Wade. I didn't like what I saw in his face that night, saw in his eyes and heard in his voice. The more Basil offered to do for me, the happier he was for me and the more excited he was about showing me things, the sadder Wade became. I wondered if there wasn't some jealousy. Was he upset that his father was so interested in me, or did it bother him that his father was doing more for me than he was for his own grandchildren and daughter now? All these

  possibilities rambled through my mind.

  Basil surprised me as well as Wade when at dinner he suggested he would put up the money to send me to a fine college.

  "Ami told me that school she attends gets their graduates into the best universities. Can't let a little thing like tuition stop her. We've discussed it."

  "Since when is one college any better than another to you, Dad?" Wade asked. He glanced at me. "I mean, I've always thought so, but--"

  "This is a very bright young woman. We don't want to see her waste her talents and skills in any mediocre place, now, do we?" Basil said. "Huh, Ami?"

  "What? Oh, no," she said. "Of course not."

  "Well, then. . . what are you looking so long in the face about, Wade? Don't you want good things for your unfortunate?"
r />   Wade shook his head and looked away. He drank more than usual, too, and kept quiet most of the remainder of the evening. Basil insisted I drive everyone home that night and put Wade and Arai in the rear of their own car.

  "Not bad, huh?" he said, bragging about my driving. "I guess the old man can still perform miracles, huh, Wade?"

  "What's the miracle?" Wade replied, sounding a little drunk. "You've been telling us all night how talented she is."

  "Ho-ho, listen to him. No matter what, you still need a good teacher, a guiding hand in this world. Don't you forget it either, buddy-boy. Don't you get too big for your britches."

  "No chance of that," Wade muttered.

  Basil looked at Ami and then turned his back on Wade for the remainder of the ride home.

  He didn't turn over his automobile to me right away, but three days later he was there to pick me up at school and hand me the keys. I didn't know it was permanent until we drove onto the property and I saw his brand-new Mercedes parked in front of the house.

  "That's my new one," he said. "In here are all the papers on the car, the telephone number of the service department I use for it, everything you'll need," he added, opening the glove compartment.

  "You're really giving me this car to use?"

  "Enjoy it, sweetheart," he said, and kissed me just at the corner of my lips. "I'll tell Wade to make room for this car in the garage. He should be happy. He won't have to take you to school every morning, and Ami won't have to pick you up. Good luck with it," he added, and got out.

  I sat there running my hands over the leather and the wood. This was mine, mine to drive whenever I wanted. Just a relatively short while ago, I had two small suitcases of clothing to my name and title to an old property I hadn't seen in years and years. Now I had a closet full of designer clothes and shoes, valuable jewelry, a beautiful large bedroom with my own phone, vanity table, and makeup. I attended an expensive private school, went to expensive restaurants, and had a weekly allowance equal to all the money I had possessed in a year at the orphanage. I was given piano lessons and driving lessons, and now a car worth well over a hundred thousand dollars was at my disposal.