Allison O'Brian on Her Own

by Melody Carlson

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  © 1998 by Melody Carlson

  Published by Revell

  a division of Baker Publishing Group

  P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

  www.revellbooks.com

  Combined edition published 2011

  ISBN 978-1-4412-3254-0

  Previously published in two separate volumes:

  On Hope’s Wings © 1998

  Cherished Wish © 1998

  E-book edition created 2011

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

  To Carol, Erikka,

  Heidi, and Bridget, with love.

  1948

  Miss Snyder’s office was as dreary as a dungeon. The dark mahogany walls swallowed most of the light, and the heavy velvet drapes absorbed what little was left. Allison scooted back into the leather chair for the umpteenth time. She hated this stupid chair and the countless minutes wasted in it over the years. The slick seat sloped down as if to torture its occupant by ejecting her slowly to the floor. Meanwhile, the mantel clock steadily counted off precious seconds—time she’d rather spend outdoors with her buddies, not locked up in some musty old office that reeked of furniture polish.

  Snatches of conversation and laughter from a softball game invaded the otherwise silent room. Had Patricia struck anyone out? Was their team still ahead? Where was that Miss Snyder, anyway? And what did she want with her on the last day of school? Allison had worked hard to keep her nose clean this final week. She couldn’t remember any recent infraction—at least nothing they could pin on her.

  The massive door opened and Miss Snyder stepped in. Allison remembered how she’d felt the first time she’d met this headmistress eight years ago. She’d been frightened speechless by the tall, rigid woman who never smiled. But with each passing year, Allison had learned to appreciate the stalwart old maid. Because like it or not, Miss Snyder remained unmovingly predictable. Unlike most of the people in Allison’s life.

  “I am sorry to have kept you waiting, Miss O’Brian. I was delayed by an inept maintenance man.” She switched on her desk lamp, and it illuminated her face with a weird yellow glow, just about the color of Vaseline. “I’ll get directly to the point, Allison. I received a telegram from your mother’s secretary today. As you are aware, your mother is making one of her motion pictures in Istanbul.”

  Allison sensed disapproval in Miss Snyder’s tone. Frivolous movie stars, especially in these post-war years, were definitely not Miss Snyder’s cup of tea. Of course, Allison wasn’t proud of her mother’s acting career, either, and for many years she had managed to keep it a secret.

  Miss Snyder cleared her throat and continued. “I realize you were expecting to join your grandmother in Massachusetts this summer, but now those plans have changed.”

  Allison frowned. Summer in Cape Cod was one of the high points of her year. She loved the freedom to roam the beaches, to sail, and to explore the quaint little sea towns.

  “Your grandmother has taken ill,” Miss Snyder said, almost apologetically. She peered at Allison over her wire-rimmed glasses, and her lips softened—almost a smile.

  “It figures,” Allison muttered under her breath. Grandmother was always “ill.” Why should that ruin this summer? During the war years, Grandmother had been “ill” a lot, but that never stopped Allison’s visits. There were plenty of servants at the house, and Allison always stayed well out of Grandmother’s way. In fact, it had given her even more freedom to roam around. One time she had spent an entire day hunkered down on the beach, spying on what she was certain must have been a Nazi submarine lurking just off shore.

  “Your mother’s secretary—” Miss Snyder began again, pausing to look at the telegram—”A Miss Lola Stevens has made arrangements for you to attend Wannatonka Summer Camp for Girls.” Miss Snyder folded the telegram and nodded as if that solved Allison’s problem.

  Allison’s stomach tightened and she drew in her breath. She had spent one whole summer there two years ago when Grandmother had closed the house and gone to some resort in Canada. Camp Wannatonka had been the worst experience of Allison’s entire life, and she had sworn to never return. The counselors were horribly mean, the food was inedible, and the beds smelled like rotten cabbage. But worse than that, she had been the brunt of some brutal camp jokes initiated by a spiteful older girl Allison had managed to offend the very first day of camp.

  “Miss Stevens is sending your things from the city, and you are to leave here Monday morning to arrive at camp in the afternoon.” Miss Snyder placed the telegram on her desk and rose slowly from her chair. “Unfortunately, that means you’ll have to spend the weekend here on your own since most of the girls will be gone by tomorrow. But I’m sure you’ll have a pleasant time at camp, Allison.”

  No, I won’t, Allison thought, gritting her teeth in anger. She forced herself to smile and thank Miss Snyder.

  Outside, Allison lost all interest in the softball game. She sat on an old wooden bench and buried her head in her hands. She pressed her cold fingers across her eyes—she would not cry. No, that was a childish way to act. She needed to think. Like Winston Churchill had repeated during the war, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” She couldn’t be afraid of anything. She would figure a way out of Camp Wannatonka. If only she had some place to hide out for the next few months. . . .

  The June sun felt warm on her back, promising a summer of fun that she knew it could not deliver. She looked up to see the string of expensive, shiny cars already lining the long drive. They were here to pick up her classmates and take them home for their summer break. Some were manned by chauffeurs, others with real, live parents. It seemed everyone but Allison was going home. It just wasn’t fair!

  Home . . . Where was her home, anyway? The Cape, where Grandmother feigned sickness to keep her away? Here at Oakmont, the girls’ boarding school where she had spent most of her life? Or her mother’s penthouse in New York City, where she stayed for an occasional weekend or holiday when it was convenient? Did she really belong anywhere? Allison thought again of her mother’s vacated penthouse. It could be a handy hideaway—and she did have a key.

  “Hey, Al, what’cha up to?” Patricia dashed across the grounds to join Allison, her long black braids flapping behind her. “We lost the game without you, kiddo! I just cannot pitch like you, Al. You’ve definitely got the magic arm. Then stupid ol’ Cynthia Merrick struck me out—she thought she was pretty snazzy, too!” Allison didn’t even look up.

  “Hey, Al, what’s wrong? Why so glum, chum?” Patricia peered at Allison with sympathy.

  “Oh, Trish, it’s just horrible!” Allison exploded. “My grandmother, as usual, claims she’s sick, so they’re shipping me off to that horrible Camp Wannatonka! I just can’t take another summer there!”

  “Oh, Al, you told me all about that place! It sounded like a real nightmare! But you never know, maybe it’ll be better this time.”

  Allison shook her head. “I doubt that, Trish. Besides, it’s a chance I refuse to take!” She glanced across the wide green lawn. Miss Snyder had just left the administration offices and was now walking purposefully toward the dining hall.

  “Trish, I have this crazy idea,” Allison said, keeping one eye on Miss Snyder as she pulled Patricia to her feet. “Will you help me?” They’d been cohorts since first grade, and Allison knew she co
uld count on her best friend. She explained her plan as they slipped into the administration building.

  “You keep watch,” Allison whispered as they tiptoed down the deserted hallway. “Tap twice on the door if anyone comes. Then beat it—okay? Otherwise, just return my signal if the coast is clear.” Patricia winked and Allison slipped into Miss Snyder’s office.

  There on the desk lay the yellow telegram. Allison quickly copied the camp’s address and returned the telegram to the exact spot. The clock seemed louder than usual as Allison slid open a drawer of Miss Snyder’s bulky wooden file cabinet. She looked through the M section first, since her mother’s name was Marsha Madison. But Allison’s file wasn’t there. After a desperate search she finally found it under her own name: Allison Mercury O’Brian. She wondered again why her father had chosen to endow her with such a strange middle name. A middle name that had, in fact, brought its own share of troubles.

  Allison found an old admission form with her mother’s signature on it. She stuffed it into her shirt, then tapped out her “all done” signal to Patricia and held her breath. The signal was returned, and they streaked back to their room suppressing giggles mixed with terror and triumph. Allison went right to work on Patricia’s upright typewriter.

  “Al, I’ve gotta hand it to you. You’ve got more nerve than a bandit at a necktie party.”

  Allison grinned at her friend with pride and continued to peck on the typewriter. “How does this sound?” Allison read the counterfeit letter. “ ‘Wannatonka Summer Camp: Dear Camp Director. Due to unforeseen circumstances I have decided to have my daughter, Allison O’Brian, stay with her grandmother in Massachusetts this summer. I apologize for any inconvenience. Please keep my payment as a donation to your fine and upstanding camp. Sincerely, Marsha Madison.’ ” Allison practiced her mother’s scrawled signature over and over until she had it nearly perfect.

  “You’re too much, Al! And the part about a donation is brilliant. But now what will you do? Where will you stay if you’re not at camp?”

  “Marsha Madison’s New York penthouse,” she stated. “I have my own key, you know.” Allison licked the envelope and grinned.

  “All by yourself?” Patricia exclaimed, eyes wide.

  Allison nodded. “Why not? They all treat me like I don’t exist anyway. So I’ll just not exist in New York for the summer. Who knows, it might even be fun!”

  With the letter complete, they headed for dinner. Allison tried not to dance as she entered the dining hall. Just the idea of what she was about to pull off made her light-headed.

  “I’ll just drop this in the mail,” she announced nonchalantly to Miss Snyder as she slipped the letter into the postbox, right under the headmistress’s long, skinny nose. Patricia exploded into a fit of laughter, and Allison gently dug her elbow into her friend’s ribs. She couldn’t afford to push her luck too far.

  The evacuated dorm was dark and strangely silent. Allison lay awake in her bed too excited to sleep. She couldn’t believe what she was about to do. She’d cooked up some wild schemes in her time, but this one beat them all. Still, why should she worry? She had nothing to lose. Her mother was worlds away—in more ways than miles. In fact, “mother” was a contradiction in terms. Marsha, as she insisted Allison call her, was hardly what anyone would consider a fine example of motherhood. Allison couldn’t even recall if she’d ever played a mother in any of her movie pictures.

  Allison searched her mind to try to recapture her first memory of Marsha. Allison had been around three, maybe four. She had been living at Grandmother Madison’s estate on the Cape, the very same house that Marsha had grown up in. One day, Grandmother had sternly instructed Allison’s nanny to get Allison out from under foot. Dear Nanny Jane had obliged, taking Allison down to the garden for one of her special tea parties. They would take Allison’s favorite rag doll and teddy bear, a set of tiny dishes, and even real tea.

  But on this particular day, a strange woman approached them. At first Allison had thought the woman was very beautiful, but when she got closer Allison wasn’t so sure. The woman’s hair was blacker than Nanny’s polished shoes, and her lips were red like blood. Allison had thought she looked like the wicked queen in the movie Snow White that Nanny Jane had taken her to see. Allison remembered hiding behind Nanny Jane’s crisp starched apron. It had protected her like a bright white canopy, and the sun shone through and smelled just like summer.

  Allison tossed sleeplessly in her bed, trying to shut down her mind and the memories she had induced, but flashes of Marsha kept coming, taunting her. She remembered her fifth birthday when Marsha had come once again to the Madison estate, only this time Allison had received some warning. Nanny Jane had explained that the strange woman was actually Allison’s mother, and Allison should be polite and courteous to her. The woman wore a long fur piece with the head of an animal still attached, and Allison had worried that the sharp-nosed critter might also have sharp teeth. Her mother had brought with her a large box wrapped in shiny gold foil and tied with a big pink bow. Allison had shyly accepted the gift, keeping a wary eye on the frightening animal the whole while.

  “Her hair is red . . . just like his,” the woman said to Grandmother Madison, speaking as if Allison’s ears were stuffed with cotton. “And freckles, too! You almost wouldn’t think she was truly my daughter. Has he attempted to see her lately?”

  Allison stared blankly into the glassy blue eyes of the strange porcelain doll without even removing her from the gift box. The fancy doll wore a stiff pink lacy dress, and fat blond curls hung like sausages on each side of her round pink cheeks.

  “He has tried see her, but so far we’ve managed to keep him at bay,” Grandmother Madison had answered in her haughty voice. Allison could never figure out why Grandmother spoke in such an exaggerated tone. Why would anyone want to sound like that?

  Grandmother Madison adjusted her elegant spectacles, cleared her throat, and continued. “And when, may I ask, do you intend to get that divorce? I say the sooner the better.” Allison hadn’t understood all they’d said, but she’d known that somehow it concerned her, too.

  “Do I have a daddy?” Allison had asked Nanny Jane that evening at bedtime.

  “Certainly, darling. Everyone has a father.” Nanny Jane turned her face away. “Would you like to sleep with your new dolly tonight?”

  Allison shook her head—she did not want that thing in her bed. Instead, she cuddled up to her old, familiar teddy.

  Their bedtime ritual was always the same. Nanny Jane sat by her bed and together they recited the Lord’s Prayer. Allison loved how the r’s rolled off Nanny Jane’s tongue when she said, “Our Father which art in heaven. . . .” Nanny Jane had told Allison about her homeland in Scotland, an ancient, rocky island far, far away, with castles, clans, and bagpipes. Allison thought it must be a wonderful place because of the tales Nanny Jane told. Then Nanny Jane would sing an old Scottish lullaby from her rocker by the window. Allison would watch her sitting and knitting by the soft glow of the nursery lamp until her sleepy eyes would refuse to stay open.

  Allison turned again on her squeaky dorm bed. “I’ve got to get some sleep,” she muttered. Tomorrow she would need all her wits in order to pull off her daring escape.

  The sun rose without mercy for Allison’s restless night. As she moved about her room, her footsteps echoed in the empty dormitory. The last of the girls had left yesterday. She’d been sad to tell her friends good-bye. Patricia had even offered to beg her parents to allow Allison to spend the latter half of the summer with them when they returned from their vacation to Yellowstone Park. They’d both promised to write.

  Allison joined Miss Snyder for breakfast in the large, vacant dining hall. It was strange with just the two of them. Allison used great self-control to keep from wolfing down her eggs. She didn’t want to draw unwanted attention, and she couldn’t risk Miss Snyder’s suspicion or inquisitive comments.

  After breakfast Miss Snyder’s chauffeur drove Allison to
the train station. He opened the door and reached for her bag.

  “No need for that,” she assured him, wrestling the bag from his bony grip. “Now, you just be on your way. Thank you.” She smiled brightly and watched his mustache twitch in surprise, but fortunately he climbed back into the big car. She waited until he drove out of sight, then rushed to the ticket counter. A round man in a pillbox hat asked if he could assist her.

  “Oh yes, I’m in a terrible dither, sir. My mother just telegrammed from New York City. My father has taken seriously ill, and I must exchange my ticket to Wannatonka for New York City. Can you please help me?” She lifted her brows in her most beguiling look.

  “Dear me, let me see . . . I think I can, miss. Yes, I’ve got one on the noon train!” He looked at his watch. “Are you ready?” She nodded and thanked him, and the next thing she knew she was on her way.

  She had stayed in New York only a few times before, her most recent visit last Christmas. Marsha had been forced to take her, since Grandmother Madison had been “ill”—although Allison had overheard Marsha mention a big party at Grandmother’s estate during the holidays. Allison always pretended not to be overly impressed by Marsha’s fancy penthouse. It was, after all, just a part of the package deal that came with Marsha’s latest husband, Stanley. He was husband number three on the rapidly growing list and the oldest one so far.

  Marsha never wanted people to know that Allison was her daughter, and therefore she demanded that Allison play the role of her younger sister. Not only that, Allison was expected to collaborate on Marsha’s amazing new age, twenty-six, which was exactly half that of Stanley’s. Marsha said this was for the sake of her acting career. It seemed like a silly game, but Allison played along. And somehow Marsha’s deceptions made it easier for Allison to create her own lies now. If Marsha could get away with it, why shouldn’t she?