Not once during the day did the boys ask about their father and Emily was glad. She had wondered what to do if they asked permission to phone him, and had decided that she would have to say 'no' for she knew that contacting him would be foolhardy. They now had distance between them but that distance could change very quickly if he thought there was some chance he could come here and make them go back with him. Perhaps, someday, she could let the boys talk to him but not yet. Fortunately the problem hadn’t come up for they hadn't asked.
Eric, too, had a pleasant Christmas. He had turned down a few invitations from friends explaining that he couldn’t possibly celebrate while his wife and children were missing and that he needed to be at home in case they needed him and called. In actual fact, he had spent the day with Rita, at her home, and later went with her for dinner at her parents.
Earlier in the month, on the day after Emily and the children had moved out, and shortly after Pastor York had left the house, he had called his parents to tell them that Emily had taken the boys and left him. Before making the call, he had considered taking a few days off and going home to visit with his parents for the holidays while attempting to get in touch with her, for a visit home would have put him right in Toronto where Emily was living and he might have been able to find her. But just a matter of minutes on the phone with them convinced him that there was no way he could stay at their place. He would have to come up with another plan to get in touch with her. He was certain that if he could just arrange to be alone with her for a little while, he’d be able to convince her to come home. He realized after that he should have known that this call to his parents wouldn’t help him or his plans, and rather than calming him and giving him some comfort, the conversation made him even more angry. It would have been better he thought if his father had answered the phone. But, instead it was his mother who had answered in the flat nasal voice, that had annoyed him for years and from that unpleasant beginning, the conversation had gone straight downhill.
The grating voice answered after the second ring, "Hello."
"Hello, Mom, its Eric."
"Well, imagine hearing from you. I had begun to think that maybe there weren't any phones where you live."
Eric recoiled at the sarcasm in her voice. He took a deep steadying breath, and then continued, "How are you?"
"Fine."
"How's Dad?"
"He's all right."
"Can I talk to him?" Already he was sorry that he had called.
"I suppose." His mother's voice was cold.
Soon his father was on the line. "Yeah."
"Dad, how are you?”
“I’m all right. Why?”
“No reason except I haven’t talked to you for a long time. I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas.”
“Yeah, well, same to you.”
“I was thinking about coming home to spend Christmas with you.”
“Why?”
“Why not. For Pete’s sake, you’re my parents. Do I have to have a reason for coming to visit my parents?”
“I can’t believe that out of the blue you decided that you want to come for a visit. You never call here unless you want something. And why would you want to come now, at Christmas? You got yourself a family - spend it with them?”
“Look, Dad, the truth is I'm alone. Emily took the boys and left me."
"Oh, so that’s it. What am I supposed to do about that?"
"I just want to come home for a few days."
"Dammit, Eric. It's Christmas and we got plans. Anyway don't you think that it's pretty far to come for a couple of days? You never were too sensible with money."
"Jeez, I just wanted to visit you for a couple of days. I’m not asking for a kidney or something, you know."
"Well, it’s not good timing. Come some other time.”
"Fine. My mistake. Why do I always end up regretting it whenever I call you? I should have known that you wouldn't do anything for me."
"We raised you. What more do you want from us? You got problems. O.K., I'm sorry. But your problems got nothing to do with me. You are the one who got yourself mixed up with that fancy little woman. I had nothing to do with it. Maybe if you’d buckled down on her in the first place, none of this would have happened."
"Sorry I bothered you, Dad. I thought for a couple of minutes that I had a family. Guess I was wrong."
"Don't get smart with me."
"Aw, drop dead. I gotta go."
Eric slammed the receiver on the hook. "What a jerk! I should have known better than to have phoned them."
He spent the rest of the evening trying to think of a way to get to Emily. He was sure that sooner or later, he would meet her and when that day came he would have a plan ready to take care of her. Whatever plan he came up with, he would make sure that he didn't fail. Either she would come home with him or she would regret that she didn't for the rest of her life. He promised himself that. “Perhaps,” he decided, “It’s just as well that I didn’t go to Toronto right away. I could really mess things up if I made a move before I’m ready. Better to wait until I have a foolproof plan. Then nothing will stop me.”
That night, after work, he called Rita and arranged to spend the holiday with her. “Emily can keep. I’ll worry about her later. Meanwhile Rita is better than nothing.” he decided as he hung up the receiver.
Chapter 17
Once Christmas was over, Emily, too, began making plans. She knew that she had one great advantage, for until she could decide how to support her children, they would all be welcome to stay on with her father. Money, at the moment, wasn’t a major problem, thanks to Eric and his Visa, but she knew that eventually, it would become her most pressing problem. Meanwhile, whenever she needed cash, she would take one of the rings to the jeweler and, although she was getting enough money to survive, she knew only too well that it wouldn’t last long. The obvious answer was for her to find a job although that presented it’s own problems. There was no sense taking any job unless it paid enough to support her and the four boys and without any training or experience, jobs that paid well would be hard for her to qualify for. As well, Danny had to be taken into account. She had decided long ago to be a stay-at-home Mom, at least until the children were in school. Their change in circumstances meant many adjustments, but she wasn’t certain that she could live with the thought of Danny spending every day in the care of someone other than herself. This decided to think about her options carefully and not to make any hasty decisions. Fortunately, she had time to think about it, and wouldn’t have to jump into anything. "Thank God for Dad." she smiled, "I don't know what I'd do if he wasn't here for us."
"For goodness sake, child,” Pete looked at his daughter in amazement, when she sat down to discuss the problem with him, "Do you really think you are an inconvenience? You and those boys have brought a bit of life into this old place. Before you arrived, Bandit and I were in danger of boring one another to death."
"Thanks, Dad. You always say just what I need to hear. But we’ve nearly taken over the place. I don't feel right about staying here, even temporarily, without paying our way."
"Honey, you can stay as long as you want and I don't care about money. The good Lord knows I’m not rich, but he’s given me enough, and I don’t have much to spend it on. The big question here is what do you want to do?"
"That's the problem. I don’t know what I want to do and to be truthful I honestly don't know what I can do. You know I’ve never had a job. I got married straight from high school and then all I wanted was to be a wife and mother."
"You don't need to be in a hurry, Curly. Danny's pretty little yet. Anyway, I was doing some thinking in the truck on the way home and I had a thought. I didn’t say anything at the time because I wanted to be sure. Since Christmas I’ve thought a lot more about it and come up with an idea that just might be the answer to your problem. You know that with Mark gone, you’re the only child I have and the house is going to be yours when I'm done with it, so why sh
ouldn’t we share it now?"
"Oh, Dad, you’ve seen how noisy the kids can be. I’m afraid that they’ll drive you around the bend."
"Well, I’ve thought about that too. We’ve got room in the kitchen for the big table so we don’t really need the dining room. We could make a sitting room in there for me and put up a divider in the family room in the basement to make a bedroom and a playroom. That gives us another bedroom and a place for the boys to burn off energy, as well as a place for me if I decide that I need some time to myself. And that means that you don’t have to be in a big hurry to move away. Instead, you get a chance to relax and give yourself some time to decide what you want to do. I think this could work out for all of us."
Emily hugged her father, "I love you, Dad."
Eric looked around at the clutter and destruction that lay about the room. Besides the dirty dishes, beer bottles and take-out containers, there was the broken curtain rod, with the drapes hanging lopsided from it with the bottom of the right one dragging on the carpet, coffee stains on the furniture and wall, and soil from the spilled begonia strewn across the floor. He threw another beer bottle halfway across the room and remarked, "Frig, this place is a pig pen."
He opened the last bottle he had brought into the room with him, tipped it up and took a long drink and decided, "I guess it's time to do something about this."
Picking his way across the room through the debris, he made his way to the kitchen, pushed a small pile of dirty clothes off the chair by the phone, sat down and called Rita.
"Hi, baby, it's Eric."
"Eric, This is a surprise. I didn't expect to hear from you tonight."
"I was just sitting here and I started missing you." It didn’t seem to matter how thick he piled it on, she would fall for any line.
"I miss you too. But it’s only been 3 hours since you left here."
"I don't care how long it’s been, I can still miss you, can’t I?" He shook his head as he said the words that he knew she wanted to hear.
"Actually, I like to hear that you miss me. When will I see you again?"
"The sooner the better, as far as I’m concerned.” This would almost make a man gag.
“Sounds better all the time.”
“How about tomorrow? You're not working tomorrow are you?"
"No."
"Why don't you come out here tomorrow and plan to spend the night?”
"Oh, Eric, really? I'd love to. You’ve never asked me to come to your house before."
"I'm asking you now. I’ve got to warn you though. That blasted woman I married left this place a terrible mess when she took off. I've tried to clean it but every time I start to get at it I get so upset about everything that’s happened, that I just can’t bring myself to clean it up. Sounds weird I suppose, but when I’m here all I can think about is my boys and the fact that they’re gone."
"Oh, Eric, how I wish I could do something to take the hurt away."
This was working out so well. He couldn’t help but smile. "You do that now. The only thing that seems to get them off my mind is you spending time with me. Except for when I’m with you, I can’t seem to forget for even a minute that they’re gone." Is it possible to pile it any thicker? He smirked and thought to himself, “I should get an Oscar for the performance I’m putting on. And she’s eating up every word of it. The way to handle women is just to tell them what they want to hear. They’ll buy anything.”
"I wish I was there right now."
"Me too, but I’ll get through until tomorrow just thinking about being with you again."
"Why don't I come tonight? I could be there in 20 minutes."
Eric grimaced; maybe he went too far with this. "No, I can’t ask that of you. Don’t come tonight. It's awfully late."
"I don't mind, darling."
"But I do. Wait until tomorrow. I'd feel guilty if I brought you out in the cold tonight. Please, honey, wait until tomorrow." Eric was grabbing at straws. For all his talk, he really wasn't in the mood for her tonight. He just wanted her here tomorrow in time to clean up the place.
"Not another word. I'm on my way. Bye, darling." Click.
"Aw, nuts. Why tonight? Is everyone in this whole bloody world trying to drive me around the bend?"
He slammed the receiver into the cradle and reluctantly began to pick up the empty beer bottles. When they were all stowed away in the case, he gathered up his dirty laundry and put it in the hamper, then he looked the room over and decided to leave the rest for Rita to clean up. "She’s gonna be here anyway, she might as well have something to keep her busy."
Next morning after a pleasant breakfast, Rita began cleaning the house. By mid-afternoon, the house was relatively tidy and Eric had made inroads on another case of beer. With a long face and deep sigh whenever she was near him, he explained that he couldn't help her because it upset him so badly to see what Emily had done to the house for which he had worked so hard. And there was no doubt that he was upset. Getting the house organized was more than he could handle. He had been sleeping on the couch in the living room since that first night after his family had left, when he had been unable to make up the bed, but last night with Rita there, they had climbed the stairs to the master bedroom and Rita had asked for his help to stand the dresser back in it's place. Then she began to make up the bed and Eric discovered that he had been unable to put on the fitted sheet, because he had been trying to fit it on sideways and was trying to make the width of the sheet fit the length of the bed. He added this to the list of grievances that he would Emily pay for.
He lay in bed that night beside Rita with thoughts of Emily uppermost in his mind. He decided that he would offer her a choice. Either she could come home like a decent obedient wife or she would pay dearly for upsetting his life so completely. If she refused to come back to him, he would fix her good and when he was done with her he would make sure that nobody on this earth would want her. He wasn’t sure just what he would do, but he knew that he wouldn't go so far as to kill her. No way was he going to spend the rest of his life in jail. Perhaps he would cut her up really good, until she was left scarred for life. He could see one big drawback to this - a plastic surgeon would be able to fix the damage he was planning to inflict on her. Maybe cutting wasn't the answer. He mulled options over in his mind. Burns would prove to be another story. If he burned her face real good, the medical people could do their best to fix it up, but she would never look really good again. Best of all she would be alive - alive to think about what had happened and to spend the rest of her life regretting having left him.
His thoughts turned next to her parents. In his mind, he placed them under her name on his mental list of who needed to be taken care of. “When I get finished with them, they’ll regret having helped her. But, I’m not going to go rushing into anything. Getting them is one thing I’ll need to think over very carefully. Pete is a stubborn old coot and could make a lot of trouble for me if he should get a look at me. It might be better if, whatever I do, I don’t meet them face-to-face. If they got the idea that I was after them, they might warn Emily and then she might end up somewhere out of reach. I’ll have far more chance of getting to her if she is feeling secure and isn’t hiding from me. Yep, for sure, I need to keep a low profile even though that means that getting at them will be a real challenge.” He rolled over and continued working on this problem of revenge that was keeping him awake. Soon his thoughts were churning with anger and frustration that he had to lay here helpless to avenge himself for all these wrongs done him. It wasn’t helping that Rita kept snuggling up to him. He moved away from her for the third time, realizing that if this continued he’d soon be on the floor. He rolled over to face her and began to gently push her away. It worked. She rolled over with her back to him and he was able to again find a comfortable spot in the bed. He lay there, wide-awake still, searching for a means to even the score and suddenly a thought occurred to him. “Pete was always working on that house of theirs or puttering around in the y
ard. I’d guess that house is bloody important to them. Perhaps that’s what I should go after. It would sure be the safest course of action. Yeah! I like that idea. I could start a little fire and ‘son-of-a-gun - they’re homeless’. Yep, a fire might just do the trick. What could go wrong? The fire department, that’s what! If they got there too quick, they could get it out before it did too much damage. I need something that will work faster, just ‘boom’ and it’s done. ‘Boom’, that’s it - ‘boom’ - a bomb. I’ll just blow the place up. Now that would be spectacular.” He couldn’t help but smile in the darkness at the thought of it. “This will take careful thought and planning to pull off but all good things are worth waiting and working for.” A comforting feeling of satisfaction settled over him and he began to drift off to sleep when suddenly the thought of Jeanie flashed into his mind. “That nosey bitch will pay for what she’s done to me, and this is one that I don’t have to wait to put into action. Man, when I get done with her she’ll be mighty sorry that she ever stuck her nose in my business.” He toyed with a number of ideas and let the wild thoughts of what he could do to her flow pleasantly over him. He sat bolt upright as a workable plan flashed into his mind. “Brilliant,” he muttered as he slipped out of bed without disturbing Rita, and quietly crept across the room and down the stairs. “There is no better time than right now to put the plan into action.” He didn’t need to turn on the light to find the phone so he stood in the darkened room and called next door. After a few rings, Jeanie answered it sleepily. When he heard her voice, he was tempted to tell her what he thought of her but he wasn’t about to blow everything just for the momentary satisfaction of giving her a piece of his mind. Instead he stood perfectly still as she repeated, “Hello, is anyone there?" Silence. "Hello, hello." Still nothing. She hung up the phone and Eric immediately dialed the number again. It was picked up once more. "Hello." As before, there was nothing. "Hello, who is this?" Eric began to breath heavily into the receiver. Quickly, she hung up. He thought about placing another call, but decided it would be better if she were left standing there for a while, waiting for the phone to ring again. He went to the spice rack next and lifted down the bottle of celery seed, which he emptied into the garbage. Then he filled the empty bottle with sugar and slipped it into his coat pocket. Contented now, with his nights work, he went back to bed and quickly fell asleep.
Leaving Sharpstone Page 13
