DeBeers 04 Into the Woods

by V. C. Andrews

"Anyway," she continued as if her excitement wouldn't permit her to pause, "the gates of Winston's home opened like the gates of heaven might, and we started up this beautiful mauve driveway which looked brand new. I think someone comes out and vacuums it every day."

  "Vacuums a driveway?"

  "I'm just kidding, but it looked like that. The driveway continued forever toward the

  D.1editerranean-stvle pearl white mansion. With the elaborate lighting over the grounds I could see oleander bushes close to twenty feet high with salmon-pink, red, and white blossoms. There were fountains and small ponds and these great royal coconut palm trees lining the circular entry drive. Before we drove up I could see the ocean behind the house and another building down on the left toward the beach.

  "Even at that time of the night we were greeted by a butler in a tuxedo jacket and a bowtie. I thought I had entered a museum. The artwork, the statues, and the rugs... he has a fortune in decoration and furniture. The moment we went to what he called the sitting room, but someone else might call a small ballroom, a maid appeared and asked him if he wanted anything. Can you imagine having so many servants who are always attentive, always available?"

  "No, Mommy." I said, actually becoming a bit frightened by her exuberance. Why wasn't she absolutely exhausted? Could fun and excitement really give someone this much energy? I think I was a little jealous. Maybe I was very jealous.

  "Well, we didn't order anything even though Winston made it sound as though I could order anything from apple pie to veal Marsala. We just had an after-dinner drink. He likes black sambuca. I had never had it before. but I must say I enjoyed it.

  "We just sat and talked and talked. He told me all about his marriage, how his wife had died, why they never had children, and mostly what it was like for him to be alone after being married far nearly forty years. We had a lot in common, actually, even though your father and I were married barely half that long. He was a lot more sensitive man than I expected."

  "Daddy?"

  "No, Winston. silly."

  "Then what did you do?"

  "We both looked up when the sun was rising, both of us just as surprised. We laughed at how we had ignored and forgotten about time itself. Naturally he kept apologizing to me, and he quickly called for the limousine. He only travels by limousine. He said he hasn't driven a car for twenty years! Can you imagine that?"

  "No," I said "I don't think I'd want someone to be driving me about all the time."

  "Of course you would. silly. You don't have any stress, and you can do other things. He was always a busy businessman, so he got a lot of work done while traveling. And he's been everywhere. Grace. Wait until you hear about the places he's been, the things he's seen."

  "He couldn't have traveled more than Daddy," I said, now with an angry, sharp tone in my voice that made her wince,

  "No, but it was a different sort of traveling from the traveling your father did. Grace. Your daddy was confined to his base or his ship, and he didn't visit grand hotels and wonderful restaurants and

  beachfronts. He didn't go into the mountains of Europe and places like Eze in southern France. Monte Carlo. the Cote d'Azur, playgrounds for the rich and famous. It wasn't the same thing."

  "I'd rather have done what Daddy did." I insisted,

  She smiled at me as if I was still a child. "Of course," she said.

  "I would. I don't need chauffeurs and

  limousines and big houses!"

  "Don't get yourself upset. Grace." "I'm glad you had such a wonderful time," I practically spat and marched away to my own room. After I closed the door I realized I had the coffee machine on What was there to do in my room now anyway except fume at the walls?

  I went back to the kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee. I considered having some breakfast, but my stomach was churning so much I thought I would just heave it all the moment I swallowed it. I looked up when Mommy appeared in her nightgown and robe.

  "The coffee's made," I said.

  "I think I'll just take a nap. Grace.'"

  "A nap?"

  "Well, it's starting to catch up to me," she said.

  "How are you going to work tonight after staying out all night?" I said.

  "I might take the night off. I'll call Dallas later and discuss it. Don't worry. I'll be fine if I just rest. Call me if you need me," she said, and went into her room, closing the door. I sat at the table, sipping my coffee and thinking about all she had told me. Maybe I was unfair. Maybe she deserved to enjoy herself a little. Maybe I was just a jealous child after all.

  Just before noon there was someone at our door. Mommy was still fast asleep. so I hurried to it and faced a flower delivery man who had a box of long-stem roses.

  "Jackie Lee Houston?" he asked me.

  "No, that's my mother."

  "Oh, well, this is for her," he said, and handed me the box.

  I thanked him and took it and brought it to the table. There were three dozen mixed roses, white, red, and pink, and they looked as if they had just been cut. The stems and petals were still wet. I saw the card with it. Since the envelope wasn't sealed. I opened it and pulled out the card: "My apologies for forgetting time itself. Something not hard to do with you.-- Winston."

  I shoved it back into the envelope and dropped it onto the box as if it had turned to fire. Then I went out for a walk around the complex, I settled at the pond and threw some bread crumbs to Quackie and Qucenie. After they gobbled them they remained there staring at me.

  "You miss Augustus. I bet." I told them. It looked as if they were both nodding, and that made me smile. "Me. too. At least he was interesting. Without being rich!"

  I saw a moving van pull up in front of Augustus's condo. and I wandered over to watch the two men taking some of the furniture out and loading it.

  "Where are you taking all this?" I asked one, hoping to get an address.

  "It's going into storage at one of our

  warehouses," he replied, barely pausing to look at ine.

  While carrying out one of the desks, the movers didn't notice a piece of paper that floated to the lawn. I picked it up after they returned to the condo and saw it was a sheet of Augustus's rambling mathematical verses, numbers, fractions, formulas that made no sense to me, of course, but nevertheless tied me to him. I decided to keep it. They would only throw it away anyway, I thought. I folded it and brought it back to our house. where I put it at the bottom of a jewelry box Daddy had brought me from India.

  The house was still dead quiet, the roses undisturbed. I imagined that whenever Mommy did awake she would be hungry, so I went about preparing one of her favorite pasta meals, linguini in clam sauce. She liked it a little spicy. I was hoping the aroma of the sauce would snake its way through the condo and under her bedroom door. Eventually it did.

  I turned when she stepped out, her hair disheveled, her eyes a little bloodshot. She scrubbed her face with her palms and smiled at me.

  "What is that I smell?"

  "I thought you might be hungry."

  "Oh, that's so nice of you, Grace. Thank you, honey. I'll just take a shower and..."

  "You had a delivery," I said sharply, and turned back to the pasta.

  "Delivery?" She came into the kitchen and saw the flowers,

  "Oh, how sweet," she said without even looking to see who had sent them.

  I watched her face when she read the card. Her tired eyes regained their lively, happy glint instantly, and her cheeks flushed with glee.

  "Hook and sinker," she muttered.

  "What?" I asked.

  "Nothing, honey. Isn't this nice? They're from Winston. I've got to put them in water quickly. How beautiful they are, and just enough to make a statement without being too ostentatious," she remarked as if she was an expert on social etiquette. "They know how to do everything properly,"

  "Who?"

  "Palm Beach multimillionaires," she replied with a short laugh. "All of a sudden I am ravishingly hungry. I'll hurry." She rushed off to sh
ower and fix her hair.

  At the table while we ate our late lunch. Mommy continued her exuberant description of her late evening with Winston Montgomery, gushing over every detail as if she had to be sure I didn't miss a moment or a thing she had seen in that majestic house.

  "There are at least ten bedrooms. I think, and there is a separate building for the help, a beach house. Can you imagine being a servant and living on the beach? Well, the reason for that is Joya del Mar has its own beach-front."

  "Joya del Mar?"

  "Oh, didn't I tell you the name of the estate?"

  "The estate has a name?"

  "Sure it does. silly. All those famous big homes have names. Joya del Mar, the jewel of the sea. Wait until you see it." she said.

  "I don't want to see it," I replied petulantly.

  "Why nat?"

  "It doesn't sound like that much fun for me."

  "Oh, sure it is. The pool is enormous, with a Jacuzzi of course. He has a clay tennis court, a twohole putting green, a small sailboat and a yacht and..."

  The ringing of the phone brought her nauseating gushing to a halt. I expected it to be Randy. He hadn't called me for a while. I answered quickly, eager now to talk to anyone my age,

  "Hello." I heard. "This is Winston

  Montgomery. Would your mother be available?"

  "Just a minute," I said, my throat closing. I held out the receiver and looked away as if I was holding out a bloody knife or something equally horrid. "It's for you."

  "Me? Thank you. Grace." she said. The moment she took the receiver in her hand, her tone of voice changed, and her pronunciation became so correct I didn't recognize it.

  "This is Jackie Lee," she announced. She listened a moment and then said. "They are so beautiful. Winston. Thank you so much for that kind gesture and those sweet words. I would have to admit it was as true for me. I lost track as well." She listened, "No. I'm fine. I had a good rest, thank you Thank you for asking."

  Oh brother, I thought, When did she ever talk to anyone like that?

  "Of course." she continued. "When? Why. I don't see why not. I'm sure she would. too, Yes. That's very considerate of you. I look forward to it. Thank you." She listened and laughed. "Goodbye, and thank you again for the beautiful roses."

  She cradled the receiver softly and stood there staring at it for a moment, a small smile on her lips. She turned to me as I was clearing the table.

  "Well," she said. "Isn't that nice?"

  I said nothing. I put the dishes into the sink and turned back to her.

  "Winston has invited us to an afternoon on his yacht tomorrow. He'll send the limousine around about ten in the morning. Won't that be fun?"

  "Not for me, for you." I said.

  "Oh, no. Grace, you'll see. It's a yacht. We'll have lunch on it and..."

  "He doesn't really want me along, Mommy," I insisted. "Yes, he does. He made a big point of it. 'Be sure Grace comes,' he said. He was very taken with you last night."

  "Why? All I did was show him to his table."

  "He watched you. He's very observant, and he prides himself on his judgment of character. You'll like him. honey. He's really very down-to-earth for so wealthy a man."

  "I'd better catch up on the schoolwork I've. missed," I said, and finished clearing off the table. "Besides," I added in as phony and affected a voice as I could muster, "I don't have the proper attire for a day on a yacht."

  "Oh. I know," Mommy said, taking that as a moment of weakness, my resistance dwindling, "That's one of the things we'll do with the rest of this afternoon: We'll go shopping for some adequate clothing and some new shoes. too."

  "Isn't that a foolish expense?" I countered. "just for a day on a yacht?"

  "No, honey," she said, her face changing again, this time from adolescent excitement to cold calculation, "No, it's an investment."

  "Investment? In what?"

  "Our future." she said without a smile. Her tone was sterner, mare determined. "just do what I ask," she said. She put the roses into a vase and stepped back, admiring them. "Beautiful," she muttered, and then turned to me. "Aren't they?"

  "Yes," I admitted.

  She smiled again. "You'll set. You'll have a good time tomorrow, Grace, and you deserve that. honey. You deserve as much happiness as possible. and I'm going to be certain you will have it. I'll get ready to go out," she concluded before I could respond.

  She returned to her bedroom. I looked at the flowers again, an explosion of color. opulent, overwhelming the modest condo. It was like putting a diamond ring on a homeless bag lady, I thought. Everything seemed so unreal to me, especially everything that had happened over the last week or so. My world was truly topsy-turvy, and to make sense out of any of it seemed impossible. I couldn't help but feel I was being swept along by some winds of fate.

  Stop resisting Just accept, a voice inside me was urging. See to it that you restore laughter and smiles and do not make them painful or resent them. This is your heart giving you a direct order, Sailor Girl.

  Aye, aye, I wanted to say.

  And, of course. I wanted to salute.

  Mommy really enjoyed our shopping. Cost didn't seem to matter at all, I was shocked at the price tags for the sailing outfits she had chosen for us, The blouses. jackets, shorts. and shoes totaled nearly eight hundred dollars because of the designer name,

  "This is too extravagant. Mommy," I protested. "How often will I be wearing these clothes?"

  "More often than you think." she insisted.

  "Burt you have to work so long and hard to earn this much money,"

  "Stop worrying so much. Grace. You'll get wrinkles in your forehead," she teased.

  To me it seemed she was tossing caution and reason cut the window. Was this all part of what happens to a grown woman after she has suffered so much tragedy and has had to change her life? Maybe she was having a different sort of nervous breakdown, I thought, The work. what happened at the restaurant. what happened with me at school. all of it was just too heavy for her fragile shoulders to bear on top of Daddy's tragic death.

  After we had bought all the clothing, she decided she had to do something different with her hair, Unbeknownst to me she had already made an appointment with a beautician in Palm Beach, She insisted Igo along so I could walk Worth Avenue and "get a taste of the better life" I thought I might call Randy and have him meet me there. but Mommy said what I thought was a very strange thing for her to say.

  "Don't get too close with anyone at your school. Grace. You know how hard it gets to be when you have to leave."

  "But why would I leave. Mommy? We don't have Daddy the possibility of any transfer."

  "Just take my advice." she said. sounding very cryptic. "Take a breath and step back. I don't want to see you have another minute of unhappiness."

  "I don't understand." I said.

  "Trust me." she insisted, and we headed for Palm Beach. "I guess you're not going to work tonight then," I said.

  "No. Dallas will cover for me, Besides. it's time I spent more time on myself" She looked at me and added. "For both our sakes,"

  Once again I felt there were forces and winds carrying me along. regardless of what I wanted,

  .

  I had never been to Palm Beach. All of our shopping and my school were in West Palm Beach. I didn't even understand that they were two separate entities, didn't understand until we crossed that bridge. My look of wonder began to rival Mommy's. It was as beautiful, as elegant, and as bright as she had described. I had never seen so many expensive automobiles and, when we were on Worth Avenue, sa many ritzy-looking people, especially the women. Even the dogs on jewel-studded leashes looked spoiled rotten.

  Mommy parked the car and walked to the beauty salon as if she had been there many times. There was a luxurious waiting lounge with television sets, racks of magazines, and a cappuccino machine. The air was fragrant, not only with the aromas of hair sprays but with flowers. To me it was a little nauseating, and I made up my mind q
uickly to leave and wander about outside while she had her hair done.

  As soon as Mommy gave the receptionist her name we were greeted by the owner of the salon himself, a man named Rene who had curly hair as black as licorice and a complexion close to alabaster. I was positive he was wearing makeup, even a little lipstick. He had long eyebrows and a gold stud earring. Dressed in a black silk shirt and white pants with a pair of leather sandals, he swung himself around a chair and strutted up to meet Mommy. He was wide in the hips, so he looked more as if he waddled, reminding me of Quack-ie.

  "Enchante," he said, extending his hand as if he expected her to kiss it. He only offered his fingers to shake. which Mommy did. They were laden with rings, each a different precious stone. I was expecting her to laugh or to say something about his histrionics, but she simply stood there. glowing.

  "Hello," Mommy said. "I'm sorry we called so late. but..."

  "Oh, no, no, no, no," he replied, shaking his head so vigorously I thought he would rattle his brain. "I am so happy to be given the opportunity to do Mr. Montgomery a favor. Please," he added, stepping back so Mommy could enter the shop.

  She turned to me. So Winston Montgomery had arranged this, I thought, a small detail she had forgotten to mention,

  "Let me give you some money, Grace."

  "I still have the twenty you gave me two days ago," I said.

  "'You might see something that costs a bit more here." she said. and Rene laughed. She handed me a fifty-dollar bill. I just stared at it. "Take it," she insisted, jerking it at me.

  The receptionist watched with interest. I plucked the bill from Mommy's hand and shoved it into the pocket of my jeans.

  Mommy smiled. "Explore," she said. "See for yourself how wonderful this place is.'

  "Oh, how I wish I was a young girl just arriving in Palm Beach." Renee said, his eyes rolling like two green marbles in a dish.

  You probably were, I wanted to say. but I left quickly instead. My nerves were so taut they were twanging like guitar strings. I just stood on the sidewalk, trying to calm myself. I wasn't looking at anything in particular. Cars floated by like magic carpets, glittering in the afternoon sunlight, a few driven by uniformed chauffeurs, their passengers poised like manikins in a store window.