by Wray Ardan
Jaden yanked the curtain closed. “I have breasts!” She stuck out her chest. “They just aren’t the size of soccer balls.”
She turned away and went to hide in the bathroom. Checking her messy hair, baggy green T-shirt, and capris in the mirror, she chastised herself. Why should he be interested in me? Her sister was right. Briz had just been using her to get to Ava. Jaden had never thought of herself as a jealous person. But she’d never had a reason to be jealous before.
If she could have fit though the small bathroom window, she would have climbed out to avoid her sister.
Jaden was piling on ointment when she heard Ava make her triumphant entrance into the house. She turned on the water, determined to drown out any words of glory her sister was going to shove down her throat.
“Hey, I’m home.” With a chuckle Ava said, “But you knew that, didn’t you, you peeping perv.”
Jaden heard her loud and clear. Ava always made sure that she heard her biting comments.
“I talked Mom into quitting early. She’s going to go see how Carl’s doing, then stop at the market. So lucky you, you don’t have to work tonight or tomorrow morning, even though I told her you’re fine.” Ava happily added, “Tomorrow night you’re going to be sweating like a pig, Jaden baby.”
Jaden turned off the faucet and stood glaring at the turquoise poodles on the plastic shower curtain and the matching crocheted toilet paper cover.
“Hey, hurry up in there. I want to take a shower.”
Covered in her fuchsia coating, Jaden came out of the bathroom and almost walked into Ava.
“Still faking it, huh?”
Jaden didn’t make eye contact with her black-hearted sister who thrived on ruining her life.
“That Briz sure is delicious.”
Jaden wanted to punch her in the face. She thought of her mom’s advice: “When it comes to your sister, you just have to pretend you’re walking on eggshells. Let her have her way; it’s easier on everyone.” More like rotten eggs, if you ask me. Then again, no one ever did ask Jaden—it seemed to be better for everyone if they didn’t know what she thought. She’d grown up trying to avoid the wrath of Ava on a daily basis. Though here in Belle Fleur, with the three of them staying in this small house, having to work together cleaning up the old estate, there was no way to keep clear of her.
Guess it doesn’t really matter. The way things are going, this could be my last night alive. Or maybe I can offer the Mal Rous Ava and Briz as sacrificial lambs, since I don’t have their Professor for them.
CHAPTER 14
Briz was the last person on earth that Jaden wanted to see the next day. It was bad enough having to interact with Ava after watching the two of them kiss. Jaden called him and told him she’d changed her mind and was going to ride her bike to Dr. Whiting’s. Briz wouldn’t have it, insisting it was already too hot. Fine. But that didn’t mean she was going to talk to him.
The drive took forever. Briz kept talking about the new book he was reading and how much he thought she’d enjoy it. He was the first person Jaden had met who read as much as she did. Unlike her, he’d even read a lot of Shakespeare, though he probably hadn’t had a choice since his mom was an English professor.
Jaden closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep, and he stopped talking.
When they arrived at the Meadow Seniors’ Facility, the staff was busy getting the residents ready for the day. Jaden left Briz in the lobby and walked down the seemingly endless corridor filled with life-support equipment. She imagined herself in an old movie—the tormented heroine walking down a shadow-filled hallway. At the end, an ornate mirror hung on the wall. When the anxiety-riddled character gazed into it, she would see visions of demons mutilating innocent people. Realizing that the destruction and devastation of the entire town was all her fault, the bad actress would collapse onto the cold floor, sobbing.
The scenario filled Jaden with a sense of shame.
As she entered Dr. Whiting’s room, his exuberant southern hospitality felt contagious. She half expected him to offer her a mint julep. Instead, he greeted her with a pitcher of water, saying he was happy that she’d come back.
Like her, he was wearing a crisp white shirt and jeans, though his shirt was long-sleeved and buttoned up all the way, and her jeans were capris. Also like her, his eyes shimmered with hope.
Jaden sat in the chair across from him—prim and proper, a clip holding her hair in a neat ponytail—questioning her own motives. What do I expect him to tell me? How to pickle the Mal Rous?
“Are you ready to hear more of my story?” asked Dr. Whiting. “Or are you just being kind to an old man?” He sounded as if he couldn’t quite believe that he had a willing audience.
“I’m really interested in hearing what you have to say,” Jaden said, smiling. For whatever reason, she found her newly discovered relatives intriguing. This was her own personal Transylvania soap opera, miniature vampires and all.
“All right, Miss Jaden, so, where did I leave off?”
“The triplets. You were just starting to tell me about them.”
“Mm, yes, my lovely, brilliant daughters. They adored your grand-mere. She was so good to them. Elvina was always the perfect lady, as well as intelligent, the kindest person I’ve ever known.” Jaden tried not to frown when Dr. Whiting’s recollections shifted to her grandmother. “Amelia and my son Cape were close to the same age, so they spent a lot of time together. It reminded me of Elvina and myself when we were children.”
“You said the triplets were scorned in Belle Fleur too, after you moved. Do they still live here?”
“Back then,” the doctor paused, the lines in his face deepening, “living in the South, it was more difficult being an albino than being a “colored” person. Everyone discriminated against you, blacks and whites alike. They were all so terribly unfair to my girls. I like to think things have changed. I’m not proud of the way some of us Southerners have treated people.”
“So, what happened to them? Do they still live here?” Jaden asked again.
“Well, when people in town began getting ill, a lot of uneducated, superstitious people believed it was because of our girls. Some even threatened their lives. The kinder ones questioned why God was punishing Sara, having her give birth to such repulsive children.” Misty-eyed, the doctor continued, “The girls wanted to run away. But they were convinced it didn’t matter where they went in the world. They were certain to be treated badly, as if unworthy of living on this earth. They never socialized. We home-schooled them. Even Cape’s little friends accused them of practicing black magic. But they didn’t!
“When our Olympe was seventeen she fell in love with a sharecrop worker’s son. His name was Billy.” The doctor sat up straight in his chair. “It really didn’t bother Sara and me. We had lived with so much color discrimination we weren’t about to be that way too. In our eyes there was no difference between Olympe’s sheer white skin and Billy’s ebony. They were both good kids, shamefully mistreated. I have to admit, Sara and I weren’t all that surprised when Olympe became pregnant. All of our so-called friends would have sent their daughters away to get rid of the baby. Of course, everyone in town rejected her even more.
“Billy’s parents were beside themselves when they learned he was in love with an albino. They packed up and left and took Billy with them. It’s hard to know how to be a good parent. Children don’t come with a book. It sure would be helpful. Billy was gone. We were there for her, though my sweet Olympe felt that she and her beautiful baby were all alone. She went into a deep depression. So did her sisters, Tamara and Isadora. I don’t know if you’ve ever been around triplets. They have a remarkable connection. When one of the triplets feels pain, they all do. I suppose it’s that way with all siblings.”
Jaden nodded as if in agreement, though she was living proof that not all siblings were like that. She knew for a fact that when she was sick or unhappy, Ava rejoiced.
“Well, the three of them decided th
ey’d prefer to live outside of town, on the bayou, where no one would bother them. Sara purchased the land. We thought it was a temporary decision. We believed that someday our girls would find a way to live comfortably in society. Still, what mattered most to us was that they were happy.”
Jaden refrained from jumping up and shouting, Do the triplets still live on the bayou? Can I go see them?
“We got a skiff to haul supplies out to the land. We didn’t dare hire people to build a house for them. It was to be the one place where they could feel safe. Though we weren’t carpenters, somehow, between the five of us, we built an acceptable structure. They had a generator for electricity. A year later, Billy returned and constructed a real home for them. Your grand-pere Dekle even taught Billy how to set up a decent solar power system; back then no one around here had really considered it.”
Jaden gave him a surprised look.
He responded with a smile, “Why Miss Jaden, you thought solar power was a new concept? It’s been around in one form or another since the sun’s been shining. In fact, your grand-pere had exchanged letters with one of the men who developed the first solar batteries.”
Dr. Whiting chuckled, then glanced at the photo of his wife Sara. “You know, I haven’t spoken about this for years.” Shifting his body, he turned toward her grandmother’s picture on his nightstand. “I’ve never had anyone I could talk to about Elvina.”
Though Jaden’s reason for tracking Dr. Whiting down had been sheer desperation, she found herself fascinated by his story and who he was as a person.
“Over the years Elvina and Sara became close friends. Your grandparents were the only ones in town who knew where the triplets were. Most people didn’t want to know. They were just glad they were gone. Elvina gave Billy a job as caretaker on their property. Billy was always a good papa and husband. When their son Hubbard was old enough for school, he’d stay with Billy during the week. Then the two of them would go to the triplets on the weekends. Olympe agreed that it was best for the boy.
“Then one day, when Hubbard—Hubs—was six years old, he was attacked.”
Jaden knew that name. That’s right. Hubs was the man who sold the poison ivy cream to Dr. Schilling. The spark of joy she’d felt on recognizing the name was replaced with a cold chill as she watched the doctor sink back in his chair—and she realized that meant that Hubs was also the little boy that Violet had remembered.
“Billy had left him alone at the cottage, just for a little while. When he returned he found Hubs in a coma. Sara and I were visiting her kin in West Virginia, so Billy rushed Hubs to the hospital. In spite of Billy’s begging for help, the staff left my dear grandson unattended for hours. You see, black people and mixed races weren’t welcome there.
“Billy had no other choice but to take his son home. Olympe tried to heal Hubs with herbs. Billy contacted us and we returned right away. I did everything that I could. Nothing helped. So I enlisted the aid of your grand-pere Dekle. He seemed to have an innate knowledge of what was wrong with Hubs. In the end, I don’t know, I guess I waited too long to ask for his help. Hubs … he’s not mentally disturbed the way the townspeople claim. He’s just a bit slow. He’s such a good person. A proud man. He lives a simple life. Won’t ever take a handout.
“From then on Dekle formulated cures for the different diseases that had been infecting the townspeople. Eventually the triplets started making them for him.”
Jaden felt nauseated. Of course her brilliant grandfather had known exactly what cures to make. “So did you learn why everyone in town was getting sick?”
Dr. Whiting sat up straight in his seat, as if he were on trial. “Apparently Dekle was a bit of an outdoors person and enjoyed exploring the bayou. He said that shortly after they first arrived in Belle Fleur, he was hiking one day and came across an abandoned cave that had been used by the government as a chemical dump site.”
The wrinkles around the doctor’s eyes tightened.
“He claimed he’d never thought it necessary to test the toxic waste, prior to my asking for his help. Then he insisted that poisons were leeching into the bayou, penetrating the town’s water system and causing the illnesses. I had no reason to question his opinion.”
“Dr. Whiting …”
He looked into her eyes.
Jaden paused. She felt fevered and queasy as she asked, “Do you know what attacked Hubs?”
The doctor nodded very slowly. “One night a few years later, Elvina came to our house and begged me to help her. She described what she’d seen in their cellar. She told me about the dreadful things Dekle had done to her. I accepted what she told me as the truth. It was obvious to everyone that Dekle had been changing. He’d become a different man. I was not going to let him hurt my precious Elvina again. She was afraid for her life—and Amelia’s. So I went with her.”
His eyes briefly swept over Jaden’s face.
“I called the police and had your grand-pere taken away and committed to a mental institute.” He bowed his head. “I’d believed Dekle was sincerely working to help the people who lived here, creating elixirs and preparations to heal them. I had no idea.”
Jaden wanted to interrupt the doctor, tell him that the Mal Rous were back, and beg him to help her. But he continued emptying the cracked and tired old trunk of painful memories he’d locked away in the depths of his soul.
“When others in town learned the news about Dekle being taken away, they turned Elvina into an object of contempt. So much gossip in a small town. After Dekle was committed, Elvina and Amelia spent a lot of time with Sara and me. Elvina hated being alone in that big house.”
He examined his hands in his lap.
“I’m certain that over the years, Sara couldn’t help but see how besotted I was with Elvina. I know she had faith in me, and knew that I would never act on my affections. She also trusted that Elvina would never intentionally hurt her.”
The doctor pressed his hands against the chair’s leather armrests to stop them from trembling. It didn’t help.
“One day Elvina came to my office and told me that she and Amelia were leaving. When we embraced, Elvina began to weep. She said all the things I’d always longed to hear.”
Guiltily Dr. Whiting lowered his eyes.
“We kissed, and … well, that moment of passion …” his voice wavered. He spoke more slowly. “That moment of passion would have to be enough for all the time we could never spend together. It would have to last the rest of our lives.”
The air-conditioner droned in the background. Jaden questioned whether the noise wasn’t actually resonating from the doctor’s broken heart.
“I wanted to go with her,” he confided, meeting Jaden’s eyes. “I believe she wanted me to. We both thought she would only be leaving for a few months. That when she returned we would work things out. But it wasn’t meant to be.” He paused. “Once she left, Elvina determined that we could never truly be happy if it meant hurting Sara. She was right.”
His fingers curled around a glass of water that sat on the table next to him, but his hand shook too much to raise it. Releasing his hold, he continued. “Elvina and Amelia decided not to return. I never saw either of them again. Elvina and I wrote for a while. Then she stopped answering my letters.”
Dr. Whiting’s gaze fixed on Jaden and he smiled gently.
“I never imagined Elvina being a grand-mere. I have always pictured her as she was the last time that I saw her.”
Jaden looked at the photo of her grandmother on the doctor’s nightstand. The truth was, the local grocer’s wife back home was more like a grandmother to her than Elvina had ever been.
It seemed that Dr. Whiting had shared all that he could. It was time to come clean about why she was there. Sitting up straight, she tentatively asked, “Do you know if my grandfather is still alive?”
The doctor shrugged his shoulders, clearly worn out from all the memories.
“Did you ever see any reports of his experiments, or notes with h
is formulas?” Jaden pressed back against her leather chair, wishing it would swallow her up for being related to such a depraved man.
Dr. Whiting stared as if looking right through her. Finally he responded. “The triplets should have copies of the cures Dekle created.”
Jaden’s spirits lifted. If they had that mushroom brew Violet had mentioned, her troubles would be over.
“Though once he was locked up, people were no longer plagued by the unusual illnesses. We never did find the strange creatures that Elvina had seen.”
“Would it be possible for me to meet the triplets and Hubs?” she asked. “I really need to talk to them.”
“I suppose so.”
His head teetered back and forth.
“They always adored your grand-mere. I could call Hubs. He could take you there.” He paused, and the corners of his mouth sagged. “Why would you want to see them?”
Jaden could almost hear his unspoken fears that she, like everyone else, would be unkind to his daughters.
“I need your help, Dr. Whiting.”
She couldn’t look directly at him. Focusing on the collar of his shirt, she tried to stop talking but the words tumbled out. “It’s about—it’s about the Mal Rous.”
The doctor slumped forward. “That’s what Hubs called them.” His narrow chest slowly expanded, then caved in as he exhaled his sadness. “We didn’t know what he was talking about. He was a child. We thought he didn’t understand that he’d been attacked by some kind of animal. Then Elvina found those, those things.”
Dr. Whiting’s eyes glazed over and his head dropped against the back of his chair. Jaden worried that his heart had stopped. Meanwhile hers was banging in a chaotic, abstract beat. She rushed over and repeatedly pressed a button next to his bed. Seconds later, a nurse flew into the room. After taking his blood pressure, the woman inserted a pill into Dr. Whiting’s mouth and held a glass of water to his lips.
“Ya’d best leave now,” the nurse ordered.
“Is he going to be okay?” Jaden asked, her words heavy with guilt. “Can I come back tomorrow?”
