Praying for Time

by Carlene Thompson

  Audrey looked at her, clearly troubled. ‘What kind of rumors?’

  ‘She didn’t say. I’m sure some people noticed that you’ve been seeing Derek for a while, which is no big deal, but she has it in for you. I thought you should know.’

  ‘I’m glad you told me.’ Audrey began pouring cherry filling into one of the pie shells. ‘Do you think everyone in town is talking about Derek and me?’

  ‘No. I think a couple of people mentioned it to her and she’s decided to run with it. She must believe it will help her get back Sammy.’

  Audrey raised her head and looked at Vanessa with resentment in her eyes. ‘Why? Is it because I was a teenage, unwed mother? Does that make me an inappropriate companion for Derek, a bad influence on Sammy?’

  ‘It certainly doesn’t, but I can’t speak to what Nia might say. I think she has a nasty streak and I’m fairly sure she’s determined to get what she wants. She’s not thinking about what’s good for Sammy – only for herself.’

  ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do about her. It was bad luck that she came to the evergreen lot, though.’

  Vanessa frowned. ‘Bad luck? I’m not sure. Simon Drake was there, too. At the Christmas party, he seemed quite taken with her and I think he got her phone number. Today he walked away from us and I saw him on his cellphone. Not long afterwards, Nia appeared.’

  ‘So you think he told Nia where Sammy was?’

  ‘It’s a possibility.’ Vanessa watched Audrey press her thumb round the rims of the pies. ‘Do you need any help with those?’

  Audrey looked up slowly, grinning. ‘Great timing, Nessa. They’re ready to go into the oven.’

  ‘Oh, sorry. The people who eat the pies won’t be – my cooking is still terrible – but the least I can do is open the oven door.’

  Audrey put the pies on a cookie sheet and carefully slid them into one of the kitchen’s two ovens.

  ‘Since you have dinner under control, I need to talk to Roxanne,’ Vanessa said.

  ‘Is something wrong?’ Audrey asked.

  ‘I don’t know.’

  Vanessa found Roxanne in her room, lightly strumming her guitar as she sat in a wooden rocker near a big window swathed in pink voile ruffles. She stared at the floor, her blonde hair falling forward over her face.

  ‘Am I interrupting?’ Vanessa asked.

  Roxanne looked up, her face grave, then gave her sister a half-hearted smile. ‘No. I was only making noise on this thing.’ She lifted the guitar. ‘That’s what I always did.’

  ‘No, you didn’t.’ Vanessa entered the room and sat on the edge of the bed. ‘You were good. You would have been really good if you’d practiced more.’

  ‘I don’t know if I would have ever been really good, but I didn’t practice enough.’ She set the guitar aside. ‘You look like you want to talk to me.’

  ‘I do. Rather, I want to ask a question. When we were shopping for Christmas trees today, you seemed fairly happy. When Simon Drake walked up, though, you stopped talking and every bit of color left your face except for your eyes, which looked frightened. What was the matter, Roxy?’

  Roxanne turned her head for a moment and sighed. Then she looked at Vanessa solemnly. ‘I’ve always hated Simon Drake.’

  ‘I remember.’

  ‘But I didn’t just hate him, I feared him. Dad taught me to fear him. He knew Simon was a slippery character, Nessa, not that it stopped him from doing business with Simon.’

  ‘That’s why you hated him?’

  ‘Well, I thought he was a creepy guy.’

  ‘Let me be blunt. Did he ever molest you?’

  ‘What? No.’ Roxanne looked at her steadily, her voice normal. ‘I mean he made excuses to touch me, but that’s all. I felt like if he did more, I couldn’t say anything. Maybe that’s why he scared me.’

  ‘Why couldn’t you have said anything?’

  ‘Because he was important to the family business and I thought he and Dad were friends. But nothing happened. I don’t know, Nessa. I haven’t been back very long and after what I’ve been through, seeing someone I used to fear and hate shook me. Badly. And what’s worse, I think he knew it.’

  ‘He didn’t seem to be singling you out for his attentions, slimy as they are.’

  ‘He’s too smart for that.’ Roxanne fluttered a hand in front of her face as if she were shooing away a fly. ‘Oh well, it doesn’t matter. He’s an old man who doesn’t have nearly as much power as he did or a lackey like Dad was. I think he’s past his heyday in this town.’

  ‘I don’t know if Dad was his lackey—’

  ‘He was. After Grandfather died, the business would have gone down the drain without Simon, but he took more than his share.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘I heard Grace talking to Dad about it. I used to eavesdrop, you know.’

  ‘Was Dad’s relationship with Simon the reason you didn’t like Dad?’

  Roxanne was quiet for a moment. ‘Partly, but Dad and I didn’t get along before Simon. We just clashed, probably because of Mommy. He didn’t treat her right.’

  ‘I think he treated her very well considering her unstable mental condition.’

  ‘He tolerated her. Then he began emulating her. Then he got rid of her.’

  ‘He got the best medical care for her, Roxy. He even had a private nurse staying with her near the end.’

  ‘The end. She isn’t dead, Vanessa. Do you go see her in that home where she is?’

  ‘It’s a very nice facility for people with problems like hers, and no, I don’t go to see her. I tried after she first went in, but she doesn’t want to see me.’ Vanessa paused. ‘You were so close to her. Do you want to visit her?’

  Roxanne twisted her hands together. ‘No, nooo. Not now. Maybe after a month or two. At this point, I can’t bear seeing her put away.’

  ‘She’s very comfortable, Roxy. She has a nice private room and a few friends. She’s as calm and as happy as Mom is capable of being. You don’t have to worry about her. But you don’t have to go running to see her before you’re ready. In fact, we didn’t even let her know you’re home.’

  ‘I’m glad. I need to focus on myself now, not a mother I can’t help.’

  ‘You’re absolutely right.’ Vanessa stood up and smiled. ‘Coming downstairs soon?’

  ‘In a few minutes.’ She picked up her guitar again. ‘I’ll just fool around with this until I can stop thinking about Simon Drake.’

  ‘Who gets to carve the turkey?’ Vanessa asked as she, Audrey, Roxanne, Cara, Sammy, Christian, Derek and Pete sat around the dining-room table.

  ‘Dr Montgomery should ’cause he’s a surgeon,’ Cara said.

  ‘I’m not a surgeon, Cara.’

  ‘She knows that but she’s determined to make you into one,’ Vanessa laughed. ‘Derek, you’re the restaurateur. I think you should do the carving.’

  Derek smiled. ‘I own a restaurant, I’m not a chef. However, I’ll be proud to carve this beautiful turkey that Audrey has roasted for us all.’ As he began to slice, he said, ‘I can tell it’s succulent. Cooked to perfection. Cheers to the chef.’

  ‘Cheers!’ everyone repeated as Audrey blushed.

  The table looked lovely covered in an ivory damask cloth, the best Wedgewood china bordered with pale sage vines and tiny red flowers, a silver candelabra holding six ivory taper candles, and crystal wineglasses. The children drank cola out of theirs while the adults had white wine.

  They all laughed and talked while eating turkey, baked sweet potatoes with marshmallows, glazed carrots, and French-cut green beans with almonds. For dessert, Audrey served slices of her pies with whipped cream. Afterward, Roxanne rose from the table and began fixing a plate for Grace. Audrey offered to serve her, but Roxy said she wanted to do it herself.

  While Audrey and Vanessa cleared the table and began cleaning up, the men went out to rescue the Christmas tree from the roof of Vanessa’s SUV. Pete insisted on helping although he still had
his crutch. Vanessa knew he would merely be supervising, offering suggestions where none were needed, feeling important. When they got the tree into the house, they carried it into the living room where Pete began giving orders about how it should fit securely into the tree stand.

  When Vanessa and Audrey finished with the dishes, Grace imperiously called to Audrey. ‘I don’t want to lie in bed eating my Christmas dinner like a baby,’ she announced. ‘I want to sit in my wheelchair.’

  Christian sauntered in and Grace repeated herself. He tilted his head as if thinking, then smiled. ‘Of course you can sit in your chair, Grace. We should have thought of that earlier and you could have joined us at the table.’

  Clearly put out, Grace muttered, ‘Hmmmph.’ But she let Christian lift her into her chair. Then Roxanne neared her with a tray. ‘Is it OK if I sit with you while you eat, Grace?’

  ‘Yes, but I can feed myself. I don’t need to be spoon fed.’

  ‘I know,’ Roxanne said tentatively. ‘I just want to join you.’

  Vanessa wondered why Grace was being so cold to Roxy. She never said anything rude, but she didn’t say anything warm and welcoming, either. Vanessa could see disappointment and confusion on Roxy’s face every time Grace all but rebuffed her. For once, Vanessa was annoyed with her grandmother.

  Earlier the kids and Roxanne had carried Christmas tree decorations down from the attic. Now they carefully unpacked them, squealing in delight after they unearthed one carefully wrapped treasure after another. Derek said lights should be put on first so Pete found a four-foot stepladder in the mudroom and Derek climbed it, holding the end of a string of miniature multi-colored lights. It took four strings to completely cover the tree.

  At this point, Roxanne wheeled Grace into the living room. ‘I never miss the decoration of a Christmas tree,’ Grace said with her usual vivacity. ‘Christian, if you order me back to bed, I’ll mutiny.’

  Christian grinned. ‘I don’t see anything wrong with you just watching. If you get up and try to decorate it yourself, I’ll have to put my foot down.’

  ‘I swear I won’t,’ Grace said. ‘Carry on, troops!’

  Next came the ropes of fluffy gold tinsel that they draped in loops around the tree. Then the children began handing Derek and Christian ornaments to hang on the top two feet of the tree. Cara and Sammy placed the special decorations at a lower level: a six-inch angel with long blonde hair and silver sparkles on her satin dress and cloak; a bamboo reindeer wearing a white fur-trimmed red velvet horse cape; a small wreath covered with green silk vines and pink silk roses that had belonged to Grace when she was a girl; red- and green-dressed pixies wearing pointed hats with pom-poms on top; golden bells that actually chimed. Then came a multitude of satin-covered Styrofoam bulbs and glass bulbs in all colors and some with names written on them in glitter. There was a green one reading Grace; a red one reading Roxanne; a blue one reading Vanessa; a gold one reading Leonard; a purple one reading Audrey; a yellow one reading Pete; a silver one reading Cara; and a white one reading Sammy.

  ‘My name!’ Sammy exclaimed when he saw it. ‘You just made this one, didn’t you?’

  Cara smiled impishly. ‘Yesterday. I did it all by myself. White with gold glitter. Do you like it, Sammy?’

  ‘It’s great! Dad, did you see this?’

  ‘I certainly did. It’s the prettiest Christmas ornament I’ve ever seen. Thank you, Cara.’

  Her face turned pink and she looked at Christian. ‘I think it’s time to plug in the lights.’

  ‘As you wish, my lady,’ Christian said. Suddenly the big tree bloomed with tiny lights of every color that made it look both bright and ethereal. Everyone gasped and clapped, even Grace.

  ‘I think this is the most beautiful tree we’ve ever had,’ Vanessa said. She looked at Roxanne and then at Christian. ‘And it’s truly the most wonderful Christmas of my life.’

  Brody stood slightly beyond the driveway in front of Everly House, past the glow of the porch lights and slightly inside the narrow rim of woods above the cliff. His hands were buried in the pockets of his jacket and his brownish-blond hair hung long and tousled on his forehead.

  They hadn’t drawn the draperies in what he knew was the large living room of the house. Instead, he had a clear view of a tall evergreen and several men hoisting it into position, then draping the lights over it. A man he didn’t know stood on a short stepladder, but occasionally Christian came into view – well-groomed, laughing Christian who’d been welcomed into the beautiful house and no doubt the company of Grace and children and the lovely Vanessa. He’d won back Vanessa. In spite of me, she’s his again. Thank God, Brody thought. Thank God I didn’t ruin his life.

  The glittering, joyful scene in the house literally made his chest ache. Such scenes weren’t for the likes of him. He couldn’t watch anymore.

  Brody walked down the hill, staying to the side of the road and close to the trees in case he saw headlights. Maybe more people would be coming to Everly House. Certainly not Max Newman. His meeting with Max was hazy. He remembered walking along the beach, then running into Max and feeling threatened, trapped, and striking out to protect himself. Afterward he’d run and run – he didn’t recall in what direction – but when he had no breath left, he stopped, crawled into a small, dark space, and slept. When he wakened the next morning, he knew he’d done something bad to Max although he didn’t remember exactly what it was.

  Now he wasn’t just wandering. He had a specific destination in mind and he didn’t want to run into anyone who would delay him. So often he felt confused, not sure where he was or what he was doing, but tonight his mind felt oddly clear. He couldn’t count on that clarity to last, though. He remembered feeling sharp, calm, in charge of his emotions and his life, but for some reason those feelings had vanished. He didn’t know why and at times the world felt like too much for him. Often he sat and cried like a lost child. He wished someone could save him, but he didn’t trust anyone, not even his own brother. Christian wanted to capture him like everyone else did – capture and put him away in a cage. Forever. He knew if he entered the cage, he would never emerge.

  Brody walked at a normal pace but kept close to tree lines, avoiding lighted areas and hugging the shadows. At last he made it to his home – the house where he’d grown up and where Christian still lived. He had a set of keys to the locks that had never been changed. Slipping a key into a backdoor knob, he heard a satisfying click. The door swung open into the kitchen. He’d brought a small flashlight and turned it on, keeping it aimed near the floor. As usual, Christian had left a living-room lamp on as if that would fool anyone into thinking someone was home. Brody avoided the light from the lamp and headed for his old bedroom.

  He danced the flashlight beam around the room. His candle still sat on the windowsill although it wasn’t lighted. He already knew that every poster he’d put on the wall when he was a teenager was still in place. He went to the low, built-in bookshelves that lined one wall. Sitting on the floor, he smiled when he saw his favorite old books about conquerors such as Cortez, Attila the Hun, Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great. Especially worn were copies of books about King Arthur and the Round Table: Knights of the Round Table; A Boy’s King Arthur; Le Morte de Arthur Volumes I and II; The Mists of Avalon. He’d read them over and over. He moved on to the notebooks full of stories he’d written about kings and knights, lords and ladies.

  Finally he came to his last and favorite – The Rescue of Roxanne. Only a couple of months after he’d written it, he’d met Zane Felder. They’d liked each other immediately. Zane talked a lot about computers. Before, Brody had been bored by the intricacies of computers, but Zane made them sound interesting – even fascinating. That’s when he’d started learning all he could about computers – particularly software – and let his obsession with kings and queens take a back burner. Still, he now wanted to reread The Rescue of Roxanne. He folded it and tucked it inside his jacket.

  Slowly he made his way back t
o the kitchen, listening for the sound of Christian’s car in the driveway. He’d looked like he would be spending the whole evening at Everly House, but that had been a while ago. Brody went to the widest drawer atop the cabinets. He opened it and looked carefully at the cutlery inside.

  At last he picked up a carving knife with a razor-sharp ten-inch stainless steel blade, wrapped it in a dishtowel he found on the counter, and put it inside his coat along with the notebook. Then he quietly let himself out the backdoor just as headlights from Christian’s car shone through the picture window and swept through the living room.

  SIXTEEN

  Grace had already begun nodding in her wheelchair when Vanessa said, ‘I think all of you have created the most beautiful Christmas tree ever, but we’re all tired, particularly Audrey who did all the cooking. Shall we call it a night?’

  She’d expected objections from the children, but Cara was looking at Grace. She was the most considerate child Vanessa had ever known. ‘I sure am tired.’ She yawned hugely and nudged Sammy. ‘How about you, Sammy?’

  He followed her lead and yawned unconvincingly. ‘I’m worn to a frazzle. I could sleep for days.’

  Derek looked at his son with a mixture of perplexity and relief. Clearly Sammy was acting differently from how he had for the last few years and Derek was glad to see the change. Vanessa had told him about their encounter with Nia in the Christmas tree lot. He’d been angry with Nia but expressed his gratitude to Vanessa for standing up to her and the entire family for ‘babysitting’ Sammy during this difficult time.

  Roxanne wanted to help Grace back into bed but Grace insisted that Audrey do it. Christian checked Grace’s vitals and told her she was doing great. She fell asleep within minutes. Later, in private, he confided to Vanessa and Audrey that he was still concerned about her breathing. He hoped she wasn’t developing pneumonia.

  Afterward, Christian and Derek left and Pete went back to his small cottage. The children sat quietly staring at the Christmas tree for about fifteen minutes before Audrey declared it was bedtime for both of them, too.