Cutler 1 - Dawn (35 page)

I'm still being whisked away, I thought. I'm not in Daddy's car, and I'm not leaving in the middle of the night, but I'm on the road again, searching, always searching, for a place to call home.

Whether it was out of a sense of guilt or merely the excitement of buying clothes, my mother took me off in the hotel limousine and dragged me from store to store. Price was never an object. She bought me more clothing than I had seen in a lifetime: skirts, blouses, jackets, a leather coat and leather gloves, a fur hat, shoes, lingerie, and velvet slippers. We went to a department store to buy makeup, and there she bought me an assortment of powders, lipsticks, blush rouge, and eyeliner. It took two bellhops four trips to bring all our purchases into the hotel.

Clara Sue's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw it all. She cried and moaned and demanded Mother go on a similar shopping spree with her.

The day before I was to leave for New York, one of the bellhops came down to my room to fetch me.

"There's a phone call for you at the main desk," he said. "They said to hurry; it's long distance."

I thanked him and rushed out. I was lucky it was early in the morning and Clara Sue was not on duty, I thought. She would have never permitted the call to go through, because it was Jimmy.

"Where are you?" I cried.

"I'm with a new foster family, the Allans, and I'm back in Richmond, but it's all right. I'm going to go to a regular public school," Jimmy added quickly.

"Oh, Jimmy, I have so much to tell you I don't know where to begin."

He laughed.

"Just start at the beginning," he said, and I told him all that I had learned, described my meeting with Grandmother Cutler, and explained what had resulted.

"So you see, Jimmy, you shouldn't blame Daddy. He thought he was doing the right thing," I said.

"Yeah," he said, "I suppose, but it was still dumb," he added, only not sounding as hard as he could.

"Will you talk to him when he contacts you, Jimmy?" I asked, my voice full of hope.

"Let's see if he ever will," he replied. "I'm glad Fern was adopted by a young couple. They'll give her lots of love, but I can't wait till we find her again," he said. "And I'm glad about your going to a school for performing arts, even though it means I probably won't see you for a long time. But I'll try."

"I'll try to see you, too, Jimmy."

"I miss you," he said.

"I miss you, too," I said, my voice cracking. "Well, I'd better hang up. They were nice enough to let me make this call. Good luck, Dawn."

"Jimmy!" I cried, realizing he was about to hang up. "What?"

"I know I can think of you differently," I blurted. He understood.

"I'm glad, Dawn. It's the same with me."

"Bye," I said. I didn't realize I was crying until a tear dropped from my cheek.

On the morning of my departure the chambermaid staff presented me with a going-away present. Sissy gave it to me in the lobby by the front door as the bellhops were loading my suitcases into the hotel limousine.

"Some people are sorry for the cold way you were treated," she said and handed me a tiny package. I unwrapped it and discovered a solid gold mop-and-pail pin.

"We didn't want'cha to forget us," Sissy said. I laughed and hugged her.

Grandmother Cutler stood off to the side during all this, watching with her eagle eyes. I could see that she was impressed with the affection the hotel staff had for me.

Clara Sue stood sullenly in the doorway, Philip at her side, a slight smirk on his face.

I hurried down the steps without a farewell glance to either of them. My mother and Randolph were waiting at the limousine. Mother looked fresh and rested. She hugged me and kissed my forehead. I was surprised at how affectionate she was. Was it just for the audience of guests and staff, or had she come to feel something for me?

I looked into her soft eyes, but I couldn't be sure. It was all too confusing.

"Okay, Dawn," Randolph said. "We'll be up to see you as soon as we can get away from the hotel." He kissed me on the cheek. "If you need anything, just call."

"Thank you," I said. The limousine driver opened the door for me and I got in. I sat back and thought how different this was from my arrival in the night in a police patrol car.

We began to pull away from the hotel. I looked back and waved at everyone and saw Grandmother Cutler step out to gaze after me. She looked different, thoughtful. What a strange woman, I thought, and wondered if I would ever get to know her.

Then I turned to look out at the ocean as we came down the driveway. The sun had turned the water into a bright aqua. The little sailboats looked painted against the blue horizon. It was beautiful here, picture perfect, I thought. My heart was full. I was off to do something I had always dreamt of doing, Jimmy sounded happier, and Daddy would soon be freed from prison.

The hotel limousine turned, and we were off toward the airport.

I couldn't help but remember the games Daddy and I used to play when I was very little and we were in the car and off to a new home.

"Come on, Dawn," he would say. "Let's pretend. Where do you want to be this time? Alaska? The desert? On a ship? In an airplane?"

"Oh, let her sleep, Ormand. It's late," Momma would say.

"You tired, Dawn?"

"No, Daddy," I would say, even though I could barely keep my eyes open.

Jimmy was asleep on his side of the car.

"So? Where shall it be this time?" Daddy asked again.

"I think . . . an airplane," I said. "Soaring above the clouds."

"And so it will be. Feel the lift-off," he said and laughed.

A short while later I really was soaring above the clouds.

Sometimes, when we dream hard enough, those dreams come true, I thought.

And I looked ahead toward the long stretch of blue sky and dreamt of thousands of people in an audience listening to me sing.