Dollenganger 06 My Sweet Audrina (26 page)

me, was she? Your mother was kinder."
She turned around slowly and exhaled a long
withheld breath. "Wow! Would you look at this place!
Like a palace. Who would have ever thought dear
Papa would be idiot enough to fix up an old house
like this. He could have bought two new ones for what
it cost to restore this monstrosity."
Standing midway up the stairs, I tried to regain
some lost composure. "Did you come back for some
reason?"
"Aren't you happy to see me?" Smiling, she
cocked her head to one side and scanned over me
again, then laughed. "No, I can tell you aren't. Are
you still afraid of me, Audrina? Afraid your boy
husband might find a real woman twice as appealing
as a modest, shy bride who can't really give him any
pleasure? Just looking at you in that white dress tells
me you haven't changed. It's November, little girl.
Wintertime. The season for bright colors, parties,
good cheer and holidays, and you wear a white dress."
Mockingly she laughed again. "Don't tell me your
husband is no lover at all and you are still Papa's pure
little darling."
"It's a wool dress, Vera. The color is called
winter-white. It's an expensive dress that Arden
selected for me himself. He likes for me to wear
white."
"Of course he does," she said even more
mockingly. "He indulges your need to stay a sweet
little girl. Poor Audrina, the sweet and chaste. Audrina
the pure and virginal. Dear Audrina, the obedient little
darling who can do no wrong."
"What do you want, Vera?" I asked, feeling
very cold. I sensed danger, felt Vera's threat. I wanted
to order her out of the house.
Go, leave me alone.
Give me time to grow up, to find the woman that's
hidden somewhere in me.
"I've come home for Thanksgiving," said Vera
smoothly, in that same sexy voice she must have
copied from someone she admired, as she'd tried once
to talk like a TV actress. "And if you're nice to me,
really nice,
as a family member should be, then I'll
stay on for Christmas, too. It's really not very
hospitable of you to keep me standing in the foyer
while my bags are on the porch. Where's Arden? He
can carry in my luggage."
"My husband is working, Vera, and you can bring in your own bags. Papa won't be happy to see
you. I suppose you must know that."
"Yes, Audrina," she said in that smooth, hateful
voice. "I know that. But I want to see Papa. He owes
me a great deal--and I intend to have what belongs to
my mother, and what belongs to me."
A small scuttling sound made me look toward
the back hall to see Billie shoveling along on her little
red dolly cart. As if she'd just seen a mouse, Vera
jumped backward and nearly lost her footing because
of that thick sole. Her gloved hand reached to smother
her cry. Her other hand stretched forward as if to ward
off contamination. I watched her struggle to gain her
composure as the small half-woman, twice as old and
three times as beautiful as Vera, looked at her
appraisingly and with a great deal of self-composure.!
admired Billie for holding her own.
Then, to my amazement, Vera smiled brilliantly
at my mother-in-law. "Oh, of course. How can I have
forgotten Billie Lowe. How are you, Mrs. Lowe?" Cheerfully Billie greeted Vera. "Why, hello
there. You're Vera, aren't you? How beautiful you
look. How nice you've come home for the holidays.
You're just in time for lunch. Your old room is clean,
and all I have to do is put on fresh linens and you'll feel right at home." She looked upward to give me a special warm smile. "Well, Audrina, that itchy nose of
yours really did herald a visitor after all."
"Do you live here, too?" asked Vera, rather
taken aback. Someone in the village didn't know
everything that went on in Whitefern.
"Oh, yes," gushed Billie happily. "This is the
most wonderful house I've ever been lucky enough to
call home. Damian has been absolutely marvelous to
me. He's given me the rooms that used to belong
to"--here she hesitated, looking a bit embarrassed--
"your mother." Her appealing look at Vera touched
my heart. "At first I thought it was wrong to take such
a grand suite of rooms when Audrina might want
them, but Audrina hasn't said a word to make me feel
I'm usurping anyone's place. What's more, Damian
carried over all the things I wanted from the cottage
himself. He did that the very day Arden and Audrina
eloped."
Billie gave me another loving smile. "Come,
darlin', it's time for lunch. Sylvia is already at the
table. There's plenty for all of us."
"Help me bring in my luggage, Audrina," said
Vera, abruptly turning to head toward the porch, as if
tired of responding to all the warmth and good cheer Billie showed her. "I'll be leaving in a few weeks, so you don't have to look so bothered. I don't want your
husband."
"Because you have your own?" I asked
hopefully.
Laughing, she half turned to grin at me with
Papa's own cunning. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?
But no, I don't have my own. Lamar Rensdale was a
miserable failure who took the easy way out once
things got rough. What a coward he proved to be. No
talent at all once you took him away from the
provinces. Do you still play the piano?"
No, I didn't practice on the piano anymore.
There was too much to do. But as I helped Vera bring
in her three bags, carrying two while she carried one, I
vowed that when I had the time I'd find another music
teacher and pick up where I'd left off. "Vera, I'd like
to hear more about Lamar Rensdale. He was very kind
to me, and I'm sorry he's dead."
"Later," said Vera, following me up the stairs.
"After we eat, we'll have a nice long talk while we
wait for Papa to come home and rejoice at seeing me
again."
On the way to her room we found Sylvia riding
Billie's cart, shoveling along with some expertise. "Sylvia, take Billie's cart back to the kitchen. You have no right to use it even when she isn't. Any moment she may want to hop down and her cart won't be there." I reached to pull Sylvia from the dolly. If there was one thing that made Sylvia stubborn and hateful, it was taking from her that little red cart she
wanted for her own.
"Good God," exclaimed Vera, staring at Sylvia
as if at some creature in a zoo, "why waste your
breath on an idiot? Why not just shove her off and be
done with it?"
"Sylvia is not as retarded as Papa led us to
believe," I said innocently enough. "Bit by bit she's
learning to talk."
For some reason Vera turned to stare at Sylvia
with narrowed, suspicious eyes, distaste clear on her
face. "God almighty, this house is full of freaks. A
legless woman and a stammering moron."
"As long as you're in this house, you will not
refer to Sylvia as a moron, idiot or freak. And you will
treat Billie with the respect due her, or else I'm sure
that Papa will kick you out. And if he doesn't, then I
will."
Appearing surprised, Vera smiled weakly, then
turned her back and strode on into her old room to
unpack.
I was silent at lunch as Billie did her best to
welcome Vera home. Vera looked sophisticated in the
lovely beige knit dress she'd changed into. The soft
color flattered her complexion, which seemed not as
sallow as it had once been. Her makeup was expertly
applied, her hair styled to perfection while mine was
windblown and wild appearing. My nails were short
and unpolished since I had to help Billie with the
housekeeping. Every one of my imperfections rose up
like mountains as I stared at Vera.
"I'm sorry about your mother, Vera," said
Billie. "I hope you don't mind if Audrina told me all
about that. She is like my own daughter, the one I
always wanted to have."
Gratefully I smiled, happy she wasn't going to
abandon me for Vera, who seemed to have become
the epitome of glamour. I knew Billie admired all that
Vera now represented. Pretty clothes, long polished
nails and the kind of jewelry Vera wore--that's when
I realized it was my mother's jewelry, my aunt's
jewelry she was wearing. The stolen jewelry. Jewelry that she took off and stashed
somewhere before Papa and my husband came home
together.
We were seated in the Roman Revival room.
The sun had just settled down behind the horizon,
leaving a bloody trail of fire clouds, when Papa threw
open the door and strode inside with Arden at his
heels.
Papa was talking. "Damn, Arden, how the hell
can you forget when you make notes? Do you realize
your mistakes are going to lose several good clients?
You have to list all the stocks each client owns and
call them when dramatic changes occur, or, better,
before they occur. Anticipate, boy, anticipate!" That's when Papa saw Vera. He stopped in the
middle of another chastising remark and stared at
Vera with loathing. "What the devil are you doing
here?"
Billie winced. Papa had disappointed her.
Arden threw Vera an uneasy glance, then came to kiss
my cheek before he settled on the sofa beside me,
putting his arm about my shoulders. "Are you all
right?" he whispered. "You look so pale."
I didn't answer, though I did snuggle closer to
him, feeling safer with his arm about me. Vera stood
up. With her high heels on she was still about five
inches shorter than Papa, but on those stilts she
managed to look formidable even so. In the corner of the large room, Sylvia squatted down on her heels and rolled her head about idiotically, as if she were deliberately going to undo all the progress we'd both
struggled to achieve.
"I had to come home, Papa, to see my mother's
grave," said Vera in a small voice of apology. "A
friend called and told me when she died, and I cried
all night and really wanted to come for her funeral.
But I was on duty and couldn't get off until now. I'm a
registered nurse now. Also, I didn't have enough
money to get down here, and I knew you wouldn't
send me the money to come. It comes as such a shock
when someone healthy dies in an accident. That same
friend sent me the newspaper obituary. It arrived on
the day of her funeral."
She smiled then, tilting her head to one side in a
charming manner, separating her feet so she stood
staunchly, with her arms akimbo. Suddenly she
appeared not so sweet, but defiant, masculine, taking
up almost as much space as Papa did when he spread
his legs wide and prepared himself for assault. Papa grunted and glared at her. He seemed to
recognize her challenge. "When will you be leaving?" "Soon," said Vera, casting down her eyes, gone
dovelike and demure as she tried not to appear hurt. But her feet stayed apart, and that betrayed her put-on expression of meekness. "I felt I owed it to my mother
to come as soon as I could."
Arden leaned forward to better watch her
expression, dragging me along with him as he forgot
his arm about me.
"I don't want you in my house!" snapped Papa.
"I know what went on here before you left."
Oh, dear God. Vera threw Arden a nervous,
warning look.
Immediately I pulled free from Arden's casual
embrace and moved to the far side of the sofa. No, I
tried to tell myself, Vera was deliberately trying to
involve Arden and ruin my marriage.
^-
But Arden
looked guilty. I felt my heart crack. All along he'd
claimed I was the only one he loved. And Vera must
have told the truth a long time ago about sleeping with
Arden.
"Papa," appealed Vera in her seductive, throaty
voice, "I've made my mistakes. Forgive me for not
being what I should have been. I've always wanted to
win your approval and be what you wanted, but
nobody told me anything. I didn't know what Mr.
Rensdale wanted when he kissed me and started
petting. He seduced me, Papa!" She sobbed as if with shame and bowed her smooth cap of shining, orangey hair. "I came back to pay my respects at my mother's grave, to spend Thanksgiving Day with the only family I have, to renew our family ties. And I also
came to collect what valuables my mother left me." Again Papa grunted. "Your mother had nothing
of value to leave you after you ran from here and stole
what jewelry she had, and what jewelry my wife left
Audrina.
Thanksgiving Day is a week away. Pay your
respects at your mother's grave today and leave
tomorrow morning."
"Damian!" said Billie reprimandingly. "Is that
any way to talk to your own niece?"
"It's exactly the way I talk to this one!" stormed
Papa, pivoting about and striding toward the front
stairs. "Don't ever call me Papa again, Vera." He
glanced back at Billie. "It's our night out on the town,
have you forgotten? The movies after dinner in a good
restaurant. Why aren't you dressed and ready to go?" "We can't leave the house on the day your niece
comes home," Billie said in her calm way. "She thinks
of you as her father, Damian, regardless of what you
call your relationship. We can always dine out and go
to the movies. Damian, please don't embarrass me again. You've been so kind, so generous--I'd be so disappointed if you--" There she broke off, looking at
him with tears in her eyes.
Her tears of distress seemed to affect him
greatly. "All right," he said, turning then to Vera. "I
want to see as little of you as possible, and the day
after Thanksgiving you leave. Is that understood?" Vera nodded meekly. Bowing her head, she sat
down to lock her legs together and form a lap on
which she could demurely fold her hands, a welltrained, modest young woman. And modesty was
something Vera had never possessed. "Anything you
want, Pa--Uncle Damian."
I turned my head just in time to see Arden
gazing at her pityingly. From one to the other I stared,
sensing it had already begun. The seduction of my
husband.
In no time at all Vera and Billie were fast
friends. "You dear, wonderful woman, to take on all
this housework all by yourself when my father could
easily afford a maid and a housekeeper. I marvel at
you, Billie Lowe."
"Audrina helps a great deal," said Billie. "Give
her credit, too."
I was in the powder room down the hall from the kitchen, tediously trying to untangle Sylvia's wild mop of chestnut curls. Pausing, I waited to hear what else Vera had to say to Billie. But it was Billie who
again spoke.
"Now, if you'd do your bit and run the vacuum