Guardian's Hope (24 page)

“
You are your mother’s daughter. Be proud
of it
.”

“
You’re right
.” She sent the thought
across the line that held her to Nico’s mind. The gentle pressure
of the guiding hand at her back increased telling her that Nico
received the message.
“I am a Daughter of Man and no longer
beholding to my father.”
She straightened her shoulders and
held her head high.

Sam Tolbert, Chief of Police, nodded in
recognition as they passed.

“I see you took my advice,” he said
pleasantly. “Did you enjoy your meal?”

For one fleeting moment she froze and then
she answered his smile with one of her own. “Yes, thank you. The
roast beef was delicious and the wine superb.”

Her mind was still open and she caught
flashes of thought from around the table. Sam Tolbert wanted to be
anywhere but here with this pompous ass. The woman to his right –
his wife? - was wishing for something stronger than wine. Another
man wanted to know who she was and another wondered why she looked
familiar. Her father wanted the table’s attention back on him where
it belonged.

A minute ago, she wanted to slink by this
table unnoticed. Now, perversely, she wanted to continue the
conversation. She stepped to the side and brought Nico to the
fore.

“Nico, this is the Police Chief, Sam Tolbert,
who was so helpful to me this morning.”

The two men shook hands.

“We’re grateful for your assistance,” Nico
said and turned to Hope, “We’d better be going,” and back to Sam,
“It was a pleasure meeting you.”

“Of course.” She smiled at Nico and offered
her hand to Sam. “Once again, your kindness was most welcome.”

At her words, her father’s head snapped up
and he stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. Hope
stopped smiling. She’d lived in his house for twenty-seven years
and for most of that time she’d been nothing more than a ghost
trained to do his bidding. He never saw her as a human being, never
mind as a daughter. He only recognized her now because she used his
familiar words of thanks.

“Do you two know each other?” Sam asked.

“Oh, I’m quite familiar with the Reverend
Samuel Parish Parsons, but he never knew me at all.” She took
Nico’s hand in hers and exited the dining room with as much dignity
and grace as she could muster.

The preacher’s face had turned as white as
his hair.

“Who is she?” one of the men asked.

Parsons waited until the door closed behind
the departing pair. “She is everything I preach against,” he said
through gritted teeth. “A fallen woman, a harlot who flaunts her
body to tempt weak men into sin, a shameless woman who practices
the ways of the devil, a witch, gentlemen, whose soul is doomed to
perdition. She has turned her back on the ways of righteousness and
she will find her reward in the fires of Hell.”

Chapter 24

Darkness enveloped them as they drove back
down the winding road from the lodge. The top was up and the little
car formed a comfortable cocoon around them. They traveled in
companionable silence until they were halfway down the mountain
when Hope voiced her thoughts.

“He’s been doing this for years.”

“Who’s been doing what for years,” Nico asked
though he thought he knew the answer.

“My father. It’s another thing that was right
under my nose and I never saw it. He used to travel on what he
called church business or leave for a few days on a spiritual
retreat. It started out as once or twice a year, just overnight. As
I got older, he’d leave me in charge of my sister and be gone for
days at a time. Most of the time he’d be back in time for services
on Sunday morning, but more recently, he’d assign a lay preacher
for morning service and return in time for evening service. He
never spoke of it in my hearing except to say he’d be gone and no
one in the Community ever said anything to me about it. Surely
someone had to know where he was going. Why didn’t I? How could I
have been such a blind fool?”

“You’re no fool, Hope. I doubt you ever were.
Blind? Perhaps a little, but what choice did you have? You were
raised to serve, not to question. Your neighbors might have assumed
you knew what he was doing or maybe he lied to them as well.”

“I liked it when he went away, you know. I
had to school myself to take the news without smiling. If he knew
something gave me pleasure, he’d take it away. He always said it
was for my benefit, that the sacrifice would make me stronger in
spirit.” Hope’s laugh was bitter. “My spirit should be like
iron.”

“When Faith was still at home, we’d bake
cookies. My father didn’t like cookies so we never had them when he
was there. Faith, who was always more daring than me, used to go
into his office and turn the radio up loud. She’d dance around the
parlor, through the dining room and into the kitchen. Her antics
always made me laugh. She’d beg me to dance with her, but my daring
never stretched that far. I always wondered where she learned to
dance like that. Another thing I should have asked. After she left,
I still played the radio and sometimes I’d make cookies, but it
wasn’t the same with no one to share it. Still, I enjoyed my
freedom.”

Nico took the turn onto the highway. “Maybe
that’s why you didn’t ask. You were afraid he’d take your freedom
away.” The motel’s neon no vacancy sign blinked up ahead. “Are we
staying or should I check out? It’s up to you.”

“Stay,” she said firmly. “I won’t say my
father can’t hurt me, because he can and if he gets the chance, I
imagine he will, but he doesn’t rule my life anymore. Being here
with you, Nico, has been pure pleasure for me and I’m not going to
let that man take it away. My spirit is strong enough.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” He pulled into the
space in front of the office. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

Hope watched him through the office window,
charming the older woman manning the desk. She patted his hand
affectionately and disappeared through a door in the back only to
return a moment later dragging several bags behind her. Nico ran to
her aid. She waved her hand, clearly signaling that she could
handle it. Nico insisted. She acquiesced and he brought the bags
around to his side of the counter. He offered her several bills
from his wallet. She fluttered her hands, but he shook his head and
motioned that she should keep the money. He took her hand in his,
clicked his heels and kissed her well-worn knuckles. She colored
and her free hand went to her heart. Nico stuffed what he could in
the ‘vette’s small trunk and came around to Hope’s door holding a
shopping bag.

“There’s no room in the trunk. You’ll have to
hold this on your lap. No peeking.”

“What is all this?” Hope asked when they
reached their room and she was allowed to empty the bag. She pulled
out two pair of jeans, a hooded sweatshirt for her and a red and
black plaid wool shirt for Nico. A package of socks and two pairs
of sneakers lay in the bottom of the bag.

Nico tore open the package of socks and
tossed a pair on the bed. “Those are for you and…,” he checked the
labels on the jeans and draped a pair over his shoulder, “…these
are for me.” He grabbed the plaid shirt on his way to the
bathroom.

She had just removed her stockings when he
returned fully re-clothed. She looked up in surprise.

“You look good!”

“Did you think I wouldn’t?” The corner of his
mouth twitched.

“I’ve never seen you in anything but black
and you never wear jeans.”

“Ah, well, beggars can’t be choosers.” He
adjusted the shirt over his black turtle neck. “I’ll let you in on
a little secret if you promise not to tell Dov and Col. As much as
it pains me to admit it, they and I have something in common. They
buy their jeans and white shirts by the dozen so they don’t have to
think about what to wear. I do the same with black and grey only I
have better taste.”

Hope laughed. “And here I thought you dressed
that way to emphasize your dark and brooding menace.”

“An added bonus and generally it works.”

“The lady in the office didn’t look too
intimidated. She was practically drooling.”

“Do I detect a note of jealousy?” Nico spun
her around and unzipped her dress. As he slid it from her
shoulders, he nuzzled her neck. She tilted her head to give him
better access. “Fear not. As it happens, the lovely Delores is
still madly in love with her husband, Otis, the curmudgeonly owner
we met the other night. The other morning, while you were out and
about, Delores came by to change the sheets. I told her what I was
looking for and it turns out Delores has a romantic streak a mile
wide. She even gave me directions to the secluded spot where she
and Otis used to –how did she put it? – oh, yes, make sweet nookie
when they were young.”

“Are we going to make sweet nookie?” Hope
asked a little breathlessly. Nico’s hands had found their way to
her breasts.

“We’ll be making it right here if you don’t
hurry up and get dressed. Hmm, you won’t be needing this.” He
unclasped her bra and removed it and quickly drew the sweatshirt
over her head. He ripped the tags from her jeans and held them out
for her to step into.

“Come along, precious. The night awaits.”

They took the road back toward the lodge, but
turned off onto a dirt drive about half way there. About a hundred
yards into the trees, Nico stopped.

“It’s on foot from here. Canaan was right. We
should have taken the Escalade.” He opened her door and moved to
the trunk.

“It wouldn’t be nearly as much fun,” she said
as she joined him. “Here, give me some of that. You don’t need to
carry it all.” The sleeping bags came with a convenient strap to
sling over the shoulder. Hope carried one and Nico the other along
with a small tote not much larger than a grocery bag.

It was a short hike up the track and they
walked without hurry. Nico’s eyesight was perfect in the dark and
Hope stayed close beside him. The trail ended at a wide ledge of
rock that looked out over the valley below. They dropped their bags
and moved closer to the edge.

“Oh Nico, it’s beautiful.”

The light reflected from the full moon spread
a silvery blanket across the treetops. Looking down from their
rocky perch, the trees appeared as rolling, snow covered hills.
From a nearby pine, an owl called and from down the slope and off
to their right another answered. The hooting continued, each
echoing the other until the big bird in the pine gave in to the
call and leapt from its branch to soar in the direction of its
mate. Backlit by moonlight, the massive body and wingspan formed a
picture perfect silhouette against the night sky. An occasional
streak of bright light broke the monotony of solid black along the
shimmering ribbon of river below; the headlights of travelers on
their way back to town. Peepers, those tiny tree frogs, kept up a
constant chorus in the background accented by the intermittent high
pitched baby-rattle trill of a cicada.

Hope tightened the arm she had wrapped around
Nico’s waist, pulling herself as close to him as she could. Tucked
under his arm like this, his shoulder made the perfect headrest and
the sigh she offered up to the sky was one of peace.

“The night sky is what I miss most about
living in the country. You can’t see these bright stars or that
glowing moon in the city. You can hear so many things at night
you’d otherwise miss in the busyness and noise of the day. Hayden
Park will be lovely one day, but it’ll never compare to this.”

“I thought you might miss it. It’s why I
brought you here. It’s part of my gift to you.”

“My bedroom window overlooked our backyard
and the fields and trees beyond. I used to say my prayers at that
window and then I’d wait and watch. Sometimes deer would come
through the meadow, sometimes I’d see a fox. I saw rabbits and owls
and wild turkeys and once when I was about twelve, I saw a weasel
sniffing around the hen house. I pinged him with my slingshot. It
wasn’t hard enough to kill, but he never came back.”

“So you’re trained in weaponry,” Nico
teased.

“Oh yes,” she laughed, “So you’d better mind
your p’s and q’s. If I ever get my hands on a forked branch and a
strip of inner tube, you could be in big trouble.”

“I was in trouble the moment I met you.”

“That’s your punishment for picking up
drunken women on the street. No good deed and all of that. What
were you doing in that awful place? Besides rescuing me, I
mean.”

“Looking for Dov and Col. I drew the short
straw.” He took her hand and drew her away from the edge. Grabbing
the bags, he headed for a narrow path through the trees. “This way.
Delores said Otis left us a surprise.”

A short walk brought them to a small clearing
not twenty feet across. Tiny yellow and pink flowers showed clearly
in the moonlight. In the middle of the clearing someone had formed
a fire pit of stones. A substantial stack of wood stood nearby.

“Thank you Otis and Delores.” Nico began to
arrange the wood in the circle.

Hope walked a short distance away and sat
cross-legged in a dense patch of yellow and pink. She stared at the
flowers for a moment then smiled and raised her hand. Pointing with
her index finger, she began to weave a pattern in the air and the
tiny flowers began to move.

“Look, Mama,” she whispered, “I can finally
make them dance.” She felt Nico’s hand on her shoulder as he
squatted on his haunches beside her.

“This is the other part of my gift,” he said
quietly. “I asked Delores if she knew where wild flowers grew. I
wanted you to make them dance.”

She lifted her mouth up to his for a kiss.
“You were pretty sure of yourself, weren’t you?”

“Why Miss Parsons, whatever do you mean? I
distinctly remember you saying you weren’t sorry to share my
room.”