Hallow House - Part Two (29 page)

Though it was still a fantasy since Ronal hadn't yet proposed to her, he
had
said he wanted her. Which could very well be the precursor to a marriage offer. If she could just manage to keep her head.

Chapter 39

Naomi and Ronal had made plans for an early ride the following morning, so Naomi crept from the room so as not to wake Katrina. She found Ronal already at the stables, mounted on Rasputin and holding her saddled mare.

"I've brought a flashlight," she told him, hiding her disappointment at not being greeted with a kiss. "I've never really gone inside Skull Cave, so I thought we might ride there."

Ronal hesitated. "Won't Katrina be unhappy at missing the chance to explore?"

"Good grief, no. Don't you recall her saying nothing would entice her in there?"

He nodded.

The horses were eager to run in the warm morning and, despite losing their way once, Ronal and Naomi reached the cave quickly. They dismounted and she waited to be taken into his arms, but he turned toward the cave mouth instead. "Looks rather sinister," he said. "Do wild animals ever den up inside?"

She shook her head. "Animals are supposed to feel some mysterious power warning them away." Now that the cave was in front of her, she was less than eager to go inside, but she didn't want Ronal to think she was afraid.

When he didn't make any move to enter, she took his hand, saying, "Come on."

Enough light entered the chamber so they could see the dark hole to an inner room. "Shall we try it?" she asked.

"Do you really want to?"

Ignoring her tremor of fear, she said, "Sure." Flicking on the flashlight, Naomi shone it into what looked like a tunnel. She entered, Ronal behind her, but she'd taken only a few steps when he yelled, "Stop!"

She couldn't turn in the narrow passage so she backed out into the first chamber and found Ronal huddled against a wall of the cave, his hands over his face, moaning.

Alarmed, she asked, "What's wrong?" and touched his shoulder.

He knocked her hand aside and rushed from the cave where he stood breathing deeply while staring up at the sky. Naomi joined him.

"What happened?" she asked. "Are you hurt?"

"The dark," he muttered, not looking at her. "Always the dark and then the bell. I was waiting for the bell. After the bell he'd come."

"Who?"

Ronal turned to face her. "I don't want to talk about Korea," he said. "They told me in the hospital if I let it all out, I'd forget. They were wrong."

"Was the dark in the cave that brought it back?"

"I thought I'd be okay. I wasn't."

"I'm sorry," Naomi said. "I didn't realize."

"It's not your fault."

"I wouldn't have suggested coming here if you'd told me." Naomi put her hands on his arms, gazing up at him.

"I'd never want to upset you." He bent his head and brushed his lips over hers in a brief kiss that left a tingle behind.

As they remounted to return to the house, she said, "Katrina told me our mother asked you to stay on."

"I wish I could, but it's impossible. I realized that after that evening when I--when we..." He paused, began again. "I called your brother-in-law in San Francisco and he promised to come down with the lawyers so Vera won't have to deal with them alone. He knows more about the business end of her affairs anyway."

"So you'll be off to Harvard then?"

He nodded. "I'll miss you."

"But we could--that is, I could go with you if...." Naomi stopped. She couldn't very well come right out and ask him to marry her.

They rode on in silence until they neared the house.

"I can't marry anyone until I'm over this unreasoning fear that overwhelms me when I least expect it," Ronal said finally. "I'm not too sure I'll even be able to make it through law school. What if it gets worse?"

"But you're getting over it. Your grandmother said so. The bell--isn't that something like Pavlov's dog? A conditioning? That's no more than a habit, really, and you can change habits."

Ronal slanted her a odd look from a face that suddenly looked older. "The psychiatrist said something similar to me couched in more expensive language. But he wasn't me and neither are you. I was the one in that lousy camp, damn it, and I'm the one who has to forget. If I can. If I ever can." He kicked Rasputin and galloped away from her.

Naomi waited all day for him to tell her he was sorry he'd snapped at her, but she waited in vain. Late in the afternoon she and Katrina went swimming. They'd been at the pool only a short while when Ronal came along and dived in without speaking to them.

"Why what's the matter with Ronal?" Katrina asked.

Naomi didn't answer.

"Maybe we should pretend we didn't notice his mood," Katrina went on. "What with that terrible time he had in prison camp and all."

"You mean the brainwashing. Actually I think he could overcome his fears if he really tried. Oh, I'm sure he'd need time, but...."

Katrina broke in. "What makes you an expert?"

Naomi looked at her in surprise.

"You always have an answer for everyone's problem." Katrina's tone was tinged with anger. "But we're not all the same. I'm different, everyone's different. We're twins and what's good for you isn't necessarily right for me. Other people are even further apart in their needs. You never seem to understand that." Katrina's eyes filled with tears.

"What did I say to get you so upset?" Naomi. "We were talking about Ronal and all of a sudden you go off like a rocket."

"You leave him alone!" Katrina cried. "The last thing he needs is for you to push and prod at him."

Naomi was indignant at the accusation. "I'm not doing anything of the sort."

Neither of the girls had noticed Ronal climb out of the pool. When he asked, "What's the problem?" both of them jumped.

"Oh!" Katrina buried her face in her hands and began to cry.

Naomi watched numbly as Ronal put his arm around her sister and patted her back Katrina turned her face into Ronal shoulder and sobbed. Her put his other arm around her and faced Naomi over Katrina's heaving shoulders.

"She's upset because she thinks I'm picking on you," Naomi said.

"Offering unasked-for advice could fall in that category," he said.

She stared at him in disbelief, then gathered up her towel and stalked off. In her room she changed into shorts and a sleeveless blouse, then fidgeting restlessly, waiting for Katrina to appear. Time passed. Jealousy smote Naomi, leaving needles piercing her heart.

He had no business holding Katrina in his arms. Of course Katrina had shamelessly thrown herself at him. Didn't he realize Naomi was the twin he wanted, the one who could help him overcome his recurrent fears? Maybe he hadn't asked for her advice, but it had been good advice all the same.

At last a very flushed Katrina came into the room. She refused to look at Naomi as she got her clothes together and went into the bathroom to shower. The uneasy silence between them persisted through dinner. Afterward, Katrina disappeared. Naomi could find her nowhere in the house.

Nor was Ronal around. The thought of them being together fed the flame of jealousy consuming her. He didn't love her, how could he and go off somewhere with her sister? Filled with desolation, she wandered around the house for a while and finally went to bed. Though she expected not to get a wink of sleep, she went under almost immediately. She woke to total darkness and Katrina's screams.

Naomi sat up and turned on her bedside lamp. Katrina, eyes closed, turned and tossed in her bed. She cried out again and Naomi rose and began shaking her sister's shoulder. "Wake up!" she ordered. "You're having a bad dream."

Katrina's face turned toward her, eyes wide open now but unfocused. "No," she moaned. "Oh, no."

"Katrina!"

Her sister blinked

"Wake up--you're dreaming."

Katrina sighed and put up her hand to shield her eyes from the light. "Naomi?"

"You woke me up having a nightmare," Naomi accused.

Her sister sat up and hugged herself. "No," she said. "I saw."

Naomi sat on the bed. "What did you foresee this tine?"

"You. I saw you dressed in red with that silver pendant on."

"What silver pendant?"

"Tabitha's. The one Johanna wore when she--that time she...." Katrina shuddered.

"I don't even know where it is," Naomi told her. "What else did you foresee?"

"Like Johanna you went into that room and you lit a candle and then everything came down around you and there was darkness."

"I assure you I'm not likely to go into that room."

"But I saw you there. It frightened me terribly because there was death in the darkness."

"Mine?"

"How can you be so calm?" Katrina asked. "Someone is going to die. I can't bear it to be you."

"Would you rather have it be Ronal?

Katrina slid down in the bed again and turned her back to her sister.

"What did you talk about when you were with him tonight?" Naomi asked.

"I'm not going to tell you," Katrina told her.

Naomi grabbed her sister's shoulder and forced her to turn over so she could see her face. "What happened between you and Ronal?" she demanded.

"It's none of your business. Let go of me!" Katrina hit her on the arm.

"You leave him alone," Naomi said, her voice rising.

"You can't control either of us."

"He loves me," Naomi insisted.

"He does not!"

The sisters glared at each other.

"Then why did he tell me how much he wanted me?" Naomi said.

"He doesn't any more. You upset him with your demands-- do this, do that." Katrina's voice became a whisper. "He made love to me, not you."

"You mean he kissed you, too?"

"I said he made love to me."

"I don't believe you," Naomi said. But she did. The guilt mixed with satisfaction in her sister's expression told her the truth.

"You won't trap him that way," she said spitefully. "He won't marry you, he's afraid to get married."

"Who said anything about marriage? I did what I did because I'm in love with him."

"You're a fool."

"I don't care."

Naomi went back to her own bed and flicked off the lamp so she wouldn't have to look at the sappy, smug expression on her sister's face. Sitting in the dark she told herself Ronal couldn't possibly prefer Katrina to her. No on ever had. She took advantage of his confusion, that's all.

Easing down, she closed her eyes. Behind her lids an image formed of her and Katrina. Twins. Always together. Gemini.

She remembered what was on the silver pendant--twins holding hands, one with a normal face and one with a skull. Suddenly she knew exactly where she'd put it.

The next morning Vera took the twins into the library after breakfast. "Your father worried over where you girls would go to school this fall, as I'm sure you know."

Naomi thought her mother looked old. There seemed to be more gray in her hair than ever before as well as new lines in her face. Her smile seemed strained.

"We discussed St. Bianca where Samara went to school and where we'd once planned to send Johanna. I've come to a decision and have arranged for the two of you to go to St. Bianca for your first year away from home. I'll be far more comfortable knowing you're there."

Naomi was appalled. "What about those forms we filled out for Stanford?"

"Next year will be time enough for the university."

Naomi remembered St. Bianca all too well from their visit there last winter. Secluded. Protected. She wanted to experience life, not be shut away from it. She glanced at Katrina who looked so dreamy that Naomi wondered if she even heard their mother's words.

"I'd rather go to Stanford," she announced.

Vera's eyes filled with tears and Naomi viewed her mother with alarm. She'd never seen Vera cry except when Daddy died.

"I can hardly bear you girls leaving me," Vera said brokenly. "I know I must let you go, but at least I can take comfort in knowing you're safe at St. Bianca."

"Don't cry, Mama," Katrina begged. "Please, don't."

Naomi bit her lip. She couldn't argue with her mother in this state, but on the other hand she was sure she couldn't stand a year buried in that Catholic girl's school. She let the rest of what her mother had to say wash over her without comment, but when she left the library with Katrina, she muttered to her sister, "I'm not going."