Hallow House - Part Two (6 page)

Her tears stopped and she clung to him, wanting more and more.

"You are very desirable," he said as let her go. "Even when crying."

As she dried her face with his handkerchief, he added, "I was wrong to take advantage of your distress."

"You didn't! I wanted--"

"You are young. It is I who should know better."

Samara stared at him, uncertain what was wrong. Finally she said, "At twenty, I ought to know whether I choose to be kissed or not."

He smiled and her heart turned over. I'm n love, she thought incredulously. This is what it's like--a smile can leave you breathless. And a kiss change the world.

"Please do not look so frightened," he said. "I will behave."

"But I don't want you to," she blurted and then covered her mouth with her hand too late.

He shook his head, "You have forgotten who I am. I am nobody, the tutor of your sisters, while you are the princess of the castle."

"This isn't--" She paused, about to say Germany, then found other words. "These aren't the Dark Ages. It's 1940 and there's no nobility in America anyway."

"Money creates an elite anywhere," he said. "I shall have to be satisfied with admiring you from afar."

"Not from afar," she cried, throwing herself into his arms.

He caught her to him savagely but didn't kiss her. His lips pressed against her cheek, he said, "I don't play at love."

Even as she started to protest it was no game for her, he let her go and began climbing the steep incline on the way back to the horses.

Anna K., the escape artist, had managed to work her way loose, as usual, but she was standing quietly by the bay. Samara mounted with her mind in confusion. They rode back at a gallop, without speaking. When Samara dismounted at the stable and gave the mare to Jose, Mark was already unsaddling the bay. She turned from him and started for the house alone.

Inside, she flew up the stairs, heading for her room, but ran into her Uncle Vince at the top.

"You've been out riding already?" he asked.

Head down, she mumbled agreement, trying to edge past him. He stopped her and tipped up her face so she was forced to look at him.

"You've been with that German lout," he accused.

Samara flushed. "Mind your own business."

"Don't be like your mother," he said. "Don't be another Delores. You'll be unhappy all your life."

Furious, she wrenched her arm away "I'm not my mother and I can take care of myself, thank you."

She ran into her room and slammed the door, tears in her eyes. What was wrong with Uncle Vince? He'd always been her friend. Sergei's voice echoed in her mind and she couldn't shut it out.

Mother lets Uncle Vince see her naked, did you know? I've watched them and
they--

"No!" Samara cried, covering her ears as though to shut out the words she'd never wanted to hear. Not then and not now. "I won't remember," she vowed.

"Why are you t-talking to yourself?"

Samara whirled to see Johanna perched on the bed. "I came in and waited for you, but it got to be a long time so I looked in your closet to see your new clothes."

"I went riding with Mark." Samara said. "We just got back."

Johanna's face fell. "He d-didn't take me," Her words were mournful. "You didn't either and you p-promised."

"You weren't up when we left," Samara said. "I'll ride with you tomorrow, okay?"

"Are you going to get m-married to Mark?" Johanna asked. "With kissing and all like in the movies? Geneva kissed her husband after t-they got married."

Married. Samara said the word silently. Married to Mark. What would it be like?

"You didn't answer me," Johanna persisted. "Are you?"

"I don't know Mark well enough to marry him," Samara said. "You don't marry people you've just met."

But you can fall in love with them, she thought.

"Oh." Johanna was quiet, thinking this over.

"I'd better hurry or I'll miss breakfast," Samara said, grabbing a dress from the closet.

Johanna slid off the bed and followed her over to the dressing table where she stared at their images in the mirror.

"Am I going to look like you when I grow up?" she asked.

"We have different colored hair and eyes," Samara pointed out.

"But I'll be p-pretty like you?"

Samara nodded.

"Then maybe Mark'll wait till I grow up and marry me," Johanna said.

He certainly seems to hold a fatal attractions for Gregory girls, Samara thought. She smiled at Johanna. "Who knows?" she said. "Maybe by then you'll fall in love with someone else."

"Do you t-think so?" Johanna asked.

"I can practically guarantee it."

"Then I g-guess I'll have to wait and see." Johanna spoke so seriously that Samara was touched, reaching down to hug her.

During breakfast Samara carefully didn't look at either Mark or Uncle Vince. Afterwards, she went up to visit Aunt Adele and Theola.

"It is about time, young lady," Aunt Adele scolded.

"I'm sorry."

"No doubt it is my own fault, Vera got me that contraption for the steps so I would go downstairs more and, of course, I do. Still, one grows accustomed to the peace and quiet of these rooms. Theola's company is often quite enough for me."

"As yours is for me," Theola replied.

"Come closer and sit by me," Aunt Adele ordered and Samara obeyed.

"I believe you're beginning to resemble Delores, especially around the eyes," she said.

"She has the Gregory look," Theola argued. "I see nothing of Delores at all."

"I will admit one would place her as a Gregory," Adele conceded. Focusing on Samara, she asked, "What do you think of our young German?"

Samara felt her face redden. "He's very capable."

Both the old women smiled.

"I told you," Theola said. "She's already taken with him, I told you she would be."

"He is a handsome young man," Aunt Adele said. "I am sure you've noticed that."

Samara nodded.

"A little romance won't hurt you," Adele advised. "You have turned out pretty enough so he's bound to pay attention to you. Maybe that will keep Marie from making more of a fool of herself than she has already."

Chapter 24

Samara left Aunt Adele's room and climbed the stairs to her old hideaway in the south tower. There was no dust, the floor was clean and new window seats ran half-way around the room. Vera's influence showed in the house as well as it occupants, making everything and everyone brighter and happier.

Sitting on the window seat, Samara gazed out over the trees. What had Aunt Adele meant about Marie. She could hardly believe Marie would be throwing herself at Mark. How could she possibly think he'd look at a woman older than se was, someone who'd let herself go the way Marie had. Why, Mark could have any woman he wanted.

She closed her eyes and relived the feel of his lips on hers, the warmth on his body, and the delicious sensations rushing through her. After a moment she sighed and stood up. Poor Marie--it must be awful not to be young any more.

Though Samara wanted, in the worst way, to go where Mark was, she'd made up her mind not to intrude on his lessons with Johanna today. Later she'd observe him at work with her sister, not only to be in the same place he was but to learn his methods of therapy.

Before she sent downstairs, she opened the door to the north tower to see if Vera had made any chances there. To her surprise, the room was filled with painting equipment--an easel, canvases, brushes--and smelled of turpentine. Inside, she examined a partially completed landscape on the easel. Mountains--dark, brooding. Not the Sierra, the dense growth of trees told her that. Besides, the mountains had an alien look.

She glanced at other, presumably finished canvases. Some showed other versions of the unknown mountains and one was a painting of the view from this tower. She recognized the groves and pines, but everything seemed stiff and formal. It was signed, so she bent to read the name. Schroeder. These were Mark's,

Samara smiled. Another facet of his personality. Though she could see he wasn't a great artist, the pictures conveyed a certain quality--ominous in the case of the mountains. Unless she imagined it, she felt the Hallow House landscape was about to erupt. Is that how he saw her valley?

She stared out the window and the familiar scene below, but it looked as it always had to her.

What does he think of me? She wondered. He called me a princess and here I am in the tower--a princess in a tower. But not locked away, not from Mark.

When she came out she averted her gaze from the room between the towers. Jose, she knew had repaired the wood and replaced the lock on the black door after Sergei--died.

Samara descended the stairs quickly, not looking back. She didn't want to dwell on the room behind that black door. She must find something to distract her as she did at school whenever she was reminded of Sergei. The twins--she'd play with Naomi and Katrina.

She found them with Frances.

"No, that's not the way to wash your hands," Frances was saying. Proper hand-washing is important, so you pay attention to me, Naomi, or no story for you afterward. " Catching sight of Samara, Frances said, "Here's your big sister come to visit. No, don't you dare touch her with those wet hands. Come back here."

"I thought the twins might like to take a ride in my new car," Samara said. "You, too, Frances."

"Thanks, but no. Take the two of them--I can use the breather. The sheer energy of those twins is enough to power a locomotive."

Samara drove to her favorite spot along the Tule River and waded with the girls in the shallows. She remembered Uncle Vince taking her wading like this--just her, not Sergei--and how she'd enjoyed it. Before Vera came, he was the only one who ever seemed to notice she needed attention. Usually her brother got it all.

Why did her uncle dislike Mark? Just because he was German? She shook her head. No, that wouldn't be like Vince. Maybe it had something to do with Marie. As a child she'd once seen her uncle and Marie kissing. When she'd asked her mother if they were going to get married, Mother had laughed and said, "Not unless hell freezes over."

Which reminded her of what her brother had told her about their mother and Uncle Vine. "Old Grosbeck, too," he'd added. "She took him to her secret hiding place but I got there first so I watched. She doesn't know I can see everything she does. She wore the red robe, the one she's so pretty in..."

Samara grimaced, recalling how she'd run from the room so she wouldn't have to listen. Not possible to run from what was permanently etched in her mind.

I'm not like my mother, she told herself. How could Uncle Vince even think such a thing? Here I am twenty years old and I've never been with a man. Never even wanted to be. I've never been in love, either. Until now.

I refuse to believe it's wrong to fall in love, to want Mark to kiss me.

Poor Mark. Hounded from his own country because he didn't want to be a Nazi and now mistrusted in American, the country of his choice, because he was German.

Seeing Naomi heading for a deeper part of the river, Samara grabbed her, hauling her back into the shallows. "I told you not to go over there," she scolded. "It's dangerous because the water's too deep."

"I can swim."

"Not in a river, you can't. Rivers aren't swimming pools. Either you stay where I tell you or we go home right now."

"Be good girl," Katrina said, he lower lip trembling.

"Honey, it isn't you."

But it was no use. Try to punish Naomi and invariably Katrina felt bad, too. By now she was able to tell the twins apart without having to check the tiny yellow wedge in the brown of Naomi's left iris. Naomi had a more aggressive stance, a more vivid smile, a boldness that Katrina lacked. Katrina, though, had a sweeter nature.

When they got back, Samara found Johanna pouting because she'd missed going with them. "Two times now you didn't take me," she complained. "Don't you l-like me?"

Samara put her arms around Johanna and whispered in her ear, "You're my favorite sister." It was true. Though she loved the twins, Johanna was special to her.

"Don't ever think you aren't important to me," she said aloud. "I'm sorry you feel bad, but you and I will do something tomorrow--just the two of us. Maybe drive into Porterville and have an ice cream cone."

"Chocolate?"

"Sure. You were busy with Mark this morning—that's why I didn't take you along."

"I was, only Uncle Vince came in and told me to leave the room 'cause he wanted to t-talk to Mark. So I looked for you but you were gone."