A Cry In the Night (13 page)

A
fter that first evening, Erich did not call again. Jenny tried to rationalize her uneasiness. Erich had a thing about telephones. But he had planned to call every night. Should she try to reach him at the hotel? A half-dozen times she put her hand on the phone and then removed it.

Did Kevin get hired by the Guthrie? If he did, he'd be trying the same thing here that he'd done at the apartment, dropping in when he was broke or feeling sentimental. Erich would never stand for it and it was no good for the children.

Why didn't Erich phone?

He was due home on the twenty-eighth. Joe was picking him up at the airport. Should she ride up to Minneapolis with Joe? No, she'd wait at the farm and have a good dinner ready. She missed him. She hadn't realized how totally she and the girls had embraced their new life in these past weeks.

•   •   •

If it weren't for the miserable feeling of guilt over meeting Kevin, Jenny knew she wouldn't be troubled that Erich hadn't phoned. Kevin was the spoiler. Suppose when the three hundred dollars was gone, he came back? It would be twice as bad if Erich learned she'd met him and said nothing.

•   •   •

She flew into Erich's arms when he opened the door. He held her against him. In the short distance from the car to the porch the chill of the evening had caught in his coat and his lips were cool. They warmed quickly as he kissed her. With a half-sob she thought,
It will be all right.

“I've missed you so.” They said it together.

He hugged the girls, asked them if they'd been good, and at their enthusiastic response presented them with brightly wrapped packages. He smiled indulgently at their squeals of delight over their new dolls.

“Thank you very, very much,” Beth said solemnly.

“Thank you, Daddy,” he corrected.

“That's what I mean,” Beth said, her tone puzzled.

“What did you bring Mommy?” Tina asked.

He smiled at Jenny. “Has Mommy been a good girl?”

They agreed that she had.

“You're sure, Mommy?”

Why was it that the most ordinary teasing seemed double-edged when you have something to hide? Jen thought of Nana shaking her head about an acquaintance. “That one's bad news; she'd lie even when the truth would serve her better.”

Was that what she'd done? “I've been a good girl.” She tried to make her voice sound amused, casual.

“Jenny, you're blushing.” Erich shook his head.

She knew her smile was forced. “Where's my present?”

He reached into his suitcase. “Since you like Royal
Doulton figurines, I thought I'd try to find another one for you in Atlanta. This one leaped out at me. It's called
The Cup of Tea.”

She opened the box. The figurine was of an old woman sitting in a rocking chair, a cup of tea in her hand, a look of contentment on her face.

“It even looks like Nana,” she sighed.

His eyes were tender as he watched her examine the figurine. Her eyes bright with tears, she smiled at him. And Kevin would spoil this for me, she thought.

She had made a fire in the stove; a carafe of wine and wedge of cheese were on the table. Linking her fingers in his, she brought him over to the couch. Smiling, she poured wine into his glass and handed it to him. “Welcome home.” She sat beside him, turning so that her knee touched his. She was wearing a green, ruffle-necked Yves St. Laurent silk blouse and tweed slacks in a brown-and-green weave. She knew it was one of Erich's favorite outfits. Her hair was growing longer and fell loosely on her shoulders. Except when it was bitterly cold she liked to go bareheaded and the winter sun had bleached gold highlights in her dark hair.

Erich studied her, his face inscrutable. “You're a beautiful woman, Jen. Aren't you quite dressed up?”

“It isn't every night my husband comes home after being away four days.”

“If I hadn't come home tonight, it would have been a waste getting all dolled up, I hope.”

“If you hadn't come home tonight, I'd have worn this for you tomorrow.” Jenny decided to change the subject. “How did it go in Atlanta?”

“It was miserable. The gallery people spent most of their time trying to persuade me to sell
Memory of Caroline.
They had a couple of big offers for it and could smell the commission.”

“You ran into the same thing in New York. Maybe you'll have to stop showing that painting.”

“And maybe I choose to show it because it's still my best work,” Erich said quietly. Was there an implied criticism of her suggestion in his voice?

“Why don't I finish putting dinner together?” As she got up, Jenny leaned over and kissed him. “Hey,” she whispered, “I love you.”

While she was tossing the salad and stirring a hollandaise sauce, he called Beth and Tina over. A few minutes later he had both girls on his lap and was animatedly telling them the story of the Peachtree Hotel in Atlanta where the elevators were glass and went up outside the building just like a magic carpet. Someday he'd take them there.

“Mommy too?” Tina asked.

Jenny turned, smiling, but the smile ended when Erich said, “If Mommy wants to come with us.”

She'd cooked a rib roast. He ate well but his fingers drummed restlessly on the table and no matter what she said he answered in monosyllables. Finally Jenny gave up and started talking only to the children. “Did you tell Daddy that you sat on the ponies' backs?”

Beth put down her fork and looked at Erich. “It was fun. I said giddyap but Mouse didn't go.”

“I said giddyap too,” Tina chimed in.

“Where were the ponies?” Erich asked.

“Right in the stalls,” Jenny said hastily, “and Joe lifted them up for just a minute.”

“Joe takes too much on himself,” Erich interrupted. “I want to be there when the girls are put on the ponies. I want to be sure he's watching them carefully. How do I know he's not as careless as that fool of an uncle was?”

“Erich, that was so long ago.”

“It doesn't seem long ago when I bump into that
drunken sot. And Joe tells me he's back in town again.”

Was that the reason Erich was so upset? “Beth, Tina, if you're finished you can excuse yourselves and play with your new dolls.” When the children were out of earshot she said, “Is Joe's uncle the problem, Erich, or is it something else?”

He reached across the table in that familiar gesture of entwining their fingers. “It's that. It's the fact that I think Joe has been tootling around in the car again. It has at least forty extra miles on it. Of course he denies driving it but he used it once in the fall without permission. He didn't drive you anywhere, did he?”

She clenched her fist. “No.”

She had to say something about Kevin. She wouldn't have Erich believe that Joe had deceived him.

“Erich . . . I . . .”

He interrupted her. “And it's the damn art galleries. For four days I had to keep telling that fool in Atlanta that
Memory of Caroline
was not for sale. I think it's still my best work and I want to exhibit it but. . .” His voice stopped. When he spoke again, it was calmer. “I'll be doing more painting, Jen. You don't mind, do you? It means I'll have to hole up in the cabin for three or four days at a stretch. But it's necessary.”

Dismayed, Jenny thought how these last days had dragged. She tried to make her voice sound casual. “If it's necessary, of course.”

When she came back to the library from putting the girls to bed, Erich's eyes were filled with tears.

“Erich, what is it?”

Hastily he brushed his eyes with the back of his hand. “Forgive me, Jenny. It's just I was so depressed. I missed you so much. And Mother's anniversary is
next week. You can't know how hard a time that always is for me. Every year it's still as though it's just happened. When Joe told me his uncle is around, it was like a punch in the stomach. I felt so lousy. Then the car turned in from the road and the house was lighted. I was so afraid it would be dark and empty; and I opened the door and you were there, so beautiful, so glad to see me. I was so afraid that maybe while I was away somehow I'd lost you.”

Jenny slipped to her knees. She smoothed the hair back from his forehead.

“Glad to see you. You can't guess!”

His lips silenced her.

When they went up to bed, Jenny reached for one of her new nightgowns then stopped. Reluctantly she opened the dresser drawer that held the aqua gown. The bosom of the gown felt too small. Well, maybe that's one solution, she thought. I'll outgrow the damn thing.

Later just before she fell asleep she realized what it was that had been teasing her subconscious. The only times Erich made love to her was when she was wearing this gown.

S
he heard Erich walking around the bedroom before dawn. “Are you going to the cabin?” she murmured, trying to pull herself from sleep.

“Yes, darling.” His whisper was barely audible.

“Will you be back for lunch?” As she started to wake up she remembered that he had talked about staying at the cabin.

“I'm not sure.” The door closed behind him.

She and the girls took their usual walk after breakfast. The ponies had replaced the chickens as first attraction for Beth and Tina. They ran ahead of her now. “Hold it, you two,” she called. “Make sure Baron is locked up.”

Joe was already in the stable. “Good morning, Mrs. Krueger.” His round face broke into a smile. The soft, sandy hair spilled out from under his cap. “Hello, girls.”

The ponies were immaculate. Their thick manes and tails were brushed and shining. “Just groomed
them for you,” Joe said. “Did you bring some sugar with you?”

He held the girls up to feed the sugar. “Now how about sitting on their backs for a couple of minutes?”

“Joe, I'm afraid not,” Jenny said. “Mr. Krueger didn't approve of putting the girls on the ponies.”

“I want to sit on Tinker Bell's back,” Tina said.

“Daddy
will let us,” Beth said positively. “Mommy, you're mean.”

“Beth!”

“Mean Mommy,” Tina said. Her lip trembled.

“Don't cry, Tina,” Beth said. She looked up at Jenny. “Mommy,
please.”

Joe was looking at her too.

“Well. . .” Jenny wavered, then thought of Erich's face when he said that Joe took too much on himself. She could not have Erich accuse her of deliberately ignoring his wishes.

“Tomorrow,” she said positively. “I'll talk to Daddy. Now let's go see the chickens.”

“I want to ride my pony,” Tina cried. Her small hand slapped Jenny's leg. “You're a bad mommy.”

Jenny reached down. In a reflex action she swatted Tina's bottom. “And you're a very fresh little girl.”

Tina ran from the barn, crying. Beth was right behind her.

Jenny hurried after the girls. They were holding hands, walking toward the barn. As she caught up with them she heard Beth say soothingly, “Don't be sad, Tina. We'll tell Daddy on Mommy.”

•   •   •

Joe was at her side. “Mrs. Krueger.”

“Yes, Joe.” Jenny turned her face from him. She did not want him to see the tears that were swimming in her eyes. In her bones she knew that when they asked him, Erich would give permission to the girls to sit on the ponies in the stable.

“Mrs. Krueger, I was wondering. We have a new puppy at our place. We're just down the road about half a mile. Maybe the girls would like to see Randy. It might take their minds off the ponies.”

“Joe, that would be nice.” Jenny caught up with the children. She crouched in front of Tina. “I'm sorry I spanked you, Tinker Bell. I want to ride Fire Maid just as much as you want to ride your pony, but we have to wait till Daddy says okay. Now Joe wants to take us to see his puppy. Want to go?”

They walked together, Joe pointing out the first signs of the approaching spring. “See how the snow is going. In a couple of weeks the ground will be real muddy. That's because all the frost will be coming out of it. Then the grass starts to grow. Your dad wants me to build a ring for you to ride in.”

Joe's mother was home; his father had died five years ago. She was a heavyset woman in her late fifties with a practical, no-nonsense approach. She invited them in. The small house was comfortably shabby. Souvenir knickknacks covered the tables. The walls were strewn with family pictures indiscriminately hung.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Krueger. My Joe talks about you all the time. No wonder he says you're pretty. You sure are. And oh, my land, how you look like Caroline! I'm Maude Ekers. You call me Maude.”

“Where's Joe's dog?” Tina asked.

“Come on in the kitchen,” Maude told them.

They followed her eagerly. The puppy looked to be a combination of German shepherd and retriever. Awkwardly it struggled up on ungainly legs. “We found it on the road,” Joe explained. “Somebody must have pushed it out of a car. If I hadn't come along it probably would have frozen to death.”