Beyond Midnight (16 page)

"
You don
'
t have to call it off, then,
"
Helen said, seizing on the opening.
"
Just go for a short time. Then come back. Before you know it, the summer session will have begun.
"

It was all she needed, that
"
hmmm.
"
It meant he was coming around to her view. Helen had no idea why she was being so pushy. But something deep inside leapt up in joy at the thought that Katie would be snug with her father instead of shunted far away from him.

"
I wouldn
'
t be able to stay with her there, no matter how short the visit,
"
he confessed.
"
It can
'
t be done.
"

"
Oh.
"

"
But I reckon Katie
'
ll survive a two-or three-week stay. I
'
ll go out and bring her back, naturally. And after that, well
...
you
'
re sure you have a slot?
"
he added in a voice that was amused, skeptical, and persuasive all at once.

"
As sure as April means
rain," said Helen, overjoyed.

****

The plane took off in a torrential downpour, then bumped its way through its ascent to smooth air above the clouds.

"
Next stop,
Switzerland
, Katie-pie,
"
said her father as he opened a carton of chocolate milk that Peaches had brought in her ample carryall.

Katie, dressed in daffodil yellow, was leaning out of her
car seat next to him with her hand flattened against the window.
"
I can
'
t see it,
"
she said, disappointed.

"
That
'
s the ocean,
"
said Peaches.
"
It doesn
'
t look like much from up here.
Switzerland
is still kind of far away. You
'
ll know we
'
re there when you see big, big mountains sticking up in the clouds.
"

"
In the clouds!
"
said Katie, scandalized.
"
What if we could hit them!
"

"
Not a chance, punkin,
"
said her father.
"
We
'
ll just fly around them and between them. C
'
mon, turn back around and you can have your milk and—oh, shit!
"

He
'
d knocked the milk from his folded-down tray directly into his lap, leaving a giant stain.
Good,
thought Peaches. Let him know how inept he was at nurturing. It made her that much more indispensable.

"
What
'
s ‘shit,
'
Daddy?
"
asked Katie with wide-open eyes.

She
'
d never heard the word before; Linda wouldn
'
t allow
it.

Byrne, frantically dabbing his crotch with a handkerchief and paper towels that the first-class attendant had produced out of nowhere, said,
"
What? Oh, that. It
'
s not a nice word, Katie. I shouldn
'
t have said it.
"

In his haste to contain the mess he knocked over the carton again.
"
Oh,
shit!
"
he said.
"
Ah, sorry, Katie. Peaches, trade places with me while I go off to hose myself down, would you?
"

Peaches let him go. By the time he returned, carrying his jacket strategically across his arm and over his pants, Peaches had got Katie nicely settled in with an oatmeal cookie and a carton of white milk.

Somewhat sheepishly, he took the aisle seat. Heaving a sigh, he said,
"
Tell me this isn
'
t an omen.
"

Peaches laughed and said,
"
You
'
ll get the hang of it.
"

He shook his head.
"
Obviously I should leave this stuff to more experienced hands.
"
He added unnecessarily,
"
Like that Evett woman. I ha
ve to admit, I feel good about
Katie going to The Op
en Door this summer. How about
you?
"

"
It couldn
'
t have worked out better,
"
said Peaches with a careful smile.

"
That
'
s what I thought.
"
H
e stretched his legs and said, "
I had my doubts there, of
course. But I have to say, she
wasn
'
t about to take no for a
n answer." He let out a short,
bemused laugh.
"
She w
as pretty feisty on the phone,
though she doesn
'
t look the type at all. Funny
...
some
thin
g
about her reminds me of Lin—
"

He glanced at his dau
ghter, then shrugged and said, "
Anyway, all
'
s well that end
s well. I'll get to score some
points with Katie
'
s grandmo
ther. You'll get to visit a gor
geou
s
country for a couple o
f weeks. And Katie will get to
meet her family, which is only right.
"

"
And we won
'
t be gone
so long that Katie will have—
quite—forgotten you, sir.
"

He winced.
"
Et, tu,
Peaches?
"
he joked. In a
more serious vein he said, "I'm
sorry I didn
'
t c
onsult with you
before setting up the t
ri
p. I mea
nt the call to be exploratory;
but Linda
'
s mother just took the ball and ran. The way she always does. At least I was
able to cut back the length of
the stay.
"

Peaches said softly,
"
It
's not a problem, Mr. Byrne. Re
ally.
"

"
For pity
'
s sake, call m
e Nat," he said. "It's so much
easier than this sir-and-Byrne business.
"

Peaches glanced shyly
at him, then looked away. "All
right,
"
she said, her cheeks c
oloring attractively. She took
Katie
'
s empty carton away be
fore the child could rearrange
it int
o an alpine cottage. "I will."

* * *

Katie
'
s grandmother liked to sleep in, and her grandfather liked to hike in the morning. The maid had cleared away the breakfast things; Katie and Peaches would have the next hour all to themselves.

The child had slept badly the night before. Peaches sat in a rocking chair and held her in her lap and they gazed languidly at the serene lake, framed by budding trees, that lay shimmering in the morning sun like a picture postcard.

Peaches said softly to the child,
"
Who has crystal balls, Katie? Do you know?
"

"
Um
...
no-o
...,"
said Katie.

"
Do you remember in the Wizard of Oz? Who had the crystal ball in the Wizard of Oz, Katie?
"

"
Um
...
the witch. And she was bad. She wanted to catch Dorothy and
...
and
...."

"
And what did she want to do to Dorothy? Do you remember?
"

"
She wanted to do bad things to Dorothy.
"

"
That
'
s right. Very, very bad things. And what did she use the crystal ball for?
"

"
I don
'
t know.
"

"
What did she see in the crystal ball, Katie? Remember?
"

"
She saw
...
she saw when Dorothy and the lion and the other ones were coming.
"

"
That
'
s right. She could tell because she saw it in the crystal ball. Who else has a crystal ball, Katie? We saw one in real life, didn
'
t we? You wanted to pick it up, but she wouldn
'
t let you. Who wouldn
'
t let you touch her crystal ball?
"

"
Um
...
Mrs. Evett.
"

The child looked distres
sed. She became quiet. After a
long, thoughtful moment
she snuggled closer to Peaches
and said,
"
Is Mrs. Eve
t
t a witch?
"

Peaches wrapped her arms around Katie and drew her closer.
"
I
'
m afraid she might be, sweetie,
"
she said, running her fingers through the child
'
s brown curls.
"
Mrs. Evett might be a witch.
"

H
elen was losing a game of Scrabble to her aunt Mary— and feeling tickled to bits that her aunt was so sharp about it—when the phone rang. It was ten o
'
clock, too late to call for a lighthearted chat.

Russell.

She was right. Over the thundering of her heart, Helen listened to the measured reassurances of a
Salem
police officer calling from the emergency room of Salem Medical. Her son had been in a car accident, her son was fine, the young driver was not so fine, but the others were okay and so was her son, really, a sprained ankle is all, nothing to worry about, could she pick him up, he was fine, her son was fine. It
'
s good he belted; too bad the driver hadn
'
t. But you know kids.

Helen
'
s hand was shaking violently as she hung up the phone.
"
It
'
s Russ,
"
she said to her aunt in a zombie voice.
"
He was in an accident. In a car. I can
'
t believe it.
"

Her aunt slapped a hand to her chest.
"
Oh, dear lord. Is he all right?
"

"
Yes. A sprained ankle. He twisted it climbing out of the passenger window when the door wouldn
'
t open,
"
Helen explained in the same vacant tone.
"
He was wearing a seat belt. The officer seemed to think he deserved a medal for that. He could have been killed. Russell could have been killed.
"

"
But he
'
s all right.
"
Aunt Mary sprang up shakily and said,
"
We
'
ve got to go get him. Where are my shoes? Didn
'
t I wear them here?
"

Her shoes were under the table on the rag rug, where she
'
d taken them off because her corns hurt. It was no big thing, that panicky lapse of memory—but Helen seized on it because it was actually easier to think about her aunt
'
s senility than the thought of her son lying in a ditch.