Elizabeth's Daughter (21 page)

  “Follow me, Elizabeth.”

  He led her through the house to his library. He pointed to the desk. Precisely in the center of the desk stood a tube of lipstick.

  “Is that yours?” he asked.

  Elizabeth gave Peter and odd look. “What sort of inquisition is this?” But she went and picked the lipstick up, looking it over, puzzlement on her face.

  “Frankly,” Peter went on, “it doesn’t look like you. It’s too dark, but since you’re the only woman who has lived here in many years....”

  “Yes, Peter, it’s mine. That is, you’re exactly right, it is too dark for me. It was the first lipstick I ever bought in my life, but I bought it just shortly before you and I switched houses. And right after I bought it, it disappeared. It was peculiar, because I only had it and a compact in the medicine chest in the upstairs bathroom and right after I bought it, it was gone. I figured it rolled away somewhere, although I couldn’t find it. And then I dismissed it because it wasn’t a good color for me anyway.

  “So where did you find the silly thing and why did I have to drive twelve miles to see it?”

  “I found ‘the silly thing’ exactly where you picked it up. I haven’t touched it. It just... appeared there.”

  Elizabeth frowned. “That’s extremely strange.”

  “That isn’t all, Elizabeth,” Peter went on. “When I came in and saw it on the desk I... I wish I could say I fell asleep. But I didn’t. I went into another state of consciousness. This room sort of faded and became like it was when you showed me the house. It was a very odd sensation. The room, like it is now, was here, but it was faded, as if there was too much light. And the previous room was superimposed on it. It looked like a solarized photograph.

  “And you, Elizabeth, came running into the room, but in slow motion. You answered the phone. It had been ringing, but I didn’t realize it until you answered it. It was Tony.”

  Goose flesh jumped up on Elizabeth’s skin, she wrapped her hands around her arms.

  “I don’t know how I knew it was Tony. I couldn’t hear him, I didn’t see him. I just knew it was him. He asked you something. You hesitated. You were weighing something in your mind. Then you said yes.

  “At that instant I had an image of a small mirror, like in a compact, breaking. And then the room returned to normal and the light in the room returned to normal and everything was normal. Except the lipstick was still there.”

  Elizabeth grabbed Peter’s hand and pulled him to the kitchen. She sat at the kitchen table, shaken.

  “When did this happen?” she asked.

  Peter put water in the tea pot. “Just before I called you. That is, it happened, then I sat there for a while, waiting to see if anything else would happen. Then I called you. Does it mean anything to you? The vision, the phenomena, whatever. This is even more strange than the mysterious phone ringing event, with, as we can see, an actual teleportation.”

  “You just described precisely the first time Tony asked me out. The day you looked at this house, after you left, he called and, well, that’s exactly what happened. Right down to the fact that when I went to get ready, my compact mirror was broken.”

  “What does it mean?” Peter asked.

  Elizabeth, mystified, shaken, shrugged. “You tell me, you’re the writer.”

  “I write science fiction, I don’t write about occult phenomena.”

  “The odd thing is that it’s not just some old ectoplasmic film clip that replays itself harmlessly,” Elizabeth said, “like they say the probable explanation for ghosts is. It’s my grandfather trying to communicate something ever since almost a year ago when that lipstick disappeared and the mirror broke in the first place.”

  They exchanged a mystified look.

  “What do you think?” Elizabeth asked, incredulous.

  “Rationally, scientifically, realistically, I don’t believe it. Emotionally, psychologically, or I guess I should say, parapsychologically–it happened. So, I must believe it. I’m wondering if I had that vision because of something that’s past or something that’s pending. I don’t know. I was hoping you had an idea.”

  Elizabeth shook her head, deep in thought. “I don’t. But I feel very... odd.”

  “You’re not alone,” Peter agreed.

  “Come home with me for dinner,” Elizabeth coaxed.

  “I don’t mind if I do, I think it might be good to get some distance from this event. Maybe I’ll think more objectively. Besides, I miss Amy, I mean, your daughter.”

  “Oh, yes. She’ll love to see Beetie too.”

  “Tony won’t mind?”

  “He doesn’t seem to mind much of anything lately. He’s so passive and disinterested. I don’t think we should mention any of this. Not even to Gail.”

  “Of course not. That’s why I had you come over here, alone, in the first place.”

*   *

“Look who I found,” Elizabeth called when she and Peter returned.

  Amy and Gail had finished cleaning the freezer and were watching cartoons when she and Peter came in.

  “Beetie!” Amy and Gail both called out. Amy struggled out of Gail’s grasp and toddled over to Peter.

  A look of happy amazement spread over Peter’s face. “Amy! Baby!” He caught her up and held her tight. “You’re walking!”

  “Amy-Bet walk!” she squealed.

  “You didn’t tell me,” he said to Elizabeth.

  “I didn’t? Shame on me! I have this problem with her, she does so many amazing things one right after another, I can hardly keep track.”

  “How’s my Amy?” Peter asked.

  “Beetie!” Amy screeched, flinging her arms around his neck again.

  “What an incredible, adorable bundle you are,” Beetie said softly, burying his face in her curls and inhaling.

  “And what an incredible, adorable bundle you are,” Gail said, coming over to Peter and getting her hug too.

  Elizabeth grinned at the pretty picture they made, although for a moment the thought stole across her heart that she wished this picture was the rule, not the exception.

  “Come over here,” Gail ordered her. “You’re not too good for us! Come over here and get your group hug.”

  Elizabeth shrugged and ambled over, “If ya gotta get hugged, ya gotta get hugged!”

  During dinner Tony continued with his recently acquired aloof demeanor. Elizabeth was prepared for some nasty response to Peter’s presence, and she had warned Peter of the possibility, but it seemed that even Peter no longer riled Tony.

  During dessert, when everyone but Tony was laughing, he came out of himself long enough to address Elizabeth. “I’m going to look at some property tomorrow in San Diego, so I won’t be back until late.”

  “San Diego? Why San Diego?” Elizabeth asked, surprised.

  “Because there’s a great deal on some property there.”

  “Oh,” Elizabeth didn’t want the happy mood of the moment to be disrupted. “Well, that sounds interesting. Drive carefully.”

  Tony nodded and said nothing further. A few minutes later he excused himself and went upstairs.

  “What’s with Tony?” Peter asked Elizabeth later when she walked him to his car.

  “I don’t know. At first I thought he was simply becoming adjusted to married life. But he seems to go deeper and deeper into himself. I have no idea who he is anymore.”

  “How can you live like that?”

  “I’m okay,” Elizabeth reassured. “I have Amy and Gail. I have your friendship. I have my work, which I enjoy. That’s another thing, he gets nothing out of work. No satisfaction, no happiness, no pleasure. In fact, I think he hates it. And, just between the two of us, he’s not very good at it. Since I’ve gotten my license, I’ve outsold him three to one, and I put in half as many hours.

  “That’s why his going to San Diego tomorrow takes me completely by surprise. He never shows that much interest in work.”

  “Maybe he’s trying to become interested,” Peter suggested.

  “I hope you’re right. But it would be very much out of his recent character.”

  They came up to Peter’s ‘56. “The old jalopy looks great,” Elizabeth complimented.

  “Doesn’t it? Not only do I love this car, but, in view of recent events, I don’t want to do anything to upset whoever might be observing me at my new home.”

  “You sure bought a package, didn’t you? You’ve gotten yourself embroiled in something you’d probably prefer not to be bothered with.”

  “No true, Elizabeth. I don’t think that that vision, or whatever it was, would have occurred to me if I didn’t care about you. And I do care what happens to you.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “I know. Thank you, Peter. I know.”

Chapter XXV

The next night Tony solved the problem of getting home late by not coming home at all.

“Do you suppose I should be worried?” Elizabeth asked Gail after they’d put Amy to bed. She looked up at the clock. “Eleven-thirty. Now, to me, that’s late. That’s very late to not even call. And when I call him, it just rings through to his answering service.”

  Gail nodded. She was embroidering a pillow slip for Amy.

  “Should I worry? Should I get angry?”

  Gail shook her head. “Either of those choices will only take a toll on you. My gut feeling is, he’s just fine.” Then she added something under her breath.

  “What’s that?”

  “I said, he’s just fine.”

  “No, I mean that last part.”

  “I said, ‘the louse,’ “

  “Oh.” Elizabeth was perusing a carpet-making supplies catalog and she returned her attention to it. “So you think he’s up to no good.”

  “Who knows?”

  “Maybe he really is in some sort of trouble.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Well, I think I’ll go to bed,” Elizabeth yawned. “I guess there’s no point in losing sleep over him.”

  “That’s wise. Sleep tight.”

  Elizabeth woke in the middle of a bad dream that she couldn’t remember, trying to figure out why she woke up, when she heard Amy whimper. She turned on her bedside light, noticed that it was four a.m. and no Tony. She hurried in to Amy.

  “Shh, baby. Shh. Everything is all right. Mommy’s here. You were having a dream.”

  But instead of relaxing and drifting back to sleep, Amy sat up.

  “Mommy here.”

  “Yes, I’m here, Amy.”

  “No. Not Bet-Mommy.”

  “What, sweetheart? Do you want Gail?”

  “Not Gao. Not Bet-Mommy. Other mommy, there.” Amy pointed into the corner of the room.

  Gail came through the door. Elizabeth jumped practically out of her skin.

  “What’s going on?” Gail asked, coming up and patting Amy on the back. “Did I scare you?” she asked Elizabeth.

  “Yes. Half to death.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Other mommy here, Gao.” Amy continued pointing into the corner.

  “What’s she saying?”

  “I believe she had a baby dream about her natural mother,” Elizabeth said.

  “Really?! Oh dear, who would have thought she’d have any memory of her?”

  Elizabeth picked Amy up. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to be blessed with Tony’s presence tonight, so I guess I’ll just take her to bed with me. It’ll be light in a couple of hours.”

  “Okay. Sleep tight, you two.”

  Elizabeth wondered how many more weird things were about to happen. She wanted to have a long, confidential conversation with Gail. But she decided to wait until daylight. She hoped to try and be as rational as possible, even with all the irrational events.

  She tucked the blankets around Amy and they both fell rapidly to sleep.

  The bedroom door slammed and Amy jumped. Elizabeth opened her eyes sleepily to see Tony scowling over them. She looked at the clock. It was nine-thirty in the morning.

  ‘”What’s the brat doing in my bed?”

  “Shh, Tony. Don’t talk so loud and don’t be so rude. She had a nightmare.”

  “I’ll be loud,” he said, raising his voice. “And I’ll be rude, too, if I feel like it.”

  Elizabeth woke up fully now, realizing Tony was, at nine-thirty a.m., drunk. She got up, picked up Amy and took her back to her bed.

  When she returned to their room, Tony sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the carpet between his shoes.

  She closed the bedroom door.

  “Where have you been all night?” she whispered. “And why are you drunk in the morning?”

  “Leave me alone!” he growled.

  “I mean it, Tony. I want to know where you were.”

  “San Diego.”

  “So you told me. But you also told me you would be home late. This is beyond late, Tony. You’re late for
work.”

  “I’m not going to that hell hole anymore. I hate that office. I don’t have to work, I’ve got a rich wife. Why should I work?”

  He kicked off his shoes and rolled over, unconscious before he even stretched out.

  “Why should you go to work?” Elizabeth answered her unhearing husband. “I’ll tell you why, because I don’t want you around here all the time, for one thing. And I don’t want to have to wonder where you are if you aren’t here the rest of the time. That’s why you have to keep working.”