Miss Polly had a Dolly (Emma Frost #2) (3 page)

I had no idea
what
to say. My dad had taken me and the kids out for
lunch after the book signing, along with his new girlfriend that I had heard
nothing about up until today.

"So, Emma. It's so exciting with your book,
huh?" the woman said.

I was eating my sandwich and had my mouth full
when she asked. I stared at her while chewing not knowing what to say to her.
That I was in state of complete shock? That I had no idea she even existed?
That I had seen my dad at least three times a week since he moved to the island
to be closer to us, but he hadn't once mentioned her name? That I thought she
looked like an old version of Pippi Longstocking? What? What do you say in a
situation like this?

"Well, not everybody finds it so exciting
on this island," I answered.

"Helle is not one of them," my dad
said.

"Are you a newcomer like us?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I've lived here all my
life. But I was never part of the church. My parents stayed away from all
that."

"That's good to hear," I said and
smiled. She seemed nice. I especially liked her eyes, and I was certain that
once I got over the shock, I would be ready to give her a chance. At least my
dad suddenly seemed very happy, almost cheerful, and that was a new approach
for him, so maybe, just maybe she could do what my mother never accomplished?
Could she be the one to make my dad happy finally? I wanted him to move on from
my selfish mother who had left him to move to Spain with some guy that I just
hated. I wanted him to be happy again, to be at peace and enjoy his life.

I opened my mouth and took another bite of my
sandwich, still while staring at her and her very red hair, her fluttering
orange dress, and many rings and bracelets. She had that look of an artist or a
writer, and I couldn't help but admire her slightly for daring to stand out
like that.

"Your children are beautiful," she
said.

I looked at Maya and Victor who were both eating
in silence. I guessed they were just as surprised as I was. "I know,"
I said and smiled. "I'm very lucky." I ate more of my sandwich
feeling proud of my children. They had both been doing well in school all
spring, even Victor had improved, his teacher said. He was interacting with the
other children and that was a huge step for him. Maya had gotten good grades
and a new best friend named Annika who she spent most of her time with. She was
growing up to be such a great girl.

"Do you have any children?" I asked
Helle when I was done chewing. I washed it down with a coke that I wasn't
supposed to have, since I had once again started a diet and this time I really
meant it.

Helle smiled awkwardly. "My daughter is no
longer with us."

I almost choked on my ham. "My God. What
happened?" I cleared my throat. "If you don't mind talking about it,
that is?"

My dad put his arm around Helle's shoulder.
"Maybe another day," he said.

Helle put her hand on his arm. "No, it's
okay. I don't mind talking about it." She drew in a deep breath. I stopped
eating sensing this was too serious a subject. Helle's lips became tight, her
eyes moist. "We think she drowned. It's the only explanation they have
been able to come up with after all these years. But sometimes kids run out
into the ocean by Fanoe Vesterhavsbad and get lost. When it is low tide you can
walk to an island there and then they are surprised when high tide comes
rushing in. They never found any trace of her though. Not her body or even a
piece of clothing and I have no idea what she was doing out there without me
knowing it. Last time I saw her we were at a playground, when I looked away for
one second to talk with another mother, she was gone. The police think she
might have run down to the beach not far from there and then walked into the
water thinking she could reach the island, Soren Jessen's Sand.
Maybe she wanted adventure
, they said. But
my girl was never adventurous, not like that."

I looked at the woman and suddenly felt the
deepest sympathy for her. I put my hand on her arm. "That's terrible,
Helle."

She nodded and bit her lip. "I know. Took
me many years to accept that she was gone and wasn't going to come back through
the front door with some fantastic story about how she’d gotten lost but found
her way home.  Her father wasn't in our lives. She was all I had. But now
I have finally learned to live with it. I still can't help myself though, when
I see a girl that looks like her or looks the way I think she would today. I
guess I'm always on the lookout for her. I don't know if it'll ever stop."

"How old was she?"

"Six. She had just turned six years
old."

"Your
daughter is very lovely,"
the woman who had
approached Miss Polly said. Miss Polly didn't care much about talking to
strangers and always told Nina to never do so. But when they complimented her
only true love in this world, her beautiful daughter, Miss Polly could never
resist answering them.

"Yes, isn't she?" Miss Polly replied
happily.

The woman rocked the stroller. Miss Polly could
hear a baby fuss inside of it.

"How old is she?" the woman asked.

"Six. She just turned six years old."

"Gonna be some heartbreaker for the boys,
huh?" The baby was fussing again and the woman rocked the stroller a bit
forcefully while hushing it. Miss Polly stared at the woman feeling her heart
accelerate. It was the word she had used.
The
boys
. Miss Polly strongly resented the very idea of her precious
little girl having anything at all to do with those disgusting…filthy
creatures.

Boys. They only want one thing
from you. And once you have given it to them, they leave you.

Miss Polly knew the day would come when she
would have to face this problem with her Dolly. Up until now she had merely
decided that her daughter was never going to be with any boys when she reached
her teens. Miss Polly simply wouldn't allow her to be with them. But deep inside
she knew that it was going to be a fight that she might end up losing
eventually.

Just the thought of one of
them ... touching her. Defiling her. I won't let her be besmirched by them. I
simply refuse to let that happen.

"So will she start school after the
summer?" the woman asked.

Miss Polly was pulled abruptly out of her
thoughts. She shook her head. "No, I will be homeschooling her."

"Homeschooling? That's unusual." the
woman said.

Miss Polly was getting tired of this
conversation and wanted the lady to leave now. All those questions were
annoying and tiresome. But she was right. Miss Polly knew it was very unusual
in Denmark for people to homeschool their children. It was mostly people who
had children with severe autism or other disabilities, and even those had help.
Miss Polly was going to do this completely on her own. Even if she had no idea
how to. There was no way her precious baby doll was going to go to those noisy,
filthy places called schools and be blemished by all those other dirty, filthy
children. No she was staying home where it was safe for her to be, where Miss
Polly could watch her every moment.

"Yes, well that's what I've decided,"
she answered a little harshly in the hope that the woman would go away if she
sensed Miss Polly wasn't enjoying the conversation. But apparently the woman
had no sense of decorum or any sense at all for that matter. She kept right on
talking.

"That's really difficult, isn't it? I mean
you have to follow a program or something, right? To make sure the child is
taught the exact same as the rest of the children. And what about the social
skills? How will she learn how to be a team player?"

Miss Polly looked into the woman's eyes while
the anger rose in her.

Stupid Danish people. Always
talking about everybody being equal, all that socialism is destroying our
beautiful country. Don't they see it?

"My daughter will not be a team
player," she burst out, knowing very well that her opinion was not like
most people on the island, or even in the country. "She is special and I
will raise her to know that. She will not go out and be ordinary, she will do
many incredible things in life and when she is a grown up everybody will know
who she is, since she stood out in the crowd, since she is special and not like
all the others. See, I do not believe we are all born to be equal. I believe
some are destined for greatness. Now if you'll excuse me, I will take my child
home before she catches the bug of mediocrity that has become so common these
days."

Miss Polly snorted and stood up in front of the
woman.

"I'm sorry," the woman said and held a
hand up in the air. "I was just trying to make conversation. Geez."

But Miss Polly was no longer listening. She
stormed past the woman and towards the children playing. She tried to spot Nina
amidst all the noisy children running around, but she couldn't see her
anywhere.

Where are you baby doll?
You're not running around getting dirty like all those common children, are
you?

Miss Polly was walking faster now while scanning
the playground area.. "Nina?" she called out thinking she might be
standing somewhere where she could not see her. Miss Polly searched under the
slide and on the swings. There was no sign of her precious baby doll anywhere.
Now her heart was racing rapidly and she had to put a hand to her chest to calm
her breathing down. Where could she have gone? Miss Polly saw the boy that had
been talking to Nina earlier and stormed towards him.

"Where is Nina? Where is the girl you
talked to earlier?"

The boy looked at her indifferently and
shrugged. "I don't know."

Miss Polly grabbed his shoulders and started
shaking him, "Where is she? Tell me immediately. What have you done to
her, you filthy animal?"

The boy started screaming and a couple of
parents ran towards them. They pulled Miss Polly away from the boy.
"What's the matter with you?" a woman said to her. Probably his
mother; she had the same ugly nose. The ugly mother looked at Miss Polly
disapprovingly, but she didn't care. It didn't matter. They didn't matter. All
that mattered was finding her precious baby girl before it was too late, before
someone…
Don't even think it
…the
very thought of someone harming her felt like knives in her body. She could
hardly bear it.

"He has done something to my girl. I can't
find her," she said. "Where is she?" she yelled at him.

The boy whimpered while his mother put her arm
around him and pulled him away. Miss Polly felt the playground start spinning.
Could it be the woman that had been talking to her? She’d seemed a little too
fond of Nina. Miss Polly started spinning to see if she could spot the woman,
but she too seemed to have vanished.

What is happening here? Where
is my girl?

Miss Polly was hyperventilating now and could
hardly breathe. She bent over and took in a few breaths, while feeling very
dizzy. Her poor weak heart couldn't take this. When she lifted her head to
start the search again for her precious baby doll, she spotted
it
in the grass. Miss Polly gasped and ran
across the lawn. She was panting and pushing kids aside who got in her way.
Parents were yelling at her, telling her to
get
the hell out of the playground, you crazy bitch.
But Miss Polly
didn't hear them. Her eyes were fixated on one small thing in the grass.

Little Miss Jasmine
.

Miss Polly was crying hysterical when she picked
her up. She held the doll close to her chest while crying.

"Where is she, Little Miss Jasmine? Where
did she go?" she mumbled while the tears ran down her cheeks. It felt so
good to hold the doll again, just like when Nina had been a baby and Miss Polly
would hold her in the exact same way. She held her tight to her body while
desperately scanning the area surrounding them. Her lip was quivering and her
tears falling to land on the doll's face. Miss Polly wiped the tears away from
the doll's face with her hand.

"Can you believe it, Little Miss Jasmine?
Can you? Miss Polly can't find her dolly."