The Fire Night Ball (24 page)

He's lying.

There was a pause. Harry gaped at Marlena and then winked lewdly. It was a move which threw her, as he'd never appeared so mawkish before.

"Let's invite her in," said Harry eagerly.

"I know who she is, my love. Her name's Lorna Anderson. I went to school with her. I was supposed to ask you about finding a bloody job for her brother. I'm afraid I failed to do so, but I'm not at all disposed to talk to her now."

"She's my new pot connection."

"Yeah, you already said that."

"Works at the Sheriff's Office, no less. Well, what's the matter? Aren't you going to invite your friend in? Suddenly you don't like pot? I'm sure she's got some on her. Sure as I'm sittin' here waiting on you to be hospitable, by Mungo."

Suddenly Marlena recalled Lila saying that Harry "had someone new on the string."

Could her new rival be Lorna?

As she dully registered the new pain, Marlena could barely hear Harry for the scornful laughter ringing inside her head. Meanwhile, he was rambling on about how Lorna had sold him some pot and one thing had led to another...if you know what I mean, honey. "Let's have some fun with her tonight. It's a golden opportunity. She's up for it. Whaddya say?"

Clearly, Lorna had taken matters into her own hands. The picture in her crystal ball seemed murky and dark
.

What was it I wanted from Harry?
Where is Ron? I need him.

Her next conscious thought was whether sex with Harry without pot was likely to be any fun. She and Harry had come to rely on weed for spicing up their lovemaking. Otherwise, she had no use for it. Harry had just admitted smoking pot with Lorna, which was code for admitting he was screwing her.

Was that such a big deal? Suddenly she felt very tired. Harry was fumbling with his words, saying he was going to dump Lorna because she was calling the house and pestering his wife about some job.

"Dump her as a pot connection, or dump her as a mattress polo partner, Harry?"

“Come on, Marlena, invite the chick in and let's have some fun, the three of us. She's up for it; I'm up for it. Aren't you? Don't be a drag, my love.”

So, she thought dully, at this crossroads in their lives, the top priority of the father of her child was to indulge himself in a sexual fantasy. His deepest interest lay in having a three-way, right here on Cassandra's bed, while his wife Lila was wandering around drunk.

What kind of a man is Harry, kid?

Her mind cleared. Suddenly she had no desire to discuss with Harry the pros and cons of bringing a child into the world. In fact, she couldn't wait to get out of his sight.

Outside the window, Cassandra was laughing at her, the dulcet tones echoing, "Lila told you so, told you so, told you so. He’s a snake, he’s a snake, he’s a snake."

Marlena shook her flaming hair back and lifted her chin. Hands on hips, she stood up at her full height and stared her selfish lover down with her blazing eyes.

"Harry, you're a shit, not fit to wipe my ass or your wife’s. Even Lorna's, for that matter. You aren't the man I thought you were. It's over. Make up with your wife, if she'll go home with you."

He wiped his face as though she'd spit at him.

"Make up with Lila? Whaddya mean?"

"Well, when I talked to Lila at Drake's Roost, she said she was planning to file for divorce. Why, you may wonder? Because you're a snake who cares for nothing but his own skin. Just a heads up, Harry; consider it a final courtesy. If you want some head tonight, you can try getting it from the lady outside the door. Giving you head has become a tiresome bore to me."

"What in the name of thunder were you doing at my home?"

"I went to see my lover about our child," she said.

His eyes veered aslant, and he looked momentarily guilt-stricken.

"Look at me, Harry. I have a new plan. It's one that doesn't involve waiting around for the privilege of sucking your dick. I intend to make a difference with my life."

"But what about Key West?"

"What about it?"

"Didn't you hear me say just now we could escape to the Keys? I'll divorce Lila. I'll dump Lorna. It'll be like the old days again, just me and you, my love. And our baby."

He flashed a lopsided vintage smile.

Is that all you've got?

He looks like a spoiled boy, she thought, one who has been thwarted for the first time.

"Well, that's a nice offer, Harry, but it's a day late and a dollar short. I'm going to tell you now a bit of the unvarnished truth about us. One day, I'll tell you the whole story about us and our ancestors."

He groaned, but she ignored him.

"You and I have hurt innocent people, and I'm ashamed of us. The way I see it, we've got serious penance to do. As you've often pointed out, there are no strings attached between us. So here's what
I'm
gonna do.

"First, I will stop treating my family like shit. Next, I'm going to Key West. Only I'm not going there with you as an escape. I'll be helping a good friend with her house and getting my own career back on track. It got stalled when I took up waiting on you. And then, Harry, I'll come back here and kick your ass!"

Rousing herself from the memory of those riveting last minutes with Harry, Marlena looked around, then spotted Chloe coming toward her.

"Was I dreaming, or did Coddie come in here a minute ago?" she asked Chloe.

"He did, dear. Ron just took him up to a guest room. He wasn't making much sense."

"You look exhausted. Why don't you turn in? I'll get the lights."

Chloe looked like a pale ghost of herself. She'd been endlessly walking around, helping anyone who'd needed comfort, and many had.

Marlena took a few quick steps forward, staggered, then lightly sprang onto the first step of the stairway.

"Dear, where are you going?"

"I'll be right back down. Really, I'm fine. Trust me."

"I do trust you," said Chloe, looking up at Marlena as she ascended the stairs.

But she sent Ron up after Marlena anyway.

Ron waited outside the door. He could hear Marlena speaking within to her comatose ex-husband in a steady voice.

She was there, she said, to confess to the terrible mess she'd made of things. She would be doing a lot of apologizing and making promises, so she hoped he wouldn't mind if she practiced on him.

"I've been trying to see into the future, but I've only been looking out for myself. That's not nearly good enough for the long haul.

"Everyone says I'm Cassandra. Well, so be it. Once she got her head on straight, she spent a long life doing good works for others and raising her child the best she knew how. That's precisely what I'm going to do, and I'm going to need everyone's help, including yours.

"I'm not going to run. My flag flies here, and I'll stake my claim. I'm a native and proud of it. I love the solitary mountains and the strong, physical people who know how to fend for themselves.

"I've learned three important lessons during this reunion, Coddie.

"Life isn't a speakeasy, though it's no sin to have fun. Fun is good, sex is great, but hurting others or spiting people to get your way is bad karma.

"Next, you can run, but you can't hide from who you are. The imprint is in the genes. Our instincts are handed down from a time when there were no birth control pills and no ATM's. We just have to live with what we've been handed, whether it's a kickass sex drive or a deep desire to be a nun.

"Clearly the nunnery is not for moi. I'll be exercising my God-given sex drive for quite some time, and truthfully, my instincts are somewhat polymorphous. Viva la difference!

"Finally, we're all in this together. I have family and friends who love me. I'm connected to them, as I am to this baby within me.

"Coddie, I'm sorry I was a bad wife. I'm not that person any longer, but we can't go back. You've lost a bad wife, but you've gained a best friend for life. I hope you'll forgive me.

"I used to wonder, what is destiny? Is it ancestral ghosts haunting us in the night? DNA? The minute adjustments and decisions one makes under the pressure of a particular culture? The work one does, the progeny one has? We can't begin to imagine it all. I hoist my standard and embrace my future in the here and now.

"In my crystal ball I can see some things pretty damn clearly now. I'll have my baby for everyone--for you and Lila, for Sally and Stretch, for Ron, Mama, and Cassandra. Even for Apollo and especially for Annie and Chloe. She will be a Drake, of course, for better or for worse.

"So help me God, I'll see to it she does the right thing with her legacy. No more gobbling up land for easy profits or self-aggrandizement.

"Coddie, here's another promise. I want to save as many good homes as I can, what's left of them here, starting with the only home I've ever known, the old pink house. Home building needs to be combined with nature, history, and the aesthetic needs of human beings. Home schooling is all about connectedness."

With tears welling in his eyes, Ron tiptoed away from the door.

Exhausted, he crept into bed in an empty guest room at the far end of the long hallway, having first checked on Faith and Lila. Both were asleep but restless, gnashing their teeth. It wasn't a night for untroubled dreams.

He was awakened from his own fitful sleep by a loud thump.

It sounded as though it had come from the floor, on the other side of the bed. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and peered into the darkness.

"Where am I?"

It was Marlena's voice, calling out in a whisper.

He jumped up and was quickly at her side, helping her up. It all happened so fast he'd barely had time to catch his breath, and his heart was pounding.

"Where am I?" she repeated, in a voice drowsy with sleep. "I got lost. Am I home?"

"Yes, Lena," he said. "You're home. Everyone in this house tonight loves you and cares what happens to you. You don't have to feel scared and lonely any longer."

"I must have gone sleepwalking. I haven't done that since I was a kid."
Home. All over the world I've been looking, and here it was.

He adjusted her filmy nightgown around her and then tucked her into the bed.

"May I stay with you?"

"Of course."

"Don't leave me, please, Ronnie."

"Go to sleep. I'll be right here beside you. I'm not going anywhere."

I want him so bad I can taste it. How can that be, after what has happened? Sex and death. Do they go together? The Elizabethans called sex a little death.

The full moon was shining through the window. It lit up the room so that their faces were both aglow.

Instinctively, they turned toward each other. She focused her eyes up at Ron in the semi-darkness, and he stood there, transfixed, as the current buzzed between them.

The loud buzz of sexual attraction was like an alarm, waking her up.

Marlena sat up in bed. "Oh, Ronnie. Are we going to have an affair?"

They kissed hungrily, their lips and tongues on fire, and she drew him onto her. They fit together instantly, and they sighed in mutual pleasure and relief.

After awhile, he said, "I can't promise you trips to the Italian Alps. I'm only a small town doctor. But I'm yours, Lena, body and soul, on this night and forever."

"I am the Italian Alps. Climb me, you beast."

December 26, 1977

The next day, Marlena went straightaway to Chloe in her study.

"I need to know what happened. When I last saw Harry, he was alive in my room. The next thing I knew, I was standing over his corpse."

Beside Chloe, staring down at the corpse, she had remained convinced it was some magic trick, nightmare, or optical illusion.

Chloe caught her up on what had happened to Harry.

Frantic to find Marlena after Hawker had run off into the darkness on a rampage to kill her, Chloe had immediately gone to her room. There she'd found Harry with Lorna Anderson. She omitted the following detail in her account to Marlena. Lorna had her skirt hiked up to her thighs, with no panties on, and she was hand-rolling a joint.

"What's up, Chloe?" Harry had asked nonchalantly.

There was no time to chastise him, so she rolled out the scenario.

"Letty has drowned in the pond, a freak accident. Thom Hawker's gone berserk. He's looking for Marlena, threatening revenge. He's convinced she's a witch with evil powers, that she lured them here and is personally responsible for Letty's death."

"That's shit!"

"Indeed. Do you know where she is?"

"Marlena walked out of here just now," Harry said.

His posture shifted.

"You don't suppose she's in real danger, do you?" He added, in an aside, "Well, I suppose this clears up the mystery of who vandalized my bar. I thought Marlena did it, to get my attention. I was wrong."

Chloe opened her mouth to give Harry a piece of her mind about the long list of things he was wrong about, then closed it. There was no time.

"Thom thinks the hexing backfired, that Letty was sacrificed instead of Marlena. He's out to kill Marlena, Harry, and he's armed!"

Harry's face suddenly registered horror. He jumped up and ran from the room without once looking back.

"I never saw Harry move that fast before," Chloe told Marlena. "Not in his entire life."

Three days later, at Harry's funeral in the Scottish Presbyterian Church, Chloe was still pondering Harry's uncharacteristic behavior.

So he had loved Marlena after all, she thought. Poor Harry, always one day late and a dollar short when it came to emotional commitments.

In Marlena's dream, Harry lay in a wet tuxedo by the pond.

With his monogrammed white linen handkerchief, she dabbed the bleeding welts where long nails had strafed his prominent jaw-line. His eyes were closed, but his mouth was open, fixed in an expression of surprise. There was a white streak through his black hair, or perhaps it was only a reflection of the eerie lighting. Above the pond and the shivering circle of shocked guests, the sky was filled with blue lightning. And
then, just as she was about to turn away from his corpse, sobbing, he sat up and swung at her with a sword, slicing her head off.

She would awake screaming. Chloe, Faith, or Annie, and usually all three would come at a run.

Marlena insisted on sleeping in Cassandra's old room, where she'd last seen Harry. Even though the dream terrified her, she found it comforting to remain there as she grieved her lost love.

Ron came by every day, and they took long walks together on Hatter's Field, hand in hand.

Chloe marveled at how close they had become, and how happily Marlena had settled into the second stage of her pregnancy.

The Brown faction would continue loudly to maintain Goody Brown had reached out from the grave through Letty to defeat Cassandra once again, that Marlena was Cassandra reincarnated, and she had masterminded Letty’s death.

That was okay, Marlena decided. Let them think what they wanted.

Marlena's focus was on saving her home with the help of her family. She'd be damned if she'd run away from those bonds of connection. At the funeral, she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Lila Drake.