The Gifted (6 page)

Ernest stepped in. “I’ll handle this,” he said. He walked over and had a few words with the pixie, and within seconds she was moving the working team aside and replacing them with a crew of onsite construction workers.

“I guess now we just wait,” Zack said.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long. It was only a few minutes before Mieka, Riel, and our granddaughters arrived. As soon as Madeleine and Lena spotted Zack and me, they charged towards us, clearly delighted to be having an adventure on a school day. Mieka and Riel lagged behind. Riel was wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket that was unzipped to reveal his pressed white shirt and the multicoloured woven Métis scarf tied around his waist. He went straight to Margot.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I had a bad night.”

In truth, Riel did appear tired and ill. When she saw him up close, Margot’s face softened. “You’re here now, that’s what matters,” she said. She reached out and gave Riel’s arm an encouraging pat. “Time to put on our game face. The sooner we start, the sooner we’ll finish.”

Vince Treadgold had arrived and joined us, too. He and Lauren were positioned together for the photographer and they seemed easy with each other. Despite the tensions that preceded the shoot, the photographs turned out well. So did the clip of Margot and Riel arranging evergreen boughs around the doorway of the centre. That shot would be the final scene of our documentary.

There were several other permutations and combinations of personnel to be photographed that morning, but one was of special interest to Zack and me. We’d arranged to have a photograph taken of the two of us with Taylor and our granddaughters.

The girls were already wearing their scarves, but there was a problem. Unlike everyone who’d been photographed,
Taylor, Madeleine, and Lena didn’t have hard hats and Riel noticed.

“Hang on,” Riel said. “You girls need hard hats. Racette-Hunter is a Safety First construction site.”

Margot, Blake, and Riel handed their hats to the girls, and Mieka stepped in to adjust them so the girls’ faces weren’t shadowed. “Okay, young grasshoppers,” she said finally. “You’re ready for your close-up.” The photographer, Ivan Schmidt, had a grizzled beard and the meat hook hands, cauliflower ears, and battered nose of an ex-boxer. He had been gruffly efficient with the adults, but he was warm with Taylor and the girls.

We all had fun posing, and when the shoot was over Mieka and Riel stood close as Ivan showed them the pictures. “These are really good,” Mieka said.

“The young women are very appealing,” Ivan said.

“We think so,” Riel said. A strand of Mieka’s hair had blown over her forehead. Riel reached out and smoothed it into place. “Mieka, why don’t we ask Ivan to take a picture of the four of us?”

The tenderness in Riel’s gesture lifted my heart, but my optimism was quickly dashed.

Mieka’s face was strained. “Not today,” she said. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Ernest Beauvais had joined Zack and me to look at the pictures. Riel knew that we had heard Mieka’s gentle rebuff, and he was clearly stung. “You’re the boss,” he said.

“That’s not true,” Mieka said. “We’re partners.”

For a beat, Riel and Mieka faced each other. Their misery was painful to witness, and Ernest took Riel’s arm. But Riel shook him off and walked away. Mieka was crestfallen. Mercifully, during the exchange between their mother and Riel, Madeleine and Lena had been playing tag, well out of earshot. “Mieka, I’ll get the ladies moving,” I said.
“I’m not in a hurry. Taylor and Declan have already left for school.”

“And I have a meeting downtown,” Zack said. “Jo, do you want me to hang around and drive you home?”

“Thanks, but I could use some extra time with Mieka and the girls, and I don’t want to make you late for that meeting.”

“Is it okay if I bring Margot back for lunch?”

“Of course.” I bent to kiss him. “I’ll say goodbye to Madeleine and Lena for you.”

The girls were still sporting their borrowed hard hats when I joined them. “You’re going to have to give those back,” I said. “They’ve got Blake, Margot, and Riel’s names in them. But Ms. Treadgold’s
SUV
is over there, and she might have a couple that you can have for keeps.”

Lauren did indeed have extras, but dazzling as the hard hats were, the girls had eyes only for the salukis. When Lauren saw how taken the girls were, she leashed the dogs and asked Madeleine and Lena if they’d do her a favour and walk them.

She didn’t have to ask twice. As Lauren and I watched the girls, solemn with responsibility, lead the salukis in a careful circle, Lauren’s face relaxed. “Your granddaughters are good with Darius and Dalila,” she said. “If you ever consider a puppy, they’re more than welcome to come to our house and give the salukis a tryout.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I have a feeling there could be a dog in Madeleine and Lena’s future. Zack’s been talking about it, and once he makes up his mind, he’s not easily dissuaded.”

Lauren looked away. “Has Zack made up his mind about me?”

“Zack has seen Vince through some tough times in the past. It’s natural he’d be concerned.”

“And how about you?”

“I like both you and Vince,” I said. “But you’re starting
down a dangerous path, Lauren. There are other people involved. Please think this through.”

Lauren tilted her chin obstinately. “Joanne, I’ve been taking care of myself since I was fifteen, I’ve learned to think things through. I didn’t fall into the traps so many of the other girls fell into. I never had an eating disorder. I never did drugs. I never slept with people just to get ahead. I learned to take directions. I was always punctual, prepared, and professional – a model model.” Lauren laughed softly at her joke. “And I was so busy being the model model that I never had a life.”

“But after your career was over, you had Vince,” I said.

“Being married to Vince turned out to be just another job. He never really got over Solange’s suicide. Neither did Celeste. I truly believed that sending Celeste to boarding school was the best decision for us all. I thought we all needed a fresh start. As you know, that didn’t work out. And now, here I am stuck in a loveless marriage with a stepdaughter who hates me.”

“You don’t love Vince?”

“I thought I did, once. And I like him well enough, I know he’s a good man,” she said. “But Vince and I both know that all he cares about is his work. I’m like the salukis – something beautiful and exotic that Vince can afford to own. Julian is my last chance for real love.” Lauren gave me the winsome smile that had sold hundreds of thousands of fashion magazines. “Wish me luck,” she said.

I felt a chill. Lauren had obviously reached the point of no return. “I wish you both luck,” I said. I was relieved when Mieka joined us. The busyness of getting the dogs back in the
SUV
allowed Lauren and me to take refuge in the quotidian. We parted with the usual pleasantries.

As I walked with Mieka and the girls to their car, I noticed that my daughter was chewing her lower lip – a sure sign that she was anxious.

I slipped my arm around her waist. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No. Riel’s just not thinking clearly. We’d talked about him sitting down with Ernest, but you just saw what happened when Ernest tried to get close to him. I don’t know what to do next.”

“Well, short-term, why don’t I come along when you drop the girls off at school, and we can carry on to Magpies Kitchen? I’ll even spring for a couple of their cinnamon buns.”

“You’re on,” Mieka said. “Thanks.”

Business at Magpies Kitchen was brisk, but we hit it lucky. A couple was just vacating a table by the window. Mieka gave me a thumbs-up. “My luck is turning,” she said.

We ate our cinnamon buns and drank our chai lattes in comfortable silence. When she’d finished her bun, Mieka trailed her forefinger through the leftover buttery crumbs and icing on her plate. She was thirty-three years old. When she licked her finger, I didn’t say a word.

Mieka took another lick and shot me a mischievous grin. “You know I don’t let the girls do this.”

“I know. I also know there are times when cinnamon and sugar are the only solace.”

“I appear to be in the middle of one of those times,” Mieka said wearily. “Mum, I love Riel. He loves me and he loves the girls, but I don’t know what’s up with him any more. He has these moments of meanness that come out of nowhere. That shot he took at you and Zack about the Volvo last week was just the beginning.”

“There was more later?”

Mieka nodded. “We had a great Halloween. Everybody loved our costumes and the girls made out like bandits. We got home, went through the girls’ bags with them, then I took Maddy and Lena upstairs to get ready for bed. While
we were upstairs, the second string of trick or treaters came.”

“The kids from North Central,” I said. “They always wait till the neighbourhood kids are off the street.”

“They don’t want trouble,” Mieka said. “They come here because it’s safer and they know that even if they don’t have a costume, they’ll get candy. Those kids have been coming here so long I never even think about it. I just do what you always did – make sure there’s extra candy in reserve and keep the pumpkin lit.”

“But this was Riel’s first Halloween in Old Lakeview, and he didn’t know the drill,” I said.

“He figured it out soon enough,” Mieka said bleakly. “And then he exploded. I didn’t need a lecture. I know it’s not fair that our kids get so much and the kids in North Central get so little. I told Riel he was yelling at the wrong person, but he wouldn’t stop. He just kept on and on and on. I told him to lower his voice because Madeleine and Lena could hear him. He said they
should
hear him because it was about time they knew the truth about their lives.”

“Madeleine and Lena
do
know the truth about their lives,” I said. “You’ve always made certain that the girls know they’re fortunate.”

“I try,” Mieka said. “But I was angry, too, and I was scared. I didn’t want Maddy and Lena to see Riel like that – he was crazy, Mum. He said we should sell this house and move downtown to Winnipeg Street so the girls could see what ‘real life’ is like. I told him to take a walk to cool down. He left and he didn’t come home until the next morning.”

“But things have been all right since then?”

“It’s been tense, but we were both trying, and then last night, Riel blew up again over something he saw on the news. He stormed off. He’d just come back when you called this morning. He said he walked around all night, but I don’t know …”

Mieka swallowed hard. “Mum, Riel knew how important this photo shoot was. He knew he had to show the Peyben board and all the people connected with Racette-Hunter that he was totally committed and that the project was in good hands. By the time he came home, he could barely stand up. You saw what he looked like when we got to the construction site.” Mieka stared out the window. “The situation has become intolerable.”

My veins tightened. “He’s not hurting you?”

Mieka shook her head emphatically. “You know I wouldn’t put up with that. Riel’s not violent. He’s just … a different person. He keeps apologizing for his behaviour, but it never gets better.”

During the time that she and Riel had been happy together, Mieka had radiated the contentment of a woman who knows that she is well and truly loved. That morning as the unforgiving November light poured through the window at Magpies Kitchen, I saw how drawn my daughter’s face had become. She was naturally slender, but now she was thin and tense.

“The contractors want me to come over and look at our old house sometime today,” I said. “Why don’t I go over to the house this afternoon, scope out the situation, then pick the girls up from school and bring them back to Halifax Street for a sleepover.”

“That would be a lifesaver, Mum. Riel and I need a chance to talk, and if the girls aren’t around, maybe we can sort this out once and for all.”

Before we separated, I hugged Mieka hard. “We’ll get through this,” I said.

Mieka’s face was wan. “I know. It’s just that this time I really believed I’d found Mr. Right.”

——

When I got back to the condo, a courier was dropping a notification slip into our mailbox. “Great timing,” I said to him. “That’s for us.”

The package from Nation
TV
was expected. Jill Oziowy, the producer of
For the Common Good
, had told me the rough-cut was ready. I made myself a cup of tea and dropped the
DVD
in the player. I’d been working on segments of the program since early summer, so there were no surprises, but this was the first time the segments had been arranged in sequence and in many ways I felt like a time traveller.

The first shots were of an altercation that took place shortly after the convocation where Leland Hunter had been given an honorary Ph.D. On that June day, so bright with promise, Riel Delorme was just the name of a graduate student of mine who’d dropped out five years earlier. I’d just retired from the political science department. Zack, Taylor, and I were still living in our house on the creek, and I was still anticipating that we would live there happily ever after. Leland and Margot were planning their wedding, and Leland’s company was razing crumbling houses and abandoned buildings to make way for The Village.

The convocation was marred by a nasty incident. Two weeks earlier, Danny Racette, a young Aboriginal man who was shadowing the project manager, had been killed when explosives were set off prematurely at a demolition site. Those opposed to The Village blamed Racette’s death on workplace negligence. When Leland emerged from the ceremony, the protestors sprang into action, chanting slogans and taunting Leland and his family. Somehow in the melee, Riel Delorme’s sign hit Leland’s head, causing a nasty gash. Seeing blood, the demonstrators’ chants grew uglier and the situation deteriorated until Leland was taken by ambulance to the hospital and the police stepped in.

The confrontation between Leland and Riel was a riveting opening scene for the show, but the passages that showed them joining forces were even more compelling.