Wild Swans (10 page)

Father picked up the phone and set it on the opposite end of the desk where she could reach it. “I think it’d be wise if you had Mrs. Bristow pick you up.”

“I can’t, I’ve got her car.” She lowered her eyes, feeling suddenly ashamed. “I borrowed it.”

“I see.” He frowned slightly. “That is a problem isn’t it?”

“I’ll call my sister. Her girlfriend Elly has a car. And Elly is always home. I can call her.”

“Can you manage
mon enfant
? You’re still trembling. Perhaps I should call for you.”

“Oh please no. That’ll only frighten them.” She offered him a wan smile. “I can manage.”

“I’ll go find Sister Brigit, then.” He smiled down at her as he rose. He bit his lower lip as if contemplating something. “You are all right,” he emphasized.

Ruby managed a smile. “Yes, I think I’ll be fine.”

“Good,” he said and left.

Ruby eased back into the chair and closed her eyes. The throbbing sensation was gone but she still felt queasy and a bit hung over.
I’ll phone the store
, she thought.
I’ll let Cally know what happened. She can get Elly to come and fetch me. She can call Mrs. Bristow as well and have her man pick up the Caddy. Father is right. It wouldn’t do if I were to have an accident in it
. She reached for the phone, her hands trembling so badly she could barely pick up the receiver.

Another rush of anxiety shook her. She tucked her knees under her chin, wrapping her arms around her legs the way she did when she was little and frightened.

She squeezed her eyes tight, tears spilling out of the corners.
They’ll be back, she thought. I know they’ll be back. And next time I don’t think I can fight them off.

Chapter Eight

Cally was concerned about Ruby but didn’t ask any questions during the ride home. She glanced back at her sister who was usually so formidable, so strong, but now withdrawn and wan. The subdued manner frightened her. She hadn’t seen her like that...well...Cally shut that part out. That part of their lives had been neatly partitioned off and sealed, like one of those Edgar Alan Poe stories where someone gets bricked up behind a wall and forgotten.
What was the name of that story?
Cally wondered. It’d been such a long time since high school. She frowned.
I really should have paid more attention
.

“Ruby?” Cally asked.

Ruby didn’t answer. She stared out of the car window in a way that made Cally wonder if they weren’t being followed. Even Elly noticed, and kept cutting furtive glances toward the back seat.

“Sister, are you sure you’re all right?” Cally asked. “Father Daltree said that you fell down the church steps.”

“We should go to the emergency room,” Elly said. “I’ll turn around at the next stoplight.”

Ruby roused from her brooding and said, “I’m fine Elly, really. I don’t need a doctor.”

“You look like you need one to me,” Elly shot back. “You’re whiter than a sheet. And
pardon moi
for saying so but your eyes look weird. Like you stared into hell or something.”

“I’m just tired that’s all,” Ruby responded. “Once we get home I’ll take myself a nice long nap. I’ll feel fine by dinner.”

Cally bit her lower lip. “Those steps are really high, and steep too. How far did you fall? Did you hit all the steps or just one?”

“I just tripped on the bottom one when my heel broke,” Ruby replied. “Father is making more out if it than there is.” She offered a half-hearted laugh. “I’m more upset over my torn stockings and ruined shoes than anything else. Those were my best pumps after all.”

“But if you hit your head—” Cally began.

“—I didn’t,” Ruby cut her off, “I just fell on my
derrière
and jarred my pride, that’s all. Now please both of you stop making such a fuss.”

Cally sighed and turned around and faced the windshield. Something bad had happened, she knew. Like what happened before.

“You weren’t attacked or anything, were you?” Cally inquired gently. “Someone didn’t try to steal your purse or . . . or try to hurt you, did they?”

“Oh my God,” Elly exclaimed. “Were you mugged, Ruby? Or was it some wolf making advances?”

“No, now please stop pestering me, Sister. Elly I’m fine, I don’t need the cops and I don’t need the doc. Just take me home,” Ruby added when Cally opened her mouth to protest. “I just want to sit here quietly. I’m not in the mood for a whole bunch of gumbo ya-ya.”

Cally wasn’t convinced and apparently neither was Elly. She cast a sideways glance at her friend. Elly’s neatly plucked eyebrows went up and Cally shook her head.

It’s best not to pester her when she’s this way
, Cally thought.
She’ll come and tell me when she’s ready.
She settled back into the seat and tried to relax.
Ruby always tells me everything when she feels the time is right
.

****

Ruby sat, staring out at the scenery, but paying very little attention to it.
It couldn’t have happened,
she thought
. It couldn’t have been real. But it felt real, very real and deeply intense. Especially when that...thing...got up into my head.
The thought made her collapse a little inside.

The memory that she had so carefully submerged for the past eighteen years rose in her mind like a corpse emerging from the abyss of her subconscious, pale and putrid. She bit her knuckle, hoping no one noticed. She shoved the corpse of that particular memory down again.
Stay down, damn you
, she thought.
Stay down and rot
.

I fell, I know that much
, Ruby recalled, her thoughts returning to the incident at the church.
Maybe Cally is right,
she considered
. I must have hit my head when I went down. It wouldn’t have taken much for me to smack my temple a good one on the edge of the step, and then spend the next few minutes in some kind of weird daze. There’s no telling what the mind does when the brain is addled.

Ruby sighed.
That’s what must have happened
.
That’s the only thing that makes sense.
She laughed to herself
. Sure, all that business about buzzards and horrid, faceless old men with flashlight beams for eyes was just a dream I had when I fell. And it’s no wonder that my head aches so much
. She rubbed her temple again.
It’s a wonder I didn’t smash my brains out when I fell. I’m sure I’ll find bruises in the morning
.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Ruby?” Cally asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

“Quit bothering me. I told you I was all right.” Ruby snapped, then immediately regretted it.

“Well you sure ain’t acting like it.”

“I know that’s right,” Elly agreed.

“Look, it’s not a big deal really. I went to get the keys out of my purse and my silly lipstick got hung in the ring. I ruined my best color when the key ring fell onto the pavement. I picked up the keychain. I remember that clearly. I was heading back inside the church when...”

(
The buzzard perched atop Francis of Asissi’s head stared at me like it was accusing me of something
.)

I saw the buzzards before I fell
, she realized. Shock and fear settled on her again.
I saw the buzzards
, she told herself.
I went up the steps to get back inside and then—

“When what?” Cally asked. Ruby jumped.
I was talking out loud
, she realized
. Oh God how long have I been sitting here blabbering like a fool?

Cally had turned around and stared at her over the seat. Her chin was resting in the crook of her elbow. Her brown eyes gazed steadily at her. Her expression was filled with love and concern.
I can’t worry her any more
, Ruby thought.
Lord knows I’ve put more of a burden on her than any human being has a right to.

“Then my heel broke and I fell on the steps.”

“Did you lose consciousness?” Elly asked.

“No, I didn’t,” Ruby said, although she wasn’t really sure that wasn’t the case. “At least, I don’t think I did.” She frowned.
That would make sense
, she reasoned
. I might have banged my head on the tire well while trying to get my lipstick. I would have knocked myself out cold just by standing up too soon.
Ruby bit her lower lip.
That’s got to be it. I must have come to long enough to get up on the steps when my heel broke. There’s no telling what I might have dreamed during the time I fell and Father Daltree found me.

“Come to think of it maybe I did,” Ruby confessed. “I must have banged my head on the tire well when I tried to get my lipstick.” She sighed. “Anyway it doesn’t matter any more, does it?” She watched as Elly pulled the car up into the large circular driveway leading up to the plantation house. “We’re home and I’m going to take a bath and a nice long nap.

“Oh no you’re not,” Cally snapped. “You might have a concussion. You’re going to sit outside on the veranda with us with a pitcher of lemonade and stay awake. Oh no,” she added when she saw her sister was about to protest, “I’m not going to risk finding you died in your sleep from a brain hemorrhage just because you’re too foolish to listen to good common sense and see the doc when I told you to.”

“Althea would be happy,” Ruby said morbidly as she stepped out of the parked car and onto the lawn.

“That’s a bald faced lie and you know it,” Cally replied. “Althie would be devastated, even if you’re being so bull headed about this wedding.”

“I can’t believe you’d even think such a thing,” Elly added as she walked alongside Cally. “That
fille
loves you with all her heart.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to tell,” Ruby said, rubbing her temple.

“She’s nearly eighteen. Althie’s in that ‘I’m nearly an adult and can do whatever I damned well please’ stage,” Elly replied. “I had the same thing happen when Sissy was her age. She’ll calm down once she’s married and has a baby or two.”

“I just want what’s best for her,” Ruby muttered as she strode along on shaky feet. “I just want to see her happy. Why can’t she see that?”

“Then you need to leave her alone and let her find out about love on her own,” Cally said. “That’s the only thing that’ll make her truly happy.”

Ruby grabbed the porch railing and held on as she felt the ground drop out from underneath her. “Please, I don’t want to get into it right now.”

“And we’re not,” Elly said, shooting a glance at Cally. “Come on; let’s help you up onto the veranda. It’s cooler up there. It looks like you’re about to pass out.”

“I’m just too hot that’s all,” Ruby murmured as she was helped up on the porch by Cally and Elly. “That’s all it is, the heat.”

“I’ll call Dr. Spivey and see if he can’t make a trip down here to see you,” Cally said as she helped her sister into one of the large chairs crowding around an equally large round oak table. “Just in case.”

“We can’t afford for him to come out here,” Ruby complained.

“Hush, you look awfully sick. And we’re worried about you, ain’t we, Elly?”

Elly nodded in solemn agreement.

Ruby ran her fingers through her hair. “Do I really look that bad?”

“It looks like you died and didn’t have the grace to lie down.” Cally said.

“Okay, if it’ll make you both happy call old Doc Spivey. But I’m telling you, there’s nothing wrong that a couple of aspirin and a bath wouldn’t cure.”

Ruby snuggled down in the chair. She wiped her forehead—which was still clammy—with the back of her hand. Elly brought out lemonade and poured them glasses while Cally went inside and called the doctor.

Moments later, Cally returned, her expression puzzled. “The phone ain’t working.”

“What?” Elly asked. “Is the line dead?”

“No, not quite. But it’s making a horrible buzzing sound. Come on in here and take a listen to this.”

Cally and Elly disappeared into the house, leaving Ruby alone. Ruby sighed.
It’s been the most peculiar day,
she thought.

Mrs. Ramsay tottered out at that moment, wearing a ghastly blue and pink flowered dress that was hiked up to her panty line. This, Ruby knew, was the dress that Mrs. Ramsay had tried to hem up last fall, but being blind, she couldn’t see what she was doing and made a mess out of it.

If Mrs. Ramsay had simply hemmed it Ruby could have made repairs without her knowing. But the elderly lady had cut out a large swath of fabric from the back and made the dress unwearable. That, however, didn’t keep her from trying. She had been proud of her efforts and was pleased to show off her handiwork. Ruby made a mental note to get rid of the dress as soon as Mrs. Jenkins took the old lady into town for her monthly checkup.

“Mrs. Ramsay,” Ruby gently chided as the old woman tapped her way to the table with her cane. “Haven’t I warned you about that dress? I can see your all-together in that.”

“I did a nice job on it, I think.” Mrs. Ramsay eased herself down in the chair across from her. She placed her hands atop of the cane, her sunglasses mirroring Ruby’s reflection as she regarded the elderly woman across from her. Ruby was startled by that reflection. Her pale face was ringed by a fringe of prematurely graying curls that she was quite sure wasn’t there this morning. But it was the hideous look in her eyes that drew her attention.
Cally’s right
, Ruby thought
. I look as if I had stared into the pits of hell. And maybe I did, too.

“You cut the back out of that dress, darling,” Ruby said vaguely, still staring at her reflection. She made a failed effort to touch up her hair.
No wonder everyone is wanting me to see the doctor. I really do look bad. Like I had Yellow Fever bad. And what happened to my hair? I’m nowhere near old enough to start graying, and so quickly too.

“That’s okay, dear,” Mrs. Ramsay was saying, apparently unaware of Ruby’s admonishment. “I hated that you’d throw it away; it is really very comfortable. And it’s the first thing I’ve hemmed since the diabetes took my sight. You are always such a dear to alter my clothes for me but I’m proud I could do this one myself.”

“I don’t mean to be rude Mrs. Ramsay, but that dress is hiked up to your
derrière
and showing off more than a lady should. And there is a gentleman living here now. Besides, I know you have nicer dresses to wear than that one.”

“Oh, I know all about Mr. Lindt.” Mrs. Ramsay smiled as she ignored Ruby’s gentle rebuke. “I can see him you know. He’s got this wonderful glow about him, like he was an angel come from heaven—”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” Ruby interrupted as Elly approached with a fresh pitcher of lemonade and a strange expression on her face.

“So how’s the phone?” Ruby asked.

Elly’s eyes were wide and her expression tense as she set down the pitcher. She shook her head slowly, then eased down into a seat and covered her face with her hands.

“Mr. Lindt is what he calls himself,” Mrs. Ramsay said confidentially, oblivious to Ruby’s shocked reaction to Elly’s frightened stance, “but he’s not a man at all.” Mrs. Ramsay leaned forward and whispered. “I could tell you what he is, but I promised him I wouldn’t. He does the
show
, you know, and he’s really good at it. Has he
shown
you yet?”

Ruby laughed. “I swear, Mrs. Ramsay, the heat is getting to you. Maybe you ought to go inside and lie down.”

“I’m not telling tales out of school,” Mrs. Ramsay scolded, stamping her cane for emphasis. “And I’m not some senile old fool either. I may be blind but I’m not stupid.”

“I’m sorry,” Ruby replied, contrite. “I didn’t mean to offend.”

“Well you did, with you scolding me about Mr. Lindt and what I’m wearing. It’s preposterous. You have no business talking to me in that way.”