Part One: Honey
Saturday, January 29, 2005
“Psst! Honey!” She heard the whisper as she passed Mart and Di’s room, on her way to her own. Turning in that direction, she saw Di peeking through the partly opened door. “Did Trixie say anything to you about moving in with Jim?”
“No!” Honey gasped. “Is she?”
Her friend raised an elegant shoulder. “I wanted you to tell me.” Her voice dropped even further. “I just caught a glimpse of Jim’s room and he’s got a bigger bed!”
“No!” Honey repeated. “I’m sure she would have said something to one of us if she was, wouldn’t she?” Now that she thought about it, she was not quite so certain. “Wouldn’t she?”
“You could ask.” Di twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Here she comes now!” Just as their friend appeared around a corner, Di neatly shut the door. Honey let out a sigh and accepted her fate.
“Uh, Trix,” she called, wondering whether her face was turning red. “Can I ask you something in private?”
“Sure,” Trixie replied, oblivious to her friend’s discomfort. The two ducked into Honey’s room and the door closed. “Shoot.”
The uncomfortable, embarrassed feeling threatened to overwhelm Honey. Finally, she blurted out, “Are you moving in with Jim?”
Trixie seemed slightly put out, but not at all surprised. “Of course not. How many times do I have to repeat this: we’re not living together. We have no intention of living together.”
“Sorry,” Honey put in immediately, before Trixie could work up anything further. “It’s just that Di said something and she thought – and I thought, too – that maybe you’d changed your mind and not told us, only I thought that you’d say if you had, only I wasn’t sure, so I thought I’d ask.” She let out a breath. “I won’t ask again.”
“You won’t need to,” Trixie promised.
Sunday, March 13, 2005
The room was filled with dull light when Honey finally opened her eyes. Outside her window, a heavy layer of cloud blocked out much of the morning sunlight. The weather fitted her mood perfectly. The day before, an advertisement for a party had been placed in the local newspaper in Jim and Trixie’s names. Jim had done everything he could to prevent trouble, but it had been an unsettled night, nevertheless.
I think I need another hour’s sleep, she thought, pulling the covers up to her chin. Ten o’clock is too early to get up after a night like that. She was settling down to put that plan into action when she heard the door start to open. Rolling over, she saw her best friend’s eye pressed to the crack, along with the inevitable unruly curl.
“Oh, good; you’re awake,” said Trixie, opening the door the rest of the way. “I thought you’d never wake up.”
“Go away,” retorted Honey, pulling the covers over her head. “It’s too early to get up. I hardly slept a wink for worrying.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Trixie disagreed. “Sure, the security guard had to turn away a couple of people, but it was pretty peaceful, really.”
“It wasn’t the ones he turned away that I was worried about,” she said, peeking out at her friend. “It was the ones that he missed.”
“Good thing he didn’t miss any, then.” Trixie smiled and tugged on the covers. “Up! There’s things to do.”
“Oh, all right. Give me a minute,” she conceded. “And don’t pull the covers down. How do you know that I’m decent under here? I might not be wearing anything and you’ve left the door open.”
At that, Trixie laughed aloud. “Because I know you, Honey Wheeler, and you always have something decent on when you’re asleep. Your sleepwear is more decent than most of my regular clothes.”
Unable to argue with that sort of logic, Honey gave in with good grace. Soon, she was seated at the dining table, eating a hurried breakfast. Trixie had not told her, yet, exactly what the hurry was, but Honey’s instinct was that there would be a covert investigation in the immediate future. Ten minutes later, they were in Honey’s car and driving away from the house.
“Are you going to tell me where I’m going?” Honey asked as they neared an intersection, “or do you expect me to read your mind?”
“Take a right,” ordered Trixie, almost bouncing in her seat.
They travelled along the main street, passing shops, businesses and houses, until they reached campus of the college that they all attended. After it had passed on their left, Trixie pointed to a road.
“Left here,” she said.
Honey sighed and did as she was told. It was clear that Trixie had no intention of sharing the purpose of their journey or the destination before they arrived. The college was left behind and they entered a residential area. The road climbed ever higher and the houses became grander. A sign up ahead indicated that the road they were travelling now came to a dead end and Honey made a move to indicate a turn.
“No, we’re going up there,” said Trixie, pointing straight ahead.
“I don’t think this road goes anywhere,” said Honey, slowing almost to a stop. “It looks like there’s just woods up ahead.”
“According to the map, there isn’t anything but woods,” said Trixie, urging her to speed up. “I checked.”
Feeling rather less than certain, Honey accelerated and left the houses behind. Overhead, the branches of the trees stretched over the narrow, potholed road. Strange, she thought as she drove, this road goes a lot further than I expected it would. It seems to go for miles. Shortly after that thought, the road came to an abrupt end.
“Just park here,” said Trixie, waving to the side of the road. “We have to go the rest of the way on foot.”
Honey glanced down at the comfortable shoes that her friend had insisted that she wear and sighed. What have I gotten myself into? she wondered. Next time, I think I’ll tell her to take Jim when she goes investigating. She got out of the car and made sure that it was locked and that she had the keys before following.
The rough path they took twisted back on itself over and over again as it wound up the steep grade. Half an hour later, Honey had decided never to listen to Trixie again. If I’d known we were going hiking, she thought, I’d have stayed in bed.
“Are we almost there, yet?” she asked, failing in her bid not to sound whiny.
“Don’t know,” Trixie puffed. “Never been there before.”
Honey stopped dead and let her head drop back. With her eyes squeezed shut, she did not notice what Trixie was doing. She let out a squeak as she felt a hand grab her arm.
“Come on,” ordered Trixie, dragging her along. “We’re pretty high up, now. It can’t be much farther. I think I can see an opening in the trees up ahead.”
In a few moments, they emerged at the edge of the cliff which stood behind the town. Far below, tiny cars moved along streets lined with houses. The lake glistened in the sun, which was peeking through the clouds. Beyond that, the highway could be seen and, further still, patches of woods and clusters of houses stretched across the valley to the next range of mountains. Even in her tired and disgruntled state, Honey found the view breathtaking.
Trixie pulled a water bottle from her bag and offered it to Honey. The two girls sat on a large rock, well back from the edge of the escarpment, recovering from their uphill hike and taking in the view.
“It’s beautiful,” Honey breathed, finally. “Why didn’t you tell me this was where we were going?”
“I thought you’d never agree to come if you knew,” Trixie admitted with a grin. “I wanted you to see for yourself what it was like up here.”
“Okay, so I see,” she replied. “Was there a point? Other than that it’s just beautiful, I mean.”
For a long moment, Trixie said nothing. She gazed out at their town, apparently trying to pick out places that they knew. Finally, she pointed.
“There’s our house. You can just see it behind the spire of the church. Now, look over there.” She pointed a little further to the right, towards the furthest edge of town. “See that little patch of trees? That’s where the body was found. Just this side of it is the newspaper office, in that ugly white building. A bit closer to our house is my work. The estate agent is practically next door to it.”
“What are we doing here, Trixie?” Honey asked, using a sharper tone of voice. Sometimes you needed to be very firm with Trixie, otherwise you never got any answers.
“Getting a different perspective of things. Looking at all the places that someone has impersonated Jim.” She waved an expressive hand towards the other side of town. “They’re almost all clustered together over there, except for–”
“What?”
“I can’t tell you,” Trixie said, looking guilty. “Forget I mentioned it. Anyway, I think I’m starting to see a kind of pattern and that’s what I wanted us to come here for.”
“Couldn’t you have just used a map?” And saved us a hike? she added to herself. I’m just glad it’ll be downhill on the way back. I had no idea that these cliffs were so high!
“I thought this might tell us more than a map,” her friend replied, looking thoughtful. “Don’t you think it’s funny the way that part of town looks? It’s more… yellow.”
“It’s got more buildings and less trees,” Honey corrected, “except for that patch where the body was found. The part that’s closer to us has more houses with gardens.”
“Rich people,” Trixie teased. “Big houses, manicured lawns and views over the lake.”
“Just you wait,” Honey replied. “One day, you’ll marry Jim and he’ll buy one of those sorts of houses and then you won’t be able to laugh at me.”
“Like that’s going to happen!” Trixie scoffed.
“Which part?” Honey pursued. “The marrying Jim part, or the bit about the house?”
“It’s time to go,” said Trixie, dragging her to her feet. “Things to do, people to see.”
Honey laughed as her friend quickly walked away. I’ve got to get the last laugh sometimes, she thought with a grin.
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
“Honey! Telephone!” She heard the male voice, probably Dan’s, through the closed door and let out a sigh. Why couldn’t he come and find me, rather than bellowing through the whole house? she wondered. She pushed off the bed, leaving her book open on the pillow, and went to see who was there.
“Hello?” she said, after picking up the receiver.
“Honey? It’s Ben.”
“Oh, hello, Ben. How are you?”
There was a sigh, then a pause. Oh, no, she thought. Something’s wrong.
“Could be better,” he said, finally. “Dad’s getting married, again.”
“So soon?” she asked, in shock. How long has it been? Seven months?
“I told you I’d have a stepmother within two years: she’s just planning on a fifteen-month engagement and a huge society wedding.”
“Oh, Ben, I’m so sorry!” Honey found herself at a loss for anything more meaningful to say. “If there’s anything I can do to help, name it: you know I’ll do anything I can.”
“There is one thing,” he replied. “That’s the main reason I’m calling, actually. I can’t live with Dad, any more; not now that he’s going to marry that woman. I’m thinking of transferring to Winter Rock next semester. Can you help me find somewhere to live?” He sounded as if that was a lot to ask.
“Of course,” she said, at once. “If you like, I can talk to Jim about the spare room here – Mart’s old one, you know. Or, if you’d rather, I could help you find something else. There’s not a whole lot of accommodation to choose from, but I’m sure we can find you something.”
“Anything’s fine.” Ben sounded relieved. “Anything I can get will be better than living here.”
Poor Ben! she thought, as she repeated her assurances of help and the conversation wound to a close. If Jim isn’t sure, I’ll just have to convince him to let Ben stay – he’s going to need us!
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
For some reason, Honey was having a lot of trouble concentrating on her studies. The house was quiet, the weather was quite mild and she had everything she needed, but she still had trouble concentrating.
I think I need a snack, she decided, pushing away from the desk. Maybe, then, I’ll be able to keep my mind on my work. She made her way to the kitchen and was surprised to meet Di there.
“Oh!” she said, almost running into her friend. “I didn’t know you were home.”
“Sent home from work again, for being sick,” Di replied, with a rueful shrug. “I told my boss that the doctor said not to worry about it too much, but he just won’t listen. He says I must need more rest; I think he doesn’t want to be around someone who keeps throwing up.”
“Well, I hope you start feeling better, soon,” said Honey, poking through the pantry for something to eat. “How many weeks are you, now? I thought you were expecting that the morning sickness would stop before now.”
“It was supposed to ease off around twelve weeks,” the other woman groaned. “I’m fifteen, now, and it shows no sign.” She heaved herself up onto a stool. “Want a cracker? Or are you looking for something with some taste?”
“No, thanks,” Honey replied, moving her attention to the refrigerator.
Something about the way that Di moved struck her as being different from before. Is she showing, already? she wondered, trying to take a covert look. The action must not have been discreet enough, for Di said, “There’s no need to be tactful, Honey; I’m putting on a heap of weight.”
“You’re supposed to,” she objected. “No one expects you to stay slim and have a baby.”
“I didn’t expect it to be so soon, though,” Di said, with a sigh. “It’d be just my luck to have a really huge baby – like I was. My poor mother was put off having another one for years afterwards and the doctor said she was lucky it was twins the other two times, because they’re smaller.”
Honey found an apple and began to wash it. “I’m sure you’ll be fine,” she said. “You’re having a scan in a few weeks, aren’t you? I’m sure they’ll be able to tell if it’s really big then.” She let out a sigh. “I know this is really hard on you and Mart, but it’s pretty exciting, too. Just think: in November, you’ll be parents!”
“I don’t want us to be parents!” Di cried. “All I wanted was to spend the next few years together, let Mart finish his studies and get a job, then go back and finish mine. I didn’t mean for this to happen!”
“This just isn’t right,” Honey said, hopping elegantly onto a stool next to Di. “Of us three girls, I always wanted to be the first one to have a baby.”
“You can be second,” Di giggled. “Trixie isn’t interested, especially since Mart told her about ours – she thinks that she’ll be happy with being an aunt.”
“She doesn’t really mean that,” Honey replied, a little uncertainly. Shaking her head, she dismissed the idea. “You’re right, though: I’ll just have to be second.”
“Have you spoken to Brian about that?” Di teased.
Honey let out another, longer, sigh and rolled her eyes. “Small problem, there, I will admit. I have a feeling that he thinks he’d like to wait until he has his career established. Whenever I talk about Nicola, or your baby, he gets this hunted look in his eye, as if he’s afraid that I’ll start asking him for one – and it’s not as if we’re going to have an accident, if you get my meaning.”
“You still haven’t sorted all that out?”
“I’m beginning to wonder what I was thinking,” Honey admitted, head bowed. “The more I think about it, the less I think I’m ready for a physical relationship, but I already told him that I wanted that, only he told me I wasn’t ready and now I’m so confused and I don’t know what I’ll say to him if the subject ever comes up again, which I’m sure it will; after all, he won’t want to keep on waiting forever.”
“You’ll be ready when the time is right,” Di replied, rather cryptically. “It won’t be forever – and of course he’ll wait. He respects you. Besides, how will you beat Trixie to be second, otherwise?”
“Artificial insemination?” she suggested with a giggle.
“Imagine Brian’s face if you asked him for a donation!”
When their giggles had subsided, Honey decided to ask the question which had been haunting her for a few months now.
“Can I ask you something personal, Di?”
“Of course, you can, silly!”
“Did you – um – enjoy your, well, your wedding night?”
A Cheshire Cat grin spread across her friend’s face. “Are you asking me to give Mart a grade?”
“No! I meant–”
“I know what you meant,” said Di, still grinning. “Yes, I enjoyed it.” She rubbed the slight bulge that was forming. “You don’t think we’d be where we are now, otherwise, do you?”
“I guess not,” said Honey, frowning with deep thought. Wedding night, she mused. I wonder why I worded it that way?
Saturday, May 21, 2005
The sun was setting and the day growing dim. The day had been warm and Brian and Honey were taking advantage of the beautiful late spring weather by sitting outside as they studied together for their last finals. In the fading light, it seemed a little easier to talk about things that were hard to say. Honey gathered up her courage and took the opportunity.
“Brian?” she asked, hoping she did not sound as tentative as she felt. “Can we talk about our relationship?”
“Sure,” he said easily, putting down his pen and turning towards her. “What did you have in mind?”
“You remember we talked about a more, um, physical relationship and you said that I wasn’t ready?” He nodded. “Well, I’ve come to the conclusion that you were right.”
She studied his face, looking for some sign of his thoughts. He’s tensed up, she thought, starting to panic. He thinks he’s wasting his time with me and I’m about to be dumped. Oh, why did I say that? I should have taken acting lessons from Di and learned how to pretend to be ready!
“That’s okay, Honey,” he said. “Really. I don’t want you to feel rushed at all. We can take all the time you need.”
“Even if I want to wait until I’m married?” she asked, all in a rush.
There. I said it. Now he can dump me, she thought. She watched his face carefully, waiting for a reaction. He’d be a great poker player; I didn’t see a muscle move.
“That’s okay, too,” he assured her. “I care deeply about you, Honey. I’m not pushing you into anything you don’t want to do. If you want to wait, then we’ll wait.”
“You’re sure that’s okay?” Her eyes dropped until she was staring at the second button on his shirt.
“Of course, I’m sure,” he said, lifting her chin with a finger. “I wouldn’t have said it, otherwise.”
That’s a relief, she thought, relaxing again. He didn’t dump me after all.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Honey’s steps were more than a little weary as she trudged back to her room after her last final. All of the other Bob-Whites had finished days ago and she had been feeling jealous of them. She was almost to her room when she met up with Trixie.
“Come into my room!” Trixie was almost bouncing with excitement. “Just wait until you see what I’ve got.”
“Is it another Lucy?” Honey asked, instantly gaining some enthusiasm. There was something about her friend that brought out the best in her, even when she was tired and just wanted a rest. “Please tell me you haven’t got another classic typo edition.”
Trixie produced the book with a flourish and Honey felt herself freeze. ‘Adventure on the Amazon’ – one of the most sought-after Lucy typos. It can’t be, she thought, slowly reaching out to take it. It can’t possibly be the one. It would be too perfectly perfect!
“Page 127,” Trixie prompted, her face graced with an eager grin. “Almost at the bottom of the page.”
Honey turned the pages until she found the correct place, then let her eyes glide over the words, seeking the passage in question. The words that she had long wanted to see jumped out at her.
“Read it aloud,” said Trixie, grinning even wider. “I just can’t believe that I’ve finally got this one.”
“Me, either,” said Honey, lowering her eyes to the book. “Here we go: ‘We were trapped! The boat was sinking fast, but no matter how hard we tried, we could not open the door. I could see in John’s face that he was thinking of kissing me one last time, but we kept our mind on the job. All three of us worked together and suddenly the door broke open. Doug and John reached as high as they could to an overhanging branch and they pulled me up just in time. The next thing I knew, Doug was giving me that kiss, though it would not be our last.’”
A strange look crossed Trixie’s face and Honey suddenly found herself the subject of intense scrutiny.
“You like that, don’t you,” Trixie challenged. “You’ve just been humouring me about Lucy and John all this time. You really think she’d be better off with Doug.”
“No, really, Trix,” she protested. “I think John’s just fine. He’s really nice and everything and they make a great couple, but Doug’s nice, too, just in a different way, and I’m not saying that he and Lucy wouldn’t make a great couple, if circumstances were different, but John and Lucy are so well established and – hey, what are you laughing at?”
“You, trying to get out of admitting that you’ve gone over to the Dark Side,” said Trixie, through fits of giggles. “It’s okay, Honey, really. If you want to start writing, you can write Lucy with Doug. I don’t mind.”
“I couldn’t write!” Honey gasped. “And even if I did, I couldn’t post Lucy and Doug stories on ‘Trixie’s John and Lucy Page,’ could I?”
“Oh, that’s a point.” A moment later, she brightened up. “If you write Lucy and Doug stories, I’ll rename the site. Is it a deal?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t think I’m going to write anything.”
“But if you do, I will, okay?” Trixie said, grinning all over again. “I can’t wait to read it, Hon.” Before her friend could voice an objection, she changed the subject. “I got something else at work today. Look.”
She set a series of black and white printouts in front of Honey, each apparently taken from a surveillance camera. Though the image quality was poor, she recognised the woman in the shot at the top of the pile.
“That’s Darla, isn’t it?” Honey tapped the image with a well-manicured fingertip. Sliding it aside, she examined the next shot. “Who’s this? I thought it was you, at first, but it’s not.”
“Good question,” said Trixie. “Look at the next one.”
“This is the guy that got killed, isn’t it? I saw his picture in the paper.”
Trixie nodded and revealed the next shot.
“Am I supposed to know him?”
“Imagine that he has red hair,” her friend suggested.
Honey picked up the final image, comparing it to the one before. What’s going on here? she wondered. Why has she chosen these particular people? At length, she decided that there was a resemblance between the two men.
“Could they be brothers?” she asked, raising her eyes suddenly as she heard Trixie gasp.
“I never thought of that, but you’re right: they could be. I wonder what that could mean. Maybe we should go over everything again and see if there’s something that we’ve missed.” She was scrabbling around now, finding sheets of paper and pencils and drawing them onto the bed next to them. “I think we’d better talk to Dan again, too, and see what else he knows about her.”
“Her who?”
“Her,” Trixie repeated, tapping the photograph of the young woman. “He talked to her. Didn’t I tell you?”
“You know you didn’t,” Honey accused. “You’ve been keeping clues to yourself, Trixie, and you should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Whatever,” said Trixie, busily scribbling. “You can hear all about it from Dan in a minute. First, I think, we need to go through everything we know.”
As Honey sat and watched, Trixie jotted down all of the things which had happened since June of 2004. Every so often, she would put the end of the pencil in her mouth and think for a moment. In less than ten minutes, she had a list of twenty events and clues in roughly chronological order:
Dad lost job
Moms pregnant
Mr. Bridgeman’s accident
Someone pretending to be me
Dead man with Jim’s ID
Can see our house from where he died
Hair clip in the garden at CF
Someone in the summerhouse
Mrs. Riker’s accident
Aunt Vera – trouble
Mr. Wheeler’s envelope
Mr. Porter’s accident
Someone tries to sell our house
Lots of people quit at the bank
Dad gets his job back
Aunt Vera – more trouble
J – P.L.
Andrew King – murder
Mart helped with Dad’s job
Fake advertisement
“What’s ‘J – P.L.’?” Honey asked with a frown, as she read through the sequence.
“I can’t tell you. I promised.”
Honey nodded, but kept frowning. “Are you sure that all of these things belong on this list?”
“No,” Trixie said with a shrug, “but you never know.”
“I think you should cross off the one about your mother getting pregnant, for example,” she said, adding to herself, because I don’t want to know about it if that’s part of the mystery! “And I don’t think my Aunt Vera has anything to do with it, either. I know she hasn’t been very nice to us and you don’t like her, but, really Trixie, if she’s involved in this mystery then I am and I don’t want to be, at least, not like that, because I want to solve it, but I don’t want to be related to the bad guys, okay?”
“Okay, Hon. You don’t have to be related to the bad guys if you don’t want to, but your aunt stays on the list because she reminds me of other things.”
“And I don’t like Aunt Caroline being on the list, either,” Honey continued. “It was tragic and sad and I wish it hadn’t happened, but there’s no reason to suspect that it wasn’t an accident. The investigation showed that she was driving too fast and she wasn’t even wearing a seatbelt! Though, even if you leave all those things out, I don’t think I like this mystery, Trixie. It’s too close to home.”
“That’s why we’ve got to solve it,” she replied. “So, how do you think it all fits together?”
“Well,” said Honey, running a finger down the list, “I’m not sure that it does, really. Some of these things relate to each other, like Mr. Bridgeman’s accident and Mr. Porter’s accident, or Mart and the people quitting at the bank and your dad’s job. Most of them don’t seem to fit at all. Could it be that there are really two mysteries here and that we’ve got the clues mixed up? Maybe one in Sleepyside and one here.”
“That’s an idea,” said Trixie, scrabbling around on the floor and finding a handful of highlighter pens. “If we make Sleepyside be yellow, we’d have my dad’s job, people quitting, Mart and Dad getting his job back.” As she spoke, she swiped a messy line of yellow across the words. “Then, here can be pink. The two impostors, where he died, Mr. Porter, selling the house, J – P.L., Andrew King and the fake ad. The rest of these are just a coincidence, then, and they can be green. Mr. Bridgeman’s accident and your aunt’s really were accidents, so Mr. Porter’s ‘accident’ was a copy-cat to make it look like it’s all linked and throw us off the trail. How does that look?”
“Much better,” said Honey. “Aunt Vera and Aunt Caroline and my dad are all out of it and your dad doesn’t have anything to do with this part, so he’s out of it, too. The only thing that still worries me about it is that you and Jim are even more involved than you were when we had all that stuff.”
“Then we’d better hurry up and solve it!” Trixie grinned. “We’ll ask everyone what they know and see if we can find some more clues and I know just who to start with. Let’s go talk to Dan.”
Part Two: Dan
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Twenty minutes to midnight. The glowing red digits on Dan’s alarm clock were taunting him, he thought, as he tried to go back to sleep. That’s the last time I try to get to bed early, he decided, heaving himself into a sitting position. I’ll get less sleep than if I’d just stayed up. His stomach let out a long growl. I think I’ll take a leaf out of Mart’s book and help myself to a snack.
The house was dark and silent as he made his way to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator door, using its light to check both its contents and that of the pantry. After a short search, he found some cheese and crackers. He was on his way back to his room when a faint sound alerted him to the presence of someone in the living area. Should I look? he wondered, considering the possibilities. Something about the sound told him that he should. He rounded the sofa and saw a form huddled there.
“Di?” he asked, a moment later. “Is that you?”
“Shh!” she said, barely loud enough for him to hear. “I don’t want to wake Mart.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Is anything right?”
He reached down and helped her to her feet. “Come back to my room,” he whispered, “otherwise this conversation isn’t going anywhere.”
Soon, the door was closed behind them. Dan quickly pulled up the covers on his bed and set a couple of pillows against the wall. The dim light cast by the street light outside was just enough to show the outlines of the furniture, so he left the light off.
“You sit there,” he said, pulling out his desk chair and sitting on it.
“Thanks,” she sniffed and he knew suddenly that she had been crying. “I’m sorry about this. I just needed some time and Mart was sleeping and I didn’t want to disturb him.”
“Is everything okay with Mart?” Dan asked, feeling uncomfortable. The last thing he needed was for Mart to find out about this and take it the wrong way.
“Yes,” she replied. Dan heaved a silent sigh of relief. “At least, as okay as we could be, considering. We went and told our parents today.”
In the darkness, Dan grimaced. He knew, from what Di had told him another time, that her parents had been unreasonable about the engagement announcement. He could not imagine what her mother might have said about the expected baby.
“Mart’s mother was fine with it and she was really nice to me,” she continued, with a little sniff. “His dad was shocked, I think. He didn’t say much.”
“And your parents?”
She was crying, now. He could see her shoulders shake with the sobs and hear her ragged breaths. For a moment, he was in two minds of what to do. Hoping that he had made the right choice, Dan moved next to her and awkwardly put an arm around her shoulder.
“It’ll be okay,” he said. “You’ve got Mart and the rest of us. You’ll be okay.”
Di rubbed her face with a handkerchief and struggled to pull herself together. After a moment she said, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Dan replied, wishing that Honey was there to deal with the situation. “We’ll all help you. That’s what the Bob-Whites are about.”
“I know. It’s just that my mother’s so angry with me. It was bad enough before…” She pulled out the handkerchief again and rubbed her eyes. “She said I was a disgrace to her. She said I should get rid of it, or put it up for adoption. She told me I shouldn’t think that Mart and I were welcome in her house if we kept the baby. I’m married, for heaven’s sake. It’s supposed to be okay if I have a baby.”
“Uh, maybe she’ll get over it,” he said, feeling that he needed to say something but unable to think of anything better to say. “Give her some time.”
“I don’t want to,” said Di, now sounding angry. “She’s given me so much grief over my marriage and now she’s acting like it never happened. I could understand if I was single and told her I was pregnant that she’d be upset, but this is different.”
“Yeah, it is,” he said. “Uh, Di, do you think that I’d be outta line if I said that you should just leave your mother alone to get over it? This is her grandkid. She’s gonna want to see it sooner or later.”
“You think?” she asked. Her voice sounded dark and hopeless. “Right now, all she can see is that I’m not measuring up to her standard of a successful daughter.”
There was a long pause, while Dan searched for the courage to say what he wanted to say. He knew that his words would not be repeated, but a part of him did not want to trust Di with the confidence he was about to make.
“You have to live your own life, your way,” he finally said. “When my mom was dying, I spent a lot of time pretending that everything was okay. I made her think that I was coping, that I was doing things her way. It made her happy. If she’d known what was really going on, maybe she could’ve helped me and things wouldn’t have been as bad after she died.” He paused, but she did not say anything. “I know this isn’t the same, but it’s the principle of the thing.”
“Thanks, Dan,” she replied. “I’ll think about that.”
He felt her move away, and then the door opened and closed behind her. Dan breathed a silent sigh of relief. Am I glad that’s over, he thought. Next time, I think I’ll leave this sort of thing to Honey.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
A firm knock sounded on Dan’s bedroom door. He was taking a couple of summer classes this year and had been advised by a friend to brush up on his algebra. When the interruption came, he was nearing the end of a difficult problem. The solution, so tantalisingly close, immediately fled from his mind and he let out a curse as he crossed to see who had interrupted his study. Outside, looking at once impatient and hesitant, was Trixie, with Honey one step behind her.
“What is it?” he asked, a little less than kindly.
“We need to know what you know,” she said, chin raised in defiance of his attitude. “Everything.”
“On any particular topic?” he asked, cracking a smile. “I don’t have all day, you know.”
“Every strange or mysterious thing that’s happened since we moved here,” Trixie replied, still serious. “Please, Dan; it’s important.”
He let out a sigh. “It’s not all that much, really,” he said. “I don’t think there’s much that you don’t know already.” They both favoured him with pleading looks. “Okay! I’ll tell. Where do you want me to start? When we moved here, or before that, when Jim bought the place?”
“Did anything much happen before we moved here?” Honey asked Trixie. “I thought we’d ruled out everything that happened before we got here.”
“Before,” Trixie decided. “Just because we weren’t here, doesn’t mean that strange things weren’t happening. Anything you can think of that’s strange, Dan.”
“Well, I think the first thing was the rumour that I’d been seen kissing you,” he said.
“What?” cried Honey. “Who? Me or Trixie?”
“Trixie. Then, after we got here, I saw the girl who looked like Trix and followed her to some seedy guest house.”
“And you didn’t tell us?” asked Honey, incredulous. “Why?”
“I thought she was Trixie,” he said. “I thought she was doing something she didn’t want everyone to know about, so I kept quiet. Anyway, next, I saw her in the yard on the day that your aunt showed up and guessed who she was. I told Trixie then, so she could be on her guard.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” demanded Honey. “Why?”
“I just never got around to it,” said Trixie. “It didn’t seem all that important.” She frowned. “Did you say that you heard the rumours before we got here?”
“Yeah, they were all over Sleepyside. Had been for weeks.”
“That can’t be right,” she said to Honey, her face showing her dismay. “Please, tell me that’s not right. She was supposed to only be here, not in Sleepyside. Why didn’t Dan tell me that before?”
“Hello?” said Dan, waving a hand in front of Trixie’s face. “I’m still here.”
“If the rumours were all over Sleepyside, then she must have been there,” said Trixie to Honey, as if he had said nothing. “And that means there’s a link between what happened there and what’s happening here.”
“But that means…” Honey’s eyes widened with shock.
“Oh, Honey,” cried Trixie, “we’ve been looking at this from completely the wrong point of view!”