In a Heartbeat - Elizabeth Adler [79]
On the bus headed for Durham, he opened the envelope. Inside was four hundred dollars. More money than he had ever seen in his life. He knew she must have sold something valuable to give him this and he was suddenly worried for her. About how she would manage, on her own again, without him there to make sure she got to bed when she passed out from drink. And to see that she kept warm, and ate something every now and again. He almost stopped the bus and got right off there and then walked back home to her. But he knew she would only send him off again.
He was in his junior year when he got the news that Dorothea had been found, unconscious and alone, locked up in the beautiful old house.
She had been there for a couple of days before they found her, and then only because a workman coming to cut off the electricity had not been able to gain entry and had alerted the police. She was in the hospital and not expected to live. He should come at once, the family lawyer told him, if he wanted to see her alive.
Distraught, Ed walked through the campus to the magnificent Duke Chapel. Its bell tower soared twenty-one stories high, and its gothic-stone grandeur and arching stained-glass windows offered a sense of peace, as he knelt and prayed for Mademoiselle Dorothea Jefferson Duval’s life. Except for his mother, she was the only woman he had ever loved. He could not envision life without her. The future looked bleak.
He was walking back along Chapel Drive when he saw his brother. The shock rooted him to the spot for a minute. Mitch was with a group of men, all wearing suits and ties and carrying briefcases. He looked prosperous and kind of official, swaggering as he always did. He looked mean-eyed too, as he always had, even though there was a smile on his face. He was back-slapping the other guys, full of friendly bonhomie, and Ed knew, with that old instinct, that he was up to no good. Mitch had always acted nice when he wanted something. Except for that night when he murdered his family.
Suddenly afraid, he slipped into the shadows beside the chapel. Now is the time, a voice inside him was saying. You could follow him, kill him . . . avenge your mother and father and your brothers and sisters.
But how could he? He had not seen Mitch put the torch to their cabin, he still did not know for sure. Except, in his heart, he knew.
He could not do it. Shame welled up in him once again. He slunk away, keeping to the shadows so no one would see his pain.
The magnolias were in bloom when he returned to Charleston the next day. All pink and white, like a young girl’s first bouquet. And the gardens were lush with lilies, their sweet green smell blending with the salty ocean air. He would never forget it. He thrust all memories of Mitch to some deep, dark corner of his mind and went to see Mamzelle.
Mamzelle, when I saw you in that narrow white hospital bed, you looked so small and fragile,I wondered how you could possibly survive. There was so little meat on your tiny sparrow bones, and you looked so cold, and so alone. I chafed your hands, talked to you, told you how much I loved you, just the way Zelda does with me now. I said, Don’t leave me, Mamzelle Dorothea. I’m selfish. I need you to care about me. I need you to come home to. I need you to be proud of me, so I know I have to make something of myself. To be a success. For you. My grandmother.
He sat with her for a long while. Then, summoned by a phone call, he went to see the family attorney, Bernard Hawthorne.
The man looked even older and more decrepit than Dorothea. He had been Mamzelle’s father’s attorney, but Ed would not have been surprised to learn that he had also been