Mildred Pierce - James M. Cain [67]
She could have sat there forever, but she had Veda to think of, and Ida to think of too, for after such help, she had to give her a lift home. So she reminded Bert that Veda had to go to school, stuffed the precious cash into her handbag, and prepared to lock up. She shook hands with them all, looking away quickly when she came to Monty, and finally got them outside. On the lawn, the party gathered around Mrs. Gessler's car, and Mildred suspected the Scotch was being finished somewhat informally, but she didn't wait to make sure. Calling to Bert not to keep Veda up late, she loaded Ida into her car, and went roaring down the boulevard.
When she got home she was surprised to find the blue Cord outside. Inside, the house was dark, but she could see a flicker of light from the den,' and there she found Monty and Veda, in the dark except for the fire they had lit for themselves, and evidently getting on famously. To Mildred, Monty explained: "We had a date."
"Oh, you did."
"Yes, we made a date that I was to take her home, so I did. Of course we had to take Pop home first—"
"Or at least, to the B—"
But before Veda could finish her languid qualification, she and Monty burst into howls of laughter, and when she could get her breath she gasped: "Oh Mother! We saw the Biederhof! Through the window! And—they flopped!"
Mildred felt she ought to be shocked, but the next thing she knew she had joined in, and then the three of them laughed until their stomachs ached and tears ran down their faces, as though Mrs. Biederhof and her untrammelled bosom were the funniest things in the world. It was a long time before Mildred could bring herself to send Veda to bed. She wanted to keep her there, to warm herself in this sunny, carefree friendliness that had never been there before. When the time finally came, she took Veda in herself, and helped her undress, and put her in bed, and held her tight for a moment, still ecstatic at the miracle that had come to pass. Then Veda whispered: "Oh Mother, isn't he just wonderful!"
"He's terribly nice."
"How did you meet him?"
Mildred mumbled something about Monty's having come into the Hollywood restaurant once or twice, then asked: "And how did you meet him?"
"Oh Mother, I didn't! I mean, I didn't say anything to him. He spoke to me. He said I looked so much like you he knew who I was. Did you tell him about me?"
"Yes, of course."
"Then he asked for Ray, and when I told him about her, he turned perfectly pale, and jumped up, and—"
"Yes, I know."
"And Mother, those orchids!"
"You want them?"
"Mother! Mother!"
"All right, you can wear them to school."
From the sofa came a voice, a little thick, a little unsteady: "I've been looking at that damned costume all night, and with great difficulty restrained myself from biting it. Now, get it off."
"Oh, I'm not much in the humor for—"
"Get it off."
So the costume came off, and she submitted to what, on the whole, seemed a reasonably appropriate finale to the evening. Yet she was too excited really to have her mind on Monty. When she went to bed she was tired, happy, and weepy, and Bert, Wally, Mrs. Gessler, Ida, Monty, the sign, the restaurant, and the $46 were all swimming about in a moonlit pooi of tears. But the face that shimmered above it, more beautiful than all the rest, was Veda's.
CHAPTER X
ONE MORNING, some months after this, she was driving down from Arrowhead with Monty. He was part of her life now, though on the whole not quite so satisfactory a part as it had seemed, in that first week or two, that he might be. For one thing, she had discovered that a large part of his appeal for her was physical, and this she found disturbing. So far, her sex experiences had been limited, and of a routine, tepid sort, even in the early days with Bert. This hot, wanton excitement that Monty aroused in her seemed somehow shameful; also, she was afraid it might really take possession