O'hara's Choice - Leon Uris [109]
“Zach and I have not been forthcoming,” she blurted.
“What do you mean?”
“I did not send him packing.”
“Zach lied to me?”
“Yes . . .”
“And you lied to your father.”
“Yes . . .”
“He lied to me?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re planning to do something crazy?”
Amanda froze at the door and chewed at her finger . . .
“Come back and sit down,” Ben said.
She did, and looked up at him with Amanda eyes; few had ever seen such a set. She spoke with calm. “Who am I talking to?” she asked.
“Uncle Ben,” he said after a time.
“Sorry, I did not hear you. Who am I talking to, his commander or his uncle Ben?”
“Uncle Ben,” he repeated.
“All right now. At Thanksgiving, my father announced to a huge family gathering that he was turning over the deed for eight hundred acres of land for me to start up a college. And then he pulled Glen Constable to his feet and held our hands up to the crowd, not quite subtle, to say there is going to be a future announcement. I don’t know exactly what he is doing making this sail on the Lochinvar, but the way his mind works, it is all part of the same plan.”
Ben’s left hand shook her shoulder.
“What gave Kerr these notions?”
“I promised my father I’d get Zach out of my system.”
“And ascend the bloody throne?”
“Yes.”
“It’s panning out real well. Lies, deceit, conspiracies, the way you people do it.”
“I really tried to stay away from Zach . . . I really tried, Ben.”
“And you want him to go over the hill with you.”
“No, I want him to do his work, and at the end of the year he says he has thirty days’ leave coming.”
“Jesus Christ! How old are you, Amanda?”
“God’s sake, Ben, it’s been three months since the casino. I haven’t seen him or spoken to him or written to him.”
“Get out of his life!”
“No! We are going to have our time togther.”
“Jesus Christ, woman! Where are you going with him?”
No answer.
“Out of state?”
Again, her silence.
“ ‘How do I love thee, let me count the ways.’ Statutory rape, crossing a state line for immoral purposes, kidnapping. Your pictures posted in every post office and railroad station and every bloodhound in the East hunting you down. Jesus Christ, woman! Are you willing to die for this, the two of you?”
“Aye, we are.”
Ben walked to the fire, dazed, poked at it, flopped into his easy chair, and stared at nothing for minute after minute. He found his water pitcher in the icebox and uncaked his throat.
He finally groaned. “I sensed something like this. I’ve spent a lot of nights thinking about you two.”
“Help us!”
Ben knew what would be and his house of cards collapsed.
“There is only one way you can go off together and possibly . . . I mean just possibly, make it stand. Afterward, you may not be able to carry on, together.”
“Just our time, that’s all I beg for.”
“With the way Horace Kerr is tightening the screws, you can’t hold out for another three or four months, either of you. How’s your guts, Amanda?”
“Try me.”
“Here’s what we’ll do. I will keep Zach under house arrest so no one can get near him. You will go to your father now and tell him the truth, then leave Tobermory and wait for Zach, somewhere. But before you go, tell your father where and when you are going and write a dozen friends and tell them you will be vacationing with Zach, where and when. In that manner, he will not be able to brand you as runaways.”
“I’ll do it.”
“And let your mother know as well.”
“Aye, but I’m not certain of how she’ll respond to this.”
“She must know as well.”
“All right.”
“And you must let Zach go at the end of his furlough. Maybe you can come with him afterward. Maybe you’ll have to wait a long time. Maybe your month will be the end of it.”
“Yes,” she said.
“Swear it on Zach’s life,” Ben said.
“I’ll swear it on my life, not his.”
• 34 •
AN IRISH HUNTER
The Following Evening—Tobermory
If one looked up to Tobermory, he could see that the pumpkins in the windows had been replaced by Christmas wreaths.
If one could look inside the corner apartment on the second story, he’d see an elegant gentleman leaning on the mantel