Elizabeth's Daughter (18 page)

  “Don’t rush,” Peter said. “Sorry I didn’t call, I had to do some business in this area and thought I’d stop by to take a peek at Amy.”

  “Good! Play with her, she’ll be so delighted to see Beetie. I’ll be right down.” She went back into her room, heard Peter and Gail move through the house and out onto the patio. With the house quiet and Elizabeth’s windows open, she heard every word between Peter and Gail.

  “She’s packing?” Peter asked.

  “Yes,” Gail answered. “Would you like something?”

  “Oh, maybe a glass of water,” he said. “Hi Amy! Oh look at you, beautiful, happy girl!”

  “
Beetie!
” Amy chortled.

  Elizabeth smiled. Her little darling still had a warm spot in her heart for “Beetie.”

  “So, where’s she going?” Peter called towards the kitchen.

  “Hawaii,” Gail called back, then returned to the patio. “For a week. She doesn’t think I know she doesn’t want to go, but I know she doesn’t want to go.”

  Really? Then why is she going?”

  “Because that Tony insists.”

  ‘
That
’ Tony? Elizabeth’s eyebrow went up in surprise.

  “Hmm,” Peter said. “Oh yes, Amy-Pet, cute elephants!”

  “Lfat, lfat,” Amy chimed.

  “Their very first week-end he threw a big temper tantrum because she wouldn’t go to Hawaii,” Gail stage whispered. “So she agreed to go as soon as Amy was a bit recouped. For pity’s sake, she’s got two children.”

  “Hmm,” Peter said again, clearly interested but not commenting.

  “And here’s the punch line,” Gail went on, “she’s paying for it.”

  “How do you know that?” Peter asked.

  “Because at dinner a couple of nights ago he candidly asked her for her VISA to give to the travel agent. Can you believe it?”

  There was a silence. Elizabeth imagined a shrug from Peter.

  “Well, as far as I’m concerned,” Gail went on, “she clearly married the wrong man.”

  “Really?” Peter asked. “Who would you have had her marry?”

  “Why, you of course. Why didn’t you ask her?”

  “Well, Gail,” Peter sounded uncomfortable.

  Elizabeth thought she’d die of embarrassed on the spot, greatly relieved that no one could see her discomfort. Gail was
incorrigible!

  “Elizabeth and I were hardly... an item,” Peter went on.

  “It was just a matter of time,” Gail answered in her maternal, matter-of-fact voice.

  “She was always very taken with Tony,” Peter said. “You can’t blame her. He’s a very good-looking guy.”

  “Sure, sure, he makes Valentino look like a shoe-shine boy. But let me tell you, Peter, he’s a text book case of beauty being only skin deep. He’s so spoiled, and insecure at the same time. It’s only because she’s such a good mother to Amy that I went along with the whole thing.

  “And let me tell you something else, ‘Beetie,’ It’s not that Elizabeth wasn’t attracted to you, she was just star-struck.”

  “Oh, come on Gail. She’s never even read one of my books. How could she be star-struck?”

  “Doesn’t matter. She told me that she was awed by you.”

  “Really?” There was such a long pause that Elizabeth had to fight the urge to peek out the window.

  “It looks like I was in the running before I know there was a race,” he finally said. “I mean, she... I would have... that is, there’s not much anyone can do about it now, is there? We might all just as well close these thoughts away. I value Elizabeth’s friendship and I think it’s best to concentrate on that now.”

  Upstairs, Elizabeth sat on the edge of the bed, contemplating what Peter had just said
–
and what he didn’t say
–
could have meant for the unfolding of her, of their futures. And then she hid the conversation away, too. She was married to Tony, she would make it work.

  She closed the locks on her luggage and her heart. Then went down to the patio, all smiles and hugs, and had a lovely hour of chit-chat with three of her favorite people.

  But after Peter left, Elizabeth asked Gail if she had an extra copy of one of Peter’s books to loan. “I suppose this is as good a chance as any to try and get some reading done since Tony’s already said he wants to laze around on the beach most of the time. And I find that so boring.”

  “Sure, Pet. I’ve been waiting and waiting for you to ask!” Gail went into her room and brought back
After the Year After the Millennium
. “When you come back you’ll be able to join us when we have one of our literary discussions,” she teased.

  Elizabeth made a face at her and put the book in her purse. Now she was packed and as ready to go as she could be.

Chapter XXII

When Gail drove them to the airport the next day, Amy seemed to realize that something she wouldn’t like was about to happen and she began to cry the moment they walked into the terminal.

  After they checked in they stood in line at a restaurant for a bite of lunch before going to the terminal, but Amy continued to whimper and cry, making the saddest face ever. Elizabeth looked at Gail and Amy. “You’d better go,” she said. “She’s so unhappy, there’s no point in making her hate the airport, and I can’t bear to see her so sad.”

  “Yeah,” Tony growled under his breath. “Plus it’s just
annoying.
”

  Gail nodded to Elizabeth. “Say bye-by, Amy,” she said.

  Elizabeth took Amy and kissed and hugged her. “Don’t cry, baby. I’ll be back before you miss me.”

  “No, Bet, no. No by-bye!”

  “Say by-bye to Tony, sweetheart.”

  Tony patted her on the shoulder. “By-bye, Amy. Be a good girl.” Then he turned away.

  Elizabeth handed her back to Gail. “Call Peter and the three of you do something together. She’d like that.”

 
“Okay, I will. Travel safely.” Gail kissed Elizabeth on the cheek, then walked away.

  Elizabeth felt tears sting her eyes. Boy, am I having fun now, she thought as she waved to Amy, her little hand reaching out to her, crying over Gail’s shoulder.

  A few hours later she and Tony landed in the hustling and bustling Honolulu airport.

  If only we could have gone somewhere peaceful, and quiet, Elizabeth thought. I could perhaps enjoy myself some if we stayed in a remote place. But here we are, in Waikiki, in a big boring hotel where every room is a stale replica of a million others around the world, when one might as well have gone to the same hotel that’s only two miles from home.

  But when they got into the room, it was practically filled with yellow and white tea roses, by the bed, on the dresser, on the table, even in the bathroom and out on the lanai.

  The room was fragrant with their perfume and they cheered Elizabeth considerably.

  “Did you get the roses?” Elizabeth asked, picking one of them from a vase.

  “You’d better believe it,” Tony said, checking out the closet space. “Nothing’s too good for my girl!” he continued, with his back to her.

  “Thank you, Tony. That was very sweet.” She drank them in for a moment, then started to unpack.

  After relaxing for a few minutes, they walked out into the evening and found a charming Italian restaurant for dinner, after which they walked among the street vendors.

  “Isn’t this fun?” Tony asked.

  “It’s
–
interesting.” She looked at her watch. It was one a.m. at home. Too late to call. Tony wouldn’t let her call when they first arrived, insisting that she give Gail and Amy a chance to get adjusted to her not being there.

  Fine, Elizabeth was thinking now, so how long will it take
me
to get adjusted to not being there?

  Although the street vendors had beautiful jewelry and art objects, she only had eyes for things that Amy might like. She resolved to come shopping some time without Tony. He’d already said he wanted to lie out in the sun all day anyway. Which not only bored her, but was something her fair skin did not find agreeable. Which was why she brought Peter’s book.

  But still, the prospect of the whole week stretched before her as about as boring as she could imagine.

  Why was that? she wondered. Because Tony is boring, she answered. What a surprise! She didn’t realize that she thought he was boring until she was faced with being stuck alone with him for a week. She had been infatuated with him
–
well, his beauty
–
at first sight. She had tried to gain his approval from the outset. She now saw that that was not so different from her life with Grandfather. Maybe that’s why being with Tony seemed like the right thing to do. It was familiar to be criticized. It was what she knew. And then there was that vulnerable side to him, that made her want to protect him. From what, she wasn’t sure.

  She looked around for him. He’d wandered to a showcase of men’s gold watches.

  Come on Elizabeth, she reprimanded herself, everyone was interesting in
some
way. I have to give Tony a chance. For one thing, he loved her, at least that’s what he said. In any event, he was dependent on her, always looking for her approval. And for another thing, well, there was that bit about having gotten
married
.

  There must be something they could discover that they were both interested in, and that would make Tony more interesting to her. She hoped.

  How much she’d changed in the last month! Before the wedding it would have been impossible to imagine that Tony could ever seem boring. But she’d known nothing of married life. She’d been naive beyond belief.

  Lately all the little criticisms Gail had made of Tony before the wedding came to her, and they made more and more sense. To Gail’s credit, however, she’d not said a negative word about him to her since the wedding.

  Well, Elizabeth thought, you made your bed!

  Tony looked around and caught her eye, then motioned her to come over to him. “Can you believe these prices on the gold? How can they sell this stuff so cheap?”

  Elizabeth shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “It’s even cheaper than at the swap meet. And the styling is better. Look at these, European looking. Classy.”

  Elizabeth nodded absently. She was not interested in watches or gold. “Yes. Attractive,” she said for the sake of agreeability. But she was looking at a unicyclist riding down the side of the road, considerably more interesting than the watches.

  “Okay,” Tony said, “let’s look at something you’re interested in.”

  Elizabeth returned her attention to him, surprised. She couldn’t recall him ever making any reference to something she might be interested in. “Me? I enjoy people watching. I’m perfectly content to float around like a little bubble, relaxed and unhurried.”

  Tony chuckled and took her hand. “Cone on then, little bubble. Let’s find some ice-cream.”

  They had an enjoyable evening together, watching a stunning sunset bathe the ocean in a frenzy of fuchsia, orange, gold and pink that faded to an intense and velvety indigo from the outdoor seating of the hotel bar. Tony drank too much, stumbled a bit and slurred his words a when they walked back to the room. He flopped himself down on the bed and fell directly into a deep, snoring sleep.

  Elizabeth was glad for the California king-sized bed where she curled up on the other edge, and read Peter’s book until the wee hours. She discovered that a lot of the science in the book she didn’t understand, but that it really didn’t matter as the lives of the characters was so engaging. She had to agree with Gail. He really was a good writer. She would soon finish the book, and still the bulk of the week would stretch out before her. She hoped to find a bookstore tomorrow.

  She fell asleep around two a.m, which was the equivalent to staying up all night, given the jet-lag. But Tony woke her at seven. “Come on, girl. Get up, we gotta go bake ourselves in the sun! I can’t believe you let me sleep all night in my clothes.”

   Elizabeth shrugged.”You seemed quite comfortable.” She didn’t say anything about how she felt that he drank himself into a stupor.

  At least I have Peter’s book, she thought.

  When they got settled among the row of baking humans, she opened the book.

  “What’s that?” Tony asked.

  “Well, gee, Tony,” Elizabeth teased, “it looks quite a lot like a book.”

  “You won’t be much company with your face in a book,” he complained.

  “Goodness, Tony, if you think of something to say, just talk. It’s only a book, not a wall.”

  “What’s it called?”

  Elizabeth held up the book.

   “
After the Year After the Millennium
,” he read. “By Kim McCorky. It looks like science fiction.”

  “It is.”

  “You don’t seem like someone who would read science fiction.”

  “As rule, I’m not. But I was curious about this book because Kin McCorky is Peter.”

  “Really? That book was written by Peter?”

  “Um-hum,” Elizabeth answered. “Gail has all his books. She loaned this one to me.”

  “Seems like you could have gotten a new book at the airport.”

  “I
could
have gotten a new book at the airport. But I wanted to read
this
book.”