Sleeping Beauty (40 page)

Leo strode into the kitchen, his jacket slung over his shoulder. “There's a meeting at City Hall; some problem with the water. You'd better not drink it. I don't know when I'll be back.”

“Should I be there?” Charles asked.

Leo paused at the door. “Why not? Either they called me because they usually do when there's a problem, or because they think the company's got something to do with it. Either way, I'd be glad to have you there.”

Charles went to Anne. Once again he seemed to be leaning toward her, but again he stopped. “I'll see you tomorrow. May I?”

“Of course,” Anne said. “We're taking the gondola up the mountain for a picnic in the afternoon; perhaps you'll join us.”

“I'd like that.”

When he and Leo were gone, Anne poured out the water that partially filled the carafe and went to the back of the house. Gail was sitting on Robin's bed. “Oh, good, you can kiss me good-night,” Robin said. “And Ned, too; he'd feel awfully rejected if you kissed me and not him.”

Anne met Gail's eyes in a swift, private smile. “I certainly don't want him to feel rejected,” she said seriously. She bent and rested her cheek briefly on Robin's forehead. “Sleep well, Robin.”

“Aunt Anne, are you psychotically anti-hugging?” Robin asked.

Anne stopped, halfway to the door, and turned a bemused look on Robin.

“Robin, what is that supposed to mean?” Gail demanded.

“I think Robin wants to know if I'm psychologically opposed to hugging,” Anne said. She sat beside Robin on the bed. “I'm not opposed to it; I just don't do it very much. I'm not nearly as good at it as your mother is. I'm sorry if you feel I've let you down; I didn't mean to.”

Robin knelt on the bed and threw her arms around Anne. “You could practice and get as good as Mommy.”

Slowly, Anne's arms moved around Robin. They felt stiff in their reluctance, and she told herself she was being ridiculous; she was only trying to hug an eight-year-old girl. She forced herself to tighten her arms; wrapping them around Robin's thin frame. She felt the warmth of that small body through cotton pajamas, and breathed in the fragrance of soft, suntanned skin, like sunshine in a garden. Her fingers pressed against the curve of Robin's narrow ribs and the small, sharp ridges of her shoulder blades, and Robin's thin, bony arms clung tightly as she kissed Anne's cheek with loud smacks.

It was like holding herself as a child, Anne thought, before she stopped being a child. Suddenly, she felt hollow and aching with loss. And then she felt a rush of warmth toward Robin, and a longing to hold that small body forever, keeping close its innocence and purity and vitality. “I love you, Aunt Anne,” Robin said. “I wish you'd stay forever.”

Anne closed her eyes. “I'd like that,” she said. Even though the rush of warmth still suffused her, she could not say the simple words that had come so easily from Robin. When she looked up, she met Gail's eyes; there were tears in them. Anne turned her head and brushed Robin's cheek with her lips, then carefully loosened her arms. “Time for sleep. I'll see you at breakfast.”

Robin pulled the blanket to her chin. “You did that very well,” she said solemnly.

“Thank you.” Smiling, Anne went down the hall to Ned's room. He was reading in bed. “I came to say good-night. Would you like a hug?”

“Nah, I'm not into hugging,” he said. “It's for kids.”

“Okay.” She bent down and lightly kissed his cheek.

“But maybe a little one,” he said.

Anne gave him a quick hug. Nothing to it, she thought. I could really get into this. “Good night, Ned. Sleep well.”

“Night, Aunt Anne.” He had already turned back to his book.

She met Gail in the hall and they walked back to the kitchen. “You're so good with them,” Gail said.

Anne shook her head. “They're good with me. It's amazing how much tougher it is to know how to behave with them than it is to handle a whole lawsuit, start to finish.”

“I'd like to hear about some of those. You never told us about Dora's lawsuit. Leo said he asked you once and you didn't seem to want to talk about it.”

“Not much. I told you we won; she got cash and the Tamarack house. It was more than she'd expected. She was very pleased.”

“But?”

“No buts. I like to win, but I don't dwell on it; I'm more interested in the cases I'm working on now than the ones I've finished.”

“I suppose you found Dora a little difficult.”

Anne smiled. “That's the kind of statement lawyers make. It's called fishing with a very long rod.”

Gail laughed. “Well,
I
find her difficult. I've never been
able to like her, which is why I was surprised that we liked Josh so much. Most people in Tamarack like him; in fact, a lot more like him than her, and I thought maybe that was why you didn't want to talk about it. Well, I guess we don't get any more coffee until they get the water back on. Oh, wait, we've got bottles of water in the garage; there was a problem last year, not a big one, but we bought a few cases. I'll be right back.”

Anne sat at the kitchen table while Gail went to the garage, propping the door open behind her. When the telephone rang, she called to Anne, “Could you grab that?”

Anne picked it up. “Hello,” she said.

“Gail,” said Marian. “Nina and I just got into town; we came on the spur of the moment. We're at my house and we thought you and Leo would come for a cup of tea, but there's something wrong with the water, so we'd like to come to you. I know it's late, but we do want to talk to you, and you could make us some tea, and I assume by the time we get back the water will be on again. Unless it's something really serious; there's a truck with a loudspeaker going up and down the streets saying not to drink the water, though that doesn't seem to be a problem since there isn't any. Is Charles with you? I called him at the hotel, but he's not there. Well, we'll just come up; we'll be there in a few minutes.”

Anne heard an amplified voice on the Riverwood road beyond Gail's long driveway. Gail stood in the doorway, holding two jugs of water, and they listened as the voice grew louder. “Do not drink any water from the tap. Drink only bottled water and drinks in bottles and cans. Fresh water will be available at City Hall in two hours. Do not drink any water from the tap. Drink only bottled water and drinks in bottles and cans. Fresh water will be available . . .”

“Gail?” asked Marian. “Are you there?”

Anne was about to hand the telephone to Gail, but she changed her mind. She couldn't hide; she had to see them. “It's Anne,” she said into the telephone.

“Well, my goodness. Anne. I had no idea you were here.
Well, we'll certainly come now; you'll wait for us, won't you? Or are you staying there? Yes, of course you must be. Oh, my dear, it will be good to see you again.”

“Marian and Nina,” Anne said to Gail as she hung up. “They're coming for a cup of tea.”

“Nina? What's she doing in Tamarack? She isn't in the middle of a divorce.” Gail poured bottled water into the carafe. “I'm getting nervous about the water. We've never had a loudspeaker with dire warnings before.” She started the coffeemaker and poured bottled water into the teakettle. “Poor Anne, you're getting both barrels. First Daddy shows up, and then Marian and Nina, and now some kind of crisis with the water. You'll wish you were back in peaceful Los Angeles.”

“No,” Anne said. There was surprise in her voice. She thought of her all-white apartment, cool, silent, empty, all hers. No one else came there. It was her favorite place, after her office. But now, imagining it, she felt herself tighten inside. “No,” she said again. “I'm glad to be right here.”

“Food,” Gail mused. “We have about a third of your cake left; Leo and Ned inflicted major damage on it. We'll put out some sliced meat and bread; Marian and Nina might be hungry.” She took packages from the refrigerator. “Practically a family gathering. We haven't had one for a long time. What did you think of Josh, by the way?”

“Not much.”

“Really? Well, I guess he was the enemy, wasn't he?”

“Opponent.” Anne felt oddly uncomfortable talking about him, but there seemed no reason not to. “He seemed arrogant to me, somebody who likes his own way and isn't above manipulating people to get it.”

“Oh,” Gail said thoughtfully. “He is pretty sure of himself, but you know he's got an incredible reputation; he's been called as a consultant for just about every museum in the world, and governments call him to help them preserve their ancient buildings and monuments. He and Leo talk about history a lot; they're both sort of hung up on the past. Sometimes I think Josh likes the past better than the present—at least he spends an awful lot of time with it and
his face lights up when he talks about it, a lot more than it ever did about Dora, I'll tell you that. I absolutely could not figure that out—why he wanted her. Grandpa used to say it was a weakness in Josh's character that he wouldn't marry Dora, but I thought the weakness was that he was with her at all. I shouldn't say that; she's my cousin after all. Our cousin. But I always thought she was also something of a bitch.”

And Vince's daughter
. The words hung in the air, but they were not spoken. Gail filled a platter with sliced meat, Spanish olives, and French bread. “Paper plates,” she murmured, “since we can't do dishes. Paper napkins, plastic forks. We'll use mugs, though, it's the only way to drink coffee. Josh still comes to Tamarack a lot. He always came over Labor Day; if he did this time, you'll probably see him around. He comes here, too. Would you have any trouble being friendly?”

Anne was folding napkins. “Of course not. But I don't know what his feelings are.”

“Well, he's very civilized.”

“Then there won't be a problem.”

“Sugar,” Gail said. “I'm sure Nina uses sugar in her tea. And maybe lemon. I wonder what they meant about fresh water being at City Hall in two hours.”

“It sounds like they're trucking it in. Which means they don't think it's going to be fixed in a hurry, whatever it is.”

“Well, Anne,” said Marian coming into the kitchen. “Anne, my dear. My dear Anne.”

She came toward Anne, her arms outstretched. Anne stood and grasped one of her hands before it reached her, holding it in both of hers, keeping Marian at arm's length. “Hello, Marian. Hello, Nina.”

“The front door was open,” Nina said.

“It's always open; you know that,” said Gail. “Come and sit down; I'm making tea. We're just going to stay in the kitchen.”

“Oh, yes, so cozy,” Nina said. “You look wonderful,” she said to Anne.

“She looks altogether beautiful,” Marian said. “I'm so
proud of you, Anne. You've come through, you've triumphed.”

“Are you married?” Nina asked, looking around. “Is anyone with you?”

“No,” Anne said. She had let go of Marian's hand and stepped back.

“Then you're divorced?” Nina asked.

“I haven't married,” Anne said.

“Oh.” Nina shook her head. “I'd find that difficult, not to have anyone to talk to at the end of the day and sort out what you've done and what you're thinking of doing. It seems so hard to make sense of the world when you have only your own thoughts and no one to give you alternatives. It makes me nervous, and then I can't sleep and I lie awake wondering what to believe in. There doesn't seem to be any purpose in things when I'm alone; everything seems so meaningless unless I belong to someone. But that hasn't bothered you, has it; you've managed by yourself. I do think that's admirable, Anne; it seems very mature.”

“We want to know everything about you,” Marian said. “Since the day you left. We worried about you, you know—”

“We're not talking about the past, Aunt Marian,” Gail said decisively. “Right now we're wondering what's happened to the water. Aren't you going to sit down?”

“Yes,” said Nina. “Everything looks wonderful. Is that smoked turkey? I have a weakness for smoked turkey. And what a lovely chocolate cake.”

“Anne made it.” Gail poured tea while Anne poured coffee. By unspoken agreement, they dragged it out, putting things away, organizing dishes on the table, waiting for their aunts to become more interested in food than talk. Anne looked up and saw their images in the full-length mirror, as she had her first time there, and had a swift moment of elation at the way she and her sister had understood each other.

“Well, when are
you
two going to sit down?” Marian asked.

“In a minute,” Gail said. “As soon as I put a couple of things away.” The door opened and Leo came in. “Where's Daddy? What happened?” she asked.

“He went back to the hotel.” He kissed Marian and Nina as if it were perfectly natural that they were in his kitchen at ten o'clock at night, and sat at the table, smiling at Anne as she handed him a cup of coffee. “It's the damndest thing. It looks like some bad minerals got into the water, probably from the mine tailings above the reservoir. Nobody knows how; it doesn't make sense, after a hundred years of Tamarack Creek being perfectly clean, for it to be contaminated all of a sudden, overnight, but that's what happened, and that's our water supply. They've been doing testing at the water plant once a day since the EPA got here, and late this afternoon they found the lead had shot up, way above the maximum acceptable level. So they shut off the water until they figure out what happened and find a way to clean it up.”

“There was a truck with a loudspeaker,” Marian said, “talking about fresh water at City Hall.”

Leo nodded. “They're bringing tank trucks from Durango. We'll get water from them and take it home.”