Sophie's Heart (33 page)

“She talks about her all the time. She sounds almost too good to be true.”

“Well, she’s very good at what she does,” Alec told her sincerely.

“So I understand, but if she’s so fluent in all of those languages, why is she cleaning house for a living?”

Alec exchanged a look with Janet who was at the other end of the sofa. Janet then exchanged a look with David, who had just come in with her father, Ben Riley.

“What’s this?” Ben wanted to know, and Kay, Alec and Janet’s mother, explained.

“Maybe Tory misunderstood her” was all Ben could offer.

“Hey, Mom!” Beth now came charging into the living room, Tory on her heels, a new Christmas video clutched in the older girl’s hand. “Can Tory and I watch this in your room? Brian and Rita and those guys don’t want to.”

“Sure, just don’t horse around on the bed.”

“We won’t. C’mon, Tory.”

Tory started away, but Alec called her name.

“Yeah, Dad.”

“Come here a minute.” He waited until she was directly in front of him. “Tell me about the languages Sophie speaks. You’ve never talked about that before.”

“Oh! Well, I know she speaks Czechoslovakia, or however you say it, and we heard her talk German at The Shoe Box. Then I think she might speak Italian, or maybe it’s French. Why did you want to know?”

“I did, dear,” her grandmother explained. “It’s just amazing that a woman with such an education is cleaning houses for a living.”

Tory looked at her grandmother and then back at her father.

“Why did you want to know, Dad?”

“I was just curious, honey.”

A look came over Tory’s face that Alec couldn’t read before she said, “You’re not sending her away, are you, Dad?”

“No, honey, of course not.”

Her little body went stiff and tears came to her eyes. “Because she says she wants to do her languages again someday, but she says we’re important to her. And if you send her away I’ll—”

“Tory, Tory.” Her father tried to stop this sudden panic. He was rubbing her stiff arms and speaking gently into her face. “I’m not, Tory. I think it’s great that Sophie is so well learned, and I’m not sending her away. I wouldn’t do that.”

She covered her face with her hands then and sobbed. Alec pulled her into his lap, and she hid her face against his chest. David, who had sat on the sofa between Alec and his wife, reached over and gently rubbed her back.

“Are you going to go watch that video with Beth?” he asked quietly.

Tory nodded her head yes and sniffed. That she was embarrassed was obvious by the way she wouldn’t look at anyone but her father.

“It’s okay now. There’s nothing to be upset about,” Alec added.

Tory slid from his lap and walked from the room. Beth was still standing at the doorway.

“What’s the matter, Tory?”

“Nothing. I’m all right.”

“Did you get in trouble?”

“No.”

When the girls’ footsteps could be heard on the floor upstairs, Kay said, “I’m sorry, Alec. I had no idea it would upset her.”

“I can understand it,” David put in. “She’s taken to Sophie like a duck to water, and she thought you were draining the pond.”

“Well, I’m not,” Alec assured them. “I could build 20 houses a year if all my workers were as dedicated and capable as Sophie.”

“You know,” Janet said, her eyes on some distant spot, “David and I have thought all along that there was more to Sophie than she ever shared.”

“She’s so open and warm when she listens,” David now added, “but she doesn’t talk about herself.”

“Except to the kids, it would seem.” Alec made this comment, and for some reason no one wanted to respond. A moment later the conversation turned to more general topics.

Twenty-Eight

A
lec and the kids did not get away from Chicago until late on Thursday, the twenty-eighth, and Craig and Tory both fell asleep 30 miles down the road. Rita was in the front seat next to Alec, and they were talking in low voices. Rita had given more details on Sophie, and Alec was slightly abashed over what he was hearing. She spoke
five
different languages outside of English—not only spoke them, but had actively worked with them when she was a translator.

“I feel like I should apologize to her, Rita. I know there have been times when I treated her like she was a bit slow.”

“I did, Dad. When we talked that morning, I told her how sorry I was. She was very understanding, but I sure learned the hard way how not to judge people.”

“She helped me with the gifts I bought for you kids.”

“She went with you?”

“No, but I actually sat at the kitchen table with her one night and rambled on like an idiot. She just sat there and listened. I’m not even sure what I said, but I know it was about your mother and you kids. Then she simply told me what you wanted, and I shopped the next day. But I remember that I cried like a baby after she left.”

“Oh, Dad,” Rita’s voice was understanding, “she’s like that. She brings emotions out in me that I didn’t even know I had. I talked to her about not wanting to date, and she told me not to rush it. Well, I haven’t and it’s been just great. I mean, guys have asked, but I no longer panic. She said I would know when the time was right.”

“I wish I could have told your grandmother that. She seemed a bit concerned over how attached Tory has become.”

“You mean if Sophie takes another job?”

“Well that, but also about any influence Sophie might be having on you kids, and I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t been as aware as I should be.”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Dad. Her standards are pretty high. I’ve never heard her say a negative word about anyone. Actually, I’m not sure she has that many friends. Even if she did, she’s just not the gossipy type.”

Alec nodded, feeling a little better, but there was something he still had to say.

“Rita, if I’ve been a stumbling block to you in all of this, I want to ask your forgiveness.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean, you’ve probably watched me walk around like a zombie, and that’s why you have no desire to get serious yourself. I’m sorry. I was pretty laid out for a time, and I have no excuse, but I’m now trying to be the man God wants me to be.”

“Oh, Dad.” She was crying. “The only time I struggled was when you worked so much. But you don’t do that now, and I am starting to feel like we’re a family again.”

“All right, Rita, but don’t be too easy on me. I know I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and I count on you to keep me accountable.”

“All right.”

They fell into an easy silence then—one that was unbroken until Rita reminded her father that she had an eye appointment that next day. Alec told Rita he wanted Sophie to accompany her. Rita agreed, and by the time they were at the state line, Craig and Tory had woken up. Rita put a tape on, and the van was filled with the songs of Michael Card the rest of the way home.

Rita’s eye appointment was with Dr. Carl Nickelberry that next afternoon, and Sophie was delighted to see his office. She had been running errands with all the kids for several hours, so she sank gratefully into one of the padded chairs in the waiting room. The three Rileys picked up magazines, but Sophie sat back and closed her eyes.

Rita was called in a few minutes later and was gone for close to an hour. She had told Sophie that the exam was routine, so the housekeeper just sat back and rested her feet.

“Sophie, I can’t find the second pencil or the mouse in this picture.”

Sophie bent over the children’s magazine and searched with Tory. She found one pencil, but Tory had already spotted that one. Craig’s head came into the scene, although he tried not to be too obvious, and he found the mouse.

Tory thanked him, but he ruffled her hair, so she sat back indignantly and glared at him while she fixed it. Sophie eyed them sternly since they had been at each other all day, and they settled down for the moment. However, they were starting up again just as Rita was coming out. She was accompanied by Carl, and Sophie rose to go to them.

“Hello, Sophie. How are you?”

“I am well, Carl. How is Candy’s cold?” She had been feeling sick on Christmas Day.

“She’s much better. Do you have big plans for New Year’s Eve?” His eyes sparkled at her with fondness.

“I am sure I will,” Sophie twinkled right back. “I’m thinking of staying up until 10:15.”

Carl laughed and then noticed the kids. Their expressions made him want to laugh again.
Like most kids, they probably don’t think she has a social life at all
.

“Well, Rita’s all set,” he told Sophie and then turned to the younger girl. “Tell your dad that everything looks good.”

“Thank you, Dr. Nickelberry,” Rita said from behind some huge cardboard sunglasses.

They moved en masse to the door. Tory commented about Sophie knowing Dr. Nickelberry, but Sophie was too busy keeping an eye on Rita to pay much heed. It was getting dark, so the street lamps were coming on, and Rita put her hand to her eyes.

“He said this will last for about an hour, Sophie. Maybe you’d better drive.”

“All right. You climb in and make comfortable. Watch this ice. Craig, please take her arm.”

Craig did as he was told, and Tory jumped forward to get the door. They climbed in, and Sophie started the engine with a promise to have them home in just a few minutes. What she didn’t anticipate was a vehicle that was stalled just up the street. She sat behind him for a moment, checking her mirrors and deciding the best way to get around. She was still contemplating what to do when a car shot out of a driveway to the side of them. Sophie actually looked up in time to see it coming. The words “oh, no” escaped from her mouth just before the large car piled into the driver’s side of their van.

Everyone in the van screamed—Tory the loudest since her small head was thrown hard against the opposite window. Rita clutched at the cardboard glasses as Sophie called to see if everyone was all right. Craig answered yes as he started out the sliding door, and Sophie undid her own seat belt and slipped out. She was trembling violently, but not as badly as the man who had hit her.

Alcohol fumes assailed her nose even before she reached him, and when she did, he eyed her through watery eyes. Sophie knew that talking to him wouldn’t help at all.

“Okay, folks,” a voice suddenly split the air. “What seems to be the trouble?”

Sophie looked at the policeman in surprise. She hadn’t even seen his car. The man who had hit them jumped in and tried to explain, but he was cut off by the beefy police officer.

“Never mind that right now. Let’s just see some ID. You, too,” he said to Sophie, and she turned back to the open door for her purse. She fished inside and handed him her license and green card and then turned back to check on Rita who had gone to Tory in the rear.

“Just wait a minute,” the policeman said, and it took a moment for her to realize he was talking to her. “Whose van is this?”

Sophie was taken aback by his tone, but she managed to answer.

“I have registration here that shows belongs to Alec Riley. I work Alec Riley.”

The man speared her with his eyes, and Craig actually came forward, his face full of fear.

“Maybe you should just come inside with me,” he said, and Sophie suddenly saw other officers surrounding them. The man took Sophie by the arm and began to lead her away.

“Oh, please, no.” Panic made her voice high. “I have in charge of children. Please,” she was begging now, but it didn’t matter. She was being led gently but inexorably closer to a building that she now recognized as the Middleton Police Department. Upon realizing her destination, fear clutched at her throat, and for a moment she thought she would become completely undone, but then Craig appeared beside her.

“Where are girls?”

“They’re coming. Why is he taking you? It wasn’t your fault.”

Sophie opened her mouth to answer, but the door was opening, and she had to pay attention or run into it. She was tempted to pull from the man’s grasp, but she refrained and looked behind her instead. A man was trying to see to Tory’s head. Rita was by her side and Sophie shouted. “Rita! Tory! Come to me! Now!”