Swan Place (21 page)

“There was a phone call today,” I said, trying to make my voice light.

“And?” She mouthed the word around a tiny bite of tuna salad.

“It was my real daddy,” I said, and Crystal stared at me.

“What?” she finally managed to croak. “What did he want?”

“He said he wants me and Molly to come out to California and live with him,” I said.

“What?” Her eyes widened.

“That’s what he said.”

“And what did you say?”

“I hung up on him. I think he tried to call back, but I didn’t answer the phone.”

Just then, the phone rang again. Crystal and I locked eyes, and neither one of us made a move. It rang for a long, long time, before it finally stopped. Crystal and I sat at the table, not saying anything, because I guess we just didn’t know what to say.

Then we suddenly heard footsteps on the front porch, and someone threw open the living room door. “What on earth is going on?” Aunt Bett was hollering as she came toward the kitchen. “Are you all okay? Is anything wrong? Why don’t you answer the phone?”

When she got to the kitchen doorway, Crystal and I were still just sitting there, staring at her. “What on earth? You’re both just as white as a sheet! And why don’t you answer the phone?” Crystal let out her breath.

“You better sit down, Bett. We’ve got trouble.”

Aunt Bett sat down, folded her hands on the table, and studied Crystal closely.

“Dove, would you please go and watch Molly and Little Ellis? And maybe start getting them ready for bed?”

Why, I was surprised as could be! I knew Crystal was going to tell Aunt Bett about my real daddy calling on the telephone and wanting me and Molly to go live with him. For Heaven’s sake! I’m the one that told Crystal herself.

“Please, Dove,” Crystal said, because I guess she could see my surprise. And the way Crystal was looking at me, I figured I would do exactly as she asked. But I still didn’t understand why. So I started through the kitchen doorway, and Crystal said, “Would you mind shutting the door, please?”

Well, maybe then I did understand a little better. Crystal wouldn’t want Little Ellis or Molly overhearing about Molly and me and our real daddy. So I closed the door behind me and started down the hallway. But for some strange reason, I stopped. Then I tiptoed back and put my ear against the door.

I knew I was wrong listening in on what Crystal and Aunt Bett were saying, but on the other hand, I thought it was wrong of them to shut me out of whatever they were talking about. I had every right to be included, and I meant to be—only they wouldn’t know it. So I pressed my ear against the door.

“Dove says her daddy called on the phone today.”

“What?”

“That’s right,” Crystal said. “And he told her he wants to take her and Molly to California to live with him.”

Not a sound came out of Aunt Bett. At first. Then I heard her breathe out, “Oh, Lord have mercy!”

“Bett, Roy-Ellis never adopted Molly. Not legally. So I’m scared. And I didn’t adopt them either.”

“I know he didn’t,” Aunt Bett moaned. “Didn’t adopt Dove either, and I worried a little bit about that. But I never thought they’d both
 . . .
pass away
 . . .
before the children got grown.”

“Bett, listen to me, please,” Crystal said. “Roy-Ellis didn’t
have
to adopt Dove.”

“What?”

“He didn’t have to adopt Dove
 . . .
because she was his own child.”

I jerked my ear away from the door, and I almost fell down right there in the hallway.

What? Me? Roy-Ellis was my real daddy? How could that be?

My ears were buzzing and my heart almost knocked itself right out of my chest. But I had to know it all, so I took a couple of deep breaths to calm me down a little and put my ear back to the door. Aunt Bett’s voice was rising. “I just don’t understand what you’re saying! Yes, my baby sister dated Roy-Ellis for a while, but then she turned around and married
 . . .
him.
And she never said a word to me about anything other than being so happy to have found someone so reliable.”

“It’s true,” Crystal said, simply.

“Dove is Roy-Ellis’s child?” Aunt Bett asked again.

“Dove is Roy-Ellis’s child,” Crystal said.

Aunt Bett was quiet for a moment and then she said, “You mean to tell me my baby sister got herself in trouble with Roy-Ellis and then turned around and married another man?”

“Please!” Crystal pleaded. “The children may hear us!”

Aunt Bett let out a big, sad sigh.

Crystal went on: “Roy-Ellis didn’t know Dove was his.”

“But why not?”

“He just didn’t. No one ever told him. But when I went through his papers—I was hoping to find a life insurance policy or something like that—I found a letter Dove’s mama wrote to him when she was in the hospital, just before she died. But it was still sealed, so he never opened it. Maybe he was going to wait until later. Or maybe he just couldn’t bear to read it. But if he’d read it, he would have known about Dove being his very own child.”

“And you opened that letter my sister wrote to Roy-Ellis?” Now Aunt Bett’s tone had turned very serious.

“I was looking for insurance papers,” Crystal explained. “But I never found any. Just the letter about Dove.”

“And what did you do with it?” Aunt Bett demanded.

“I’ve got it hidden in my drawer,” Crystal said.

“Well, I want to see it. I want to see that it’s my own sister’s handwriting,” Aunt Bett demanded. Then she added, “I can just hardly believe any of this! My own sister and she kept this from me?”

“In the letter,” Crystal offered, “she said the reason she didn’t tell him before was that she didn’t want him to think he
had
to marry her. Wanted him to marry her just because he wanted to. And I guess that didn’t happen until after her first husband ran off.”

“Hummmph!” Aunt Bett snarled.

“But, Bett, do you realize what this means?” Crystal pressed. “The
real
father isn’t Dove’s real father at all. And when he finds that out, he won’t take Dove. Only Molly. She’s the only one is his own child.”

“But
 . . .
” Aunt Bett stumbled along. “Oh, it’s too terrible to think about! We can’t let him take Molly away!”

“I know,” Crystal said. Another long silence.

Little Ellis my honest-to-goodness brother and Molly only my half-sister? Roy-Ellis my very own daddy and I didn’t know it! And he didn’t know it! And too late now to do anything about it. Me helping him wash his truck, me fixing his supper, me bringing him a cold beer, us helping Little Ellis color some Easter eggs. And us not knowing?

But once I started getting over that big surprise, I thought about Roy-Ellis and what a good man
 . . .
mostly
 . . .
he had been. And I truly liked the idea of him being my daddy. Because that made me be the daughter of a
really
mostly-good man instead of a man that ran off with a blond-headed lady and left my mama all alone and broken-hearted.

“What are we going to do?” Aunt Bett asked.

“I don’t know, but we have to find a way to keep
him
from taking Molly away. Why, I don’t know how she could get along without Dove.” Another long silence.

“He knows where we live,” Crystal said. “And he’s already called on the phone. We have to figure something out fast!” Another silence, before Crystal went on. “He could show up with court papers anytime he wants, and there wouldn’t be a thing we could do about it.”

“Can’t we hide Molly somewhere?” Aunt Bett asked.

“But if he took us to court, they could make us tell, if we knew.”

“If we knew
 . . .
” Aunt Bett repeated.

“But even if we sent her off and hid her somewhere, she would still lose Dove and Little Ellis.” Crystal paused and added, “And me. It would break up our family!”

“Maybe you could all hide?” Aunt Bett suggested.

“Maybe we could,” Crystal muttered. “We just have to think this through, and we have to do that in a hurry!”

“Well, show me that letter first,” Aunt Bett said. I heard the chair scrape, so I ran down the hall and got ready to plop myself onto the couch, like I’d been reading or watching television the whole time. But as soon as I got into the living room, I knew this was something I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t heard. That would be impossible. So I took a deep breath and went back toward the kitchen. Crystal was coming out of the bedroom with an envelope in her hands. Aunt Bett was still sitting at the table.

“I heard,” I said at once to both of them. Why, I was surprised as could be to hear my voice sounding so calm and strong. I was expecting to squeak when I made my confession to them.

“You heard?” Crystal looked at Aunt Bett. But Aunt Bett’s eyes were boring into my own.

“You eavesdropped on our conversation?” Aunt Bett demanded.

“Yes ma’am, I did.”

“Why Dove! That isn’t like you!” Aunt Bett moaned.

“I’m not a baby, Aunt Bett,” I whispered. “And I have a right to know what’s going on.”

“Well, I never!” Aunt Bett was truly mad, and I kept watching her mouth like any minute all those terrible words out of the Old Testament would come spewing out, but this time, they would be meant for
me.

But before Aunt Bett could say a word, Crystal spoke up. “Dove’s right, Bett. She’s not a baby.” And to me she said, “I’m sorry. I should have told you and then asked you to be with me while I told Bett.”

Aunt Bett’s mouth fell open, but she didn’t say a word.

“Was Roy-Ellis really my daddy?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer. Because I wanted to hear it said right out and not just words coming through the kitchen door.

“Yes,” Crystal said. “Yes, Roy-Ellis was your daddy. That’s what your mama said in this letter to him that he never did open.” Crystal handed the letter to Aunt Bett, who opened it and stared at the words. “Yes, it’s her handwriting,” Aunt Bett finally said.

I thought for a moment. “Roy-Ellis never knew.”

“That’s right,” Crystal almost whispered.

“He never knew,” I repeated.

Everything felt all strange
at our house that evening, even though we all went about doing what we usually did. Aunt Bett went home after hugging all of us and telling Crystal, “It will be okay. We’ll find a way.” Crystal washed up the dishes while I got Little Ellis and Molly in bed, but after that we sat at the kitchen table together and just thought hard, trying to find out how to keep Molly with us. A knock at the back door, and Crystal and I both jumped. But when Crystal opened the door, it was Aunt Mee, standing there with a basket of fresh butterbeans.

“I just came over to bring you all some butterbeans, if you can use them,” she said, holding out the basket. “My old garden is cranking out more than I can use this year,” she added. “You feeling better, Crystal?” she asked carefully.

“Yes, thank you,” Crystal said, taking the basket. “And please don’t go.”

To me, Crystal said, “I think we should tell Aunt Mee about what’s going on and ask advice from someone with such a good head. The more folks we got figuring for us, the better.”

“Well, I don’t know just how good my old head is,” Aunt Mee protested. “But if I can help with anything, I will. You all know that.”

“Come on and sit down,” Crystal swung her arm toward the kitchen table.