Girl in the Shadows (Shadows 2)

"Yes." I said.

"What about the rest of your own family?" I told her about Brenda, about my parents. "This is ridiculous. Now she's turning this place into an orphanage," she said. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion again. "Did you touch any of my things, my clothing?"

"Your mother wanted me to wear one of the nightgowns, but other than that, I..."

"I don't know why I even asked. You couldn't possibly fit into anything of mine anyway. but I assure you I don't intend to let you just take over my possessions," she warned. "My advice to you is to find another elderly old lady to take advantage of."

"I am not taking advantage of anyone."

"Right. I've been on the road myself, you know. I know what's what. I'm sure it wasn't hard for you to pull the wool over the eyes of an old lady and a deaf girl, and Trevor Washington's head isn't exactly filled with lightbulbs."

She scooped up a pile of her clothing and started out of the room. She paused at the doorway and turned to me, her face flushed with fury. "Now that I'm back. I can assure you that you're not going to stay here." she said. "I intend to take back custody of my daughter and get what's rightfully mine. If you know what's good for you, you'll just get out now before there is any more unpleasantness."

She walked out of the room. My heart was pounding and tears had come to my eyes. I put away the clothes Mrs. Westington had bought for me and then I sat by the window, looking toward the motor home and thinking. I did have some money, Uncle Palaver's cash still in the motor home. I could leave. Brenda was probably right. I should just return to a regular high school and graduate. The equivalency exam wasn't going to work out anyway with Tyler behaving as he was. Mrs. Westington would say "the writing's on the wall.' He'll be giving notice any day now and be gone. I should be gone along with him.

And then I thought how deserted and alone both Echo and Mrs. Westington were going to feel. Would Rhona and that man remain here? I had no right to interfere, of course. but I didn't have to be a fortuneteller to see what Echo's future would be like if Rhona did take custody of her again and Mrs. Westington was unable to prevent it. Who knows where Rhona would put Echo? How lost and alone she would be. No. I thought. Mrs. Westington needs an ally now more than ever and Echo needs a friend. Trevor Washington, as devoted to her and Echo as he was, wasn't enough. It seemed to me I had to stay. It would be totally ungrateful for me to just up and leave right now when they needed me the most.

I heard Rhona in the hallway talking to Echo. She was probably returning to the bedroom for more of her things, and she had stopped at Echo's room.

"I really can't get over how you've grown," I heard her say. "And fortunately for you, you look more like me than your father, whoever he was." She followed that with a thin laugh.

I stepped up to the doorway and saw her enter Echo's room. The door to the west bedroom was open and Skeeter came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. I saw he had the tattoo of what looked like a dragon wrapped around a mermaid across his chest. He paused and looked out, catching me looking at him. Then he turned and unwrapped the towel from his waist, exposing his rear end, which looked like it had tattoos on each side of his buttocks as well. I stepped back into my bedroom quickly.

Rhona came in behind me and walked directly to the closet again. She picked out some other garments, sifted through the boxes of shoes, and then went to the dresser drawers. She didn't look at me at all.

"I can fit into all of this. I haven't gained a pound since I left here," she muttered. "I don't know how some women get so plump and lose all their appeal to men. Being fat makes you asexual, you know," she added, finally turning to me. "Skeeter came up with that in one of his poems. 'Your sex sank into your fat like a foot in quicksand.' Men don't like fat women, of course, and even women who like women wouldn't look at them. So where are you? In lard limbo, that's where. How old are you anyway?"

she asked. "Were you always overweight?"

"I don't think it's necessary for you to know any more about me."

"You're right about that, since you'll be going now that I've returned."

"I'll go when Mrs. Westington tells me to go."

She will, don't worry." She saw my new black skirt and plucked it off the hanger. Then she held it up in front of herself. "I could get in this with you. I think." She laughed and tossed it at me. "Pack," she said.

Tears came to my eyes, but I drove them back. Brenda would make mush out of her. I thought, and stepped forward.

"I said I'd leave when Mrs. Westington asks me to leave."

"My mother is an old lady. She waited too long to have me and now she's too old for all this."

"She didn't wait long enough," I fired back at her. "She should have waited for menopause."

"Oh, you're a wise guy. too." She piled some undergarments together and smiled. "Did you see how Echo looked at me? It won't be long. She'll want me with her, want to be with me. It's only natural. Skeeter happens to know how to use deaf people's signing language. too. He was a street performer, a mime. He's very educated even though he hasn't been to college. Hers smarter than most college graduates anyway. He'll have Mother eating out of his hand soon. You'll see. He's a charmer."

"Yeah, I could see it the moment I set eyes on his filthy hair and clothing. Won me right over." I said dryly. Brenda would have loved that one.

"Skeeter is like a chameleon. He can adjust to whatever he has to in order to succeed."

"Yeah, he looks very successful."

"He happens to be. You can't judge a book by its cover."

"What cover? I'd say he's down to his last pages, chewed and stained."

She glared at me a moment and then she laughed, shook her head. gathered her thing, and left the bedroom. I stood there, trembling, but keeping it under control and undetected. Then I went to see how Echo was, she was sitting on her bed, staring down at the photograph of her mother she had shown me. She looked up at me when I stepped near her. Her eyes were glazed over with tears. She smiled. however,