Whitefern (Audrina 2)

Mrs. Matthews’s rules and orders left me feeling armless, but what could I do but try to amuse Sylvia, who looked lost most of the ti

me?

Consequently, I spent most of my time watching television with Sylvia, something we hadn’t done that much of because I had to explain so much about what was happening that I couldn’t keep up with the program anyway.

Growing tired of the chore one day, I went looking through my old things and found a jigsaw puzzle rated for children ages nine to twelve. I began it with Sylvia, and when she fit a piece in, she was very pleased with herself. Mrs. Matthews saw us doing it and nodded with that bony-looking smile of hers. This was a woman who lived to be right, I thought. I couldn’t help feeling that she enjoyed wielding power over us, especially me. Sometimes when she told me to do something or criticized me for doing something, I sensed a little vengefulness, bitterness.

Was there something about her that I was missing? Did she dislike my family for some reason? I felt at such a disadvantage. I knew only what Arden had told me about her, and there was still that secret that she feared would be revealed, the secret he held over her head like a flaming sword.

When she wasn’t tending to Sylvia, Mrs. Matthews would leave the house to look after her own needs. As far as I knew, she never contacted her son while she was living at Whitefern, and she never spoke about other relatives. What about friends? I wondered. Wouldn’t they be asking her questions about us? About why she was living here now?

When I asked Arden about that, he said, “Don’t worry about it. She can be trusted to say the right things anyway.”

She was doing all our shopping now, buying what she preferred to eat and drink. After I complained to Arden about this one night in his home office, he told me to accompany her the next day when she went to the supermarket.

“You can choose what you want, if it fits the nutritional principles Mrs. Matthews has set out for Sylvia. Besides, it’s a good idea for you to go with her to the supermarket this week.”

“Why?”

“It’s time people saw you two together and understood that I’ve hired her to give you special attention.”

“But no pregnant woman takes a nurse along to buy groceries, Arden.”

“You do, because you’ve had some problems, Audrina,” he snapped back. “Where’s that brilliant mind of yours? We’re claiming now that you can’t drive. Don’t forget that. She or I have to drive you anywhere, as far as people in this town are to know. Remember, in a few weeks, you will never set foot out of this house,” he warned. “I have to develop a believable story for our employees and clients. Otherwise, everything we’re doing will be for nothing, and you’ll feel like a fool.”

“I feel like a fool now.”

“Don’t start, Audrina, not now when we’re so close to the end.”

I sighed, resistance smothered, self-pride practically drowned. “I’ll go with her, but we can’t leave Sylvia alone, especially now.”

“I’ll babysit,” he said.

“You will?”

“Yes. We both have to make sacrifices. I’m just as much a part of this, Audrina. I’ve told you time and time again that I’m risking my reputation, too. I could look like an idiot if the truth leaked out. And what do you think the impact would be on our business, the faith our clients have on us? Remember, Audrina, a brokerage firm’s lifeblood is trust and faith.”

“Everything always seems to snake its way back to business with you, Arden. You remember people’s birthdays and anniversaries just so they’ll continue to invest with you. You take them out to dinners and lunches to, as Papa would say, lick their boots. You even took a client out on our anniversary last year!”

“Your father? You bring up your father? He did everything I’m doing. He’s the one who taught me how to do it, why it was important to the company. He set the example for me.”

“Do you have to be like him in every way? You weren’t always like this, Arden. Or were you?”

He smiled.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’re acting just the way Mrs. Matthews told me most of her pregnant patients behave, emotionally. They’re very moody. Anything can set them off like firecrackers.”

“I’m not really pregnant, Arden! I’m not being moody!”

He held his smile.

It was exasperating me more. I was having the shortness of breath Mrs. Matthews had predicted a pregnant Sylvia might experience.

“I know you’re not really pregnant, Audrina,” he said softly, “but maybe it’s like a cold or something. It’s catching. Sylvia’s different, so you’re different.”

“Of course she’s different. Her life has been upended,” I said, my voice straining. “She’s confused about her body. She can’t do what she’s been used to doing. She’s not sleeping in her own room. Yes, she’s different. She was raped! And that man is getting away with it.”