Whitefern (Audrina 2)

“Some, but it will pass. I’ll give her something soon,” Mrs. Matthews said. “There’s only one of me here.”

“But are you sure she’s all right? Sylvia? She’s not hearing me.”

Mrs. Matthews glanced at her. “A little shock. It’ll pass,” she said.

I sat up and kissed Sylvia’s cheek. “Are you all right, Sylvia?” I patted her hand gently and kissed her again. “Sylvia?”

She didn’t answer.

“Are you sure she’s all right?”

“I’m sure,” Mrs. Matthews said without turning back. “Leave her to rest.”

“Do what Mrs. Matthews says,” Arden ordered. “We hired her to handle this, Audrina.”

I got up slowly and dressed, my eyes still on Sylvia, waiting for her to look at me or speak, even cry. She did nothing.

“Audrina!” Arden said sharply.

I followed him to my room. As soon as we entered, he turned to me, his face full of excitement, his eyes wide.

“We did it!” he said, holding his hands up in fists. “We did it!”

He looked like he was going to burst and waited for me to react similarly, but I sat silently on my bed, feeling like I was the one in shock, not Sylvia. What Mrs. Matthews had put me through had had an extraordinary effect on me. It would be ludicrous to say that I felt like I had truly given birth, but the mimicking had certainly given me more than simply a sense of it.

“Aren’t you happy?” Arden asked when I didn’t respond to his joyful outburst. “What’s wrong with you?” he demanded.

“I feel so strange, like a woman who has gone through false labor and discovered there was no baby inside her.”

“But there is a baby, damn it, get that through your head. We’ve prepared months and months for this.”

“I know, I know, Arden. It’s just one thing to plan for it an

d another to have it happen.”

“Yeah, well, it happened, so start reading those books I brought you about being a proper mother. Mrs. Matthews recommended all of them. It’s all on you from here on out as far as taking care of the baby goes.”

“Adelle,” I said. I wanted him to reconfirm that he would accept the name that Sylvia had suggested.

“Right, Adelle. Now, Mrs. Matthews will stay on for a few weeks. The story is that you had a tough delivery, and she’s here to help until you’re strong enough.”

“I’m worried about Sylvia.”

“Well, stop worrying. It’s all going to be fine. We’ve escaped the embarrassment and the damage to our name and our business. After Mrs. Matthews leaves, we’ll begin inviting people over to see the baby and you. We’ll have a party or something.”

I nodded, but still not with the enthusiasm he wanted. I saw the unhappy look on his face hardening.

“Listen,” he said, taking a softer approach. “We’ll be moving you both upstairs now. You’ll see how beautiful the nursery is, and you’ll be too busy to think of anything else. I’m sure you’ll feel a lot better then. As soon as we can take the baby out, we’ll go shopping to get you new clothes. That’s what new mothers do. And we’ll go shopping to get the baby things, too. And yes, we’ll bring Sylvia along when she’s well enough and no one can tell what she’s been through, and we’ll buy her things, too. Okay? Okay?” he repeated when I didn’t answer.

“Okay,” I replied.

“All right.” He brushed back his hair and fixed his tie. “I’m going to return to work and announce the baby’s birth. Everyone’s waiting on pins and needles at the office. I’ve got a box of cigars in my car that I bought months ago in anticipation. See you later for our private celebration dinner. Get yourself together, Audrina. I’m looking forward to wonderful days ahead for us all.”

He walked over to kiss me on the cheek and then left. I went to the window and looked out. Mr. Ralph was trimming a tree. If I closed my eyes and imagined it, I could be back years and years ago, when I had stood by windows of Whitefern and looked out at a world I feared without realizing why. I was doing the same thing now.

I shouldn’t be, I thought. After all, Arden was right. His plan was ending up just the way he wanted it to. Everything we had done was working, although it still would be strange having Sylvia think of the baby as more mine than hers. Maybe it would be enough to have her think it was ours. People who heard her say or think that aloud would surely smile and shake their heads, believing it was all part of her being a child in a woman’s body. There would be nothing strange about it to them, only to me.

A little later, under Mrs. Matthews’s supervision, I gave Adelle her first feeding. Despite how she had been conceived, I thought Adelle was beautiful. It was impossible to predict what her features would be like months, even years, from now, but at this moment, I thought there were very strong resemblances to Sylvia and, therefore, to me or the Adares. As soon as the baby had gone to sleep on my bed, I rose to check on Sylvia.