Whitefern (Audrina 2)

“For now?”

“Maybe simulating a birth has helped make you fertile. We’ll try for a son. One can hope. Of course, we can’t get right to it.” He smiled. “Women who give birth don’t conceive days after.”

What was he thinking? Women who give birth don’t conceive days after? Sometimes he sounded like someone who had been through this many times. Once again, I wondered about his college years. How many secrets

had he buried?

“How’s Sylvia?” he asked.

“You’ll have to go see for yourself. I was dismissed,” I said.

“Dismissed?”

I turned back to the baby. He left and later returned to tell me Sylvia was doing well. She had even eaten something.

“A day or so of rest, and everything will be fine,” he said. “I’ve ordered our celebration dinner. Mrs. Crown made all the arrangements. We’re having lobster. You, of course, will do nothing. Mrs. Matthews is setting the table. I’ve bought a bottle of the best champagne. So just rest for now. Later we will move everything upstairs, and you’ll be back in our bedroom, and Sylvia will be back in hers. Mrs. Matthews says we can move her later, too.”

“I wouldn’t go up without her.”

He started out and stopped, turning back. “I’ll bring the rocking chair back up if you like, but we’ll put it in Sylvia’s room for now. I imagine that will make her feel better. When Mrs. Matthews leaves, we can move it into the guest room or out of the house completely. Up to you,” he said. “Okay?”

“Okay,” I said. It would make Sylvia happy right now.

He smiled and left.

Adelle was still asleep. I lay back, keeping very close to her, and closed my eyes. I dozed off but woke when Mrs. Matthews entered. She didn’t realize I was awake. I opened my eyes slightly and saw her check Adelle and then wrap her comfortably in the blanket. She picked her up and held her, smiling at her. Could this woman feel motherly? She had helped deliver so many children, I imagined, but I was certain she had never been as involved as she had been in Adelle’s birth.

The moment she saw that I was awake, she stopped smiling.

“We’ve brought the bassinet down to be at the dining-room table,” she said. “For tonight’s celebratory dinner. It’s what your husband asked.”

“What about Sylvia?”

“It’s best she remain in bed for a while longer. I’ll bring her some dinner later. She’s sleeping now. I gave her something to help her sleep and ease any pain.”

“Okay.”

She looked at me strangely for a moment. “I’m sorry you couldn’t have your own child properly, but I assure you, this is a blessing in disguise. Your husband is a very smart man.” She started out with Adelle in her arms. Then she stopped and looked at me. “You might want to put on something special and do your hair.”

“Why is that important to you?” I asked.

“It’s not important to me, but I know that the part you’re playing has really just begun. My free advice is for you to get right into it.”

“Somehow I doubt that advice is free,” I said.

Her smug expression faded.

I wanted to be defiant, just to go out as I was, but I realized she was not wrong. The baby had been born. Sylvia would be fine. The world would know only what Arden had revealed, and we would go on, maybe even as the family Arden imagined.

After all, what other choice was there?

Our secrets begot secrets. They spun around us, tightening their grip on Whitefern.

Arden didn’t realize it, I thought, but in the end, we might be in a stronger trap, and those shadows that draped themselves in every possible corner would only grow darker. They would be there for Adelle, just as they always would be there for me.

Unless, of course, I found a way for us to escape ourselves.

Pathway to the Light