For a moment, I wasn’t sure whether I should laugh. Then he cracked a smile, and I did.
It was wonderful.
My father was becoming my father.
If Kaylee wasn’t gone, it might never have happened.
16
Kaylee
I wasn’t sure how long I had slept, but it was dark outside, and whatever lights we had were on. Anthony was back in the basement apartment when I woke, and at the foot of the bed were two bags and a shoe box from a department store I knew well. Mother had bought most of our new clothes and shoes there, in fact. Had Haylee told him that? Had she recited one detail of our lives after another, with him taking notes like a student studying the Fitzgeralds? Did he even know the name of our dentist?
“Ah, finally awake,” he said, coming over to the bed. “You took a nice long nap. I’ve been back nearly an hour, and I have nice surprises for you.”
He opened one bag and took out a new bra and some panties, in mixed colors, and a dozen pairs of mixed-colored socks. He placed it all on the bed, laying everything out like a display in a flea market.
“Just as I promised, new clothes,” he said. He waited for my reaction, but I simply gaped. “Oh, I know. You’re wondering how a man can buy a woman’s clothes for her and get it right, huh? Well, I have a confession. I kept your old clothes so I could be sure to get the right sizes when it came time to start buying you new clothes. I lied to you because I didn’t want you asking for them constantly. Don’t ask for them now,” he quickly added. “They’re really gone this time, just like I said. But there’s lots better here and more coming.”
He reached into the second bag and took out a light-pink blouse with a frilly white collar and a darker-pink pencil skirt.
“Look familiar?” he asked, proudly holding the two up against each other.
I recognized it. Haylee and I had the same outfit. She had either told him about it or worn it so he could see it when they communicated over the Internet.
“Time to put some color into the place, don’tcha think? Brighten you up. Of course, Ma wouldn’t be happy about how tight and short some skirts are these days. This isn’t that short, but it’s tight. I didn’t want to get you something old-fashioned. Girls like to keep in style, look sexy, right? You told me about some of the other clothes you had and how important clothes and shoes were to you. This is just a start. Every day, I’ll bring you something new that’s just like what you had, what were your favorite things. Well, I mean almost every day.” He smiled. “Listen to me rambling on like this. I get so enthusiastic that I exaggerate some. I gotta work, too. Can’t go shopping anytime I want.”
He opened the shoe box and took out the shoes, a pair of black flats.
“This is what you was wearing the first night. I wouldn’t give them back to you. We want only new things for a new life, right? Same size,” he said proudly, and dropped them back into the box. “I brought one of the old shoes with me to be sure I had a perfect match. Shoe salesman was pretty damn impressed. ‘A woman lets you buy her shoes?’ he asked. ‘My woman’s special,’ I told him.”
I hadn’t moved an inch or said a word. I was still wondering how long and in what detail Haylee had been discussing this new life with him. What other secrets about us had she revealed? Her contact with him had probably been going on for some time before I’d finally realized it.
He folded his arms across his chest and leered at me. “You know, the least you could do is say ‘Thank you, Anthony.’?” He waited for it.
“Thank you, Anthony,” I said.
He smiled as if he hadn’t forced me to say it. “You’re more than welcome, honey. Well, get it all on. Tonight’s perfect for dolling yourself up. I’m making us a rib eye with fries and green beans. Of course, we’ll have a nice salad with some fresh bread. And wait until you see the chocolate cake I got you for dessert. Your favorite of favorites, seven-layer. We’ll get that weight back on you in no time.”
He slapped his palms together so hard I was sure it stung, but he didn’t seem to care. I winced. The air seemed to be crackling around me.
“Chop, chop,” he said, then turned and headed for the stove. I rose slowly. He unchained me until I put on the new clothes. Considering that he had been able to use my own clothes to determine sizes, it was easy to see how much weight I had lost when I was dressed in what he had bought me. It brought me to tears.
He paused and shook his head, smiling with a look of amazement.
“You are the sort of woman who just can’t look ugly, even when you’ve lost so much weight, Kaylee,” he said. “I knew that from the first time I laid eyes on you. I’ve done struck gold,” he declared.
How he was able to look at me and say that was not just amazing, it was insane. I saw that he had been taking sips from a bottle of gin as he worked on our food, and he took another sip now.
He wiped his lips and said, “Real beauty cannot be silenced. To you.”
He drank again. I stood there, feeling a little weak and wobbly. His smile evaporated. He expected something from me for layering one compliment after another, but I was still too dazed even to pretend appreciation.
“Go wash your hands for dinner,” he commanded sharply, sounding more like an overbearing parent who was disappointed in his child’s lack of gratitude. He nodded toward the bathroom. “Go on. Don’t dilly-dally. I’m starving, too. Man needs his
strength for a woman like you. It’s like breaking in a wild horse or something. It ain’t easy, but you’ll appreciate me when you realize how much I’ve been doing for you. Damn right, you will.”
His voice could change in tone as fast as striking a match. The fire in his eyes quickly followed what he had said. Even if it was just for another second or two, his fixed angry gaze was horrifying. He was like two different people, one sweet and caring and one wrathful and mean. Perhaps when he got like that, he was more like his father as he had described him, vicious and unpredictable. And when he was nice, he was like his mother. I could almost see the two personalities wrestling in his mind, neither staying down too long.