My Sweet Audrina (Audrina 1)

“Nope, it wouldn’t matter,” he said.

“Arden,” called a woman’s voice, “who are you talking to?”

“Audrina,” he called back. “You know, Mom, the youngest of those two girls who live in that big fancy house beyond the woods. She’s awfully pretty, Mom, but shy. Ne

ver met such a shy girl before. She stays behind the bushes, ready to run if I come too close. She sure isn’t like her sister, I can tell you that. Would you say that’s the proper way to meet a boy?”

From inside the cottage his mother laughed gaily. “It may be exactly the right way to interest a boy like my son, who likes to solve mysteries.”

I stretched my neck to see a beautiful dark-haired woman sitting at an open cottage window, showing from her waist up. She seemed to me as lovely as a movie star with all that long, blue-black curling hair tumbling down onto her shoulders. Her eyes were dark, her complexion as fair and flawless as porcelain.

“Audrina, you’re welcome here whenever you care to visit,” she called in a friendly, warm fashion. “My son is a fine and honorable boy who would never do a thing to harm you.”

I felt breathless with happiness. I’d never had a friend before. I had disobeyed, like the First Audrina, and dared the woods … only to find friends. Maybe I wasn’t as cursed as she’d been. The woods weren’t going to destroy me, as they had her …

I started to speak, to step forward and show all of myself and brave meeting strangers on their own ground. Just as I was ready to reveal myself, out of the depths of the woods behind me came the sound of my name being called repeatedly, commandingly. The voice was distant and faint, but each time it sounded it was closer.

It was Papa! How did he know where to find me? What was he doing home from his office so early? Had Vera called him to tell him I wasn’t in the house or yard? He’d punish me, I knew he would. Even if this wasn’t the forbidden, worst part of the woods, he didn’t want me out of sight from those who watched over me from morning until night.

“Goodbye, Arden,” I called hastily, peeking from around the tree and waving. I waved again to his mother in the window. “Goodbye, Mrs. Lowe. I’m happy to have met you both, and thank you for wanting me to be your friend. I need friends, so I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

Arden smiled broadly. “See you soon, I hope.”

I ran back toward Papa’s voice, hoping he wouldn’t guess where I’d been. I nearly collided with him as he came striding along the faint path. “Where’ve you been?” he demanded, seizing hold of my arm and swinging me halfway around him. “What are you running from?”

I stared up into his face. As always, he looked wonderfully handsome, clean, wearing a new three-piece stockbroker’s suit, tailored to perfection. Even as he let go of my arm, he brushed away dried leaves that clung to his sleeve. He checked his trousers to see if the briars had snagged them, and, if they had, he might have treated me worse. As it was, his quick inspection found his new suit undamaged, so he could smile at me enough to take some of the fear from my heart. “I’ve been calling you for ten minutes. Audrina, haven’t I told you repeatedly to stay out of the woods?”

“But Papa, it’s such a beautiful day, and I wanted to see where the rabbits run to hide. I wanted to pick wild strawberries, and blueberries and find forget-me-nots. I wanted lilies of the valley to put in my bedroom to make it smell pretty.”

“You didn’t follow this path all the way to the end, did you?” There was something peculiar in his dark, dark eyes, something that warned me not to tell him about meeting Arden Lowe and his mother.

“No, Papa. I remembered what I promised and stopped following the rabbit. Papa, rabbits run so very fast.”

“Good,” he said, snatching my hand again and spinning me around so I could do nothing but be dragged along as I tried to keep up with the stride of his exceptionally long legs. “I hope you never lie to me, Audrina. Liars come to no good end.”

Nervously, I swallowed. “Why are you home so early, Papa?”

He looked backward to scowl. “I had a feeling about you this morning at breakfast. You looked so secretive. I sat in my office and wondered if you might not just get the notion to visit the new people who moved into that cottage. Now hear this, girl, you are never to go over there. Understand? We need the rent money, but they are not our social equals, so leave them alone.”

It was terrible to have a father who could read your mind. I had to try again to make him see how much I needed friends. “But, Papa, I thought you said Momma could invite the new neighbor lady to Tuesday teas.”

“No, not after what I found out about them. There are a lot of old sayings in this world, and most of them should be heeded. Birds of a feather flock together—and I don’t want my bird flocking with those beneath her. Common people will steal your specialness and make you just a member of the herd. I want you to be a leader, one who stands out from the crowd. People are sheep, Audrina, stupid sheep, ready to follow the one who has the strength to be different. And you don’t have to worry about having friends when our family is going to increase soon. Think of how much fun it will be to have a little brother or sister. Make that baby your best friend.”

“Like Momma and her sister are friends?”

He threw me a hard look. “Audrina, your mother and her sister are to be pitied. They live in the same house, share the same meals but refuse to accept the best each could give the other. If only they’d break through that wall of resentment. But they never will. Each has her pride. Pride is a wonderful thing, though it can grow out of proportion. What you see each day is love turned inside out and turned into rivalry.”

I didn’t understand. Adults were still like the prism lights, changing colors constantly, confusing my thoughts.

“Sweetheart, promise you won’t go into the woods again.” I promised. He squeezed too hard on my fingers not to promise. He seemed satisfied and eased his pressure. “Now, here’s what I want you to do. Your mother needs you now that she’s not feeling well with this pregnancy. It goes that way sometimes. Try to help her as much as you can. And promise never to disappear and not let me know where you are.”

But he wasn’t going to let me go anywhere, not ever. Did he think I might run away?

“Oh, Papa,” I cried, throwing my arms about him again. “I’ll never leave you! I’ll stay and take care of you when you grow old. I’ll always love you, no matter what!”

He shook his head, looking sad. “You say that now, but you won’t remember when you meet some young man you think you love. You’ll forget me and think only of him. That’s the way life is, the old have to make way for the young.”

“No, Papa, you can stay with me even if I do marry … and I don’t think I will.”