by Vicky Jones
Miller pursed her shiny red lips and smoothed the back of her short brown hair. “Are you finished?”
Jonathan straightened his back. “Yes.”
“Good. You’re not going. I forbid it.”
Jonathan scowled and thrust his hands in the air. “I’m twenty-three years old, damn it. I don’t need your permission.”
Miller tapped a maroon fingernail on the mahogany wood. “Why? Why do you want to put yourself in danger? Wasn’t losing your father in France enough for you? Growing up all these years without him with nothing to remember him by other than some old photographs? You were only three years old when he died on that beach,” she paused, her eyes moistening, “and now you want to put me through all that again?”
Jonathan fell silent.
“It’s a war that can’t be won. That’s what all the newspapers are saying. We’ve tried to bring order to Vietnam, but we’re meddling in another country’s regime. What are you going to be fighting for? Do you even know?”
“It’s what I want, Mother,” Jonathan replied. He walked towards her, leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll write as soon as I get there.”
After he left, Miller stormed up to the door and slammed it. Leaning against it, she felt her whole body tremble. After a minute or two, she composed herself, smoothed down the front of her peach Chanel suit and checked her hair in the small mirror by the door. As she did so, there was a knock and Polly’s long face peeked through the crack as she pushed the door open.
“Sorry to bother you, Mrs. Miller, but your nine o’clock is here.”
Miller walked back to her brown leather office chair and seated herself back down, straightening her name plate on the desktop.
“You can go right in,” Polly said as she opened the office door. Chloe nodded her thanks and smiled at Principal Miller.
“Hello, I’m Chloe Clark, my son David is starting preschool today and I was told you wanted to see me?”
“Yes, of course, Mrs. Clark,” Miller began, pausing when she saw Chloe redden slightly. “It is Mrs. Clark, right?”
“Yes, but my husband isn’t with us. He’s away,” Chloe replied.
“Away where?” Miller pressed, noting the lack of a wedding ring on Chloe’s finger.
“He’s in the military. Was in the military. He died. He was in the army.” Chloe smiled but could feel a bead of sweat drip between her shoulder blades.
Miller’s face twitched. “Seems like a common desire around here today, the army,” she muttered back.
“Pardon me?”
“Oh, nothing. I’m sorry to hear about your husband. So, Mrs. Clark, that’s not a local accent you got there. Where are you from originally?” Miller smiled and leaned back in her chair.
“Alabama. But we moved here to get a fresh start and…” Chloe stopped, noticing a flicker in Miller’s eyes.
“We?”
“Me and my sister. She’s been staying with me since David’s father died.” Chloe shifted uncomfortably in her seat and wiped her brow.
“Oh, I see. You mentioned a fresh start?” Miller’s inquisitive blue eyes were penetrating. “From what?”
Chloe licked her lips. “Nothing really. Just wanted to get away from the painful memories, plus we just wanted to live by the sea, you know? Sea air, good for you, isn’t it?”
“Well, I can’t argue with that. Lived here all my life. OK, Mrs. Clark, well, thank you for coming in today. I’m sure our school will offer the best possible education for your son. Polly will go through all the forms with you.” Miller stood up and showed her out to Polly who was waiting with a clipboard.
“Thank you, Principal Miller. I’m sure it will,” Chloe said, her face flushed.
Shona came out of David’s bedroom later that evening wearing a beaming smile.
“He had a great first day, couldn’t stop going on about it.” She sat down next to Chloe on the couch. “You OK, honey? You’ve been quiet all night.”
Chloe lifted her head off her hand and sat up straight. “Yeah, it was just this morning when I met the principal. She’s a bit of a dragon.”
“Really? In what way?”
“Just the questions she was asking and the look on her face when I answered. I felt like a criminal.”
Shona laughed. “I ain’t never met a woman you can’t give as good as you get back to.” She laid her head back and closed her eyes.
“Yeah, I know. But it was just the way she looked at me when I told her David’s father was dead. It just came out. She acted like I wouldn’t be able to cope without a man around, like David is suffering or something. Bet she has her man around doing everything for her.” She turned to face Shona. “We’ve done OK so far with David, haven’t we? He’s a good boy and he’s happy, don’t you think? Shona?”
Shona was fast asleep, snoring softly. Sighing, Chloe sat back in her seat and stared at the TV.
“So, you liking preschool, baby?” Chloe asked as she combed his hair after breakfast.
“Yeah. I get to play with the red wagon today,” David replied.
“That’s good. You like red. How’s your teacher, you like her?”
“She’s funny and kind. She has brown hair like you, Mommy.”
“Really? Well, that’s good.” She paused and pushed David out to arm’s length to admire him. “Now, aren’t you such a handsome little boy. Go get your shoes.”
David stayed still and looked at Chloe with his dark brown eyes. “Mommy?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Why don’t I have a daddy?” Chloe’s heart froze. It was the question that she’d dreaded. “I see other kids with their daddies. Bobby Kelly in my class says his daddy picks him up at home time. Bobby said everyone gets a daddy when they’re born. Where’s mine?”
Chloe bent down to stroke her son’s face. “Um… Well, you got me and you got Shona to look after you. You love Shona, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then don’t you go worrying about what Bobby Kelly said, OK?”
“OK, Momma. Can I have macaroni and cheese for dinner?”
Chloe laughed. “Of course you can. Now scoot. Go find those shoes.”
Chapter 31
Shona burst in to find Chloe in the kitchen after retrieving a letter from the mailbox outside.
“It’s from Elbie!” Shona yelled. “I recognize the postmark. And that spidery handwriting,” she added, laughing.
“Well, go on, open it!” Chloe exclaimed as she dried her soapy hands on a dish towel.
Shona ripped open the letter and read the first few lines. “He’s all good, his daughter’s doing well and, oh my, she’s just had another baby. A boy this time. His first grandson. Oh Chloe, he’ll be tickled pink about that.” Shona clutched the letter, her eyes shining. “I gotta write back, tell him about David starting preschool and everything.” She ran into the living room and over to the bureau. Taking out a piece of fresh white notepaper, she began composing her return letter.
“I wrote a letter to my mom yesterday, telling her the same thing. It’s on the bureau with some other letters I need to send out. Could you put the one to my mom in Elbie’s envelope, please, before you seal it? And ask if he still doesn’t mind mailing it for me from Tennessee?”
“Uh-huh, sure,” Shona replied, not looking up.
“OK, well I’d better get the little guy off to school. I’ll see you after work?”
“Mmm…” Shona replied, deep in thought.
Chloe and David left Shona chewing the end of her pencil, thinking of all the stories to tell Elbie. Half an hour later, she slipped her letter in the envelope and closed it. Picking up the other mail on the bureau, she set off to the post office with a long-missed spring in her step.
Over macaroni and cheese, the family sat laughing about the day’s events. Shona had closed the garage up early and was enjoying the seventh story David was telling, this one involving whose wagon was faster, his or Bobby Kelly’s. Later, when he’d gone to
bed, Chloe sat next to Shona who was reading the newspaper.
“It was so sad today at the school gates. David’s noticing all the daddies picking up their kids. He hasn’t asked again but I can see the confusion in his face. He doesn’t know his daddy will be rotting in some prison cell somewhere for the rest of his life.”
“That’s where he belongs,” Shona lay her newspaper down on her lap. “Do you miss yours?”
Taken slightly aback by the question, Chloe wrinkled her brow. “Not at all. I mean, I miss who he could have been, and who he was before I went off to college. But when I came back to Daynes and saw all those barbaric things he did, my feelings changed. I don’t miss the man he is now. Not one bit.”
“Then David will be fine without his father,” Shona reasoned. “One day we’ll tell him, but not yet. Let him think for just a little bit longer that all men are gentlemen.”
Chloe nodded her agreement.
Early Wednesday morning, Chloe set off into town to pick up a few groceries. After her bakery run, and the usual comments from a doe-eyed Alice asking her how Shona was, she ran into Minnie who was just about to leave for her weekly visit to her husband.
“How is he doing now? Shona told me about his fall,” Chloe asked.
“Oh, he’s doing much better now. Damn doorstop, I tell him all the time to watch that thing when he’s coming out of his room, but will he listen?” Minnie shook her head. “I think his mind is still distracted worrying about this town and the mess Lawrence has made of it these last few years. It’s just not the same since Everett was in charge. God willing, one day he might agree to take his old job back. Anyway, there’s me rambling away. How are you all doing? How’s little David doing at preschool?”
“He’s absolutely loving it. He adores his teacher,” Chloe gushed.
“Yeah, I heard she’s real nice. Pretty girl, ‘bout the same age as you.” Minnie saw a look of confusion on Chloe’s face. “Oh, me and Margaret Miller go way back. She told me over our monthly game of bridge.”
Chloe shuddered at the mention of the principal.
“You’ve obviously met her?” Minnie gave a knowing smile. “She’s alright when you get to know her, just has very high standards for her school.”
“I didn’t know you two knew each other,” Chloe replied, biting the corner of her lip as she remembered the lies she’d spun Miller about David’s father.
“Don’t you worry, honey. I won’t say a word. I know what’s at stake for you and Shona. I’d better go. William will be waiting and if this pie goes cold before I get there I’ll be in big trouble.” Minnie said her goodbyes and headed back across the sidewalk to her parked car.
Heading back into the town square, Chloe sat on the bench and stared across to the garage where she saw Shona in mid-flow, talking to Eric Everett and laughing at something he’d said. As she was about to set off for home, a young couple with a stroller crossed her path. She noticed the baby had carelessly dropped a pacifier on the ground and, after picking it up, Chloe set off after the couple.
“Excuse me, sir, ma’am? Your baby dropped…” She paused when the man turned around. He looked vaguely familiar and after a few seconds both of their mouths formed into a grin of recognition. “Robert? Hi. Do you remember me?” Chloe said.
“Why, of course I remember you, Mrs. Clark,” he said, tipping his fedora hat. “Ain’t every day I hit on a married woman. Married myself now, well, not myself, but…ah shucks, there’s me rambling on again.” Robert’s cheeks reddened as he reached out to pull his wife into him. “This is Janet.”
“Hi,” Janet said with a flick of her gloved hand.
“And this is our daughter, Eleanor,” Robert gushed. “That trick still works,” he added with a wink.
“Eleanor?” Chloe replied, taken aback for a moment.
“After my mother,” Janet chipped in, then gazed lovingly between Robert and their baby daughter.
“What a beautiful name,” Chloe said, her voice barely audible as her thoughts drifted to her own mother.
“Yeah, well, we’d better be getting this little one back home for her feeding. It was real good to see you again, Mrs. Clark. You take care now.”
“You too, Robert. And you, Janet. You make a wonderful couple,” Chloe said, the last haunting sentence leaving her lips before she’d even realized it.
She watched as they walked away, Robert’s arm draped around his wife’s shoulders as she pushed the stroller. “Bobby Kelly says everyone gets a daddy when they’re born,” she heard in her head as she walked slowly through the square. Feeling her head spin, she turned in the direction of the doctor’s office, rather than heading straight home, her thoughts a jumbled mess.
David flew at Shona the minute she arrived home from work. She just about caught him in her arms before he knocked her over.
“Whoa there, where’s the fire?” she exclaimed.
“Shona, Shona, look what I got.” He held in his little hand a certificate, its edges blunted from being carried all the way home.
Shona took it from him and read it. “Most improved student. Oh, I’m so proud of you, you’re so clever,” she gushed, scooping him up in her arms. “Where’s your momma?”
“She’s in the kitchen. I made a mess again.”
“Oh, well, that’s OK, buddy. Clever people are always the messiest.” She sank to her haunches and ruffled his black hair. Grinning, David ran off to play with Cooper in the front yard, leaving Shona to go and find Chloe.
“Hi honey.” Shona walked up behind Chloe and kissed her on the cheek.
“He spilled his macaroni all down the table. He got so excited to see you coming down the driveway that he jumped up from the table and…” She opened up her arms to emphasize the accident.
“Takes after me, alright,” Shona grinned, nuzzling into Chloe’s neck. “You smell real good. That a new scent?”
“That’s the macaroni and cheese he wiped on me as I was cleaning him up,” Chloe replied. “Yours is in the oven keeping warm. I was thinking, after I’ve put David to bed, we could get ourselves an early night?” Chloe turned to face Shona and wrapped her arms around her neck. Seeing Shona look over her shoulder and out of the window, Chloe stopped talking. “Are you listening?”
Shona snapped back to her senses. “Oh, sorry, I was just thinking I’d go and spend some time with David out in the yard, maybe throw around that new Frisbee thing I got him?” She refocused her eyes on Chloe. “But yeah, afterwards I’d love to snuggle up with you.” Leaving Chloe to finish the dishes, Shona ran out to the yard.
Chloe, watching from the kitchen sink, couldn’t help but admire the closeness of Shona’s relationship with him. It was all she’d ever wanted for him, to have someone to teach him stuff. “Did Shona have to be a man to do that?” she’d asked Doctor Thomas that afternoon. Deep down, Chloe knew Shona was an amazing parent, but that the intimacy she’d once felt with her had begun to wane lately. With this gnawing away at her, Chloe made her mind up that tonight she would put this right.
Chloe bathed David and read him his bedtime story in super quick time. Climbing into the shower, she began lathering her body with her most luxurious soap and washed her hair twice, not wanting the smell of dinner to linger on a single strand. She chose Shona’s favorite coconut-scented conditioner, then dressed in the red chiffon nightgown she’d bought earlier that week. She blow-dried her hair carefully, running a soft brush through it to accentuate the natural waves in her light brown hair, and applied just the merest hint of red lipstick. Looking in the full-length mirror, she saw her old self staring back, her face and body more mature though now, with more natural lines and curves. Long gone were the days when she would cake on her makeup and squeeze into tight dresses and restrictive pencil skirts when she worked for her father. Taking in a deep breath, she checked herself one more time and walked back into the living room.
Shona had taken off her denim shirt, pants and boots and was lying full length on the couch fas
t asleep.
Chloe sashayed over to Shona and lay down next to her, lifting up her arm to snuggle underneath. Lifting her lips to Shona’s forehead, Chloe planted a soft kiss there, then another one on her temple, finally coming to rest on her lips.
“Hey baby, you smell amazing,” Shona mumbled, her eyes still closed.
“I just wanted to be close to you tonight. We don’t have to go any further if you’re too tired.” Chloe stroked her fingers across Shona’s forehead, sweeping away a few loose strands of baby soft blonde hair. Her hand then drifted over Shona’s arms, lifting her undershirt over her head. Running her palm over Shona’s warm, smooth skin, Chloe felt the first ripples of arousal flutter through her as she slipped Shona’s white shorts down over her knees and dropped them to the floor with the undershirt.
“Mmm…” Shona murmured as she sleepily lifted up Chloe’s nightgown, and it joined the undershirt and shorts on the carpet. Both now naked, they lay together, skin on skin, feeling their bodies tremble in the cool evening air. Placing Shona’s head on her chest, Chloe held her tightly, her breathing matching the rhythm of Chloe’s own. Shivering, she reached up to the back of the couch and pulled a blanket over them both.
“I love you so much, Shona. I’m so messed up in the head at the moment, about a lot of things. But everything seems to go quiet when I’m lying here with you.”
“I’ll keep you safe, baby, always. Ain’t nothing and no one gonna break us. I love you too,” Shona replied, looking up at her. For a few seconds they gazed at each other, connecting on the deepest of levels once again. Shona, unable to keep her eyes open a second longer, lay her head back down on Chloe’s chest, the perfect comfort of Chloe’s heartbeat thudding against her chest sending her almost immediately into a deep sleep.