The Beach House

by Vicky Jones

  “They’re OK. There’s been no trouble these last few years since the police laid off them. Bertie has rights now since she registered with the Tavern Guild, and Lawrence knows he can’t touch her now, or anyone who goes in the bar. The town’s sick of his shit now anyway. They just want a quiet life. You remember when Lawrence was warned to leave me alone too, because of all that embarrassment the Children’s Bureau suffered when the papers got hold of it? Well, it’s been over a month since he last snarled at me in the street. I think he’s mellowing.” She laughed, then stopped as Chloe shot her a sharp look.

  “It’s not funny, Shona. If it hadn’t been for Minnie and her quick thinking, we would have had the whole town chasing us out. Again.”

  Shona’s grin melted away.

  “If Judge Barker hadn’t made that call to the Children’s Bureau to get them to come and check the house afterwards, we might never have gotten David back. You should be glad Lawrence is staying away from us now, not gloating about it. A ‘low profile’ is exactly what we should be keeping. I don’t need you worrying me sick all the time by drinking in that bar and getting all riled up by those table-banging radicals pushing their luck.” Chloe threw her dish towel onto the drainer and left Shona to eat her dinner in the kitchen alone.

  Chloe was just about to leave the spot on the end of David’s bed where she’d been sitting for the last twenty minutes when he turned over and looked at her.

  “Momma?”

  “Go back to sleep, baby. I was just checking in on you.”

  “Will it be OK tomorrow?” David said, rubbing his eyes.

  “Oh, of course it will be,” Chloe replied, rushing up to tuck him back in. She tapped his chin and smiled. “You’ll make lots of new friends and learn so much. Now close your eyes. You need a good night’s sleep.” She kissed him on his forehead and smoothed down his covers.

  When she returned to the living room, Shona was already sitting on the couch. She smiled up to Chloe where their eyes met in a mutual apology. “He OK?”

  “Yeah. I think he’s a little worried.” Chloe sat on the couch next to Shona, who lifted up her arm naturally for Chloe to snuggle underneath. “I think I am too.”

  Shona kissed Chloe on the head. “Why’s that, baby?”

  “Well, I heard that the principal is a bit of a force. It’s not ideal, but Fairview is the only elementary school in the town. It’s our only option. The other three in the book are miles away. What if the principal asks a lot of questions about us? I just want a decent education for our son. He deserves that.” Chloe bit at her fingernails as she spoke.

  “Just relax. We’ve lived in this town for over five years now. We’re just as good as anyone at that school, with just as many rights now. Well, you have them as his mother,” Shona added with a mirthless laugh. “Just tell her that you’ve heard all good things about her school and that it’s our first choice. Then get the heck outta there.”

  “Yeah, I guess. I wish you could come too.”

  Shona shook her head. “No, I won’t come this time. It looks better if it’s just his mother with him on his first day.” She paused and picked at a loose thread on the arm of the couch.

  “You know you mean the world to David, don’t you?” Chloe affirmed, stroking Shona’s arm.

  “I love him like he was my own. But there are some things you gotta do that I can’t be a part of. Maybe that’ll change in the future. But right now, this is the best we can hope for.”

  “I guess.”

  “Anyway, I was thinking, with David at preschool in the daytime, you’ll have so much more time to take up your hobbies again. I’ll go up in the attic and get your painting things down, how about that? I ain’t seen you paint for ages.”

  Chloe’s face lit up. “Oh, would you? That would be amazing. Thank you.”

  “Of course. I’ll make you some new canvases too this weekend. I’ve got some wood out in the shed that will work just fine. Hell, maybe you could paint me?”

  Chloe blushed, remembering the painting she’d done, purely from memory, of Shona on her horse Storm, back in Alabama when their feelings for each other were unknown. Having her sit for her in person would be exhilarating. “Thank you, Shona. That really means a lot to me. It’ll be nice just to be normal again. To be me,” she added, her eyes glowing in the semi-darkness of the living room.

  “I’ve missed you,” Shona said as she kissed the top of Chloe’s head. “I’ve missed us.”

  Chloe nodded, then snuggled deeper in Shona’s arms.

  Principal Margaret Miller strode down Fairview Elementary school’s main hallway, her Chanel heels clicking on the perfectly polished parquet flooring. She had just that year turned fifty and had been in charge of the school since the last principal retired ten years ago. As she approached a patch of dull wood on the ground in front of her, her face creased into a frown.

  “Bennett, get over here,” she barked.

  Henry Bennett, the janitor, scurried over to her. He wore blue coveralls and had a wooden broom tucked underneath one skinny arm.

  “Yes ma’am,” he said, tipping his blue cap to her.

  “When I said I wanted this floor polished to the point where I could see my face in it, I meant the entire floor. Not just the parts I can see. Look down there.” She pointed to the patch just behind a coat stand that Bennett had missed.

  “Right away, Mrs. Miller,” Bennett replied, taking out his polishing cloth. He maneuvered himself behind the coat stand and began buffing the floor. “Oh, by the way, you have a visitor waiting in your office. Polly asked me to let you know if I saw you. It’s your son, I think.”

  Miller looked surprised, then set off back to her office.

  “Is he in there?” she asked Polly, who was sitting at her assistant’s desk outside Miller’s office taking a phone call.

  Polly clamped her palm over the telephone receiver and nodded. “He didn’t say what it was, but he looked pretty nervous.”

  Miller entered her office to see her tall, well built, twenty-three-year-old son standing by her window looking out onto the green space where the third-grade children were playing. He was wearing grey slacks and a smart blue shirt. “Hello, Jonathan, to what do I owe this pleasure?” She kissed him on the cheek, then sat at her desk.

  “Hi Mom, I was just passing by and I…”

  “Get to the point, son. I’m a busy woman.”

  Jonathan ran a hand through his dark brown hair. “Well, I know we’ve had this conversation before but…”

  Miller’s heart sank. She knew what he was going to say. It had been the same conversation they’d had for the last year, and no matter how much she’d wanted the idea to go away, the subject kept coming up.

  “I’ve made some more inquiries and the draft office said I can join this month.” He watched his mother’s reaction, then his eyes hardened. “You’re not going to talk me out of it this time, Mother. It’s what I want to do. I can’t wait tables all my life—I need to be doing something that matters. It won’t be long until they make us enlist anyway. I want to go over there on my terms.”

  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 Vie
tnam, 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.”

&n
bsp; 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.