“Who are you? Where am I?” She tried to get up again.
“No, don’t get up yet.” He was strong and held her down. “I don’t want to use the constraints.”
“Am I in a hospital?”
“Goodness, no. You’re at home.”
“No. I’m not at home.”
“You are. This is your home now. You will learn to love it here and never want to leave.”
“This isn’t my home!” she insisted and peered intently at him. “Oh, my Lord, you’re Ted Newman!“
“You remembered,” he chuckled delightedly as he moved off the bed and onto the chair. “Yes, I’m Ted Newman, who worked a few feet away from you in the personnel department at Douglas Aircraft. I thought you were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I took care of you then, too. I followed you home every night to see that you got there safely.”
“Why, Ted, why?”
He smiled at the puzzled look on her face. “When I first saw you standing beside the water cooler, I knew that someday you would be mine, and I wanted to protect you until I could make a-safe and beautiful place for you.”
“What in the world are you talking about?” she gasped.
“I know it’s hard for you to understand now, but you will. You see I took care of my mother for thirty years. The last twenty of them in a room much like this. She depended on me for everything. When she died I had to give her up.”
“I’m sorry she died, but what has that to do with me? Did you follow me to Rawlings? I haven’t seen you around town.”
He smiled again. “I have many faces. Remember the man who came to your door the day that garage man confronted you in your house? I was guarding you. I would have killed him then if he had touched you.”
“It was an…old man who came to the door.”
“Yes.” He looked pleased. “I can be old, young, a Scottish immigrant, or a businessman who likes to dance with a pretty woman with red curly hair at the school carnival.”
Kathleen’s mouth opened and closed without saying a word. She was stunned and terrified and weak all in one. She feared that if her eyes left him, he would pounce on her.
“You…You were nice…then.” The words came in a hoarse whisper.
He leaned forward. “You needn’t worry that I’ll hurt you, Kathleen. I would die before I harmed a hair on that beautiful head.”
“You …undressed me!“
“I had to get you out of those awful clothes. I never touched you in a lewd way. I never will
“Yeah? You perverted son of a bitch! You try to rape me, and I’ll scratch your eyes out.”
“I swear on my mother’s grave that will never happen. That aspect of life doesn’t interest me.”
“Then why in the hell am I here?”
“Hush! I won’t put up with swear words coming from your mouth. It is coarse and unladylike. There are a few rules that I insist must be obeyed. No swearing is one of them.”
“That’s just too bad.” She threw back the covers. “I’m leaving.”
She swung her legs off the bed and felt something drag. She looked down in shocked horror. A cuff circled her ankle, and attached to it was a small chain. When realization struck, she stood and lashed out at him with her fist. He took the blow without flinching and grabbed her wrist.
“I had to do that, Kathleen. When you get used to being here, I will take it off.” He released her wrist and stepped back out of her reach.
“I’ll never get used to being here!” Sobs rose in her throat.
“You will, my darling girl. I promise you will. It will take a little time. I’ll take care of you, be so good to you that you won’t want to leave me. I’ve arranged all this just for you.” He waved his hand around the room. “We will sit together in this lovely room in the evenings. During the day while I’m away, you can read or write a book. You can’t know how I’ve dreamed of seeing you here.”
“Why?” she managed to say over the sobs in her throat.
“Why you? I understand your wanting to know that,” he said kindly. “You are everything that is lovely, virginal—”
“I’m not a virgin. I’m married!“
“I know, but that doesn’t matter. You have not been with a man other than your husband. I admire you for that. To me you are virginal—”
“I’m pregnant! You stupid fool. You could’ve killed my baby with that chloroform!“
When he heard her words, his face seemed to freeze; then his nostrils flared. Ice-blue eyes bored into hers, and she felt cold chills run down her spine.
“Whose?” he asked, the calm voice belied by the cold look on his face.
“My husband’s,” she retorted sharply, her anger overriding her fear. “I’m not a slut!“
The cold mask dropped from his face in an instant. He smiled, his eyes shining with pure pleasure.
“This is wonderful, Kathleen! Oh, my dear, beautiful, darling girl. We will have our own little princess.”
Kathleen looked at him in astonishment then said softly, “You are out of your mind.”
“Not at all, my angel.” He laughed; and when he did, she had to admit that he was quite handsome. “We will make plans. You can have anything you want for little Kathleen.”
“Little Kathleen?”
“Of course. My mother was Kathleen, my angel is Kathleen, and our little princess will be Kathleen.”
She sank down onto the bed, her mind groping for an explanation. He was crazy, but in a way that she hadn’t ever heard of before.
“It could be a boy,” she said dully.
“No! It will be a princess. I will not tolerate a male. Is that understood?”
She leaned forward and put her face in her hands. She had to think. He had said that he wasn’t going to rape her, but she couldn’t be sure. He had undressed her. At the thought of having lain naked in this strange bed with his eyes on her, her face grew hot beneath her hands. If he raped her, she would lose the baby. She had to think…to plan, and she needed time.
“Don’t be afraid of me, my angel. I’ll not hurt you.” His voice was as soft as that of a lover.
“I will hurt you, if I can.” She spoke forcefully with her face still in her hands.
“I know, and I can’t blame you for that. You don’t know me yet or understand the depth of my feelings for you.”
“I don’t want to know you. I want to go home.”
“Are you hungry yet? I’m going to have to leave and fix you something. This is Christmas Eve. You can open your gifts tonight. That will cheer you up.”
“I’ve got to use the bathroom.”
“Of course.” He opened a door opposite the bed. “I’m embarrassed that this closet is so crude. I didn’t have time to prepare it as I wanted. Everything you need is here: toothbrush and paste, soaps, shampoo, and a supply of sanitary napkins, which you will not be needing.” He picked up the box and set it beside the door to take out when he left.
“How do I get in there? I’m chained like an animal.”
“The chain reaches to any corner of the room, my Kathleen. I’m sorry I had to go to such extremes. I’ll take it off in a month or two—”
“Month or two?” Despair gave way to tears, and she began to cry. “I want to go home! Please take the chain off and let me go home. It’s…Christmas—”
“Don’t cry, darling girl. I’d take the chain off if I dared. Look. You have a new typewriter, the very best, and reams and reams of paper. You can write all the stories you want. I have a collection of your stories.
“Wouldn’t you like to see the clothes I bought for you at Neiman Marcus? I went down to Dallas and asked for a model with red hair to try on the clothes. She wasn’t nearly as pretty as you, my angel, but she was about your size. I showed the salespeople your pictures. Oh, yes, I have many pictures of you. Someday I’ll show them to you, if you like.”
If Kathleen had not been so confused, she would have noticed the beads of perspiration on the man’s forehead a
nd how his hands shook as he brushed back a strand of his brown hair.
“Do you like this?” He opened the wardrobe and brought out a lovely green dress of pure silk. “Look at the lounging robes at this end. All the shades of green. You are especially lovely in green.”
“What shall I call you?” Kathleen scarcely looked at the clothes he was showing her.
“Ted or Teddy. Mother called me Teddy. She hated it when someone called me Theo.”
“Teddy, I need to use the …closet.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” He went to the other side of the bed, knelt, and removed a padlock he had fastened through several links to shorten the chain. “Now you can go to the closet, or to any part of the room. Is the ankle bracelet comfortable?”
“I hardly know it’s there,” she replied sarcastically.
The ankle-length garment she had on was made of heavy satin, high at the neck and with long sleeves. It was modest for a nightgown.
“Excuse me,” she said pointedly.
He tucked the box of sanitary napkins under his arm “Push the button here at the side of the door if you want me. I’ll be back with your breakfast.”
Teddy unlocked the door, went out, and closed it. Kathleen heard a heavy bolt slam in place. He had wanted her to hear the clang, to know that she was locked in.
The chain on her ankle was amazingly light. She lifted the nightgown and sat down on the toilet. Her bladder was full. She couldn’t believe that she was here, locked in a luxurious room, at the mercy of some kind of psychopath. He must be totally mad if he thought that she would ever be content to stay here and let him “take care” of her, as he put it.
She went back to the bedroom and looked around. She knew instinctively that he would hurt her before he would let her leave despite his denials. He had gone to too much trouble to get her here. With the baby to consider, her options were limited, and she must plan carefully. First she had to find out where she was. Was she still in Rawlings, or had he taken her to some other place?
Logic told her that she was near Rawlings. He had been watching her…guarding her, he claimed. He had been spying on her. How else would he have acted so quickly when Gabe Thomas came into her house?
Look at this! She read the titles of books on the shelves inside the glass door of a tall, ornate secretary. A shelf of Zane Grey, works by Hemingway and Daphne du Maurier, including Rebecca, Frenchman’s Creek, and Jamaica Inn. How did he find out that these were some of her favorite books? A stack of Western magazines lay on the bottom shelf. They were from the company that published her stories.
The slanting lid on the secretary opened to provide a writing desk. Inside the pigeonholes were fancy note-paper and envelopes. Several good fountain pens rested in a holder alongside a bottle of ink.
Kathleen moved past the small gas heater that made the room toasty warm to the dressing table. Hardly noticing the expensive creams and perfumes, she sat down and gawked at herself in the mirror for a full minute. She felt as if she were living a nightmare. Nothing seemed to make sense.
A rap sounded on the door. “Kathleen, may I come in?”
“How can I keep you out? You’ve got the key.”
He unlocked the door, swung it open, and picked up a tray from the table beside the door. Kathleen could see out into a hall to what looked like the railing of a stairway. Teddy stood hesitantly in the doorway.
“I brought toast, jam, and a pot of tea. But there is something I forgot to tell you. The other end of the chain around your ankle goes through the floor to the room below. You can’t leave this room even if you should knock me senseless. If anything should happen to me, my precious girl, you would stay in this room and starve to death. I wanted you to know that so that you’ll not be tempted to do something foolish.”
“I would yell and scream and make enough noise to raise the dead.”
“There is no one to hear you. No one.” He smiled. “You’re a spunky woman, my angel. Your mind is working right now on ways to get away from me. Save yourself the effort.”
“My husband will be looking for me. He’ll tear you apart.”
“He won’t find you. If I had thought he’d be a threat, I would have eliminated him. Here, I found some green tea in Dallas. It’s your favorite, isn’t it?”
“What…do you mean …eliminate him? Would you have killed him?”
“Let’s not be crude, my darling. Killing is not a subject ladies should be concerned with. Would you like to have your tray there on the dressing table?”
“I want to know. Would you have killed Johnny if he had gotten in the way?”
“Maybe we should clear the air on this subject and be done with it. I would have killed him if it had become necessary. Johnny Henry or any other man means no more to me than a fly on the wall. Now may we drop the subject?”
Kathleen stood slowly. “He wouldn’t have been easy to kill.”
Teddy laughed. ’There are a hundred ways to kill a man without his knowing he is about to die. I know them all.”
“You tell me this and expect me to be content to stay here?”
“I told you because you insisted on knowing. Drink your tea and eat the toast. The jam is strawberry and comes from Canada. It is very good.”
“Ted Newman couldn’t have afforded all this. Who are you —really?”
“Theodore Nuding, my precious heart. I had reasons for using the Newman name in the city. Now be a good girl, eat your breakfast, and change into something pretty. This is Christmas Eve, and you are my Christmas gift.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Johnny sat at the kitchen table hunched over a plate of pork and beans and a helping of cottage cheese. He was tired. Today he had pulled the old tractor into the barn to work on it out of the wind. In the process he had smashed his finger and cut the back of his hand. To top it off, he found he had only a sliver of the Lava soap he needed to wash the grease off his hands. He was not in a very good mood.
His thoughts returned to Christmas Eves he had enjoyed on the farm in Red Rock. Aunt Dozie had bustled about, cooking pies, baking bread, and scolding him for being underfoot. Henry Ann had sneaked around wrapping presents and hiding her gifts. She always insisted that he hang a stocking and on Christmas morning, childish though it all was, he’d find a gift as well as an orange, an apple, and stick candy tucked inside.
After he and Kathleen married, she always cooked a special dinner on Christmas Eve just for the two of them. She decorated the table with candles and wore a sprig of mistletoe in her hair. On Christmas Day they would go to the McCabes’ or to Paul and Adelaide’s. One time she had persuaded him to go to Barker’s with her.
Johnny finished his meal. Sherm had gone to spend Christmas at his sister’s. Pete, no doubt, was with Dale Cole and her boy, and Jude would be with Theresa and Ryan. Johnny had thought about Kathleen all day, especially after he had dug down in his duffel bag to find the bracelet and necklace he had made for her the first Christmas he was in the Pacific.
While washing the dishes, he began to think about going into town, stopping by her house, and giving her the presents. What the hell could he say?
made these on Guadalcanal the first Christmas I was there and forgot to send them to you.
I just discovered these in my duffel bag.
All the guys made this stuff when they didn’t have anything else to do.
Hell, he’d not say any of those things. If he intended to give the presents to her, he should go in tonight and knock on her door, give her the package, and get the hell off her porch. While he was in town, he’d give Barker a call and tell him that something had come up, and he couldn’t make it to dinner tomorrow, and that would be that. Christmas Day would be like any other day. He’d spend it working on the tractor.
Now that he had a plan of action, Johnny put on his sheepskin coat, picked up the tissue-wrapped package, and went out to his car.
The stars always seemed brighter on Christmas Eve. Tonight the sky was studded with
millions of them. He thought back to the night in ’38 when he and Kathleen had driven back from visiting the McCabes. It was a night like this, but not so cold. She had snuggled close to his side with her hand resting on his thigh. They stopped at the ranch and made love for the first time. She was everything he had ever dreamed about. He had never been so close to heaven in his life.
Deep in thought, he reached town before he realized he had arrived. Twilight Gardens was closed when he passed, as were most of the businesses along Main Street. Lights were on in houses all over town. Families had gathered for Christmas Eve behind closed doors. Pete’s car was parked a block from Dale Cole’s house. He was being careful to avoid gossip, which told Johnny that Pete must really care for the woman.
Johnny’s car was the only one moving on the streets. He drove to the edge of town where Kathleen lived. Along the way lights shone from every house. When he reached hers, it was dark. He stopped in front of the house, disappointment weighing heavily on him. The Nash was there. Had she gone to Adelaide’s or to Jude’s? He doubted that she would go to Jude’s. She’d not wanted to intrude on him and Theresa.
Maybe he should just drop by Paul and Adelaide’s place and be surprised that she was there. He moved the car on down the street, turned around, and went back up Main Street. There were no lights in the back room at the Gazette office and none in the apartment upstairs.
Johnny looked at his watch. It was only a little after seven. It seemed later because the days were short at this time of year. Would Kathleen have gone to bed? Maybe she was sick. He turned the car around again, went back, and parked behind the Nash. He knocked on the door and shook the doorknob. She had taken his advice and locked it. After knocking several times, he went back to his car, sat for a minute, then headed back to the ranch.
After a sleepless night, Johnny was up at daylight. He drank warmed-up coffee and went out to do chores in the crisp cold air. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to go to Barker’s for Christmas dinner. He might feel like a fish out of water. He debated the pros and cons in his mind.
What if Kathleen completely ignored him? What if she gave him a present and he didn’t have one for her? He had already decided he wasn’t going to give her the gifts he had made during the war in front of the Flemings.
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