Star

by Steel, Danielle

  He never told me how handsome you were, Captain. She giggled and pressed close to him, smelling of cheap perfume and wine, as Boyd then introduced him to their father, but it was obvious from the disapproving look of the older man who shook Spencer's hand that relations with his son were strained, and it was easy to figure out that it was because of Hiroko.

  Spencer stood in their midst for a little while, reminiscing with Boyd and Tom, and then left them to help himself to a glass of the ranch wine. He chatted with a few of the guests, and then wandered off to stand alone beneath the trees for a time, feeling the peace of the countryside stir something in him that had long been forgotten. His life was so full of urban pursuits and his studies at Stanford that he seldom had time to drive out alone to a place like this. It was like a step back in time, the old people sitting beneath the trees at the tables with the white linen cloths fluttering gently in the breeze, and the children running and shouting in the distance. If he closed his eyes, he imagined that it could be in France, or almost in another century, the families and friends talking and laughing, and the hills stretching beyond them, as he stood beneath the enormous trees, and then suddenly he sensed that someone was watching him. He turned and saw a beautiful child staring at him, she was barefoot, and taller than most of the women there, but there was no doubt in his mind that she was still a little girl. A child with the body of a woman, and huge blue eyes that seemed to pierce to his very soul as she watched him. A long, graceful hand swept a mane of white-blond hair away from a face that startled him with its beauty. He stood without moving as their eyes met, and neither of them spoke as he looked at her, unable to tear his eyes away from her. He had never seen anyone as (beautiful, or as innocent, in her simple dress, her feet bare as she stood in the grass, and he longed to reach out and touch her.

  Hello. He spoke first and she seemed afraid to answer. He wanted to smile at her, but he felt paralyzed by the effect of her eyes, they were a blue he couldn't remember ever having seen before, the color of a lavender summer sky in early morning. Are you having fun today? It seemed a stupid thing to say, but he couldn't tell her how lovely she was and it was all he wanted to do as she watched him. And then slowly, she smiled at him, walking carefully toward him like a young doe emerging from the forest. She was curious about who he was, he could see it in her eyes, and he was afraid he'd frighten her away if he moved any closer. He would have to let her come to him, and he wanted to hold out a hand to bring her nearer.

  Are you a friend of Tom's? Her voice was deep and smooth, and as silky as the pale blond hair that seemed to beg him to touch it. But he had to maintain some sense of normalcy. She was only a child, and he was surprised by what he was feeling. There was none of the obvious sex about her that there was about Ginny Webster in her tight pink dress, instead she was all delicate sensuality, like a fragrant flower growing wild on a mountain hilltop.

  We were in the army together in Japan.

  She nodded, as though it didn't surprise her. She knew she'd never seen him before. In truth, she had never seen anyone like him. There was a polish to the man and a quiet sophistication that fascinated her. Everything about him was immaculate and expensive, from the perfectly cut blazer to the impeccable white pants, the bright silk tie, and the elegant hands. But more than that, she was fascinated by his eyes. There was something about him that drew her to him like a magnet.

  Do you know Boyd Webster? She dock I her head to one side in curiosity, her hair cascading freely over her shoulder. He was in Japan with Tom too.

  He nodded, riveted to her, wondering who she was, as though it mattered. I knew them both. He didn't tell her he had been their CO. It was unimportant. And Hiroko too. Do you know her?

  She shook her head slowly. No one's allowed to talk to her.

  He nodded, sad for them, but not surprised. It was what he had feared for them from the first and now this startling creature had confirmed it. That's too bad. She's a nice girl. I was at their wedding. It was hard finding things to say to her, because she was so young, and because he felt everything in him constrict with longing as he looked at her, and then he wondered if he was crazy. She was a child, he told himself, or a very young girl anyway. She couldn't have been more than fourteen or fifteen, and yet everything about her made him feel breathless.

  Are you from San Francisco? He had to be. People in the valley didn't look like him, and she couldn't imagine being from anywhere farther than San Francisco.

  I am now. Actually, I'm from New York. But I'm going to school here. He smiled at the words, and she laughed openly, a clear sound like a mountain stream, as she came a little closer. The other children were still playing in the distance, and they didn't seem to have missed her.

  What kind of school? Her eyes were bright and alive, and he sensed that hidden beneath the shyness was mischief.

  Law school.

  That must be hard.

  It is. But it's interesting, and I like it. What do you do? It was a foolish question and he knew it. What could she do at her age, other than go to school and play with her friends in the valley.

  I go to school. She pulled a long blade of grass from where she stood and played with it.

  Do you like it?

  Sometimes.

  That sounds about right. He smiled at her again and wondered what her name was. Probably Sally or Jane or Mary. People didn't have unusual names here. And then, as though it would matter to her, he introduced himself, and she nodded, still watching him with cautious fascination.

  I'm Crystal Wyatt. The name seemed perfect for her.

  Are you related to the bride?

  She's my sister.

  He wondered that Tom hadn't waited for her instead, but perhaps people here didn't realize how incredibly beautiful she was, although it was hard to imagine that they didn't.

  It's a beautiful ranch. It must be a nice place to live.

  She smiled then, more openly than before, as though anxious to share a secret. It's prettier back in the hills, there's a river you can't see from here. My dad and I ride up into the mountains together sometimes. It's beautiful back there. Do you ride? She was curious about him, almost as curious as he was about her, as he listened to her.

  Not very well. But I like it. Maybe I'll come back some day and you and your dad can show me. She nodded, as though she liked the idea, and then someone called her. She ignored it at first, and then turned, and was sorry she had. It was her brother. Spencer felt his heart sink. They had finally missed her. It was nice talking to you. He knew that in a moment she would leave him, and he wished he could reach out and touch her for just an instant. He was afraid he would never see her again, and he wanted to make time stand still so he would always remember that moment, beneath the trees ' before she grew up ' before she went away ' before life could change her.

  Crystal! There were several voices raised in chorus now. And there was no ignoring them. She shouted to them that she would be there in a minute.

  Will you really come back one day? It was as though she sensed it too. As though she didn't want him to leave her, she had never seen a man as handsome as he was, except the movie stars she'd pinned up on her wall. But he was different, he was real. And he talked to her as though she weren't a baby.

  I'd like to come back. Now that I know Boyd is here, maybe I'll drive up sometime to see him. She nodded, as though in silent approval. I'll come to see Tom too ' His voice drifted off, wanting to say and you, but he knew he couldn't say that to her. She would have thought he was crazy, and he didn't want to scare her. Maybe it was the wine, he told himself, maybe she wasn't as beautiful as he thought she was, maybe it was just the mood, and the day, and the aura of the wedding. But he knew it was more than that, that she was more than that. And then, with a last look, and a shy smile, she waved and went back to the others. He stood watching her for a long time, as her brother said something to her, pulled her hair, and then suddenly she was running after him, and teasing and laughing, as if she had fo
rgotten they had ever met, but as he started to walk away he saw her turn toward him and stand for an instant, watching him, as though she wanted to say something to him, but she didn't. She returned to watching the others as he walked back to Boyd and Hiroko.

  He saw her again before he left, standing on the porch, talking to her mother, and it was obvious she was being scolded for something. She carried a heavy platter into the kitchen, and she didn't come out again, and a moment later, he was driving away, still thinking of the child he had met. She was like a wild colt, beautiful and untamed and free, the child with the eyes of a woman. He laughed at himself then. It was crazy. He had a life to live in a world far from here. There was no reason for him to be attracted to a fourteen-year-old girl in the lush wilderness of the Alexander Valley. No reason except that she wasn't just any girl. Even her name told him she was different. Crystal. He said it to himself as he drove away, remembering his promise to Boyd and Hiroko to come back and see them after the summer. Maybe he would ' maybe he really would ' the odd thing was that suddenly he knew that he had to.

  And as Crystal helped her mother clear the last of the platters away, she found herself thinking of him, the handsome stranger from San Francisco. She knew who he was now. She had heard Tom talking about him, his commanding officer in Japan. Tom had been pleased he'd come to the wedding, but he had more important things to think about. He and Becky had left in a shower of rice for their honeymoon by the ocean in Mendocino. They'd be gone for two weeks, and then they'd come home to live in the cottage on the ranch, and work with her father, and have babies. It all seemed so boring when Crystal thought of it. So expected and ordinary. There was nothing magical about their lives, nothing rare and unusual, unlike the people she dreamed about, or the movie stars she read about. She wondered if she'd be like that one day, married to one of the boys she knew, one of Jared's friends, one of the boys that she still hated. It was odd, as she thought of it, she felt pulled in two directions, toward the familiar world she knew ' and a world far beyond it, full of mystery and handsome strangers, like the one she had met at her sister's wedding.

  It was midnight by the time they'd finished the dishes and cleaned up the last of the mess left over from the wedding. Everything was put away, and Grandma had already gone to bed. The house seemed oddly quiet as Crystal said good night to her parents and her father walked her slowly to her room, and kissed her on the cheek with a tender look.

  It'll be your turn one day ' just like Becky.

  She shrugged, not anxious for it, and Jared hooted as he walked past to his own bedroom.

  Her father smiled down at her again.

  Want to ride with me tomorrow? I've got some work to do you could help with. He was so proud of her, so much more than she knew, as she smiled up at him and nodded.

  I'd like that, Daddy.

  I'll wake you at five. Get some sleep now. He ruffled her hair and she closed the door softly. It was the first night she would sleep alone in the room without her sister, and it seemed so peaceful. It was her domain, finally. And she lay in bed, thinking of Spencer as she drifted off to sleep. And in his bed, in a hotel room in San Francisco, Spencer Hill was thinking of Crystal.

  Tom and Becky's first baby was born ten months to the day after their wedding. He was born in the cottage on the ranch, with Minerva and Olivia standing by, and Tom pacing the porch of the main house as he waited. He was a healthy baby boy and they named him William after Tom's father, William Henry Parker. Becky was fiercely proud of him, as was Tom. It was a bright shining moment in what had otherwise been a difficult year for the Wyatts. Their crops had been poor after torrential rains, and Tad had come down with pneumonia and never quite seemed to recover. He was still weak when the baby was born, but he tried to pretend that he wasn't. Only Crystal knew how desperately tired he was. They went on shorter rides now, and he always seemed grateful to come home and go to bed, sometimes without even eating his supper.

  But he began to improve finally by the time they christened the baby on the day that India became independent, two days before Crystal's sixteenth birthday. He was christened in the same church where Toiri and Becky were married the year before, and Olivia invited sixty of their friends for lunch. It was a less elaborate party than the wedding, but it was festive anyway. Ginny Webster was godmother, and Tom asked Boyd to be his godfather, which was a sensitive subject with the Wyatts. Hiroko was still as shunned as she had been the year before. Crystal was her only friend now and even she didn't know that Hiroko was pregnant. And the local doctor had refused to take care of her. His own son had died in Japan, and he told her bluntly that he wouldn't help bring her child into the world. Boyd had had to take her to San Francisco to find a doctor, and he couldn't afford to take her there often. Dr. Yoshikawa was a gentle, kind man. He had been born in San Diego and lived in San Francisco all his life, but he had still been interned with the rest of his people after Pearl Harbor. For four years he had cared for them in the camp, giving them what little help he could with the limited supplies at hand. It had been a time of anguish and frustration for him, but he had earned the respect and devotion of the people he had cared for and lived with. Hiroko had heard about him from the only Japanese woman she knew in San Francisco, and she had gone to him trembling, after the embarrassment of being turned away by the doctor everyone thought so well of in the valley. Boyd had stood beside her as Dr. Yoshikawa examined her, and he assured them both that everything seemed to be normal. Only he knew how difficult it was for her, being in a strange land with people who hated her because of the color of her skin, the slant of her eyes, and the fact that she'd been born in Kyoto.

  You should have a nice healthy baby in March, Mr. Webster, he told Boyd, and then smiled at Hiroko. He spoke to her in Japanese, and Boyd could see her relax as the doctor spoke to her. It was as though for these few moments she had come home, and she could trust him. He told her to rest every afternoon, and to eat well, and recommended a diet of all her favorite Japanese foods, which made her giggle.

  And Boyd was helping her prepare one of them when Crystal knocked on the door the day after they'd been to the doctor in San Francisco. She had dropped in from time to time, just to say hello and chat for a little while, ever since Becky's wedding. No one knew that she came, and Boyd was wise enough not to divulge the secret.

  Hi, there, anyone home? She had left one of her father's horses tethered outside, and she walked in cautiously, her hair piled high on her head, under a cowboy hat, and she was wearing blue jeans. She was even prettier than she had been the year before, and even more womanly now, but there was still an aura of innocence about her. And she seemed totally unaware of her looks, which only helped to enhance her beauty. She was wearing one of Tad's old shirts, and as she dropped her hat on a chair and wiped her brow, her mane of platinum hair cascaded past her shoulders.

  Hello, Crystal. Boyd wiped his hands on a kitchen towel, and Hiroko smiled and offered her some of the sashimi they'd been preparing. Have you had lunch? It was Saturday and she was free from school. Her father was resting, and she had nothing to do that day. She had already stopped by to visit Becky and little Willie, as they called him. He was a fat, healthy little boy, and he was already smiling.

  What is that? Crystal looked down at the raw fish in fascination.

  Sashimi, Hiroko answered with a shy smile. She was always stunned by Crystal's fair hair and big blue eyes, and wished that if she could be born again, she could look just like her. Hiroko had dreamed more than once of having her eyes fixed Western style, but they couldn't afford it, and Boyd would have killed her for even thinking of it. He loved her just as she was with all her delicate Japanese beauty.

  Hiroko was only three years older than Crystal, but there was a seriousness to her which had deepened in the loneliness of her time in the valley. Would you like to try some sashimi, Crystal-saw? Her English had improved over the past year. She read aloud to Boyd at night, working hard on her pronunciation. Crystal had even broug
ht her some of her books from school, and Hiroko pored over them diligently, learning quickly.

  Crystal sat down in the tiny kitchen with them, and cautiously tried what they told her was raw fish. She was willing to try anything, and she had shared numerous meals with them, tasting the delicacies that Hiroko prepared with nimble fingers.

  Your father is well? Hiroko asked quietly, and Crystal nodded with a worried frown.

  He's better. It was a hard winter for him. I stopped by to see Becky today, she smiled at her friend, the baby's really getting cute. And then she saw an odd look pass between them. Boyd looked at his wife encouragingly, his freckles seemed to stand out more than ever in his pale face. He was so different from Crystal, whose skin bronzed to a deep tan despite her fair hair and blue eyes. But he seemed impervious to her beauty. He had eyes only for Hiroko.

  Tell her. He was smiling at his wife, and he wanted to include their only friend in the good news that seemed less of a burden now that they had found Dr. Yoshikawa. They could ill afford a child, yet it was what they had both desperately wanted. They were only surprised it had taken so long. It had taken over two years for Hiroko to get pregnant. Go on ' Boyd nudged her, and Hiroko looked embarrassed, as Crystal waited. She was too young to suspect anything. But having babies wasn't something Crystal thought about much, and she looked at them with wide, expectant eyes, but Hiroko couldn't bring herself to say it. And finally Boyd had to do it for her. We're having a baby in the spring. He looked so proud as he said it, and Hiroko turned away shyly. She still wasn't used to his American ways, and his openness in telling people things that were intensely private, and yet she was as happy about it as he was.