Willow Pond
by
Carol Tibaldi
Willow Pond
By Carol Tibaldi
Copyright 2011 by Carol Tibaldi
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental
Special thanks to Genevieve Graham-Sawchyn for editing this book
Dedication
To my parents and to my niece, Lisa. Always in my heart.
Chapter One
Laura Kingsley Austin was Jean Harlow beautiful.
Men first noticed the butterfly tattoo, its saucy wings peeking from her cleavage; it was quite the conversation piece. Unfortunately, that wasn't what Laura had intended. It had first appeared one crazy night when she'd gone with some friends to Bacchanal, her aunt’s speakeasy, and had too much to drink. One of them dared her to get a tattoo, so she did. Ever since that night, she'd shied away from having too much booze.
Years later, everything in her life had changed. After separating from her husband three months earlier, Laura had moved into an apartment on Patchin Place in Greenwich Village. She loved the village and its diversity of people, and felt a kinship with the artists and writers living there.
Her whole apartment could have fit into one corner of Willow Pond, the huge colonial mansion she'd left, but it was all hers. She loved every cramped inch of it.
The front door of the apartment opened into a long hallway. To the left was a good sized living room, which she had decorated in the English country style. Her writing table sat in the northeast corner of that room, and it was there she now sat, surrounded by writing pads, pens, pencils and an old Remington.
Since she’d moved to the village, her life had changed more than she’d ever imagined it would. For the first time since her marriage, she felt her life was her own. She wasn't being controlled by her husband or anyone else, and neither was her son, Todd. Like her, he smiled and laughed a lot more these days.
Each day she discovered new things about herself, both as a woman and as a mother. When she’d been living with Phillip, he’d always discouraged her desire to be a writer, saying she should spend her time and energy on more “important” things. Now she pursued her goal with zest; she’d already had a short article published in The Villager, a community newspaper. She felt as though she were coming awake after a long sleep.
The village offered excitement, with all its places to go and people to meet. Phillip had never encouraged her to make friends. He’d preferred to keep her to himself, though he’d never had trouble sharing himself with as many people as possible. Especially women. Laura had been afraid to confront him about that particular issue until the day she read about him and the actress with whom he was co-starring.
Almost from the beginning of their marriage, there had been rumors about Phillip with other women. She had tried to ignore them, tried to believe she could make her marriage work, but reading about his affair in the newspaper was just too much. She couldn’t ignore it anymore. She and Todd deserved better. The day after the article appeared in the newspaper, she went to see a lawyer.
“Are you going to leave me?” Phillip asked a few days later. He’d just gotten out of the tub and stood in the middle of the bedroom, tying the sash of his white terrycloth robe.
She glanced out the window, then returned her gaze to him. He stood absolutely still, waiting. She nodded. “I can’t live with myself any longer if I keep letting you treat me this way. Todd and I will be out of here by the end of the week.”
Phillip scowled, bringing a crease to his handsome brow. “I’ll never let you keep that boy from me. Do you understand?”
She sighed. “I would never do that to you or to him, Phillip. But tell me, just how much time do you spend with him now? He hardly knows he has a father.”
“We know whose fault that is, don’t we?”
Now Laura sat on the edge of her very own bed, weary of thinking about their petty arguments. She stretched her arms over her head, then smiled at the sound of tiny footsteps padding along the hallway. After a moment, Todd appeared in the doorway, clutching his favorite teddy bear in one hand and rubbing the sleep from his eyes with the other.
“How’s my big boy today?” Laura asked, holding out her arms.
The child toddled to his mother’s side, then climbed onto the bed and into her arms. She kissed both his cheeks, loving his little boy smell and the warm, reassuring feel of his body against hers. Todd was the best thing that had ever happened to her. She’d had no idea it was possible to love anyone as much as she loved this little bundle of boy. Now that his father was no longer a part of his life, Todd was blossoming like she’d always hoped he would. He hadn’t been able to before, because he’d been too afraid of his father.
“Up,” he said and tugged on her arm. “Me hungwy.”
“Mommy is very sleepy,” she teased, laying back down.
“No!” He peered down at her and very gently pulled the lid of one of her eyes back, then screamed when she popped up, saying, “Boo!” They both shrieked with laughter as they rolled around on the bed.
“Come on,” Laura said eventually, taking his hand. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Cake.”
They wandered into the kitchen and she smothered a chuckle. “You can’t have cake for breakfast, sweetie pie. How about cereal?”
He shook his head and pointed at one of the cabinets. “Me want cake.”
Laura frowned and opened the cabinet, then realized he wanted one of the blueberry muffins she’d bought at a bakery a couple of days earlier. She took the box down and showed it to him.
“Is this what you want?” she asked.
He nodded. “Bippies.”
‘Bippies’ was his word for blueberries. She lifted him and squeezed him one more time before settling him in his high chair. She set the muffin front of him, then pulled his bottle from the refrigerator. He rewarded her with a sweet, blueberry-stained smile.
“Good?” Laura asked, sipping on her cup of coffee.
He smacked his lips. “More cake,” he said, and held up his sticky hands.
She was almost tempted, but not quite. “That’s enough for now,” she said.
When he stuck out his bottom lip she laughed, then handed him a small piece of the last muffin. After she drank her coffee and finished what was left of the muffin, she cleaned and dressed him, then dressed herself.
“Do you want to go to the park, Todd?”
He clapped his hands and headed right for his stroller. She caught up to him, helping him slip into a blue sweater with its matching cap. His little brow was tight with concentration as he climbed into the stroller by himself, and his expression made Laura think of his father. Occasionally she thought about Phillip and wondered if she’d done the right thing, taking Todd away. But all it took was one look to see how much happier their son was now. Even her aunt Virginia told her not to worry about Phillip.
“Go now!” he demanded, and she grinned. Every day he became more independent. She was torn between a mother’s pride and the grief at losing her baby.
She headed down Patchin Place slowly, enjoying the sense of freedom that had recently become so important to her. Washington Square Park was only a few blocks away from her apartment, and when she got there she let Todd out of his carriage so he could play, though she always kept a close eye on him. He toddled onto the grass and sat next to a little girl playing with a pail and two shovels. Without a word, she handed him the second shovel and the two began to happily bang on the pail.
The little girl’s mother sat next to Laura and introduced he
rself. “Isn’t it wonderful how easily they can amuse themselves?”
Laura smiled and agreed. The two mothers talked for some time, until Laura realized it was time to go home. Before she left, they agreed to meet in the park at the same time the following week. Laura left with a smile on her face, hoping she had made a new friend.
***
The phone was ringing when she walked in the door. Before she’d even taken Todd out of the carriage she picked up the receiver, and heard Phillip’s voice. She sighed. She refused to let him ruin what had so far been a wonderful day.
“Hold on a minute,” she said. “I have to take Todd out of the carriage.” She put the phone down on the table. Even when she was halfway across the room she could hear Phillip yelling about something.
“Out!” Todd demanded, holding out his arms.
Ignoring Phillip’s ranting, she lifted Todd out of the carriage, removed his hat and sweater, then gave him a couple of animal crackers to nibble on.
“What took you so long?” Phillip barked when she picked up the phone again.
“Have you forgotten that I have a child to take care of? What do you need, Phillip? I can’t talk to you very long because I have to give him lunch and put him down for his nap.”
“I don’t want you to forget that I’m picking him up tomorrow afternoon at one o’clock. Make sure you pack enough for two weeks. I don’t want to run out of things like diapers or whatever else he’ll need.”
“You won’t run out of anything, because you’re not the one who’s going to be taking care of him. Mrs. Nickerson will be there, and she knows exactly what he needs.”
“Just do as I say, Laura,” Phillip said, and hung up.
She gritted her teeth and pushed the conversation from her mind. While Todd napped she finished packing for his visit with his father. When she was done, she took out a writing pad and began jotting notes for the novel she planned to write. She’d start working on it while Todd was at Willow Pond. This was the first time she’d ever given a thought to writing a novel. Something she’d read had given her an idea, and she couldn’t get it out of her mind.
After Todd awoke from his nap, she brought him into the living room to play. He went right for his alphabet blocks, spread across the floor in a mess of red, blue, green, and yellow. Virginia had bought them for him on his first birthday. Ever since then they’d been his favorite thing to play with. He plopped down on the carpeted floor, stacked one on top of the other until he had a tower of five, then knocked them down and started all over again.
Across the room from him, Laura was working on an article for The Villager. Every few minutes she looked up and watched him knock the blocks over, then clap and laugh with glee. His joy filled her heart. Once when she looked up he caught her eye, then knocked the blocks over again.
“Oops!” he exclaimed. “All gone.”
“You little rascal,” Laura said, getting up and scooping him up in her arms. “Is it time for dinner?”
She headed into the kitchen, put him into his chair, then began to prepare his favorite dinner: chicken broth with pastina. He ate heartily, finishing two bowlfuls of soup and smacking his lips between each spoonful. When he was finished, she put some grapes on his high chair tray and put the remainder of the soup in a bowl for herself.
“Did you have fun today, Todd?” she asked.
He pointed to the tray. “More gapes.”
Afterwards, she bathed him, then carried him into the nursery where she sat in the rocking chair with him in her arms. This was their special quiet time together. It always had been. Even when they’d been living at Willow Pond, no matter what else had been going on, at bedtime she carried him into the nursery, closed the door and read one of his favorite books to him. Tonight she read Tommy’s Birthday, but instead of using the name ‘Tommy’, she used the name ‘Todd’. Every time he heard it, he laughed and kicked his feet.
By the time she was halfway through the story for the second time, she noticed he’d fallen asleep. Not wanting to let go of him, she sat a little while longer, watching her little angel sleep in her arms.
After a while she reluctantly gave him up to his crib. He sighed and rolled onto his side. She covered him then tiptoed out of the nursery. Tomorrow Phillip would come for Todd. She hated even thinking about it. If Mrs. Nickerson hadn’t agreed to take care of him she would never have let him go.
Chapter Two
Phillip was never on time for anything. Laura had learned, over their two and a half years of marriage, that he actually believed no one else had anything to do that was more important than what he was doing.
By one o’clock the next afternoon, Todd was packed and ready to go. She hated the whole idea of his leaving and kept hoping the phone would ring, that Phillip would offer some lame excuse as to why he couldn’t take Todd. Whatever the excuse was, Laura would have been happy to accept it.
It was nearly two-thirty by the time she saw the white Rolls Royce pull up in front of her building. She stared with disgust at the ostentatious car, knowing Phillip had used both it and his chauffeur to show off in front of her neighbors. It made her even angrier at him than she already was. Her neighbors had no idea she had been married to a movie star, and she liked things that way. Now they’d all want to know who had been driving the Rolls Royce.
When she opened the door, Phillip looked so annoyed she wanted to slap him. He strode into the apartment and glared down at Todd as if he were nothing more than a piece of property he owned. Todd blinked guilelessly up at him. It was past his naptime, and he had grown cranky. He tried to comfort himself by sucking his thumb.
“I thought we agreed that was a nasty habit, and you were going to break him of it,” Phillip said. “Do you want him to grow up with buck teeth?”
“Oh, please,” Laura said. “He’s tired. You were supposed to be here an hour and a half ago. Where were you?”
Phillip shifted from one foot to the other. “We got stuck in traffic.”
“I don’t believe you,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Maybe I shouldn’t let you take him. I doubt you’re going to spend much time with him anyway. Is your new starlet at Willow Pond?”
He lifted his chin. “I don’t have to tell you anything. After all, how do I know what goes on here?”
Ignoring her, Phillip walked over and picked Todd up. The little boy looked up at his father and sighed, then turned away from him. Seeing this, Laura became even less comfortable about letting Phillip take him, but she had no choice.
“I wish you’d brought Mrs. Nickerson with you. She’d know how to get him to sleep on the ride back.” Laura removed a bottle of apple juice from the ice box and handed it to Phillip. “This might help. Give it to him if he starts to cry.”
Phillip stared at the small ice box, incredulous. “My God, I never realized you had one of those … things. Why don’t you order a full sized refrigerator and send me the bill? I won’t have my son living this way.”
“No thanks. And your son is just fine. Better than ever, actually.”
Laura watched them walk down the steps, climb into the car, and drive away. When they were out of sight, she wandered gloomily back into the kitchen, wondering how she was manage the rest of the day. The phone rang, providing a welcome distraction.
“Did Phillip pick up Todd?” Virginia asked.
“Yes, unfortunately. And he was late as usual. He’s going to have a rough time with Todd and he deserves it. Thank God Mrs. Nickerson’s there.”
“I have a feeling Phillip’s going to grow tired of these visits. They’ll cramp his style. Do you have anything planned for this evening?”
Laura took a deep breath. “Not really.”
“Why don’t you come over and have dinner with me? It’ll help get your mind off Todd.”
Laura hesitated, craving solitude, but battling loneliness now that the apartment was so quiet. She accepted, and Virginia was delighted. She told her she’d put a bottle of champagne in the refr
igerator to chill.
“What are we celebrating?” Laura asked.
“The fact that you’re coming for dinner. The chef prepared Osso Buco, and I didn’t want to eat it alone.”
An hour later the taxicab pulled up in front of Virginia’s West 77th Street brownstone and Laura stepped out. Whenever she went to her aunt’s home she was struck by how opulent and yet homey it was, all at the same time. Somehow, despite her lifestyle, Virginia had managed to create a real home out of the four-story, fifteen room brownstone.
Virginia embraced her when she opened the door, then ushered her into the living room, which had been decorated in the Art Deco style. During a trip to Paris last year, Virginia had discovered Art Deco was all the rage over there. When she returned, she redecorated the living room and dining room to reflect that style.
“This room looks great,” Laura said. “Is it the way you want it to be?”
“Pretty much, though you know I’m never completely satisfied with anything. I suppose you’d call that a character flaw. We could do the same in your—”
Laura held up her hand. “No, Virginia. Please let me live my own life and make my own decisions.”
“Of course. I just want the best for you. But you’re a very intelligent young woman. I know you’ll do what’s best for you and Todd. It’s just hard for me to let go sometimes, you know?”
Laura leaned over and kissed her aunt’s cheek. “I wish Phillip understood and felt that same way. He treats me like I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Virginia snorted, waving her hand dismissively. “Does it really matter what he thinks?”
It took a moment before Laura finished pondering what Virginia had said. “I know what you’re saying is right,” she said slowly. “It isn’t that I care what he thinks, but the reality is we are still connected through Todd. I don’t want Todd to grow up thinking less of me because Phillip does.”
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