by Jane Toombs
Death and destruction mark the end."
The hair rose on Alicia's nape as she listened.
Tabitha fixed her gaze on Alicia, her gray eyes glittering wildly. "I must make a sacrifice," she whispered. "I must keep them safe."
"Yes, of course you'll keep them safe," Alicia said, taking her cousin's arm and urging her toward the stairs. "Let's go down to your room now, where we can talk about Christmas."
When Tabitha willingly followed her, she went on talking as she led the way down the stairs. "Where will you put the Christmas tree? The foyer? Is Agnes still the cook? She always makes such wonderful pies."
Reaching Tabitha's room, she brought her cousin inside with her. "Shall I brush your hair?" she asked. "You always used to like to have me do that."
"Yes," Tabitha said. "You're my friend. I need one."
Tears in her eyes at those words, Alicia brushed and tidied her cousin's hair, then dabbed at the smudges on her gown with a damp cloth. "Would you like to come downstairs with me?" she asked when she finished.
"No, I don't believe so. You are kind to invite me. I must rest now, to be fresh for tonight."
Tabitha sounded so lucid that, if it hadn't been for the incident in the tower, Alicia might have believed she was perfectly normal.
The day passed quite pleasantly, though the fog pressing against the windows made for gloominess inside the house. Micah's and Celia's happiness in being together again was a joy to watch and Alicia also had a chat with Agnes in the kitchen.
"Well, I won't say things are perfect," Agnes told her. "The missus being like she is makes for problems. But Juana keeps a careful eye on her, I will say that. I surely do miss you being here. Now, I like having my own way in the kitchen, don't mistake me, but there's a difference in that and being left on your own, if you know what I mean."
"Perhaps I should speak to Mr. Gregory about hiring a housekeeper," Alicia said.
Agnes nodded. "I wouldn't say no to that."
Tabitha came down to dinner, surprising everyone. Though she ate little and didn't appear to be following the conversation, her behavior was quite proper until the talk turned to decorating a tree for the children.
"My mother always said the Christmas tree was part of ancient pagan rites," Tabitha said. "She told me the entire pagan celebration was taken over by the Church for their own purposes."
"But Christmas commemorates Christ's birth," Richard put in.
Tabitha stared at him for a long moment before saying, "Since He has turned His Face from Hallow House, and I can only celebrate the pagan solstice rites."
She then excused herself and left the table, leaving a dearth of conversation in her wake.
When the meal was finished, Alicia went to the nursery to check on Celia and found Hilda had already put her and Micah to bed.
"They missed their naps," Hilda told her. "The missus come to see them after lunch. She don't hardly ever do that, but she did today. She taught them some rhymes and then danced in circles with them till they was plumb wore out."
Nursery rhymes, Alicia thought, pleased. Perhaps this visit was helping Tabitha, Feeling sure Boris and Richard had cloistered themselves in the library again, she decided to pay a visit to Adele and Theola.
Flustered by her knock on their door, it took them a while to calm down enough to talk to her. "Boris tells us we have no need for alarm here," Adele told her, "but it is hard to be certain there is no danger."
"You speak excellent English," Alicia remarked. They did. Except for the accent, one might be fooled into thinking they weren't foreigners.
"Cousin Boris taught us aboard the ship," Theola said. "He is a stern taskmaster."
"We are not afraid of him," Adele said. "If not for my brother, we would be dead."
"Or worse." Theola's voice quavered as she spoke.
To get off this unhappy subject, Alicia said, "I like the way you've had the room arranged so this is a sitting room and the other your bedroom with two beds."
"Boris arranged it all," Adele said. "He has been good to us."
"He says it is safe here," Theola added.
Her heart going out to these frightened young women, Alicia said, "You indeed have a safe haven here in Hallow House."
The two woman exchanged glances. "So Boris says," Adele agreed. "He said he named it to be a sacred place for his family. But this does not seem like a sacred place, especially since it resembles some castles in Russia,” She hugged herself as though cold.
"Perhaps it represents his fondness for the land where he was born," Alicia said.
Theola shook her head. "I would say his fondness for money, rather. Those who lived in that palace this resembles were wealthy beyond belief."
"Rich but unfortunate," Adele added.
"Boris’s wife does not think Hallow House is safe," Theola said. "She tells us a curse has been laid upon this house and all who live here are doomed."
"We asked Boris," Adele went on, "and he said not to listen to her, that her mind was affected. I mentioned the Indian she told us about and he did admit he had been warned by a delegation of local Indians not to build Hallow House where it now stands."
"So we do not know what to believe," Theola said.
Alicia could only hope Tabitha hadn't chanted any of her doom-laden verses at them, poor things.
"Boris's wife speaks of what we understand to be a baby's wandering ghost," Theola added.
So Alicia related the sad story of Micah's dead twin. "We've never told Tabitha about the other child," she said, "and yet she seeks him. There is no ghost. Ghosts do not exist."
Again the two women looked at one another. "It is different in Mother Russia," Adele said. "We have many ghosts. Perhaps this country is too new for ghosts."
"Yet Cousin Boris told us on the boat about the many native peoples living here before the Europeans sailed to this continent," Theola put in. "There could be Indian ghosts haunting Hallow House."
Chapter 5
Unnerved by her conversation with Adele and Theola, Alicia decided not to try to talk any more to Tabitha this evening. She'd only been back at Hallow House for a day and already a pall seemed to be settling over her, much like the tule fog outside.
This was made worse by the fact that she found herself still longing for a look from Boris, the touch of his hand and so much more. As a married woman she knew she mustn't think about such things, but she couldn't help herself. The best she could do was stay as far away from him as possible and see that they were never left alone together.
She didn't believe in ghosts nor voices coming through the air from unseen people. Nor did she believe in curses. Yet in Hallow House, such fancies seemed more plausible than they did elsewhere.
In the bedroom she shared with Richard, she readied herself for an early night, despite the fact she wasn't unusually tired. Richard came in as she was climbing into bed.
"I can't think why I feel so exhausted," he said. "My years must be catching up to me."
"You're not that old," she chided.
"Almost twenty years older than you, my dear. Ah, well, perhaps a good night's rest will help."
Richard fell into a deep sleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow, but Alicia lay awake for some time. When she finally fell asleep, she woke abruptly, thinking she'd heard Tabitha call her name. Easing quietly from the bed, she padded to the door, opened it a crack and listened. The kerosene lamps in sconces along the corridor wall cast enough light so she could see there was no one in the hall.
A faint sound she couldn't identify drifted to her. Had it come from the third floor, where the towers were? Was Tabitha up there? If so, what could she be doing? Alarmed, Alicia slipped through the door and eased it shut.
She had little desire to climb to the third floor in the middle of the night, but she could at least check to see if Tabitha was gone from her room. As she neared, she noticed Tabitha's door was ajar. Had Boris stopped having her locked in at night?
A
pparently he had, because Tabitha was not in the room. Reluctantly, Alicia started along the other corridor, where the stairs to the towers were. She found the stair door closed and stood there a moment, nerving herself to open it and go up.
Suddenly a man's arms came around her, turning her. Before she could so much as gasp, she stared into Boris's dark eyes. He covered her mouth with his own and, as it always had been when he touched her, the world disappeared.
She was only vaguely aware what was happening when he led her into his bedroom, to his bed. Then they were together, two become one, in a loving that seared her very soul.
Only much later, when the world began to come back into focus, did Alicia remember why she'd been standing in the hall.
"Tabitha," she whispered. "I think she's up on the third floor."
He muttered what sounded like a curse in Russian and rose from the bed. Hastily donning her nightgown, she followed him up the stairs to the tower room, finding a candle burning in the north tower. But the room was empty. "Listen," Alicia whispered, thinking she heard a high- pitched faint keening.
"It's coming from that damned room of hers," Boris growled and strode to the black door. "Locked. How the hell did she get in there?"
"Tabitha!" Alicia cried. "Let us in."
There was no answer, no sound at all.
Boris flung himself down the stairs--to get the key, Alicia presumed. The hair rose on her nape as she waited alone in the near darkness of the landing. Even now, frightened and unnerved, she didn't believe in ghosts, but she could almost believe something malevolent waited in the wavering shadows cast by the flickering lamp in the south tower.
It seemed forever before Boris returned with the brass key. "Forgot where I hid the damn thing," he muttered as he shoved it into the lock.
As he turned the key, Alicia was reminded of the first time she and Boris had stood before this door and she shuddered, suffused with dread.
In the light of one guttering candle, Tabitha lay face up on the floor, sprawled motionless across the brownish circle on the floor. Her features were frozen in such a ghastly grimace of terror that Alicia knew she must be dead. Boris carried Tabitha's limp body down to her room and laid her on the bed with Alicia close behind. He looked at her and shook his head. "She's gone," he said.
They stared at one another until it occurred to Alicia that she must wake Richard and tell him what had happened. When she approached their room, she saw the door was ajar. She opened it farther and gasped at the sight of her husband face down on the floor.
Dropping to her knees she tried to find some sign of life, but there was none. Richard, too, was dead.
The double tragedy, occurring as it had in the midst of her own sinning, stunned Alicia. But, since Boris closeted himself in his room, retreating into himself, there was no one except her to tend to all the necessary details. Tabitha was buried in a local cemetery. Though notified, Mr. Woodward replied he was unable to attend. Richard was buried in his family plot in San Francisco.
Alicia had left Celia behind at Hallow House where Hilda could tend her, knowing she'd have to return once she'd taken care of Richard's estate.
Though she could never forgive herself for what she'd done that fateful night, Boris needed her. So did little Micah. Without her presence there, she feared what would happen at Hallow House.
But she made a vow that she would never again allow herself to so much as exchange a kiss with Boris.
As it turned out, she needn't have worried. He emerged from the ordeal an old man, showing no interest in anything but his thriving, multiplying business. Whatever attention Micah got came from her, and she came to love the boy as much as her own daughter.
Chapter 6
The year Micah graduated from Stanford University, President Harrison was invited to give the commencement address but regretfully declined. Celia, who'd been away at a finishing school, had come back to Hallow House six months before.
She and Micah greeted one another as though they been separated for years--which wasn't true, since they'd been together during vacations. Watching their affectionate greeting, it occurred to Alicia, they were, perhaps, a bit too affectionate. Disturbed, she sought out Boris, who should have been there to greet his son, but wasn't.
Over the years, she and Boris had maintained a polite, if distant relationship. He'd always granted her every request concerning the house and the children as long as he didn't have to be involved. This was different. She would need his help in separating Micah and Celia before it was too late.
`Finding him seated behind his desk in the library, she shut the door behind her and marched over to confront him about this untenable situation.
"Boris," she said. He didn't look up at her, didn't move at all. Was he asleep?
She called his name louder, got no response and reached to shake his arm. When she touched him, he slumped sideways in the chair.
"Oh, dear God, no," she whispered, going around the desk. When she was certain he was dead, she held his head to her breast for a moment, murmuring, "My love, my love."
After the funeral, after seeing him laid next to Tabitha in what was now the Gregory plot, Alicia reflected that, once again, she was left to cope with the resulting problems. There were lawyers and business associates to help Micah with his initiation into the business, but there was no one to help her find a solution to the situation facing her when Micah announced that he and Celia planned to be married.
"No!" she cried. "Impossible!"
Micah stared at her in disbelief. "Why?" he demanded.
Alicia couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth. He shouldn't be burdened with the knowledge his father was an adulterer any more than Celia should have to bear the terrible truth about her mother.
"The problem is you two are related," she said lamely.
"You and my mother were only distant cousins," Micah countered. "I can't believe that bothers you enough to oppose our marriage. If it does, much as we would regret to hurt you, we'll marry without your approval."
Alicia held her tongue and suffered through the wedding, listening with a heavy heart to all the remarks about what a perfect couple they were--she so fair and he so dark.
After the wedding and their honeymoon in Hawaii, they remained in Hallow House. After all, as Micah said, it had always been home to both of them and, besides, they didn't want to leave her all alone.
A year later, their first son was born, to Alicia's intense relief, apparently a perfectly normal baby.
"We're thinking of calling him Woodrow," Micah said, "after President Wilson. My mother's name was Woodward and it's quite similar. What do you think?"
Alicia felt they'd be better off without any reminder of the Woodward name. She couldn't tell them why so she came up with an alternate suggestion. "How about your middle name?" she asked.
"Ivan?" he frowned.
"That's John in English," Celia said. "I like the name John."
***
When John was three, Celia bore twins, a bit prematurely, but both healthy, perfectly formed boys they called Vincent and Vladimir. Again, Alicia felt her prayers had been answered.
When the twins were three, playing outside on the grounds with John under the supervision of a nursemaid, Vladimir was bitten by a rattlesnake and died in convulsions. After doing her best to console her daughter, Alicia withdrew for several weeks.
Was this retribution for her sin? It was too late to undo what had been done, but, driven by her conscience, she began writing a journal and, in it, told the terrible truth. Once it was written, she felt as though a weight had been lifted from her. She took care, though, to add the journal to those of Tabitha's she'd left with Theola and Adele for safekeeping. She wasn't sure she'd discovered all of Tabitha's journals, but that couldn't be helped.
"None of these are to be shown to the family," she cautioned Adele and Theola, knowing they'd do as she asked and keep the journals secret.
Then she took over the housekeeping
reins once more, since Celia, always a dreamy girl, didn't care to be involved in daily household details.
Alicia kept a sharp eye on John and Vincent, alert for any kind of mental aberration. Perhaps because she was focused on them, she didn't notice at first that her daughter's behavior had changed.
After Vladimir's death, Celia had been so afraid that something would happen to Vincent that she coddled him too much. For some reason she didn't seem to worry about John. It must have been then, Alicia realized later, that Celia had started drinking brandy every day.
The business, expanding again, required Micah to spend half his time in San Francisco, so he was often away from Hallow House.
Busy with hiring a tutor to instruct John and finding a good cook to replace the last, inadequate one, Alicia didn't discover for some time that Celia had somehow found one of the keys to the room behind the black door and was spending time inside.
Trying not to show how upset she was, Alicia asked Celia to please not use that room.
"Why not?" Celia demanded. "Everyone needs a place of their own--I've taken that room for mine."
"Micah's mother died in there."
"Micah's father died in the library and we all use that room," Celia pointed out. "I don't see what the problem is."
"I'd feel better if you didn't go in there."
"Last week you were telling me it wasn't becoming for a lady to overindulge in brandy. Now it's the room with the black door. Mother, for heaven's sake, I'm not a child--I have children of my own."
"What do you do in there?" Alicia asked bluntly.
"That happens to be my business. I don't mind telling you, though. I read. Don't ask me what, since I'm sure you wouldn't approve of that either."
At her wit's end--why would Celia choose the darkest room in the house to read--Alicia waited impatiently for Micah to come home and talk to his wife. He was due to return to Hallow House the following week, thank God.
In the meantime, Alicia searched for and found her own key to the black door. The key Celia was using must have been Boris's. Unfortunately, Alicia had never thought of looking for it.