Gates of Paradise (Casteel Series #4)

by V. C. Andrews

  He ignored my outburst as if I were the t ad one and he the sane one.

  My body shuddered with sobs as he put his

  hands under my arms and lifted me from the floor. He carried me back to the bed and got te under the blanket, tucking it tightly around me once more. Then he stepped back to catch his breath.

  "You shouldn't do this to yourself, Annie.

  You'll only make yourself sicker and sicker. Try to rest. You know I want only the best for you, only the best for my little Annie."

  "I'm not your little Annie. I want Luke to come back," I muttered. "Luke will be back . . . he'll be back."

  "Of course. You'll get better and he'll return. If you'll only listen to me, have you up and around before you know it. Now, what was I thinking about?

  Oh yes, the side guards for the bed."

  He went off and returned with them. I lay there helplessly as he fastened them to the bed and pulled them up, caging me like some poor animal.

  "There. Now we needn't worry about your falling out of bed again. Feeling safe?"

  I turned away, closed my eyes and waited for him to leave the room. After I saw he was gone, I closed my eyes again and imagined I was on the gazebo in Winnerrow. I wished and wished and wished. Oh, Luke, be there for me. Hear me across distance and time and understand how terrible this is and how much I need you to take me from here.

  Farthy is not the paradise, the magic castle we thought it would be. It is a terrible prison, dark and dangerous and full of twisted despair. I should have listened to my mother . . . she knew . . . she knew.

  At first I thought I was still dreaming because when I opened my eyes, I heard the voices. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly seven P.M. I had slept through the day. The voices grew louder.

  They were coming down the corridor toward my suite.

  Moments later my bedroom door was thrust

  open and standing there before me were my aunt Fanny and . . . thank God . . . Luke.

  "Why, she looks like a baby in a crib," Fanny drawled in her shrill voice. "And look, jist look at that

  . . . her hair is a different color. It's like Heaven's hair useta be."

  "Annie!"

  I lifted my hand and Luke rushed to the bed to reach over the side guards to grasp it. As soon as our fingers touched, I began to cry.

  "Don't cry, Annie. We're here."

  They were here, really here? I feasted my eyes on them the way someone lost on a deserted island might feast her eyes on her rescuers, half in disbelief, half in overwhelming joy. It was as if a wonderful light had come into this dreary suite, as if bars had been lifted from windows and locks unfastened. My Winnerrow world came rushing through the door, flooding me with a torrent of memories and wonderful feelings. Nightmares retreated. I could escape this madness. My heart burst with joy. Luke hadn't forgotten me, hadn't deserted me. He had heard my call. Our love was so strong it would overwhelm everything in its way. Instantly, I felt my strength return. I was like a flower that had been shut up in a dark corner and never watered. Just before it wilted forever, the prison had been torn away, the light had been permitted to caress it, and loving rain had revived it. It would bloom again. I would bloom again. Luke and I would be together once more.

  "Oh, Luke, please . . take me home."

  "We will, Annie."

  Tony rushed up behind Aunt Fanny.

  "Are you satisfied now? Can't you see how sick she is?" he screamed.

  "No, Luke. No. I'm not sick . . , he's making me sick. He pats medicine in my food that makes me weak. Don't believe him."

  "Jist as I thought . jist as that man said." Aunt Fanny drew closer to my bed, her face creased with concern.

  "What man, Luke?"

  "Some man called my mother and told her to get me and get over here as soon as possible to get you out and home."

  "Troy!" I exclaimed. Who else could it be?

  "What's that?" Luke questioned.

  "Nothing . . . thank God you came back."

  "We'll git ya outta here in a jiffy, Annie honey."

  "You can't take her out of here without .talking to the doctor. She's an invalid; she needs special care, special medicine." Tony was red as a beet, agitated and grasping for control. His eyes were big and his hair on end. He looked like someone who had just gone through a terrible electric shock.

  "Don't listen to him, Aunt Fanny," I pleaded.

  "You could give her a terrible relapse . maybe even cause her death."

  Aunt Fanny turned slowly and lowered her

  hands to her hips. Her shoulders rose. She looked like a hawk about to pounce on a mouse.

  "Seems ta me yer the one who might give this child a relapse. Look at her. She's pale and peaked, shut up in this"—she sniffed--"sickly-sweet smellin'

  tomb. This place is jist what I thought it would be."

  "I'm going to . . . to call the doctor."

  "Call him. What kinda doctor is he anyway?

  Look at what this place looks like. What's he, blind or stupid or jist not as smart as these fancy doctors claim ta be? How could he leave ma niece in this place? It's a big dump. Smells damp and rotten."

  "I won't stand here and take this kind of abuse,"

  Tony asserted, his Tatterton pride and arrogance glowing in his face. He left the suite, but I didn't expect he would go far away.

  Aunt Fanny turned her attention back to me.

  "Don'cha worry none now, Annie. Ya goin'

  home with us. Luke, lower them there bars so she kin get herself off the bed. I'll find a suitcase and round up her things."

  "What's mine is on the right side of that closet, Aunt Fanny. It's not much. The suitcase is on the floor there."

  Luke squeezed my hand. "I'm so glad to see you." "You can't imagine how glad I am to see you, Luke. Why didn't you come before this?"

  "I tried. I called Tony Tatterton and he kept putting me off, telling me the doctor didn't want you to have visitors."

  "And Drake?"

  "Drake said the same things. They wanted me to wait awhile longer."

  "Even after you received my letter?"

  "Letter? I didn't receive any letter, Annie."

  "He never sent it. I should have known. All that stuff about your tests and fraternities and friends .

  girlfriends." I felt so terrible -now, so guilty for suspecting Luke of changing into someone selfish and conceited. How could I have doubted him? I should have known. I had been a prisoner here from the start, and from the start Tony had deceived me. It made me feel sick to know he had lied to me in such an ugly way.

  "What girlfriends?"

  "Are ya two goin' ta jist keep on jawin' or are we goin' home ta Winnerrow?"

  "We're going home, Ma."

  "Then do as I say and get them bars lowered."

  Luke lowered the side bars while Aunt Fanny packed my things and put out clothes for me to wear.

  "Ya go on down with this suitcase, Luke, while I get Annie dressed."

  "Please bring my wheelchair back, Luke.

  There's one up here and one downstairs."

  "And don't stop fer nothin' or no one nuttier,"

  Fanny commanded.

  "Right, boss," Luke said and gave Aunt Fanny a mock salute. It felt so good to smile and laugh again.

  "Oh, go on wit' ya. Ever see such a boy , s'cuse me, young man?"

  "He's a wonderful young man. Oh, Aunt Fanny.

  I'm so glad you came. I never was so happy to see you."

  "Betcha was. Don't talk about it all now. Let's git on outta here. What do I hafta do ta help?"

  "Yesterday 'rit would have done it all myself, Aunt Fanny, but Fin feeling tired and weak, so just give me a hand with my undergarments. I promise, I'm not going to be a burden to you back at Winnerrow."

  "Oh, ya poor child," she said, her eyes softening, even glazing over with tears. I never had realized how warm and loving Aunt Fanny could be.

  "Ya think I care. Be all the burden ya ha
fta be and don't worry yerself about it. We're family, no matter what anyone says."

  "What do you mean, Aunt Fanny?"

  "I don't mean nothin'. Let me get yer clothes on ya."

  She helped me dress, and Luke returned with the wheelchair. He lifted me out of the bed as if I were a precious baby and slowly lowered me into the chair.

  It felt good and secure being in his arms. Then he began to wheel me out of the room.

  I looked back at the canopy bed, the vanity table and dressers, the bedroom that was supposed to be a warm and wonderful place for me, my mother's old room.

  How sad it was that this suite had been turned into a room filled with nightmares. The bed had become my cage, the bathroom and hot tub my torture chamber. I truly felt like one escaping a prison. All the magic and wonder of Farthy was just something Luke and I had imagined, a child's dream. Reality was much harder and crueler.

  I saw the same disappointment in Luke's face when I looked back at him as we moved down the corridor. He saw the cobwebs, the dead chandelier bulbs, the faded carpet, scuffed walls, and the old faded curtains over the large windows, keeping the hallways dark and dank.

  I directed Luke to take me to the elevator chair.

  "It will make it all easier."

  "Now Annie, ya sure ya know how ta work that damn thing? I sure don't want any accidents occurrin'

  here and give that Tony Tatterton a chance ta come after us with I told ya so's."

  "It's easy, Aunt Fanny."

  I slid over into the seat and strapped myself in firmly. Then I pressed the down button and the chair began its descent.

  "Well, I'll be darned. Look it, Luke. We're goin'

  ta hafta git one for Hasbrouck House right quick."

  "Company name's right on the chair," Luke said. He took a pen out of his top pocket and jotted it down. Luke was always prepared, always the student.

  "How has college been, Luke?"

  "Ifs been okay, Annie," he said, walking along with me as the chair moved down the stairway. "But I've made a new decision."

  "Oh?"

  "I'm withdrawing from summer school. I don't need to start yet, anyway."

  "Withdrawing? Why?"

  "To spend the rest of the summer home with you, helping you to recuperate," he said, smiling.

  "Oh, Luke, you shouldn't." The chair came to a halt at the bottom and I slid over into the awaiting wheelchair.

  "There's no sense arguing about it, Annie. My mind's made up," he said with a stern, determined air.

  I knew it was selfish of me, but I was happy, thrilled that he had made that decision.

  "And what does Aunt Fanny have to say about it?"

  "She's happy I'm going to be around awhile longer. My mother's different, Annie. You'll see. The tragedy has turned her into a responsible person. I'm really proud of her."

  "I'm glad, Luke."

  "Miss Annie," someone called, and we paused at the front door. It was Rye Whiskey coming from the kitchen.

  "Rye. It's Rye Whiskey, Luke. The cook."

  "Y'all goin' home, Miss Annie?"

  "Yes, Rye. This is my aunt Fanny and my cousin Luke. They've come to fetch me."

  "Tha's good, Miss Annie," he said without hesitation. Aunt Fanny nodded because someone else confirmed her suspicions and decisions. "I wasn't able ta make ya anythin' special no ways with that nurse hoverin' over my shoulder while she was here, and now . ."

  "I know, Rye. Fm sorry."

  "Tha's all right. Y'all come back when yer fixed up agin, and make ya the best meal this side of paradise."

  "I'll take you up on that, Rye."

  His face grew serious again.

  "Them spirits didn't stay away neither, did they, Miss Annie?"

  "I guess not, Rye."

  He nodded and looked at Aunt Fanny.

  "What's he been drinkin'? Lawd, what a place."

  "Only drinks to prevent snakebite, miss."

  "Is that so?"

  Rye's eyes twinkled.

  "Yes, ma'am, and it works cause I never been bit." "Let's go, Luke," Aunt Fanny said and nodded toward the front door. Luke opened it, but just as he came back to push me out, we heard Tony's scream.

  All of us turn to look up the stairway. He was standing at the top, holding his fist high.

  "You take that girl out of this house and you're responsible for whatever happens. I've already called her doctor. He's enraged."

  "Well, you jist tell him ta go see a doctor himself, then," Aunt Fanny said, and chuckled at her own reply. Without further hesitation, she waved Luke forward and he started to wheel me out of the house.

  "Stop!" Tony shouted. He came charging down the stairway.

  "That man's loco," Aunt Fanny muttered.

  "Stop," he repeated, approaching us. "You can't take her from here. She's mine."

  "Yours?" Aunt Fanny started to laugh disdainfully.

  "She is mine! She is!" He took a deep breath and made a desperate confession. "She's really my granddaughter, not my step-granddaughter. It's part of why your mother ran from here," he said, directing himself to rue, "when she found out . . ."

  "Found out what, Tony?" I turned my chair around to face him.

  "Found out that Leigh and I . . her mother and I

  . . . Heaven was my daughter, not Luke's."

  "Good Gawd," Aunt Fanny said, stepping back.

  "It's true. I'm ashamed of what I did, but not ashamed to have you as my real granddaughter, Annie. And you are. Don't you see? You belong here with me, with your real grandfather," he pleaded.

  I stared up at him. Now what had happened last night made sense. No wonder he had called me Leigh when he came to my bed. He was reliving his affair with her, an affair he had in this house while she was only a girl!

  "And so what happened last night really happened before," I concluded aloud.

  "What happened last night?" Aunt Fanny asked, coming forward.

  "I'm sorry for what happened last night, Annie.

  I got confused."

  "Confused?" All the times that he had kissed me, touched me, yesterday when he bathed me and I saw him behind me, his lips nearly on my neck . . . all of it came back, and suddenly all of it was ugly, lustful. I felt nauseated. I could barely think, I felt so defiled, so humiliated. My mind was an echo chamber of screams and shouts. "You're disgusting," I screamed. "No wonder Mommy ran from this house and wanted nothing more to do with you." Then a horrible realization occurred to me. He seemed to anticipate what I was about to say. I could see it in his eyes, in the way he widened them and stepped back.

  "Did you get confused with my mother, too? Was that the real reason she left you and Farthy?"

  "No, I . . it wasn't my fault." He looked to Luke arid Fanny in hope that they would somehow come to his rescue, but they were gaping at him with the same look of horror and disgust. "You can't hate me. I can't live through all that again, Annie. Please, forgive me.

  I didn't mean . . ."

  "Didn't mean? Didn't mean what? To get my grandmother pregnant? So that's why she left Farthy and her mother. You drove her away, just as you drove Mommy away and just as you have driven me away." My words pounded like nails into a coffin, He turned white and shook his head. "You wanted to possess me like. . . like that portrait of Mommy on the wail," I said, nodding. "That's why you lied when you told me you had called Luke. You never called him, never mailed the letter. You wanted to imprison me here!"

  "I only did what I did because I love you and need you. Ybu are the true heir of Farthioggale and all that goes with it. You belong here. I won't let you go,"

  he yelled.

  "Oh yes you will," Luke said, stepping between us. My Luke, my gallant prince coming to my rescue, fighting off the evil wizard of our fantasies. Fate had made it all true.

  Tony stopped his approach as Luke stared him down.

  "Let's get outta here, Luke honey," Aunt Fanny said, and Luke took hold of my chair again, turning me toward the door.

&
nbsp; "Annie," Tony called, "please . . ."

  Aunt Fanny opened the door and Luke pushed me out.

  "ANNIE!" Tony bellowed. "ANNIE!

  HEAVEN! OH, HEAVEN, NO . . ."

  Fanny shut the door behind us to close off his horrible cry. I put my hands over my ears. Luke used the ramp to get me to the awaiting car.

  "You kin sit up front if ya want to, Annie."

  "I want to," I said.

  Luke opened the door and then lifted me from the chair. I rested my head against his chest as he put me ever so gently onto the seat.

  "Might as well take this wheelchair along, Luke. No sense in lettin' it rot away with everythin'

  else here."

  Luke folded it and placed it in the car trunk.

  Aunt Fanny got into the backseat and Luke got behind the steering wheel.

  Luke headed the car down the driveway.

  "Luke, Aunt Fanny, before we go, I'd like to stop at the monument. Please."

  "Of course, Annie."

  Luke made the turn and drove to the Tatterton family cemetery. He brought the car as close to the monument as he could and I looked out my window.

  Night had fallen, but the moon cast enough of its yellow illumination over the cemetery for me to see.

  "Good-bye for now, Mommy and Daddy. Rest in peace. Someday soon I'll return and walk to your monument."

  "You surely will," Aunt Fanny said, and patted me on the shoulder.

  Luke squeezed my hand. I turned to him to soak in the warmth and the love in his smile.

  "Let's go home, Luke," I said.

  As we pulled away I looked back and caught sight of Troy Tatterton stepping out of the forest from where I was certain he had observed my entire departure. He lifted his hand gently to wave. I waved back. "Who ya wavin' at, Annie?"

  "No one, Aunt Fanny . no one."

  Part 3

  TWENTY-ONE

  Homecoming

  .

  I was too excited to sleep on the airplane. Luke and I sat beside each other near a window, and Aunt Fanny sat in front of us. I was so happy to see Luke, I couldn't take my eyes off him, and from the way he was looking at me, I knew he felt the same way.