Adirondack Audacity (32 page)

“Hanna,” Vic takes her elbow, steering her away from
the rumpled bed, still warm from our lovemaking. “Are
you sure we can’t go
in
the house?”
“No, I like it up here, it’s so horsey.” She plops
herself down on the couch where I see the edge of my
bra sticking out…….this could get real interesting.
“Besides if we go in the house Bridget will butt in with
her old world British ideals.”
“Bridget is Irish, I’d be careful calling her British. It
tends to make her cranky.” He says with a sigh, stealing a
peek at the door leading to the loft. “Now what is the
problem?”
“Uhh, No one listens to me!” she says, throwing her
hands up in disgust. Boy, you can tell she’s the child of
two actors.
Phew
, drama queen. “I
just
told you, Mom
won’t let me go to the movies with Trevor.”
“Hanna,” Vic begins slowly with patience. “How old
are you?”
“Dad! You know very well how old I am. Fourteen.”
“And what was the age your mother and I decided
acceptable for you to go on a car date? He says with the
practiced air of someone who’s had this conversation
before.
“Sixteen! Come on! That is so lame! Everyone else
can go, why can’t I?”
“Those are the rules of this family.”
“You and Mom are divorced; we’re not a real family.”
“When it comes to you, your mother and I are a
family, united in what’s best for you.” He pushes a stray
lock of hair behind her ear. “We love you, and I agree
with your mother that no dates with boys in a car before
sixteen. And isn’t Trevor that Millnor kid who is what,
seventeen or eighteen. Sorry sweetheart, not going to
happen.”
Crouched in my position against the wall, I silently
applaud Vic for sticking to his rules where his daughter is
concerned. Lord knows, Jack and I were tested by our
two teenagers. Jack the more lenient; leaving me to play
the bad cop, and trust me, it’s not a popular position. I
shift my body, wiggling, trying to dislodge loose pieces of
hay. Somehow the chaff worked its way into the material
of my shirt. I itch like hell. I squirm around looking for a
means of escape. There must be a way down from here, a
set stairs or a ladder somewhere.
“Oh, Dad, come on! I thought you would be cool
about this.” Sensing defeat, Hanna changes her battle
tactics. With a voice like silvered honey she says. “Daddy,
you’re like the cool Dad, all the girls think you’re such a
hunk. I promise I’ll be careful. Pleaseee.”
“No.”
“I never get to do anything.”
“You’re right.”
“You and Mom are such loser parents”
“Yep, it’s your lot in life to have loser parents.
Sweetie, you will date, you will go in cars……..with boys,
and there are many adventures in life waiting for you. Just
not at fourteen.”
“I can pout and scream all I want but you’re not
going to change your mind, are you?” she sulks.
I spy a ladder leading down to the ground floor but
it’s on the other side of the barn, forcing me to crawl on
the narrow ledge to reach it.
Damn.
My knees ache and I
have an overpowering urge to itch my entire body.
“I’m in total agreement with your mother.” Vic says.
“But I appreciate you coming to us, there may be
circumstances where we bend the rules, but night driving
with older kids on mountain roads, isn’t one of them.
Okay?”
“Fine, I hate my life.” I hear her open the door to the
stairway. “I’m hungry. Did you say Bridget made
cookies?” The kid has the attention span of a gnat…
“I’m sure of it, let’s go see.” I hear the relief in Vic’s
voice as he opens the stairway door. “Come on.”
“No, first I want to see Moon Star.”
Really,
I’m hiding in plain sight of the stalls. Now
where do I go? Maybe I can beat them to the ladder.
Ehhhh….too many decisions. I hear their voices on the
stairwell. I’d better hurry.
“What? Moon Star?” he says, confused.
“My horse, what is wrong with you? Why are you in
such a hurry to get me in the house? I thought you liked
it out here, all the quiet and privacy.” They stop on the
stairs.
“I do but I’m starving, I missed lunch.”
“It will take just a minute. Don’t be so impatient.”
“I’m sure Moon Star is fine. I checked on the horses
before I came upstairs.”
“I’ll meet you in the house. I want to say hello,” she
says, clattering down the wooden stairway.
“Wait, wait for me. We‘ll go together.” Vic calls out,
raising his voice, hoping I hear and take cover.
Great....
I
flatten myself against the hay bales praying my blonde
hair and pale skin act as camouflage.
“There’s my pretty boy.” Hanna croons from the
doorway of Moonstar’s stall. “Dad, do we have any
apples for him?”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll go and get a few.” Vic rushes to the
feed room and back in a matter of seconds. “Here’s a
couple……..okay, let’s go.”
“Just a minute, let me feed him,” she says with a
laugh. “Can we go for a ride later?”
“Umm, sure, sure. Whatever you….. want…..” his
eyes widen in disbelief at the sight of me creeping along
the edge of the wooden platform. I give him the thumbs
up and point to a pile of loose hay, a perfect hiding spot.
With Hanna intent on feeding her horse, he steps out of
her line of vision and starts waving frantically at me.
What?
“Dad, what are you doing now?” Hanna asks, a
perplexed look on her face. “Maybe you should go back
and finish that nap.”
“Ahhhh………chasing flies.” He swats at imaginary
flies. At that moment I erupt with an explosive
sneeze……
I’m so screwed.
I’ve always been suspicious that
I’m allergic to hay, explains the itching.
“What was that?” Hanna walks to the middle of the
aisle looking up in the haymow.
“What?” Vic grabs her arm, pulling her toward the
door. “I didn’t hear anything.”
“That sound.” Hanna repeats. “Is Hank working
upstairs?”
“No one is up there.” Vic says, desperation creeping
into his voice. “Come on, Hanna, let’s go.”
“What are you deaf? Someone is up there.” Hanna
grabs a pitchfork pointing to the upper level.
I tuck myself into the pile of loose hay. She can’t see
me;; it’s dark in this corner of the loft. If I don’t move,
she’ll leave. I think I hate this kid already………
just
go in
the house.
“Who’s up there?” she calls out. “I know someone is
up there. My Dad has a gun and he’s not afraid to shoot.”
“Hanna!”
“Dad! Maybe it’s some crazy stalker fan.”
To avoid detection, I burrow deeper into the pile of
hay and realize too late……there’s no floor underneath;
I’m free falling….down a drop hay chute.
Ahhhhhhhhh……..
I’m a screaming, tumbling human bale of hay. Flying
down a twenty-foot hay chute, landing with a
whamp!
“What the HELL!” Hanna cries, jumping back at the
apparition sprawled on the ground before her.
“
Elle!
Elle, are you hurt? Buttercup….?” Vic drops to
his knees and scans my face, pulling hay out of my eyes
and mouth so I can breathe. I’m covered head to toe,
where the hay stops and I begin is difficult to determine.
And by dressing in haste, I missed a few buttons and
snaps, the result….my breasts spilling out of my shirt,
jeans slid half way down my hips, more off than on…and
panties falling out of my back pocket. I looked like a
scarecrow gone stripper.
“Who the hell is this!” Hanna’s screech pierces my
shocked wits. Dressed in a flirty flowered skirt and
matching tank, her gorgeous chestnut hair twisted in a
messy knot at the nape of her neck, she looks a younger
female version of Vic. Through the hay plastered to my
face, I see the same decisive chin as her father, straight
nose, chiseled high cheek bones and her mother’s aqua
green eyes and hair. She’s stunning, at fourteen, tall,
model thin, yet voluptuous in all the right parts. I feel
sympathy for Vic, between her fiery temper and beauty,
his hell has just begun.
“Elle, seriously, are you hurt?” Vic helps me to my
feet, his voice edged with concern, checking me up and
down for injuries.
“I’m fine, really, just a little shaken up.” I give him a
tremulous smile, trying not to wince as I straighten my
back. “Whew, what a ride!” I chime, trying to lighten the
mood. I wiggle my fingers and legs. “Everything seems to
be working.”
“Dad! Is this one of your one night stands?” she
points an accusing finger at me, demanding an
explanation. “Mom is going to have a fit. You know the
rules; the mountain house is our home. Family and close
friends, none of the Hollywood stuff. No wonder you
wanted me out of the barn. You’re disgusting. How dare
you talk to me about family rules! Look at you hiding one
of your “girlfriends” in the hayloft.” She uses her fingers
to make quotation marks around girlfriends, letting me
know she really means “slut”. “You were not napping,
you were doing it! Ughh! So…. gross!”
“
Hanna!
” Vic spins around, silencing her with a
glance. “I can explain. This is not what you think.” I
make a vain attempt at straightening my clothing,
buttoning and zipping things that need to be closed up
and put away. Lost cause, I’m a mess. I do look like a slut.
“Why was she hiding then? Her clothes are half off.”
Hanna rants on, “I’m not stupid. Anyone with half a
brain knows what you were doing.” She stamps her foot.
“Mom’s already pissed at you, every magazine in the
market is plastered with your picture and every week it’s a
new woman. That part of your life is supposed to stay in
L.A. This is our home, where I can come and go between
the two houses…….and not worry about interrupting
your little flings.” She throws her fingers in my direction
as if I were a speck of garbage to be disposed. She pauses
a moment to catch her breath, her words filled with hurt,
betrayal and anger. “How do you think I feel? My Dad’s
some steamy sex symbol? All the girls at school gush
about how hot you are.
Gross
, I want to scream at them.
That’s my father you’re talking about; he’s old enough to
be your grandfather!
“I am
not
!” Vic snorts in shocked denial.
“Really….Dad.” she shakes her head in disgust.
“What are you, like, fifty? You could easily be a
grandfather. Talk about me needing to grow up, maybe
you should take some of your own advice. Stop screwing
every woman who crosses your path.”
Okay, now I like this kid. You go, girl, tell him he
needs to settle down with a nice moderately attractive
school teacher, someone who knows how to be a good
wife and mother.
Vic’s concern bounces from me to Hanna, as he grips
her arms to still her quaking anger. “Hanna, Ellen is
different.” he says, desperate to calm her down. “We
knew each other as teenagers. We worked at the same
camp in the Adirondacks.”
No sooner were the words out of his mouth, when
Hanna’s head snaps back and she stares intently into my
face. The blood drains from her cheeks and she cries,
“It’s her! That woman in the pictures! The ones you and
mom argued about, I heard you fighting. You said she
was dead. Dead……..you lied! She’s alive! Where have
you been hiding her?” Hanna cries out, sobbing. “Mom
begged you to get rid of those pictures; she said you
could never love her until that other woman was gone.”
Oh my God...
I cringe. The pictures in the loft.
Was he
nuts?
The thought of his wife and daughter seeing me in a
moment of teenage lust brings a flush of embarrassment
to my face. I flop down on a hay bale and rest my head in
my hands. This is not how I wanted to meet Vic’s
daughter……
crap.
“Hanna,
listen
to me.” Vic says, working to keep the
panic out of his voice, knowing his daughter feels
betrayed. “I thought Ellen was dead. Our parents
deceived us. You must believe me. My father purchased a
gravesite and engraved Ellen’s name on a headstone.
Dates and everything. He took me there, showed me her
grave. I was so young and stupid I believed him. Then he
had a woman impersonate my aunt and call Ellen, telling
her I died in a motorcycle accident.”
“I don’t believe you.” Hanna says, her voice choked
with tears. “You said she was dead. You lied to us, Dad!”
The look on her face cuts Vic to the quick; she turns on
her heel and runs out of the barn, sobbing.
“
Shit
, that didn’t go well.” He sits and leans back
against the stall, running both hands through his hair. “I
think I’m going to be sick.”
“Deep breathe.” I suggest. “Vic, I’m so sorry. If I had
been more careful, this wouldn’t have happened.” My
voice filled with remorse. “I feel terrible. I would never
hurt your daughter.”
He pulls me into a hug. “It’s no one’s fault. And on a
scale of one to ten, your entrance into the barn was one
of your best Klutz-Ellen’s. God, you should have seen
your face, it was pretty damn funny, if I were in a
laughing mood.” He blows out a long sigh.
“It’s not funny. I could have been killed.” I give him a
playful punch on the arm. “You’d better go to her. I’ll
slip up to our room and stay out of sight until the coast is
clear. Go, go, I understand. I’ve raised two teenagers, I
know how sensitive they are about……..
everything
.”
He pulls me into his arms for a slow lingering kiss,
tracing the outline of my lips with his finger and growls,
“I’ll deal with you later. Maybe even give you a little
spanking as punishment for getting me in all this
trouble.”
“Me! Punished! You got yourself into this mess, Mr.
Casanova. If anyone deserves to be punished, it’s you.
How dare you throw me out of a warm cozy bed, half
naked into a hay pile, force me to crawl around in the
dark and nearly fall to my death. Just wait and see what I
have planned for you. I’m thinking of something with
whips and leather.” I point to the riding crop hanging on
the wall with a wicked leer on my face.
He raises his eyebrows. “Ummm, I think we have a
date.”
“I’m not afraid of you.” I call out scornfully to his
retreating back.
“Buttercup, you should be.”
…
“Good God, you look like something the cat dragged
in off the street.” Bridget exclaims, as I tip-toe through
the kitchen door, hoping to advert any further disasters.
Drat