Asylum (35 page)

            “So,
you need help packing?” he asked, with just a hint of smugness.  He traced one
finger around the curve of her earlobe and down her cheek.  Chloe felt an odd
little shiver race down her back.

            “Ummm…”
she cleared her throat and tried to ignore the feeling of his thumb running
slowly and lightly just under her jaw.  “Uhhhh…” she tried again,
unsuccessfully.

            “Ummm
yes or ummm no?” Seth asked.

            “No,”
Chloe said and backed away.  “I can…it’s fine…just need a few things.”

            “Meet
you downstairs,” Seth called after her.

*          *          *

            Chloe
turned in her seat to press her face against the window.  She knew from the
last road sign that they were approaching Marquette.  The pines were thinning
out, leaving just enough space to see the hint of blue beyond.

            “Maybe
fifteen more minutes,” Seth answered her unasked question.

            Chloe
sat back and rubbed her hands together nervously.

            “So
there’s Rachel…” she ticked off on her fingers.

            “Yep,
she’s the sister you met, the second oldest after me, she’s seventeen,” he
agreed.

            “Margaret,
she’s thirteen,” Chloe continued, raising another finger.

            “Maggie,”
Seth corrected.

            “And
Beatrice…Bea, I mean, and she’s five,” Chloe listed.

            “Right,”
Seth agreed.

            Then
your Mom’s name is Agnes, your Dad is James, your Dog is Max, your best friend
is Mike, --I already met him because he goes to school with us-- your Grandma
and Grandpa Maird are coming Christmas day from Flint, and your Grandma Jacobs,
your mom’s mom, lives in Arizona, and can‘t make it this year,” Chloe finished.

            “Good,
he complimented her, “And don’t forget Aunt Pen.  The cousins aren’t coming
this year, and she’s not sure if she’s coming or not, because whenever they
can’t come she always says she’ll spend Christmas with us, but ends up buying a
plane ticket and flying out to see them last minute.”

            “Of
course,” Chloe agreed. “And there’ll be someplace I can go shopping?”

            “Yes,
Clo!  Marquette is not Birch Harbor, we even have restaurants that aren’t
called the Eat or the Good Food, believe me or not,” he laughed.

            Chloe
groaned and rubbed her forehead.

            “What?”
he asked, still smiling.

            “I
have this really small problem with anxiety…sometimes.  I feel kind of…kind of
nervous or sick or something,” she explained.

            “Really? 
I would never have guessed,” he deadpanned.  “It’s going to be fine.  Rachel is
very excited that you’re coming.  My mom is so excited that I have a girlfriend
that she’d love you if you had three arms”

            “You
don’t bring a lot of girls home?” Chloe asked without thinking.  Seth burst out
laughing.

            “Yeah,
sure…all the time.  If you’re asking whether or not I’ve had a lot of
girlfriends, and it took you three months to go there, so bravo on that one,
then the answer is no, I haven’t.  With hockey and all the things I have
going…I…my schedule is pretty full,” he smiled and shook his head.

            Chloe
let the silence hang in the car for a moment.  Then, carefully applying her
casual expression, she examined her fingernails.

            “So
then, you know, how many…girlfriends, were there?” she asked.

            Seth
snickered and glanced sidelong at her.

            “Two. 
One in high school, she ended up going to college out-of-state, and one
freshman year, and she ended up deciding that she was more into professors,” he
shrugged.

            “Ouch,”
Chloe tried to sound sympathetic, but she felt like smiling.

            “So
quid pro quo, Dr. Lecter…how many?” he asked raising an eyebrow, tauntingly.

            “Just
this one guy,” she said quickly.  “In high school, we only dated for a month or
two.”

            She
hoped that she came across as natural and unconcerned.  The closest she had
ever come to dating a guy was the night a male patient at Woodhaven had sat
outside and shared a cigarette with her.  She didn’t even smoke as a rule, it
was just that it was the only time someone had offered her one.

            “And
what ended that?” Seth asked.

            “He
smoked,” Chloe said truthfully.

            The
road curved and the trees fell away.  On one side of the street, a strip of
frozen beach edged the grey expanse of Lake Superior.  On the other, a row of 
humble beach houses squatted shoulder-to-shoulder.

            “Almost
there,” Seth said, changing the subject.

            Chloe
watched the cold, deserted beach race along next to them until another patch of
pine trees and scrub brush leapt up to cover her view.  The scene flashed
quickly between pines and beach several times, before becoming an unbroken army
of trees once again.  And then Seth was slowing, turning into a drive.

            The
pines bowed away to allow a drive and a tall, graceful, butter-yellow,
Victorian-style house.  Two high-peaked roofs, with decorative white trim work
along the eaves, soared sharply upwards, and on the left side, a tower-like
section, lined with windows and topped with a pointy sugar-cone roof of it’s
own.  A roofed porch, starting at the front door and circling around the tower
and behind the house displayed a vibrant green pine garland looping across it’s
rails.  It  was tied at every fourth post with bright red bows.  Past the
house, the trees ended and Chloe could see the sparkling grey of Lake Superior
once again.

            “THEY”RE
HERE!” Chloe heard the call from inside the car with the windows rolled up
tightly and the heat on full blast.  Her stomach lurched.

            A
tiny, dark-haired girl launched herself off the front porch and ran towards the
truck faster than her small legs could handle.  She stumbled forward and almost
face-planted on the driveway, but managed to recover in time, running a few
more steps to hit the side of the truck with a resounding thud. 

            Seth
cringed and laughed at the same time.  He opened his door slowly, allowing the
clumsy child time to back away.

            “Alright,
Bea, alright!” he laughed. “You’re gonna break your neck one of these days. 
Where’s my hug?”

            The
child lunged from the ground and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck,
swinging freely for a moment, while Seth choked and then got an arm under her. 
The front door opened and people began to spill out onto the porch, each, with
Seth’s dark hair.

            “Bea,
this is Chloe,” Seth introduced them.

            The
child smiled shyly and buried her face against his chest.  Chloe knew the
feeling, she even envied the girl her ability to get away with it.

            They
walked towards the family on the porch.  Chloe felt like every one of them was
staring at her expectantly.

            “Seth!
Chloe!” a girl’s voice came from behind the group.

            Rachel
pushed her way to the front and bounced down the stairs to them.  The rest of
the family followed slowly behind, all wearing identical welcoming smiles.

            “So
glad you’re here,” Rachel threw an arm around Chloe and gave her a quick
informal hug.  Then she turned to Seth, faked a punch to his gut and hugged him
instead.  “Mom’s been yelling at everybody to clean faster all day!” Rachel
complained.

            “She’s
lying,” Seth’s mom smiled serenely, but then fired a quick warning glance at
Rachel.  “Agnes Maird, I’m Seth’s mom.”

            Chloe
shook her hand.

            “She
wasn’t lying.  Agnes really wants to impress you, so make sure you tell her how
clean her house is, or we’re all going to get in trouble later,” Seth’s dad
said solemnly.  The girls all snickered.

            “James!”
Seth’s mom threatened, but she smiled in a resigned way and shook her head.

            “James,”
Seth’s dad repeated and held out his hand.  Chloe shook that one as well.

            “I’m
Maggie,” another girl with long dark hair held out her hand.  Her smile was a
perfect mimic of Seth’s when he was up to something.  “I’m the middle child,
don’t pay any attention to me, nobody else does.”

            “Oh
geez,” Seth rubbed his face.  “This is my family, family this is Chloe.  Don’t
worry, they take some getting used to, but they’re all very nice…mostly.”

            “I’m
the
mostly
,” James said, studying the sky, a hint of a smile on his
lips.

            “Mom’s
the mostly!” Rachel argued.

            “You
have a beautiful house,” Chloe interrupted, looking at Seth’s mom.

            “The
house that pasties built,” Maggie said and the other girls giggled.

            “Thank
you, dear,” Agnes smiled at Chloe.  “Well, come in.  Come in before you all
freeze!”

            Chloe
followed the tribe inside.  There was a tiny wood-floored foyer beyond the
door, with an old fashioned coat tree that seemed ready to topple over from the
amount of winter coats slung over it. Directly in front of her, a long hallway
stretched to the back of the house alongside a slightly-off center stairway. 
To her right, a wide-arched entryway framed a dark room with a table and chairs,
most likely a formal dining area.  To her left, another wide arched entry gave
access to a spacious wood-floored living room.  The far corner, which was
rounded, was the base of the tower, and centered in it was the Christmas tree. 

            It
was absolutely picture perfect.  Every ornament was silver or gold.  Many of
them angels, some cherubic, some elegant flowing-haired women.  Silver and gold
ribbons meandered through the branches and met at the top in an artfully done,
many-looped bow.  Even the wrappings on the presents beneath it were all done
up in silver and gold paper.  Chloe took a step towards it.

            “Your
tree is…it’s so pretty,” she said.

            “Oh,
you uhhh…you like the tree?” Maggie asked, again arching an eyebrow in a look
she had seen on Seth’s face too many times to count.,

            “Well
there you are, Mom,” Rachel grinned wickedly.

            Agnes
Maird gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes skyward.

            “Here
we go,” she said to the heavens.

            “Mom
changed the tree last year,” Seth explained.  “We used to always have a crappy
tree with mismatched handmade ornaments that we made when we were like,
toddlers or something, and Mom decided that since we were all growing up, it
would be nice to have a more formal tree, with a theme, that actually looked
nice.”

            “Not
lovingly made keepsakes,” Rachel snickered.  James smiled innocently.

            “Thank-you
Seth,” Agnes said, doing her best to ignore the others.  “What they’re not
telling you is, that I kept all the old ornaments and put them on the tree at
my shop, where I see them everyday and can still reflect on the
loving
hearts of my family!”

            All
the kids and Seth’s dad laughed together, and even Agnes couldn’t help but
smile.

            “Well
it’s…it’s really nice.  I really like it,” Chloe stressed.

            “Did
I tell you I am so happy you’re here?” Agnes said warmly, “Because I am!  These
rotten kids, I tell you!”

            “Yup,
so glad you’re here,” James agreed.  “We just didn’t have enough estrogen in
this house.”

            They
all laughed again and Chloe smiled, feeling that she might actually be in on the
joke.

            “Come
on upstairs, Clo,” Rachel said.  “You’re staying with me, I’ll show you my
room.  Seth!  Get her suitcase, you big dumb oaf!”

            Upstairs,
a short hallway ran in both directions with doors lining the walls on either
side.  Rachel turned left. Chloe followed.

            Rachel’s
room was painted a loud blue-purple and was plastered with posters of rock
bands, paintings, and funny sayings like: “
IF YOU CAN”T CONVINCE THEM,
CONFUSE THEM!
”  Two floor-to-ceiling windows on the back wall gave an
expansive view of Lake Superior, a beach, and a short dock.  Rachel stood next
to her bed, her hands clasped behind her back, and tried not to look too proud.

            “Wow…great
view,” Chloe said, “and really nice…room.  Cool, I mean.”

            “Yeah,”
Rachel agreed modestly.  “I had to clean it up a bit.  You can have the bed,
I’m going to camp out on the floor.”

            “Oh
no…no you don’t have to do that, I’ll take the floor,” Chloe offered quickly.