Daughter of Light (23 page)

“You guys dance?” he asked me.

“We went at it for a while,” I said, looking at Julia.

“She’s being modest. I had to swipe them away,” she told him.

“I believe it. Any interest in going back out there?” he asked me.

I looked at Julia.

“I’m fine just watching. Have to digest my food,” she said.

Was this a little brother-sister conspiracy? Did I care?

When you were with someone, there was that moment when you knew that if you said yes to something, a whole series of events would follow, cascading down through you to take a hold on your future.

You could certainly regret it.

Would I?

“Okay,” I said, and got up to dance with Liam Dolan.

Being so close to him, our bodies moving slowly in synchronization, I felt whatever resistance I had mounted since the first time we had met begin to defrost and melt away. He was a very good dancer, and unlike most of the other young men around us, who seemed so incapable of controlling their female partners that they looked as if they were dancing alone, Liam slipped his arm around my waist and kept us close, turning me and then moving around me, holding my eyes on his and keeping us so tightly connected that I felt we had instantly become two halves of the same newly created dancing body.

Whenever he could, he brought his face to mine, brushing his lips against my hair, my cheeks, and my forehead. My imagination exploded. I saw us naked together in a shower, embracing, drinking the water from each other’s face, caressing and kissing until it became impossible to keep standing. Soaked, we retreated to a bed and began making the most passionate love, lovemaking that resembled our dancing, slow at first and then building and building until we buried each other’s
scream of deep sexual satisfaction in a long kiss that threatened to draw the breath from our bodies.

When I looked back at Julia in our booth, I saw her gazing at us with a smile of delight. She looked more like an older sister taking pride in her younger brother. It was as if he was finally doing something right.
I’m only dancing,
I told myself.
It doesn’t mean anything.
But one look at Liam’s face, a face that was reflecting the way I was looking at him, told me I was lying to myself.

Finally, we both had enough and, holding hands, fled the music and the lights. Julia clapped for us when we joined her.

“If they were giving prizes tonight, you’d be the winning couple. You must have done quite a bit of dancing in California,” she told me.

“Some,” I said. “Mostly in my bedroom,” I added, and they both laughed.

“Another drink?” Liam asked.

“I already had another while you two were out there, but maybe one more.”

He ordered one for me, too, pretending that it was for himself. “Don’t tell my father I’m corrupting a minor,” he quipped.

“Minor,” Julia said. “She’s more mature than every legal drinker here. Anyway, why this Lone Ranger act tonight?” She looked as if her first three Volcanoes were already overflowing in her blood and her brain. Her smile was a little twisted, and her eyes were glassy.

Liam shrugged. “I want to take my time.” He glanced at me. “Too many impulsive, wrong decisions.”

Julia laughed. “Take your time?”

“I’m serious,” he said.

The new drinks arrived.

“And to what do we owe this new sense of responsibility and caution?” she asked, throwing me a conspiratorial grin.

“See that?” Liam said. “They complain and complain about me at home, and as soon as I turn a new leaf, they ridicule it. How can I win with my family?”

How can I win with mine?
I thought.

“You can’t blame anyone but yourself. You’re like some of the smokers we get in the ER. The doctors tell them they have to quit, and they say sure, they’ve done it many times.” She laughed and drank more of her Volcano.

Liam looked a little annoyed. He turned away for a moment, probably to calm himself, and then turned back, concentrating only on me. “So, how are you getting along living in my great-aunt’s rooming house?”

“It’s very comfortable,” I said, and sipped my drink.

“Aren’t there dozens and dozens of things in it that you’re not permitted to touch? When I was a little boy, she practically had me in a straitjacket whenever I was there.”

“Some items are off-limits, like her old rocking chair,” I said, smiling. “Mr. Brady thinks there’s a ghost in the house, maybe the ghost of John Adams.”

“If there was such a thing as ghosts, I think they would find my great-aunt most accommodating,” Liam said. “Julia?”

“As kooky as she is sometimes,” Julia said, “you can’t
help but love her. No matter how close she is with Mrs. McGruder and her tenants, she’s really a very lonely woman.”

“Great-aunt Amelia? Lonely? She’s surrounded by our forefathers,” Liam joked.

Julia only smiled and then turned to look at the dancers. I wondered if the alcohol was now making her more melancholy.

“Is Clifford working all night?” I asked her.

“He gets off about ten, but he won’t meet me here,” she reminded me.

“Maybe you should go out there on the dance floor and find someone you know who would,” Liam told her.

“I’m all right. I like Clifford. There are no surprises,” she added, a little sadly, I thought. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Boring,” Liam teased, and looked at me. “Back out there?”

I looked at Julia.

“Go for it,” she said, and turned around to cup her drink the way I had seen Liam first doing it. I hesitated, and she looked up at me. “I’m fine. Go on. I like to watch you dance.”

“Me, too,” Liam added, and tugged my hand.

This time, when we danced, we talked, too.

“You going out with my sister to play it safe or what?” he asked.

“To have a good time,” I replied. “I like her. She’s refreshing.”

“Why?”

“There’s nothing dishonest about her,” I replied.

“And you can tell that how?”

“I have powers,” I said.

We drew close.

“I knew that from the first time I set eyes on you.”

“Oh, how?”

“I have the power to recognize power,” he joked.

We both laughed and got into our dancing again, this time so intently that I forgot to look back at Julia. When I did, I saw that she was talking to a tall, dark-haired man whose complexion under the club’s lights looked like a luminous olive. There was something about him that made me uneasy. He was talking to her, but he looked our way periodically. I saw him sit at the booth and then talk Julia into another Volcano.

“Who’s that with your sister?” I asked Liam when we drew close.

He glanced her way and shrugged. He continued to dance as if we were the only ones out there, but I couldn’t concentrate. I kept looking back at the booth. Finally, I paused.

“What?” he asked. “Don’t tell me you’re tired already.”

“No. I’m just concerned about your sister. That man bought her another drink. That’s too much. She’s had enough.”

“Yes, Mom,” he joked.

“I’m serious, Liam. She already had too much.”

He changed expression and looked at her again. “Okay,” he said, pausing. “Let’s see what’s what.”

The moment we started off the dance floor, the man Julia was talking to rose and walked away.

“Who was that?” Liam asked, looking after him.

“I don’t know,” Julia said. “He claimed I was the nurse for his mother when she was brought to the ER a few months ago. He told me I was very nice. He said if anything happens to him, he wants to be sure I’m on duty at the ER.”

“He didn’t tell you his name?” I asked. I saw him disappear into the crowd, almost evaporate.

“I don’t know if I heard much of what he said. He has beautiful eyes. He bought me this drink,” she continued.

“You know you’ve had too much already,” I said.

She nodded. “I guess I’m not out enough. I should know when I overdo it. If anyone should know, a nurse should.”

I picked up her drink before she could sip any more and drank it all in one long sip. “Sorry, I was a little thirsty,” I said.

Both she and Liam were smiling.

“You almost had as many as I had, but you don’t look any different from when we got here,” Julia said. She swayed a little too much when she talked, and I put my hand on her shoulder to steady her in the seat. Then I looked at Liam.

“Maybe you should go home, Julia. Are you on tomorrow?” he asked.

“Not until the afternoon. I’ll be fine. Just don’t expect me at breakfast,” she added, laughing.

“I’ll drive you home,” he told her. “And I’ll take you home,” he added, turning to me. “Unless you want to wait here.”

“No, I’ve had enough,” I said.

“Oh, I don’t want to spoil your good time,” Julia moaned.

“You haven’t. It’s because of you that I had a good time. C’mon,” I said, taking her hand.

Liam paid our bill and followed as we started out, Julia a little unsteady but quite happy.

When we reached the entrance, she paused and looked back, wobbling a little. “Where is he?”

“Who?”

“That guy who stopped by to tell me what a great nurse I am. I thought I’d say good night.”

I looked, and so did Liam. “I don’t see him, Julia.”

She shrugged and leaned over to whisper, “He was more interested in you than me, anyway.”

“Me?”

I looked again for him, and then we headed out to Liam’s car. I looked around in the parking lot, too, but saw no one who resembled him.

“Can you follow us in Julia’s car?” Liam asked. “I’ll go slowly,” he promised when I hesitated. “Give her the keys, Julia.”

She started to protest and then realized how she was and nodded.

We stood there while she fumbled through her purse. I continued to look toward the club entrance and around the parking lot.

“You all right to drive?” Liam asked me. “I didn’t even consider that.”

“I’m fine.”

“Okay.”

He took the keys from Julia and handed them to me. Then he opened his car door and helped her in.

“Wait,” Julia cried. “What about Lorelei?”

“Julia, you just gave me your keys for her to follow us. I said I’d take her home afterward.”

“Oh. Right,” she said, laughing.

Liam shook his head and smiled at me. “Let’s get her home,” he said, “and to bed.”

I nodded and went to Julia’s car. After I got in and started the engine, I looked to the side, where I thought I saw someone standing in the shadows. Liam sounded his horn, and I had to back out to follow them. When I glanced in the rearview mirror, I was sure I saw the man who had stopped at the bar to talk to Julia. I was looking at him so hard that I nearly hit the rear of Liam’s car when he stopped at the driveway entrance. He looked out of his window at me. I indicated that I was fine, but he didn’t look confident about it. I was fine. The alcohol had no effect, as usual, but I was definitely spooked by the man in the shadows. He gave off a familiar vibe. My mind raced.
He’s one of us,
I thought.
He must think I’m a Renegade.

I drove on, following them and fleeing him at the same time. About fifteen minutes later, we turned up what I thought was a new street but actually was the long driveway to the Dolans’ New England mansion.
I realized that because of the height, there was a clear view of the ocean. The large house had been built with that view in mind. It had what looked to be at least a forty-foot tower that reminded me of a lighthouse, a peaked turret and projecting bays wrapped in glass to accommodate the ocean views. As I followed Liam around the front of the house to a garage with five doors for five cars, I looked up at the second story of the house and estimated that there were more than a half-dozen bedrooms. Liam pulled close to what I could see was a side entrance to the house and waved at me to drive up beside him.

“Just leave it in front of the third garage door,” he said, and went around to help Julia out. She looked as if she had fallen asleep. I parked and stepped out as he was guiding Julia toward the entrance. He waved for me to catch up. Julia leaned against Liam’s shoulder, her eyes closed. He nodded at the door, and I rushed forward to open it.

“We’ll get her upstairs,” he told me.

I followed him as he continued through a small entryway and then into a wide hallway, dimly lit by small chandeliers all the way to the main entrance of the house and its winding marble stairway with a rich, dark mahogany balustrade. Above that was a very large chandelier, also dimly lit. The house was dead quiet. I had been wondering if Mr. Dolan would hear us and come out. He wouldn’t be happy about Julia, I thought. He might even blame it on me.

Julia groaned and then tried to walk completely on her own. When she stumbled, she laughed. Liam
smiled at me and shot forward to get a good grip on her as she started up the stairs.

“Where’s your dad?” I whispered.

“He’s away for the weekend,” he replied. At the top, we turned right and followed a similarly dimly lit hallway to the first bedroom on the right. Liam opened the door.

It was much larger than any bedroom I had ever had, even larger than my father’s bedrooms in New York, Nashville, and California. Despite its size, it looked cozy and warm, with walls of gentle pink, a soft darker pink rug, and light maple furnishings, including a four-poster canopy bed. The windows were large and with drapes of white with swirls of pink. On one wall, I saw shelves of all sorts of dolls—dolls from other countries, antique dolls, and rag dolls. There looked to be a few hundred.