The Unloved (14 page)

“How dare you?” Marguerite demanded, her eyes flashing with anger. “How dare you touch my mother’s things?”

Ruby, startled, stepped back, nearly stumbling over one of the boxes. “Miss Marguerite, you can see plain as day what I’m doing. I’m packing up Miss Helena’s things, just like I packed up Mr. Rafe’s after he died.” She reached out to take the dress from Marguerite, but Marguerite jerked it away.

“No!” she exclaimed, clutching the dress close to her breast. “I won’t let you! Not yet!”

Ruby started to protest, but changed her mind when she saw the angry glow in Marguerite’s eyes. She backed slowly away. “I’m sorry, Miss Marguerite,” she said. “Maybe I should’ve waited til tomorrow.”

As quickly as it had come, the anger seemed to drain out of Marguerite, and she relaxed slightly. But she did not give up the dress. “Yes,” she said at last. “Tomorrow. Maybe you can begin the packing tomorrow. Or the day after. But not today.” Her eyes took on a pleading look. “Please, Ruby?” she asked.

Ruby’s tongue flicked over her lips for a second and her
eyes hooded. But at last she nodded. “All right,” she said. “I’ll wait a day or two. These dresses ain’t going any further out of fashion than they already are.” She turned then and started out of the room, but at the door she looked back.

Marguerite was in the dressing room now, standing in front of a mirror. Her mother’s dress held up against her body, she stared at her image in the glass for a moment. Then, a mysterious smile spreading across her face, she bowed deeply in the style of a prima ballerina.

But the lameness in her leg made the bow clumsy, and pitifully grotesque.

Ruby hurried out of the room.

Julie lay on her back, her right arm shielding her eyes from the sun. She could feel a slow trickle of sweat running down her side, and knew that soon she would have to go into the water, if only to cool off a little. The problem, though, was that she wasn’t sure she had quite enough strength to make the few yards from her towel to the water’s edge. The heat had closed around her like a blanket, wrapping her so tightly she could barely breathe. But around her the rest of the kids—the kids who had grown up here—didn’t seem to be affected by it at all.

There were ten of them altogether, and Julie had decided early in the afternoon that she liked all of them except Mary-Beth Fletcher. And she’d tried to like Mary-Beth, too, even after the way Mary-Beth had acted at the dance class a week ago. But it hadn’t been easy, because each time she’d started to approach Mary-Beth, the other girl had suddenly gotten involved with someone else and acted as if Julie weren’t even there.

And then, an hour ago, she’d been sitting with Kerry, exploring the contents of the picnic basket that Ruby had packed for her, when Mary-Beth had dropped down onto the edge of Kerry’s towel. Julie had offered her a sandwich, but Mary-Beth had shaken her head.

“We don’t eat like northerners down here,” she said, stretching out each vowel in an exaggerated drawl. “You go on and make a pig of yourself if you want to though. I’m sure it’s just fine by me!”

Julie had felt herself redden with embarrassment, but had
said nothing, and a few minutes later, her flirting with Kerry getting her nowhere, Mary-Beth had wandered away.

Now Julie could hear Mary-Beth’s voice again, this time talking to a couple of her friends. For a moment Julie was certain that Mary-Beth thought she couldn’t hear her, but then she realized that exactly the opposite was true: Mary-Beth had raised her voice to make certain that Julie heard every word.

“I think maybe I’ll quit dance class,” Mary-Beth was saying.

“Quit?” Julie heard Jennifer Mayhew ask, her voice clearly reflecting her dismay. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Mary-Beth replied in calculatedly offhand tones. Though Julie’s eyes were closed, she could feel Mary-Beth staring at her as she continued. “Up till last week Miss Marguerite never had any favorites or anything like that, and it was fun. Now it looks like all we’re going to do is sit around and watch that Yankee trash jump around while Marguerite drools like an idiot and tells us all how wonderful her niece is. Who needs it?”

Jenny Mayhew gasped indignantly. “Mary-Beth, that’s not true, and you know it! Miss Marguerite isn’t like that at all, and it’s not Julie’s fault if she’s better than the rest of us. I should think you’d want to learn from her.”

Julie could almost see Mary-Beth’s simpering smile. “Well, aren’t you the goody-goody all of a sudden!”

Then Julie heard another voice. “Jenny’s not a goody-goody, and none of the rest of us are either. If you want to quit because you know you aren’t any good, why don’t you just say so? You don’t have to blame Julie, or claim Miss Marguerite’s different.”

Mary-Beth’s voice turned defensive. “I didn’t say I was going to quit,” she protested. “I just said I
might
. I’m just thinking about it is all. How come you’re all jumping on me? And if you’re all so crazy about Julie, why don’t you go talk to her?”

Suddenly Julie could stand it no more. She sat up, blinking in the brightness of the sun, and turned to Kerry, who was
sitting up on his towel next to hers, his strong jaw set in anger, his clear blue eyes flashing dangerously.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go in the water. If I stay here another five minutes, I think I’m going to pass out.” She tried to stand up, but fell back onto the blanket, her legs weak with the heat. But as she heard Mary-Beth start giggling, Kerry reached down and took her hand, the strength of his powerfully built body easily pulling her upright.

“Just start moving,” he said softly enough so no one else could hear him. He grinned encouragingly, brushing a lock of his curly blond hair off his forehead. “It’s only a few yards, and as soon as you get in the water, you’ll be fine.”

A wave of dizziness swept over Julie. For a moment she thought she was going to faint, but Kerry’s hand tightened on hers, and she let him lead her quickly down the beach. Feeling the coolness of the water close over her feet, she let go of Kerry’s hand and plunged into a large wave that was rushing toward shore.

Instantly her head cleared and she felt the sticky layer of perspiration wash away. She swam underwater for a few strokes, then broke the surface, rolled over on her back, and looked around for Kerry. He surfaced only a few feet away and grinned at her. “Feel better?”

Julie nodded. “I thought I was going to pass out. How does everybody stand it?”

“The heat, or Mary-Beth?” Kerry teased.

“The heat,” Julie replied. “Who cares what Mary-Beth says?”

Suddenly Kerry yelled at her, and Julie turned around just in time to see a breaker building up right behind her. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her nose and ducked down just as the wave broke over her, and a moment later felt the water rush past her.

“You get used to the heat,” Kerry told her after they’d both come to the surface again. “Another couple of weeks and you won’t even notice it anymore.” He grinned mischievously. “Same with Mary-Beth—another couple of weeks and you won’t notice her anymore either. Besides, she’s just messed up ’cause I invited you today.”

Now Julie thought she understood. “Was she your girlfriend?”

Kerry shook his head. “No way.”

“But she wishes she were?” Julie asked, and Kerry’s face reddened with embarrassment.

“You want to talk all afternoon, or swim?” he demanded, splashing water in her face.

Julie splashed him back, and then all the rest of the kids except Mary-Beth Fletcher plunged into the water to join in the melee. Before long the group divided itself into two sides, but the sides kept changing as alliances were abandoned the moment an opportunity for a good dunk came up. And then, out of the laughter, Julie heard Kerry’s voice shouting to her. “Julie! Look out!”

She whirled, but it was already too late. From out of nowhere an enormous wave had built up, and before she could dive into it or duck beneath the surface, the undertow had her in its grip and she felt her legs slide out from under her. She gasped for breath just as the wave hit her, knocking her flat then tumbling her along the bottom like a piece of waterlogged wood.

She struggled against it, fighting to regain her footing, but then she felt her feet tangling in seaweed, and the first twinges of panic closed around her heart.

It’s all right, she told herself. I can swim, and it’s only a wave, and the water isn’t even over my head. All I have to do is let myself go, then stand up!

But how long could she go? Her lungs were bursting now, and she knew she couldn’t hold her breath more than a few more seconds.

And the wave seemed determined to keep her at the bottom.

She lunged hard then, and her breath gave out. The spent air poured out of her lungs, but it was going to be all right! She felt her head break the surface and her feet connect with the bottom. She opened her mouth wide, taking in great gasps of air.

And water.

Another wave had already built behind the first, smashing
into her face, flooding her mouth, choking her throat with brine. She was coughing as she went under for the second time, and this time she knew she had no reserves of air to sustain her.

She was going to drown!

Panic overwhelmed her, and she began thrashing against the churning water, fighting against the current, searching for a foothold on the bottom.

Against her will, her lungs began to take in water.

And then, as she felt herself begin to black out, strong arms snaked around her body and lifted her out of the water. She struggled for a moment, then heard Kerry’s voice.

“It’s okay! You’re okay, Julie, I’ve got you!”

Still coughing and choking, she threw her arms around him and clung to him as he waded through the surf, and up the beach. Finally he laid her on her towel, then dropped down next to her, rolling her over onto her stomach and pressing down hard on her back.

Saltwater spewed out of her lungs and disappeared into the sand.

A moment later it was over and Julie lay still, her chest heaving as she took in breath after breath of pure fresh air. It felt like hours before she finally trusted herself to roll over and look up at the circle of faces above her.

“Wh—What happened?” she asked.

Kerry gazed back at her, his blue eyes filled with worry. “It was my fault,” he said. “I should have warned you. It was a rogue wave. They come in like that every now and then. Everything’s real calm, and then all of a sudden a big one comes, and if you’re not ready, it just knocks you out. Are you all right?”

Julie hesitated, then nodded. “I—I think so.” She managed a weak grin. “But I sure thought it was all over for a second. If you hadn’t gotten hold of me …” She fell silent, shuddering even at the thought, then realized she was shivering with cold despite the heat of the afternoon. “I—maybe you’d better take me home.…”

With the rest of the kids crowding around, Kerry picked
her up and carried her to his car, a battered and rusty Chevy convertible whose top was little more than a series of shreds held together by a mass of silvery duct tape.

“Maybe we’d better get someone else’s car,” he suggested, his voice anxious, but Julie shook her head.

“It’s all right,” she said. “I like your car.”

“Then you’re nuts,” Kerry replied, but still grinned at her. “But that’s okay—I like nutty girls.” Slamming the door after making sure she was safely inside, he ran around and clambered into the driver’s seat.

Neither of them heard Mary-Beth Fletcher’s parting shot: “Why don’t you just drive her right on back up North, where she belongs? And if you like her so much, go with her!”

Toby Martin stared suspiciously at Jeff. “What if we get caught?” he demanded.

They were inside the fort they’d finished building that afternoon—a shaky lean-to next to the garage, constructed out of rotting lumber scavenged from the collapsing slave quarters—and hammered together with a cache of rusty nails they’d found in the barn. There was a small door just big enough for them to crawl through, and it hadn’t occurred to either of them that a window might have relieved the stuffy heat inside. But if they even felt the heat, neither was about to admit it. Since they’d finished the fort an hour ago, they’d been inside, securely hidden away from the world outside, talking about what Jeff had seen in the cemetery the night before.

“We won’t get caught,” Jeff insisted. “I’ll sneak out after everyone else has gone to sleep, and we’ll meet here. Then we’ll watch the graveyard all night.”

Suddenly, from outside, they heard a noise, as if something had moved in the underbrush. “What was that?” Jeff whispered. “Is there someone out there?”

Toby shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. What’ll we do?”

“Let’s go look,” Jeff decided. He dropped to his hands and knees and wriggled through the tiny hole in the wall. A moment later Toby followed him.

“What was it?” Toby asked. “Did you see anything?”

Jeff shook his head, his eyes searching the brush for any sign of movement. A few feet away he spotted a rabbit low to the ground, holding absolutely still. “Look!” he whispered, nudging Toby’s ribs. “Over there! I’m gonna see if I can catch him.”