'Yes,' he admitted. 'My mother cried and Daddy sulked, but after a while, they'll warm up to the fact and accept it, just like I told you they will,' he promised. 'Of course, my sisters think it's wonderful,' he added quickly. 'They'll all be here tomorrow for dinner. I thought we should have the first night to ourselves. I have two of my men outside with the truck waiting to go to the shack for your things.'
'Pearl's still sleeping,' I said. Paul's report had quickly extinguished the excitement and happiness.
'Go on, lead them in your new car. I'll be here for her when she wakes. Go on. I've got Holly to help,' he assured me.
'She'll be afraid, waking up in a strange place.'
'But she's not with a stranger,' he replied confidently. 'She has me.' I saw how much he wanted to establish himself as her father as soon as he could.
'Okay. I won't be long,' I said.
At the shack I pointed out the pieces of furniture I wanted. I told Paul's men I would take the painting myself. After I put it safely in the car, I went back inside the house and stood in the living room gazing at everything. How empty and sad it looked without the few pieces of furniture. It was as if I were losing Grandmere Catherine once again, cutting off whatever spiritual attachments still bound us together. Her spirit couldn't go with me. It belonged here in these shadows and corners, in the little toothpick-legged shack that had been her mansion, her palace, her home, and mine, too, for so long. All the days here weren't happy ones, but they weren't all sad ones either.
Here she had comforted me during my moments of fear and anxiety. Here she had woven the stories and conjured up my hopes. Here we had worked side by side to make our living. We had laughed and cried and collapsed with fatigue beside each other on the old settee that Grandpere Jack had practically beaten to death in his drunken rages. These walls had soaked up the laughter and the pain and inhaled the wonderful aromas of Grandmere's cooking. From these windows at night, I had looked up at the moon and the stars and dreamt of princes and princesses and wove my own fairy tales.
Good-bye, I thought. Finally good-bye to childhood and all the precious innocence that kept me from seeing and believing there was any real cruelty in this world. I thought I had moved into Wonderland at Cypress Woods. So much of it seemed too wonderful to be real. But here was my true Wonderland. Here I had felt the special magic and here I had done some of my best art.
Tears trickled down my cheeks. I wiped them away quickly, took a deep breath, and hurried out of the house, down the steps of the gallery, and into my car. Without looking back, I left my past behind me a second and perhaps final time.
Now it was Paul's turn to see the sadness in my face when I returned. He had Holly and James take my things up to my room and to Pearl's nursery and then he took me out back to look at our pool and cabana. He talked about his plans for landscaping, the trees and the flowers and the walkways and fountains he envisioned. He talked about the parties we would have, the music and food. I knew he was talking a blue streak just so I wouldn't have time to brood on the past and be sad.
'There's so much to do here,' he concluded. 'We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves anymore.'
'Oh, Paul, I hope you're right.'
'Of course I'm right,' he insisted. We heard someone calling and turned to see that his sisters had arrived.
Jeanne had been in my class when I lived in the bayou. We had always been good friends. She was about an inch or so taller than I was, with dark brown hair and almond-shaped eyes. She looked more like their mother and had her deep, dark complexion, her sharp chin and nearly perfect nose. I always remembered her as a bright and happy girl.
Toby was two years younger, and although she didn't look like her mother as much, she had her mother's serious demeanor. She was a little shorter but with broader hips and a fuller bosom. She kept her dark brown hair trimly cut. Her eyes were more perceiving, studious and inquisitive. She had a way of twisting the corner of her mouth downward when she doubted or disapproved of something someone else had said or done.
'I told them to wait until tomorrow,' Paul said angrily.
'It's all right. I'm glad they've come,' I said, joining them. They both hugged and kissed me and then followed me up to the nursery, Jeanne chattering away as I changed Pearl's diaper.
'Of course, this is all a shock,' she said. In a breathless gush, her words spilled forth. 'It's so unlike Paul, Mr. Perfect Little Man.'
'Why did you two do it now?' Toby asked. 'Why didn't you do it as soon as you knew you were pregnant?'
I didn't look at her when I spoke, for fear she would see the lies in my face.
'Paul wanted to,' I said, 'but I didn't want to ruin his life.'
'What about your life?' Toby countered.
'I was all right.'
'Living by yourself with a baby in that shack?'
'Oh, Toby, why drag up the past? It's over now, and now look where they are,' Jeanne cried, her arms extended. 'Everyone's raving jealous over this house and Paul's good fortune.'
Toby came up beside me and looked down at Pearl. 'When did you two . . . make her?' she asked.
'Toby!' Jeanne exclaimed.
'I'm just asking. She doesn't have to say if she doesn't want to, but we're all sisters now. We shouldn't have secrets from each other, should we? Well, should we?' she asked me.
'No, not secrets, but each of us has something private in our hearts, something best kept locked up. Maybe you're still too young to understand that, Toby, but you will,' I said. It was the sharpest thing I had ever said to her. She blinked and pulled her lips thin for a moment and then she nodded after considering what I had said.
'You're right. I'm sorry, Ruby.'
'That's okay,' I said, smiling. 'We should be sisters now in every way possible.'
