Keeper of the Light

being stranded out here in the middle of the night.

Lacey’s directions had been poor, but after a few hundred yards on the sand road, Olivia heard music. She followed the sound to a small white house, where Lacey sat alone on the concrete front stoop. She looked up as Olivia pulled into the grassy driveway, then started walking toward the car.

Olivia opened the door for her. She was clearly drunk, and her clothes smelled of beer and tobacco. It took her three attempts to get into the car, where she closed her eyes and rested her head back against the seat.

Olivia leaned over to snap Lacey’s seat belt in place. “Have you had anything besides beer?” she asked.

“Uh uh.”

“Have you gotten sick?”

Lacey nodded, her eyes opening to half mast. “Three times,” she whispered.

“Let me know if you’re going to get sick again so I can pull over.”

“Mmm.” Lacey closed her eyes again. She slept for most of the drive to Olivia’s house. Olivia set her up in the guest room, deciding there would be time in the morning to pursue Lacey’s concern about her late period. She went back to her own bedroom and called Alec.

“It’s Olivia, Alec. I’m sorry to wake you.”

“No problem,” he said, his voice thick with sleep. “What’s up?”

“I have Lacey here with me.”

“Why?”

“She was at a party and had too much to drink and she called me, very upset. So I picked her up and brought her here.”

She heard the heaviness of his breathing. She pictured him sitting bare-chested on the edge of his bed, rubbing his face, trying to wake himself up.

“I’ll come get her,” he said.

“No, don’t. She’s asleep. I’ll bring her home in the morning.”

“I don’t want you to have to go to all that trouble.”

“It’s all right. I’m off tomorrow. Go back to sleep, Alec. We’ll talk more about this in the morning.”

Lacey was pale and red-eyed the next morning. She sat at the table in her foul-smelling jeans and T-shirt, dumping spoonfuls of sugar into her coffee. She was sober and very quiet. Olivia put a plate of toast in front of her and sat down on the other side of the table.

“When you called last night, you said you were concerned that your period was late.”

Lacey looked up, startled. “I said that?”

Olivia nodded.

Lacey groaned and leaned back in the chair. “I can’t believe I told you that.”

“Do you know when you were due?”

Lacey shook her head back and forth against the chair, her eyes closed.

“Have you had sex since your last period?”

Lacey made a face, her cheeks reddening. “I can’t talk to you about that,” she said.

“Well, just tell me if there’s a possibility you could be pregnant.”

She nodded.

“We’ll go into the ER this morning and get a test done.”

Lacey opened her eyes and looked directly at Olivia. “Oh, God, Olivia, what if I am? I’d have to have it. I don’t think I could ever have an abortion. My mother would have killed me. She hated abortions. She said they were murder.”

“But you and your mother are different people.”

Lacey looked surprised by that thought. “Still,” she said, shaking her head, “I don’t think I could do it.”

“Let’s wait and see what we’re dealing with, Lacey. We don’t need to borrow trouble.”

They waited in Olivia’s office while Kathy Brash ran the test. Lacey did not want to talk. She sat in the chair by the window, playing with the cord from the blinds, and she jumped when the phone rang.

Olivia picked up the receiver.

“Negative,” said Kathy.

Olivia thanked her and got off the phone. She looked across her desk at Lacey.

“You’re not pregnant.”

Lacey covered her face with her hands and started to cry. “I was so scared,” she said. “It was just about all I could think of. I almost told you when I stayed over that night. I wanted to, but I thought you’d think I was a slut or something.”

Olivia shook her head. “I don’t think any less of you, Lacey.” She leaned forward on her desk. “Look at me,” she said.