a time.
There was a delicate scent of lavender and violet wafting from the eighteenth-century yellow-rose-flowered Meissen hard-paste porcelain bowl of potpourri sitting on the mirrored dresser on the wall adjacent to the bed. Morgan had never seen or smelled potpourri before and was charmed by the mix of dried flowers and lavender seeds. The walls themselves were smoky cream, the windows framed with heavy yellow velvet curtains. On the walls hung a variety of oil paintings- some Canadian wilderness scenes that featured Lake Superior and the surrounding shield, a scattering of English watercolours of gardens and seascapes. There was also an oil portrait of a young girl who, even then, had the features of the adult Adeline Parr, but without the hardness Morgan had seen in her grandmother’s face last night. The portrait, she realized, was of Adeline at roughly the same age Morgan was now.
Morgan discovered that the room had an adjoining bathroom. (
After towelling off and dabbing some Johnson’s baby lotion on her face, Morgan combed her damp hair with a wide-toothed comb and dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a soft blue sweater. She looked at her Timex. It was seven o’clock.
Checking her image in the mirror over her dresser one last time, she smiled at her reflection, well pleased with what she saw there. She took a deep breath, then headed downstairs for breakfast with her grandmother.
When Morgan entered the dining room, her mother and Jeremy were already seated. They were looking down at their plates. Jeremy’s face was red and Morgan’s mother was furiously buttering a piece of toast. The tension in the air lay like a miasma over the table. The only person who seemed unaffected by it was Adeline, who looked up from her gold-rimmed breakfast plate and smiled pleasantly at her granddaughter.
“Good morning, dear,” Adeline said. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes, Grandmother.” Morgan looked inquisitively at her mother and her uncle, then back to Adeline. “Thank you.”
“You’ll find breakfast laid out on the sideboard over there,” Adeline said, indicating the gleaming silver-domed platters on the sideboard’s surface. “Beatrice will be removing them and clearing the table promptly at seven forty- five, so I advise you to select what you wish to eat and begin. You don’t want to be late for your first day in your new school.”
Morgan looked around. “Who’s Beatrice?”
“Beatrice has been with this family for most of her working life. Her husband, James, is our driver, and he will be driving you to school this morning shortly after you’re finished with breakfast. There will be forms to fill out, I’m sure. You don’t want to start off on the wrong foot.”
Christina looked sharply at Adeline. “I’ll drive Morgan to school this morning, Adeline. I was sure I made that clear earlier.”
“Out of the question,” Adeline replied. Her tone was peremptory and dismissive. “Morgan will be fine on her own. She’s fifteen. She doesn’t need mollycoddling, and frankly I’d like her to have the advantage of starting school with a minimum of gossip to deal with about-well, about recent life events.”
“Jesus, Mother.” Jeremy looked disgusted.
“Are you referring to her father’s death?” Christina said, hearing a certain shrillness in her own tone that was entirely alien to her. “Or are you referring to the fact that her uncle doesn’t love women? Or that her mother has brought her back to this town she swore she’d never even think of again because she had no other way of providing for her? Which ‘recent events’ are you referring to, Adeline? Which ‘recent events’ should stop me from driving my daughter to school this morning?”
“How you-”
“Mom, maybe Grandmother is right,” Morgan interrupted. She looked beseechingly at her mother, as though imploring her to concede, if only just this once, for the sake of peace. “I’ll be fine. I’ll tell you all about it this afternoon when I get home.”
Christina recognized at once that her daughter was trying to avert a scene between herself and Adeline, and she was momentarily chagrined that she’d allowed Adeline to draw her into yet another power struggle so soon. She was particularly struck by Adeline’s willingness to fight in front of Morgan, consequences be damned. This was not going to be easy, living here with this woman. She took no prisoners. No wonder both her sons had fled as soon as they were possibly able.
“All right, Morgan. If you’re sure.”
“Of
“I don’t know what you think we have to discuss, Mother. I’m going out for a drive today. I don’t intend to be back until dinnertime. I’ve been away a long while, and I’m going to explore some old haunts. It’s going to be a beautiful day, according to the radio, and I’m going to look at the leaves.”
“Yes, and why don’t you go visit some of your old friends from school, son,” Adeline said cruelly. “You have so many. I’m sure they’d be happy to see you back in town.”
Jeremy’s laugh was forced, but defiant. “Maybe I will at that, Mother. Maybe I will.”
“I think I’ll join you, Jeremy,” Christina said, surprising herself with her own defiance. She guessed that Adeline was unlikely to be able to retaliate against both her and Jeremy’s defiance, at least not right away- and frankly the notion of being trapped in Parr House all day with this woman was more than she could bear right now. “I’d like to look at the leaves, too. Shall we pack a lunch and make a day of it, Jeremy?”
“Young woman, you are not on holiday,” Adeline snapped at Christina. “I’ll have you remember that while you are under my roof.”
Adeline looked across the table at her granddaughter, pale and staring at her plate, not eating her breakfast. Her mouth tightened in frustration, realizing she’d been outmanoeuvred into choosing between causing a disruptive scene in front of Morgan, or letting it go. Adeline had no compunctions about chastising either the common strumpet who had killed her eldest son, or her youngest son, the depraved invert disgrace to his name, but she was intent on winning Morgan to her side. She was shrewd enough to realize that this was not the way to do it.
“Very well, Christina,” Adeline said, her voice as sweet as frozen sugar water. “You two go out and reacquaint yourselves with the town. Perhaps it’s a good idea after your drive. It won’t hurt you to see how far you are from Toronto, both geographically and otherwise. It would be a mistake to think otherwise, as I’m sure you’ll remember after a day out driving around. And Jeremy is quite correct. I also heard on the radio how lovely the weather is going to be today. Just be back by dinner. It gets dark very quickly out here and the night comes down fast. You don’t want to get lost.”
“Your concern is touching, Mother,” Jeremy said. The sarcasm in his tone was a facsimile of his mother’s own. “Considering that both Christina and I grew up here, it hardly seems likely that we’d get lost, but I promise you we’ll be careful.”
“Good,” Adeline said briskly. “Now, since everyone’s plans for the day have been arranged, I believe I’ll take my coffee in my sitting room.” She rang the bell beside her plate, and Beatrice appeared in the doorway.
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Beatrice, Mr. Jeremy and Miss Christina won’t be here for lunch, and I believe Miss Morgan has eaten all she’s going to eat of your delicious breakfast. Would you please bring my coffee into the sitting room? And the newspapers? And tell James that Miss Morgan will be ready to leave for school in five minutes. Have him bring the car around to the front of the house.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Beatrice poured Adeline a fresh cup of coffee from the silver coffeepot, adding a small splash of cream. She placed it on a silver tray and carried it out of the dining room without a word.
In spite of themselves, Christina and Jeremy watched her performance, spellbound. The time between Adeline Parr deciding something would happen and it happening was minuscule, whether ordering a cup of coffee from the housekeeper, or ordering her younger son to spend six months incarcerated in a mental hospital.
For her part, Morgan read the subtitles in the room. They were not yet entirely clear, but she had the first
