Once in a Lifetime (26 page)

"You know them?"

"So do you, dummy, or you should have. We haven't had to deal with them yet, but Iris said something about them before we left New York. They're Comstock's lawyers for our movie. Didn't he know?"

"He's been all wrapped up in a tax case for one of his clients."

"What happened to his wife?"

"She ran off with Austin Weeks."

"The actor?" Daphne looked momentarily stunned and then realized, as Barbara had two months before, that it was a foolish thing to ask. "Never mind, that was a dumb question. Christ, that must have been a blow to your friend. Austin Weeks must be two hundred years old."

"At least, but he's rich as the devil, and twice as good-looking." Daphne nodded.

"What's your friend's name, by the way?"

"Tom Harrington."

They exchanged a slow smile and Daphne looked pleased. "I'm happy for you, Barb." She lifted her glass of champagne to her friend and toasted her happiness with Tom. "I hope you both live happily ever after. ..." And then she grinned. "But not until we finish the movie." There was the same feverish light in her eyes Barbara had seen ever since they'd come to California. All she wanted to do was work at breakneck speed, get it over with and get home. But now that almost frightened Barbara. She was in no hurry to leave California.

She introduced Tom to Daphne the next day. They had drinks beside the pool, and Barbara could tell when they left that Daphne had liked him. The conversation had been relaxed and she kissed him on the" cheek as they left and told him to take good care of Barbara. Daphne waved as they got into his car, and then walked slowly back to the pool and picked up their glasses. She was happy for Barbara. And Daphne had an odd feeling of watching precious people set sail for a long journey. She felt somehow left behind on a lonely shore.

That night as she made herself a sandwich for dinner she decided to call Matthew. As a result of her two months of nonstop work, she still didn't know a soul in L.A. and she called Matt from time to time. He was becoming an even dearer friend, and her only real contact with Andrew. But when she called tonight, he was out, and she wondered where he was. He had never been out before, and she suddenly wondered if he had met a woman. It felt as though everyone in the world had someone except her, and all she had was her little boy, and he was three thousand miles away in a school for the deaf. It was a desperately lonely feeling, and even the victory of having finished the screenplay did not subdue her pain as she went to bed immediately after dinner, and lay there fighting back tears, her whole soul longing for Andrew.

The people at Comstock Studios were overwhelmed by Daphne's screenplay. It was more powerful than the book, they told her, and everyone could hardly wait to start. The actors had long since been lined up, the sets had been built. In three weeks they were to begin, and after a round of congratulations Daphne went back to the house, feeling pleased with herself, and very excited. They had hired Justin Wakefield for the starring role, and even though she thought he might be a little too handsome, she was extremely impressed by his talent.

"Well, madam, how does it feel?" Barbara smiled at her as they got back to the house together and wandered inside.

"I don't know. I think I'm in shock. I really expected them to tell me they hated it." She sat down on the white couch and looked around, feeling a little disoriented.

But Barbara smiled at her friend. "You're crazy, Daff. You always think Harbor's going to hate your books too, and they always love them."

"So I'm crazy." She shrugged with a grin. "Maybe I'm entitled."

"What are you going to do with yourself for three weeks?" They wouldn't start shooting until then. Daphne was barely able to keep herself from her desk for three days, let alone three weeks, but Barbara suspected what she had in mind as Daphne smiled at her.

"Are you kidding? I'm going to call Matt tonight and have him put Andrew on a plane."

"You don't want to fly back to New York?"

Daphne shook her head and glanced at the pool. "I think he'd love it here, and maybe it's time he saw a little bit more of the world than just Howarth." Barbara nodded silent agreement, wondering what he was like, she had still never met him. And then Daphne looked up at her with a warm smile. "Do you want to come to Disneyland with us?"

"I'd love it." Tom had a business trip to New York coming up, and she was already lonely just thinking about it. It made her dread how she would feel when she eventually went back to New York at the end of the year. She still hadn't accepted his proposal, on the grounds that she couldn't leave Daphne. Not yet.

Half an hour later Daphne got up and went to the phone, and called Matthew Dane at Howarth.

"Hi, Matt. How are you?"

"I'm fine. How's the screenplay coming?"

"Terrific. I'm all finished, and I found out today that they loved it. We start in three weeks. They had just been waiting for me to finish."

"You must be excited as hell." He mounded genuinely pleased for her.

"I am. And I want to spend the next two or three weeks with Andrew. How soon do you think you can get him on a plane?"

At his end, Matt looked down at the appointment calendar on his desk with a thoughtful look. "I can take him into Boston on Saturday if you'd like. Is that soon enough?"

She smiled at her end. "No, but it'll do. I can hardly wait to see him."

"I know." He knew better than she suspected how lonely she had been. He could tell by how often she called him. And it always amazed him that a woman with her looks and her mind and her success should be alone. There should have been flocks of people at her door, especially men, but he also knew that she didn't want them. "How's life otherwise, Daff?"

"What otherwise? All I've done is work since I got here. Now suddenly I've finished and all I do is sleep. I went out in the world today for the first time, to go to Comstock, and it was like having been dropped onto a new planet."

"Welcome to earth, Miss Fields. What are you and Andrew going to do while he's out there?"

"Go to Disneyland for starters."

"Lucky kid." Matthew smiled, knowing how Andrew would lord it over the others, but not in a nasty way, he wasn't that kind of child.

"I'll have to see after that. Maybe we'll just hang out here at the pool, although to tell you the truth, that kills me. I keep feeling I should be working every minute so I can get out of here faster."

"Don't you ever stop and just enjoy things?"

"Not if I can help it. I'm not here to have a good time. I'm here to work." Sometimes she sounded as though she were driven by demons, and he knew what they were. She was always pushing herself so she could see Andrew. "Matt ..." She suddenly sounded worried and pensive. "Do you really think he'll be all right on the flight? I could fly back to get him if I had to." But she had to admit that she was bone tired from two months of incessant work. But nonetheless she'd have done it for Andrew.

"He'll be fine. Let him be, Daff. Let him try his own wings. This is a big step for him." But what if something happened? "Trust him. And trust me. He'll be fine." There was something so comforting about him that she believed him.

He called her back the next day to tell her when Andrew was arriving. He was flying nonstop from Boston to Los Angeles the next day and due to arrive at three in the afternoon. She wondered for a moment how she would get through another twenty-four hours. Suddenly she ached to put her arms around him again, every moment would be too long. Matthew smiled, "You sound as antsy as he does."

"I am." And then her face grew serious again. "Is he scared about making the trip alone?"

"Not at all. He thinks it's going to be exciting."

Daphne sighed into the phone. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this, even if he is." For years he had been so protected, and now at Matthew's urging he would be trying his own wings, even for something so simple as a plane trip to California; it scared her.

"What are you afraid of, Daff? That he'll get to be independent?" His voice was gentle but it was a low blow and suddenly there was anger in the cornflower-blue eyes.

"How can you say that? You know that's what I want for him."

"Then let him have it. Don't make him feel different all his life. He doesn't have to be, unless you make him that way."

"Okay, okay, I've heard the speech before. I get the message." Their long talks on the phone had brought them the kind of friendship that allowed her to get angry, and she had before, but never for long. And usually, Matthew was right.

"Daphne, he's going to feel proud of himself, and you'll feel proud too." She knew it was true. "But I know that doesn't make it easy at this end of the flight. Tomorrow at this time you'll both be glowing. Don't forget to call me when he arrives." Now it was Matthew who sounded like the worried mother hen.

"I won't. We'll call you from the airport."

"I'll do the same tomorrow from Boston."

And the moment he did, there began a six-hour vigil for Daphne, watching the clock, sitting by the phone, terrified that something would go wrong, that something would happen to the plane, or worse, that up in the air Andrew would be unable to communicate with anyone around him, or some child on the plane would torment him as they had in the playground so long ago. It seemed terribly wrong that he should face the world again now, all alone, and yet perhaps it was fitting. Perhaps Matthew really was right and it was Andrew's battle, to win on his own, and he had a right to that victory by himself, without anyone else sharing the glory or taking it from him.

"You okay?" Barbara stuck her head into Daphne's study, and saw the tension in her face. "Any news?"

"Only that he's on the plane. Nothing since then."

Barbara nodded. "Want some lunch?" But Daphne shook her head. She couldn't eat, all she could think of was Andrew, winging his way toward her from Boston. She was going to the airport to meet him alone, and Barbara would meet him at the house. They had arranged a little party for him, with paper hats and a cake and balloons and a sign that said, "We love you, Andrew. Welcome to California."

When it was time to leave for the airport, Daphne showered and slipped into beige linen slacks and a white silk shirt, sandals, and a white silk blazer that Barbara had bought for her on Rodeo Drive. It was the perfect size and looked beautiful now as she picked up her handbag and walked out the door as Barbara watched her. She turned once in the doorway, and their eyes met and held, and then with a smile she was gone, and Barbara marveled at what she had seen. There was a love in the woman's eyes that Barbara envied, a love for a child who was a piece of her own soul, whatever his problems, hearing or deaf he was her little boy and she loved him with all of her heart, with everything she had to give him.

At the airport Daphne looked up at the big board that listed the arrivals and heaved a sigh of relief. The plane was on time, and she hurried to the gate. She had another half hour to wait there, she had come early "just in case," and she stood watching at the window, watching planes land and take off, and feeling the minutes tick by like aeons. And finally, ten minutes before he was due to arrive, she walked into a phone booth and called Matthew.

"Safely arrived?' There was a smile in his voice, but Daphne still sounded tense.

"The plane's not due in for another ten minutes. But I can't stand it. I had to call you."

"The last stretch, eh? He'll be fine, Daphne. I promise."

"I know he will. But suddenly I realize that it's been two and a half months since I've seen him. What if he's different? What if he hates me because I'm out here?" She was terrified of seeing her own son, but Matthew knew it was normal.

"He doesn't hate you, Daff. He loves you. He can hardly wait to see you. That's all he's been talking about for the last two days."

"Are you sure?" She felt like a nervous wreck.

"Positive. Come on, kid, hang in there. He's almost there." He looked at his watch, and in the airport she saw people gathering at the gate. "Another five minutes."

And suddenly she grinned then, feeling silly. "I'm sorry I called you, I just got so nervous ..."

"Listen, I'd feel the same way. Just relax. Tell you what, don't bother to call me till you get home. If I don't hear from you, I'll assume he arrived safely. But don't louse up your first minutes with him by rushing for a phone."

"Okay." And then suddenly she saw the plane, taxiing slowly toward them. Tears filled her eyes and she couldn't talk anymore. "Oh, Matt ... I see the plane ... he's here ... good-bye." She hung up and he smiled, feeling the emotions rise within him, too.

Daphne stood very still as the plane pulled up to the gate, and she clutched a railing with one hand as it stopped. And a moment later people began to pour from it, tired-looking businessmen with briefcases, grandmothers with canes, models with portfolios, and no sight of Andrew. She stood there, saying nothing, her eyes combing the crowd, and then suddenly she saw him. He was smiling and laughing, holding a stewardess's hand, and then suddenly he pointed at Daphne, and said almost clearly, "That's my Mommy!" With tears streaming down her face Daphne ran toward him and swept him into her arms, closing her eyes tight and holding him, and then she pulled away so he could read her lips. "I love you so much!" And he laughed with delight and hugged her again and when he pulled away he moved his lips and spoke.

"I love you too, Mom."

He was enthralled by the limousine waiting for them at the curb, and the sign they had made at home, and the pool and the cake. He told Barbara all about the flight, moving his lips carefully and speaking awkwardly but nonetheless so that she could understand him. After dinner they all went for a swim, and at last he went to bed, Daphne tucking him in, stroking his fair hair, and kissing him softly on the forehead as he drifted off to sleep, and tonight she watched him for a long time as he lay there near her once more. Andrew was home. It was all she could think of as she stood there, and it was a long time before she left the room, and found Barbara putting the cake away in the kitchen.