Phantom of Riverside Park (34 page)

“Grace is God’s loving mercy to us all,” Mae
Mae used to say, and Elizabeth knew that her marriage was a
merciful act on David’s part and a sure sign of God’s grace, to
boot. Yet, here she was thinking about the dreams she’d had when
she was sixteen and how not a single of one of them had come true.
Not even her wedding.

Every girl imagines her wedding as being a
beautiful sacred affair predicated on love--the starting point for
a future full of promise. Hers wasn’t, and now she’s lost that,
too. She’s legally married, and even if her future should hold
something different, wonder of wonders, the next time around would
not be her first.

She feels like an ingrate--selfish to the
core--but when she’d told Quincy that she’d said, “Everybody’s
entitled to their feelings, no matter what they are. There are no
right and wrong feelings, Elizabeth.”

She was glad Quincy hadn’t said, “Count your
blessings.” At that very moment, her bed was loaded with boxes of
stylish, expensive clothes, delivered that morning by a smiling
Edwards, along with a bank book with a mind-boggling balance and a
handful of credit cards, both in the name of Elizabeth
Lassiter.

You’d think she would at least be grateful,
but
no,
all she’d been was even more depressed. All the
possessions in the world didn’t make up for the loss of Nicky and
the absence of love.

She didn’t have to rationalize being
depressed over the absence of her son because the grief she felt
over his loss was the kind that wouldn’t let you have any rest,
even when you shut your eyes in sleep.

But to be mooning around because she didn’t
have somebody to put his arms around her and hold her close and
whisper, “Everything’s going to be all right, I’m here,” branded
her as a hopeless romantic, and maybe even a shameless vixen
besides. Lately she’d been prowling around the house like a cat
with her fur on fire, something wild and restless clawing at her
insides trying to get out.

The single romantic gesture in her whole
life, including everything that had happened with Taylor, was
David’s gift of pearls.

She took them out of their velvet box and put
them on. She would wear them today. For good luck. For a reminder.
Perhaps even for hope.

Facing the mirror, Elizabeth studied the way
she looked in pearls. Like a woman cherished. She knew it was an
illusion, but what was the harm if she clung to it?

With the pearls gleaming against her bare
skin, she picked up the box on top of the pile and put on her new
clothes. The dress was pink linen, elegant, expensively cut, and
exactly her size. She wondered if David knew pink was her favorite
color.

o0o

David was proud of the actions he’d taken on
Elizabeth’s behalf, encouraged by the speed with which Joseph
Whitcomb of Whitcomb, Jones and Riley had made things happen.
Joseph was sitting in a wing chair on David’s left, and Peter on
his right. The chair facing David was empty, Elizabeth’s chair.

Today, though, the draperies were open, the
lights were on and the lamp beside her chair was gone. He’d had it
sent to the third floor storeroom. He wouldn’t be using it anymore.
Elizabeth had seen his face, and she was not afraid. As far as he
could see, she was not even repulsed.

And that’s why he found himself watching the
doorway, waiting for her as if she were Christmas and he was six
years old.

“Elizabeth is here,” his secretary said, and
all three men stood up when she entered the room. She was wearing
his pearls. It was a small detail, a natural thing for a woman,
probably, to gild the lily with jewels; but for David it wasn’t
simple at all. That single gesture sent a shiver of hope through
him that no matter how he tried to rationalize wouldn’t go
away.

“Please sit down, Elizabeth,” he said, then
belatedly he remembered that husbands should do more than invite
their wives to make themselves comfortable. And because they had to
make their legal union real for everybody outside their inner
circle, including her new attorney, David went to her and held her
hands and said the first thing that came into his mind.

“Everything’s going to be all right.” It was
the same thing he’d told his sister many times over the years when
McKenzie needed a big brother’s shoulder to cry on.

The only difference was that he didn’t feel
brotherly toward Elizabeth. Not the least bit. In fact, with her
soft boneless-feeling hands swallowed up by his, he felt almost
heroic and somewhat confused. She had a disconcerting way of
looking directly into his eyes. She smelled good, too. And looked
even better.

“Thank you, David.” She made his name sound
intimate and filled with memories, as if they’d spent the night in
a marital bed and shared things too delicious to keep inside.

All of a sudden he realized he was staring at
her, still hanging onto her hands. And when he sat down, a little
self-consciously, he noticed that Peter was grinning. David cleared
his throat, something he didn’t do in meetings for it was a signal
of uncertainty.

“As you all know, in an hour Helen Parkins
and the director of the Department of Human Services will be here
to review Nicky’s case, thanks to Joseph.”

Joseph acknowledged David’s praise with a nod
and a smile. From what David had already witnessed and what he was
seeing now, Peter had made an excellent choice in attorneys.

Joseph Whitcomb was silver-haired and
aristocratic, but his courtliness was tempered with steel. If he
were an actor--and of course he was, for all good courtroom lawyers
had to be good actors--he would have been cast as Moses. He had the
look of a man who had been to the top of the mountain and received
edicts directly from the Almighty. Furthermore, he looked capable
of parting the Red Sea.

“Joseph, why don’t you fill us in regarding
the Department’s case?”

“They don’t have a leg to stand on, and when
I’m through with them, they’re going to know it.” He smiled at
Elizabeth. “Dear lady, I can safely promise you that your son will
be home by nightfall.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth covered her mouth with both
hands, and her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.

“When I’m through with them, they’ll wish
they’d never heard of a little boy named Nicky Jennings, let alone
tampered with him. They’ll wish they could dig a hole straight to
China, then crawl in it and pull the dirt behind them.”

“That’s exactly what we want to hear.” David
was sounding like a businessman again, and autonomous, besides.
“Elizabeth and I are deeply grateful.”

“For what you’re paying me, you don’t have to
be grateful. You don’t even have to like me.”

“Oh, but we do.” Elizabeth looked and sounded
completely sincere. And probably was. “In the last two minutes
you’ve become one of my favorite people.”

Joseph bowed in her direction. “Dear lady,
you are the exception, of course. I want you to like me...if you
can clear it with your husband.”

“Is it all right if I run away to Tahiti with
this man, David?”

Her unexpected humor delighted him. “Of
course. As long as you’re back in time for supper.”

She hadn’t laughed with such rich abandon
since David had first seen her in the park. Something deep inside
him wanted to protect that laughter, to make it grow, to make it
last so that when he was too old to live and stretched out in the
same bed where Grandfather Snead had told all his family goodbye,
he could still hear the peal of Elizabeth’s laughter, like distant
bells.

“...and as long as you behave like a lady,”
he added.

Elizabeth didn’t miss a beat. Batting her
eyes at him, she drawled, “Why, Rhett, ah wouldn’t dream of bein’
anythin’ else.”

“It’s always a pleasure to see newlyweds
flirt,” Joseph said.

“Yes, isn’t it?” Peter said, deadpanning.

David was going to tell him, he was wasting
his talents at Lassiter, he should go into vaudeville. He was
somewhat embarrassed by it all, but elated, too. He would probably
spend a sleepless night thinking about today’s exchange.

“Back to business,” he said. “Bring us
up-to-date on the custody case, Joseph.”

“The case is specious, ripe on the surface
and rotten to the core. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many
trumped-up charges in my life. Unless one parent or the other is
dealing drugs or carrying on prostitution or involved in some other
heinous activities, where a child lives is no more pertinent to
custody than how much money the parent makes. And as for him being
left unsupervised, I say
bah, humbug.
Taking a child to
work for one day because your granddaddy is sick, then watching him
while you sell doughnuts does not constitute
lack of
supervision
.”

David watched Elizabeth’s face while her
lawyer talked. He’d never known hope to be so beautiful.

“As for Papa,” the lawyer added, “I say what
better place to leave a child than in the care of a loving
grandparent, someone with the wisdom of years in his favor. It
helps, of course, that Nicky’s circumstances will be greatly
improved by your marriage.” He took his glasses off and polished
them. “Then there’s the matter of the judge.”

“I intend to use the full power of my
resources to expose him,” David said. “You can tell that to
Belliveau’s lawyer.”

“Gentlemen...and dear lady,” Joseph bowed in
Elizabeth’s direction then put his glasses on with a flourish. “I
predict that this case will never come to court. Any questions,
Mrs. Lassiter?”

She blushed at hearing her new title, but
otherwise she did nothing to give away the true state of their
marriage. The pride David felt in her was all out of proportion to
the circumstances, and he knew he’d spend considerable time
pondering that, too.

“I’m speechless,” his wife said, “and deeply,
deeply grateful.”

“Well, then. If you will excuse me, I’m going
to take a few minutes to prepare for our meeting with Miss Parkins
and the director.” Joseph left with his bulging briefcase.

Peter stood up, too. “David, do you need me
for anything else?”

“No, Peter. Take a break. You deserve
it.”

“I’ll leave you alone with your wife,
then.”

“Don’t forget to come back and escort her to
the meeting.”

“Did you think I would forget?”

“No. McKenzie says your name should be
changed to
elephant
.”

“Was she referring to my memory or my
anatomy?”

“What does she know about your anatomy?
Should I get the shotgun?”

“Not as much as she should, to answer your
first question, and unfortunately no, to address your second...I
hope we haven’t embarrassed you, Elizabeth.”

“Not at all. Entertained, is more like it.
The exchange between you two was right up there with listening to
Nicky belt out
I’ve found my pill on Blueberry Hill
.”

Peter left laughing, but her disclosure
jolted David. He started fiddling with some papers on his desk to
hide his expression. What had Nicky told her?

“That’s an unusual song for a little boy of
four, isn’t it?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Nicky picks up snatches of
songs everywhere he goes. There’s no telling where he heard
Blueberry Hill
.”

He didn’t know why he should feel such relief
at not being found out. What would it matter if Elizabeth knew he
had visited her son in the hospital? David answered his own
question. He was afraid for her to know he cared.

“Do you think I’ll really get Nicky back
today?”

“Yes. Peter says Joseph is a
straight-shooter. He says what he means and means what he
says.”

“You aren’t going into the meeting?”

Did that mean she wanted him to? Funny how
the smallest little thing could give birth to hope.

“No, Joseph said the marriage would help your
case, but I don’t think seeing the bridegroom would advance
it.”

“Oh, David... I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t you ever feel sorry for me.” She
stiffened, and he felt like a cad. He hadn’t meant to sound so
harsh.

“I didn’t mean that as pity. I only meant
that I’m sorry for the pain you’ve endured, both physical and
emotional. I can’t bear to think how you suffered. How you must
suffer, still.”

“Don’t we all?”

“Yes. We all fall down and get hurt.” She put
on that brave smile he’d seen her wear when she didn’t want anybody
to think she was aching inside.

“That’s life, I guess.”

“I suppose. It helps, though, if you have
somebody to kiss it and make it better.” She blushed. “That’s what
I do to Nicky’s hurts.”

“He’s lucky to have you.”

And so was David, even if the possession was
only temporary, even if she would never kiss his hurts and make
them better.

Peter knocked, then stuck his head around the
doorframe. “Time to go, Elizabeth.”

Her smile wavered, and the look she gave
David nearly broke his heart.

“You’re going to get your son back,” he told
her. “One way or another, you’ll get him back.”

Elizabeth had never attended an evisceration.
That’s the best way she could describe what her lawyer was doing to
Helen Parkins, and while she’d always considered herself a kind and
compassionate woman, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of malicious
glee at the way the woman was squirming. She felt vindicated, too.
It served Helen right for the sneaky, hateful, high-handed tactics
she’d used in taking Nicky, and for the disdainful way she’d
treated Papa.

Sitting there in her wedding pearls,
Elizabeth was suddenly a woman to be reckoned with.

“Let me see, now, Miss Parkins. You rode into
this woman’s house on your high horse and destroyed her life with
no more thought to her child than if he were a sack of marbles.
Have I missed anything, eh?”