Bold and Simful

Francis and Catherine arrived home from vacation early Monday morning. They had barely spoken on the plane and as soon as they arrived, Francis left for the office without so much as a goodbye to his wife. As soon as the car pulled away and she was sure that he was gone, Catherine headed straight for the bar to pour herself a drink.

She couldn’t believe, couldn’t imagine, that Francis would go through with his threat to send her to Horizons. First, she did not have a problem, second how would it look? A Mendenhall in rehab, surely not!

“He’ll never do it,” she said aloud with growing confidence and tipped the bottle to refill her glass.

Catherine had been looking for Arcadia to speak to her about her habit of saying that everything was clean when it clearly was not, but she did not expect to find her maid in her daughter’s room. “What are you doing in here? Elizabeth’s room doesn’t need to be made up,” Catherine said as she entered the room, “She hasn’t been here in months.”

“Oh, I…uh…”Arcadia was caught off guard and stumbled for an excuse, “…was just tidying up, I thought she might come home on holiday,” she said as she slid the nightstand drawer back into place behind her.

“Well, she won’t,” Catherine said. “And you have more important duties to attend to. I’ve been meaning to speak with you about the downstairs bath,” Catherine guided the maid toward the door and down the stairs to the offending bathroom.

“I didn’t find anything, Mrs. Bettencourt. I don’t even know what I’m looking for and Mrs. Mendenhall almost caught me. I could loose my job,” Arcadia explained as soon as she arrived for work at Bettencourt Manor.

Maxine felt instantly guilty at girl’s last words, “I don’t want you to get fired, Arcadia. Thank you for looking, I don’t know what I expected you to find, it was just a thought. Please, just forget all about it.”

Arcadia excused herself, leaving Maxine in the hall to contemplate what to do next. ‘Maybe I should take my own advice and forget the whole thing,’ she mused, ‘I’m not even sure there is a baby.’

“Are you sure, Elizabeth? Once I find a family for Lydia, I can not tell you where she has gone, you will not have any contact with her at all. You must be sure that this is the right choice while there is still time,” Sister Mary Katherine had called Elizabeth Mendenhall to offer her a last chance to take little Lydia home. The baby was adorable, cute as a button, but Sister Mary knew from personal experience that a convent was no place for a child to grow up.

“I have thought about it, it’s the only thing I’ve thought about, and I can’t take her. I have no place to take her to. She will be better off with a family who will take good care of her,” Elizabeth fully realized what she was saying and that she would very likely never see her daughter again but she didn’t have much of a choice.

“Alright then, as long as you are sure?” Sister Mary raised her eyebrows and waited for the girl to respond but Elizabeth only turned to the crib and kissed her sleeping daughter then left the convent without another word.

Sister Mary was elated when Jay and Brenda Gibson arrived to meet Lydia. She had spoken to Brenda about the baby a few times in passing, never sure whether she should offer an official adoption, but now that she had spoken to Elizabeth, the time was right and Jay and Brenda were the perfect couple.

Brenda held back, waiting to see how Jay would react. She already knew what her heart wanted but love doesn’t buy formula or diapers or clothes or…and their current financial outlook was pretty bleak.

“She’s adorable,” Jay cooed.

“So you think you have room for her?” Sister Mary asked excitedly.

“I wish we did,” Jay lamented, returning the baby gently to her crib, “but the fact is, we don’t. Our house only has two bedroom and we are strapped for cash at the moment.”

Behind him, his wife’s face fell. She knew all this, but it didn’t change the fact that she wanted to bring Lydia home. Despite what she wanted, the couple left without the baby.

At home that night, Jay stared down at his wife and son. Jacob was just learning how to talk. He knew that Brenda wanted to bring Lydia into their home, she had always wanted a house full of children but they couldn’t afford another child. Not now that he had been fired.

Robert Bettencourt felt instantly ashamed for having lied to Jay about finding him a job. ‘I did say that I might have found him a job, “might” is different than “did”‘ he reasoned as he listened to the young man’s plight.

“Brenda wants to adopt an orphaned baby girl. She’s a cute little thing and I wouldn’t mind at all but we are barely getting by ourselves, which is why I am here,” Jay hinted, hoping that Robert had just lost his number or forgotten to call.

“Yes, well, I…” Robert was at a loss, but words came spilling out anyway, “Actually, I was thinking that you could come on board as our personal chef? Last we talked, you mentioned that you liked to cook, something Maxine has never been able to accomplish and now she is pre-occupied with her meditation and yoga, so I am left to fend for myself.” Robert smiled, satisfied with himself for his quick thinking.

“If things work out, I’d like you to consider an executive chef position at a new restaurant that I am financing. I’ve been writing restaurant guides for some time now and I think I could do a better job, with the right staff, of course,” Robert continued, digging himself deeper. He had been writing restaurant guides, but he had never considered opening a restaurant. ‘Oh, well,‘ he thought to himself, ‘It’ll give me something to do.‘

Jay accepted instantly, thrilled not only to have a job once again but a job with such potential promise.

Catherine’s eyes narrowed, “I can’t believe you did this to me,” she spat at her husband. The car to take her to Horizons had arrived early that morning, before she was even out of the shower.

“You did it to yourself, Catherine.” Francis wasn’t one for sympathy, especially in this case. He saw his wife’s behavior as a weakness, not an illness but more importantly, he saw it as an embarrassment. “I’ll see you in 14 days. Do follow the doctor’s instructions, he is only there to help you,” Francis waved goodbye.

“She’s gone to rehab,” Arcadia divulged. “I saw the car take her away myself.”

“No?! Oh my god, what she must be going through,” Maxine was instantly sympathetic. Sure she had commented on her neighbor’s over indulgence, but she hadn’t realized how bad the situation was and it must be bad if Francis was willing to risk the public humiliation of having his wife committed.

“It’s about time too, if you ask me, she’s always half in the bag,” Arcadia’s giggle broke into Maxine’s thoughts.

“Really, Arcadia. That’s hardly an appropriate thing to say,” she chastised.

Jay and Brenda had agreed to take Lydia into their home. Jay wasn’t sure how they were going to manage, he hadn’t even gotten his first pay check yet and they were going to need to put an addition on the house and buy all new baby furniture, but it was clear to everyone that Brenda would make a wonderful mother.

“There are a few ground rules that we need to get straight before you step foot in the house, Mrs. Mendenhall,” Dr. Wilheim Holdon said, stopping Catherine at the door. “First, the bottle in your bag must go in the trash immediately. Not all of our residents have your specific addiction, but alcohol is strictly prohibited. Second, everyone here is equal and should be treated as such. Wayne is a resident, not a bellboy.”

Catherine wasn’t used to being talked to in such a manner, “What was I supposed to assume when he came running out to the car? Naturally I thought he was there to carry my bags,” she defended herself. “There isn’t any bottle in my bag because I don’t have an addiction as you so rudely put it and furthermore I’m not staying, so you can call a taxi to take me home.”

“I can’t do that, Mrs. Mendenhall. You are here to get help for your problem and to see that you do, your husband has signed you in and he must be the one to sign you out,” Dr. Holdon explained, “Now, you may take your bag up to your room, it’s the first one at the top of the stairs.”

Francis had settled in to read his favorite mystery after returning from the office, but somehow the house seemed unnaturally silent. The mansion he had grown up in suddenly felt cavernous and foreign. Every tick of the grandfather clock reverberated through the empty house, unnerving him more and more with each passing minute. Outside, a thunderstorm raged and rain beat against the windows. He felt alone, alone and vulnerable.

 

Posted on June 1st, 2008 under Orion Bay. Tags: arcadia, Bettencourt, brenda, catherine, elizabeth, francis, gibson, jay, lydia, maxine, Mendenhall, robert, sister mary. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.