"Where"s our dinner?" Rhona shouted from the top of the stairway. "I told you we were hungry. What are you doing down there?"
I started to bring everything to the dining room.
"Everything"s ready. You can come down to the table," I replied.
"That"s better," she said. "If you"re going to be my mother"s little helper, than you"re my little helper, too, while you"re here freeloading. C"mon. Skeeter,"
she called, and the two of them came down the stairway and walked into the dining room.
Trevor showed up immediately afterward, having changed his shirt and brushed his hair.
"Well, look how fancy the help are. Skeeter,"
Rhona said. "Puts us to shame."
"Sure does," Skeeter said.
They dug right into the food.
"Echo says grace first," I told them. "How can she do that?" Rhona asked.
"Why don"t you watch and see." Trevor told her, and nodded at Echo.
They paused and looked at Echo. I nodded at her, too, and she began her signing. thanking G.o.d for our blessings, "What the h.e.l.l is she saying? She could be saying she wants a new dress or something for all we know."
"I thought Skeeter could read sign language."
"A little," he said. "but I"m sorta rusty."
"Didn"t you ever know how to use it?" I asked Rhona.
"No," she said. "I never had the time for that.
My mother knew enough for the both of us anyway."
"Then maybe you should learn it now if you"re going to stay here," I told Rhona. "I have the book for you and-"
"Oh, you"re such a goody-goody all of a sudden," she replied, twisting her lips. You have the book for me." Her face hardened. "Trying to get on my good side? Hoping I won"t throw you out? Forget it. The kid belongs in a special school or something, right. Skeeter?"
"Exactly. She"d get much better help from people who do that for a living."
"Your mother is actually arranging for that soon and she has the information and-"
"Oh, she does? How convenient," She thought a moment. "How expensive is the school?"
"I don"t know."
"Well, it doesn"t matter what you know and what you don"t. Soon, I"ll be making all those decisions anyway. The writings on the wall, as my mother would tell you. That goes for you. too. Trevor.
I don"t know why you remained here since the vineyard went out. All these freeloaders," she told Skeeter, who was attacking the food as though he had been starving on an island for weeks. He nodded.
"Ain"t no worse freeloader than an ungrateful, irresponsible daughter coming around for money,"
Trevor replied.
"I would watch my tongue if I were you, man."
Skeeter said.
"Would you?" Trevor responded, his eyes fixed so hard and coldly on Skeeter. "That"s good, only you ain"t me, man."
"Right," Skeeter said, smiling and looking at Echo. "Add that to the thank-you"s you"re giving G.o.d.
Echo." he told her. Of course, she didn"t understand.
Both he and Rhona laughed.
I could see the muscles in Trevor"s neck tighten.
He looked poised to leap over the table at Skeeter at any moment. It was only Echo"s frightened eyes that kept him from doing anything more than just glaring back and then beginning to eat. They grew bored with us anyway and started their own conversation about some of their friends and their own plans. Rhona talked as if Mrs. Westington was already dead and buried and she had inherited everything.
"There isn"t much point in keeping this property any longer. It"s not being used as it should be. There"s probably a winery nearby that would love it and would pay a lot for it so they could expand."
"Absolutely." Skeeter said as if he was a real estate expert.
"You"d better start thinking about a retirement home for yourself," Rhona told Trevor.
He ignored her, chewed his food, and looked ahead as though they weren"t there.
"So what are you trying to do here anyway?"
she asked me. "And what have you already taken from my mother? You"d better let me know or eventually I"ll have you arrested for stealing."
"All I"ve taken from her is the love you never accepted," I said. Trevor smiled.
Her smile evaporated. "What things did she want at the hospital? I"ll be bringing them to her, not you."
"She asked me to do it and I"ll be doing it," I replied firmly.
Echo was signing to me, asking why her mother looked so angry.
"G.o.d, does she ever stop that?" Rhona asked, looking at her. "Looks like my mother never taught her dinner manners. All I used to hear from her was that children should be seen and not heard at the table."
"Maybe she just meant you and not all children," I suggested. Again. Trevor smiled. Even Skeeter smiled.
"Oh, you"re so smart." She leaned toward me. "I don"t care what my mother told you. This isn"t your family and this isn"t your home and the law will be on my side when it comes down to it. You"ll see." She pushed her dish away and stood up. "You"ll both see,"
she said, turning to Trevor. "C"mon, Skeeter. I want to go to the hospital and see what exactly is happening to my mother." She stressed the "my."
"What about the apple pie"? That looks good,"
Skeeter said, nodding at it.
"Take a piece with you, d.a.m.n it," she told him.
He shrugged, cut a piece, and rose with it in his palm.
"Hey." he said to me, "if you can cook like this, you can stay," He laughed.
She glared at him and they walked out of the dining room. I saw how lost Echo was with all this. I smiled at her and told her after we cleaned up, we"d go see her grandmother.
Trevor sat back. troubled. "I told you," he said.
"I knew things were not going to be good when I saw that bird fly into the building. But don"t worry," he added quickly. "I"ll fix it."
He was going with us to the hospital, too. We wouldn"t be far behind Rhona and Skeeter. I went upstairs to change into something nicer and brush my hair. After that I went into Mrs. Westington"s room to get her personal things. The moment I walked through the doorway, I stopped and gasped.
Rhona and Skeeter had practically ripped the bedroom apart in their search for money and valuables. The dresser drawers were still open, clothes sprawled. The closet was open and clothing on the floor. Every box, every cabinet had been rifled. They had even searched her bathroom and her linen closet, not bothering to put the towels and sheets back on their shelves. Echo came up behind me and pulled my arm so she could ask what had happened.
I just shook my head and started to put things away. She helped immediately and we soon had the room looking tidy again. Mrs. Westington was right on target when it came to predicting what her daughter would do. I thought. She was wise to have me hide the box of valuables and money. I gathered up her personal things that she wanted brought to the hospital and placed them all in a woolen bag that looked like something she had made for herself.
"Let"s go, Echo," I told her. When we stepped out of the house. Trevor was waiting in the station wagon. As soon as I got in. I told him what I had found in Mrs. Westington"s bedroom.
"They"ll be all over that house while she"s away.
Wouldn"t surprise me to see Rhona try to sell some of the furniture. I wish I could put everything under lock and key. That Rhona... some child to have raised. I don"t think she gave her mother a moment of happiness. Don"t worry about any other mess she makes. though. Lourdes will be here tomorrow," he reminded me.
When we arrived at the hospital, I was happy to learn that Rhona and Skeeter had not gotten in yet to see her mother. The nurse informed them she was asleep and they should not disturb her. Rhona was in a pout, threatening not to sit around waiting much longer for her mother to awaken.
"I can"t even get any sensible information about her. The doctor"s not available and the nurses don"t know anything or won"t tell anything. Resting comfortably is their stock, stupid response to eveiNthing," Rhona said.
Neither Trevor nor I said anything. We sat in the small lobby on Mrs. Westington"s floor and Echo began looking at magazines. I could see Rhona didn"t have the patience for this. She paced a bit. Skeeter sat with his eyes closed looking like he could fall asleep in seconds. Finally Rhona nudged him and told him she wanted them to go.
"We"ll come back tomorrow. This is a waste of time. If you"re still here when she wakes, tell her we stopped by." she told me.
"Okay," I said. "We"ll let you know how she is."
"Oh, thank you, thank you." she said with exaggeration. "C"mon, Skeeter."
He shrugged, rose, and followed her out.
"You know what I think," Trevor said. "I think when Mrs. Westington heard it was Rhona looking to see her, she told her nurses to say she was asleep."
I laughed.
As it turned out, however, he was right. Shortly after the nurse told her we were there, we were permitted to visit.
"Are she and that clown gone?" Mrs.
Westington asked.
"Yes," Trevor said. "How are you feelin"?"
"How do you think I feel being locked up in here like this?" she snapped back at him.
"You"re not locked up. Mrs. Westington," I said. I gave her the bag of personal items.
She grunted and looked at Echo. They communicated with sign language and then Mrs.
Westington turned to me.
"You did well with the dinner, but she says Rhona"s been on a tear and wrecked my room. That so?"
I looked at Trevor.
"Don"t wait for his permission to tell me the truth. I ain"t incapacitated yet. What did she do?"
"She"s just making all sorts of wild statements and threats."
"She and that man tried to find my money and jewels, didn"t they?"
"Yes, but we got it all hidden before they came home."
She nodded, pleased with herself. "They say when you step on a pickle, you never know which way it will squirt. She"s one pickle easy to predict.
Always was, and you know why? Because she has only one purpose, one goal in her life: to please herself no matter what. Remember that time you found her in the garage in the back of the car with that boy, Trevor? She tried to blame Trevor afterward. No telling how low she"ll get. I was a fool to think there was any change in her. You"d think a girI who had lived like she has would have learned something."
"Has the doctor been in yet?" I asked.
She smirked. "Yes, he has. He claims he needs to keep me here to try some medicines on me to see which works best and which don"t."
"That"s reasonable," Trevor said.
"Oh, is it? How would you like to be treated like some guinea pig?"
"Oh, that"s not it." Trevor said. smiling. "No sense in him prescribing something for you that don"t work."
"Ain"t anyone on my side anymore?" she moaned, and signed to Echo.
Echo went to her and hugged her.
Mrs. Westington looked at me. "Better tell Tyler about this. I guess it"s more important than ever she go into that school now. I kept her under my wing as long as I could, but the feathers are getting too thin."
"Now you gain" to start that gloom and doom talk again?" Trevor asked.
She narrowed her eyes when she looked at him.
"Are you going to stand there and tell me you haven"t seen any sins that concern you. Trevor Washington?"