Bloodchild (11 page)

"A different doctor?" Colleen turned and looked toward the stairway. "I'll go change. Can I help with supper?"

Jillian considered her a moment and then nodded.

"You can set the table. The way my hands are shaking, I'd probably drop something."

"Maybe Harlan ought to come home earlier," Colleen said, her worry increasing because of Jillian's unusually nervous demeanor.

"No, there's no point in driving him into a panic." She released another one of the thin, airy laughs and tugged on the collar of her housecoat. "I'll go change too. Come on," she said, and the two of them started up the stairs. When they reached the top, they stopped because Dana had come out of her room. She was wearing her blue velvet robe and she obviously had brushed her hair. She had tied it back in a dark brown bandanna.

"Dana," Jillian said, "you're finally awake. How are you feeling?"

"Good," she said, and smiled. "What time is it? It's so dark out."

"It looks like we might have some rain," Colleen said. "It's only a little after four."

"Oh." She looked very relieved. "I thought I missed a feeding. Mother, you mean to tell me you haven't gotten dressed yet today?" she asked, and laughed, sounding more like her old self. Colleen and Jillian looked at each other and smiled. Then they laughed too.

"Your air of relaxation is catching," Jillian offered in defense. Dana just shook her head.

"What's for supper tonight? I'm literally starving," she said. At the mention of food, Jillian's smile quickly dissipated.

"The roast beef," she said, recalling how she had found it hacked after Dana had been in the kitchen earlier.

"Great. Don't overcook it. I like it a bit on the rare side."

"Since when?" Jillian asked quickly.

"Since when? I don't know… since now," she said, smiling. "How's school, Colleen?"

"Good. We had a rally for the football team today."

"I'll bet that was fun."

"The coach and the team didn't look that happy about it. Coach thinks celebrating is premature."

"And Teddy?"

"Whatever the coach says is gospel. You know Teddy," Colleen said. "I'm going to change and set the table."

"I think I'd better take a shower and put on something decent," Jillian said, grateful for the relaxed, happy atmosphere that was more characteristic of the relationship between her and her daughter. She started for her room.

"I'll check on Nikos," Dana said. "Isn't it wonderful how long he sleeps?"

"Wonderful? You sure you're not drugging him?" Jillian quipped. Dana smiled and went to the baby's room. As soon as she entered it, Jillian turned to Colleen, who was standing in front of her bedroom door too.

"Am I going crazy or what?" Jillian asked, shaking her head. "One minute she acts one way and the next minute…"

"I told you… Harlan said it was all part of the postdelivery syndrome, whatever that means," Colleen said, and shrugged. "See you downstairs."

"Thanks, honey."

Dana's pleasant mood lifted the heavy gloom from Colleen's mind. As soon as she walked into her bedroom, she thought about Teddy up at the M and W, surrounded by all those girls, and regretted not having gone up there with him, at least for a little while. Then she remembered Audra and the manner in which she had treated her after the rally. She went to the phone and called her immediately.

"Come over right after you eat supper," she said, "and we'll study together, okay?"

"Fine," Audra said. "I wanted to see the new baby too."

"Good, see you about eight."

She changed into a pair of loose, older jeans and a gray sweatshirt and then started to let her hair down but reconsidered and left it in a pony tail. Just as she walked out of her bedroom to go downstairs, Dana appeared in the hallway with the baby. Nikos looked even more alert than before.

"Say hello to your aunt," Dana said, holding the baby in a sitting position, his head against her bosom.

"Hi, Nikos," Colleen said. She reached but and took his hand into her fingers. The baby looked up at her pleasantly and contentedly.

"Isn't he adorable?"

"Like a little doll," Colleen said, and she meant it. For the first time the baby appeared like a baby to her. He looked dainty and soft. Then she realized there was something distinctly different about him. She looked at him more discerningly. "I thought he had blue eyes," she said,

"What's that?" Dana turned the baby more toward her.

"Blue eyes. His eyes are darker, almost black, and look, his hair seems to be changing color too."

"Yes," Dana said, but not sadly or with any concern. "Babies go through so many changes during the first few months. It's as if they're born one person and become another," she added softly.

"Gosh, there's so much to know about bringing up a child," Colleen said with sincere amazement.

Dana laughed. "Don't worry, most of it is instinctive. Come on, Nikos," she said, "I'll feed you, and then I'll be able to go down and feed myself. Wave so long to your aunt," she added, and waved the baby's hand.

Colleen laughed and headed downstairs, bouncing lightly over the steps. It was better, she thought. Maybe things would be all right, after all.

Shortly after Colleen had the table set, Jillian appeared, this time dressed as smartly as usual. She wore an olive-green suede skirt, at mid-calf length with a rust-colored cotton pullover and matching cardigan. Around her neck she had draped a thick gold chain and she wore gold leaf earrings. She had swept her hair back and tied a dark brown ribbon just over the crown of her head to give the back of her hair a fuller look.

It all proved to effect an amazing metamorphosis, rejuvenating her once again and returning her to the young-looking middle-aged woman Colleen had gotten used to seeing.

"You look great."

"Thank you, honey. Let's see how the roast is doing. Can't overcook it or Dana will be disappointed. I've got creamed onions and string beans, as well as mashed potatoes. Ail-American meal. Got to build up your sister-in-law. She still looks so pale and tired."

"I know." Colleen followed Jillian into the kitchen and watched her put on the full-length blue print apron. "I'm not much of a cook yet," she said. "Whoever I marry is going to have to get test-pilot pay. My father hired Mrs. Wilson about a month after my mother died, and you couldn't touch her kitchen. She treated every meal as though it were a work of art. Actually, it was."

"Oh, you'll do all right. You can follow recipes as well as anyone else. Dana was always in the kitchen," she added, smiling at the memories. "She would follow me around, asking questions, even when she was only five or six. I think she cooked her first meal solo when she was only ten. She was never lazy and never balked about helping out.

"Why, my girlfriends used to remark about her all the time," Jillian went on, "comparing their own children, naturally, and complaining. Dana was special." She paused and thought for a moment. "You know, her father and I never had to get after her about doing her homework or cleaning up her room… anything.

"Oh, there were times we chastised her about coming home too late or hanging out with the wrong boy here or there, but when it came right down to it, she always made the right choices, the sensible choices. I was very lucky. I guess I got spoiled." Jillian laughed. "Imagine, my child spoiled
me
. Usually it's the other way around."

"She was very lucky, too, to have you as a mother," Colleen said.

"Thank you, honey. Well," she said, looking at the stove. "We're all set in here. Let's go into the living room and relax for a few minutes until Dana comes down and Harlan comes home, okay?"

"Fine," Colleen said. "Oh, what's that gift in the hallway?"

"Trish Lewis was by earlier and brought it for Nikos. Dana forgot to take it up. Why don't you run it up to her?"

"Okay," Colleen said, and went back into the hall to get it. She hurried up the stairs to Dana's room and knocked on the door. At first there was no response, so she tried the handle and discovered the door had been locked. She knocked again. "Dana?" After a long pause she responded.

"What is it?" Dana asked. Colleen thought her voice sounded quite raspy, almost like someone trying to imitate her rather than she, herself, responding.

"Jillian sent me up with the gift Trish Lewis brought for Nikos. You left it downstairs."

"Oh. Put it in his room, please."

"Okay." She shrugged at Dana's lack of interest, not even wanting to open it and see what Trish had bought.

Colleen had to put the light on in Nikos's room because the shades had been drawn down and the sky had become even darker. In fact, she heard the soft pitter-patter of the beginning of a rainstorm as the drops hit the side of the house, the window, and the roof. She looked around for a moment, deciding where to place the gift package, when a stain on the mattress in the baby's crib attracted her attention. She approached it slowly and looked down. Then, as if she were going to pet a potentially dangerous dog, she gradually lowered her fingers toward the spot and touched it.

Perhaps it was only her imagination, but she felt as if she had just brought the tips of her right forefinger and index finger to the surface of a stove. Her hand recoiled instantly, the stinging pain traveling with electric speed up her forearm and into her shoulder, the result of which sent an agonizing chill through her entire body. She shuddered and embraced herself, subduing a gasp. But she was unable to take her eyes off the spot.

Finally she looked at the tips of her fingers. There was no trace of the stain. She had half expected there would be, for although it looked dry, she was positive she was looking at a bloodstain. It had become a dark amber, but there was still a wet sheen to it, as though it had been freshly made.

Of course, she thought of that first time she had looked at the baby and seen what she thought was a drop of blood between its lips. She recalled how panicked Dana had become and how angry she was when no blood was found. Surely she couldn't miss seeing this. Maybe he had scratched himself. If it was serious, Dana would have shown more concern and they would have gone to the doctor. She didn't want to call her attention to it and get her angry again.

She looked once more at the stain, shook her head, and put the baby gift on the dresser. Then she started out.

She concluded that her imagination was in overdrive, for after she turned off the lights in the room she looked back and could swear that for a long second that bloodstain in the baby's crib glowed. She wanted to laugh at the illusion, but instead she fled from the room.

Dana came down and joined Colleen and Jillian in the kitchen. Colleen was sitting at the table, still listening to Jillian reminisce about her past, this time describing her own teenage years. She paused when Dana appeared in the doorway.

Dana had put on a dark blue skirt and a light blue blouse over which she wore a thick matching dark blue pullover scoop-necked sweater. She had removed the bandanna and had her hair brushed and pinned down neatly. The sallow look that had been in her face earlier was gone now, replaced by a sanguine tint that was so vivid, she looked absolutely feverish. Even her lips were more scarlet. The combined effect was to bring out the whiteness of her teeth. When she smiled, they flashed so brightly that they resembled the center of a hot flame.

In fact, it was this contrast between hot and cold that made her look so striking. She was dressed as though it were the middle of winter and the winds were blowing through the house, yet her complexion bespoke of an inner heat that looked absolutely all-consuming.

"My goodness," Jillian said, wiping her forehead with the back of her right hand, "I'm dying of the heat and you look like you're freezing."

"It is a chilly, dreary night, isn't it, Mother?" Dana asked. The rain had intensified, but it sounded more like a midsummer thunderstorm than a cold fall rain.

"Maybe it's because I've been working in this kitchen," Jillian said. "How are you feeling otherwise?"

"I'm fine, Mother. Why do you keep asking me that?" Dana said, and turned to Colleen.

Colleen had decided not to mention the stain in the baby's crib just yet. If Dana hadn't brought it to anyone's attention, it was probably nothing, Colleen thought, and she didn't want to risk saying or doing anything that would change the mood of things right now.

"I like your hair in a ponytail," Dana said.

"Thanks. Teddy says it makes me look fourteen."

"So?" Jillian said. "Look fourteen. You'll look forty soon enough."

"I wish I could be locked into this age," Dana said, throwing her head back and running the palms of her hands over her hair. "I'd trade my soul for eternal youth."

"My goodness, listen to her," Jillian quipped. "Has a child and already thinks she's ready for the old-age home."

Colleen smiled tentatively, watching Dana's reaction.

At first Dana scowled but quickly changed into a smile and then a long, thin laugh that for some reason was bone-chilling. "My mother's right. I'm feeling sorry for myself." She looked at Colleen, her smile evaporating. "But it's not that easy having a beautiful teenage girl here to remind me of how quickly time does pass."

"What a thing to say," Jillian said. "I'd love to have someone as sweet and beautiful as Colleen around me all day long. Anytime you feel unwanted here, sweetheart, pack your bags and come live with me."

"I didn't mean to imply that she was unwanted," Dana said, finally coming in from the doorway and sitting down at the table. There was a moment's heavy pause. Despite Dana's denial, for the very first time since she had arrived at her brother's house, Colleen felt Dana was indeed jealous of her. Fortunately, before anyone could say anything else, Harlan came home, bursting into the house with a welcome energy and excitement.

He shook off the rain in the entranceway and quickly hung up his coat, calling out to them as he did so. Then he hurried down the hallway to the kitchen to join them. He kissed Dana, complimented her on her appearance, and announced that there was a good possibility that the faculty would be going out on strike.