Queen (37 page)

Cody's heart skipped a beat. Of course that's what they would think. The last time they'd seen their mother had been at the funeral services, lying in a coffin. She'd been just as still… and just as pale.

"No, son. Of course not. She just fainted. It's something women do sometimes, and it doesn't really hurt them at all, I promise."

"You swear?"

"I swear," Cody said. "Now run along and get that broom. Queen will be proud of you for helping, okay?"

J.J. smiled a little. Just hearing that his Queenie would approve made him rush to do his father's bidding.

Cody's hand cupped her face. "Oh, love. What else will you have to go through because of my family?" And then a thought occurred to him that was so frightening, he couldn't even say it aloud. Will you love me enough to stay… or will you finally be wanting that bus ticket after all?

Donny ran back into the room, handed his father a damp cloth, then sat on the arm of the couch and watched, his blue eyes wide, his cheeks red with anger.

Like his father, he was enraged at the unjustness with which Queen had been treated. He remembered weeks ago hearing her tell the bedtime story about the gambler's little daughters and what a sad and ugly life they'd had. He wasn't stupid. He'd known then that Queen was trying to tell them about herself. But it hadn't made him think less of her.

In fact, he'd come to think of her as something of a savior. After all, she'd saved her little sisters from starving to death, maybe even worse… and then saved him and his brothers from being taken away.

His fingers curled into fists as he watched his father pressing the damp cloth across her forehead. No one better say anything bad about her again, Donny swore to himself. If they do… they'll be sorry.

"Queen, sweetheart… can you hear me?"

Cody's voice was as soft as his touch, and yet somehow they both threaded their way into Queen's subconscious and gently pulled her back.

Even before her eyes opened, Cody knew when she came to. Her chin began to tremble, and as hard as she might, she could not stop the tears that slipped out from beneath her eyelids.

He pressed his forehead against her arm and squeezed her hand gently, resisting the urge to scoop her into his arms and just run with her and never look back. But he couldn't, and he knew it.

One of the reasons was sitting at the end of the couch, watching his every move. And from the look on his son's face, Donny wouldn't have let him get out the door with Queen. He was his father's son all the way.

"Dad, is she going to be all right?"

"Yes. Why don't you go check on Will and J.J.? I think Queen probably needs some time to herself, okay, son?"

Donny nodded, giving them a last backward glance as he left the room. On the way out he bent down and picked up a bit of china that J.J. had missed sweeping up, then held it carefully as he went in search of his brothers.

"Oh, Cody."

Those two small words held so much despair. Queen opened her eyes and, without waiting for the invitation, sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don't know why I did that," she whispered. "I never faint."

"Stop it, sweetheart," Cody said. "Don't you dare apologize. In fact, you've got a big apology coming. From the way Allen looked when he dragged Lenore out of the room, it'll be a doozy."

Queen tried to smile but didn't quite make it. Instead her mouth reshaped into a wry, bitter twist. "And she won't mean a damned word of it. Why bother? I don't need to hear it, and she'll hate me for having to say it."

Cody hugged her, then, unable to stop himself, kissed her, removing the taste of anger and despair from her lips.

"I love you, lady," Cody said. "And you've got quite a rooting section. The boys nearly took their grandmother apart, especially Will."

Suddenly she remembered the look on their faces just as she fell. It was a combination of fear and helplessness to stop what was happening in their lives.

A familiar feeling of dread began to resurface, and she remembered the terror she'd felt days ago when she'd gone running to Cody's room in the middle of the night.

"It finally happened, didn't it, Cody?"

He nodded. He didn't have to ask what she meant. He could tell by the look on her face that she was remembering.

"Yes, honey, I guess it did. That'll teach me to ever doubt your powers again, right?"

He smiled and ran a thumb across her lower lip, trying to tease her out of the panic he saw settling in her eyes.

She caught his hand and held it to her breast, needing the pressure of his
touch to calm the thunder of her heartbeat. "But I'm still scared, Cody. I don't
think it's over. What if Lenore tries to take the boys away? What if—"

"Hush. She can try until the moon turns blue, but it won't happen. We won't let it."

He sealed his promise with another kiss and then held her, confident that with Queen at his side, he could conquer anything… even Lenore, the wicked witch of the South—south Florida, that was.

Allen was shaking. He all but flung his wife into Cody's den and then slammed the door behind him.

"You've gone too far," he said. "I warned you, Lenore. Damn you to hell, I warned you."

As usual, Lenore wasn't listening. "Did you see her? She couldn't even face the truth about herself. She passed out from shock, knowing that her ruse was all over."

She began to pace the floor, thumping a fist against her palm as she conceived another plan of action. "When we get back home, I'll call our lawyer and start proceedings at once. It won't take long for a judge to see my point of view. I'm certain I'm right!"

Allen sighed and wiped a weary hand across his face. She would never change, but it wasn't too late for him. He still had some years left in him, and he suddenly didn't want to waste them any longer by living in her shadow.

"While you're at it," he said, "you'd better contact a divorce lawyer as well. I'm sick and tired of this. You lie and you manipulate, and I refuse to be a part of it anymore." At that moment he would have given anything to take a picture of Lenore's face. "And… you'd be well advised to rethink your position on claiming custody of someone else's children. I don't think there's a judge sitting on the bench who'll award custody of a teenager and two prepubescent boys to a woman of your age."

"Allen!" It was all she could think to say.

"Actually, you'll play hell even getting your side of the story heard, because if this ever comes to court again, I'll be testifying on Cody's behalf, against you." His finger never wavered as he thrust it within inches of her nose.

"Allen!"

"You already said that, Lenore. Surely for once in your miserable life you're not out of things to say?"

With that parting shot, he walked out of the room, leaving his wife with nothing but the lingering bitterness of his words. Suddenly she began to shake. She staggered backward, reaching out blindly behind her for the chair she knew was there, and then, when she felt the arm, dropped onto the seat with an undignified plop.

"Allen…"

But as he'd so rudely reminded her… she'd already said that. She dropped her face into her hands and, for the first time since she'd buried her daughter, cried… and they were true tears of remorse.

"Dad!"

Donny's desperate, wild-eyed look as he burst into the room stopped Cody's heart. Something was wrong! "What is it, son? Did Lenore—"

"Dad… I can't find Will." Queen was standing before she ever knew she'd moved from her reclining position on the couch. The total fear in Donny's voice was spreading to her own warning system. Will! Where had he gone?

"But he and J.J. were just here… sweeping up the—"

"J.J. did it. He said he couldn't find Will and did it by himself."

"Oh, God," Queen said, and started up the stairs. "Will! Will!" she cried, and began opening doors and searching through closets, shoving clothing aside, praying that she'd find him hidden in the depths. He was nowhere to be found.

Her cries were an echo of Cody's own shouts as he started his search downstairs. He burst into the den, startling Lenore so badly that she didn't have time to hide her tears.

"Have you seen Will?" he shouted.

At the shake of her head, he left so quickly that she didn't have time to ask why Will would be missing. She got to her feet and ran out the door, joining in the now frantic melee of Bonners who were all but ransacking their home in search of the missing child.

"Will!" Queen shouted as she ran into her own room, hoping that he had taken refuge there. But he had not. Pressing her fingers to her lips to stop the trembling, she had a sudden idea. He and J.J. were inseparable. Maybe he knew something he wasn't telling.

"Did you find—"

Cody didn't have time to finish his question as Queen grabbed him by the arms. "Where's J.J.?" she asked.

Instantly he understood the reason for her question and turned to his eldest son. "Donny?"

Donny led the way into the kitchen, where Allen sat holding J.J. in his lap.

Queen ran to them, knelt, and then took a deep breath, aware that she'd get nothing out of him by increasing his own panic. He'd already endured more than a seven-year-old child ought to.

"Honey…" He looked up at her and then crawled from Allen's lap into her arms without a word.

"It's okay, sweetheart," she said. "It's okay. I'm fine, now."

J.J. sighed and laid his head on Queen's shoulders, patting her cheek as she cuddled him against her.

"I told you, son," Cody said, stroking J.J.'s hair as Queen held him. "Your Queenie is okay, just like I said she would be."

"Honey," Queen said when she could feel J.J. beginning to relax, "Will didn't help you sweep up my mess, did he?"

J.J. shook his head. "I couldn't find him, so I did it by myself."

"And you did a good job, too," she added, looking to Cody for support.

J.J. lifted his head and smiled. As far as smiles went, it wasn't much, but it was a start.

Allen felt sick. Every bad thing that had happened to this family since Claire died could be linked directly to him and Lenore. He looked at the broken, aging woman standing alone in the doorway and, for the first time in years, actually felt sorry for her. He got up from his chair and walked toward her. And instead of walking past her, he stopped and pulled her into his arms. She leaned against him and hid her face in her hands.

"So, J.J., when did you see Will last?" Queen asked.

He shrugged. Too much had happened for him to be pinned down to details.

"Was it… maybe… when you went to get the broom?"

J.J. thought. "No," he finally answered.

"Did you see him when Donny went to get a cold cloth for Queen?" Cody asked.

He wanted to shout, to shake J.J. into remembering, and knew that were it not for Queen, he would be doing just that right now and probably ruining whatever chance they had of finding out what had happened.

"Think, honey," Queen urged him. "What was the last thing you remember seeing Will do?"

J.J.'s face lit up. Put like that, the memory came flooding back. "Getting his coat from the closet," he said.

"Oh, God!"

Cody's cry was nothing more than what Queen thought. It was getting late… and the snow was still falling.

Cody ran to the front door and looked out. There was nothing in sight except for his Blazer and Allen's rental car, a late-model gray Chevrolet.

He stepped outside, shivering in reflex as a burst of wind came around the edge of the house and whistled through his clothes, chilling him instantly as if he had nothing on.

He began to walk around the deck that surrounded the house, searching the landscape for a sign… anything. Maybe he was hiding in one of the outbuildings, Cody thought. But there was no sign of footprints that would have been easily visible in the light ground covering of snow. He looked up into the gray, overcast sky and noticed that, for the moment, it had nearly quit snowing.

Cody rounded the back of the house and then stopped. His heart slammed against his rib cage, and he felt his legs go weak.

"No! Dammit, Will, no!"

But Cody was too late to stop what had already happened. He started to run. In seconds he was off the deck and in the backyard, staring with increasing panic at the single pair of small footsteps leading into the thick wooded area beyond the house. He started to follow without thinking, and the wind sliced through his sweater, reminding him that he was not dressed for the weather.

He turned and ran back up the steps, burst through the back door of the house, and ran through it, passing the others who had assembled in the kitchen.

Queen quickly handed J.J. to Donny and ran after Cody.

"What?" she asked as she watched him shrugging into his heaviest coat and stuffing a flashlight into his pocket. "Dear God, Cody… what?"

"He's run away for sure," Cody said. "His footprints lead into the woods in the backyard."

Queen turned pale, remembering the dense underbrush that Virgil Stratton had dragged her through and how fast she'd lost sight of the house. Will would be lost in minutes if he hadn't stopped.

"Maybe he's just hiding," she said, hoping that Cody would confirm her supposition.

"And what if he's not?" Cody reached high on the shelf, pulled down a box, and handed it to Queen to hold while he took out the contents.

"Two-ways," he said, handing her a twin to the radio he stuffed in an inner pocket of his coat. "If I find him, I'll let you know."

"And if you don't…"

Cody couldn't say it. All he could do was grab on to Queen and hold her tight. "I'll stay in touch."

"Dad! Let me go with you!" Donny said as he ran into the hall and overheard the last of the conversation.

Cody shook his head. "Remember what I'm leaving Queen here to face. She doesn't need to be alone."

Donny paused and then stepped aside. A strange, adultlike expression crossed his face as he said, "Don't worry, Dad. You can count on me."

Queen bit back her tears. "Hurry! It'll be dark soon."

In seconds Cody was gone.