The Last Daughter (Tales of the Scrimshaw Doll) (12 page)

“You can find anyone to do what I was doing. All my notes are self-explanatory. The inventory is clearly noted and defined.”

He reached for her, caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. “You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

She leaned her face against his knuckles. If only they could have their happily ever after. She didn’t see how they could. Her father was still demented, Louis was still questionable and their mother was still in Oregon. What had changed?

“Go get the doll.” His tone took her by surprise. He’d never given her orders before.

“What?” She wasn’t sure about his intentions. Surely he didn’t want to have a confrontation with Tiva.

“I said, go get your doll.”

“No, Trent. I won’t let you—”

“I’m not going to hurt her, as if I could, or try to take her away from you. Please, just go get her and hear me out.”

“Tell me why.”

“Please, Rayna. You owe me that much.”

Owed him? Yes, she did owe him. He’d given her a roof over her head in her childhood home. He’d humored her, treated her with respect, listened to her and the love in his eyes made her want to weep. She did owe him. Nodding, she left the kitchen. He followed her as far as the stairs.

“Meet me in the living room,” he called after her.

She didn’t know why he wanted Tiva. She’d hear him out, but she wouldn’t give Tiva away, pawn her or sell her. No matter how much she loved Trent, she could never part with Tiva.

Love. Yes, she loved him. She couldn’t pinpoint the moment she’d realized it. She suspected it had happened in increments, live a little love little as the saying went. Maybe she’d fallen in love with him in the kitchen over his veggie omelets. Maybe it had been in the late evening when he’d watch her with longing in his eyes as she said goodnight and skipped up the stairs. Maybe it had happened when he’d held her tight and protectively in his arms after the gunshot. Or when he’d hurried her away from her father’s vile words.

She’d known it, but never admitted it to herself. He’d stuck by her through everything. Without a doubt, Trent Jones was the best thing to ever happen to her.

“He’s the love of my life”, she whispered to Tiva. How could she give him up?

****

Her tan arm draped across the doll, holding her tight. The decrepit thing didn’t look any more huggable or loveable than it did the first time Trent saw it, but he knew he didn’t get one without the other. He motioned for Rayna to sit, and she positioned herself on the edge of the sofa. He paced a bit before he stopped in front of her and kneeled on the floor.

“Rayna, I love you.”

She started to speak but he interrupted. “No, let me finish. Let me say everything I want to say before you speak.” He swallowed. “I love you more than life itself, and I’ll do anything, whatever it takes, whatever you want, to make you love me. Anything.” He turned to the doll. “And...that goes for you to...Tiva.”

Rayna smiled but Trent continued. “I’m sorry I treated you like I did, Tiva. If Rayna will have me as her husband, you’re welcome to live with us for as long as...indefinitely. I will take no amount of money for you. For either of you.” He turned his eyes back to Rayna. “You’re my life,” he whispered.

The dull headache he had almost grown accustomed to disappeared. Or was it his imagination? And was that a smile on that doll’s face? He knew for sure it was a smile on Rayna’s. She fell into his arms. He lost his balance and they both tumbled sideways to the floor. “Is this a yes...that you love me? You’ll marry me?” he asked against her ear.

“A thousand times yes!” Rayna giggled before growing serious. “How could I ever live without you? And after all we’ve put you through! Oh, Trent, I’ve loved the very idea of you my entire life. You’re the family I’ve been searching for.” She snuggled as close to him as she could get and whispered into his shoulder. “Tiva and I will marry you.”

He wrapped her in his arms and planted a kiss on her cheek. “There is a happily ever after, and we’ll prove it to the world.”

“I love you so much,” she whispered.

“But I love you more.”

****

Hands on hips, Rayna stood at the edge of the living area and looked from one corner of the room to the other. Trent walked up behind her. “Yes, we can get fifty people in this room. No problem.”

She turned. “Are you sure? I love this house so much. I want us to be married here but I don’t want it to be ridiculously over-crowded.”

“We can always trim the guest list.”

“How? They’re all your friends and family members.”

“And they never thought they’d see the day this confirmed bachelor would say
I do
.” He feigned a pained look. “And neither did I.”

She laughed, gave him a peck on the cheek, and went back into the kitchen. A pile of roses lay on the counter. She’d de-thorned them and now she arranged them in a crystal vase.

“You going to see your father again this afternoon? I swear, I don’t know why you’d put yourself through that.”

During the past few weeks, Rayna had visited Sun Meadows every day. She wasn’t able to sit with Raymond Mudwing for much more than ten or fifteen minutes. He was too venomous, but getting to know her father, understanding him, had become a challenge. Some days he tossed insults at her, one after another, and other days, he’d clam up and wouldn’t say a word. Still, every day she learned a little bit more about him, Person, and her family. The Mudwing family was evil to the core.

“These roses are for Person. I wonder if anyone has ever given her roses.”

“I’d say it’s doubtful.”

“Don’t be mean, Trent. She was a teen once. She probably had a boyfriend.”

He snorted. “You honestly think someone would be brave enough to date a Mudwing?”

She hit him playfully. “You are.”

He laughed and pulled her to him. “I try not to let you see me shaking in my boots.”

“Come on, you’re not scared of anything. Want to join me? Go see dear old Dad?”

“Sorry, as much as I’d like to, I’m meeting a guy about that property over on 45th Street, the one with the huge warehouse on it. It would be a great showroom but the price has to be right.”

“Want me to go with you?”

“If I like what I see, we’ll go back tomorrow. You go on to see the old guy and good luck.”

“He hasn’t warmed up to me any but yesterday I learned that my mother had—to put it his way—chased him until she caught him and lived to regret it. I wonder if it’s true; I mean, about the chasing. I have no doubt she lived to regret it.”

“I have to admit he’s a villain with a capital V. But he’ll warm up to you. I did.”

“Ha-ha.” She tickled him under his nose with a long-stemmed rose. “You, mister, were warm to me the moment we met.”

“You got that right, and I can’t wait to get warmer.” He caressed the side of her face with his knuckles. “I have to commend you. I don’t know if I could hang in there the way you are. Have you told him about the test yet?”

She shook her head. “I haven’t figured out exactly what to say.” She shrugged. “And maybe I shouldn’t. I don’t know.”

He pulled her into his arms again. “I know what you’re thinking. You don’t want to hurt him.”

She fiddled with a button on his shirt, not meeting his eyes. “Don’t be silly, how could I hurt him? I don’t think being his real daughter will make any difference. The only thing he probably ever regretted was wasting the brand on someone who wasn’t a true Mudwing.”

He raised her chin so she would meet his eyes. “Remember when Louis told us that Raymond and Person have a way of knowing everything?”

She nodded. “I’ve thought of that too. He probably always knew...or if he didn’t, he does by now.”

“I’m not trying to sound bitter, but I’m having a difficult time forgiving him. And just look at poor old Person. Unable or unwilling to speak. Of course, she’s lucky we didn’t file charges against her for shooting at us. For that matter, against both of them.”

“Thank you for that. Louis doesn’t want to believe she did it.” She shook her head and sighed. “I shudder at the thought of her needing all those locks on the door. Who was she afraid of? Her brother or her own father? Everyone in the family probably.” She moved closer. “I’m amazed that you want to marry into my family.”

“Just don’t try to move them in with us. Tiva is about all I can handle so your family living with us would be a deal-breaker.”

Rayna laughed. “Oh, oh, aren’t you brave? Tiva is all you can handle? So, you really think you can
handle
Tiva?”

“Poor choice of words, maybe even an exaggeration. Let’s just keep that between us two, okay?”

“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “Tiva will never know.”

They kissed. Long and hard. Trent groaned in her ear. “I can’t wait until we’re married.”

“Neither can I, and neither can Person. Things are changing with her. She may not speak but her eyes do. She’s smiling at me now and even waves when I walk through the door. And when I told her about the wedding—”

“You told them?” he asked.

Rayna shook her head. “Not Raymond. It doesn’t feel right to tell him. I mean, I don’t feel like sharing anything happy and wonderful with him.” She frowned. “Do you think that’s selfish of me? He’d just make crude, hateful comments, and I don’t want to hear them.”

“It’s not wrong for you to feel that way. I’m just sorry you do.”

“But when I told Person we were getting married in this house and that she could come to the wedding, she was so happy, then she changed and acted funny about it.” She pulled away and went back to the kitchen door to look into the living area. “I wonder if she doesn’t want me to get married in this house. I think it’s a good idea.”

He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s a new beginning for you. It’s fitting.”

“I’m glad you want to get married here, Trent. I feel like if we get married in this house, in this room, it’ll be like an exorcism of sorts.”

“At first, after I learned about everything, I didn’t want this place. I wanted to burn it to the ground just because of your—” He placed his hand across her heart. “What he did to you. But now, I think it can help you heal. I do kind of wish your mom would come.”

“Believe me when I say it doesn’t matter. I understand what she means about not returning to Oklahoma until Raymond Mudwing is dead. Anyway, I’m not sure I even want to meet her yet. Telephone conversations are enough. We’re strangers; we may always be strangers. Louis will give me away, and you have enough family for both of us.”

He turned her around and folded her into his arms. “I’m ready to get you down on the second floor with me.”

Rayna laughed. “What if I want you to come up to the third floor?”

Trent put his face in her hair and whispered close to her ear. “I don’t want to say this very loud but...I thought we’d give that room to Tiva.”

Chapter 12

The sky never looked more beautiful. The breeze, just right. The air smelled clean. Rayna waved at people working in their yards or checking their mail. She stopped to chat with a tiny old woman who sat on a concrete bench right in the middle of a dead flower garden. The woman acted hungry for company so Rayna didn’t rush. After all, Raymond Mudwing didn’t care whether she came to visit him or not, and he certainly wasn’t going anywhere. He’d be there for the rest of his life.

“You must have moved into the neighborhood while I was out of town visiting my son in Texas. There for quite awhile—” She waved her hand. “See, all my plants died. Here, sit, sit.”

The old woman scooted over and Rayna sat beside her, clutching the roses. “I live in the three-story. You can see the top of it from here.”

“The old Mudwing house? Why in the world would you wanna live there? Never a meaner man lived than that Raymond Mudwing. His entire family really.”

She realized she could grow tired of hearing how mean her father was. All one had to do was mention the name Mudwing to get an earful. “So you’ve heard the gossip too?”

“It’s not gossip when it’s fact. I knew the Mudwings all my life—we all grew up together over in Canadian County. Of course, where you live was the home place, but they spent time on the farm in the next county where I grew up. Sure wasn’t no accident that we ended up here in the same neighborhood. My husband thought Raymond Mudwing was a king. God rest poor Harold’s soul, and forgive everything he did for Raymond Mudwing.”

“He worked for the Mudwing family?”

“If you can call it work. I always believed—and I still do—that Raymond had Harold knocked off. Can’t prove it, of course, but lots of people who had dealings with the Mudwings ended up dead sooner or later. Sorry bunch. Sorry!”

The woman was getting worked up. Rayna squirmed on the bench. Finally she stood on the pretense of looking at something in the flowers. She was certain the woman might take a swat at her if she admitted to being a Mudwing, but she wanted to ask questions. “So you knew all of them—Person and the boy, Louis?”

“I knew every single one of them. Louis was a sweet little thing, always scrawny, and so proud of his little sister when she was born. Of course, I think Rosalie took her when she ran off. Don’t know why she married Raymond to begin with. All that Mudwing money probably turned her head. ’Course, he was a good looking man in a violent sort of way. I’m sure poor Rosalie got more than she bargained for. No doubt about that. But, it just wasn’t right she didn’t take the boy too. He was traumatized for the longest time. Why in the world would you buy that old house? Haven’t you heard the stories?”

Rayna wrapped her arms around herself. “What stories?”

“How the Mudwings always burn a heart into their family members? How the torture caused Person to lose her mind—of course, she’s pretty sane now from what I see, but she don’t talk. It’s a generational thing—all the Mudwings inherited evil. And Raymond was the meanest of ’em all. I think he was kept in a cage until he was ten or twelve. And once I saw his daddy beat him with a whip—saw it with my own eyes. He was near grown then. Raymond yanked that whip out of his daddy’s hands and whipped his daddy bloody. Evil to the very core, they are. I can’t tell you how often I pray for poor Louis. Even now, when I think of him.” She shook her head several times. “Those sure are pretty roses. Who’re they for? All my plants died when I was out of state visiting my son.”