The Last Daughter (Tales of the Scrimshaw Doll) (13 page)

Rayna calmed her pounding heart and swallowed at the lump in her throat before she answered. “I’m taking them to Person. Would you like some of them?” She gathered several of the roses and handed them to the woman who immediately put them to her nose and sniffed.

“Oh, that’s so sweet of you. Poor Person. So you know her?”

Rayna swallowed at her dry throat and wondered if she should confess. Once she told this woman who she was, the entire community would probably know. What would be the cost of being a Mudwing? Hadn’t she paid it already?

“My name is Rayna. I’m Louis’ little sister. Person is my aunt.”

The roses fell to the ground as the old woman’s hands flew to her face. “God forbid, child, you’re a Mudwing?”

****

Rayna walked more slowly to the senior citizen center. She mulled over what the woman had told her. Sure, the old lady could be out of her mind, but Rayna didn’t think so. The Mudwing reputation wasn’t a good one.
Lord, I pray I didn’t inherit the evil.
She hoped Louis didn’t either. When she reached Sun Meadows, the old timers seated on the front porch spoke and seemed glad to see her. Some day she should sit and visit with them. They probably knew as much about the Mudwing family as the old woman did, but did she really want to know more?

“Come to see that devil of a daddy?” one called out.

“I’m trying to turn him into someone we can love,” she answered.

The men laughed and one responded, “Good luck doin’ that.”

Inside, Rayna signed her name in the register and spoke to the young woman who was friendlier each visit. She looked around the large sitting room. Person wasn’t in her customary corner, staring at everyone who entered the premises. “These are for Person. Is she here?”

“Haven’t seen her in a while but I can put them in her room. You probably know she lives on premises...across from your...from Mr. Mudwing.”

Rayna handed them over. “No, I didn’t know. How long has she lived here?”

The girl looked surprised. “The Mudwings own this place.”

What else did the Mudwings own and why had Louis neglected to share that bit of information? Here she’d been worried about the kind of care her father was receiving. Excellent care—obviously.

She sauntered down the hall. When she knocked on her father’s door, she waited for his gruff voice to yell that he didn’t want whatever she was selling, but there was no sound. She knocked again, softer this time in case he was asleep. No response came, so she turned the door knob and tip-toed inside.

His room was empty.

“Hello?” she called. Maybe he was in the bathroom. She walked to its closed door and listened. “Anyone in there?” Nothing.

Rayna’s skin prickled. Where could he be? He never left his room. Was he so ill that they’d called an ambulance to take him to the hospital? But surely the girl at the desk would have known. She hurried down the hall. “Raymond Mudwing. Where is he?”

The young woman looked startled. “He’s not in his room? He never comes out.” Several attendants joined them. One picked up the phone to make a call. Rayna didn’t wait to learn to whom. She ran out the door. “Did you see Raymond Mudwing leave?” she yelled as she hurried past the old timers.

“He never leaves,” said one.

“Never,” another added.

Rayna ran, and kept running. Deep down in her soul, she knew something wasn’t right. The neighborhood was hilly. She’d been happy that the senior citizen center was so close, but now, as she huffed and puffed across streets and up sidewalks, it seemed incredibly far away. She wished she’d driven. Still more than a block away from the house, she heard sirens. Dark gray puffs of smoke billowed across the sky.

No. Oh, dear God, no.

Her heart pounded. Her dry throat constricted; she coughed and gagged. As she rounded the second block, a fire truck sped past her, siren blasting.

Almost there. Almost.

Tears blurred her eyes when she saw the crowd standing, watching. Finally she reached them. She scanned the faces. Trent wasn’t among them. Maybe he was still in town looking at property. When she dared to lift her eyes to the three-story structure she called home, she saw flames spitting from the windows. And there was his truck, parked in its customary spot, beside her car.

People stood everywhere. She pushed past neighbors she didn’t know, a few people she’d waved at earlier. They stood and gaped.

“Trent? Has anyone seen—?” Her blurry eyes caused her to stumble. She gave into her sobs and then let herself go, released the screams that pressed against her chest. She ran toward the burning house.

Someone caught her arm and pulled her hard. She fought. “Let me go. I have to find him—please.”

She struck out, made contact with soft flesh, no doubt someone’s face.

“Ouch! Rayna! Don’t fight me. It’s too late to save it.”

She stilled, blinked the tears from her eyes, tried to focus. “Trent. Oh, thank God. Trent.” She threw herself against him and held him tight.

Trent pulled her close and tried to turn her away from their burning home. “No, please, maybe we can...”

“It’s too late, Rayna. Too late.”

Forceful streams of water from the hoses criss-crossed the flames, but Trent was right. It was too late. The house, at least a hundred years old, reduced to ashes. Everything they owned was inside.

“He did this to us. He probably hoped we were inside. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Who? What are you talking about?”

“Raymond. He wasn’t at Sun Meadows. He was gone. Doing this.”

Trent shook his head. “But Rayna, how could he?”

A voice shouted. “Look! Someone’s in the backyard.”

Movement near the south corner of the house caught her eye. Collectively, the crowd gasped, then cheered as they saw life emerging. From the ashes? It appeared so.

Taking long methodical strides, as was her custom, Person walked toward the bystanders, nodding as if keeping tune to her favorite song. The crowd hushed and watched as the gray-haired woman strode toward them. Her favorite dress—the one with tiny blue cornflowers—blew against her legs in the Oklahoma wind. Her eyes settled on Rayna and Trent among the bystanders, and her sweet, innocent grin grew larger and played around her wide lips. She looked so happy to see them.

And clutched tightly to her chest was Tiva.

****

Morning came too soon. The dark motel room was a needed escape from the horror Rayna experienced the afternoon before. Now she slumped over a Styrofoam cup of coffee down in the breakfast area. Louis sat across from her. From the dark circles beneath his eyes, he’d been up all night. Rayna suspected Trent, who had stayed with Louis, didn’t look any better. Trent hadn’t been happy about leaving Rayna and Tiva in the hotel alone, but finally, he’d relented. She was glad. She’d cried more than she’d ever cried in her life. She’d wept for the family she’d dreamed about that didn’t exist, and the family she’d found that hadn’t lived up to her expectations. At times she’d feared management might knock on her door, tell her she was disturbing the other guests. She hadn’t wanted Trent to see her in such a state, though she suspected the moment he laid eyes on her he’d know exactly what kind of night she’d had.

According to Louis, he was meeting with his insurance agent.

“Thank God he had insurance and that he’d taken pictures of everything.”

Rayna agreed, but she didn’t speak. Instead, she rubbed her face and eyed the pastries on the counter. She didn’t feel like eating, yet she was certain she needed something. She stood and shuffled toward the oatmeal. Within seconds, she’d nuked a bowl and sat back down, but now the mushy stuff turned her stomach. She pushed it away.

“I knew him less than a month, and now he’s gone.” The thought of her father dying in such a violent way was almost unbearable. She didn’t want to think about it, yet she couldn’t force it from her thoughts.

“Don’t mourn him, Rayna. He would only ridicule you for it.”

He was right. They didn’t have any kind of relationship and probably never would have, but still, she’d wanted to try.

“I wanted him to know that I was his real flesh and blood daughter. I wanted to see his face when I told him.”

Louis put his hand over hers. “Oh, Rayna, he knew. Believe me, he
knew
.”

A large wall clock ticked at the other end of the room. It sounded so loud, Rayna wanted to silence it. The annoying repetitious tock, tock, tock seemed like a death throng. She couldn’t help the tears that squeezed from her eyes. “How do you know he knew? He never admitted it.”

“He branded you, didn’t he? He wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t known you’re a
real
Mudwing. Believe me. He was tormenting our mother. And he tormented you.”

A sob caught in her throat. “Was he that terrible?”

He put his hand on hers. “A thousand times worse,” he whispered.

She mopped her face with a napkin. “What’s going to happen to Person?” she asked, shifting mental gears. Person had been taken away by law enforcement officers after handing Tiva to Rayna. She’d smiled so sweetly, so innocently, Rayna was certain she didn’t have a clue what was happening to her or that she’d committed murder.

Louis tapped his thumb on the table. “She’ll remain in custody and a psychiatric evaluation will be done.”

“How can they question her if she can’t talk? How can they get answers? In spite of what she did, that doesn’t seem right.”

“She can communicate. She hears, she understands, she can print; she just doesn’t rationalize between right and wrong. In her mind, she was doing right. She saved you.”

Rayna couldn’t quit weeping. She’d cried herself to sleep and started crying again when she awoke—hugging Tiva to her the entire night. “We don’t know that for certain.”

“Oh, I do. I think our father tried to get Person to do away with you, and she took it upon herself to destroy him—once and for all. Otherwise, you’d be in continuous danger.”

“She sacrificed herself for me.” A fresh wave of tears spilled forth.

Trent walked through the entry way of the breakfast room. He pulled up a chair and sat down beside Rayna, putting his arm around her.

She rested her head on his shoulder. “As evil as he was, I’m still glad I got to know him. Not that I knew him. Maybe I should say I’m glad I got to look into his eyes, face him, show him that I
survived
.” She lifted her head. “I’m sorry, Louis. We sound terrible. You must be sad. You’d have to be. After all, you lived with him. You had a relationship with him.”

“Say whatever you want, little sister. You have every right.” Louis got up from the table, grabbed another Styrofoam cup, and poured it full of the strong black liquid. He put it down in front of Trent. “I realize it’s no excuse, but a long line of abuse makes people crazy. At least, it did him. I can’t tell you how many times Person saved me from him. I’m probably the only Mudwing that never spent the first ten years of his life in a...in a dog cage.”

So it was true. Rayna shook her head. “How did you ever survive? Looks like after Person took me away, he would have used you as his punching bag.” Trent squeezed her arm. He was letting her know he was there, he was with her, on her side. She put her hand over his.

“Person took me with the both of you to Louisiana. I barely remember anything but the bus ride. I don’t know if she was protecting me or if she needed me to be her voice. But when we got back, I got the beating of my life until she intervened. That was the last time he touched me.”

“I can’t believe you’d come back. Either of you,” Trent responded.

“Remember, I was just six. I had no choice. And Wounded Heart…Oklahoma City is...was her home. Anyway, that was my last beating; after that, she made me her focus. I was
her
child.”

“I wish I could remember.” Rayna rubbed her forehead as if doing so would produce memories.

“You’re better off not remembering. You were in horrible pain. Person nursed you back to health after he branded you. She fought the infection.”

“You mean they didn’t take her to a doctor? To the hospital?” Trent’s voice was hard and each word was ground from between clenched teeth. Rayna squeezed his hand but it didn’t silence him. “Why for God’s sake? How could he get away with hurting Rayna—or anyone else for that matter? How in the name of anything sane were
you
allowed to stay with them?”

Louis shook his head. “They couldn’t take her to the hospital. That would have alerted the authorities to his abuse and caused him some problems. Remember, he had power, but I don’t know if he could have protected himself from child abuse.” He turned his attention back to Rayna. “Person kept you in that room of hers with all the locks.”

Fresh tears poured down her cheeks. “What does Person mean, Louis? Is it short for something, a nickname? Is there any way we can help her?”

“I’ve hired an attorney. That’s a start. We’ll go from there. I’ve done enough reading and research and therapy to know that emotional healing from abuse of any sort takes a lot of hard work.”

Therapy. Louis was admitting to undergoing therapy himself? She looked at him in a new light and wondered what he’d
really
been through with their father. Probably more than she’d ever know

He stood. “I think I’ll go to the police station and check on things. I don’t like just sitting around.”

“Louis, you didn’t answer about Person’s name.”

He hesitated. “Person is short for Persephone. You know what that means?”

Her eyes widened. “Yes, of course. That means queen of the underworld.”

He nodded. “Poor Person. From the looks of her, you’d never know there’s just a ten year age difference there. Baby sister didn’t have a chance.” He tossed his coffee cup into the trash. “I’ll be back later with news.”

They watched him walk out the door.

Trent turned to Rayna. “I like your brother.”

She pursed her lips. “You said he was a creepy weirdo.”