The Secret Life of Ceecee Wilkes Part 27

Cory nodded. "I needed to find you."

"Oh, sweetie, you can't do that. I work too far from here." She was filled with terror over what might have happened. "You never would have found me. You must never, ever walk off on your own again."

She leaned over to whisper in her ear. "But I needed to tell you something," she said.

"What?"

"Caitlin said her aunt died died when she had a baby," Cory said. "The baby was born too soon and she when she had a baby," Cory said. "The baby was born too soon and she died. died. And you said to Daddy last night that you were ready for the baby to come And you said to Daddy last night that you were ready for the baby to come right now right now and I was afraid you'd go have the baby be born now and you'd die. And I had to find you to tell you not to do that so you wouldn't die, Mommy." and I was afraid you'd go have the baby be born now and you'd die. And I had to find you to tell you not to do that so you wouldn't die, Mommy."

"Oh, the poor little thing," the secretary said.

There was such sincerity in Cory's face. Such love and concern. How terrified she must have been to do something as brave and out of character as leaving the school, unsure where she was going, to try to find her and keep her safe!

Eve pressed her hands lightly on the side of her head and leaned forward to kiss her temple. "I'm not going to die, honey, and I'm not going to have the baby now. Even if I did, though, I wouldn't die. It's very, very unusual for that to happen. Something must have been wrong with Caitlin's aunt for that to happen, okay? You don't need to worry about that at all. Not even the tiniest little bit. And if you ever are are worried about something like that, you need to talk to an adult about it instead of leaving school to try to find me. Promise me that you'll never do that again." worried about something like that, you need to talk to an adult about it instead of leaving school to try to find me. Promise me that you'll never do that again."

"I promise," she said. "If you promise not to die."

When her contractions began the afternoon of November twenty-first, Eve thought of Genevieve, but her labor was entirely different from that of Cory's mother. The pain was far worse than she'd expected and it seemed to last an eternity before they finally gave her an epidural. She had Jack by her side the whole time, breathing with her, holding her hand, feeding her ice chips, and at times, annoying her with made-up songs that were meant to cheer her on. They called Cory to rea.s.sure her that Eve was fine, and as the clock ticked past midnight, to wish her a happy seventh birthday. The new baby would indeed be Cory's biggest birthday present.

One of the nurses said something about this being Eve's first pregnancy, and she shrugged her shoulders at Jack with a nonchalant smile that took some effort.

"Looks like they screwed up my chart," she said, and hoped that he felt no need to set them straight.

Her labor lasted eleven hours and twenty minutes, and by the time she was holding beautiful, black-haired Dru Bailey Elliott in her arms, Genevieve's b.l.o.o.d.y death was the furthest thing from her mind.

Chapter Thirty-Two.

1987.

Eve was not the least bit surprised when Cory woke up with a stomachache the second Sat.u.r.day in July. She sat at the breakfast table, her arms hanging limply at her sides as she stared glumly at her untouched cereal. Her Girl Scout troop was going on an overnight trip to Camp Sugar Hollow, and Cory had started getting nervous the night before. Eve knew she'd gotten very little sleep.

"I don't want to go," she said now.

"I know you don't, honey," Eve said as she lifted Dru out of her booster seat. Dru's chubby little legs were already pumping before Eve had even set her on the floor. Then she was off, running into the living room to watch cartoons. At two and a half, Dru was already Cory's opposite. Where Cory was long and lithe, Dru was short and st.u.r.dy, much like Eve had been at her age. Dru had the look and nature of a brown-eyed, curly-haired imp, while Cory grew more ethereally beautiful and reserved with each pa.s.sing year.

"Can you say Sugar Hollow five times fast?" Jack asked her, but Cory didn't bite.

"Please don't make me go," she pleaded, looking from Eve to Jack and back again.

"Look at it as an adventure, Cory," Eve said, then realized how dumb a response that was. Cory went out of her way to avoid adventure.

"You're going to have such a good time." Jack sipped his coffee. "You'll learn silly songs and eat s'mores and the boys from the Boy Scout camp across the lake will sneak over to your camp at night and you can all go tiptoe into the grown-ups' tents and tie their shoelaces together."

"Dad," Cory moaned. "Why can't you come, Mom?" Cory moaned. "Why can't you come, Mom?"

"You know why." Eve peered around the corner to check on Dru, then sat down at the table again.

"Dad could take care of Dru," Cory said.

"No, Dad cannot," Jack said. "Dad has play rehearsal tonight and his students sorely need it." He was teaching drama at the university now and he was in seventh heaven.

He stood up and carried his cereal bowl to the sink. "Oh, Rocky Racc.o.o.n," he sang to the tune of the old Beatles' song, "found Cory baboon, asleep in her tent at the campground. Rocky crept in, and grinning a grin, he nibbled her toes 'til she looked down."

Cory didn't crack a smile. At nine and a half, she was already jaded to her father's corny humor.

"You'll never forget your first time at camp," Eve said, although she'd never been camping in her life. She was nearly as anxious as Cory about her going. Besides the night Dru was born, when she stayed with Marian, Cory had spent only one night away from home, at a well-supervised sleepover she'd somehow managed to get invited to. She had a panic attack in the middle of the night. The mother in charge of the party called Eve and Jack at two in the morning. "She's crying and shaking from head to toe," the woman said. "I'm not sure what got her so scared."

Jack went to pick her up from the sleepover, and Cory was subdued in the car on the drive home. "Maybe a little too young for a sleepover," he'd whispered to Eve when he brought Cory in the house.

And maybe she was too young for Girl Scout camp, Eve thought, but she tried to act as though it was no big deal. She doubted any of the other girls in the scout troop were unable to eat their breakfasts this morning.

Cory eventually gave in, and Eve drove her to the elementary school parking lot. The other girls sat on their rolled-up sleeping bags, talking and giggling, as they waited to get on the bus. Eve kissed Cory goodbye, then watched as she carried her sleeping bag and mess kit across the parking lot, looking as if she were about to walk the plank.

Jack got home from play rehearsal at eleven and flopped onto the bed next to her. Eve lay on top of the covers, reading a book on cognitive therapy. She was back in school, this time working on her master's degree in counseling.

"Any calls?" he asked, and she knew he was wondering how Cory was doing.

"No news is good news," she said.

He kissed her bare shoulder and slipped his hand under the old pink tank top she wore to bed. "Let's never get a place with air-conditioning," he said. His fingers brushed the slope of her breast and she s.h.i.+fted on the bed to give him easier access.

"Why not?" she asked. They had window air conditioners in their room and in the girls' room, but neither of them worked very well.

"Because then you wouldn't lie around in skimpy clothes anymore."

She laughed, reaching for the b.u.t.tons of his short-sleeved s.h.i.+rt.

"Seriously," he said. "I walked in here and saw you in this thin...rag or whatever it is, with no bra on and your nipples calling my name and it made me forget all my troubles."

Eve set her book on the night table. She would get no more reading done tonight, and that was fine with her.

The call came after they'd made love. Just Just after. She was lying on top of Jack, breathless, her head heavy on his shoulder. after. She was lying on top of Jack, breathless, her head heavy on his shoulder.

"Oh, no," he said.

She propped herself on one elbow to reach the phone. The clock read midnight.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"I'm so sorry to wake you, Eve." It was Linda, the a.s.sistant troop leader.

"Just tell me she's alive and not bleeding," Eve said.

"She's alive and not bleeding," Linda replied. "But she's having a rough night. She had a rough afternoon, actually."

"What's going on?" She started to roll off Jack, but he held her fast.

"She was fine on the bus and fine until we went to see the horses," Linda said. "A couple of the girls went riding. Just pony rides. You know, being led around a path. And the others hung out on the paddock fence feeding carrots to the horses and that sort of thing. But Cory stayed back. You know the way she does sometimes?"

"Uh-huh."

"I mean, stayed way way back. We'd walked there, so there was no vehicle she could stay in, and she sort of stood behind a tree so the horses couldn't see her." back. We'd walked there, so there was no vehicle she could stay in, and she sort of stood behind a tree so the horses couldn't see her."

"Oh, G.o.d," Eve said.

"What is it?" Jack whispered. "Is she all right?"

Eve pressed her fingertip to his mouth and nodded.

"And then she seemed okay at dinner again, but she got scared when it was time to go to bed. She was in a tent with three other girls and she wouldn't turn out her flashlight. She had to go to the bathroom, but was afraid to walk to the latrine at night, and she wet herself. Though I didn't realize that until later. Anyhow, she was afraid of racc.o.o.ns coming in the tent and-"

Eve smacked Jack lightly on the shoulder.

"Ouch," he said. "What's that for?"

"She was afraid of racc.o.o.ns coming in the tent," she said to him.

Jack laughed. "Oh, brother," he said. "It was just a song."

"So now she's here sitting in the mess hall with me, but she won't go back in the tent and I'm afraid I can't sit up with her all-"

"No, of course not," Eve said. "I'll come get her."

"Do you know how to get here?"

"I think so."

She listened while Linda went over the directions, then hung up the phone.

"It was just a nice little Beatles ditty," Jack said.

"Oh, I know." She rolled onto the mattress and stared at the ceiling.

"So she's coming home just because she's afraid of racc.o.o.ns?"

"She also hid from horses that were safely locked in a paddock. She hid behind a tree. And she was afraid to go to the latrine, so she wet herself." Her voice broke on the last word.

"Oh, Evie." Jack pulled her to him and nuzzled her neck. "She'll survive. We all survived the trauma of our childhoods."

"We need to get her counseling, Jack," she said. "I think we've ignored this problem as long as we can." She got out of bed and walked to the dresser. Her feet hurt as she crossed the room. That had been happening a lot lately-her feet hurting when she got out of bed.

"I'll go get her," Jack said.

"No, I want to." She slipped on a bra.

"I don't want you driving those winding roads in the dark."

"I'll be fine." She felt herself tearing up. "I just want to get my little girl in my arms."

Jack propped himself up on his elbows. "You don't worry about Dru the way you do about Cory, do you know that?" he asked.

She'd been about to reach into her dresser drawer for a T-s.h.i.+rt but stopped short, trying to read the tone of his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Just a statement of fact."

She returned to the bed and sat down next to him. She couldn't argue with him about it; she knew he was right.

"I love them both equally," she said. "You know that, don't you?"

"Yes," he said.

"Dru doesn't seem to need me the way Cory did at that age." Dru's bubbly self-confidence would serve her a lifetime.

"I know," he said.

She thought he regretted starting the conversation and was easing his way out of it. She would let him. There was no way she could make him understand what drove her protection of her oldest daughter. He could never know that, long ago, she and Cory had saved each other's lives.

Chapter Thirty-Three.

Cory was quiet on the dark drive home from camp, unresponsive to Eve's gentle questions about her experience. Eve felt frustrated, as she often did with her oldest daughter these days. Why could she get the most recalcitrant teenagers to open up to her, while her own daughter shut her out? She was learning new counseling skills every day, but when it came to her own family, she might as well be studying carpentry.

Cory went directly to bed when they got home, and she was still quiet the next morning, though contrite enough to help Eve and Jack clean the house after church.

"I don't want to go to school tomorrow," she said to Eve as she ran a sponge over the bathroom sink.

"Why not?" Eve looked up from the tub she was cleaning.