Dawn

  "I have to tell you," I insisted. "You're my mother, and there just isn't anyone else."

  "Are you sick? Do you have some obnoxious stomach cramps? Your time of month?" she said, nodding hopefully, and continued pecking at her food with her fork, scrutinizing each piece before stabbing it quickly to bring it to her mouth. "Nothing bores me more and disgusts me so much. During my period, I don't budge from this bed. Men don't know how lucky they are not to have to go through it. If Randolph gets impatient with me then, I just remind him of that, and he shuts right up."

  "It's not my period. I wish it were only that," I replied. She stopped chewing and stared.

  "Did you tell your father? Has he sent for the doctor?"

  "I'm not sick, Mother. Not in that sense, anyway. I just came from a meeting with Grandmother Cutler."

  "Oh," she said, as if one sentence explained everything.

  "She wants me to wear a nameplate on my uniform with the name Eugenia on the plate," I said. I skipped the part about Philip, not only because I didn't want to confuse her, but I couldn't stand talking about it myself.

  "Oh, dear." She looked down at her food and then dropped the fork again and pushed the tray away. "I can't eat when there is so much controversy. The doctor says it would damage my digestion, and I would have bad stomachaches."

  "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin your dinner."

  "Well, you did," she said with surprising sharpness. "Please, don't talk about these things anymore."

  "But . . . Grandmother Cutler has told me to remain in my room until I wear the nameplate, and she has forbidden me to eat. The kitchen staff certainly won't serve me if she tells them not to."

  "Forbidden you to eat?" She shook her head and looked away.

  "Can't you speak to her for me?" I pleaded.

  "You should have gone to your father," she said, still not looking at me.

  "I can't. He won't do anything to help me anyway," I moaned. "I gave him a letter to mail to . . . to the man who had pretended to be my daddy, and he promised he would, but instead, he gave the letter to Grandmother Cutler."

  She nodded, slowly, and turned back to me, now a different sort of smile on her face. It was more like a smirk of disgust.

  "It doesn't surprise me," she said. "He makes promises easily and then forgets he made them. But why did you want to mail a letter to Ormand Longchamp after you learned what he had done?"

  "Because . . . because I want him to tell me why he did it. I still don't understand, and I never had a real chance to speak with him before the police scooted me off and brought me back here. But Grandmother Cutler won't let me have any contact with him," I said and held up the envelope.

  "Why did you give it to Randolph?" Mother asked, her eyes suddenly small and suspicious.

  "I didn't know where to send it, and he promised he would find out and do it for me."

  "He shouldn't have made such a promise." She was thoughtful for a moment, her eyes taking on a glazed, far-off look.

  "What should I do?" I cried, hoping she would assume her role as my mother and be in charge of what happened to me. but instead, she looked down in defeat.

  "Wear the nameplate and take it off when you're not working," she replied quickly.

  "But why should she be able to tell me what to do? You're my mother, aren't you?" I cried.

  She looked up, her eyes sadder, darker. "Yes," she said softly. "I am, but I am not as strong as I used to be."

  "Why not?" I demanded, frustrated by her weakness. "When did you become sick? After I was kidnapped?" I wanted to know more.

  She nodded and fell back against her pillows. "Yes," she said, looking up at the ceiling. "My life changed after that." She sighed deeply.

  "I'm sorry," I said. "But I don't understand. That's why I wrote to the man I grew up thinking was my daddy. Where was I kidnapped from? The hospital? Had you brought me home?"

  "You were here. It happened late at night when we were all asleep. One of the suites that we keep shut up across the hall was your nursery. We had set it up so nicely." She smiled at the memory. "It was so pretty with new wallpaper and new carpet and all the new furniture. Every day during my pregnancy, Randolph bought another infant's toy or something to hang on the walls.

  "He had hired a nurse, of course. Her name was Mrs. Dalton. She had two children of her own, but they were fully grown and off making their own lives, so she was able to live here."

  Mother shook her head.

  "She lived here only three days. Randolph wanted to keep her on duty after you were stolen. He was always hopeful you would be found and returned, but Grandmother Cutler discharged her, blaming her for being so negligent. Randolph was heartbroken over it all and thought it was wrong to blame her, but there was nothing he could do."

  She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and then opened them and shook her head.

  "He stood right there in that doorway," she said, "and cried like a baby himself. He loved you so." She turned to me. "You never saw a grown man act so silly over a baby when you were born. If he could have spent twenty-four hours a day with you, he would have.

  "You know, you were born with nearly a full head of hair, all golden. And you were so small, almost too small to take right home. For a long time afterward, Randolph used to say he wished you had been too small. Then maybe we'd still have you.

  "Of course, he wouldn't give up searching and hoping. False alarms sent him traveling all over the country. Finally Grandmother Cutler decided to put an end to the hope."

  "She made the memorial stone," I said.

  "I didn't think you knew about that," Mother said, her eyes wide with surprise.

  "I saw it. Why did you and Father let Grandmother Cutler do such a thing? I wasn't dead."

  "Grandmother Cutler's always been a strong-willed woman. Randolph's father used to say she was as tenacious as tree roots and as hard as bark.

  "Anyway, she insisted we do something to face facts and go on with our lives."

  "But wasn't it terrible for you? Why would you do such a thing?" I repeated. I couldn't imagine a mother agreeing to bury her own child symbolically without knowing for sure that the child was dead.

  "It was a quick, simple ceremony. No one but the family, and it worked," she said. "After that, Randolph stopped hoping, and we went on to have Clara Sue."

  "You let her force you to give up," I said. "To forget me," I added, not without some note of accusation.

  "You're too young to understand these things, honey," she replied in her own defense. I glared at her. There were some things that didn't require you to be old to understand and appreciate. One of them was a mother's love for her child, I thought. Momma wouldn't have let someone force her to go to the funeral of her missing child.

  It was all so strange.

  "If I was so small, wasn't it dangerous for them to kidnap me?" I asked.

  "Oh, sure. That's why Grandmother Cutler insisted you were probably dead," she replied quickly.

  "If you had a sleep-in nurse, how did they get me anyway?" I still couldn't believe I was talking about something terrible Daddy and Momma had done.

  "I don't remember all the details," Mother said and rubbed her forehead. "My headache's coming back. Probably because you forced me to recall so many horrible memories."

  "I'm sorry, Mother," I said. "But I have to know." She nodded and sighed.

  "But let's not talk about it anymore," she suggested and smiled. "You're here now; you've been returned. The horror is behind us."

  "The monument is still there," I said, remembering what Sissy had told me.

  "Oh, dear, how morbid you can be."

  "Why did they steal me, Mother?"

  "No one has told you that?" She looked at me slyly, her head tilted. "Grandmother Cutler didn't tell you?"

  "No," I said. My heart paused. "I was afraid to ask her anything like that."

  Mother nodded understandingly.

  "Sally Longchamp had just given birth to a stillborn
baby. They simply substituted you for the dead baby.

  "That's another reason why Grandmother Cutler wants your name changed so much, I guess."

  "What is?" I asked, my voice so weak it was barely audible.

  "Not many people remember anymore. Randolph never knew. I just happened to know because . . . I just happened to know. And of course your grandmother knew. There wasn't much she didn't know if it happened anywhere near or on the hotel grounds," she added acridly.

  "What?" I repeated.

  "The dead Longchamp baby was a girl, too. And they were going to name it Dawn."

  I could see there wasn't much point to my continuing to plead for my mother to intercede between me and my grandmother. Mother's attitude was to do what Grandmother Cutler wanted because in the long run that was the easiest route to take. She told me that somehow Grandmother Cutler always managed to get her way anyway. It was futile to fight.

  Of course, I didn't agree. The things she had told me about Momma and Daddy and my kidnapping left me stunned. No matter how terrible it must have been for Momma to give birth to a stillborn, it was still horrible of them to steal me from my real parents. What they had done was selfish and cruel, and when my mother described my father crying in the doorway, my heart ached for him.

  I returned to my little room and plopped down on the bed to stare up at the ceiling. It had begun to rain, another summer storm rushing in from the ocean. The staccato beats on the building and windows were military drums to take me into dreams, into night-mares, to exactly where I didn't want to go. I envisioned Momma and Daddy sneaking up the stairs at night when everyone was asleep. Although I had not met her, I imagined Nurse Dalton dead asleep in the nursery suite, perhaps her back to the door. I pictured Daddy tiptoeing into the suite and scooping me up in his arms. Perhaps I had just started to cry when he handed me to Momma, who pressed me dearly to her bosom and kissed my cheeks, giving me the sense of comfort and security again.

  Then, with me wrapped firmly in my blanket, they stole down the stairs and through the corridor outside my room to the rear door. Once out in the night they easily made their way to their awaiting vehicle, with infant Jimmy asleep in the backseat, unaware that he was soon to have a new sister.

  In moments they were all in the car and off into the night.

  I pressed my eyelids tightly shut when I then imagined Nurse Dalton finding the crib empty. I saw my parents come rushing out of their room, my grandmother charging out of hers. Philip was awakened by the shouting and sat up terrified. Surely, he had to be comforted, too.

  The hotel was in an uproar. My grandmother was shouting orders at everyone. Lights were snapped on, the police were called, staff members were ordered out and about the grounds. Moments after the little beach town of Cutler's Cove came to life, all the inhabitants discovered what had happened. Sirens were sounded. Police cars were everywhere. But it was too late. Momma and Daddy were some distance away by then, and I, just a few days old, didn't know the difference.

  My heart felt as if it would split in two. The ache traveled up and down my spine. Maybe I should give up, I thought. My name was a lie; it belonged to another little girl, one who had never had the chance to open her eyes and see the dawn, one who had been taken from one darkness to another. My body shook with my sobs.

  "You don't have to lie there crying," Clara Sue said. "Just do what Grandmother tells you to do."

  I spun around. She had come sneaking into my room, not knocking, but opening the door as softly as a spy. She stood there with a terribly satisfied grin of self-satisfaction on her face and leaned against the doorjamb. Obviously intending to tease and torment me, she nibbled on a chocolate-covered pastry.

  "I want you to knock before you come into my room," I snapped and ground the tears out of my eyes quickly. I wiped my cheeks with the back of my hands as I sat up.

  "I did knock," she lied, "but you were crying so loud, you couldn't hear me. You don't have to go hungry," she lectured and took another bite of her pastry, closing her eyes to telegraph how delicious it was.

  "That stuff will make you even fatter," I said in a sudden burst of nastiness. Her eyes popped open. "I'm not fat," she insisted. I only shrugged. "Pretend what you want, if it makes you happy," I said casually. My tone infuriated her more.

  "I'm not pretending. I have a full figure, a mature woman's figure. Everyone says so."

  "They're just being polite. How many people have the nerve to tell someone she's fat, especially the owner's daughter?"

  She blinked, finding it hard to refute the logic.

  "Look at all the clothing you've outgrown, and some of it you hadn't even worn yet," I said, nodding toward my closet. She stared at me, her eyes growing smaller with anger and frustration, making her cheeks look even fuller. Then she smiled.

  "You just want me to give you the rest of this so you won't be hungry."

  I shrugged again and pulled myself up in the bed to lean back against my pillow. "Of course not," I said. "I wouldn't eat sweets instead of real food."

  "You'll see. After a day you're going to be so hungry your stomach will growl and ache," she promised.

  "I've been hungry, far hungrier than you've ever been, Clara Sue," I retorted. "I'm used to going without food for days and days," I said, relishing the effect my exaggeration was having on her. "There were days when Daddy couldn't find any work, and we had only a few crumbs left for all of us. When your stomach starts to ache, you just drink loads of water and the ache goes away."

  "But . . . this is different," she insisted. "You can smell the food being cooked, and all you have to do to get it is wear the nameplate."

  "I won't do it and I don't care anyway," I said with unexpected sincerity. It made her eyebrows lift. "I don't care if I waste away in this bed."

  "That's stupid," she said, but she backed up as if I had some infectious disease.

  "Is it?" I shifted my eyes to her and glared. "Why did you tell Grandmother Cutler stories about Philip and me? You did, didn't you?"

  "No. I just told her what everyone at school knew—that Philip was your boyfriend for a little while, and you and he went on a date."

  "I'm sure you told her more."

  "I didn't!" she insisted.

  "It doesn't matter anyway," I said and sighed. "Please leave me alone." I lowered myself down onto the bed and closed my eyes.

  "Grandmother sent me to see if you had changed your mind before she makes a big announcement about you to the staff."

  "Tell her . . . tell her I won't change my name, and she can bury me right where she put up the monument," I added. Clara Sue's eyes nearly bulged. She backed into the doorway.

  "You're just being a stubborn little brat. No one's going to help you. You'll be sorry."

  "I'm sorry already," I said. "Please close the door on your way out."

  She stared at me in disbelief and then shut the door and was gone.

  Of course, she was right. It would be harder to go hungry here, where there was so much and where the aromas of the wonderful foods threaded their way through the hotel, drawing the guests like flies to the dining room for delicious entrees and sumptuous desserts. Just the thought of it made my stomach churn in anticipation. I thought the best thing to do was to try to sleep.

  I was emotionally and mentally exhausted anyway. The rainstorm continued and the musty, damp scent chilled me. I slipped out of my uniform, wrapped my blanket around my body, and turned away from the tear-streaked window. I heard the growl of thunder. The whole world seemed to tremble, or was it just me? After a few moments I fell asleep and didn't wake up until I heard shouting in the hall followed by many loud footsteps. A moment later my door was thrown open, and my grandmother burst in, followed by Sissy and Burt Hornbeck, chief of the hotel's security.

  I pulled my blanket around myself and sat up.

  "What is it?" I gasped.

  "All right," my grandmother snapped and tugged Sissy forward by the wrist so she could stand at her side and face
me. Burt Hornbeck stepped up on the other side of her and stared at me. "I want you to say it all in her presence with Burt as a witness." Sissy looked down and then looked up at me slowly, her eyes wide and bright with fear. Yet there was a glint of sadness and pity in them, too.

  "Say what?" I asked. "What is this?"

  She turned on Sissy.

  "You alternated rooms, correct?" my grandmother demanded with a prosecutor's clipped, sharp tone of voice. Sissy nodded. "Speak up," my grandmother commanded.

  "Yes, ma'am," Sissy said quickly.

  "You took the odd number and she took the even?"

  "Uh-huh."

  "Then she would have been the one to clean room one-fifty?" she pursued. I looked from her to Burt Hornbeck. He was a stout, forty-year-old man with dark brown hair and small brown eyes. Whenever I had seen him before, he had always smiled warmly at me. Now he looked stern, angry, a moon locked in orbit around my grandmother's blazing face of fury and anger.

  "Yes, ma'am," Sissy said.

  "So we alternated rooms and I did the even numbers. What does this mean?" I asked.

  "Get out of bed," she ordered. I looked at Burt. I was wearing only my bra and panties. He understood and directed his gaze at the window while I rose, keeping the blanket as tightly wrapped around me as I could.

  "Are you naked?" my grandmother asked, as if to be so was a sin in her hotel.

  "No. I'm wearing underwear. What do you want?"

  "I want the return of Mrs. Clairmont's gold necklace, and I want it now," she said, her eyes fixed on me with such fire. She stuck out her palm, her long thin fingers straight.

  "What necklace?" I looked at Burt Hornbeck, but he didn't change expression.

  "There's no point in denying it now. I have managed to keep Mrs. Clairmont, one of my lifelong guests, I might add, quiet about this entire manner, but I have promised her the return of her necklace. She will get it back," she insisted, her shoulders hoisted, her neck so stiff it looked carved out of marble.

  "I didn't take her necklace!" I cried. "I don't steal."

  "Sure you don't steal," she said with ridicule and a birdlike nod. "You lived with thieves all your life and you don't steal."