Chapter 223: Cecile XVIII

Chapter 223: Cecile XVIII—It Can’t be True

 

           

 

            In her mother’s absent, Cecile had briefly considered not staying at the Roy’s house over the weekend; there was no reason to hide. In fact, when her mother came back, she would tell her about Danny and then there was no point in coming here. Especially with the way Patrick had revealed himself to her that last night she had stayed with them, she knew that it was the signal for her to run.

            There was something else in Cecile, however, a pride, an anger, a competitive spark. If she never returned to the house, then Patrick would have succeeded in chasing her from it and he had shown her such remorse that night at the charity benefit. She had to admit she was curious to see how penitent he really was.

            The children weren’t so bad either. Cecile knew that the boys were doing that visit to the Children’s Hospital and she had made plans with Danny for afterwards. So she was content to wait for him at the Roy’s house. Mimi seemed terribly busy preparing a large dinner so Cecile took Jana off her hands, offered to watch cartoons with the little girl. Jana had been more than happy to do that and Cecile was relieved to see that the girl was in a semi-ladylike mood.

            “Do ya still have Igor?” Cecile asked, remembering that monstrous spider Jana had imprisoned in a jar.

            “Yup,” Jana said proudly as she flipped through channels. “He keeps asking me to let him go but I haven’t decided yet. Maybe tomorrow.”

            “Do you feed him?” Cecile asked. “He might be hungry and lonely in that jar.”

            “He’s not lonely,” Jana said. “He has me and I feed him basement bugs, he sucks out their blood!”

            Cecile grimaced. “Ew,” she said.

            “It’s life,” Jana said. “He doesn’t like em either, he says so.”

            “Really?” Cecile said, her curiosity was perked by the girl’s obvious imagination. “But all spiders like bugs, what does he like?”

            Jana frowned, “Ummm, he said he likes, Caviar, steak and fine wines! But daddy won’t let me give him any of those so he has to eat bugs.”

            “Do you write stories? You have a big imagination,” Cecile said. “You should write stories I bet your parents would be proud of you.”

            Jana narrowed her bright blue eyes, “That’s a nice way of calling me a liar!” she declared. “And I don’t like to write stories, I like to draw pictures.”

            Cecile’s eyes widened, she really didn’t know how to reply to that! She hadn’t meant to insult the girl but if she really wanted someone to believe that the spider was actually talking to her, well that was just silly.

            Jana squealed and greeted Coco Lacroix who came into the room with smiles and endearments. Cecile talked with Coco for a spell, telling the woman everything she wanted to know about her engagement, and Danny. She also showed her the locket Danny had given her and as she spoke, Cecile actually felt a wave of disbelief. Was it all really happening? Was it all true?

            “Daddy’s on the news!” Jana cried.

            Cecile and Coco both stopped their conversations as they saw the footage of the Avalanche players visiting the children’s hospital and Cecile giggled when she saw a clip of Danny making funny faces at a little girl. And then sure enough there was Mr. Roy. That’s when the coverage took an odd turn.

            The news story focused on Patrick and a Hispanic family. Apparently the little girl in the family was dying from an illness that could be cured by a radical, new and very expensive surgery and Patrick had taken it upon himself to pay the bill, the entire bill. Cecile felt her pulse race, her cheeks blush, and a funny boiling in her stomach. It can’t be true! He was doing it out of the goodness of his heart? A half a million dollars? No one just gave away half a million dollars to a complete stranger!

            Cecile felt cold and stunned and she followed Coco and Jana into the kitchen where Mr. Roy was sitting, looking cool and unflappable. He was smiling with his daughter, shrugging away the gesture as if it were something obvious and common. It couldn’t be. A heart like that? She gazed at him, tried to look for the joke, the part where he finally revealed what was in it for him. But it never showed up and she felt meek and drained by the time Danny had come to pick her up.

            All Danny could talk about was what Patrick had done. Cecile listened to him. Danny seemed to be in the same mood as her. He was confused. How could Patrick be so generous and at other times be such a monster?

            “Danny, I don’t want to think about it anymore.” Cecile said.

            It gnawed on Cecile as she tried to sleep. Nothing is ever black and white, she was learning that very quickly. People were not good or evil as her mother had drilled into her. They had serious flaws offset by wonderful qualities. She had judged Patrick on the evidence of his flaws and she had to stop that. She was not qualified to be a judge, it wasn’t her job.

            He had asked for peace and her friendship, and it was with that in mind that Cecile went looking for Patrick the next day. There was no one to ask, because Cecile had helped Michele with the kids in the kitchen that morning as they were fed and then bundled off to hockey practice and in Jana’s case, she was tagging along with her mother. Cecile had asked if Michele wanted her along to keep the kids in rein but Michele had been sunshine in smiles, told her to stay home and call Danny for a nice outing.

            Cecile waved goodbye to them, let Jana hug her and Michele hugged her as well. As she watched them leave the house, she thought to herself, well it seems I’m at peace with one.

            Cecile didn’t know if Patrick was still in the house, but she didn’t have much of anything else to do. It was still early in the morning and she didn’t want to call up Danny until later, after he had a good sleep in on his day off.

            She wandered around the huge house, ran her finger over the impeccably kept furniture, at the lavish vases and knick knacks that were more expensive than they were worth. The puppy followed her around and Cecile stopped every now and then to pet her. The puppy kept cocking her head to one side, yipping and wagging her tail.

            It was at the other end of the house that she found the second stairwell. It wasn’t as wide and inviting as the main one. It was black, ornate metal and it spiraled both up and down. Cecile blinked and swallowed. It was a rather creepy looking one, it was kind of like the ones that loomed in haunted house movies and suspense thrillers were the girl was chased down one. She wrapped her fingers around the thin, cool railing and she peered down. It led to the basement?

            Cecile gnawed on her lips as she stepped onto it, her shoes clanged on the steps and echoed. “You’re such a baby,” she said and she began to descend the stairs.

            Clang, clang, clang… Cecile began to be amused by the racket. She heard these clangs sometimes at night, had wondered where it could be coming from and now she knew that it was more than likely one of the children sneaking out of bed. What an odd house, she thought, I wonder what other things are hidden in it.

            Gigi’s bark was shrill and made Cecile jump and cling to the railing. “Gigi!” she snapped. “Get over here you baby!”

            “Awwooo!” Gigi howled and she scampered down the steps until she was at Cecile’s feet. “RARF!”

            “Come on,” Cecile said and she walked down the rest of the spiral. The stairs ended in a room with a granite like, tiled floor and when she opened the door to it she saw that it opened into the huge recreation room where Mr. Roy was. He was sitting on a chair, a honey colored hockey stick was in one hand and in the other was a roll of shiny black hockey tape which it seemed he had been spiraling around the handle of the stick.

            He was smiling and Cecile blushed, backed into the doorway. “I’m sorry I didn’t know…”

            Gigi snarled and Cecile felt the puppy press into her leg.

            “Snooping again I see?” he said in a casual voice. “Not a good way to do it, I could hear you all the way up those stairs.”

            Cecile frowned. “Nooo I mean. Well I was just looking for you actually.”

            Patrick raised his eyebrows. “For me?” he asked. “That’s a change.”

            “Yeah,” Cecile said with a nervous laugh. “Um, I just wanted to tell you that I really respect what you did yesterday, for the little girl. It was a generous gesture.”

            Generous gesture? Cecile thought. What a dope! You really sound like a wench.

            “That?” Patrick said.

            Cecile nodded. “Yes. I mean,” she sighed and stepped into the room, stopped lurking in the doorway. She held her breath as she walked closer to him, felt odd for doing so. “I don’t know anyone who would have given so much to a complete stranger and expected nothing in return. It’s a rare thing and that family will never forget it, God will never forget it either. He was smiling on your gesture, I know He was. I see how truthful you were being to me the other night, I see that now and I would indeed like to be your friend, if, if that’s what you want.”

            Patrick looked down at the stick and began to roll the tape on it again. “No,” he said in a low voice, a quiet one, “That’s not what I want.”

            “What?” Cecile exclaimed, feeling her stomach go out of sorts again.

            “I don’t want your friendship,” he said. “You can keep it.”

            Cecile swallowed and felt her temper rise. “I don’t understand,” she snapped. “Just two nights ago you were begging for my friendship and forgiveness and now you’re rejecting it?”

            He stopped taping, put the stick on the carpet and he looked away from her. “Yes, I am,” he said.

            “Why?” Cecile growled, she felt her eyes narrow. What game was he playing now?

            “Because you’re offering friendship to me,” he continued without looking at her, “Under the pretense that I am earnestly trying to find redemption in God’s eyes and have reformed my entire moral fiber. That is what your friendship is, it’s conditional and stifling and I could never live underneath that bind because… because…”

            “Because what?” Cecile asked crossing her arms.

            There was a long pause and he looked at her with large, boyish, doe like eyes that reached into her breast and stabbed her heart. “Because I’m in love with you,” he said in a clear voice. “I adore you.”

            Cecile felt her blood freeze cold, her lungs stopped functioning and she felt her mouth open. “It can’t be true,” she whispered. “You’re lying.”

            “It’s true,” he said, “I am miserable because I love you so much. And a restrictive friendship would only make me more miserable, would only destroy me happiness.”

            “You’re mad!” Cecile snapped. “You realize this?”

            His eyes glistened and he seemed so vulnerable that it tore her through.

            “Perhaps,” he said. “And it’s your fault, all of it. If I am mad it is because of you.”

            Cecile shook her head, felt her flesh warm up again, and loosened from that initial shock. “How dare you!” she snapped. “Just when I thought you were being so nice!”

            He shook his head, “You’re right to feel put out. I am not nice. I am evil I am wicked. And what I did yesterday was not an act of charity but one of selfishness; I wanted you to like me, to feel joy in what I had done. I didn’t care about them or God or anything other than wanting to impress you. I did it for you. And when I saw your face last night, I almost died from happiness, but I can’t lead you on and lie to you anymore. And if I were to accept friendship from you it would be a lie because I want more, so much more.”

            Cecile swallowed and felt her throat tickling and her nose burning.

            “You are the most beautiful, pure woman I have ever known.” He said, “At first I wanted to take that purity from you and destroy you but I cannot think that way. Your strength and fortitude leaves me in awe, you have conquered my heart and my soul. I love you.”

            “What about your wife?” she said coldly, and the puppy barked almost as if in emphasis before she dashed out of the room.

            Patrick shook his head. “She does not love me, she never has.” Patrick said. “She loves the children and my money, but me, non. I have lived a separate emotionally from her because she has cut me off and I have been lonely and bitter so long. I never knew a woman could be anything other than greedy and cruel, until I met you.”

            “NO!” Cecile cried. “You’re not doing this to me!” She clenched her fists and headed straight for the open door at the other end of the room but as she did he snatched her, wrapped his arms around her, fell to his knees, his cheek pressing, burning into her tummy. She rolled her eyes shut and groaned, pressed her hands into her face.

            “Please, take pity on me,” he moaned and she could feel his hot breath burning through her shirt, “I am unworthy of an angel like you, but I cannot forget you or ignore you or be content with a friendship, please give me some glimmer of hope!”

            She grabbed the pendant of her locket in her hand, squeezed it and then she dropped it and slid her hand into his soft hair, pushed at him. “No,” she whispered, “You miserable creature, no. I can’t do this.”

            He inhaled sharply and he let her go, covered his own face with his hands. “I’m sorry,” he moaned. “It’s for you. I will change everything I do to be worthy of just one smile from you, I will do everything for you.”

            Cecile refused to let the tears fall and she ran from the room, didn’t look behind her. She ran through the basement, through the rooms until she reached her apartment. She threw herself onto the bed and breathed, she inhaled she exhaled and it felt as if her chest was crushed. She pressed her hands over her throat and then held her breath. She closed her eyes and couldn’t find the strength to pray.

            It was a game. He was playing a game; he was trying to see if she would break. He was doing something horrible to her emotions. He was evil. But the sound of his moan, the look in his eyes, the warmth of his touch.

            I am not worth a half a million dollars, Cecile thought to herself. I can not be that important to him. Whether he is trying to manipulate me or he is truthful about how he feels, he did not spend that money to impress me. Something else motivated him to rescue that little girl, and it had nothing at all to do with me. There is the good, there is the evil and how could it exist so sharply in one person? 

            The puppy whined, and Cecile looked down at her, picked her up and hugged her fluffy body to her face. She then placed her on the bed and that’s when the puppy growled, a low, almost adult sounding one. Cecile frowned and realized that Gigi was not growling at her. She was staring at the door. Cecile squinted, saw the figure move away from the door, heard the footsteps leaving.

            “You poor man,” Cecile whispered. “What’s wrong with you? What is it that you actually want?”