Chapter 252: Cecile XXIII

Chapter 252: Cecile XXIII—He Didn’t Come

 

 

 

            Danny had not come. Cecile couldn’t understand it. Through all of it, the police, the blood, the man tending her wound and Jana’s squeals as she tried to get to her, Cecile had thought to herself that she would see Danny’s face and it would be alright. Everything would go away. She knew her mother would be coming, and she did, and Cecile was expecting that perhaps Danny would come and right there, she would tell her mother what she wanted and would hold onto. But, Danny didn’t come.

            So Cecile did not tell Pauline anything. She hugged her, felt comfort in her perfume, and her voice. She felt comfort in her mother’s hand as it stroked her hair and pulled it from her face.

            “I wanna see Cecile!!” It was Jana, howling, demanding. The police would not let her back into the room and that made her more irate. “She saved my life! I wanna see her!”

            “Jana honey,” Cecile said in a bright voice, feeling alien and remembering the look of life draining from that man’s body, “Wait for your Mommy. They’re fixing me up.”

            There was no reply from the little girl and there was no further noise so Cecile figured it had worked. Her mother talked endlessly in her ear, she could hear things about, “better security”, and “one can never ever on any occasion trust the ‘help’”.

            Danny I need you, Cecile thought. Danny please where are you?

            Pauline left off her for a spell and began to ask questions of a policeman, the one who had shot the man, calling him a dear boy who had saved her baby. Cecile had taken that moment to go to Mimi who had arrived awhile ago and was now standing in the doorway. She had been in here earlier.

            “Call Danny? Please?” Cecile has said.

            Michele’s eyes widened, “For certain?” she asked. “With your mother here?”

            Cecile closed her eyes and felt an uncomfortable tugging at the stiffening cut on her face. She had not yet looked at a mirror. She wasn’t ready to. She felt his body on her own, his foot slamming into her chest, the sound of his momentary vulnerability, in a begging voice she couldn’t understand. “Yes,” she whispered.

            “I’ll have Patrick call him,” Michele said, “You poor thing.” And Michele had hugged her, and Cecile suddenly felt warm and comforted, drowned in a sweet scent and dizzy. She almost felt as if she could lose herself forever in her scent alone. The woman’s lips were briefly on her cheek and she left her, leaving only a waft of scent. Cecile stood still for a moment and then sat back on the bed, and she felt bad about taking the little girl’s entire room. They were taking the body out of the bathroom, she kept her eyes closed and listened to them.

            Danny didn’t come. Patrick would have called him? Cecile had never felt so abandoned. She felt dull and mechanical as she answered more endless questions and then plodded with them to the police car and went to the station. She answered more questions, signed papers and then was whisked to a clinic where they closed the cut on her face with four stitches.

            “Will there be a large scar?” Her mother had asked.

            “There will be a scar,” the nurse had said, a weathered, red haired woman. “But it won’t be huge. Don’t worry; you’re so pretty it will only add some mystery to your emerald eyes.”

            Cecile half smiled at the nurse who was pressing a bandage over the cut. “I’m sure I look fabulous now,” she said.

            The nurse smiled back at her. “You need some rest, you’ve been through a trauma and you’ll be better tomorrow. I have to tell you, what a brave girl you are; it’s been on the news. You would have given your life for the little girl, it’s a shame there aren’t more like you.”

            Cecile sighed. Her fingers found the crucifix and she squeezed it.

            When the stitches were done, her mother’s arm was over her shoulders and they wandered out of the clinic into the waiting room where the news was on. Cecile felt her throat tighten; Jana Roy was standing on the frozen front porch. It was a news clip, and she was saying loudly, waving her hands to the cameras. “She saved me! She would have died!”

            “Were you hurt?” a reporter asked.

            Jana shook her head. “Nooo but Igor, he saved Cecile, he….”
            Before the little girl could finish Patrick burst out of the house, Cecile felt a zing in her chest when she saw him, his jaw set in irritation and he scooped the little girl in his arms and carried her inside.

            “Well,” the news anchor said with a lift of her eyebrows, “That’s an end to that press conference. But there is still more on this breaking story. For those just joining us, there was an attack on the daughter of Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy at his home late this morning. Mr. Roy and his wife were not at home and apparently the family’s caretaker put herself in danger to protect the nine year old girl, as was just heard from the little girl’s mouth. Also, we would like to present you with exclusive audio of the 911 call Jana Roy made as the attack was in progress.”

            Cecile raised her eyebrows.

            Operator: Can you please repeat that?

            Jana Roy: I SAID there’s a dirty man here and he’s KILLING my nanny and you gotta get the police here *sobs* Please before he kills her he was gonna hurt me please!

            Operator: We’re sending a police car right now, just stay on the line don’t….

            Jana Roy: Are you CRAZY! *more sobs* Send more than one car or my daddy will make you sorry! If my daddy was here! *sobs* Your *bleeped* is grass God *bleeped*

            Operator: Can you see what’s happening?

            Jana Roy: Nooo but I can hear it! *sobs* Daddy if I die I’m sorry please forgive me but it was me who threw your Stanley Cup rings in the toilet and blamed it on Freddy! I don’t want to go to hell!

            “Oh dear!” Pauline said in a breathy voice. “Such, a spirited girl.”

            Cecile found herself truly smiling now and horrified that she was about to break into helpless laughter. She squeaked, pinched her lips shut and imagined Jana’s sparking eyes as she sobbed into the phone. She could just imagine that when the police did come to the door, Jana probably flung it open and told the police, “finally!”

            “Cecile whatever is the matter?” Her mother said. “Are you finally going to cry?”

            Cecile did feel a few tears fall but instead of sobbing she gave into laughter and just kept on laughing.

            “Cecile!” Pauline exclaimed. “Calm yourself! What have you to laugh about?”
            “Igor!” Cecile choked.

            Pauline narrowed her eyes. “Yes, I heard the little girl mention him, who is he?”

            “A spider!” Cecile said holding up her arms. “And he saved my life, a spider! Can you imagine?” And she laughed some more.

            “Calm yourself,” her mother said again and she guided her out of the clinic into the parking lot. “Now I am going to take you with me back to a hotel, and then we can go back to New York where you can recup..”

            “Oh mother no!” Cecile gasped, she stopped laughing. “No please no not that.”

            “What?” Her mother said and she stepped away from Cecile and pressed her hands into her hips. “What do you mean?”

            Cecile inhaled and pressed her palm onto her breast. “Mom, I can’t leave, not now.” Should I tell her now? Cecile thought to herself. “I can’t! It’s impossible. The Sakic’s would be left to dry without a nanny and the Roy’s I can’t just abandon the children can I?” You coward! Her brain screamed at her, how could you just back out like that?

            Pauline shook her head. “Cecile, you were almost murdered by some animal who was allowed to attack you a second time.”

            “He’s dead now,” Cecile said feeling odd. I watched him die; his blood is still on my body. It’s dry and stiff and itching on my skin. “He won’t be back.”

            “I am amazed at you,” Pauline said. Cecile couldn’t tell if she was being reproachful or respectful. “You do not feel as if you need to be home now, with people who love you and would protect you?”

            Cecile swallowed. “Mother, I can’t. No. It would be cowardly of me to just run away now. Don’t you think? If I just went home now, it would mean that everything I fought for in that bathroom, the little girl, the safety of the children, the things that I could provide them would be for nothing. How can I heal if I hid away and didn’t face what attacked me, the ghost of it? I need to go back to that house tonight, and I need to help them with the children, I need to face what has happened, not hide from it.”

            Pauline’s eyes widened, “I did not know you had this strength, girl,” she said. Cecile closed her eyes and felt her cheeks blush with shame. “I’ve underestimated you.”

            Danny why didn’t you come today? Cecile thought. Why?