Free A Lethal Legacy by P. C. Zick Page B

enough, Philip. You've gone too far this time. Come on, Gary.'
    "Claire took
Gary by the shoulders and directed him back to his bedroom where she stayed
with him for the rest of the meal. As soon as I could escape, I went back
there, too. Claire sat on the bed holding Gary, rocking and soothing him. When
Claire saw me in the doorway, she held up one arm for me, and I ran to her
side. For what seemed like a lifetime, Aunt Claire held her two boys and gave
us comfort. Without that, I doubt Gary could have survived."
    "Philip sounds
like a real bastard. But he doesn't seem capable of that kind of thing
now," Kristina said.
    "He's mellowed
over the years, but give him a chance, and he'll manage to say something
intended to humiliate Gary. He doesn't do it as often. Plus Claire has become
stronger and stops him before he can really get started on something."
    "What about me?
Do you remember me as a baby? I mean, did they all love me?"
    Her question moved me
because of the note of wistfulness and uncertainty I detected in her voice. She
rarely allowed her vulnerability to show.
    "Are you
kidding? You were the crowned princess of the Townsend family. Until you came
back last Christmas, I don't think Claire's heart ever healed."
    "Tell me about
that time. Pam would never, ever discuss anything about it except to tell me my
father had died."
    After my divorce from
Allison, I struggled with my novel trying to use all of the characters from my
notebook as composites within the story of change centered in 1960s’ society.
My main character, a troubled woman, came from my haunting images of Pam and
her unnamed unhappiness.
    I went over to Claire
and Philip's house one evening soon after Pam and Claire's return from New
York. Aunt Claire answered the door with the baby in her arms.
    "Hi, Ed. Look at
my beautiful granddaughter. Isn't she the most wonderfullest baby ever
made?" Aunt Claire loved to make up those silly words, lisping as they
escaped her lips.
    "Where's
Pam?" I asked. I watched as Aunt Claire's brow formed a deep furrow.
    She pointed her head
down the hallway toward Gary's old room. I rubbed my hand over Kristina's downy
head, looking directly into her blue eyes, which seemed to reach inside of my
heart and tug at its tough interior. Slowly the baby's hand reached for my
face. I reluctantly left to find this beautiful baby's mother.
    I knocked cautiously
and heard a muffled, "Come in." Pam sat in a rocking chair by the
window dressed in a pink mini-dress. Her hair had been set and combed out and
her make-up looked flawless. She was reading Cosmopolitan and looked up
after a few seconds to see who had intruded into her quiet space.
    "Ed, I thought
it would be one of the doting grandparents with earth-shattering news about the
spittle of their new granddaughter," she said.
    "Hi, Pam. You
look wonderful. Are you taking a break from everyone?"
    "Sure. Ed, I'm
going nuts here. Why don't we go out somewhere for a drink? I haven't been out
in ages. Claire and Philip don't seem to ever go out."
    " I don't know,
Pam. What about Kristina?"
    "What about her?
She's being taken care of. Please?" she pleaded in a little girl voice.
    "Let me check
with Aunt Claire first." I wasn't sure about this whole situation.
    Claire looked at me
for a long moment before answering. "I think it might do her good to get
out. Go ahead, Ed."
    "What about
Kristina?"
    "What about her?
Pam doesn't pay much attention to her daughter. I take care of her most of the
time."
    When Pam and I
settled in the lounge at the Holiday Inn, I noticed that every time I mentioned
the baby, she changed the subject. She also out drank me three to one on the
vodka gimlets. I don't know how she put away those sickeningly sweet and sour
drinks so quickly.
    "Pam, when do you
plan on going back home?" I asked.
    "I guess Gary's
coming here over Christmas, and we'll go back after that," she said.
    "It's been great
to have Claire and Philip to help out, hasn't it?"
    "Yes, Claire's
been