Sociopath? (28 page)

*

“We read in the newspaper that grades have
been handed out. You’re doing okay with your grades, aren’t you,
Rafe Darling?”

“You’re asking me about my grades, Vic?” he
asked incredulously. “Am I going to have to start bringing you my
report card next?”

“Well, no, of course not….not unless you just
want to.”

“I don’t want to, Vic, but if you’re really
that curious, you can look them up on the internet. My user name is
rvincennes; my password is raven103.”

*

“Straight A’s!” he told Chas proudly that
night. “A’s as far as the eye can see!”

“Do you think we’re starting to know what it
feels like to have a son, Vic?”

* *

“Hi, Ren.”

“Hey, Gil, how’s it going in lovely New
Jersey?”

“One more year after this one, Renny, and
we’ll be lazing on the sunny beaches of coastal Alabama.”

“I’m don’t blame you for being impatient to
go. You’ve got a wonderful place there.”

“And what about you and Maggie? Did you find
anything in Florida?”

“No, Maggie fell in love with a place in Fort
Lauderdale but, you know, Gil, it’s me that has to deal with
property managers and being concerned with whether it’s going to be
blown away in a hurricane. I’m trying to pare down my
responsibilities, not take on more. She was sort of disappointed
but I told her, I’d buy it for her and put it in her name, give her
a checkbook and an allowance to take care of it and turn all the
decisions over to her and if she wanted it under those conditions,
fine.” He chuckled. “She decided against it.”

“Whew, more power to you, Ren. I don’t think
I could get away with handling Cindy that way. But anyway, to the
main reason for my call, I think you made the right move letting
Rafe live off campus. He actually seems happy this year.”

“Good, I thought getting him out of the dorm
would help.”

“Yeah, it seems like Rafe’s Riders has ended.
Don’t hear anymore about it. I think that was more about relieving
stress than the women themselves. I suppose he just takes them home
now. It’s too late for Helene Barnes though. She came to me and
said she was leaving Women’s Studies, that she’d just lost the
heart for it. I’d love to know what happened between her and Rafe
but I don’t suppose I ever will.”

“I’m still willing to sound him out about it
if you want me to, Gil.”

“Yeah, why don’t you? I know I said not to at
first but I’m just damned curious to know the story. Don’t browbeat
him though, just see if you can find a way to bring it up and feel
him out. Everything else with Rafe is the same. Grades -A’s,
baseball stats - great. Far as I can tell, he drops into Ivy and
eats now and then when he’s on campus all day but mostly, he’s a
commuter. Does what he has to do here and leaves.”

“Okay, I appreciate the call, Gil, and I’ll
see if I can do a little interrogation for you.

“All right, talk to you later, Ren.”

* *

Dear Rafe - Haven’t heard from you. Is
everything okay at your end? How are you getting along with your
landlords? Do you like it there? I’m dating again but I decided to
play the field a little this year and not get hooked up with just
one person. Well, I suppose I would if I really liked someone a lot
like I did Cal but I haven’t been with anyone else I felt that way
about. I think I’ve been doing some good stuff for the Scribe. I’d
like to be Editor next year. I talked Mom into letting me get a
puppy for IN THE HOUSE, can you believe it? She said she’d approve
it since I was the last kid left. She said she never would let
anyone else because she couldn’t let just one do it or she would
have had 6 or 7 dogs running around underfoot. Maybe she just feels
sorry for me because I’m alone so much. Anyway, I’m going to get a
Yorkshire Terrier. Misty’s little dog had a litter of pups and
they’ll be weaned next week so I’m going to go choose one. I love
you, Rafe.

*

Hi Lane - You’ll love having a dog with you
all the time. I hated always having to put Raven out in the kennel
but it’s great to have Hawk right in the house. I don’t let him
sleep on the bed though. I will NOT sleep with a dog! This is the
best place. I sure lucked into something good. Vic and Chas are
terrific. They poke their nose into every bit of my business but
for some reason, it doesn’t bother me like it would if it was
anyone else. I think they would adopt me if they could. They even
come to my games! School is so much more relaxing since I’m here.
That’s really good about your writing. Hey, Honey, are you sure
you’re all right with this dating stuff? I’m getting kind of a bad
vibe. Talk to me. I love you too.

*

Hi Rafe - Well, I got my little girl and she
is the most adorable thing in the world. I named her Shasta. I keep
her in her crate beside my bed, at least until she’s potty-trained.
Mom and Dad left for Spain so it helps a lot to have something else
alive in the house. I got named the Queen of the Harvest Ball.
That’s nice, I guess, only being the 4th Vincennes girl to get it,
it’s more like it’s expected than anything else. I’m going to the
dance with Brad Andrews. He was named King and since he doesn’t
have a steady girlfriend either, we figured we might as well hook
up. I can’t really explain how I feel over e-mail. It’s too
complicated. I’ll just wait to talk to you when you come home at
Xmas which seems like eons away but I guess it will eventually
come. I’m glad you’re happy at the new place. All my love,
Lane.

*

Lane - Things are kind of hectic right now.
Stacks and stacks of assignments but if you really need me to, I’ll
make a quick trip home, at least an overnight. Let me know. I’d
suggest you come here. You have your car now and it’s a fairly
quick trip (even quicker the way I drive - ha!) but I don’t suppose
you want to leave Shasta right now. You could bring her with you.
Let me know. I’ll come if you need me. I know how you feel about
being elected Queen, felt the same way about being King. Like they
just give it to every Vincennes out of force of habit. Well, you’ll
be the last. R

*

Rafe - No, that’s okay. Geez, if I was the
cause of you getting a bad grade (like an A- ?) I’d never forgive
myself! It’s nothing that can’t wait ‘til Christmas. I don’t know
what you’d do anyway. I have some family news. Wyatt saved some of
his men who were pinned down in Iraq and got awarded a Silver Star!
Pretty neat, huh? I don’t know all the details. I suppose we’ll
hear about it when he comes home. They are going to have another
baby and so are Jocey and Edgar. We just keep growing and growing
but I doubt if any of our generation are going to match Mom and
Dad! And, last but not least, Annecy is engaged to one of the other
veterinarians at her clinic. She’s getting married next October
here at St James, with an outdoor reception at the house. She wants
all her sisters to be bridesmaids - even me!

*

Lane - Hurray for Wyatt! Now that’s
impressive! Baby news is getting to be pretty old hat in our
family. Nice for Annecy. I’m glad she asked you too since the two
of us usually get left out. Not that I mind but I know you do.
How’s the housebreaking going? Hawk was a breeze but I’ve heard
small dogs are harder. Anyway, I’m lucky because Vic and Chas love
Hawk and take him for walks and let him out while I’m gone. An A
minus? Honor would impel me to commit hari kari! R

*

Lane didn’t know if she really was going to
confide in Rafe when he came home and that would feel really
strange because she’d always told him absolutely everything but she
wasn’t sure about this. The fact was she’d gotten a little
desperate and had sex with four boys since school started, trying,
hoping, to discover that there was someone out there besides Rafe
who could make her feel the way she wanted to feel. Because what if
no one could make that happen except her brother? Where was that
going to leave her? Would it mean if she ever wanted to get married
and have a family, she’d finally have to settle for a man who
didn’t excite her? Or would she end up hanging around at the edges
of Rafe’s life, waiting for his 20 percent? How pathetic was that?
And it hadn’t worked anyway and now she felt a little sick and
ashamed of what she’d done. None of the four had come remotely
close to bringing her satisfaction. In fact, she couldn’t wait for
it to be over.

She’d come home on top of the world after the
trip to New Jersey. She’d talked Rafe into staying three days
although the apartment business was already taken care of by then.
She thought he would have preferred to just head back but he’d let
her have her way. And he was sweet and wonderful and generous the
whole time and even after they got home. And then he left for
school again and her good mood just crashed and she was back to
trying to figure out where she was going with her life.

*

He came home to the gatehouse to find a
large, lighted wreath, featuring red ribbons and a smiling Santa,
on his front door. Inside, on the mantel, was a small tree covered
with white lights, gold bows with trailing streamers and gold and
silver bulbs. Lying beside it was a small package, also wrapped in
gold with a tiny gold bow on top. It was laying on top of a card
with his name on it. A second package was larger and had a tag that
said, “for Hawk”.

He grabbed up the packages and told the puppy
who was impatiently waiting to go out, “we’d better take these over
so they can see us open them, don’t you think?”

He didn’t even knock at the door anymore,
just opened it and called out, “you guys home?”

“In the living room, Rafe, come on in.”

He opened Hawk’s gift first - an intricately
handtooled leather collar with his name on a silver nameplate.”

“I’m glad you did this,” Rafe told them.
“I’ve just been using Raven’s old collar but I think he deserves
one of his own.”

Then his present, which turned out to be a
small gold bullion bar, smaller but a little thicker than a credit
card, rounded on the corners, with the words engraved in tiny
letters, “love and luck”.

“It’s a good luck piece, Rafe, to keep you
safe. We both held it and infused our love into it.” Vic
explained.

“And it’s a little thing so it’s convenient
to carry in your pocket. We know you don’t like ostentation.”

“It’s the coolest gift I’ve ever been given,”
he told them.” I’ll always keep it with me.”

They had roast pork and potatoes in the
bright yellow kitchen and he hugged them both before he left. “I
have something for you guys too but it’s not quite finished.
Everything got too frantic there at the last. I’ll probably send
it. I’m leaving early in the morning, probably before you’re up.
I’ll see you when I get back.”

His card said, “To Rafe with love from your
“godfathers”, Chas & Vic.” He propped it up on the mantel
beside the Christmas tree.

*

When he did get home, he ended up convincing
Laney to confide in him, pulling her onto his lap, saying, “come
on, Honey, you can talk to me.”

So she told him about the four boys and held
her breath to see if he was going to be upset with her but he
wasn’t, which she should have figured, really, because Rafe was the
most non-judgmental person she knew.

“It’s no big deal, Lane. You tried something.
It didn’t work. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Sex doesn’t change
you. You’re still exactly the same person you were before, no
better and no worse.” He stroked her hair, “but, Honey, I do think
you’re rushing things. Remember me telling you lots of girls need
to be in love before they can reach a climax?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I expect you’re like that and I don’t
think it’s something you can force, Sweetie. You’re only 17 and you
have no idea who or what the future is going to bring you. Why
don’t you just take it easy and not worry about it quite yet. If it
is going to happen, it will be when it’s meant to. If you try too
hard, you’ll just get more and more stressed and make it worse,
like those women who don’t get pregnant until they finally give
up.”

She put her head on his shoulder, “Oh, Rafe,
I feel so much better talking to you. I wasn’t going to tell you
but I’m glad I did.”

“Well, sure you were going to tell me, Lane.
You always do.”

He breathed his warm breath into her ear,
sliding his hand up under her shirt. “In the meantime, there’s one
thing I can fix for you, Lane, since it seems that no one else
can.”

She felt that familiar tingle shoot from her
groin up into her belly, the same one she’d been feeling since she
was seven years old.

*

Shasta attached herself to Rafe. It made
Laney a little jealous although she was used to that way he had
with animals that seemed to attract them to him. In a way, she
guessed it was good because she’d not been having much luck with
housebreaking but Rafe took Shasta in hand and within a few days,
she had it down pat and no more accidents. He’d convinced Magdelene
to let Hawk stay in the house when he was there too.

“Are you getting soft in your old age,
Maggie?” her husband asked. “Your rule about pets inside used to be
absolute and now you’ve allowed two of them.”

“Well, Rafe said he keeps Hawk in his
apartment so he’s not used to being in a kennel and you know, his
dogs are always so well behaved….”

He patted her hand affectionately, “I don’t
care, Darlin’, I’m only teasing you.”

The puppies loved having a playmate too. You
could hear them chasing one another down the hall. Hawk, in that
awkward gallop of a 9 month old German Shepherd, with paws still
too big for his body, and Shasta, pattering along behind, trying to
keep up, a gnat to his bumblebee. When he couldn’t stand the racket
anymore, Rafe snapped his fingers, telling them “cool it” and
they’d flop down on the floor beside him and go to sleep, the
Yorkie curled up beside Hawk’s belly.