Swan Song (Julie O'Hara Mystery Series) (13 page)

“I should explain,” she said, looking at Julie and Joe.

“Frank played hockey when he was young, until he broke his leg. He was a big Bruins fan. Bobby Orr was his idol. I think he wanted to
be
Bobby Orr. Anyway, we took Dianna skating on Horn Pond when she was just a little girl. Frank made such a big deal out of everything she did on the ice! Well, you can figure out the rest. Dianna loved her Daddy and wanted to please him. I thought it was sad, in a way. They never talked about anything else but skating. It was all Frank was really interested in.”

Betty stopped and sighed.

“My Dianna was a pretty child, but by the time she was fifteen she was
beautiful
. People don’t think of that as a burden, but when it comes to teenagers, they’re wrong. She got too much attention, too quickly. Her skating and her looks opened doors for her. Girls wanted to be like her, and
boys
…well, our phone rang off the hook.

“Dianna began to hang around with kids who were the elite crowd in her school. They came from well-off families. And that became a problem because we
weren’t
, you see. It wasn’t that Dianna was ashamed of us, really. She was just impressed by their affluence. This one had designer clothes, and that one got a convertible for graduation, and so-and-so had a pool and a tennis court.

“We did the best we could with clothes and things, but the rest was out of our league.

“Frank was irked by her ‘
attitude
’. He became stricter and more demanding. He forbade her to see this friend and that friend. And Dianna pushed back in
every
way she could. She wouldn’t clean her room or get up for church. She was deliberately late coming home when she went out. Finally, she quit skating. That was the last straw for my husband.

“I tried to keep the peace. I told him to choose his battles, not to fight with Dianna over unimportant things like going to church or keeping a spotless room. If she wanted to stop skating, that was up to
her
. I felt our focus should be on her safety and her school work.

“But, of course, he wouldn’t listen to me.

“Frank had always had an iron grip on Dianna, primarily through her skating, and he was determined to keep her under his thumb, one way or another. He grounded her indefinitely, allowed her out only for school. He didn’t lock her in her room, but he might as well have, because that was her only refuge. Eventually, she snuck out to see some of her friends. Frank called the parents of each and every one of them. He told them that Dianna wasn’t allowed to see their son or daughter anymore, that they were a ‘bad influence’ on his child.

“As you can imagine, the parents he contacted were insulted. They made absolutely
sure
that their kids stayed away from her. In a matter of months, Dianna was completely isolated. She was like a princess locked in a tower. She couldn’t have been more vulnerable.”

She paused and laid her hand on the shoebox for just a moment.

Joe’s attention was riveted on the box, but Julie studied Betty.

Unconsciously, Betty pulled back her hand, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Distraction. This is so hard for her to talk about.

“It wasn’t really her fault,” she said softly.

“What wasn’t her fault, Betty?” asked Julie gently.

“What happened with
Hoyt.”

* * * * * 

Chapter
26

Massachusetts, 1996

S
he’d left her books at school. What was the point of studying? There was no point to anything anymore. Her life was
ruined
.

Dianna trudged up the long hill toward her house.

It was his fault. He never loved
her
; he loved being the father of a skating champion. She was nothing to him but an extension of himself. She always knew it, deep down. When did he ever ask her what
she
thought, or how
she
felt about anything?

She hated skating! She hated
him.

Totally absorbed in her misery, Dianna had stopped caring about a lot of things. No longer did she spend time straightening her long dark hair or choosing just the right preppy outfit. She’d been completely dropped by her fair-weather friends, so what was the point?

Alicia Wells was the only friend Dianna had left. A skating buddy who lived around the corner, she was the only person allowed to visit. Closeted in Dianna’s bedroom, Alicia would whisper the latest gossip. Although Dianna was grateful to have at least
one
friend, the news of all that was going on only served to make her feel more excluded and angry.

To hell with them!
she thought.

Fuming, she strode on up the hill, never noticing the truck slowing down beside her.

“Hi!”

She whipped her head around and glared at the driver.

It was Hoyt Geller from North Street Farm.

A moment or two passed before he spoke.

“Want a ride?”

•

As usual Hoyt had trouble breathing when he looked at Dianna.

His first glimpse of her was two years prior when her family came to skate.

The Geller’s farm on North Street was principally apple orchards, but they also had horse trails and hayrides. In the winter, two shallow ponds on their property froze solid

and
the family cleared them for skating.

Hoyt was sixteen then. He had been manning a hut between the “twins”, as they called the two ponds, selling coffee and cocoa to the skaters. Dianna came in, her head down, pulling off her gloves, fumbling in her fur-trimmed jacket for change. When she raised her head, Hoyt literally stopped breathing.

Her face was perfectly shaped, framed by dark tresses of hair spilling out of the fur-trimmed hood. Incredible blue-green eyes fringed with long, dark lashes looked up at him. She stood up straight, almost as tall as he. Her creamy skin was flushed by the cold. She was smiling at him, perfect white teeth and full, pink lips.

Hoyt had wanted desperately to ask her out. He approached a friend of his, to find out her name. The boy laughed at him.

“Are you crazy, man? She’s only thirteen!”

Hoyt was dumbfounded. He watched Dianna doing pirouettes and axels on the pond. He had never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

Except for now, at this moment, as she spun around to stare into his truck.

This was a different Dianna, as exotic and enticing as a gypsy. Her hair was wild and full and her eyes were flashing with intensity. They were green today, like the jersey that clung to her breasts. It took him a couple moments to find his voice.

“Want a ride?”

•

Why not?
thought Dianna, as she climbed in next to Hoyt.

“Where are you headed?” asked Hoyt.

“Home. You can let me off at the top of the hill, at the corner.”

They rode for a few moments in silence.

“Want to go for a Smoothie?” blurted Hoyt, blushing for some reason.

Dianna glanced at him, for the first time realizing how good looking he was. What was her rush? It was only three o’clock; her father wouldn’t be home until after five.

“Sure.”

Conversation was easy between them and Dianna found Hoyt more and more attractive. He looked different than the boys at school, more mature. And he was funny! He did impressions and made her laugh. They talked on and on like old friends, and the time flew by.

Dianna stole a glance at her watch; it was half-past four! She had to get home!

“I have to go,” she said. “I have to get home before my father.” Seeing Hoyt’s puzzled expression, she told him what was going on at home.

“So you can’t go out?”

Suddenly, she realized that Hoyt wanted to see her again, like on a
date
. And just as quickly, Dianna knew she wanted the same thing.

“If I wait until they’re asleep, I can sneak out for a little while.”

“What about tonight?”

“It would be late,” she said, “after eleven.”

“That’s okay,” said Hoyt. “I’ll wait for you at the corner.”

•

“Where have you been?” said her mother. “Thank heavens you got home before your father, Dianna! Go up and change your clothes. I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

Dianna could barely wait for the time to go by. Dinner was interminable, her father’s presence unbearable. He no longer spoke to her. He communicated by
looks
.

When the meal was over, he gave her a look that said, “Get up and help your mother.” When the dishes were done and she walked into the living room, his look said, “What are you doing in here? Go to your room.” That was something she was happy enough to do tonight. She wished they would go to
theirs
.

Eventually it was silent in the house and safe to leave. She couldn’t go out the front or the back door. When Frank caught her before, he’d locked her out all night in the freezing cold. Dianna wasn’t going to chance
that
again.

Her bedroom was on the second floor of their modest colonial-style home. The side window was just above a small porch roof. The porch had a door in the rear, which gave the family access to a brick outdoor grill. The grill was cleverly built on the outside of the living-room’s fireplace, matching the brick chimney.

It was also nicely stepped…for climbing.

•

Dianna had been meeting Hoyt once or twice a week for over a month. At first, Hoyt just drove and they talked, but that had evolved into parking and fooling around. Now he got right to it, pulling the truck in behind the maintenance shed at the golf course near her house. He slid over and pulled her into his arms as soon as he cut the ignition.

His lips felt so soft and moist as they moved from her mouth to her neck. His hand slipped inside her cotton brassiere and cupped her breast, brushing her nipple. Dianna felt like she was melting away, falling, falling. His hand massaged between her legs and she felt a fluttering inside like never before, and then he was pulling the elastic aside…

“No, no. Stop, Hoyt. I can’t.”

“I love you, Dianna. I want you.”

They were magic words to her, almost irresistible.

Almost.

•

Dianna told Alicia everything.

“Oh my God, Dianna, he’s so
hot
!”

“I know. It’s so hard to stop.”

“That’s funny,” said Alicia, giggling.

“What’s funny?”

“You said ‘It’s so
hard’
. Did you see it?”

Dianna put her finger to her lips. “
No!
Be quiet. My mother is upstairs,” she mouthed.

“I told
Chrissy and Melissa. They are
so
jealous,” whispered Alicia. “They think Hoyt is
so
handsome. When are you seeing him again?”

“Tonight.
But we have to stop; I’m afraid I’m going to get caught. My father will kill me.”

“Everyone thinks you and Hoyt should just run away and get married,” whispered Alicia. “
Lots
of people find the right guy and get married when they’re young, you know.”

Something about their conversation was very satisfying to Dianna.
She had
friends again
;
friends who were on her side.

“How would we do it?”

“You could go to New Hampshire, to a Justice of the Peace. You don’t even need blood tests in New Hampshire, you just have to go up and apply for a marriage license a month or so ahead of time.”

“How do you know that?”

“I went on my mother’s computer and looked it up,” said Alicia, smugly.

“How old do you have to be?”

“Eighteen. But it’s easy enough to get a fake driver’s license.
Everybody
gets them so they can drink. And Hoyt’s already eighteen.”

That night Dianna dreamt about marrying Hoyt, about escaping her father.

•

“Please, please,” begged Hoyt as if in a trance, pressing Dianna’s hand against the bulge between his legs. He started to pull the zipper down.

“No, don’t, Hoyt,” said Dianna, afraid and pulling away.

“Oh, I can’t stand this!” He jumped out of the truck and began pacing back and forth, running his hands through his hair. After a while, he calmed down and climbed back in.

“I’m sorry,” said Dianna, tears running down her face. “I just don’t feel right about it. I mean here, like this.”

He took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly.