The Secret Life of Ceecee Wilkes Part 19

She had to come up with answers to questions about Cory's father, and she had to learn to keep her story straight. "No, we broke up when I was about six months' pregnant."

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Lorraine said. "What was his name?"

"Patrick." She pulled the name out of the air, but it was a good one. Patrick sounded like a redhead.

Lorraine stopped cutting to look at her. "You're seventeen, working as a waitress, and raising a baby on your own." She shook her head. "Girl, you have my admiration," she said. "I knew I was going to like you the moment you crashed into the restaurant."

"I felt the same way when I saw you," Eve said shyly.

"I'm taken, though, so don't get any ideas."

"What?"

Lorraine laughed. "Teasing you, Eve." Under her breath, she said, "Bobbie-Shan's mother-is my girl girlfriend."

It still took Eve a moment to understand. Then her eyes flew open. "Oh!" she said. She'd known a couple of lesbians in North Carolina, but only as acquaintances. And she'd even met Bobbie, a conservative-looking accountant with a thick New England accent. She never would have guessed.

"I'm not gay," she said. She thought she should make that clear.

"Like I couldn't tell." Lorraine laughed again, then grew serious. "I hope we can still be friends," she said. "That it doesn't make a difference."

For the first time all evening, Eve saw something other than c.o.c.ky abandon in Lorraine's demeanor. There was a line between her eyebrows, too deep for someone only twenty. What was it like to realize you were different, that you liked girls better than boys? Did everyone have some burden they had to carry?

"Of course we can still be friends," she said. She wanted that very much.

Cory was asleep when she got home, and Marian wanted to hear everything about her first night at work.

"You've got pink in your cheeks," Marian said when Eve sat down on the sofa. "I think you had fun."

"I did." Eve smiled. "It's not hard work. And one of the other evening waitresses, Lorraine, is a lot of fun. You know her, I guess."

Marian set down the book she'd been reading. "Oh, sure. And Shan is Bobbie's-her partner's-daughter, did you know that?"

"She told me," Eve said. She liked how easygoing Marian was about everything and everybody. "She said you saved her b.u.t.t once."

"Well, I don't know about that," Marian said. "She came out of the closet while she was in high school, and her parents made her life a living h.e.l.l, so I let her live here."

"That was nice of you," she said, although she felt an unexpected twinge of sibling rivalry that Lorraine had also enjoyed Marian's care and attention.

"So, it's not hard, huh?" Marian asked. "Are the students a pain?"

"It was on the quiet side since it's winter break, but I actually like being around students. I was planning to go to Caro...to college when everything happened."

"Really? Majoring in what?"

"Social work."

"You'd be a good social worker," Marian said.

"Maybe someday." She couldn't see how she'd ever get to college now.

"You could go to school while you're living here," Marian said.

"I want to spend my nonworking time with Cory, though."

"I understand. But you could get started. Take a cla.s.s here, a cla.s.s there. That's pretty much the way Lorraine started out."

Marian made it sound like a real possibility. Just one cla.s.s. She could almost envision it. Except...how did you apply to college without a high-school transcript?

Two in the morning found Eve downstairs, heating water to warm Cory's formula. Cory lay just below her b.r.e.a.s.t.s in the sling, making her "I'm going to cry any minute" whimpering sounds. Eve opened the cabinet beneath the sink to throw away a paper towel and noticed a newspaper in the garbage can. She'd gotten into the habit of reading the paper over breakfast, hunting for updates about the kidnapping, but Marian had told her the paperboy missed them that morning. Eve read the headline as she pulled the paper from the can, and knew she'd caught her landlady in a lie.

Gleason's Girlfriend Commits Suicide She read the article in confusion.

Timothy Gleason's girlfriend, twenty-two-year-old Elizabeth Jones, who led investigators to the Gleason brothers' hideout in Jacksonville, North Carolina, was found dead of an overdose in her Chapel Hill apartment yesterday.

Elizabeth Jones? Who was that?

Jones's roommate, Jeannie Parker, said that Jones had been distraught lately. "The cops were hounding her and she couldn't take it anymore," Parker said. "She didn't want to be involved in that whole mess, anyway, and now she was getting dragged into it. Plus she missed Tim and was afraid she'd never see him again." According to Parker, Jones had been stockpiling sedatives from several different doctors over the last week.

Eve suddenly realized that the photograph of a young woman on the right side of the page accompanied the article. She stared at the stick-straight blond hair and pouty lips, while the water boiled over on the stove.

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Eve left Cory in the ba.s.sinet, then walked upstairs and knocked on Marian's bedroom door, the Richmond Times-Dispatch Richmond Times-Dispatch clutched in her hand. She heard a catch of breath, then the rustling of blankets. In a moment, Marian pulled open the door, wearing a robe, her gla.s.ses askew. clutched in her hand. She heard a catch of breath, then the rustling of blankets. In a moment, Marian pulled open the door, wearing a robe, her gla.s.ses askew.

Eve waved the paper in front of her. "How could you keep this from me?" she asked.

"Oh," Marian said, as she realized the reason for the intrusion. "I'm sorry, Eve." She sounded tired. "I...I just wanted to spare you from it. But maybe it's better that you found it after all."

"Do you know something about this...situation?" Eve asked. "Are you keeping things from me? You're in SCAPE. Do you know what-"

"Shh." Marian touched her arm.

"What do you know? know?" Eve asked. Downstairs, Cory started to cry.

"I don't know a thing, Eve. Honest, I don't. I've told you. We all keep each other in the dark."

Eve lowered the newspaper to her side, suddenly deflated. "I can't handle the dark anymore," she said. "I have to...I need someone to help me figure out what's going on." She pressed a hand to her temple and closed her eyes. "I feel like I'm going crazy."

"Okay," Marian said. "Let me get my slippers and I'll meet you downstairs."

They were both silent as Marian brewed tea and Eve fed Cory. She knew she had to wait for Marian to begin this conversation. Anything she said would come out in a jumble of emotion, and that was not going to help.

Marian poured tea for both of them, then took a seat across the table from her.

"You can talk to me about this," she said, as if laying ground rules, "but I'm only allowing it because I want you to get it out of your system so you don't talk to anyone else. All right?"

Eve nodded.

"I'm a little concerned, Eve," she continued. "You've got to have a better handle on yourself than this. You can't be so impulsive, coming upstairs and pounding on my door like that. I understand you're upset and my door happens to be a safe one. Others won't be."

Eve felt chastened. How many times had she been told not to utter a word about what had happened? "I know," she said. "But I-"

"Here's what I know," Marian said. "I received a call from a woman who didn't give me her name. They never do. She knew some... some facts that let me know she was part of SCAPE. She told me a young girl and her new baby were living in Charleston-which I recognized was probably a lie, but that was immaterial-and they'd gotten caught up in a SCAPE activity they didn't belong in and needed a place to go underground. Could I help. I said yes. I didn't ask questions. You don't ask questions in this business."

"You don't know anything about Tim or this girl in the paper?" Eve nodded toward the newspaper on the table.

Marian shook her head. "I didn't know anything at all about it until you reacted to that television piece the other day. If I'd been listening to that story about kidnapping the governor's wife in order to get freedom for a death-row inmate...well, I would have thought SCAPE was involved in some way. Supporting the effort at the very least. But that was all."

Cory had fallen asleep, and Eve sat her up on her lap to burp. "I'm so confused," she said. "I know know this girl. I mean, I know who she is. And nothing makes any sense." this girl. I mean, I know who she is. And nothing makes any sense."

Marian hesitated. "Who is she?" she asked finally.

"Her name is Bets," Eve said. "She waited on Tim and me in a restaurant once in...where we were living. It was obvious she knew him, but...not like that. that." She shook her head, still trying to make sense of the article. "She didn't act jealous of me or anything. Tim and I were even holding hands in the restaurant."

Marian sipped her tea, listening in silence.

"I just don't understand, understand," Eve said. "Was he seeing both of us at the same time? I mean, if she she was his girlfriend when he disappeared and was his girlfriend when he disappeared and I I was his girlfriend when he disappeared...I guess that's the only explanation." was his girlfriend when he disappeared...I guess that's the only explanation."

"Maybe." Marian's tone gave away her doubt.

"Maybe she thought thought of herself as his girlfriend, but he didn't," Eve suggested. "Maybe it was all her big fantasy." of herself as his girlfriend, but he didn't," Eve suggested. "Maybe it was all her big fantasy."

Marian set her tea cup on the saucer. "How old was he, honey?" she asked.

"Twenty-two." She winced at the realization that he was the same age as Bets.

"I think...he may have been using you," Marian said. Eve could tell she was carefully picking her words. Just not carefully enough.

"I don't want to hear it," she said. Until that moment, she'd forgotten Genevieve's warning about Tim being a "womanizer."

"You're only seventeen," Marian said. "You're a little...compared to a twenty-two-year old, anyway, you're a little naive."

"Only sixteen," Eve said.

"You were sixteen when you met him?"

"I'm still still sixteen." Eve was suddenly angry, though whether it was at Marian or Tim or the world, she couldn't be sure. "The sixteen." Eve was suddenly angry, though whether it was at Marian or Tim or the world, she couldn't be sure. "The real me real me is sixteen. Eve Bailey is seventeen." is sixteen. Eve Bailey is seventeen."

Marian sat back in her chair. "Oh, my G.o.d," she said. "Did he know your age?"

Eve nodded.

"Well, Eve." Marian let out a heavy sigh. "I realize that he's Cory's father and that he was someone special to you, but I have to say, I don't like this man at all."

"He was really good to me, though," Eve argued. "He appreciated me. He loved me. One day I got five thousand dollars in the mail, and I'm sure he sent it."

Marian's eyes were wide behind her gla.s.ses. "Cash?" she asked.

Eve nodded. "He wanted me to be able to go to school."

"Where's the money now?"

"I had to leave it when...everything happened."

"Why are you so sure he's the person who sent it?"

"'Cause he was rich."

Marian made a sound of disgust. "He bought you in every way possible, then," she said.

Eve lifted Cory to her shoulder and stood up to slip her into the sling. "I just can't believe that," she said. She reached for her untouched cup and saucer to carry them to the sink.

"Sixteen," Marian said to herself. "You're not even a high-school graduate, then?"

"Yes, I'm a high-school graduate!" Eve washed the cup and placed it on the dish drainer. "I'm a high-school graduate with a B-plus average and thirteen-sixty on my SATs." It was definitely the world she was angry at. She felt the fury boiling inside her as she turned around. "This doesn't make sense!" she said. "Why would he go to so much trouble to use I'm a high-school graduate!" Eve washed the cup and placed it on the dish drainer. "I'm a high-school graduate with a B-plus average and thirteen-sixty on my SATs." It was definitely the world she was angry at. She felt the fury boiling inside her as she turned around. "This doesn't make sense!" she said. "Why would he go to so much trouble to use me me for s.e.x if he had-" she pointed to the newspaper "- for s.e.x if he had-" she pointed to the newspaper "-her?"

"s.e.x isn't the only thing people use each other for," Marian said. "Maybe he could get you to do what he couldn't get her to do when it came to the kidnapping."

Eve glared at her. The words I hate you I hate you rose in her throat and were ready to explode, but she forced herself to swallow them. She didn't hate Marian. She only hated what she was saying. rose in her throat and were ready to explode, but she forced herself to swallow them. She didn't hate Marian. She only hated what she was saying.

"I just don't understand," she said again. "I can't believe he didn't love me."

"You deserve so much better than this, Eve," Marian said. "I want you to start believing that for yourself."

From inside the sling, Cory let out a cry.

"I think my voice is upsetting her," Eve said, lifting the baby from the sling. She rocked Cory in her arms, "shhing" her as she kissed the top of her ear and stroked her back. She looked down at the tiny face, and Cory stared back with eyes that touched her soul. Eve bent her head to nuzzle the cheek of the baby she loved. The baby she'd stolen.

She wasn't sure anymore what she deserved.