Sybil at Sixteen Page 7

  “Then you’re staying for dinner?” Meg asked.

  “Only if you want,” Clark said. “I can join you after dinner, if you prefer.”

  “Of course not,” Nick said. “There’s plenty to eat, isn’t there, Daisy?”

  “There certainly is,” Meg replied. “Thea, please put another place setting on the table for Clark.”

  “I’m being a bother, aren’t I,” Clark said. “Frankly, I wanted to have a chance to see all the girls together, before Thea and Claire went back to New York.”

  “You’re never a bother, Clark,” Meg said. Thea got up and went to the dining room.

  “I’d like to see the movies,” Claire said. “See what Nicky and Megs looked like when they were young.”

  “They looked glorious,” Clark said. “Like young gods.”

  “Daisy was the most beautiful girl in the world,” Nick said. “She looked like a Botticelli.”

  “Your father was a handsome brute,” Clark said to Claire. “Dark and brooding. He had all the girls swooning that summer.”

  “I still swoon,” Meg said, and for a moment she was herself again, and Sybil relaxed. Maybe what they needed was Clark to make things feel more normal.

  But then Evvie unlocked the door and let herself in. She walked to the living room and saw Clark there. “What’s going on?” she demanded. “What’s he doing here?”

  “Evvie,” Meg said, quiet but firm. “That’s not a proper greeting.”

  “I’m not in a proper mood and you know it,” Evvie said. “Megs, I specifically said no one else should be here tonight. Did you invite him anyway?”

  “I invited myself, I’m afraid,” Clark said. “I brought over old movies of the whole family. Shots of your parents that summer they met. Some lovely footage of you as a baby. Sam will enjoy them, too, I’m sure. Is he meeting you here?”

  “Sam’s out of town,” Evvie said. “I’m expecting him to call me here tonight.”

  “That’s nice,” Clark said. “Do give him my best when he calls. I don’t see nearly enough of the two of you. I suppose Sam is terribly busy with his job, though, and you have your work and school to deal with.”

  “Clark, I’m sorry,” Evvie said. “This will make no sense to you and I’m not about to explain it. When Sam calls, he’s going to ring twice, and then I’m going to call him back and ring twice, and then he’s going to call, and that time I’ll answer it.”

  “What’s going on?” Clark asked. “Why all the secret codes?”

  “Clark, please,” Meg said. “That’s fine, Evvie. So we aren’t to answer the phone unless it rings more than two times.”

  “He’ll be calling around eight,” Evvie said. “And I’ll take the call in Nicky’s office. You have to swear, all of you, not to pick up the phone or try to eavesdrop.”

  “Really, Evvie,” Clark said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you can hardly think your family would eavesdrop.”

  “Megs, does he have to be here?” Evvie asked.

  “He’s family,” Meg said. “Just as much as Sam is.”

  “Evvie, it’ll be all right,” Thea said. She put her hand around Evvie’s shoulder, but Evvie shrugged it off.

  “Dinner certainly does smell good,” Clark said. “Did you make chicken, Meg?”

  “Coq au vin,” Meg replied. “Clark, I’m sorry. Of course you can stay for dinner, but you can see things are a little crazed this evening.”

  “My home movies will calm us all down,” Clark said. “Which one of you girls is mechanical? You can help me set the VCR up.”

  “I will,” Claire said. “I know how they work.”

  “You have a VCR?” Sybil asked.

  “No,” Claire replied. “But a lot of the photographers I work with do.”

  “I’m going to Nicky’s office,” Evvie said. “Thea, would you mind coming with me?”

  “Not at all,” Thea said. “When’s supper, Megs?”

  “In a few minutes,” Meg replied. “No hurry.”

  Evvie and Thea left the living room. Sybil sat where she was, and watched as Clark moved the VCR over to the TV set, and began playing with wires.

  “Sam’s mother?” Clark asked.

  “What about her?” Nick replied.

  “Is that what’s going on?” Clark asked. “Something must be going on there, or else why would Meg have read me the riot act yesterday.”

  “We can’t talk about it,” Meg said. “Please don’t push it, Clark.”

  Clark shook his head. “I always knew Sam was trouble,” he said. “Oh, he’s a nice enough boy, don’t get me wrong. Even Grace was fond of him in her own way. But a boy who comes from a family situation like that can’t possibly turn out all right. I know you agree with me, Meg. Sam isn’t your first choice for Evvie, either.”

  “He’s Evvie’s first choice,” Claire said. “I think I have the VCR hooked up now, Clark. Want to try it?”

  “You did that so fast,” Clark said. “You always were clever, Claire. Now where did I put that tape? I’d hate to lose it. It’s all your pasts.”

  “It’s here on the sofa,” Sybil said.

  “There are some lovely shots of you, Sybil,” Clark said. “Running around. And Thea. She looked just like you as a little girl, Meg. So pretty, and sweet, with those big sad eyes.”

  “I had a lot to be sad about,” Meg said.

  “No one has a happy childhood,” Clark said. “I think there’s a law that forbids it. Do you think Evvie and Thea are through conspiring in there? We could watch a few minutes worth of the tape before dinner.”

  “I’ll see,” Sybil said, glad for the excuse to leave the room. She walked over to Nick’s office. The door was closed, so she knocked first, then went in.

  “The video’s ready,” she said.

  “I’m going to kill him,” Evvie said. “Did he mention Sam’s mother?”

  “Right away,” Sybil said. “You might as well tell him the truth, Evvie. He has it half figured out already.”

  “I told Sam it was a bad idea for him to call me here,” Evvie said. “I don’t trust Nicky, and now Clark knows, too.”

  “You can trust Nicky,” Thea said. “He loves you.”

  Evvie shook her head. “It’s not that simple,” she replied. “Nothing is with Nicky.”

  “Clark won’t say anything,” Sybil said.

  “Think how lonely he must be to just drop in on us like that,” Thea said. “And with home movies of our family. We’re all he has.”

  “I’m tired of being all people have,” Evvie said. “We’re all Nicky has, and Megs, and Clark.”

  “And Sam,” Thea said.

  “Not anymore,” Evvie said.

  “Did he tell you what it was like?” Sybil asked. “Seeing his mother?”

  “He hardly said anything,” Evvie replied. “He couldn’t. I was at work. There were other people around. That’s why he’s calling here tonight. I’m terrified for him.”

  “We’d better go back,” Thea said. “Before Clark sends out the bloodhounds.”

  “Family movies,” Evvie said. “Just what I need.”

  “They might be fun,” Thea said. “Don’t you want to see what Nicky and Megs looked like when they met at Eastgate?”

  “No,” Evvie said. “I really don’t.”

  “I don’t think you have a choice in the matter,” Sybil said. “Come on, Evvie.”

  The sisters walked back to the living room together. They found Clark fiddling with the TV, and Nick and Meg sitting on the living room sofa holding hands. Claire was on the floor, waiting for the show to begin.

  “This is the best I can do,” Clark said. He turned the VCR on, and soon there was a black-and-white picture on the TV of a group of people Sybil failed to recognize.

  “Remember, Meg?” Clark said. “That’s from Lydia Vaughn’s coming-out party.”

  “Vaguely,” Meg replied. “I never much liked Lydia Vaughn.”

  “I remember her,” Nick said.
“Mousy brown hair, and an overbite. She tried to overbite me one evening, behind her guest cottage.”

  “When was that?” Meg asked.

  “Right before we met,” Nick said. “Middle of June, I suppose. She really was ferocious about it. It took me quite a while to get my lips out from under her.”

  “She married very well,” Clark said. “A French diplomat. She lives in Paris most of the time, keeps a little pied-a-terre in New York.”

  “There’s Winty Adams,” Meg said, pointing at the screen. “I had such a crush on him when I was fifteen. Now that I see him again, I can’t imagine why.”

  “And there you are, Meg,” Clark said. “What a beauty you were. Not flashy, like Claire. More subtle, more regal.”

  “I was hardly regal,” Meg said.

  “You were a princess,” Clark said. “A natural aristocrat. Don’t you agree, Nick.”

  But Nick was silent. He stared at the TV set, at the flickering image of a long-ago Meg.

  “Is that you, Clark?” Claire asked. “That wimpy-looking kid with the terrible haircut?”

  “That’s me, all right,” Clark replied. “I like to think I aged well.”

  “Anything would be an improvement,” Claire replied. “Oh, Nicky.”

  It was as though the TV screen filled with his presence. Other people remained on camera, but Nick was the only one that seemed to matter.

  “You should have been a movie star,” Claire said. “The camera loves you.”

  “You really should have been an actor,” Clark said. “You cut quite a figure in those days.”

  “My God,” Evvie said. “Look at you. You’re seeing Megs for the first time. She has on that ruffled dress.”

  “Turn it off,” Nick said. “Clark, turn the damned thing off.”

  “Why?” Clark asked, but Claire ran to the VCR and pressed the off button. The national news droned from the TV. “Nick, why don’t you want to watch it? I thought it was quite special, that moment. I was sure you’d love to see it again.”

  “It was private,” Nick said. “It wasn’t meant for other people to see.”

  Clark laughed. “There were two hundred people there that evening,” he said. “Including Winty Adams and Lydia Vaughn with her overbite. That hardly constitutes a private moment.”

  “Daisy,” Nick said almost desperately.

  “I know,” she said. “Clark, the video is wonderful. And I can’t wait to see the shots of the girls.”

  “I will never understand grand passion,” Clark said. “I suppose it’s beyond mere mortals to understand.”

  Sybil turned her attention to the TV set. It was easier than looking at her parents. She discovered her sisters had all done the same. The commercial ended, and the news resumed.

  “This afternoon in San Diego, the FBI arrested Linda Steinmetz,” the anchor declared. “It’s been over twenty years since Steinmetz, her husband, and two other political radicals blew up a bank and killed a bank guard. Three of the members of the radical group, the DLA, died, and only Steinmetz escaped the blast. She’s been underground ever since. Arrested with her was a young man believed to be her son. Details are still sketchy, but early reports indicate that Steinmetz is seriously ill, and that the FBI received a tip to check various local hospitals. In West Berlin today, student activists …”

  “Oh, no,” Evvie said.

  Claire turned the TV set off. “Is there someone you can call?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Evvie said. “I don’t know what to do. Maybe I should go to San Diego.”

  “If Sam needs you, he’ll call,” Clark said. “You’d be foolish to rush out there. Why bring suspicion on yourself?”

  “Of course Sam needs me,” Evvie said.

  “He needs a lawyer, too,” Claire said. “Do you know if he has one lined up?”

  “I don’t know anything,” Evvie said. She began to cry.

  “It’ll be all right,” Meg said, going over to her. “I know it will.”

  Evvie shook her head. “It’ll never be all right again,” she said. “Nothing ever will be.”

  “I feel partially to blame,” Clark said. “I should have handled things differently in Eastgate that summer. I should have told Meg right away, and she could have forbidden you to see Sam. Schyler was there. You wouldn’t have lacked for boyfriends. You didn’t need to get involved with a boy like Sam Steinmetz. It was a terrible mistake.”

  “Oh shut up, Clark,” Claire said. “Evvie, stop crying. Sam needs you, and you’d better not be hysterical when he calls. Go to the bathroom and wash your face.”

  “Claire,” Thea said.

  “Claire’s right,” Evvie said. “All I’ve been doing the past two days is crying. I’m just so scared.” She looked as though she might crumble.

  “Scared is good,” Claire said. “Scared is healthy. But you have to be strong for Sam. He’s even more scared than you are.”

  Evvie nodded. She got up and walked shakily from the room. Sybil watched her and wished she didn’t feel as though her entire family were drowning.

  “I have a friend in New York,” Claire said. “A lawyer. He has a lot of connections. I’m going to call him and see what he recommends.”

  “Don’t,” Nick said. “Don’t get any more involved in this, Claire. It’s not our business.”

  “If it’s Evvie’s business, it’s our business,” Claire said, but she hesitated.

  “Nicholas is right,” Meg said. “Let it be, Claire. Sam knows to call a lawyer. Your friend can’t possibly do any good three thousand miles away.”

  The telephone rang. No one made any effort to answer it until it had rung three times. Then Evvie grabbed it.

  “Yes, it’s me,” she said. “I know, I heard. Oh God, no. I don’t believe it. No, I don’t know where he is. He called me yesterday, but not since then. He was supposed to call me here tonight. Yes, I will. As soon as I hear from him. Yes, I’ll write it down. Please, if you hear anything, let me know. Yes, thank you. Good-bye.”

  “Who was that?” Thea asked. “Not Sam?”

  “It was his grandmother,” Evvie said, sinking into a chair. “Mrs. Greene. Dr. Greene was watching the early news. He saw the item about his daughter and Sam and he had a heart attack. She’s waiting at the hospital now.”

  “Oh, no,” Meg said.

  “I have to tell Sam,” Evvie said. “If he calls here, I have to tell him about his grandfather. And I don’t know what I can say.” This time when she began to cry, no one made any effort to stop her.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Meg drove Thea and Claire to the airport after lunch the next day. It had been a long miserable morning, and Sybil, who could never remember a time she had willingly parted from Claire, yearned for her absence as soon as she woke up. It was upsetting to be around Thea, but Claire’s eyes had a way of knowing things, or at least seeming as though they did, that Sybil found disturbing.

  She wanted to tell Claire the truth, tell Claire that the tip to the FBI had originated with her, that Sam’s family was collapsing because of her, but the words never came out. Maybe it was because Thea was there, and Sybil, who knew Claire would forgive her anything, couldn’t be quite so sure about Thea. Maybe it was because, even if Claire did know and forgive, she wouldn’t be there to protect Sybil. Maybe it was because Sybil suspected that while Claire would forgive her, she would no longer like Sybil or respect her, and Sybil couldn’t bear the thought of conditional love from Claire. Maybe the moment was just never right. Whatever the reasons, Claire and Thea left without knowing of Sybil’s involvement, and Sybil was relieved. So was Nick, she was sure.

  They sat in the living room together, Nick reading a magazine, Sybil making some feeble attempt to concentrate on her chemistry textbook, both of them enjoying the silence. At one point Nick said, “We should take a walk,” but Sybil merely shook her head, and Nick didn’t press it as he ordinarily would have. So much of Sybil ached just then it seemed unfair to single out her legs
for therapy.

  Sybil waited for Nick to say something to justify what they’d done, or at least to acknowledge it. Conspirators were supposed to talk about their crimes, she assumed. But Nick said nothing. Sybil glanced at the VCR, which Clark had left. She wondered if it was meant to be a gift, or whether he’d come back one day and take it. It didn’t matter. The only tape they had was the one of the home movies, and Nick had put a stop to watching that. Not that any of them had been in the mood after finding out about Linda Steinmetz on the news.

  “Evvie should call us,” Sybil said. “She must have heard something by now.”

  “When she’s ready,” Nick replied. “She has a lot to deal with just now.”

  Sybil remembered as a little girl going to visit Aunt Grace in the house they now lived in. None of them had had much to say, not even Meg, and there had been long awkward silences when all Sybil could hear was the ticking of a grandfather clock. She remembered walking over to the clock and staring at it. She’d never seen a clock tick before. Finally Aunt Grace had had one of the servants drag Sybil away, for fear she’d leave fingerprints on the clock, or break it somehow. It must have been a very old clock, Sybil realized now, and Aunt Grace was probably right to protect it. She’d left the clock, along with everything else she owned, to a nephew of hers, a cousin of Meg’s who was secure in his wealth, and unlikely to sell an antique clock for a little quick cash. Aunt Grace had been right once again. Nick would sell anything if he needed the money badly enough.

  The doorbell rang, and Sybil got up with a start. She automatically thought it would be the FBI, but she wasn’t sure whether they’d come to arrest her or give her a check. She smiled at her confusion, then opened the door.

  Evvie was standing there. “You forget your key?” Sybil asked. It was all she could think of to say.