The Restoration Read online

  “Do you see him?” The gentleness of her mother’s voice made her angrier. Dallas wished she’d stop treating her like someone who’d fallen and hit her head.

  “Of course I don’t see him. I’m not crazy!” She was so frustrated she was dangerously close to tears again.

  Her mother began to put the game pieces back in the box, which angered her even more. “Leave it. You told me to do it.”

  “Dallas, I know you’re upset, but you need to calm down. I can’t have you yelling and screaming at me like this.”

  “What do you expect me to do? You’re telling me I’m crazy.” And now the tears did come, spilling over her cheeks too fast for her to stop them.

  “I never said that. And I don’t think that, either.” Terri got up from the floor and held out her arms, looking hopeful. “Are you sure I can’t give you a hug?”

  Dallas shook her head, taking some small satisfaction from the pain on her mother’s face. “I don’t like to be touched.”

  “Okay. I’ll leave you alone, then. I’ll see you in the parlor in an hour.”

  She left the room, and Dallas lowered herself to the floor again. In a few minutes, she heard Niles come in, and her face and chest burned with fury. His long, thin fingers dropped a game piece into the box.

  “Leave it,” she snapped. “I’ll do it myself.”

  “I apologize. I should not have thrown it. I didn’t intend to get you into trouble.”

  Dallas longed to rip his perfectly waved hair from his head, to smack his red cheeks. “Then why didn’t you say something? You talked so tough when she wasn’t here, but then she showed up and you disappeared. Where’d you go, anyway? How come she didn’t see you?”

  “I was in the closet.” He pointed to the door, which had a white knob. “I was afraid that if I revealed myself to her, she would make me leave.”

  “Well, now she thinks I’m crazy. Thanks a lot.”

  “I apologize, Dallas. Please forgive me.”

  “Okay, I forgive you, but I don’t think I want to be your friend.”

  Niles drew back. “Please don’t say that.”

  “I mean it. You’ve done nothing but get me in trouble. If my mom thinks something’s wrong with me, she won’t let me live with my grandma again. She’ll make me live with her, and I can’t stand the thought of that, I really can’t.”

  “I told you I didn’t mean to cause problems for you.”

  “Yeah, well, you did. You could have helped me talk to her, and you didn’t. You hid in the closet like a coward. So I’m done with you.”

  The boy’s face darkened, and for a moment, she was scared again. He might have been a coward, but Niles was bigger than her, and he had a bad temper. If she went too far, he might hit her, and that would hurt. “Again, I’m sorry for what happened with your mother. I thought it was for the best that she not see me.”

  “The best for you, maybe, but not for me. Please leave me alone.”

  He stood there, watching her as she closed the lid on the game and put it back in the box. She stacked the other games on top of it and then started on the books, hoping he would go away. When he didn’t, she turned on him in frustration. “Are you going to stand around and stare at me all night? I asked you to leave. Please go, or I’ll call my mother in here, and you’ll have to deal with her then.”

  Niles glowered at her. “You will regret this. I told you before, I do not make a good enemy.”

  “Oh, I’m sooooo scared.”

  “Perhaps not now, but you will be.”

  Chapter Five

  Unable to focus on her work any longer, Terri sank into a slip-covered armchair. Her mind raced. On the spectrum.

  She remembered the school psychologist who’d suggested it as the solution to all of Dallas’s problems. Her sullenness. Her moods. Her inability to connect with her peers. Her aversion to being touched.

  Terri had refused to believe it. Not her perfect baby girl, not Dallas. She’d tried to explain that her daughter hadn’t always been this way, that something irreparable had broken in the girl when her parents divorced. But she couldn’t bear to see the look of pity and judgment on the other woman’s face, that look that said her daughter’s problems were all her fault.

  Maybe she should have stayed with Derek. Maybe leaving him had been her biggest mistake, the most selfish thing she’d done. God knows this wasn’t the first time she had considered this. Things between them hadn’t been fantastic, but they hadn’t been unbearable, either, except in her own head. What if he’d been right about her?

  “Nothing is ever good enough for you. You’re never happy. You’re never satisfied.”

  Except that wasn’t true. After the pain of breaking up the family and dealing with her increasingly angry, resentful child had eased, she had been happy. She loved getting up in the morning and finding her apartment was exactly the way she’d left it, not filled with dirty dishes and other messes he’d left for her. Even when he ate a banana, he’d leave the peel on the counter rather than putting it in the compost bin, and this never changed, no matter how nicely she asked him.

  “What’s the big deal?” he’d say. “I clean up after you.”

  Except he didn’t. It had always been her doing the cleaning, always. And nothing she did was good enough. She’d rush home from working on a house and spend two hours making lasagna from scratch, only for him to complain there was no garlic bread.

  “I guess I’ll go get some,” he’d say with a sigh, leaving their meal to get cold while he went to get the store-bought loaf that was always coated with so much butter it made her feel slightly sick.

  They never had fun anymore. Even on the weekends, Derek had been too tired to go anywhere or do anything, other than laze around in front of the television or read a newspaper (which he then left on the floor for her to recycle). She’d gone out anyway, taking their daughter to the planetarium and garden centers and the zoo. She would have taken Dallas to the mall too, but her daughter had never had an interest in shopping and she hated crowds. Fair enough. Terri didn’t mind the zoo, though she preferred to see animals in the wild. The cages had begun to remind her uncomfortably of her own.

  There had never been arguments, or harsh words between them. Dallas had never woken up to hear them screaming at each other. Derek had been too mild-mannered for that. But when he reached for her in the night, which happened with less and less frequency, her skin crawled. That was when she realized she wasn’t in love with him anymore. She wasn’t sure she had loved him at all.

  Terri could have kept up the charade of her marriage for years, as her own mother had. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was tolerable. In some respects, it was comfortable. The idea of dating again, of having to go to nightclubs and singles’ events like her divorced friends, also made her skin crawl. But she wanted more for her daughter. She didn’t want Dallas to grow up thinking this was what marriage was supposed to be like, believing that women should be responsible for everything, while men watched television and read newspapers that they left on the floor. She wanted her daughter to see that her mother could be happy and satisfied.

  So Terri had left.

  And Dallas had been furious with her ever since.

  But what if it was more than that? What if her daughter’s mood swings and prickliness had nothing to do with the divorce, but with her own brain? It was a horrible thought.

  Still, she’d seen her daughter arguing with someone who wasn’t there. She hadn’t seen her throw the game – she’d been too slow for that – but there was no way anyone could have gotten past her. If this ‘Niles’ existed, he would have been in the room when she’d burst in. But he wasn’t; he didn’t. Dallas had been alone.

  The fact that her daughter’s imaginary friend had the same name as the boy who’d once lived in this house and died in that room was troubling, but like Vandermere had su
spected, Dallas must have read about Niles online. It was the only explanation. Her daughter had sworn she hadn’t, but if she was having auditory and visual hallucinations, she easily could have forgotten reading about the Vandermere family. Terri could no longer trust her daughter’s word, and the thought filled her with dread.

  She considered calling her mother to ask if she’d noticed anything unusual about Dallas’s behavior, but discarded the idea as quickly as she’d come up with it. Helen Foxworth hadn’t thought taking this job was a good idea. She didn’t think it was safe for her granddaughter to live in an old house, where there could be asbestos, rotten floorboards, or any number of hazards lying in wait. She’d use Terri’s worry and concern against her as leverage to push for her granddaughter to be returned. Getting Dallas for the summer, and maybe the year, had been a big enough fight as it was.

  No, she had to figure this out on her own. She had to be brave. If her daughter was on the spectrum, she’d get her the help she needed, no matter how much it cost. The important thing was that they spend the summer together in this house, restoring their relationship.

  “Mom?”

  Terri jumped. She’d been so deep in thought that she hadn’t heard her daughter come into the room. Dallas’s face was blotchy, her eyes red. It was obvious she’d been crying, and Terri felt terrible. Nothing that had happened upstairs was Dallas’s fault. She couldn’t control hallucinations, and she certainly couldn’t control her brain.

  “All done?” she asked, trying to sound cheerful. She had to show Dallas she wasn’t angry. Now she regretted yelling at her, and snapping at her earlier in the evening. She was going to have to be more patient. A lot more patient.

  “I’m scared.”

  Those two words were the last thing she’d expected, and they broke her heart. “I’m sorry I scared you. I shouldn’t have gotten so upset. I apologize. I know it wasn’t your fault.”

  Dallas looked taken aback. “You do?” When Terri nodded, she said, “So you believe me about Niles?”

  Terri hesitated. “I believe he’s real to you.”

  “Mom, he is real. He told me he went into the closet when you got to the room, so you wouldn’t see him.” Dallas wrinkled her nose. “He’s a jerk. All he does is get me in trouble, and I’m sick of it.”

  Terri’s mind raced. What was the right thing to do? Should she be honest, or play along? What was best for Dallas? She had no idea. “That’s impossible,” she said as gently as she could. “There was no time for him to get into the closet – I was right outside your room. It took me a second or two to get there, at most. And I didn’t see anyone but you.”

  “You’re saying I’m crazy again.”

  “No, not crazy. Of course you’re not crazy. But what would you think about taking a day off tomorrow? We could drive back to the city, go for lunch, and you could talk to Miss Akinlade for a bit. What do you think?”

  “I think it’s stupid. I don’t like Miss Akinlade. I don’t want to talk to her.”

  Terri knew Dallas wasn’t being honest. She’d liked Miss Akinlade a lot, and had been upset when the visits with the psychologist had stopped. “Why don’t you like her? I thought she was really nice.”

  “It’s a dumb idea, okay? I want to stay here tomorrow. I have to unpack, and you have a lot of work to do.” Her daughter’s tone was so accusatory, Terri felt like she was the child.

  “That can wait. If Miss Akinlade has an opening tomorrow, we’re going.”

  Dallas rolled her eyes. “Then why even ask me?”

  Because I thought you’d agree with me. Because I thought you’d say what I wanted you to. Because I thought you’d be happy.

  But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? Dallas was never happy when they were together, though her mother claimed that the child was always euphoric when she was out of Terri’s sight. Perhaps she should be the one who spoke to Miss Akinlade.

  Before she could respond, a loud crash sounded from above. It shook the house, startling them.

  “What on earth was that?”

  “That’s what I was trying to tell you, Mom. That’s why I’m scared. Niles is really angry. At both of us.”

  * * *

  Niles’s room was a disaster.

  The wallpaper was in shreds. The curtain rod had been torn from the window. The box of belongings that her daughter had repacked had been turned on its side and crushed flat. Games, books, and model planes were everywhere. Torn pages littered the floor, and Terri’s stomach churned. Miss Vandermere was going to be furious, might even fire her over this, and who could blame her? These items were priceless.

  Her daughter hadn’t done this. No matter how upset or frustrated Dallas had been, she wasn’t destructive. She loved books and respected them. She would never have destroyed them like this.

  “Mom!” Dallas had tears in her eyes again.

  “It’s okay. I know you didn’t do this. Let’s go.” Taking her daughter by the arm, she hustled her out the door and away from the room. The girl was in such shock she didn’t attempt to pull away.

  “Where are we going to go?”

  “We’ll stay in a hotel, just for the night. I’ll figure this out in the morning.” She paused, trying her best not to worry about how much it would cost. “Do you need anything from the room?”

  “No, I brought all my stuff to yours.”

  “Good, let’s grab what we need for the night and get out of here.”

  For once, there were no complaints. No whining, sighing, or rolling of the eyes. Dallas hurried to the room Terri had chosen to temporarily call her own, and they worked in companionable silence, stuffing things into their carry-on suitcases.

  Before they left, she took the time to make a phone call.

  “Hello, police? I’d like to report an intruder.”

  Chapter Six

  It was hard to tell who was more reluctant to return to the house the next day.

  “Do you want me to quit?” The very thought made her want to go back to bed and stay there, but her daughter’s comfort and safety were way more important than any job. Leaving Vandermere in the lurch would do untold damage to her professional reputation, not to mention her bank account, but she’d figure out how to deal with that. There would be other jobs, even if they had to move again. When she saw the destruction of Niles’s room, Vandermere would probably fire her anyway.

  Dallas considered it for a moment before shaking her head. “No. Niles is a brat. He’s used to getting his own way. He wants us to leave, so I think we should stay.”

  Other than the destroyed room, the police hadn’t been able to find signs of anyone else in the house. They couldn’t find a point of entry, either. Sounding irritatingly weary, the officer she’d spoken to on the phone had told her it was safe for them to return.

  But what did he know? Not so long ago, she hadn’t believed in Niles either.

  Once back at the house, Terri’s heart leapt into her throat when she saw a woman waiting for them on the veranda. This was no police officer, and thankfully, it wasn’t Miss Vandermere, either. She didn’t think she would have been able to bear that, definitely not before coffee.

  The woman’s age was impossible to determine. Though her face was smooth and unlined, it had the tight, pinched look of someone much older, someone who didn’t suffer fools. Whoever she was, Terri had a feeling she wasn’t going to like her, and probably vice versa.

  “Who is that?” Dallas asked as they got out of the car.

  “I’m not sure.” She reached for her daughter’s hand out of nerves, and to her amazement, Dallas gave it to her.

  The woman stood as they approached. She was wearing a wool coat, even though it was summer and the temperature was already climbing. “Ms. Foxworth?”

  “Yes?”

  “Please forgive me for dropping in on you like this, but I work here. Or,
I should say, I worked here. Before you were hired. My name is Gertrude Phillips.”

  “Gertie?” The nickname slipped out before she could think better of it.

  The woman smiled, which improved her features considerably. The pinched look disappeared. “I see Miss Vandermere has mentioned me. She’s the only one who calls me that. I hate to think what she must have told you about me.”

  “That you were a dedicated and loyal employee who was extremely committed to the house.”

  Gertrude’s eyes flashed, taking on a mischievous look. “Well, that’s a nice change. I’m glad to hear it.”

  “She also said you might drop by. She actually thought you were here while she was giving me the initial tour of the house.” Terri wasn’t sure why she’d added that, except for the fact that she was praying Gertrude would tell them it was she who had moved the curtains in the attic.

  “Really? I certainly wasn’t, but I’m glad to meet you now.” Gertrude extended her hand, and Terri reluctantly let go of Dallas’s to take it. The woman’s handshake was strong and confident, belying her meek appearance. “Do you mind if we chat for a bit? There are a few things I think you should know if you’re going to be working at Glenvale.”

  “Sure.” The woman seemed a bit strange, but it sounded like she had information, and information was something Terri was in desperate need of.

  “Mom, can I weed the garden? It looks like it needs it.”

  She wasn’t fooled. As much as Dallas liked gardening, this was a stalling tactic. She didn’t want to go back in the house yet, and Terri couldn’t blame her. How were they going to last the summer, let alone the year? “That sounds like a good idea.” Before she could remind Dallas of her manners, her daughter was gone, running around the side of the house to the shed. She smiled at Gertrude, shrugging. “Sorry about that. Kids.”

  “Not a problem. There’s certainly enough to keep her busy out here while we talk.” When they got to the door, she turned. “Would you mind opening up? I’m afraid Miss Vandermere took my key when she fired me.”