Competition Chapter 11
The smell of his favorite dinner, corned beef and cabbage, did absolutely nothing to tempt Aidan as he slowly entered his house. It was amazing, he reflected, how different a person could feel in less than 24 hours. Yesterday he was with Trixie and full of excitement for the future; a future he hoped would include her. His thoughts darkened and he inwardly swore at one James Winthrop Frayne II.
Oh yeah. He took the time to look him up in the yearbook and in the past issues of the Sleepyside Sun and the school newspaper. It didn't help his frame of mind that the guy in question was really handsome. And an athlete; excelled in basketball and really excelled in baseball. He was even scouted by the big leagues. Plus, he was a genius, or near one. Imagine winning a four year scholarship to college at age15!
He could compete with most of these. He wasn't bad-looking himself; could run a football faster than just about anyone. And he was pretty smart too; all honors and AP courses.
He didn't know if he could win against a man who fell in love with a girl when they were barely in their teens, and still harbored those feelings at what, age 20? It killed him to look at the pictures illustrating the articles and see most of them had Trixie, right there by his side. A 13-year-old with short messy curls, standing beside a shyly smiling Jim and a coolly collected Honey as the papers trumpeted the "Missing Frayne Heir Found!" If one was so, inclined, all one had to do was look where Jim's hand was. Of course. It was holding Trixie's.
Pictures of Bob-White functions to raise money for various causes; mysteries Trixie involved them in. In almost every one, Jim was close to her, touching her in some supposed innocent way. The hardest one to look at was when Jim pitched the no-hitter in his senior year. His teammates all gathered around him, but he had Trixie in his arms, one hand tangled in her now longer curls, those same curls he longed to touch. The other was supporting her as he twirled her around. It was the expressions on their faces that were the most arresting: he was looking at her like she existed only for him.
The problem was, she was looking back. Exactly the same way.
Siobhan came into the kitchen from her office, and noted the droop of her son's shoulders. "What's wrong, honey? Didn't you find anything in the wall?" She was so tempted to look inside, all day, but didn't want to disappoint Aidan. It wasn't everyday you found a secret room. Well, she amended silently with a touch of sarcasm, unless you were Trixie Belden.
"Huh? Oh, I totally forgot about it, Ma." He sat at the island, picking at non-existent dirt. His beautiful eyes were shadowed and Siobhan was instantly alarmed. "What's the matter, Aidan?"
Unable to still, he stood again and walked over to the window. "Do you believe in love at first sight, Ma? Do you believe that someone can fall in love when they're 13 years old and have that love carry them for the rest of their life? Or maybe just two people who have grown so comfortable with each other that they never gave each other a chance to grow?"
He saw the bracelet. She erred in her assumption, but the end result was the same. John had taxed her with it first thing after Trixie and Aidan left last night. He asked her if she took note of the pretty silver bracelet Trixie wore on her wrist. She didn't really notice it; saw it was there but was too excited about the secret room to really look.
John informed her of what that cursed thing really said: JIM. The girl was practically branded with another man's name. She had to her give credit; it wasn't a tattoo or anything permanent, but why on earth would she wear it to dinner? With her son? They came up with reasons from the absolutely ridiculous (she was kidnapped by aliens and the initials stand for just informational material to the absolutely incorrect – she was trying to catch Aidan's eye and make him jealous).
"That's a lot of questions, Aidan. It's hard for me to answer. I…I think sometimes people have an instantaneous deep connection. I don't know, maybe it's ESP, or fate or God. I've known people who just know from the first moment they laid eyes upon their partner that that was the one."
He turned stormy eyes on her. "If you believe that, if Da believes that, then why are you so angry with Kaitlin? Maybe Jake is her soulmate? It's not supposed to be like you can pick and choose."
Siobhan sat at the table, leaned her elbows on it and covered her face with her hands. "That's a completely different thing, Aidan. If I believe Jake was Kaitlin's soulmate, well, 'tis luck I'd be wishin' them. But I'm scared Aidan, scared that Kait just jumped into this marriage to rebel. I feel guilty about having to uproot you two all the time, Da and I knew how Kaitlin felt. It was easier for you. She…she just wanted a home that didn't move every two years."
Aidan rushed over to his mother; threw an arm around her chest and buried his face in her soft auburn hair. "I'm sorry Ma, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pick at you. I just had a rotten day."
She snaked an arm around her son's waist, feeling the softness of the sweatshirt and the roughness of the denim, grounding her in the moment when all she wanted to do was cry. "It's just…I really, really like Trixie," he mumbled into the top of her head. "But apparently someone else likes her a whole lot too." The last bit of information was forced out of a throat that felt like slivered glass particles. "He hasn't even officially dated her yet. He left her alone all these years!"
She spoke sadly. "Do you remember that old saying, Aidan? The one that goes, if you truly love something, set it free? If it comes back to you, it was always yours. If it doesn't, it never was? Maybe that's what he was doing." She utterly astonished him when she asked if the someone who set Trixie free was named Jim.
By silent, but mutual assent, neither Honey nor Trixie talked about anything of consequence when they were getting Susie and Starlight saddled. They knew where they were going. It seemed to be the place the three of them – Jim, Trixie, and Honey - went to whenever they had some deep thinking to do or serious conversation to have. The bluffs. It was magic there, with the high cliffs tumbling down to the wide river and its cold, hidden depths. They dismounted and tied the horses in the small clearing, patting their silky necks as they bent to sample the tender new grass.
The women stood there, staring down at the river, almost hesitant to break the silence between them. Turning to Honey, Trixie gave a great sigh and leaned against a tree, entwining her arm on a low branch and feeling the scratchy needles.
"Honey, I want to ask you something, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to." The hated red flush began its slow crawl across Trixie's high cheekbones. "I just want to promise you that whatever we say here is just between us."
Honey leveled her topaz eyes on Trixie's clouded blue ones. "Okay Trix. Ask away. And then I think I may have a question or two for you."
"You've been going out with…with my brother since you were 17. Brian," she added helpfully, in case Honey forgot to which brother Trixie was referring.
"Yup." At the mention of his name, Honey's remarkable eyes softened into gold. "He asked me out the day I turned 17."
"I know you guys, um, you know, have a relationship." If anything, Trixie's delicate rose flush became a vibrant red. Honey dipped her head, a secret smile lighting her pretty face and a slight flush staining her own cheekbones.
"Did you…did you ever kiss anyone other than Brian? I have a reason for asking." Trixie was terribly uncomfortable. How cruel it was that she and Honey were best friends, only to be interested in each other's brother. The normal conversations you can have with your best friend were almost completely out of the question.
Honey walked over to the tree and leaned on the trunk, right next to her best friend. She picked off a twig and began running it through her fingers. "I did. Not…not like I kiss Brian."
"Really! Who?" Trixie blurted out the question. She was Honey's best friend! She should have known this.
Honey giggled. "Tad Martin. It was before Brian and I got together. I think it was at the Sock Hop the year that Brian and Jim went to college. Brian, you know, Mr. I-am-not-making-a-move-until-I-write-a-dissertation-on-it- Belden, well, didn't make a move. I think you had that awful stomach virus thing that was going around. Anyway, I danced with Tad a lot and we got hot. We took a stroll in the courtyard and bam, he kissed me."
"Did you like it?"
Honey tilted her head back against the tree, looking up in the scraggly pine branches as if the answer was written on them. She sighed. The best description she could come up with was…nice. The kiss was nice, but not the kiss that kills. Brian had that one. "It was nice. Not spectacular, but okay for a first kiss. Sweet, I guess you'd say."
Trixie sat down, her back against the tree and picked up a fallen pinecone. Staring at it as if it were the most fascinating object in the universe, she said simply: "Aidan kissed me last night."
Honey slid down the trunk, her shirt riding up and feeling the picky bark against her skin. "Did you kiss him back?"
"No, I think I was too shocked."
Careful, tactful questioning from Honey shone a big, bright light on Trixie's eventful few days. She actually had to stifle a sudden, hysterical urge to laugh. Here was Trixie, almost totally clueless about the opposite sex, going from having no guy to having two guys trying to date her at the same time. Somewhere the gods were chortling in glee.
"Important question here, Trix. Did you like it?"
Trixie stood and brushed off the back of her jeans and walked closer to the cliff. She stared out at the river for a while, collecting her thoughts. Turning back to Honey, the tips of her lips barely turned up, she responded. "I should have liked it. He's…he's a really nice guy, Honey. He's smart, funny, good-looking; loves his family." She jammed her fingers into her front pockets. "But he's not Jim."
Honey looked down at her hands, not wanting Trixie to see the sudden flare of joy in her eyes. "Are you going to tell him? Aidan, I mean. I think it's only fair."
"I don't know. How do I know it wasn't just friendly thanks for finding a secret room in my house kiss? Then I'll be making a fool of myself when I explain how I've had this…whatever Jim and I have. And how can I explain something I don't understand myself to Aidan? You know, maybe, maybe if Jim wasn't a factor I could really like Aidan. But I can't. Not the way I think he wants me to like him."
Honey crossed over to her best friend of five years and hugged her tightly. Tossing a slender hand into the air, she did her best bored socialite voice and said, "You tell him that you just want to be friends, dahling." A giggle escaped from Trixie, and turned into rather hysterical laughter.
She pressed her arms to her aching sides and looked back at the Hudson. She couldn't help the shiver that traversed her spine. Something big was looming over her, and there was a wild, answering call to it from deep within her.
Aidan shone the powerful flashlight into the secret room. There was no staircase leading to a secret tunnel and a treasure trove of emeralds; just a dusty, musty triangular space with barely enough room for a tall man like him to stretch out in. The light caught a battered tin bowl and some old papers; Aidan scooped the items up carefully.
He set the items on the kitchen table carefully. The tin bowl was probably all the property one of the escaping slaves possessed. He hoped whomever it belonged to successfully completed his flight to freedom. The papers were yellowed with age and rather faded, but they were documents freeing a slave named Jonah from a plantation near New Orleans. Aidan realized that even having papers could result in a former slave being sold to another owner.
"Ma, I wonder if this bowl belonged to Jonah?" His eyes sparkled. A mystery! Maybe he could get Trixie involved, and said as much to Siobhan, as John walked into the kitchen. "Where is Trixie?" he asked, as if he expected her to be there to the climax of the Mystery of the Secret Room.
"Aidan. We discussed this. You need to talk with Trixie and get things out in the open. Like why she was wearing a bracelet with another man's name on it while she ate dinner with us." Siobhan wasn't sure she could forgive the girl for that.
John looked into his son's turbulent eyes and clapped him on the back. "Just follow my rules, son," he said jovially. "Love, war; it's all the same."
A small hand grabbed at John's wrist and pulled him to face her. "You. Gave. Our. Son. Love. Rules?" It didn't happen often, but Siobhan's Irish temper was flaring. "Military rules? How could you, John?"
"Hey, I was just trying to help the boy win his campaign," John began, but his voice got softer and slower as he saw the blue fire in his wife's eyes.
Aidan just stood there, dumbfounded, as his mother laced into his father. He could have joined the fray, but decided the entertainment value was too good to pass up.
"A girl isn't a campaign, John, you idiot." Really. She should just whack him one upside the head.
Of course, John just had to dig himself in a little deeper. "War. Love. You're out to win. I…"
"Oh, so is that how you look at us, John? I was some sort of stupid campaign. What did you do, stay up nights drawing maps to plan your next move? Did you have it all planned out in the war room?"
Uh-oh. Backtracking, John looked helplessly at Aidan, who only arched a dark brow at him. "No, not us, Siobhan. It was different…" he was foundering here and his darn son was no help.
"How? How was it different? God!"
Before John could answer, a tall, slender woman with jet black hair and the same grey-green eyes as her brother walked into the kitchen. Taking in the old bowl and paperwork on the table, the tension and amusement emanating from the trio standing in the kitchen, Kaitlin simply had to ask. "What's going on in here? What's all that old stuff?" She took a deep breath. "And why is there a hole in the wall in the hallway?"
"Yo. Jim." Dan knocked on the bedroom door. The pizza was here and so was Mart. Living with Mr. Martin Belden presented quite the challenge, food-wise. Mart's philosophy ran more to eating everything in sight rather than making sure there was enough for everyone.
He knocked again and pushed the door slightly open. Not that he thought he'd catch Mr. Honorable doing anything not honorable. But there was always hope. Dan heard the shower running and knocked again on that door. "Pizza! Mart's home!" If that didn't get Jim out quickly, oh well, he was warned.
As Dan turned to leave, Jim's cell phone began to ring. Dan's eyes widened in shock, and a big grin split his face. Total Eclipse of the Heart? Jim Frayne? Oh, he had to store this one up. He picked up the phone and glanced at the caller ID. Trixie. No wonder. Oh, Mr. Frayne certainly had it bad. He placed the phone back in the charging cradle when a flash of light caught his eye. Something was wedged between the bed and the nightstand.
Carefully removing the offending object, Dan gazed upon barely clad body of the woman he considered a sort-of sister. No wonder Jim was so out of sorts lately. Whistling softly to himself, he replaced the photo. Must have been taken on one of the girls' sunbathing days at the Manor House. Yep. It was good being Dan. It would not, however, be good to be Jim if Mart or Brian saw that photo. Let's see, how many dishwashing and vacuuming days could he trade for his silence? He went to stake a claim on his portion of the pie.
