Chapter 8
Joey opened her eyes at the faint creak of her bedroom door. She tensed as she heard the heavy footsteps cross her room from the door to stop beside her bed. She was glad it was getting colder at night, and Mrs. Seward didn't put the heat on, because it gave her an excuse to pull the blankets up to her chin. She knew he could still see the shape of her body under the blankets, but she was careful to always turn away from the door and sleep facing the wall.
She heard the quiet shhhhp of the zipper being pulled down, and forced herself to lie still and breathe evenly. She kept her eyes closed. She didn't want to see what he was doing; she hated him.
His breathing picked up, and she had to struggle to keep from making a face of disgust. She didn't understand why he rubbed his tummy like that, or why his breathing got heavier when he did it. She just knew that she hated it, and that he made her feel weird when he did it. She felt ashamed, for some reason. Soiled. Yucky. She didn't understand why; she wanted to ask Ororo about it, but she was afraid to.
His breathing got louder and louder, and heavier and heavier, and finally he started to grunt. He gave a few low ones, then one that sounded like he was almost in pain, and then he went quiet. His breathing slowed down. She heard him zip himself up and walk out of her room. Finally alone, she buried her face in her pillow and let the hot tears flow from her eyes. Why had Papa sent that nasty man here? And when was he going to leave? Would she ever see Papa again? Or would he leave her here, forever and ever, with these hateful people who didn't like her and never let her do anything fun?
She turned her thoughts away. If she got her pillow all wet with tears again like she did last night she'd get another scolding in the morning from Mrs. Seward. Resolutely, she turned her mind toward something else. She was going to use those new paints and stuff to do Mr. Xavier a drawing, to thank him for getting her that set. It was a wonderful gift; her mother had bought her one for her birthday last year, but it had gotten tossed out with the rest of her stuff when Uncle Louis cleaned out their apartment after her mother died.
But what would she draw? She lay awake there, in the dark, thinking of all the possible things she could draw for him, and finally decided on a picture of her garden in France. He had to sit in a wheelchair all the time, and she guessed that he probably couldn't get out into Ororo's garden all that often, so maybe he'd like a picture of a garden.
A sudden inspiration struck her. Why not do a painting of Ororo's garden? So he could see what it really looked like? Yes, that was it. Give him a garden in perpetual bloom, use the brightest, prettiest colors for the flowers that she could, and cheer up whatever room he chose to put it in with pretty colors. Yes. That's what she would do. She turned over in bed, smiling. She'd sit down the next day and do some sketches of the garden from memory, figure out which view would be best. Should she do the view from the gate, with the iron bench off to one side, or should she do the view from the bench, catching the tangle of climbing roses and morning glories on the arch over the garden gate?
She was still thinking about it as she drifted back to sleep.
When she woke up the next morning and looked out the window, tiny white flakes were whirling down on the grass below. She smiled. She had seen snow in France, but not often. Here, in New York, winter started early, and she had heard that you could expect snow anytime after Halloween. It had been rather warm yesterday, so she didn't expect the snow to stick to the ground, but it was still fun seeing the snow.
"Joette!" Mrs. Seward came in, and her sharp voice crushed Joey's good mood. "Standing in front of that drafty window in your nightgown! You'll catch cold. And what will the groundskeepers say?"
"No one's going to be working on the grounds in the snow, Mrs. Seward," Joey pointed out as she climbed out of her window seat and pulled out her clothes. She disappeared in the bathroom with an annoyed roll of her eyes and quickly changed her clothes, brushed her teeth and pulled her hair back in its usual ponytail before heading downstairs to breakfast.
And once there, she got another surprise. Mr. King and Mrs. MacArthur, her tutors, had gone home for their two week holiday, and she had no classes.
"That does not mean you can slack off, however, Joette," Mrs. Seward said curtly, crushing joey's hopes all at once. "There is a list of assignments you must complete by the time they return from their 'vacation, which, I might point out, was well-deserved. How we put up with a child like you is beyond me." She ate another bite of oatmeal as Mrs. Seward rambled on. The woman's next words, however, froze her completely.
"I shall be going to visit my niece upstate today. I will be leaving later this morning, and returning tomorrow evening. I have already spoken to your father about it, and he has okayed it. This is cook's day off, but she has kindly prepared your evening meal and it will be ready for you to take out of the refrigerator and heat in the microwave when you get hungry. Your father was somewhat concerned with the idea ofleaving you here alone, but Michael will be here, and Mr. Hunt has kindly agreed to cancel whatever plands he has for today to babysit you. You will be on your best behavior, Joette, and you will listen to what he says. I expect you to behave in front of him exactly as you would behave before me. He has my authority to use the yardstick on you should you be so disobedient as to need it."
Joey stared with round eyes at Mrs. Seward. Surely she couldn't mean it. A whole day trapped in the house with nobody but him…her skin prickled with dread. Well, except for her free time, surely she could slip down to see Ororo that afternoon…
Mrs. Seward quashed that hope. "As it is snowing outside, I expect you to stay in the house. You are forbidden to go out to your precious greenhouse. It is winter, nothing is growing, you have no reason to go. You will remain in the house, do you understand?"
Joey dropped her eyes to her bowl. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. If she stayed in her room, made no noise, drew no attention to herself, she could make it through the afternoon without having to see his hateful face. She could lock the nursery door.
As soon as breakfast was over she ran upstairs to the library and started working on those assignments. She worked assiduously, concentrating extremely hard on her work, and when Mr. Hunt came to see her, and she heard him speak her name quietly, she pretended that she didn't hear him. He didn't speak again, and she finally heard him close the library door and leave. She breathed a sigh of relief, waited until she heard his footsteps leave the nursery wing, and then took out her drawing pad and pencils.
She worked on several different sketches, starting with the view from the garden bench, then moved onto the view from the gate, and progressed to the rose trellis and bushes. Nothing looked right, and she was about to give up when she remembered the larger garden, the mixed flower one, and the fish pond. Smiling, she started a sketch of that, and by the time her stomach rumbled and the waning light told her it was dinnertime she had a decent sketch of the garden, pond, and flowers and shrubbery. She'd even included the frog, sitting on a lily pad. She thought about both gardens as she sat in the kitchen, eating her dinner, and finally decided to do a painting of the mixed flower garden with the frog in it. Mr. Xavier would like that.
She was thinking about the paint colors she had in the new set and wondering how she could sneak some of the colors she had in her closet here to the mansion. She had colors here that the new set didn't have that she would need to finish the painting. She had just decided to sneak them out to the greenhouse after dinner, since no one was around, when the kitchen door opened and Mr. Hunt stepped in.
"Well hello," he said pleasantly, walking over to the refrigerator and digging around in it for something. He came up with a sandwich, unwrapped its plastic, and sat down opposite her at the table. "I wanted to talk to you earlier, but you were concentrating on your schoolwork, and you didn't hear me. I figured you'd get hungry later, though."
Joey kept her head down and mumbled a faint answer. "I didn't hear you," Mr. Hunt said. "What did you say?"
"Nothing," Joey said slightly louder. "I said I was sorry I didn't hear you."
"Well, the reason I was coming to get you was so you could watch the new cartoon movie with me," he said. "It was on earlier, and I thought maybe you'd want to watch it with me. You were studying then, but now that you're done, maybe we can catch it again on rerun. It's going to play again this evening. Unless you have anything else you absolutely have to do." His tone was slightly sarcastic.
Joey could think of a lot of things she'd rather do than sit watching some stupid cartoon movie with, of all people, this man. What kind of adult man watched cartoons, anyway? "I have some things I need to do, Mr. Hunt," she said, trying to sound as polite as possible. "Maybe another night?" Maybe never? her mind added.
"Well, now," Mr. Hunt was still smiling, but now there was an unpleasant edge to the smile. "I wasn't going to be rude about it, but I would really like you to join me in watching the movie. You will, won't you? After all," and his smile suddenly looked to her like a shark eyeing up a particularly delicious fish, "You wouldn't want me to tell Mrs. Seward you were being disobedient and I had to use the yardstick on you, do you?"
Joey slowly raised her eyes to meet his, and was paralyzed by the predatory look in them. Whatever it was that he'd been trying to do with her all these months, he was going to finally do tonight. She had done her best; she'd told Mrs. Seward that she didn't like Mr. Hunt, she'd told the butler and the maids and the cook about him trying to get her to sit on his lap, him rubbing her shoulders and feet and legs, but everyone told her she was just making up stories and Mr. Hunt was just being friendly. Only Ororo had seemed concerned.
She didn't want to get a beating. Mr. Hunt was bigger than Mrs. Seward, much bigger, and he could probably hit harder. And when Mrs. Seward came back tomorrow and she saw the bruises, she would know Joey had gotten a beating for being disobedient, and she would give Joey another one for not being polite. So if she didn't go along with what he said now she would get two beatings.
And besides, Ororo had taught her how to get Mr. Hunt to leave her alone, right? She would just do those things to him, and he would leave her alone. Maybe he'd leave her alone permanently after this. Joey put her plate in the sink, washed it silently as Mr. Hunt finished his sandwich, and followed him to his room.
When they were almost there he stopped. "Go put on your nightclothes," he told her. "That little white nightgown with the ruffles."
"No!" Joey stepped back. "It's too small. I don't wear it anymore. Besides, I haven't taken my bath yet and I'm not going to go to bed yet."
She was completely unprepared for what he did next.
He grabbed her arm and half-dragged her down the hall to her room. "Get that nightgown out," he said in a low, dangerous voice. Shaking, she went to her dresser and got the nightgown out from the back. "Put it on," he told her. She crossed her arms. "I am not going to undress in front of you," she said, although her voice shook a little.
"Get those clothes off now!"
Joey ducked under his arm and ran for the bathroom. He was a little slow to react, and she got in and locked the door behind her. He pounded on the door furiously for a couple minutes as she got the nightgown on.
She hadn't worn it in a while, and it was definitely too small. The hem came to the middle of her shin, where before it had brushed the floor; and it was pulled tightly across her developing bust. She felt embarrassed, looking at it; but the bathroom door burst open as Mr. Hunt broke the lock.
He stood there, looking at her in the nightgown, and his breathing picked up. Joey suddenly felt horribly humiliated, but at least he didn't look mad enough to use the yardstick anymore. "Come and watch the movie," he said finally.
She followed him down the hall to his room. He sat down on his bed and took his shirt off, and Joey tried to look at anything in the room but him. He had a thick mat of hair across his chest and some on his back and shoulders. She didn't like the way he looked.
He patted the bed beside him but she ignored him and went to sit on the clothes chest at the foot of the bed, keeping her eyes glued to the TV screen. It was some stupid commercial for laundry detergent, but she didn't care what it was as long as it kept her from having to look at the man sitting in the big bed behind her.
Joey kept her eyes on the TV screen as the movie started, even though it was stupid and she hated it. When it was over, she breathed a sigh of relief, got up, and started to head for the door. She was going to go and take this stupid nightgown off and throw it in the trash, then she would finish her drawing, take her bath, and go to bed.
"Where are you going?" Mr. Hunt said, leaning back in his bed. "There's another movie coming up."
"I have to take my bath and go to bed," she said, relieved that her voice didn't shake. Without another word, she headed for her room and got her regular nightclothes out and disappeared into the bathroom.
She had forgotten that he'd broken the lock. Well, she'd skip the bath and just take a quick shower. She stripped off the nightgown, climbed in, and closed the glass shower door. The hot spray of water pounding down on her body felt good, and for a few minutes she forgot about Mr. Hunt.
It was something of a shock then, as she opened the door, to find him standing in front of her holding her towel. She screamed in shock and slammed the glass door shut, shaking. "Get out of my bathroom!" She screamed at him.