§ § § -- April 12, 1998
Annie stared at her, then groaned in abject despair. "Oh, no!" She fell into a dejected silence till Leslie had gotten the jeep back on the Ring Road toward the other end of the island, then unexpectedly pounded the dashboard with one fist. Leslie flinched slightly in the driver's seat, a little startled. "Why? Why does my rotten, meddling, over-critical family have to stick their big fat schnozzes into everything I do? If I'm ever anything except quiet little Annie, they jump in and muzzle me! I might as well be a dog!"
Leslie grinned at her honest fury. "Why don't you tell them that?" she suggested. "Do you ever say anything when they try to tie you down?"
Annie looked at her as if she'd spoken in Quechua. "Wh…what?" she squeaked.
"Tell them," Leslie urged, glancing frequently back and forth between Annie and the road. "Let them know how you feel. How are you ever going to convince them to let you live your own life if you don't tell them to back off? Have you ever done that before?"
"Oh gosh…no," Annie said, her voice a dazed mumble. "I never even thought about it. They'd probably stomp me flat and then lock me in the wine cellar for the rest of my life."
Leslie's grin graduated into a laugh. "Well, you never know till you try. I can tell you one thing: if you really want them to butt out of your life, you'll have to say so, or you'll never get them off your back." She reached out and patted Annie's arm, then returned her full attention to her driving while Annie sank into a reflective silence, pondering.
By the time Leslie stopped the jeep beside the fountain in front of the main house, Annie had sunk into a blue funk and barely noticed Leslie's concerned glances as the two women crossed the porch. Leslie preceded Annie inside and stepped down from the foyer, where Annie lingered beside the door with her head hanging so that nobody else realized she was there at first. The Johnstons were gathered in the study, the elder ones seated and the younger ones standing behind them with hands planted on hips. Roarke was behind his desk, expressionless, waiting with infinite patience for Dorothy Johnston to run out of steam with her latest rant. As soon as Leslie came in, though, the woman interrupted herself and turned right to her. "And you, young lady, where's that child? Are you hiding her from us?"
"Not at all, Mrs. Johnston," Leslie said and gestured at the foyer, turning as she did so and spotting Annie loitering in the doorway. "Come on in, Annie."
With great and obvious reluctance Annie shuffled forward a few steps and threw Leslie a desperate look. Was there really no way out? But Leslie simply smiled, and Annie knew there wasn't. She thought she saw encouragement in Leslie's eyes and tried to take heart from that. Sighing, she came down the steps.
Immediately her parents, brother and sister started right in on her, all at once; but it was Dorothy who ultimately prevailed. "Annie Jane Johnston, what was the big idea behind all this? Do you realize what an absolute inconvenience this is for us all? Fourth had all he could do to get away from his campaign trip, and Leah needs to be back at the hospital by tonight—tonight, do you understand me? Thanks to you, that'll be impossible! You could lose your sister her internship! Your father had to run out of a critical board meeting for his latest takeover…and my charities will simply fall apart, particularly the League for Clean Sidewalks! They have a fundraiser this weekend, and I had to make excuses for you and run out on them just when they needed me the most!"
"Mother's right," said the younger Jedediah Johnston, otherwise known as "Fourth", a solidly built man in his mid-thirties who already sported an impressive pot belly. "You have a real knack for getting us into trouble, Annie. If I lose the election on account of this, I can assure you you'll never hear the end of it from me."
"Same with me if I lose that internship," Leah Johnston barked. "You'll pay for it, Annie, I promise you that. There's no way I can be halfway around the world from here in three hours. What on earth possessed you to come winging all the way out to this little island in the middle of nowhere? What possible reason could you have for being here?"
"Speak up, Annie girl," boomed Jedediah the Third. "This must be the most egregious flight of fancy you've ever undertaken. For that matter…come to think of it, this is Fantasy Island, isn't it?" As he said this he shot Roarke a black look, which Roarke absorbed with no change whatsoever in expression. "How unfortunate: the perfect excuse for a wayward little dreamer to escape into those very daydreams. This does it, Annie girl. I've said for years that you probably need professional help. As soon as we get home, we're going to get the best psychiatrist in the state and straighten you out."
"I concur," Dorothy said snippily. "You spend far too much time using your daydreams to dodge the real world. You need to concentrate on doing something meaningful with your life, Annie. So far it's been nothing but an immense waste."
Annie's face was so red by now that she wasn't quite sure her head wasn't going to burst from all the blood rushing into it. The more they talked, the more they insulted her, and the angrier she got. All her life they had been doing this to her, and all her life she'd let them. Leslie was right, she realized; it had to stop somewhere, and it never would unless she herself stopped it. What, she wondered, would Queen Elizabeth I have done with this motley crew she had to call family? She began to gear up for a truly royal rage the like of which she hoped even Roarke had never witnessed. "Off with their heads," she muttered, boiling, not realizing she'd said it aloud. None of her family heard it, but Leslie did and mouthed uh-oh! at Roarke, making him smile ever so slightly.
"Isn't that the truth, Mother," Leah said, rolling her eyes. "I still can't believe my dance teacher let her stay that entire first class before he kicked her out. The kid's never found one single thing she was ever any good at. Why on earth did you even have her in the first place? There's just nothing she can do except get in everyone's way."
Fourth harrumphed, "She even botched up handing out campaign flyers!"
And out of the blue, Annie snapped. "SHUT UP!" she screamed, startling even Roarke. The Johnstons all snapped to attention, eyes popping, jaws dangling, torsos freezing. Leslie hopped back a step, then began to grin as Annie raged. "Every single one of you, shut your traps! It's all your fault I came here to begin with, you know that? You and your relentless talent and your never-ending perfection—and the criticism! All my life you've all torn my ego to shreds and couldn't care less! 'Annie's no good at this' and 'Annie's a complete failure at that', and 'Annie's worthless' and 'Annie's a screwup'…" She zeroed in on Leah, and her voice got even louder, carrying right out of the house and across the terrace out back. "And you asking why I was even born—that's the ugliest, nastiest, cruelest thing you or anyone else has ever said about me! I hope you're proud of yourself, Leah Loretta Johnston! And good old Fourth, running for governor and strutting around like some self-important peacock, magnanimously giving me, the family mental case, the most menial job you could find, thinking maybe I wouldn't screw it up…and when I did, you got all huffy and self-righteous, announcing to everyone in sight that that stupid Annie messed up again!"
"Good heavens," bleated Dorothy Johnston, her hand fluttering over her heart.
"Oh, bag it, Mother. If the Clean Gutter League has to do without you, don't blame it on me…" Annie began.
"Clean Sidewalks," Dorothy corrected automatically.
"Whatever," Annie roared. "You and Dad are even worse than Leah and Fourth, and that's what really tees me off. You were supposed to help me eventually find something I could at least be competent with, if not actually good at. But no—I was just the family embarrassment. Where were you when I needed you, Mother? Oh, yeah, stumping for your precious charities. After all, they were a heck of a lot less of a trial to you than I was.
"And you, Dad, carrying on ever since I was a teenager about what a space case I am and how you really ought to get me a shrink to bring my head out of the clouds." Annie's voice dripped sarcasm. "Gee, thanks for your undying support and love, Daddy dear. Poor little Annie, so lost in that silly, empty head of hers that she needs a heavy-duty professional to bring her back to earth. Well, for your information, I'm as level-headed as any of you, no matter what you believe! I do have a brain, just so you know, and I do use it—but you want to know something? I daydream so I can escape from you!"
"Us?" said Fourth dumbly.
"Yeah, you! Every day I wish I was even half as good at one thing as you think you all are at everything. But it was always just a lot of smoke, and when I came back to reality nothing had really happened and I was still just mousy, mortifying old Annie. Mr. Roarke understood and gave me the chance to try really being some of those graceful, talented people I wished I could be. Maybe if you'd chosen a better moment to drop in and rain on my parade, you'd have seen some of those wonderful people. Maybe you'd have watched Annalyn the singer win the karaoke contest last night. Maybe you'd have seen beautiful Anne-Marie surrounded by admiring guys. Maybe you'd even have watched Anita, the champion swimmer, rescue two kids out of the undertow this morning!" Leah's face went slack with astonishment, but Annie didn't notice. "But no—you show up when I've already been all I could be and just start right in on the same old rigmarole again. I've had it right up to here with all four of you. Get out of here and leave me alone! I'll come home when I'm good and ready, and not one of you can do the slightest thing about it! GET OUT!"
The other Johnstons watched, blasted into immobility and completely dumbfounded, as Annie ran out of fuel at last and wilted into tears, exhausted and drained. Leslie moved to her side and put a protective arm around her shoulders; Roarke rose and approached Annie as her family wandered dazedly out through the French doors.
"You have a great deal of courage and resolve," he said and gently grasped Annie's arm, making the distraught young woman look up. "You've stood up for yourself, and you didn't need the choker to do it."
Annie stared at him, tears surprised away. "But…that whole time, I was Queen Anne, getting ready to condemn some of her most annoying subjects to the guillotine," she admitted, evoking chuckles from Roarke and Leslie. "I wasn't me."
"Oh, indeed you were," Roarke assured her warmly. "You see, Miss Johnston, as soon as you stepped into the house, your fantasy came to an end." He reached behind her neck and removed the choker. "You confronted your family as Annie Johnston—and believe me, that's the only way to do it."
"And you did it with style, too," said someone else, making them all turn to behold Randall Heidema entering the study with an admiring grin. "I saw the whole thing. I mean, holy towering rages, Batman…that was great." He stopped a few feet away and clapped, making Annie blush and grin. "Now I understand why you seemed to keep changing looks all weekend long. But gosh, Annie, I like you—especially now that you've told your family where to get off. I ought to take a lesson from you." He reached out to grasp Annie's hands; she stared at him in wonder, came forward to meet him and happily accepted his tentative embrace. Smiling broadly, Randall tightened his hold on her.
"Randall? Randall!" The name's owner winced and squeezed his eyes closed as a little old gray-haired lady trundled through the French shutters, tugging two bewildered native men along with her. "I found…why, what's this?"
"Perhaps it's time to put that lesson to use, Mr. Heidema," Roarke said whimsically.
Randall tossed him a sheepish look. "Put up or shut up, huh?" he said, and Roarke nodded in amusement. Annie peeked over Randall's shoulder and blinked.
"Who's that?" she asked, sotto voce.
Randall squeezed her in lieu of a reply and addressed the old lady instead. "Aunt Beryl, you can stop trying to set me up," he said firmly. "There's no point in it anymore. I finally found someone I really want to get to know better."
Aunt Beryl seemed befuddled. "But Randall dear…"
Randall sighed, shot his confused audience a deeply embarrassed look and said painfully, "Aunt Beryl, for the last time, I'm straight. Get it? I like girls."
The room grew so still that everyone could hear their own breathing. The native men grew florid with mortification and instantly disappeared as fast as their feet would carry them out. A peafowl bawled somewhere in the distance, making them start.
"Oh dear," Aunt Beryl said in a very small voice.
Annie let out an undignified snort and buried her head in Randall's shoulder, shaking with pent-up giggles. Leslie violently compressed her lips in a desperate attempt to dam up her own mirth, and even Randall began to grin, albeit reluctantly. Roarke managed to hold his own composure, but his dark eyes sparkled with merriment. "An honest mistake, Ms. Heidema," he consoled the old lady. "But isn't it reassuring to know that Randall has found someone he can truly connect with, all on his own—no matter who it is?"
Aunt Beryl lit up. "Oh, yes indeedie, Mr. Roarke," she said eagerly. "My stars, you have no idea how relieved I am that my dear nephew has discovered a soul mate. I mean, if he actually were gay, it made no difference at all to me. I simply think he'd be happier if he had someone to love, so I tried to help him. I suppose I should have listened to him a little more closely, but I just wanted him to be happy, you know?"
"Of course, of course," Roarke agreed, nodding.
Aunt Beryl sighed contentedly and said, "Well, thank goodness he did find someone, male or female. Now I can go out and hunt up a man for me." So saying, she swept grandly out of the study, freeing them all to break down into helpless laughter.
