Chapter 11

Collinsport, Maine

Old House Josette's bedroom

Curling into the softness of the comforter on Josette's bed, Victoria closed her eyes. She felt conflicted and isolated from all that should have meaning for her. Closing her eyes she sighed deeply and tried to sleep. All she could see was her life as a child. All she could remember for as long as she was alive was growing up in a ward with other girls, some were adopted and others outgrew the home and left when they reached their age of majority. For Victoria she was never cleaned up or asked to clean up and marched out to be viewed by perspective parents.

On days they had visitors to the home she was escorted off the premises with one of the assistants to a museum or library. She had to surmise she got her interest in books and being a teacher by all the single trips she was forced to make on visitors day. It was these times that made her feel as isolated as she was now in Josette's room. Standing from the bed, she walked with the coverlet around her shoulders to peer out the window that over looked the front garden. There on the edge of the grounds where the shadows colace and mingled she thought she saw a figure watching her. Cocking her head to the right side she narrowed her eyes and when the moon peaked through the clouds she could see it was nothing more than an illusion.

Letting out a deep sigh she turned and trudged back to the bed and flopped down on it with a soft bounce. Rolling over and making herself into a burrito with the coverlet she closed her eyes and once again tried to sleep. She tried to shut her mind off but all she could do was go back in her past and remember.

1976

Hammond Foundling Home, New York City, New York

In her minds eye she could still see the comfortably situated turn of the century three storied home that had been converted into a foundling home for the safe keeping of unwanted or discarded children that were not allowed into the system for one reason or another. She was now remembering the days in the Hammond home. She remembered when she was about ten years old or was it eleven? For her the afternoon had been an event of going to the various museums to see the new exhibits because the home was dressed up to invite potential parents to see what or whom was offered for adoption.

Usually she would need to stay out most of the day and come back to the excited news of someone being selected for a new mother and daddy or a gloomy house of no one finding a new home to call his or her own. It was always a mixture of emotions upon her return. She did not like the looks or feelings that seemed to overwhelm her upon her arrival back at the house. She would secret herself away in one of the top rooms in the attic area to avoid the extremes each child would display, there would be tears of sadness or tears of joy or excitement or disappointment. It was too much for her little sensitive nature to handle.

She knew this day had been a successful visitation and emotions were high for all the residents. It had been one of the most successful in the history of the Hammond Foundling home. Most the children had found prospective parents except for the older ones that were nearing the age of majority and would be leaving soon. With expectations running high, Victoria had taken herself up to the room she loved to call her cubbyhole hide out. Sliding onto the window seat she had sat down and looked below. That is when she saw her for the first time.

She was the lady of mystery that had set Victoria's imagination to running wild with her made up stories of whom she could have been or was. She arrived in a long black car the caretakers had called a 'limo'. She wore black figure hugging clothing and a large black hat with a heavy black veil that covered her face. She did not walk she glided with an unearthly grace when she exited the vehicle and to the young girl's imagination she thought she was Cruella Deville from 101 Dalmatians. With her face so heavily covered Victoria had wondered if she was terribly disfigured.

Tonight, Victoria sat on the window seat reading the book she was allowed to purchase with some of her mystery money. She had bought six books and this was her favorite so far. Resting the book in her lap she felt a set of eyes on her. Looking up and out the window she saw 'her' standing outside her large car looking up at her in the window. She tilted her head and offered a tentative small smile and a half wave with her fingers folding over. The woman nodded the movement causing the veil to lift from her face slightly and Victoria was surprised to see she was very beautiful and exotic looking. Just as quickly the woman dropped the veil and marched up the walk to the front door of the foundling home.

To say she was curious was a mild understatement, Victoria laid her book down and crept to the door to the dark hallway outside the room then as quietly as she could she continued to go down the three flights of steps to come to the foyer. There she looked around curiously. Then she heard them, Mrs. Hopewell speaking as calmly as possible. "I am so sorry Mrs.? What did you say your name was?'

The voice was soft with a hint of a French accent. "I did not say what my name was, I said I was interested in one child and she is currently listening to our conversation, so do not try to parade any other children in front of me. I am only interested in her."

Feeling unsettled by the high handed attitude of this obviously well to do woman Mrs. Hopewell feeling flustered turned to peer at an expectant set of dark eyes behind her. "Victoria come in my dear this lady wishes to meet you." This was unexpected for Victoria to be the center of the attention for a potential mother. Smoothing her hands over her pleated skirt and tucking the blouse in to show she was just beginning to bloom, she shyly stepped into the room dropping her chin to look at the scuff marks on her shoes, lifting one foot then the other she tried to shine them on the back of her dark socks and failing miserably.

The woman held the heavy scent of an exotic perfume that reminded Victoria of the flowers Mr. Pritchett grew next door in the summer. He called them the blossoms of the Caribbean from where he had originally traveled. He would tease the pretty child clip one of the blooms and pin it behind her ear telling her she looked like an island child.

Victoria would blush and gently take the delicate flower and draw it to her nose and inhale deeply. She knew the scent would fade as fast as the bloom itself. Now standing five feet from the mystery woman hiding behind the veils she waited for her to look her over and she did, from head to toe. "Why is she not open for adoption?" The voice held a hint of island magic and a tell tale sign of having been born and bred in France. That chin lifted causing the veil to flutter with the movement and Victoria and Mrs. Hopewell could feel those penetrating eyes on Victoria first and then pinning to Mrs. Hopewell.

"I am sorry Madam, but I am not at liberty to discuss the reasons with you concerning Victoria, she is our charge and is to remain here until her age of majority after that time she will be permitted to leave the home and do whatever she wishes." Mrs. Hopewell held her hands together and Vicki could see how tightly she was holding her hands her knuckles had turned white.

"Child come here." The black-gloved hands that encased the elegantly long fingers motioned her to step forward. Victoria took one tentative step forward and paused. This woman had a feel to her, one that reminded Victoria of sadness and death. Why she would think of death she had no idea. Hesitating enough it provoked the woman to drop her voice to a near hiss. "I said come here." The hand that seemed more like boney tendrils with talons tensed into a tiny fist, which caused Victoria to hesitated for a moment then stepped forward to feel that hand snake out and cup her chin. Pinching her cheeks with those talon like fingers Victoria's eyes flew wide with surprise.

"I will give you twenty-five thousand dollars for her not one penny more, she is too skinny and her nose is not pert, and her eyes are too close together." The voice was cold and assessing as she made an offer to buy Victoria from the home. This sent Victoria into a spin and she wondered if that was what the day for visitors was to offer money for the children. This was a whole new experience.

The offer caused an immediate reaction from Charlotte Hopewell. "Madam we do not sell children here, we place them in homes that match their needs and the parent's requirement. You do not seem to understand, this child is not for adoption or sale." Mrs. Hopewell had stepped forward to snatch Victoria by the arm and jerk her back behind her. To Victoria it appeared that Mrs. Hopewell was using her own body as a shield between the mystery woman and Vicki. Feeling Vicki stagger from being handled so roughly. Turning quickly she stooped down daring to put her back to the woman that sat stiffly on the straight back dining chair. "Victoria go to your room now." She gently pushed Vicki to the doorway with a tense smile.

Vicki walked on wood legs to the door and paused to look back at the woman and it must have evoked some kind of emotion from the curious and frightened look in her eyes for the woman sat forward and hissed, "All right seventy-five thousand dollars!" Mrs. Hopewell spun around her face going apoplexy as she sputtered.

"NO! I TOLD YOU WE DO NOT SELL CHILDREN HERE!" Realizing she was shouting she took a deep breath turned to shoo Vicki out of the room. Turning back Mrs. Hopewell lowered her voice but Vicki could no longer hear their conversation, she had trotted up the stairs back to her secret room. Once there she curled up on the window seat and lifted her book and tried to read but found what had happened had affected her far more deeply than she realized. She had not like the beautiful mystery woman downstairs. She had been too intense for her kind tender nature and her presence had left the child unsettled.

Her mind was one of practicality and she sat pondering, "Why can they not allow me to be adopted?" Her thoughts so conflicted for one of such tender years that she could not comprehend the brevity of what was happening between the mystery woman and Mrs. Hopewell downstairs.

Vicki learned through gossip that the mystery woman had stood in anger once Victoria had left the room towered over Mrs. Hopewell and had whispered in a hissing angry voice. "You will regret this my dear Charlotte Hopewell, she will belong to me sooner or later. You could easily take the money, you need it badly and I know her mother has asked she not be placed for adoption. But her mother abandoned her and I want her." The scene played out in the gossip that Mrs. Hopewell had drawn herself up to her full five foot five height and glared dangerously back at the woman that had just bribed and then threatened her.

"I do not care what you know, Victoria is not up for adoption and the subject is closed. I think Madam before I feel the need to contact the authorities on you, you had better leave." It was the first time that Charlotte Hopewell had ever thought to contact the police on a potential parent or donor for the Hammond foundation fund. Janet Granderson had been hiding in the corner listening and watching through the curtains the play between Mrs. Hopewell and the mystery lady. Janet, Victoria was sure had exaggerated some of the conversation and the play between the two women but she wanted to know what had happened so she listened in to the conversation between her and Emily Pierce.

"What makes her so special that someone would want to buy her for that much money Em, can you imagine what she must live in or how fortunate Vicki would be to be adopted by someone like her?"

Emily had smiled and shook her head. "Poor kid, she ain't never gonna leave here, she is going to become the tenth generation to help run this hole. So what was this lady like anyhow and you said Mrs. Hopewell practically threw her out?"

"Yah, she had this big long black limo outside waiting for her and Mrs. Hopewell called for Wally to 'escort' her out. Then as she got to the door that large hat shifted and I could see the look of pure hatred she held for Mrs. Hopewell as she went out the door." At this point Janet shivered, "If anyone looked at me that way I would run away and hide!" That is when Janet glanced over Emily's shoulder and saw Victoria sitting quietly in the corner with her nose poked into the book. Nudging Emily, Janet motioned with a lift of her chin in Vicki's direction and motioned her to follow her out of the room.

Vicki knew she had been the butt of the girl's jokes, they knew she was different from them and now a price had been placed on her and the word was out she would never be adopted. It was shortly after this that strange visit from the mystery lady, that the money that had come for her through Mrs. Hopewell had been given over to Vicki upon its arrival in a no return address envelope with a postmarked from Bangor, Maine. It had created nights and nights of her imagination running wild as to whom would be sending her five hundred dollars a month for her care. Could it have been from the scary mystery lady?

Shifting in the bed, the dreams from those days were taking her to the other side of what happened after the mystery woman showed up and offered to buy her. That was when th strange occurrences began to happen. Vicki would awaken in the middle of the night with a start, sitting up and finding her window had been opened and she knew she had felt someone standing over her bed speaking to her in French. Once she was awake she would sit up with a start and look around the room to find it was empty and the only sign of something had happened was her window was open or her door would be wide open.

It got to a point that she began to sneak up to her hidey-hole with her blanket and pillow and sleep in the tiny room where she felt secure. But even that was taken from her because once again she would awaken to the feeling someone was in her room watching her sleep and speaking to her. It was disturbing and she had mentioned it to Mrs. Hopewell, only to be told she must have imagined it or had sleep walked to open the window or the door. Mrs. Hopewell even had her examined for her night walks. That was the name Mrs. Hopewell had used to describe what Vicki said she discovered upon waking.

In hushed tones, it was discussed that perhaps her newest arrival into puberty was causing her to imagine more than what was there and was it mostly around the time of her periods? Perhaps it had something to do with her getting her first period and reacting to finally transitioning over to becoming a young lady. Regardless of what any of the specialist spoke of as Vicki's particular problem; it was never directly discussed with her. She was to receive their thoughts indirectly once again through rumors.

Victoria knew she would be reaching the age of majority and once she hit her sixteenth birthday she had graduated ahead of most her class and decided she would go to the local college to continue her education. Once again one evening while coming home on the bus she noted the large black limo following the city bus and was reminded of the mystery lady and that night so long ago when she tried to buy her for seventy-five thousand dollars.

The limo pulled up along side the city bus and stopped at a light, Vicki tried to look into the tinted windows but was not successful in seeing the occupant in the backseat. Some how she knew inside that vehicle was that strange lady and she was watching her look at the car. Vicki sat back and watched for the light to change, it was very disconcerting for her to know someone was watching her and she could not see who it was. Getting up she moved to the other side of the bus and reseated her self. Trying to calm her nerves she glanced up to see her stop was coming up.

It would put her within three blocks of the Foundling Home. Vicki knew that she must be blooming into a very attractive young woman she certainly got enough cat calls from the workers and she was constantly having passing cars with the male gender popping their heads through their windows to whistle at her or ask her for a date. Vicki would continue to walk along and pretend to ignore them because that is what Mrs. Hopewell told her to do. She would secretly hide a shy smile behind her hand and turn her head so the enamored male could not see she was embarrassed by his actions.

Only this evening when she got off the bus she noted that dark clouds had obscured the moon and it was particularly bleaker going down her sidewalk to the home. Glancing up she noted the black limo was parked across the street from the foundling home and she paused for a moment and an unreasoning fear filled her as she looked at the car taking up two parking spot of the once elegant but now dwindling to a poverty ridden street. The once large and glorious buildings that had held so much romance from the architecture was now crumbling into disuse and repair.

Picking up her pace she rushed down the street feeling a huge knot forming in her stomach, hitting the iron gate she felt her hand caught by a gloved hand. "Wait." The word was whispered and cold against her neck. "I want to know one thing. Are you still a virgin?" Vicki had turned scarlet and spun around to look at the veil-covered face in front of her. Pressing her back against the gate she seethed inwardly for feeling so helpless in the presence of this woman.

Eyes wide and filled with indignation, she hissed back. "Who are you? It is none of your business to ask me such a question, now excuse me. I have duties I must attend before retiring for the night." This rebuke only resulted in a soft chortle coming from the woman behind the veiled hat.

"I see you are, that is all I wanted to know." She then turned and walked back to the chauffer awaiting her return to the car, he held the door and stood stiffly correct and allowed the woman entrance into the car, slamming the door he turned and then Vicki noticed even with his hat cocked low over his eyes, he held a huge long scar down the side of his face. He smiled and it distorted the scar that made his smile look more like a sneer, he turned and walked to the driver's side of the vehicle sliding behind the wheel to pull out and drive off disappearing into the now liquid and growing darkness of the street.

Vicki rushed into the house to find Mrs. Hopewell in her office, whom stood immediately seeing the girl was in distress. Sitting her down to calm her Mrs. Hopewell poured her a strong cup of tea. Reassuring her that she had nothing to worry about that woman and if she continued to stalk Vicki; Mrs. Hopewell would contact the authorities.

After that encounter Vicki had not seen the woman until after her eighteenth birthday. She was two years away from graduation but she had a decision to make and the home had offered her a job with them as a attendant for other children. It was a no brainer as far as Vicki was concerned, she accepted the position to docent at first then to become a full fledge tutor and counselor for the newly arrived children getting them acclimated into he system. That is when things really became odd for Victoria.

She had fallen into a quiet life and routine with the home and noted that more and more children were starting to be shuffled into the welfare system and not coming to the home and they were thinking of closing the home, then at the age of twenty-one Vicki no longer received the stipend she had been sent each month. It as suddenly as it came had stopped. It did not matter she had been saving the money only drawing upon small portions for books and then used the rest of the money to help pay towards her college expenses. The money coupled with her meager salary was enough for her to graduate at the age of twenty from college with a Bachelor's degree in teaching.

On her twentieth birthday just as she had done in her sixteenth year the mystery lady showed up at the graduation ceremony and sat in the rear watching her walk across the stage to accept her diploma. College had been like most her life at the home, she did not make friends easily but anyone that knew her had only two things to say about Victoria Winters, she was sweet and kind. Mrs. Hopewell had sat prominently in front to watch Victoria graduate and waited for her to be dismissed. Both women made their way to the waiting car to stop and look up to see the shiny new limo parked across from their car, the window slid down and there she was draped in her black hat watching Victoria.

"What does she want with me Mrs. Hopewell?" Vicki slid into the car and waited for Charlotte to pull out into traffic, glancing down at the diploma in her lap she sighed. "She is like some kind of giant bird of prey always standing over waiting for something and I for the life of me cannot understand what she expects from me." She took a chance and glanced at Charlotte Hopewell and saw her chewing her bottom lip it appeared she had been struggling with wanting to tell her something.

"Victoria that women means you no good. Just know this she is powerful and has powerful connections and she has taken an unhealthy interest in you for some reason only known to her self. I would suggest you steer clear of her." With those words uttered Charlotte Hopewell never spoke of the mystery woman agin to Victoria. No matter how much Vicki tried to get her to tell her who she was Mrs. Hopewell kept that secret to her grave.

Which on the day she died, Vicki received a letter from Collinsport, Maine and a woman named Elizabeth Stoddard who wanted to hire her as a governess for her troubled nephew. Only now Victoria knew why Elizabeth Collins Stoddard wanted her at Collinwood, she wanted her daughter home under her watchful eye. The thought of her mother in Romania caused Vicki to suddenly sit up with a sharp gasp. Standing at the foot of Josette's bed was a woman wearing black, her hair flowing down her back to brush against her hips, she turned from staring at the portrait of Josette to look Vicki directly in her eyes. She smiled, and for once Victoria had a full view of her and Vicki whispered softly, "Josette?"

The woman looked like Victoria, she smiled and drifted over to the window that overlooked the front lawn. "No, not Josette." She whispered softly. Vicki slid from the bed, and stood looking at the woman in front of her, then her gaze drifted to the full length mirror and Victoria gasped, the only reflection in that mirror was the room and Victoria there was no reflection of the woman that had stood in front of the window. When Victoria looked back at the window feeling shaken to the core, she gasped out loud in a small scream of disbelief. Slumping to the floor, she realized that she must have seen and talked to an apparition for the figure of the woman was no longer in the room she had disappeared.