Chapter Nineteen

Tess settled down in the rocking chair and dragged a blanket across her lap when a shadow at the window caught her eye. She stared at the spot she thought she'd seen it. Nothing. Frozen to the chair, her feet like lead, she waited. Holding her breath. The twang of the mobile as it spun and played a song that had slowed almost to a stop sent a chill up her spine. Yanking her cardigan tighter around herself, she stood and tried to slow her breathing.

Still nothing. Convincing herself it was a shadow cast from the mobile or maybe from her, she slowly turned to walk from the room, when a scratching sound came from the wall. Surely it couldn't be a mouse. It sounded too large.

Allowing her eyes to wander back to the window, she gasped at what she saw. In the lower corner of the window, she saw what appeared to be the top of someone's head. Her eyes travelled down further and she squinted, desperately urging her eyes to focus. Her eyes made out the shape of the head and...eyes! Bright white eyes stared back at her.

She opened her mouth to scream but no noise came out. She swallowed back, what felt like a grapefruit-size lump in her throat and tried again. This time, the sound of her shrill cry carried through the house. She screamed until her head started to spin from lack of oxygen so she sucked in a breath and distributes it in short sharp bursts of squealing.

What to do, what to do?

If someone wanted to mess with her they'd need to take it up a notch. She'd had enough of these games and it was time to get to the bottom of it. She ran to the kitchen and slid a chef's knife from the wooden knife block.

"Are you okay?" A tiny squeaky voice came from behind her.

She spun around, knife poised, to see Beverly, Cole's sister with eyes wide.

"What are you doing here?" Tess screamed at her and shook the knife in Beverly's direction.

Beverly slowly crept backwards toward the door. "Umm, nothing. Maybe it's a bad time, I can come back later."

"No! I want to know what you are doing sneaking around my house." Tess demanded.

"I...I wanted to meet my nephew. I knocked but no one answered. When I heard screaming I tried the door and it was unlocked. Are you alright?"

Tess lowered the knife and let out a deep shuddering sigh. "Oh. My.God." She gripped her chest. "Sorry Bev. I mean Beverly. I saw someone outside my window and I got spooked. Will you forgive me? I didn't mean to scare you."

Beverly's eyes wandered down to the large glinting blade still in Tess's shaking hand. Tess's heart dropped. Beverly was frightened. Frightened of her. She'd turned into a crazy person, her mind still felt clear to her, but she was doing irrational things, saying irrational things. Waggling knives around.

When did she become a knife waggler?

When had she become irrational?

She dragged herself into the kitchen and threw the knife into the sink with a clang. Beverly jumped back but didn't run out the door. Tess walked past her and into the sitting room, flopping down into the closest chair.

Covering her face with her hands, she let the darkness comfort her. A minute or two later the shuffle of Beverly's feet approaching had Tess glancing up. She watched as Beverly sat hesitantly on the very edge of the sofa. Her back straight as if she had a ruler up her jumper. The clock in the hall ticked and emphasized the silence between them.

"Bev... Beverly, I'm sorry I—Just"

"It's Rocky."

"What? Sorry?" Tess asked.

"My name. Dad and mom are the only ones who call me Beverly. My friends all call me Rocky."

Tess's eyebrows flew up. "Rocky? Well, that's not what I was expecting."

Beverly smiled and Tess realized how young she looked. Not at all like the harsh-faced woman who'd sat at the dining table just a few weeks ago. Her black hair fell in waves around her shoulders and her skin, practically makeup free had a natural flush.

Her lips no longer pinched tight like she'd sucked a sour lemon but turned up at the corners. Her deep brown eyes twinkled and for the first time, Tess could see the resemblance between Beverly and Cole.

"I box. I'm pretty good. But don't tell my folks. Dad would go batty." She watched Tess out the corner of her eye.

"You're a boxer?" Tess demonstrated with a little jab punch.

Beverly laughed and the sound was sweet. "Yes I'm a boxer. I've won championships too."

Tess smiled wide. "That's terrific. I think I see you now." She nodded at Beverly...uh...Rocky.

"What do you mean by that?" Beverly asked.

"You're not like them, you're like me. Different, wild, spontaneous." Tess looked at her shaking hands and squeezed them shut tight to stop them jumping. "Well, I was. That must be hard to believe now."

Beverly got up and closed the distance between them, sitting on the arm of the chair Tess was in, slinging her arm around Tess's shoulders.

"I am different from the family and in some ways, I am like you," Beverly said with a nod of her head. "But I'm not as strong as you. That's why I couldn't stop staring at you that night at dinner. You were so brave. Not frightened to be yourself and to stand up to my father. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that. I want to be able to do that. I want to be more like you."

Tess didn't look up, she couldn't. This random display of kindness had her choking on all sorts of emotions that threatened to bubble up. "I don't know that being like me is a good thing anymore."

"Huh!" Came the exclamation from Beverly. "You're kidding right?"

Tess looked up at her. "Look at me. I'm a mess."

"You are the coolest thing to ever happen to my drab old brother. To this family in fact. We need you, Tess. I need you."

"How do you need me? You hardly even know me." Tess's brows knit together.

"You get my father so riled up and so preoccupied, hell, I could dash through his offices naked and he wouldn't notice." She laughed now.

And Tess laughed with her. "So, me nearly stabbing you, didn't deter you hey?"

"Are you kidding me? You're paving the way for this family Tess. We need to be thrown out of the dark ages. We need some excitement."

Rocky sure had a way of making her feel weirdly better. "This doesn't help me overcome whatever is wrong with my mind. I'm actually quite frightened Rocky. I swear someone's messing with me."

Rocky's voice softened, "We'll sort it out."

"How? How will we sort it out? I don't know what else to do. Maybe this is what a breakdown feels like."

"It's not a breakdown. Cole told me what's been going on." Rocky confessed.

"Cole told you?" Tess couldn't believe it. What was he telling people? Was he saying she's crazy?

"Before you get all riled up, he didn't exactly tell me. I may have been listening in at the door while he and mother were discussing what to do."

Rocky slid to the floor and sat with her legs crossed, just as a child would sit in class.

"Oh. I see." So Cole had told his mother instead. That was so much better.

"If you ask me, I think someone is messing with you."

Tess slid down onto the floor facing her. Her eyes bulging and grabbed the girl's hands in hers. "You do?"

"Yes. Sometimes the fact no one notices I exist works to my benefit. I hear things and I see things. Things others are too pre-occupied to notice. I think something strange is going on too. And if I have to camp out here on your sitting room floor every night until I catch them, that's what I'll do."

Tess dived into Rocky's arms knocking her backward. They hugged and when Tess finally released her, she got up. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"I got you," Rocky said. "Now how about a coffee?"

The sound of Freddie crying had them both rushing down to his room. Tess got there first and scooped him up into her arms. "You want to make that coffee while I feed him and then we can do some introductions."

"Sure," Rocky said and scooted off down the hall.

Tess joined her a few minutes later with Freddie in her arms.

"Rocky meet your nephew," Tess said and held the baby out to her.

Rocky reached out and took the baby in her arms and cradled him gently. "Hey, little fellow. I'm your Aunt. I'm the cool one okay. When you get drunk, I'm the one to come to."

"Hey, hey calm down." Tess joked. "My angel will never be out drinking."

Rocky rolled her eyes. "She's turning into my parents already."

"Never!"

"So give me the details. How much did he weigh?"

"He was a touch under 5lb. He was early."

"He kind of looks like my brother, but cuter, much cuter." She ran her finger down his little scooped nose. "What did you guys name him?"

"Freddy."

"After great uncle Fredrick I suppose. I bet father was pleased." Rocky looked disappointed.

"Hell no, after Queen."

"The Queen?"

"Freddy Mercury, from Queen."

A smile drew across both their faces and they laughed until their ribs hurt.

"Oh, the family will love that." Rocky wheezed.

"Not as much as knowing their youngest daughter goes by the name of Rocky and enjoys getting the shit beaten out of her."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, wouldn't I?"

They chatted and drank their drinks and fussed over Freddy. Rocky was wonderful and just the sort of friend Tess had been missing.

"Well, I should get going." Rocky stood, grabbed her jacket and walked towards the door. "Tess, just remember you're dealing with people who are used to getting their way. These are not wolves in sheep's clothing. These are the wolves and they're proud of it. Just be careful."

"I will and Rocky... thanks for everything and I'm sorry if I scared you earlier."

"No problem. I'll come and see you tomorrow before I leave again. I just flew in from college so I could meet this little guy." They exchanged a quick hug and Rocky stepped out into the night.

Picking up her phone Tess called Cole. It took some time before he answered.

"What is it, Tess?" He asked. His voice clipped, clearly still reeling from their earlier conversation.

"I wanted you to know... I'm sorry."

The line went quiet for a moment.

"Okay..." He said eventually, almost in a whisper.

The word hung there in the silence between them.

"Well that's it I guess and thank you for what you did in the nursery."

"My pleasure but Tess, I have to go."

"I was hoping you might come over so we can talk."

"About what?"

"Everything. You know the argument we had, you asking me to be a family with you, this whole issue with my brain and—"

"Look I really have to go; I've got a friend visiting. I can drop in tomorrow if you like."

Tess was taken aback. He was with someone. She couldn't blame him. The way she'd been carrying on lately. And he had tried, he'd tried hard but she fobbed him off.

"Tess? You there?"

"Yep." She said and heard how pathetic her voice sounded.

"Tomorrow morning alright?"

"Sure, I'll see you then."

"Did you tell her I was here?" Tess heard a female voice ask as Cole hung up the phone from his end. She stood with the phone pressed against her ear listening to the soothing beat of the beep, beep, beep. Over and over until the screen turned black. She threw the phone down on the kitchen counter and poured herself a glass of water.

The voice was unfamiliar. It certainly wasn't Rocky or his mother. Her heart dropped, just when she decided to make a go of things, this happened.