"HIDDEN FLAME" by Sarah Ryniker

STORY LAST UPDATED ON 20/05/2002

Hidden Flame Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue

CHAPTER FOUR

I was hoping with all of my heart that Joshua had no real connection with Grandfather Gerald. I was also praying above all things that he couldn't prove that I wasn't Grandfather Gerald's true granddaughter. Of course, how would he know that? I had never confided in anyone, so he couldn't possibly know. But then again, in this family, secrets stuck to our souls like glue. Some people knew things that were kept hidden from the others. Each and every one of us carried around our own bag of secrets. Even I did now.
    When we got to the house there were police cars everywhere. I looked around the grounds that were my home and saw people all over the place. What they were here for I didn't know. What were they trying to find out, anyway? I had done nothing wrong. Yet I knew damn well that they were investigating something.
    I got out of the car and begin making my way up the front steps when a policeman stopped me. "What is your name, Miss?" he demanded. He looked at me as if I was some evil spawn of Hell.
    "I am the owner of this house, Phoenix Lenora Parish Weston," I growled. "And I want in my home this minute."
    "I'm afraid you're not allowed in here right now. This house is under investigation." He was even ruder to me after I announced my name.
    "What the Hell is there to investigate?" I was raising my voice now. I knew I was getting myself into a panic but this was my home. They were keeping me out of my home.
    "The death of Gerald Carlton Parish. We have had some hints that he may have been poisoned, murdered by you."
    I felt the blood drain from me. I had taken care of Grandfather Gerald during his last moments. I would never kill anyone, though I truly wanted to smash this guy's face in. "I want in my home, right now. Let me in!" I screamed, trying to force my way past him. This was crazy. Why was this happening? My family and now my home as well? What was I going to do now?
    "Phoenix!" I heard Alec call as he came up behind me. He slipped his arms around me and began to pull me towards the car. "Come on. This will only land you back in jail. Don't worry. You've done nothing wrong. They'll figure that out and realise how stupid they're acting," he assured me loud enough for everyone around to hear.
    He helped me into the car and then got into the driver's seat. He pulled away from the driveway. I felt sick. How could this be happening? Josh hadn't been in my life for years and years. Now he was taking my life and making it a big mess. No, more than a big mess. He was tearing it completely apart.
    Fortunately, I had outgrown my asthma years ago. This would certainly kill me if I hadn't. I was still having a hard time gasping for breath I was so upset. I just couldn't understand why anyone would want to do this to me. I hadn't done anything to Josh. Other than deny him money. But why would that make him do this to me? This was completely insane. There was no point in this sort of cruelty.
    "You need to calm down, Phoenix. There will be a way out of this. I promise you, I'll do anything I can to help you through this. I've got close to this family in the few short months I've known you. I won't let this go on. I won't let you go through it alone," he promised with a vehemence that, I think, shocked even him.
    Though things in my life were turning topsy, yet again I finally didn't feel as if I was dealing with it all on my own. Alec was dealing with it as well. He was being accused of molesting the girls just as I was being accused of beating them. But I knew Dr Calvin wouldn't lay an improper finger on either of the girls, and I certainly would never ever harm a hair on my daughters' heads.
    Alec took me to his own home. As we drove there in silence I began to wonder where it possibly could be. We went farther and farther away from civilisation. Pretty soon there was only a house here and there. The sun was setting and the ocean seemed to sparkle. How could something seem so beautiful and glorious to me at a time like this? I wondered to myself. Yet looking at the beautiful blue-green waves crashing softly against the cliffs and sand below us calmed me.
    Just as I figured that we had to be far out of the Los Angeles district, Alec pulled up to a large black wrought-iron gate. He leaned out of the car and pressed some buttons on a little number pad on the inside of the brick wall that held the gate in place. When the gates opened, rather gracefully for looking so heavy, he drove onto a very white driveway. It struck me as odd to have a grey and white driveway that looked as if it was polished every time a car passed over it. My family was beyond rich, and ours was a simple path made out of dark gravel.
    When we pulled up to the house, the beauty of it had me speechless. It wasn't as big and gaudy as my home, but it was magnificent and huge all the same. Tall pine trees surrounded it. It was a soft light blue colour with a wraparound porch. It looked cosy, yet it also seemed foreboding. It was a mansion, yet it was made to look like a small comfortable home. I was about to find out why. Alec went into an explanation of the house's strange look.
    "My great-grandmother hated the look of most mansions. She always said they looked so big, bulky and had no personality of their own. She married a very rich man that loved her enough to build her a house that was to her liking. Everything you see here is as she wished it to be. The driving path is made of grey and white marble. She wanted everything to be different. So she made the house a replica of the one she grew up in, only three times the size. It's a rather comfortable house, though it holds secrets of its own." He seemed proud of the home's history, proud of what he'd inherited and took care of very well.
    I smiled at him. "It's a very beautiful home, Alec. Strange-looking because of what it looks like and the size being so huge, but gorgeous all the same. Your great-grandmother had taste." I shut the car door that I had been standing in front of and gaping at the house.
    When we walked in I noticed a young man in the corner dressed in a butler's uniform. He quickly stepped out of the corner and walked up to Alec. "Let me take your jacket, Doctor Calvin?" he asked politely.
    Alec nodded and let the boy help him off with the jacket. "Thank you, Chase." Chase smiled brightly at him and then moved off to find something else to do.
    I looked at Alec, my left eyebrow lifted up in a question mark. He laughed. "I found Chase lurking in my bushes two years ago. He had a mind to steal from me. See, he was very poor and had no parents or family. He was only fourteen. So I let him stay here. He insisted that he work for his stay. So I agreed and let him be the butler that I was looking for. He's a great kid. Only sixteen years old, though. He wants to go to college more than anything else. He doesn't know it, but I am looking into adopting him," he explained to me quickly. I nodded my understanding and proceeded to look around the foyer.
    It was an average-sized foyer, the hardwood floor beneath my feet feeling slippery, obviously having just been polished. The stairs began here in the foyer, the only set of stairs in the entire house according to Alec. They were carpeted in a light brown. They curled around and up into the oblivion that was the upstairs I had yet to see.
    We walked off to the left that led to a large parlour. It looked comfortable with a giant fireplace. The carpet was bright white. It looked soft and plush, almost as if nobody ever walked on it. Not a single stain lay upon it. The couch and loveseat were a forest green, along with the curtains that covered the three large windows that were on each of the walls in the room. A TV set sat in an entertainment set across from the couch. A giant carpet with a beautiful design of dark colours lay in the middle between the couch, entertainment centre and love seat, which sat left of the couch. Everything looked as if it were on display and had never been touched it was so clean!
    He showed me the rest of the house, all of it as magnificent as the room before it. The upstairs was large and spacious, each of the rooms, all ten of them, huge. The eleventh room was the master bedroom. He showed me it, but it was a mere glimpse. I understood why. It was his bedroom and he felt odd taking me in there.
    It was getting late and I was incredibly tired. After he showed me my room I decided to go straight to sleep. Emotional strain had not only given me a severe case of fatigue but it also had my stomach in a billion knots. As soon as I laid my head down on the giant navy blue pillows that lay on the giant, dark mahogany bed, I fell asleep. My eyes felt like giant steel doors, closing themselves and locking the cruel world out for a few hours. Sleep was a blessing.
    At least it would have been had I not waken up with nightmare after nightmare. Each time I woke up in a sweat. In each one of the dreams something had happened to the girls and they were killed. It was my worst fear. I had no idea what Josh would do to them. I knew he had them and it scared me something awful. What would he do to my girls, especially if he was unable to put a finger on my money? I didn't want to think of what he would do. Yet I kept dreaming of it over and over again.
    When rain and thunder begin to pound heavily at the window at about four in the morning, I decided to get up and get something to drink that might help me sleep better. Warm milk might do the trick and I would do anything to get rid of these dreams. I rose from the bed, realised that I was still dressed and realised just how dark this room that wasn't mine was, and left the room that truly gave me the spooks. I made my way down the hallway quietly, grateful for the sconces on the wall that gave a slight glow to the hall and stairs. Yet it also gave me an eerie feeling. Why on earth was this house made to be so gothic? And why didn't the dear doctor change it? I shivered at the thought.
    I lost my way twice before I finally made it into the kitchen. I didn't know how I was ever going to find my way back to the room. But I refused to think about that as I flicked the light on and began to rummage through the fridge. I hadn't realised that I was hungry until I saw a nice, red jelly mould sitting right in the centre of the fridge. I sighed and searched out the stuff to make a quick sandwich. I poured a glass of milk and then sat down in the large dining room to eat by myself.
    I had just finished off the last of my sandwich and milk when I heard the loud crash upstairs. I jumped a foot in the air, right out of my seat. I found my way to the stairs and rushed up there as fast as I could. I met Alec in the hallway, looking as if he'd seen a ghost he was so white. "What was that loud noise, Alec?" I demanded immediately, looking over his shoulder.
    He shook his head. "Somebody threw a brick through my window. It had a note on it." He handed me the note that had been attached and I quickly read it. I instantly felt the sandwich and milk begin to rise. I felt nauseous and sick.
    The note simply read:

Dear Dr Alec Calvin,
    If you do not kick the woman out of your house we will ruin your career, forever. Do not get too attached to her, either. Her death is going to be a rather horrible thing for you to deal with should you become involved.

It wasn't signed. Neither of us knew who had written it, for sure. But I had a good idea. The fear that had kept me up all night with nightmares about Josh hurting the girls had just become even more of a reality. If he had plans to kill me, what fate did my girls have ahead for them? I rushed into the nearest bathroom and vomited up everything that had just gone down.
    Alec and I didn't see each other until breakfast the next day. Both of us had been spooked and sat quietly at his breakfast table. I merely picked at the eggs and pancakes. I had no appetite. All my mind was on was what kind of danger my daughters were in. Every time I thought about Josh hurting one of them I felt like vomiting.
    Finally, I spoke to Alec. "I will not have your career ruined because of my family. I will be leaving today and I plan on going to stay in a hotel until this is all situated. Hopefully it will end in the best of ways possible."
    Alec shook his head. "No, Phoenix. I'm not going to let you leave. I'm not afraid of them. As far as I am concerned they have already ruined my career. Everyone knows that I have been accused of child molestation. How many parents will hear that and feel safe bringing their children to me?" He shook his head again and stared down at his plate. "No, they've ruined me already. Besides, you need too much protection yourself. We need to get your girls away from that madman and into safety again, anyway, and I plan to help you."
    "But, Alec, that is putting you in danger, too. I don't want to do that. My girls are already unsafe just because they are of my blood. I won't let you keep me here and put yourself in harm's way. If you get hurt, I honestly don't want that on my shoulders," I reasoned.
    "Is that all you're worried about, Phoenix? Having somebody's life put on the line for you and you having to carry the burden of it? Well let me tell you, everyone carries some sort of burden, Phoenix. You can't escape it. I like you. You're the only person I have in my life that I can trust as a friend and I will not let you and your family be hurt. I will do everything in my power to help you. You can't stop me." He pushed himself away from the table and left the dining room.
    I didn't want somebody hurt just because of me. I couldn't help but think that God had taken Jacob away from me already because he had considered me happy for far too long. I couldn't help thinking that had Jacob fallen in love and married somebody else he would still be alive today. I beat myself up over it all of the time without telling anyone, especially the handsome and noble doctor. It made me angry that Dr Calvin thought he could save my girls and myself from the wreck that was my family. He couldn't save everyone and he most certainly couldn't save me from my living hell.

Hidden Flame Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Epilogue

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