FAMILY
Chapter Three
Meet me in the park at three
o’clock, the letter said,
so Kelly did as she was told.
When she arrived, her brother was
already there, waiting for her.
"And…how is she? Is she all
right?"
"Hey! I’ve missed you,
too!" his sister replied sarcastically.
"C’mon, Kelly! Please, tell
me she is fine. It’s all I ask."
The girl looked at him. She was
right. He had really changed. He used to be so sure about life, so
independent…and now, there he was, in pain over a girl. Because he was really
suffering, Kelly could tell. Many times she had asked him what was so important
about Rose, and she had always received the same response. "I’ll tell you
one of these days."
She was about to answer that
first she wanted to know all about this girl, Rose, but one look into her brother’s
blue eyes was enough to change her mind.
"She’s fine. Well…I mean,
she is as fine as one could be, having that horrible woman around."
"You mean Ruth? She is hard
to handle, isn’t she?"
"Hard to handle? She is a
bitch!"
"You are right. But Rose…she
is fine, isn’t she?"
Kelly doubted it.
"What’s wrong, Kelly?"
her brother asked, noticing her expression.
"Well…she is not dying.
But…if you must know, she seems kind of lost. All the time. Even when her
mother is talking to her--though I can’t blame her for that. And what’s worse
is that no one cares! I can’t believe it, but it’s true. Her mother talks only
about the wedding, while the bride is somewhere beyond all of us."
"And what about Cal? Does he
know about Rose?"
"Cal’s attitude is much
worse than Ruth’s, for me, at least. He is aware of the situation, but he seems
to enjoy it. I mean…the other day, for instance, I was serving dinner and he
and Ruth were talking about the wedding. Suddenly, the word children appeared
out of nowhere. Cal said that he wanted a boy and he wanted to name him after
someone he had known. Jack was this man. Then he began to laugh, and said, ‘Oh,
no! It’s an awful name. Isn’t it, sweetpea?’ I don’t know what that was
supposed to mean, but I can tell that Rose did, because her face went red and
her eyes became full of tears."
"I can’t believe he actually
did that! He’s even worse than I thought! Kelly, you will understand it soon. I
promise. Now…what about that invitation?"
"Sorry. I couldn’t get you
in yet. I will, I swear. The wedding is in two weeks in Philadelphia."
"You are just wonderful!
What would I do without you? Kelly, thanks a lot. I owe you big!"
"And you’ll pay me
back…" she added, only half-serious.
"Well, I should be going
now. I have work to do. They want me to have I don’t know how many drawings for
next week. I’m getting really tired of doing this. I wish I could change places
with you…"
"That should be interesting,
you in a dress. It would be something worth paying to see."
"Funny. Really funny. Take
care. And don’t…"
"Don’t be recognized. I
know! I should be the one giving advice, you know? I’m the big sister, aren’t
I?"
Brother and sister laughed and
kissed good-bye. She watched him as he left and wondered how someone like him
could ended up be involved with a girl like Rose. She would have killed to know
his secret, but she couldn’t betray him. He had promised that he’d tell her
about it one day or another, and she trusted him.
She heard the clock on the church
and realized that she had to return to the DeWitt Bukater house before tea
time, or Ruth would get really upset.