Читать книгу Haunting at Remington House - Laura V. Keegan - Страница 25

“Tom, I’m so pleased you’re already getting to know your neighbors. Good for you, big brother,” Cassie purred. She’d called right after everyone left.

Tom told her about the Harrisons and his friendship with Jimmy and Sara. He carefully avoided mentioning his feelings for Sara.

“I’m certain I’ve met William Harrison before. Isn’t he an antique dealer or something?”

“Yeah, that’s the one,” Tom said. “Actually, he’s in the importing trade. He does extremely well judging by the money he’s spent decorating their ‘vacation’ home. I haven’t met him yet. Seems to be a very busy man. He’s on the coast pursuing a business deal, according to Jimmy.” Cassie was silent; Tom knew what she was waiting for him to say. He would not give her the satisfaction. “You still there, Sis?” he taunted.

“Quit teasing me. You’re being much too guarded. What about Sara Lawson? Come clean.”

“Very charming woman. I don’t know much about her. She’s a teacher and plans to stay here tutoring the two boys.”

“Tom, you can be so exasperating! You know that’s not what I meant! Is she young, old, fat, ugly, married or? . . . What? Quit laughing at me and tell me what she’s like!”

“Cassie, you know I’m not good at that sort of thing,” Tom chided.

“All right have it your way! I’ll have to wait and see for myself, I guess. But you have to promise me you’ll invite her over after Thanksgiving. Will you?”

“Sure. Tell you what. If you give me your word that you’ll play hostess, I’ll do one better. I’ll invite the whole Harrison clan over so you can inspect them all at once. What do you think about that?”

Cassie was quiet for a moment. Apparently Tom had caught her off guard. After all, it had been years since he’d shown any interest in seeing anyone socially, let alone actually giving a party. “You know I’d love to. Are you sure you’re up to it, Tom?”

“Guess I have to find out sometime, don’t I? Can’t stay a recluse forever. Besides, there won’t be that many people— just the Harrisons and our family. And, of course, Joe. How about the Saturday after Thanksgiving?”

They talked for about an hour until Cassie finally said she had to go. She and Michael had a dinner engagement. Tom hated ending their conversation. It had been so long since they’d talked like this. He felt a need to try to make up for all the years they’d missed. Cassie and Elise had never gotten along, so during the years of their marriage, he and Cassie had little contact. The bond they’d once felt had all but disappeared. There would be lots of time to make up for that now.

***

Cassie and Tom were close as children. He was six when she was born and still, to this day, he remembered his mother holding the tiny baby out to him. “Tom, this is your new sister, Cassie. She’s yours as much as she is your father’s and mine. I need you to help take care of her. You can see how helpless she is. She’ll need a brother like you to look out for her.” She handed the bundle to him, and he’d gazed in awe at the tiny red face, the perfect miniature hand with its thumb searching for her tiny, pink mouth.

By the time Tom met Elise, Cassie was on her own, no longer in need of his affections or his guidance. But Elise! How delicate and innocent she was. She needed him. He would love her, adore her, share his life with her. So he’d thought.

Now, looking back, Tom realized the mistake he’d made. Elise had been too young and hadn’t realized what she was doing when she entered into a relationship with him. She thought him bold, daring and exciting, her chance for a new life. She was too young and too inexperienced to have made such a serious commitment.

Or maybe his mother had been right, and Elise had stalked and cunningly hunted him—her bait her feigned frailty and innocence. Tom mistakenly believed her weak and helpless, making it easy for her to entangle him in her web of deceit. Maybe.

Or possibly Elise thought she loved him. That’s what Tom believed.Then. After all, she’d been very naive and was searching for an escape from an abusive, alcoholic mother. She needed someone to love her unconditionally. Tom promised her he would. Always.

The joyous union Tom thought would last a lifetime was short lived. For three of the eight-years of their marriage, Elise seemed genuinely in love with him. Then something changed. Perhaps Elise simply grew up, tired of her life, tired of Tom.

But Tom would not, could not, let her go. Instead, he became obsessed with her. How could he live with a woman who didn’t love him? It was simple. He thought he could make her love him again. Instead—he made her hate him.

Elise’s loathing for Tom grew. He refused to see the reality of her abhorrence for him. He decided her unhappiness had little to do with him but with her inability to get pregnant.

“I have absolutely no desire to have a child—yours, or anyone else’s,” she told him one night when he tried to make love to her, telling her he wanted her to carry his child. “I’ve been on birth control since we married. Do you understand now?” She’d pulled away from him as he tried to hold her. Breaking free, she ran to her room and locked the door.

Heartbroken and betrayed, Tom created ways to ignore and twist the truth; his descent into a world of delusions began. He carefully constructed a life of lies, denying the inevitable, refusing to see that one day his world would fall apart. The house of cards would come tumbling down. Elise’s life, and his carefully planned future with her, would end.

One drizzly, spring afternoon, Elise found Tom in his office reading a contract. “Tom, I had a call from my friend, Catherine. She’s going through a difficult time right now. I told her I’d go and stay with her for a while. She desperately needs a friend to lean on right now.”

Putting his paperwork down, Tom stared incredulously at her. “No, I need you here.”

“Don’t say that. And don’t look at me like that!” Elise said, her shaking voice giving away her frustration. “Some time apart would be good for both of us. Why don’t you go see Cassie? You could use some time away from here, too. It’s been a long time since you’ve been anywhere other than for business.” Seeing the wall go up, she spat her words at Tom. “I need to get away! This house is beginning to feel like a prison.”

The inevitable happened. The flash of revulsion in her eyes was painful. Tom looked away. The seeds of doubt were sprouting and growing, spreading like a malignancy. He knew he could no longer trust her.

“Please, Tom, let me go. I’ll only be gone three or four weeks. I promise I’ll call you every day. Let me go.”

Tom refused, knowing if she left, she might never come back to him. He cut off her credit making sure she had no money or access to money. He made certain she couldn’t afford to leave him. He intercepted her mail and monitored her phone calls. He did, for all practical purposes, in fact make her a prisoner. If she did leave the house, he was at her side, watching her every move, orchestrating her every outing. He let her know, if she left him, he would make sure she was penniless. “I control you, dear. That’s how it is. Wealth, after all, has its advantages,” he told her.

How could he do this to her? He was making her hate him more every day. Why didn’t he let her go? But somehow, Tom could not, would not. He convinced himself that she would learn to love him again, given time.

And so Elise came to believe the only way to free herself from Tom’s control was through death. Her own. But her hatred for him would not die so easily, would tie her to this earth.