KATHERINE'S PROPHECY
by Scott Wittenburg
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Scott Wittenburg
Original Paperback version ©2005 Scott Wittenburg
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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This is a work of fiction. The characters and events of this book are entirely the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, or to any persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
CHAPTER 1
At six o’clock sharp, Emily Hoffman closed and locked the door to her antique shop. The unexpected snowstorm was raging now as she trudged down Peekskill Lane and spotted her old beige Volkswagen bus parked halfway down the block, covered by three inches of freshly fallen snow. When she reached the bus, Emily opened the door on the passenger side and took out the ice scraper lying on the floorboard. Working quickly, she began scraping the windows and observed the ease with which the powdery white stuff came off. Perfect skiing snow, she thought to herself as she finished the windshield and started clearing the windows on the driver’s side.
When she was done, Emily slid onto the cold vinyl seat and turned the key in the ignition tentatively, making a silent prayer that the battery wouldn’t be too cold to turn the engine over. The starter whined hesitantly at first—as if being aroused from a deep sleep—then sped up suddenly, long enough for the little engine to come to life with the distinctive putter-putt-putter sound that only a VW engine can make. Breathing a sigh of relief, Emily threw the gearshift lever into first and pulled away from the curb.
The interior of the bus was absolutely frigid and would remain that way for the entire duration of the three-mile drive to her house. But she loved the old bus in spite of its anemic heater and other shortcomings. It handled well in the snow and had plenty of space inside for hauling her antiques. She cleared away the frost formed by her breath on the windshield with the back of her hand and shivered to herself as she made a left-hand turn onto Hudson Street.
After driving ten blocks or so she reached the edge of town where Hudson Street became Route 17 and abruptly widened into a four-lane divided highway. Emily sped up to forty-five and found herself staring blankly at the two shafts of light emitted by her headlights as they sliced through the wild frenzy of blowing snow. Her mind was devoid of all thoughts save one—arriving at her house where it would be warm and cozy inside.
Emily drove a little over a mile and a half on the highway before turning left onto Mountainview Road. A quarter of a mile further the road forked as she bore right onto a narrow unmarked road and slowed down to a complete stop beside her mailbox. She reached inside and pulled out the mail and a newspaper, tossed the parcels onto the passenger seat then pulled away.
Within forty yards or so, the road began its steep incline up the mountain. Emily accelerated briskly to ensure herself enough momentum to negotiate the climb, being careful not to get the rear wheels spinning excessively and possibly cause the bus to sway sideways. There was a three-foot deep drainage ditch running along the left side of the road and a steep embankment to the right. Although the bus had snow tires, Emily knew that coming to a near stop at any time would most likely result in disaster—her fate dependent upon which side of the road the bus happened to slide toward at the time.
About two-thirds up the mountain the road leveled off for a short distance before resuming its ascent. When Emily reached this portion, she glanced to her right and could see the faint glow of lights coming from her house through a partial clearing in the trees. She unconsciously sped up a little in anticipation of arriving soon at her warm home.
Moments later, Emily pulled up beside her house and shut off the engine. The three story Victorian was well lit from the outside by several floodlights she had recently installed and the added illumination now played upon the falling snow and the surroundings, creating a wintry scene that looked like something out of a fairy tale. Breathing a sigh of exhilaration, Emily grabbed her mail before getting out and making her way over to the side door. As she stuck her key into the lock, she heard the excited barks of a dog coming from inside. She opened the door and was immediately greeted by a frisky black and white springer spaniel, its tail wagging furiously in response to the arrival of her master.
“Why hello there, Cassie! And how is my little puppy doing? Have you missed me today? Mommy sure has missed you! And I’ll bet you’re hungry, aren’t you?”
Emily knelt down and received a barrage of puppy kisses from Cassie, causing her to laugh out loud.
“Why thank you, girl! I love you, too!”
She stood up and held the door open long enough for Cassie to scamper out into the snow to relieve herself then called her back inside. Cassie followed her through the foyer into the spacious, well-appointed kitchen and waited impatiently for Emily to pour some dog food into her bowl before wolfing it down hungrily.
Emily removed her coat and slung it over one of the kitchen chairs. Stepping out onto the porch, she knelt down and gathered up a few good-sized logs and carried them back inside. With an exhausted grunt, she strode through the house to the den where she placed the logs in a pile on the massive stone hearth.
With Cassie at her heels, Emily led the way upstairs to the bathroom. She stepped over to the ancient four-legged cast iron bathtub and got the water running then went down the long hall to her bedroom. After removing her clothes, she grabbed the terry cloth robe lying near the foot of the bed and threw it on before retracing her steps back to the bathroom.
Cassie was curled up on the tile floor by the tub as Emily closed the door and sampled the water temperature. After sprinkling in some bath oil beads, she stepped over to the full-length mirror and removed her robe.
She stood there for a few moments, observing her body in a critical manner. She examined her skin—still soft, smooth, and youthful in spite of her age. Her muscle tone was still good—firm, no fat, and no sags. And her figure had maintained its youthful schoolgirl appearance; slim waist, slender hips, and small but well-rounded breasts. Emily resented her shortness of stature, but had learned to live with it—making up for her lack of height by her outward strength, which was considerable for her tiny size.
But Emily’s physical appearance was of no real concern to her; so long as she didn’t somehow let herself get fat or out of shape. Her mind and state of mind, however, were a different matter. She was more than adequately intelligent with an inherent thirst for knowledge and an insatiable appetite for learning that had to be constantly challenged and nurtured. She possessed a keen interest in the past—to learn all she could about given historic events in an attempt to relate their significance to the present and determine why things have come to be the way they are. She’d had this almost obsessive interest in the past for practically as long as she could remember—even as child—but in the past several years it had become more defined and focused. This was because she had since become obsessed by more than just the past per se. She had in fact become all but consumed by a particular family’s past to be more concise . . .
That of her own family.
Emily turned away from the mirror and stepped into the bathtub, gingerly eased herself down into the steaming water. With a long sigh, she lay back in the tub and closed her eyes, feeling her muscles relax and her skin responding to the hot oily water. She remained that way for a full ten minutes, reveling in the sensual pleasure that a hot bath afforded on a cold wintry night, totally oblivious to the snowstorm raging outside.
Having finished bathing, Emily toweled herself off and slipped into her robe. She returned to her bedroom and sat down at the antique vanity long enough to comb out her hair, then put on her house slippers and headed downstairs to the den.
The den was large and cozy with knotty pine walls and hardwood floors. Huge wood beams ran the length of the room, lending to it a rustic, natural ambiance. Virtually all of the furnishings were antiques: a sofa, a matching pair of bent wood rocking chairs, a coffee table with meticulously carved and etched legs, and an overstuffed Victorian chair which sat directly in front of the hearth. An oak bookcase containing numerous volumes of books, periodicals, and two different sets of encyclopedias sat on one side of the room and took up nearly the entire length of the wall. On the opposite side, an enormous picture window offered a panoramic view of the tree-lined side yard, now bathed in light from the floods.
Emily placed a few logs in the fireplace and stuffed a bunch of old newspapers under the grating before igniting the paper with a match. When she was certain that the logs would catch, she went back into the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. Moments later she returned to the den and stoked the fire a few times with a poker before plopping herself down into the comfortable chair.
Emily took a sip of coffee and stared vacantly at the burgeoning fire, her legs crossed and her elbows resting upon her knees. She started thinking about the house—how empty and quiet it seemed now; more so than it ever had before. She glanced down at Cassie lying on the braided rug and realized with a sudden pang of remorse that no one other than herself and her faithful companion had been inside the house since her father’s funeral six months ago. Tears began welling up in her eyes but she shut them tightly, stifling the impending urge to cry.
Although Emily regretted her father’s death, she didn’t miss him in the least. She only wished things could have turned out differently than they had. If only he would have moved away and left her alone, she thought. Then she would have been freed and could have a clear conscience now. That’s what bothered her the most; the fact that her father’s passing was the only reason for her liberation from him—as opposed to a kinder alternative which might have yielded the same result.
Now she felt guilty. She knew in her heart that if she had to do it all over again, she still wouldn’t have done anything any differently. There simply had been no other alternative. The plain and simple truth of the matter was this: Charles Hoffman had been a selfish, uncaring, manipulative bastard. He had cared about one thing and one thing only: himself. Had he ever cared about anyone besides himself?
Her mother had always tried so hard to smooth things over; to make things seem better than they really were. But Emily knew better, and she knew that her mother had known better as well
Again, the overwhelming urge to cry came and passed as Emily thought about her mother. Although she had only been ten years old when her mother had passed away, the memories of her were still very vivid. She had been a remarkably gentle and loving person. And she had struggled so valiantly to try and bring her family closer together. But in the process, she had sacrificed everything—her pride, her dignity, her very person. How many times had she seen her mother with bruises all over her body from all the beatings he had given her? How many times had she seen her verbally assaulted by him—reduced to a whimpering, frightened woman stripped of her self-esteem while he stood there arrogantly blaming her for his own mistakes? That was the bitter irony of all. Her father had been so self-righteous that he wouldn’t even consider the possibility that he himself might have done something wrong. And the sickening thing was that on many occasions, he actually had her mother believing that it was all her fault.
Caroline Hoffman’s untimely death had left Emily devastated beyond comprehension. Suddenly, she had lost her best friend and the only person she had ever truly loved. Also gone was the force that had been keeping Emily safe from her abusive father. Without her mother there to smooth out the edges and cushion the blows, Emily had suddenly found herself all but neglected in a cold, unloving home; absolutely terrified of her own father.
Fortunately, not long after her mother’s death, her grandfather had suddenly entered the picture and managed to make Emily feel a little more optimistic about things. Up until then, Warren Hoffman had pretty much remained in the shadows, rarely visiting his son’s family at the mountaintop house that, ironically, he himself had built and lived in while raising his only child. Furthermore, Charles had all but forbidden Emily to visit Grandpa Warren in the past, thus making it virtually impossible for her to get to know him throughout her young life. Emily hadn’t known why at the time, but her father and grandfather had virtually estranged themselves from one another. In fact, with the exception of business matters at the mill, they had rarely even spoken to one another.
Emily had once asked her mother why her father and Grandpa Warren didn’t like each other and had been told that it only seemed that way because the two men had differing opinions on how the mill should be run, which had put a strain on their relationship. But, her mother had gone on to say, they truly did like each other in spite of how things appeared. Emily sensed that her mother was hedging the truth, and it wasn’t until many years later that she finally discovered the true reason for the animosity between Charles and Warren Hoffman.
During the summer following her mother’s death, Emily began visiting her grandfather frequently and eventually grew very fond of the kind old man. She also became quite close to Miss Rutledge, the elderly woman who had lived with him. She hadn’t been sure of their relationship at that time, only that Miss Rutledge had been a close friend to Grandpa Warren’s deceased wife, Katherine—the grandmother Emily had never known who had passed away many years ago.
Her grandfather mentioned Grandma Katherine from time to time and Emily could tell by the way he spoke—his voice often shaky and filled with emotion—that he missed his wife and must have loved her a great deal. He told Emily that she reminded him of her and on one day had shown her a photograph of Katherine which had been taken when she’d been around her own age. Emily had stood there in utter disbelief when she saw the picture—the resemblance was uncanny. As a result of this incident, Emily suddenly found herself wanting to know more about this long-deceased relative who had so much resembled her.
Although her grandfather had seemed hesitant at first, Miss Rutledge finally managed to persuade him to answer some of Emily’s questions. In the process, she learned that Grandma Katherine had been raised by Miss Rutledge’s mother, who had become her legal guardian after Katherine’s parents perished in a house fire while she was still an infant. Miss Rutledge had been a few years older than Katherine, and the two had been just like sisters to each other.
Years later, Grandpa Warren had fallen in love with Katherine while she was still quite young and the two had gotten married. Her grandfather had built this house on the mountain because Katherine had wanted to live near her parent’s ashes, which had been scattered over the site of their fire-ravaged home.
Emily had never heard of cremation before so she asked Miss Rutledge why Katherine’s parent’s bodies had been cremated instead of placed in coffins and buried in the ground. Miss Rutledge explained that her mother had been a close friend to Clem and Nancy Porter, Katherine’s parents, and had felt that they would have wanted it that way. She went on to say that many people believed that their souls entered their next life sooner by being cremated, as opposed to having their mortal remains buried in the earth.
When Emily asked her grandfather exactly where on the mountain the Porters’ house had been, he had looked at Miss Rutledge peculiarly, as if he wasn’t sure whether or not to answer her. Miss Rutledge had answered for him. She told Emily that the remains of the Porter house could be found further up the mountain from her own house, and suggested that she ask her father to take her up there sometime.
When Emily had returned home that day, it suddenly occurred to her that her father had only rarely mentioned his mother in the past and that there weren’t even any pictures of her anywhere in the house. This, she decided, seemed very odd and she wondered why it was so.
Later that evening, she had approached her father and asked him why he never talked about Grandma Katherine. He’d balked for a moment then replied that he’d never known his mother since she had died shortly after giving birth to him. Emily asked him why there weren’t any pictures of her in the house. He appeared to be very uncomfortable with this question and had simply replied that his father kept all of his mother’s pictures.
Then she asked him if he thought she looked like Grandma Katherine. His face had turned beet-red and he just stood there glaring at her and offered no response. In spite of his mounting anger, Emily had asked him one final question: would he take her to the old house where her great-grandparents’ ashes were scattered?
To this he had snapped back, “How in the hell did you find out about that?”
Then he had slapped her hard across her face and stormed out of the room. Moments later she could hear him yelling at someone on the telephone and she knew that it was her grandfather on the other end of the line.
After this incident, Emily had found herself even more intrigued with her grandmother and her past. She suddenly had a suspicious feeling that there was a lot more to all of this than she was being told; taking into account her father’s defiant behavior and angry reaction to her questions. She also became aware of something that had only fueled her curiosity even more. Her grandfather and Miss Rutledge had suddenly refrained from discussing her grandmother the next time she visited them. This, she knew, was because her father had ordered them to do so.
Emily felt cheated because she wasn’t being told something that she felt she had a right to know. During one of her visits thereafter, she’d taken Miss Rutledge aside and asked her why she and her grandfather no longer spoke of Grandma Katherine. Miss Rutledge explained that her grandfather sometimes got upset by all of the talk because it often stirred up certain memories that he had a difficult time dealing with. Emily had an odd feeling that Miss Rutledge had wanted to expound on this, but had for some reason decided against it.
Not long after this incident, something unusual had occurred. Emily had been taking a bath one evening when her father had suddenly entered the bathroom—as he often did back then—and apologized for slapping her on the night that she’d asked him about the Porter house. It was the only time Emily could remember her father ever apologizing for striking her. He then told her that if it meant so much to her to go see the old house, that she had his permission; but that she would have to go without him.
Emily couldn’t believe her ears. Her father proceeded to give her directions on how to get to the house and cautioned her to be careful out on the mountain. Emily had been so thrilled that she threw her arms around him and kissed him, confused but elated at her father’s rare gesture of kindness.
Little did she know at the tender age of ten that her father’s intentions hadn’t been quite what she had perceived them to be . . .
A log suddenly shifted in the fireplace, causing Emily to flinch. She stood up and reached for the poker then rearranged the logs before settling down again. Cassie had awakened and hopped up into the chair beside her, resting her head on her lap. Emily petted her comfortingly as she stared vacantly into the flames.
The next day, she had gotten up bright and early and set out to find the remains of the old house. She traversed the sprawling backyard until she spotted the obscured path that her father had referred to and followed it. After several yards, the path widened somewhat and resembled a dirt road more than a footpath. Emily soon found herself ambling along at a leisurely pace in spite of her anticipation; enthralled at the quiet beauty afforded by this new, uncharted territory. The air was cooler in the forest, the towering trees shadowing out the harsh rays of the summer sun, and the only sounds were that of an occasional songbird singing and the leaves of the trees rustling in the breeze.
She had hiked nearly a mile when all of a sudden she spotted a clearing in the forest ahead of her. She quickened her pace until she reached the edge of the clearing then stood there for several moments frozen in her tracks.
Before her stood the charred remains of her great-grandparents’ house, its most prominent feature being a tall stone chimney surrounded by the ashen rubble scattered within the foundation. She stood there for several moments, transfixed, and an eerie feeling swept over her, causing her to suddenly feel lightheaded and anxious.
She drew closer to the ruins, taking one precarious step at a time until she was only a dozen feet away from the perimeter. Across from the house and to her left, she could see the remains of what had once been a shed or a barn, now a pile of gray weather-beaten lumber lying in a heap from where the roof had given way and caved in. She gazed back toward the house and spotted an outhouse off to the side about twenty feet away, which had somehow escaped the fire and looked as though a light breeze could blow it over at any moment. An old well with its spigot and pump arm still intact stood to her right between her and the foundation.
Emily could see from the remains that the house had been very plain—one story with no more than two or three rooms—and devoid of any modern conveniences such as plumbing or electricity. She finally gathered up the courage to step into the boundaries of the foundation itself, feeling as though she were trespassing on hollowed ground. She stepped gingerly amongst the charred rubble in hopes of finding something which might give her a clue as to what it had been like living in the house so many years ago, but soon discovered that everything had been well picked-over through the years. She went over to the fireplace and found an old fork blackened by soot and picked it up then wiped it off on her blouse in hope of finding an engraving of some kind. But the fork was devoid of any markings, so she stuck it in her back pocket and continued combing through the debris. Finally, after another half-hour or so, she gave up her search.
Feeling somewhat disconcerted, she went over to the edge of the clearing and discovered a footpath that led further into the woods. She followed the path for a distance of about fifty yards to where it suddenly cut down the side of a steep ravine. She peered down into the ravine and could see a creek at the bottom, the sound of its swift current audible from where she stood. After a few moments, she turned around and headed back to the clearing.
Emily remained at the site for another hour or so, sitting on a log and staring pensively at the ruins. She thought about Katherine and her parents, who had once inhabited this house all those years ago until a fire had ended their lives together. She felt sorry for her grandmother, who had never even known her parents. It was odd, but she suddenly felt closer to Grandma Katherine after having finally visited this place. She felt drawn in; compelled to stay there—as if her presence held some kind of purpose. Her anxiety had abated, and she in fact suddenly felt a sense of security and peacefulness sitting amidst the long forsaken remnants of her family’s past. When Emily finally stood up to leave, she knew that she would return. Little had she known at that point in time just how significant that fact would come into play over the years to come.
The next time she visited her grandfather and Miss Rutledge, Emily told Miss Rutledge about her visit to the house while her grandfather was out of the room. Miss Rutledge had an odd expression on her face when she showed her the fork that she’d found, and she had said something that puzzled her—that she had obviously inherited another one of Katherine’s traits: a boundless curiosity. Miss Rutledge told her that some day, when she was old enough to understand, she would tell her all about her Grandma Katherine. Emily, of course, had argued that she was already old enough to understand—that she was already ten years old and soon would be eleven—but Miss Rutledge had just smiled and said that she still needed a few more years yet. Her grandfather had suddenly entered the room and the subject was promptly dismissed, not to be addressed again for quite some time.
Not long after her initial visit to the old house, Emily’s father had hired Miss Cooper to be her live-in nanny as well as housekeeper. From the very first moment she’d laid eyes on her, Emily knew that she wasn’t going to like her. She was elderly—around sixty or so—and seemed overly stern and domineering as she immediately made it quite clear that she was to be the new boss around the house.
To make matters worse, Emily learned some time afterwards that she was to be sent to a boarding school once summer had ended, instead of being allowed to return to her old school in Ashland Falls. It was an all-girl’s school, no less, located further upstate in Albany.
Suddenly, her life was being turned upside down with all of these changes. She had pleaded with her father to let her stay in Ashland Falls but he refused to budge. He told her that he wanted his daughter to have the very best education available, and that The Andover School For Girls was recognized as one of the finest schools of its kind in the Northeast. She had then turned to Grandpa Warren for help, hoping that he could somehow change her father’s mind. But that had been like putting out fire with gasoline.
Feeling helpless and depressed, Emily had spent the remainder of that summer withdrawn and for the most part alone. She went out to the old house frequently, finding solace in its quiet, enchanting sanctity. She occasionally played with her friends but preferred being with her grandfather and Miss Rutledge instead, visiting them as often as she could. By the summer’s end, living at home had become unbearable between Miss Cooper’s constant nagging and her father’s sudden strange and erratic behavior. He left town frequently for days at a time, leaving her alone at the mercy of Miss Cooper. When he was home, he kept to himself for the most part; but rarely failed making an appearance in the bathroom at night while she was taking her bath. This had become a sort of ritual throughout the summer and Emily hadn’t really known what to make of it at the time—except that he was actually nice to her for a change as he helped her to bathe and she would always be on her guard not to do anything that might spoil his mood. But something about this ritual had never seemed quite right, and it often gave her the creeps whenever she allowed herself to dwell on it for any length of time.
Finally, in the fall, she was shipped off to boarding school. It had been very difficult at first; the teachers and the rules were regimental and strict, and the girls all seemed snobby. But she eventually found herself lost in her studies and adjusted. She made some friends and excelled in her courses. She went home rarely, only on major holidays, when her father would come up and act like he was glad to see her then spend the remainder of the drive back to Ashland Falls asking about her grades. Once they arrived home, everything would return to the way it had always been before—her father making himself scarce and leaving her all alone with Miss Cooper the hag.
Christmas had always been Emily’s favorite time of year, but her first Christmas since her mother’s death had been anything but joyous. Her father had always looked upon Christmas as a big nuisance anyway, and without her mother there to make it something special, he merely went through the motions as if he couldn’t wait to get it all over with. He set up an artificial tree (they had always gotten a real tree when her mother was alive), and he gave Emily a zillion presents, as if to make up for lifetime of neglect in one giant heap of generosity. Emily saw through this—but pretended to be grateful for the gifts that she would have gladly traded in for a warm hug and some kind of genuine expression of love from her father.
It was during this particular Christmas vacation, on New Year’s Eve, when it happened.
Her father had raped her.
And the nightmares began.
CHAPTER 2
Emily felt the tears well up in her eyes and the fire became a blur. As the events of that night raced through her mind she felt the impulsive urge to break down and cry. But she didn’t. Her sorrow turned to anger instead.
Her father had violated her. The man who had all but discarded her and abused poor Mother had gone one step further and committed the ultimate act of selfishness. He had raped his own daughter. And she had been no more than a child.
In an act of sheer will and determination, Emily completely blotted this grim reality from her mind, just as she had so many times before. Her eyes became lucid again. With a shrug of her shoulders, she glanced down at Cassie’s head resting on her lap. She was fast asleep.
Her thoughts shifted back to the period following her graduation from Andover. She’d been accepted at Yale on the strength of her academic status: a perfect 4.0 average. She had planned on a history major at the time but had mixed feelings about rushing into college so soon. She debated staying at home for a year, just to relax and ponder her options for the future. But the prospect of living with her father day-in and day-out at eighteen years of age was just too much to fathom, so she had enrolled at Yale in the fall.
Her first year of college had gone well, scholastically speaking. She excelled in most of her courses and made the dean’s list. She seldom socialized, preferring her studies over the numerous activities offered on campus. She made a few casual friends but dated no one—politely turning down the numerous offers she received by making the first excuse that popped into her head at the moment. She was often asked by her friends why she never went out with any of the guys on campus and her reply had always been the same: she had just gotten over a bad relationship with a boy back home and needed some time to “air-out” before even considering dating anyone again. This was the same pat excuse she’d used throughout high school and it had never failed her.
She spent the summer following her freshman year doing a lot of soul-searching and came to realize that being away at college had made her homesick. Her father had been away more often than usual that summer, leaving her virtually alone in the house for the first time in her life. Miss Cooper, who no longer lived at the house, had nonetheless remained his housekeeper and came to clean two afternoons a week.
Emily had reveled in this new solitude and enjoyed the freedom of living in the big house all by herself. She took up gardening, tried her hand at canning, and spent hours on end taking long walks on the mountain—particularly to the old Porter house. She continued her voracious reading habits and had eventually amassed quite a library of historical literature.
When she resumed classes in the fall of that year, it had been with considerable regret. After only a couple of weeks she found herself longing to be back home again. Her grades started slipping, and had it not been for her keen interest in history she probably would have dropped out of school before the year was over. But she had managed to hang in through spring quarter.
That’s when she met Ted.
Ted Chalmers was in pre-law and had asked her out repeatedly throughout spring quarter. In spite of her constant refusals, he had finally managed to coax her into going out to dinner with him—only after Emily had made it clear that she was accepting his offer on a friendly basis and had no intentions of letting it go beyond that. He’d taken her to an expensive restaurant off-campus and she’d ended up having a much better time than she’d thought she would. She enjoyed Ted’s company and found herself telling him things that she’d never told anybody else before. He had kept his end of the bargain too, behaving like a perfect gentleman and accepting a handshake when he’d dropped her off at her dorm instead of expecting something more. Ted’s chivalry had impressed her immensely.
They had become good friends from that day on. They frequently went out to dinner and studied together either at Ted’s apartment or in her dorm. Emily was surprised and delighted at how well they got along, especially considering the fact that he was a guy. It was an entirely new experience for her—she had always been wary of males before then—but she felt that Ted was different than the rest. She knew that she could trust him and always felt safe when he was around. And not once did he try to come on to her. He seemed perfectly content with their platonic relationship.
Near the end of spring quarter, Emily decided to go out on a limb and invited Ted to go back with her to Ashland Falls for a few days; to check out the little town in the Catskills she’d told him so much about. Ted happily accepted her invitation but confessed that he was a little leery of what her father might think of the idea. Emily explained that her father was rarely at home and assured Ted that even if he was, he probably wouldn’t object to the arrangement. After all, she asserted, they were just friends and he would be staying in one of the spare bedrooms.
So when finals were over they had headed down to Ashland Falls, Ted following Emily in his car. But when she pulled into the driveway and saw her father’s BMW there, Emily’s heart skipped a beat. She honestly hadn’t expected him to be home. In a flash, she realized that she’d made a huge mistake bringing Ted home but at the same time knew it was too late to do anything about it. Her only hope had been that her father would be civil about everything.
He wasn’t.
Emily could still see the hideous look of absolute fury on his face the moment she had taken Ted into the den and introduced him. She could remember glancing over at Ted and seeing the utter dread in his eyes as he stood there wondering what he’d let her drag him into.
To this day, Emily still had no idea how she had mustered up the gall (or would stupidity be a better word?) to announce that Ted was to be her guest in the house for a few days. Whatever it was that had motivated her, she’d known as soon as the words left her mouth that she had done a very foolish thing—
Her father had gone absolutely berserk.
He started screaming at her vehemently, called her a whore and a slut and smacked her hard across her face. He declared that she wasn’t going to fuck anyone in his house as long as he was alive to do something about it. Then he’d glared threateningly at Ted, adding that she especially wasn’t going to fuck “this egg-headed asshole.”
Ted had become enraged and took a swing at her father, but Charles was too quick for him. He slugged Ted so hard that he’d fallen back into the bookcase and hit his head, practically knocking him unconscious. Then he had stormed out of the room in a maniacal rage.
Emily had run over to check on Ted. Once he assured her that he was okay, Ted told her that all he wanted was to get the hell out of her house before her lunatic father came back to finish him off. Emily’s fear turned to anger once it had fully registered what her father had just done.
She had taken Ted out to his car and told him to wait for her then went back into the house. She found her father in his bedroom, sitting on the edge of his bed and looking as though he’d just see a ghost. He was pale and his eyes were staring straight ahead, blank and distant. Emily announced to him that she was moving away—getting away from him forever. Instead of lashing out at her as she’d expected, he just sat there staring vacantly at the wall. Then he calmly declared that she would never follow through with it. Emily knew that he was right, but wasn’t about to admit it. So instead of retaliating, she told him that she was going to check Ted into the hotel in town and that there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. This hadn’t seemed to faze Charles at all. He merely replied quietly that she was probably right.
This had been just one of many instances when Emily had seriously pondered the possibility that her father was quite insane.
She met Ted outside and asked him to follow her into town. She told him he could stay at the Ashland Falls Inn and that they could still have a good time in spite of her father. Ted hadn’t been very keen to the idea and suggested that perhaps it would be better if he just left town and headed back to his home in Baltimore. But Emily was adamant—she wasn’t about to let her father spoil her plans. So Ted checked into the hotel.
For the next few days, Emily had the best time she’d had in her entire life. She and Ted hadn’t done anything particularly exciting; it was just the fact that she was getting out and doing things with a male companion whom she was very fond of on her home turf that had been so fulfilling. At night, they made the rounds through town, hanging out with the locals, and catching a movie at the town’s only movie theater. She’d taken Ted over to her grandfather’s house and it became more than obvious that both Grandpa Warren and Miss Rutledge were overjoyed to see her with a man and enjoying herself for a change.
At one point during the visit, Miss Rutledge had taken her aside and asked her if she was serious about Ted. Emily laughed and told her that they were just good friends. The look of disappointment on Miss Rutledge’s face had been more than evident, and Emily wondered at the time why she’d been so affected by her reply.
Just before she and Ted had left, her grandfather had given her a hug and told her he loved her. Then he’d asked her to wait a moment while he went into his study to get something. He’d returned with a framed portrait of Grandma Katherine and handed it to her. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he explained to her that the portrait had been taken not long before she’d passed away, and that he wanted Emily to keep it. Emily had tried to hide her shock at seeing the remarkable resemblance between herself and her grandmother as she thanked him and began weeping herself, telling him that she loved him and that she would treasure the portrait forever.
It was the last time Emily saw her grandfather alive.
On the fifth day of Ted’s visit, Emily had suggested that they take a picnic out on the mountain. She’d learned from Miss Cooper that her father was out of town on business and wouldn’t be back for several days. Emily packed a lunch complete with a chilled bottle of wine then the two had set out for the woods.
It had been an absolutely gorgeous day; sunny and warm, yet still early enough in the season not to be humid. Emily had considered taking Ted to the old house but decided against it since she hadn’t told him about her family’s past and didn’t want to have to try and explain the ruins to him. So she opted to take him to one of the more scenic areas of the mountain that she had frequented—a clearing near the western ridge that offered a spectacular view of the Hudson valley.
They had reached the clearing in a little less than half an hour. Emily spread a blanket out beneath one of the trees and went about preparing their lunch.
Emily had never been much of a drinker. One drink was normally enough to get her tipsy and much more than that usually got her downright drunk. They each drank a glass of wine with their meal and when Ted offered to refill Emily’s glass she declined. He’d seemed annoyed by this, Emily noticed, but he said nothing. He poured himself another glass and drained it then poured another one.
Emily began noticing a gradual change in Ted as they sat there in relative silence, taking in the beauty and tranquility of the surroundings. It was in his eyes; the way he looked over at her from time to time. It was a sort of wild, hungry look and it started to frighten her. Twice she’d caught him staring down at her breasts, and she suddenly wished she had chosen something other than the white tee shirt, sans bra, that she had worn. Each time she caught Ted staring, he sort of snickered at her in a scary way then turned his head away from her—pretending to be absorbed in the scenery.
She started feeling even more uncomfortable when Ted had poured himself the last of the wine. Something inside told her that things were going wrong—that Ted was breaking down and suddenly had more on his mind than friendship. She tried telling herself that perhaps she was just imagining these things; that surely Ted would never break her trust in him. Surely, she thought, she was just imagining all of this. But that look in his eyes, the way he kept looking at her . . .
All of a sudden Ted had thrown his arms around her and pressed his lips hard against hers. She tried to break away, but couldn’t. He lunged forward, causing her to fall back onto the ground with him on top of her. She screamed out his name and for a fleeting moment he merely stared at her; his eyes wild and vacant—like those of a hungry shark.
She started beating his back with her fists then dug her fingernails into him, but he never even flinched. One of his hands slid in under her shirt and grabbed her breast as his other hand yanked down her walking shorts. Her mind was reeling by then and she started screaming at the top of her lungs, knowing full well that no one would ever hear her.
Then she felt a finger enter her. Her shorts were pulled down to her knees as he took his hand away from her breast and started pulling down her panties. His strength was incredible as he pinned her hard against the ground with his chest, making her arms feel powerless under the pressure of his weight.
He yanked down her panties and shorts to her ankles and somehow managed to slide them over her feet, keeping her pinned down at the same time. Then he raised himself up from her just enough to undo his jeans, resting his weight on an outstretched arm.
This had been her only chance.
With every ounce of strength she had, she rammed her knee into his crotch, causing Ted to let out a bloodcurdling scream and fall to her side. In an instant she was on her feet. As Ted brought his hands to his crotch in agony, she kicked him in the face with her foot as hard as she could. Then, she ran.
She reached her house in what seemed like seconds and bolted into the kitchen. She was sobbing hysterically as she stood over the kitchen sink trying to catch her breath. She took a glass out of the cupboard, filled it with water and drank it down before realizing that she was naked from the waist down. She shuddered to herself in horror and ran up into her bedroom to throw on a pair of jeans before going back downstairs to await Ted’s return.
As she stood by the back door staring out the window, Emily had no idea what to expect; whether Ted would be running, walking, or crawling back to her. She only knew that he had to come out of the forest sometime.
She’d waited about forty-five minutes when Ted finally appeared. She spotted him just as he emerged from the woods and stepped onto her back yard. His stride was unsteady and slow, his hand holding something white against the side of his face. As he limped across the yard, she could see that he was staring at the house, perhaps in an effort to map out his next move. Her heart started pounding faster as he drew closer.
When he was about twenty yards away, he spotted her standing there and stopped dead in his tracks. He hollered her name and asked her to open the door.
Emily hesitated for a moment then opened the door a few inches and stuck her head out. She could see that his left cheek was bleeding where she’d kicked him and cringed when she realized that the cloth he was holding against it was her panties—now soaked with his blood.
Emily could tell by the expression on his face that he meant her no further harm. In fact, it looked as though he’d been crying—either out of shame for what he’d done or from the pain he no doubt was experiencing. She really wasn’t sure which was the case.
Ted started apologizing to her vehemently and begged her to forgive him. He told her he didn’t know what had gotten into him—he’d simply lost control of himself after all the wine he’d drunk. Emily remained silent as he spoke and merely stared at him until he was finished saying what he had to say. Then she calmly ordered him off her property and told him that she never wanted to see him again. She closed the door, locked it, and waited until Ted got into his car and left. Then she had gone upstairs and taken a long hot bath.
She never saw Ted Chalmers again . . .
Emily felt a lump come to her throat after recalling that day. She knew now what she hadn’t realized then; that she had fallen in love with Ted Charmers but at the time had hidden it from herself. And had what occurred on that Sunday afternoon never happened, she might have seen things turn out differently then they had.
But Ted had blown it. And ever since that day she had never trusted another man. She never would again.
Emily glanced over at the mantle at the portrait of Grandma Katherine her grandfather had given her on the last day she’d seen him alive. She missed him so much and wished that he could be with her now, holding her in his arms and reassuring her that everything was going to be all right. He’d always had that calming affect on her and, in retrospect, she realized now that Grandpa Warren had been the true father figure in her life—the father that her real father had never been. She silently cursed Charles under her breath for keeping her away from her grandfather as long as he had and depriving her of someone who had meant so much to her.
It had been less than a week after the incident with Ted when Miss Rutledge had called and told her that her grandfather had passed away. He’d had a massive heart attack earlier that morning. Her father had been in the room at the time and asked her why she was crying. When she told him what had happened, she couldn’t believe the look on his face. Not a look of shock or grief—but a look of jubilation, carefully masked by an expression of mock remorse. But he hadn’t fooled her for one second.
In his will, Warren Hoffman left to his only son, Charles, all interests to Hoffman Textiles and the remainder of his assets, with the exception of his home in Ashland Falls, which he left to Dorothy Ann Rutledge. Also, he left to his granddaughter, Emily Hoffman, the sum of $75,000.
But Emily later learned from Miss Rutledge that her grandfather had intended to have his will rewritten. The new will would have left Hoffman Textiles to her father and Emily jointly, with the added stipulation that Emily would own 51% of the interests and her father the remaining 49%. The purpose of this would have been to prevent her father from selling the business, which her grandfather suspected that he might well do. In order for him to sell out, her father would have to either acquire Emily’s consent or buy out her interests in order to do so, which would have been virtually impossible for him to do. Miss Rutledge told Emily that her grandfather had always been slow in doing things and although he’d mentioned changing his will several times throughout the years, he’d never gotten around to it.
This revelation had haunted Emily for the last ten years. She had thought to herself on numerous occasions: if only—
But Hoffman Textiles became her father’s legal possession and when this became common knowledge around town, the rumors started flying that Charles Hoffman might sell out. Emily had little doubt that he was going to sell—she’d heard him talking on the phone to several investors over the next few weeks after her grandfather’s funeral. But she had been under the impression that he was trying to find someone to take over ownership of the mill, and never in her wildest dreams thought that he would sellout completely—lock, stock, and barrel. When he had indeed sold the family business to land developers and Hoffman Textiles was subsequently leveled to the ground, Emily had been just as shocked as everyone else.
It was during the period between her grandfather’s death and the shutdown of the mill that Miss Rutledge had called Emily and invited her over to her house. She told her that she wanted her to look over several items that her grandfather had left that she might be interested in having.
It was on this particular day that Emily learned what had been kept from her all those years concerning her Grandmother Katherine.
Emily could still see the stern, deliberate look on Miss Rutledge’s face as she recalled that ominous day of revelation . . .
CHAPTER 3
Emily had no sooner arrived at her grandfather’s house, which now belonged to Miss Rutledge, when she was led into the living room and asked to sit down by her aging host. Miss Rutledge took a seat on the sofa across from her and cleared her throat ceremoniously.
“I have asked you over, Emily, because there are a few things I feel compelled to tell you now that your grandfather has passed on—God rest his soul. Warren and I both were beside ourselves for years debating whether we should or should not tell you what I’m about to say, and I must confess that it hasn’t been an easy decision to make. But I feel, and have always felt, that you should know these things because you have the right to know, if for no other earthly reason. I also feel it may shed some light on a few things and help you to understand why circumstances have come to be as they are.
“You already know part of the story concerning your grandmother, Katherine Hoffman, and how she was raised by my mother after her parents perished in the fire that destroyed their home. What you don’t know is that your grandmother had been inside that house while it was burning and that she had been rescued by your great-grandfather, John Hoffman, Warren’s father. John Hoffman had been coon hunting on the mountain alone that night when he discovered that the house was on fire. He ran over to the house, which had been engulfed in flames by that time, and went inside in an effort to save anyone who might still be alive. Clem and Nancy Porter, Katherine’s parents, were already dead but their infant daughter miraculously was unharmed. John quickly snatched up little Katherine and fled the house just before the roof had fallen in.
“John Hoffman had been quite close to Clem Porter’s father and in fact had given him the small plot of land where Clem and his family were living years before the tragedy. When Clem’s father had passed on, Clem was left alone in that house at a young age without any family and no means of support, so your great-grandfather had more or less taken him under his wing and given him a job at the mill. After rescuing your grandmother from the house that night, John felt an obligation to Clem to see that his daughter would be taken care of. So, he confronted my mother and asked her to consider taking little Katherine in and raising her. Neither Clem nor Nancy had any surviving relatives. He told her that had he not been a widower with a child of his own to raise—your grandfather, who was only two at the time—he would have adopted Katherine himself. He also offered to help out financially. My mother, who as you already know had been a close friend of Clem and Nancy’s anyway, happily accepted his proposal.
“My mother had been your great-grandfather’s housekeeper and we were living in the guest house that used to be out back across the courtyard. The fact that she was to become Katherine’s legal guardian was really only a formality since, for all intent and purposes, she was already raising your grandfather and myself anyway. In reality, we were more or less one happy family, seeing as we for the most part were living under the same roof.
“I was only four years old at the time and thrilled to have a little sister to look after and care for. Warren simply loved Katherine right from the beginning and they eventually became inseparable as the years went by. By the time Katherine was fifteen, and Warren seventeen, it became quite apparent that they had fallen in love with each other. Then, a dreadful thing happened. Katherine became pregnant. Warren was the father.
“This became a very grave matter indeed. It could have been resolved easily, in theory. Warren wanted to marry Katherine and she wanted to marry him. It wasn’t unusual for a fifteen year old girl to get married back in those days, so there was no real threat of public scorn or any such nonsense as that. Furthermore, your grandfather was financially secure since he had already been helping his father run the mill and knew that he would eventually inherit it. Everything should have turned out all right, in light of all of this.”
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