The Restoration of Celia Fairchild - Marie Bostwick Page 0,88
nodded dumbly because, of course, he was right.
In that moment, I had only had two options: ask that man to call my father, or do nothing and follow Calpurnia up the gangplank and onto the ship the following morning, a ship that would sail across the sea without a stop to the Canary Islands and then Lisbon, Portugal. The tickets Calpurnia was carrying when the police searched her said that was where we were to disembark.
What was her plan after that? I don’t know. I never got to ask her.
Calpurnia returned to the motel two hours later. In that time, she’d sold the car for cash, bought the tickets, a bottle of sunscreen, and a giant bag of gummy bears: leave it to Cal to remember the important things. There were police cars everywhere. She had to know what was going to happen, but she didn’t tell the taxi driver to turn around or keep going. She stepped out of the cab and asked the police if I was all right. They arrested her on the spot.
I was inside the motel room with two police officers and a social worker. There was a lot of noise, so I looked out the window, saw them putting her in handcuffs, and ran out the door, screaming for them to let her go and that I was sorry, that I didn’t mean it, that I’d just been joking. The social worker tried to calm me down. I bit her hand as hard as I could and then one of the cops picked me up, tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of meal, and carried me back to the motel room. Two others put Aunt Calpurnia in a squad car and drove away.
That was the last time I saw her.
For months, Sterling barely let me out of his sight. He took me to school and picked me up every day, altering his teaching schedule so he could. Charleston is such a small town; the last thing Sterling wanted was the publicity of a trial. He brokered a deal to drop the charges in exchange for a restraining order. If Calpurnia got within a thousand feet of me, she could be arrested and the charges reinstated.
Sterling told me that if I tried to get in contact, Calpurnia would be sent to jail for years, and I believed him. I rode my bike back to Harleston Village once, when I was about fourteen. Felicia was out in her garden, watering some plants, and I was afraid she’d recognize me and call the police, so I pedaled away as fast as I could and didn’t go back until after Sterling died. By then it was too late.
“Anyway.” I didn’t have to say more. Trey knew the rest of it. I picked up my coffee mug and took a big gulp. It was cold but I was thirsty. “Do you know that you’re the only person I’ve ever told that story to? Guess you look trustworthy or something.”
“Must be the suit.”
It really wasn’t funny but I gave him fifty bonus points anyway, for helping relieve the tension. I’d revealed so much, more than I’d planned on, and still didn’t understand why. Maybe it was the suit. Maybe it was him. There was so much I didn’t know about him but one thing I was sure of: Trey Holcomb was a good man, a man you could trust your secrets to.
“Well. Looks like my cousin is a no-show. Should we go ahead and order?” I asked, forcing a smile and shifting gears. “I’m buying. No arguments. You should at least get a free meal out of this rabbit chase.”
“How do you know I’m not billing you?”
“Are you?”
“No.” Trey smiled and took the last piece of bread.
Trey ordered biscuits and gravy with tomato jam. I considered the waffles but chose grits again: the daily special was sausage, roasted red and green peppers, fresh grilled corn, snow peas, and green onions over smoked gouda cheese grits. When the food arrived, I pulled out my phone and took a picture of my plate to text to Calvin later. I was looking at the screen, fiddling with the lighting, when I heard a familiar voice.
“Hey, Celia.”
“Well, hey, Teddy!” I raised my hand so he could smack it. Since we’d bonded over ice cream, Teddy and I always exchanged high fives. “How are you today?”
“Late,” he said. “Missed my bus and had to wait half an hour for the next one.”