The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope - By Rhonda Riley Page 0,154
know what a thing is and respect its power. You don’t fly the Apollo spacecraft to the corner store. That is waste, ignorance, disrespect. Respect the vessel you are in. And we will respect you. Evelyn?”
The tension in the girls’ faces had already softened to gratitude as they turned to me for my response. I had nothing more to add, but I vowed to myself that I would keep a much closer eye on all of the girls.
After dinner, Gracie and Rosie were contrite. Without complaint, they accepted our list of extra chores and restrictions.
A couple of days later, while Adam was out on horseback, I approached Gracie as she folded clothes in the laundry room. All the girls had been more attentive to the housework since my accidental trip.
“Almost everybody else had some of the Kool-Aid that night,” she confirmed. “But I didn’t. Rosie either. We didn’t bother.” She shrugged. “I’ve tripped before. But I just felt good. The world was very pretty. And louder. That was all. It’s overrated if you ask me. I agree with Daddy.”
“Obviously it doesn’t affect everyone the same way. Your father wasn’t hallucinating. So what did he hear the night of the party?”
Gracie slowly picked up a big towel and folded it. For a long moment, she did not reply. Since the LSD, she and Rosie had treated me with an unnerving self-consciousness, as if they thought I might burst into flame at any moment. She squatted to retrieve more clothes from the dryer. “Momma, you remember when you told us the facts of life?”
“Yes, of course.” I frowned at her obvious attempt to change the subject.
“Well, you told us we could ask you anything about sex. I want you to know that I’ve always appreciated that. I know girls whose mothers never told them anything.” She paused to fold another towel. “But you also said that we all have a right to privacy and some things should remain private. We could ask you anything about sex as long as it wasn’t about what you had done, personally. And you promised not to ask us the same sort of questions, right?”
I nodded, curious.
She continued only after she saw me agree. “You said it was your duty to make sure we were using protection and you had a right to ask us about that, but the rest was our private lives. You also said you wanted us to tell you if any man ever hurt us.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I said. You called it ‘limited disclosure.’ ”
She smiled when I quoted her. “That was the deal.” She studied my face as she closed the dryer. “So the night you and Daddy drank the Kool-Aid, I was well protected and nobody was hurting me. But, like you with Daddy, I probably wasn’t as quiet as I should have been.” She glanced away and I heard the slight challenge in her tone.
“Oh.” I recalled the perfect, long-resonating sound of her father’s climax with me the night before and understood why she’d blushed when Adam confronted her. I also realized, with relief, that I had been wrong. Her denial had nothing to do with me or what happened after Jennie’s funeral.
Gracie ignored my red face and squeezed past me with her basket of folded laundry. “Mom, I’m going to be a junior next year. I really need my own apartment. I think I’ve found a good place, cheap. Close to campus.”
That night, Adam came in late from the stables. He’d been checking on a mare who would foal soon. He undressed in the dark, and spooned up close behind me.
I repeated everything Gracie had said earlier.
He laughed, flipped on the bedside lamp, and sat up. “Of course, that’s why she lied! Sex is the one time it’s so difficult not to . . . Evelyn, I heard a burst of pure joy from her. As if something enormous swam past me in a flash. Something powerful and beautiful whipping by. Then a long bubbling wake of warmth. I could almost see it.” He shivered and wiped his eyes. “What’s his name?”
“You really think I’d ask for details at the end of that conversation?”
“Well, no, but that’s okay. We’ll hear more about him, I’m sure. He made her very happy.”
I’d expected at least a little paternal bluster about his daughter having sex. He was, after all, a man. Instead, he placed my hand on his chest and drew me into his arms.