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"Yes, Jimmy."
"All right, then. First thing you do is take the money you stole and go over to the hotel and give it back to Mrs. Bradly, along with the' best apology you can dream up," he commanded.
"I can't!" she cried.
"It takes a lot more courage to do right sometimes than it does to do wrong, but once you do it, you're gonna feel a lot better about yourself, honey," Jimmy said.
"Everyone's going to hate me and think horrible things about me," she moaned.
"For a while, perhaps," I said. "But if you want them to think better of you, you will have to earn it."
"Go on, Fern," Jimmy commanded.
Fern swallowed hard and slipped off the bed. She went to the shoe box and counted out the money she had stolen. She stuffed it into her pocket and left the room.
"Do you think she's going to change?" Jimmy asked.
"I don't know, Jimmy. You don't erase years and years of misbehavior, distrust and deceit overnight. But," I said sighing, "we'll give her the chance."
Jimmy put his arm around my shoulders.
"Did I ever tell you that you're just about the best reason for me to get up every morning?" he asked.
"Not for a couple of minutes, you haven't."
"Well, let me just do that. Better yet," he said, turning me toward our bedroom, "let me show you."
19
WINDS OF CHANGE
A GREAT MANY CHANGES OCCURRED IN OUR LIVES THAT WINTER.
Unfortunately, Fern's turning over a new leaf was not one of them. Despite her promises, her behavior at school continued to be a problem for us. On two occasions Jimmy had to leave work to have a meeting with the principal and Fern's teachers. She was still being insolent in class. We would punish her for a while, and for a while she would improve, but then she would do something to throw us all back to step one.
She continued to be selfish and inconsiderate, playing her rock-and-roll music so loud it vibrated through the walls, finding reasons not to help with household chores and breaking curfew after curfew. She would go into mood swings that took her from utter tragedy, where she would cry at the drop of a pin and peck at her food like a bird, to periods of ecstasy, when she would float through the house dreaming of a new boyfriend.
She did become a budding dark beauty. She let her hair grow long and sat at her vanity table brushing it for hours while Christie sat beside her on the floor jabbering away. Unfortunately, Fern continued to choose school friends much older than herself. Even so, we tried to be understanding and permitted her to go to her first school dance. She went with a boy three years older, and she marched into the house that night two hours after her curfew.
Jimmy was beside himself. He bawled her out, threatened, imposed new punishments, and did all that he could. Fern fell back on familiar excuses for her bad behavior. She used them so often, they became her anthem: "I had a horrible childhood. I was deserted by my real family. I'm trying."
As usual, in the end Jimmy felt bad and softened, and she was forgiven.
"I guess it's just going to take her a little longer," he said.
That spring Christie performed her first piano recital for our hotel guests. She wore a pink chiffon dress with crinoline under the skirt and had her long golden hair brushed down until it fell softly to the middle of her back. She melted hearts just marching into the room and curtsying. Then she sat down and played a piece of a Mozart concerto, as well as Brahms' Lullaby. Philip and Betty Ann's twins, Richard and Melanie, sat in the first row. They wore matching outfits and clapped vigorously, their little palms turning red. Afterward we served tea and cakes. Jimmy and I were so proud of Christie and the adorable way she accepted all the compliments, batted her eyelashes at the older gentlemen and permitted their wives to kiss her on the cheek.
"She works a party better than Mrs. Cutler used to," Mr. Updike remarked. "She's a natural hotel owner."
I laughed, but I thought I wanted better things for her. She was too special.
In late spring Daddy Longchamp, Edwina and Gavin made their second visit. Gavin was very excited about their return and about being with Christie and Fern and the twins, all of whom he considered family now. Daddy told us how he bragged about his brother's and stepsister's big hotel back east.
"He's been asking regularly to come back since the day after we returned from the first trip," Daddy said.
Fern didn't behave any more warmly toward Daddy Longchamp. If anything, I thought she was ashamed of him. She sat and answered his questions politely because we were watching her, but the moment she could, she excused herself and went off to talk on the phone to her new boyfriend.
"She's getting more and more beautiful," Daddy Longchamp said. "I know she's a handful for you, but you and Jimmy are doin' a great job with her, Dawn. I'm mighty proud how you all turned out," he added.
