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Derrick and Maggie left with backpacks and fishing poles and smiles. Teresa waited until the family car pulled out of the driveway and disappeared down the road. Then she tiptoed into the hallway.
“Tiffany? Are you here?” She peered into the front room. “I’m saying yes. I want another chance. Please come out.”
Nothing.
She sighed and looked at Big Bear. Seeing him sitting there amongst the pillows jarred her memory. Tiffany had said her friend was staying in the abandoned funeral home. Maybe Tiffany was staying there too. She took a light jacket from the coat closet and went outside.
Derrick and Maggie went south. She went north into town. Derrick was right. She rarely left the house. Why would she? There was nothing out here for her. The people didn’t even care for her.
“Good morning, Mrs. Hart,” someone shouted from across the street, as if to prove her wrong.
“It’s Doctor Hart,” she said. The person’s smile faded. Teresa pulled her jacket tighter and kept her eyes on the sidewalk until she reached the dirt road that led out to the old graveyard.
When Derrick first brought her to Harmony, he’d given her the grand tour of the place. Back then she was just happy to have a new husband and a new future ahead of her. Happy to be living her life according to her mother’s plans. His tour included the abandoned funeral home, mainly because that’s where he and his high school buddies did all of their underage drinking.
He probably took Ann there, too. Is that where they shared their first time? Teresa shook the thought from her head and lifted her chin.
The damp ground squelched under her feet. She wiggled her toes inside her ballerina flats, and, undeterred by her lousy choice of footwear, picked her way between the muddy potholes.
Despite her careful attempt to keep her shoes clean, they were a mess, and her toes were numb by the time she reached mile marker one. She turned and peered into the forest. Then she stepped over the little creek and stood among the trees.
The old house sat tucked back away from the road. The front porch steps bowed in the middle, the rusty nails no longer able to hold them to the frame. It made the house look as though it smiled. The front door hung open to the left on a single hinge, inviting her in.
Teresa wondered if Tiffany was inside, if Tiffany’s friend was home. The friend who would reunite them and make everything better. Fix it all. Bring back her happiness.
Teresa approached the porch and ascended the steps.
“Tiffany?” she called, though her voice only came as a whisper. “Are you here?”
A sudden chill in the air tingled over her skin, and she tugged her jacket tighter. She peered through the darkness into the entry but couldn’t see anything. The remnants of caution tape hung from a staple in the upper right corner of the door frame. She put one foot over the threshold. No turning back.
This is what you want.
Inside the house, the air warmed. Much warmer than it should have been. The stench of mildew and urine permeated her nostrils. Teresa crinkled her nose. This was no place for her daughter to live.
The farther she ventured inside, the warmer it got. Teresa loosened her jacket. It had to be nearly as warm as Derrick kept the house.
“Tiffany?” Teresa’s voice seemed too loud in this damp, muted place. She closed her eyes. It wasn’t real. It had been a dream. Of course it had been. Since when did dead daughters appear seven years after their death asking for help to come back? Teresa let out a long breath and opened her eyes.
Fire light licked from torches set in stone. Stone walls? She turned around. The doorway was still visible, centered on a crumbling plaster wall, flanked by windows. But when she turned back around, the walls dissolved into sandy stone. Toward the back of the cave, a pool of water reflected the light, and a tunnel led off into complete darkness.
“Hello?” she said. Her voice traveled far away. She reached for one of the torches.
“Mommy!” Tiffany’s voice said from behind her. “You came!”
Teresa turned, and Tiffany ran to her and danced around her, beaming with delight. What a difference from the malice that adorned her face the previous night.
“I knew you would come.” She grinned up at Teresa. Teresa dropped to one knee. The firelight danced across Tiffany’s beautiful, pale face.
“Yes, I’m here,” Teresa said. “And my answer is yes. I do want to be with you again. I will do anything to have you back.”
Tiffany’s eyes sparkled in the flickering flames. “I know.”
“Where is your . . . friend?” Teresa looked around. “I’d like to meet him.”
“He’s not here.” Tiffany danced away in a circle. “You don’t need to worry about him, anyway.” She twirled back to Teresa and stared into her face. “I will come to you tonight, and we can get started.”
“Get started on what?”
Tiffany threw her head back and laughed a girlish cackle. “It’s a surprise, Mommy! I can’t tell you everything!”
Teresa didn’t like not knowing what was expected of her. She wanted all of the details, the requirements, to get her daughter back. But Tiffany’s face, her beautiful expression, told her, just this once, she could let go of that control.
“Okay,” Teresa said. She watched her daughter dance in the firelight. Her grace and beauty in direct contrast to the rough and dirty cave. “Would you be more comfortable at the house?”
Tiffany shook her head. “I can’t be away from my friend for very long. I get so weak.” She drooped her body forward. Then she snapped upright again. She patted Teresa’s head. “Go home, Mommy. I will see you tonight.”
“Oh . . . okay.” Teresa stood and backed away, not wanting to leave her baby. She turned and stepped onto the front porch. At the steps, she looked back. Inside, the room was dark, but she could just make out old living room furniture, a door, and a staircase.
“I’m losing my mind,” she whispered. “I’ve completely lost it.” She trudged back to town, ignoring the puddles and the muddy sections of the road. When she reached the roundabout, her pant legs were wet halfway up her shins, her feet covered in mud. She’d have to throw those shoes away. There was no saving them.