If it hadn’t been for Neal, there would have been no rape. He and his father were her central targets. She didn’t intend to let Hutch, Donna Dee, and Lamar off lightly, but they would topple as a consequence of the Patchetts’ destruction.
Under an assumed name, she subscribed to the Palmetto Post, the daily newspaper, and had it mailed to a post-office box on campus. The newspaper kept her up to date on local news. During the summer she had read the announcement of Donna Dee’s marriage to Hutch. Jade wondered if she had had three bridesmaids all dressed in pink as she had always wanted. She kept the newspapers away from the Hearons’ house for fear that they would discover that she was persona non grata in her hometown. Mitch’s relatives there must be “distant” indeed, because he had no contact with them—no calls or visits, not even birthday cards. The topic had never come up again, but it was months before Jade was able to let go of her fear of discovery. The couple had come to mean so much to her and Graham, and she didn’t want anything to damage their relationship.
They charged her only fifty dollars a month for room and board, and that had been levied only to spare her pride. Miss Dorothy gave her a 10-percent discount on clothes for herself. But keeping Graham clothed when he was growing so swiftly was expensive, as were his pediatric checkups and inoculations. Every penny counted.
Because she couldn’t allow anything to jeopardize her job, she wasn’t too pleased when Hank Arnett unexpectedly appeared in Miss Dorothy’s storeroom one afternoon.
Jade popped erect from the box of velour housecoats she was unpacking. “What are you doing here? Please leave. I’ll lose my job.”
“Have no fear, Jade. The old girl’s not going to fire you. I told her I had an urgent message for you from your land-lord.”
“Dr. Hearon? What message?”
Hank’s face creased in a dozen places when he smiled. “You live with Dean Hearon? Imagine that.” He scratched his head. “I never thought to look into faculty housing. I combed all the dorms and sorority houses.”
“Of all the dirty, rotten tricks!” She had always given evasive answers to his leading questions about where she lived. He had outsmarted her this time, but it was impossible to stay mad at Hank. “Now that you got what you came for, please go. I can’t afford to lose this job.”
“I’ll go quietly under one condition.”
“No conditions.”
“Have it your way.” He sat down on the corner of Miss Dorothy’s desk and pilfered an apple from a basket of fruit, which Miss Dorothy ate religiously for its fiber content.
Jade cast a worried glance toward the storeroom door, half-expecting her employer to come storming through waving a dismissal slip. “What condition?” she whispered.
“Tomorrow, before biology class, you’ve got to have coffee with me. And don’t say you’ve got another class because I’ve seen you studying in the library during that hour.”
“Miss Sperry?”
The sound of Miss Dorothy’s voice galvanized Jade into accepting his invitation and shooing him out with the apple tucked inside his jacket. He gave Miss Dorothy a crisp, military salute on his way out.
Her narrow nostrils quivered with indignation. “Who was that impertinent young man?”
Jade stammered a plausible explanation, but she was laughing on the inside and thinking just how impertinent Hank Arnett was.
They met for coffee the following day and fell into a habit of it. He asked her out on dates to dinner, the movies, and concerts, but, to his disappointment, she always declined. Other young men on campus pursued her too, but she stopped their advances cold. Only Hank had approached her in the friendly, nonthreatening, nonsexual way that she could tolerate.
On a sunny afternoon toward the end of the Christmas vacation, Jade was playing with Graham in the backyard when Cathy called to her. “You have company.”
Hank loped across the yard and dropped down onto the grass beside her. “Hi. I’m a few days late saying this, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”
“Same to you.”
“Was Santa good to you?”
“Too good,” she said, reminded of the Hearons’ embarrassing generosity, which she couldn’t reciprocate. “You’re back from Winston-Salem early.”
He shrugged. “There wasn’t much to do at home except eat. Mom said I looked thin and took it upon herself to remedy that. I reminded her that I’ve always been thin, but she stuffed me anyway. I may not eat again till Easter. Jade, who’s the kid?”
His sentences ran together, but he stopped abruptly after posing the question. Cocking his head to one side, he looked at her curiously, rather like a puppy looks at his master when he speaks.
“This is my son. His name is Graham. Say hello to Hank, Graham.” Graham toddled across the grass toward Hank and smacked him on the nose.
“Hey!” He raised both fists as though ready to box with the child, then socked him lightly in the tummy. Graham laughed.
“I’m not married and never have been, Hank.”
“I didn’t ask.”