Chapter One: Uncertainty
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“M |
rs. Ryan, are you finished yet?” Autumn Elizabeth DuVall was as fidgety as she was impatient and anxious to see the gown being fitted on by mom. She pulled her now shoulder length golden blonde hair out of the way and tried to figure out how she would have her stylist do it for the banquet.
“I would be if you would hold still, child!” Thelma Ryan pulled the needle through the tip of the skirt one last time. She would’ve gotten done a lot faster if the young woman would just stop moving all around like a worm trying to escape the fisherman’s hook.
“I can’t help it! I can’t wait to see how this gown is going to look on me! God, I can’t wait for Ricky to see me in it!”
“Yes you can!” I called from the other side of the curtain where my other best friend, Detective Rena Knight and I were waiting for Autumn to make her debut in her gown.
“Very funny, Caitlin!”
“All right sugar, I’m all done.”
“Can I see it now?” Thelma helped Autumn stand down off the stool and turned her around so that she could see herself in the mirror.
“Oh Mrs. Ryan! It’s gorgeous! I love it!”
“Hey, show us!” I called.
“Yeah, come on,” Rena agreed. “We’re getting older by the minute out here!” Mom drew aside the curtain from what she calls her “backstage area” in her attic sewing room and Autumn stepped out.
“Oh girl, that dress it out of sight!” Rena exclaimed.
“Mom, she looks great!” Autumn’s dress was actually in two pieces. It was a halter with skinny straps and then more material coming around the front, gathered to a V below her left breast, and held in place with a shiny black pin. Below her tiny waist, a ballroom skirt exploded in all its glory. It had an organza overskirt and underneath that, layers and layers of taffeta. The entire ensemble was cranberry, an appropriate color for the upcoming Christmas season.
“Mrs. Ryan, thank you so much! Thank you!” Autumn jumped up and threw her arms around my mother’s neck.
“Oh, you’re welcome honey. Come on, let’s get this off of you and get it in a garment bag so it won’t get ruined. Rena, you’re next.”
“Mom, why do I have to go last?” I whined.
“Because you are my child, that’s why,” she said, winking at me. I took a hint and plopped back down in my old beanbag chair that was at least fifteen years old. Autumn changed quickly, and she came out and joined me while we waited for Mom to fit Rena and hem her dress.
“Your mom was so sweet to make these gowns for us.”
“Thanks. She’s about half the price of those yucky designers, and she’s just as good.”
“Hey, I wear clothes by those yucky designers!”
“Honey, I’m not saying that you don’t look good, but face it. My mom could give you an entire wardrobe for a whole lot less than Armani and Victoria’s Secret. Think of what you could do with all that money you save…and what am I saying?” We both laughed. Autumn is loaded, well, her parents are anyway.
She’s the only child of Illinois State Senator Michael Everett DuVall. Before he got into politics, he was a big time lawyer. He’s still the head of his own firm, but he’s not there nearly as much as he used to be. And he was born into a very wealthy family. His wife on the other hand, Mary Margaret DuVall, was a poor immigrant from England. She studied archeology in her native land, and got a fellowship to get a master’s degree right here in the United States. She would’ve returned to England to live, except that her parents died suddenly, and a love affair of hers went horribly sour. She became an American citizen and soon after, met Michael, and they got married. She had a lot of trouble carrying babies to term, and when she got pregnant with Autumn, she was in bed the whole time, which is also why Autumn, unlike me, has no brothers or sisters. She doesn’t mind too much. It just gave her daddy a chance to spoil her even more.
Wait, I shouldn’t say that. My friend is rich, but she isn’t spoiled. She loves her parents dearly. Even though she just made twenty-five, she still climbs into her father’s lap and puts her arms around his neck and tells her how much she loves him. Yeah, she had a lot of opportunities growing up, but she was lucky to have a mother who came from a working class family, because it helped her to stay humble. She is one of the most generous people I know. Autumn is the type of person who would give you the shirt off her back. She’s a very sweet person, and often, I tease her and tell her that acts like she bounced out of a bottle of champagne. Yeah, she’s bouncy and bubbly, and I love her to death.
I know what you’re probably thinking. How did we meet? Well, let me tell you, it was a true adventure! No, we didn’t meet in the dressing room at Neiman Marcus on Michigan Avenue. Lord, how I wish it were that simple! See, I was an understudy for this actress that my brother was in, and well, when she got sick, I took the part. I was playing opposite this famous Irish actor named Daniel O’Connor, or Danny for short. I thought that Danny was handsome, witty, and fun to be with. Little did I know that he was actually a white slaver, and that a few days before I met him, he’d kidnapped Autumn and was holding her prisoner. He kidnapped me too, after opening night, and at first, he wanted to sell me, but then he decided that I was too pretty to let go of, so he wanted to keep me for his own.
When I met Autumn, I had no idea who she was. She was just a girl tied up on a cot beside me. Her mouth was taped and she was crying, and her big brown eyes were full of fear. Her hair was really long back then, and it fell across her face as she had been struggling for hours. I tried to tell her, as best I could through my own gag, that we’d be all right. Danny, fortunately, untied me to make love to me, and just as he was about to take his own clothes off, I gave him a good punch in the jaw, and then I kicked him in the crotch. He came after me, and I had to break a window and jump down five stories into a swimming pool to escape him. About that time, he’d shoved Autumn into a closet while he looked for me. That’s when my boyfriend, Joshua, and my twin brother, Richard, broke into his hideout and heard this banging and muffled crying in the closet. Rick opened the door, and Autumn toppled out into his arms.
Well, to make a long story short, Danny was deported and sent to jail in his native country, and Rick and Autumn fell madly in love with each other. It didn’t even matter that he’s African-American and she’s Caucasian. English and French American to be more exact, but she loves her some Ricky! Personally, since he’s my brother and all, I don’t see him the same way she does, God I would hope not! Anyway, I sometimes don’t understand why she gushes over him, but then again, who wouldn’t?
My brother is a model and an actor. He lifts weights and drinks protein shakes and inherited my father’s banana colored skin and wavy hair. By contrast, I have long straight hair, because I perm it and caramel skin like my mom. We both have big brown eyes and sunken noses and heart-shaped lips. We’re three minutes apart, he’s older, he’ll gladly tell you, but hey, he’s my brother and certainly, one of my very best friends.
“Caitlin…are you awake?” Autumn interrupted my thoughts.
“Huh? Oh, I was just thinking.”
“About the banquet?”
“The banquet?”
“Yeah, you know, the one that my parents are hosting for Lots of Love Foundation?”
“No, I had some other things on my mind, I guess.”
“Caitlin, I know what you’re thinking, and you can relax. Daddy’s going to have security guards all over the place. There is no way that any white slavers or art thieves or drug dealers will come in there and kidnap us this time.”
“Sure, famous last words. Nothing’s going to happen. Sure, I’ll be careful. I will believe it when the clock strikes midnight and not a one of us has seen any parts of rope or tape or cloth or the inside of a car’s trunk.”
“Oh boy,” she sighed.
See, I say that because ever since the summer of 2000, my life has been an endless stream of trouble. And I don’t mean trouble with the cops either. I mean real trouble! Like that stuff you see on TV where the girl gets grabbed by some nut and tied up and gagged with a scarf and thrown into the back of a van? Well, let me tell you, this is worse! For me, the trouble started when some bank robbers came into my old job (I was head teller of a bank), robbed the place, and took me hostage! I almost died because my blood sugar level got so low that I started having seizures. That’s how I met my fiancée, Detective Joshua Martinez, who, needless to say, rescued me from the bad old robbers. Then I changed jobs. I went from being a bank teller to working “in my field.”
I have a double degree in English and Education from the University of Chicago. I became a teacher, working with underprivileged kids at the Boys and Girls Club in my old neighborhood. I grew up in the ghetto. My neighborhood was rough. Even rougher when you’re a fair-skinned black woman with long curly hair that doesn’t need to be relaxed or pressed. I grew up learning how to fight. Take care of myself. I grew up learning how to survive. While my best friend went to a clean cut, all white school where they wore pressed plaid uniforms, I went to a public high school, where we wore baggy jeans, combat boots, and shirts three sizes too big. The population was at least 90% black and 10% other. In spite of the way that I grew up, I did well in school. Always have. Graduated in the top ten of my class. I was a cheerleader with brains. I could shake my behind in a short skirt, but I could also tell you what happened in 1066 and explain Socrates like the man lived next door to me. You’d think that a girl with book smarts and street smarts could escape a crafty villain.
I imagined that when I met Joshua Martinez, a handsome police detective, who confessed to me I in a hospital room that he cared for me and wanted to date me, that the trauma of what I’d suffered was over. That it would never happen again. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
My adventures have ranged from being abducted by an African sheik who wanted me to be the queen of his harem, to my latest one, saving three of my beautiful cheerleaders from professional kidnappers who wanted us to lose in a competition. I have been tied up so many times that you’d think that I’d get used to it by now. You’d think that I know how to undo the ropes around my wrists or wriggle my jaw to get off some strips of sticky duct tape. Nope. Because I have the privilege of being kidnapped by men who learned how to handle duct tape in plumbing school and got their knot badges from the Boy Scouts! They always know just how much tape to add to make anything you say come out like this, “Mmmmmm, mmmmmmmmm!” They also know how to tie knots so that you can’t reach them with your fingers or move your limbs around so that the friction will untangle them. It’s hell; believe you me!
Fortunately for me and my girlfriends, we were all blessed with loving boyfriends who would go to the moon to save us if they had to. I of course have Detective Joshua Martinez, who is quick, fast, smart, and I will admit, fine as hell! Autumn of course has Rick, who loves to talk to guys while he’s beating them up, or so he says, and Rena has Eric Malone, a young and dashing young man of Irish heritage who has yet to take a serious ass whipping from kidnappers. All of our boyfriends work out daily, lifting weights and pounding their bodies into shape. They’re not body builders, but they do have very nice physiques. Good for us, bad for the bad guys! Heh, heh, heh! I know for a fact that Rick threw Danny O’Connor through a wall when he kidnapped me, and that Joshua has also gotten in his choice of licks. Eric is not only a good fighter, but he’s very sneaky. He knows how to play mind games to get the villains right where he wants them.
“Caitlin! Are you listening to me?”
“What?”
“God, where are you? Hello? I was asking you what time do you want us over here tomorrow so that we can get ready for the banquet.”
“The banquet’s at seven?” She nodded.
“Then come about five. Matter of fact, leave your gowns here so that you don’t forget them. What time are you getting your hair done tomorrow?”
“Two-thirty, and I’m also getting my fingernails and feet done.”
“Why? It’s December. Nobody’s wearing sandals.”
“I am! I am going to show off these beautiful feet of mine!” She held up a stocking foot in front of me and wiggled her toes.
“Your lovely toes are going to freeze!”
“All right, Miss Smarty Pants, what kind of shoes are you wearing?”
“You’ll see. They’re still at the shoemaker’s because they’re being dyed to match my dress. And them Mom said that she’ll appliqué them for me.”
“Girls, it is not my nature to brag but just this once!” Rena pulled aside the curtain. She was wearing her dress.
“Rena, I think that Eric is going to have to pick his eyes up off the floor,” I joked. “You look beautiful.” Rena’s dress was a white sheath made of shimmering material with a high gathered neck and a halter back.
“Rena, you look like Tyra Banks.”
“Thank you so much darling…” she pretended to drop a handkerchief on the floor.
“Mama, you’ve created two monsters.” They were all laughing.
“All right Ryan offspring, it’s your turn. One more run.” I went behind the curtain with Mom. I got out of my sweater and jeans and put on the special strapless corset bra that I was wearing with my dress.
“Okay honey, arms straight up.” I held my arms up while Mom slipped the gown over my head. She pulled it down and then zipped it up my back.
“Up on the stool.” I got on the stool and she knelt down to pin the hem of the dress.
“Mom, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you making these dresses for us.”
“Oh Caitlin honey, I don’t mind. I love doing this for you and your friends.”
“Mom?”
“Yes baby?”
“Nothing.” She stopped pinning and looked up at me.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I lied. I felt bad lying to my mother, but I didn’t want to worry her. She’s got high blood pressure, and besides salt, her doctor wants her to avoid stress. When your kid is getting tied up every other week, I’d say that counts as major stress. A few months ago, when I was in a really big mess, she had a TIA and had to be rushed to the hospital. Thankfully, the doctors got to her in time so that she never had a full blown stroke, but still, I worry about my mom. She’s all I have left, since my father died in a bad car wreck when I was twelve.
“Okay honey, I’m all done.”
“That fast?”
“You hold still for me.”
“That’s because I know that you’ll stick me a good one with those pins.”
“My children know me so well. Honey, you are going to be the prettiest girl at the banquet tomorrow.”
“Mom, are you sure that you don’t mind going alone? Why didn’t you let Mrs. DuVall set you up with that nice widow from the Chicago Historical Society?” Mom shook her head.
“The man is a human octopus and eyes that never stay in one place at once.”
“Maybe you’ll meet someone there.”
“Caitlin honey, I’m all right by myself. I’m alone, but I’m not lonely. Besides, I’m too old to start over with someone else.”
“Ma! You’re only fifty-three! You don’t have to get married again if you don’t want to, but I’d feel better if you were dating.”
“Sweetheart, believe me, I am doing just fine. I have my lovely children, and someday, I’ll be a grandmother.” She smiled up at me.
“Yes, you will.” She took my hand and helped me off the stool.
“Okay, now, you girls run along so I can sew in these hems. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I love you Mom.”
“I love you too, honey.”
As I left my old house, I regretted not telling my mother of the sick feeling that was forming in my chest and had lodged there for what seemed like forever.