The Dark Path to the River by Joanne Leedom-Ackerman

Author:Joanne Leedom-Ackerman [LEEDOM-ACKERMAN, JOANNE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: N/A
Publisher: Open Road Distribution
Published: 2013-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Kay clicked a manicured fingernail against the birdcage. A white bird with yellow tail feathers cocked its head and blinked its lidless eyes. “He already says, ‘Give him the business!’ and ‘What’s cooking, sweetie?’ Don’t you think Erika will like that?” Kay smiled. She waited for Mark to smile.

Mark sat on the piano bench across from her peering at the bird on the coffee table, but he looked distracted.

Kay kneeled beside the cage nearer Mark. She took a cracker from a box and tried to feed it to the bird, but the bird wasn’t interested. Casually she rested her elbow on the stool by Mark’s knee. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

Mark looked at his watch. “I was wondering where Jenny was.” He’d hurried home after his meeting with DeVries to see her. He didn’t understand what had upset her so at his parents, but he wanted to talk to her now about himself or rather about DeVries. He was concerned over the figures he’d seen and over the cool way DeVries had dismissed what he should be concerned about. For the first time he wondered if he were being told the whole truth.

He’d come to trust Jenny’s intuition though he argued with her. Now he wanted to know what she thought about DeVries. But she wasn’t there. Because she wasn’t there and he didn’t know where she was, he couldn’t work when he sat down at his desk. Finally he’d come in to play the piano; but then Kay had arrived.

“She’s probably out shopping,” Kay offered.

“Jenny hates shopping. She wanted to write.”

Kay leaned towards the bird, increasing the pressure of her hand on Mark’s leg. He looked down, noticing the hand for the first time.

“Thank you again for going with me to see David,” she said.

Mark watched the bird pecking at its own image in the mirror. “You should buy David a bird,” he said. “Have you ever bought him a pet?”

Kay glanced at Mark; she couldn’t tell if he were criticizing her. “I don’t even know if he likes animals.”

“You know Erika less well, and you bought her a bird.”

“But I knew she loved the other bird. She told me all about it this morning.” Kay watched Mark. Her blue eyes shined behind a thin glaze of emotion. “She’s a much more open child than David, Mark. You must see that.”

“She’s only three and a half. I don’t know what she’ll be like at eleven.”

“Probably very much like you,” Kay answered quietly. She met Mark’s eyes with an assertion which made him pause. He stood and let her hand fall.

“In fact, Erika is more like Jenny,” he said.

“Oh?” Her tone stiffened slightly. “I don’t see that. Erika seems … well, more lively, but then I guess I don’t know either of them that well.”

At the piano Mark began straightening loose sheets of music. Kay moved over to him. “You’ve helped me a lot with David. Buying Erika a present seemed a way to thank you.” She laughed then. “Certainly the bird is better than that baby rattle I brought her.

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