When I didn't respond to any of her baiting, she would get bored and leave me, mumbling all sorts of accusations and curses under her breath.

Some days before the wedding, her father began to bring her things over to our house. She was still being bitchy about the more and wasn't helping him carry the cartons, suitcases, and other things up to her room. Instead. I helped him.

"Reality for Betsy is settling in quickly whether she likes it or not he told Mama. "The furniture the new owners didn't buy along with the house is going out the door tomorrow, and her bedroom set is part of that."

It didn't surprise me to hear it. The plan was for them to move in a few days before the wedding.

He thanked me for helping with Betsy's things, and we brought them all into the house and up to her room. Some of the clothing we simply laid over the bed.

"We'll just leave it all like that," Mr. Fletcher said. "It's her job to put her things away. That goes for unpacking the boxes as well."

When the boxes were placed on the floor. I could see their contents. One box contained her undergarments and another was filled with blouses.

Another had a few bathing suits.

"She doesn't throw anything away or give anything away,' Mr. Fletcher commented when he saw how closely I was looking at it all. "Charity is a curse word to Betsy. God forbid she think of someone beside herself."

After I finished bringing things up with him, he took a walk with Mama and Baby Celeste. He had a late shift at the drugstore so he left soon afterward.

After dinner, after Baby Celeste had been put to bed and Mama had retired to her bedroom. I thought about Betsy's things. I couldn't help it.

As quietly as I could, I went to her bedroom and looked at the clothing we had placed an the bed.

Going to the boxes. I sifted through the undergarments, the bathing suits, and other things.

Her clothing was of course quite different from Mama's. Mama didn't have skirts as short or skirts with slits an the side. I never saw Mama in a two-piece bathing suit, and she certainly didn't have such sexy, abbreviated panties or sexy bras.

I found an outfit I recalled Betsy wearing that first night when I'd played Peeping Tom and looked in at her, Elliot, and Mr. Fletcher. This was shortly after they had moved into the old Baer property. For years people believed Mr. Baer had something to do with my disappearance, and the nasty rumors and innuendos finally drove him to sell at almost any price.

I watched them having their dinner. Betsy wore this black-and-red-pinstripe, short- sleeve blouse with a black tie tied loosely around an open collar and a pair of matching black-and-pinstripe pants. I thought she looked more like a boy than I did except that her cleavage was prominent in the opened blouse and her hair was beautifully brushed down about her shoulders. Something about the clothing was fascinating, the way it turned out to be feminine. Was it only because she wore it?

Seeing this outfit again and recalling how she had looked awakened my interest in myself, in the me buried inside. What would I look like in it? I didn't have as big a bosom as she did. but I was as tall as she was. The pants would fit. Somehow, looking at her things a" her bra, her panties, all of her clothes a" like this was just like being a Peeping Tom again. It stirred me in places I had always tried to keep still.

Betsy couldn't possibly remember everything she had. I thought, In an impulsive rush, I scooped up one of her pairs of black, sexy panties and with the pin-stripe outfit in hand went to the door of her room, paused to be sure Mama was still in her bedroom, then tiptoed as softly as I could up the small stairway to the turret room. Once there, I closed the door softly. My heart was pounding.

Enough moonlight was coming through the windows to illuminate the room. but I knew one table lamp also worked. Under the subdued light in front of one of the antique-framed, full-length minors. I slowly began to take off my clothes. At one point I thought I heard the sound of footsteps on the small stairway and I froze to listen. The house creaked as it often did. but I heard nothing else and released my trapped, hot breath.

I took off the boy's briefs and put on Betsy's sexy panties. They were a little big, but the sight of myself in them fascinated me. They made my rear end feminine and my tight, hard legs somehow softer, more curvy than I had imagined they were. I turned and looked at myself from all angles before putting on the pin-striped pants and the blouse. I left it unbuttoned just the way I remembered she had. The blouse was also too big, but not terribly so. The pants fit well enough. Then I tied the black tie loosely around my collar and gazed at myself. Was I as interesting, as fashionable, as sexy, and as attractive as Betsy had been? Even thinking the word sexy made me shudder. For a long moment I stared at the sight of my cleavage. My breasts were perky. firm, Surely. I thought. I was more beautiful than she was Young men would look my way faster than they would look hers.

I smiled to myself. 'Wouldn't it be wonderful to show her up someday? How quickly that smug arrogance would pour off her face. She would go and crawl up into a ball in some corner and she would deserve it. How many people had she hurt, driven to tears? Wasn't she trying to do it to me?

The definite sound of footsteps below sent me into a panic. I undressed as fast as I could, and as quietly as possible. I put on my own things again.

Then I waited and listened. Hearing nothing. I went to the top of the small stairway. Sounds were coming from below. Mama was downstairs. I took advantage of the opportunity and quickly descended. I went to my own room and I shoved Betsy's things under an old suitcase on the floor of my closet. Then I undressed again and got into bed. And not a moment too soon. either.

Mama was at my door, white candle lit and in a holder in her hand.

"Are you asleep?"

I pretended I was, but it was always hard to pretend around Mama. "You're not asleep. Noble, so stop acting like you art."

I turned and sat up. "What is it?"

"Something woke me. Something isn't right,"

She walked farther into my room. She lifted the candle so that the light from it would wash over the walls, into every corner and finally over me. "Do you feel it?"

My heart began to pound again. What should I say? Did some spirit tell her what I had done?

"No," I said. ' was falling asleep."

"But you weren't asleep. Something kept you awake. Well?" she demanded. "I was just..."

"Just what?"

"Worrying."

"About what?"

"Betsy makes me nervous." That softened her shoulders. She lowered the candle and the shadow hooded my face.

"Oh. Yes, She could make anyone into a nervous wreck. She's done quite a job on her father.

But I told you. She won't be a problem."

"She thinks you put a spell on her father." I thought that if Mama heard that, perhaps she would not be so eager to go through with the marriage. It would at least take her attention off me.

It only made her laugh.

"Of course she does. Three-quarters of the community believes that. I bet. Let them, let her think that. She'll be more afraid of me, and that's what a spawn like her needs to be, afraid.

"Poor Noble." Mama surprised me by sitting on my bed. She hadn't done that since I was very little.

She brought the candle around to light up my face, then she reached out and stroked my cheek gently, running her fingers over my lips and under my chin.

"Would I ever let anyone, especially someone like that, harm you? Would our precious loving family stop protecting you? As long as you believe and hold on to your faith, you will be unassailable. She will see all this quickly and she will change or..."

"Or what. Mama?"

"Or be gone." She stood. She stared down at me, then she looked around again, slowly moving the candlelight about the room. "But there was something," she said in a whisper. "Something was in this house tonight."

She took a few steps toward my closet and for a long moment stood there staring at it. I held my breath. If she found Betsy's clothes, the panties...

When she turned away from the closet, I breathed easier. She looked down at me again.

"We've got to be vigilant. Noble, always vigilant. Remember, we have a precious person to protect. If ever you do anything or think anything that might endanger Baby Celeste, you hesitate.

Understand?"

"Yes. Mama."

"Good. Good. Okay, try to sleep," she finally concluded.

She walked slowly to the doorway, turned, and lifted the candle one final time. Then she left, the light dragging behind her like a faded gold shroud being pulled into the darkness.

I lay back and stared into that darkness. I thought I heard whispering, but when I turned toward the wall, it stopped.

I've got to be good. I thought. There is nothing they cannot see. I went to sleep promising I would.

The next day Betsy appeared with the remainder of her things. I helped her and Mr. Fletcher carry it all to her room, and then, without saving thanks or anything, she just closed the door in my face.

"She"ll calm down," Mr. Fletcher assured me.

"She would always pout and sulk when she didn't get her way. My wife used to give in to it. I did, too, but those days are over now," he vowed, and smiled at me. "But let's not think of anything unpleasant, not at the start of a whole new wonderful life."

He put his arm around my shoulders. I didn't want to pull away, but it made me. nervous.

"Maybe soon you and I will go up to the lake, huh? Well take out a boat and have a real day together. What do you think?"

"Maybe." I knew I should have sounded more grateful and eager, but I couldn't.

"It's all right. We'll take it a day at a time. This is a big change for everyone. I appreciate that."

I helped him bring in his things next. Mama had just recently cleaned out her closets. For years and years, Daddy's clothing had hung there and had still been in the dresser drawers. As if it were part of some spiritual ritual, she decided to pack all that herself at night and bring it up to the turret room. I had offered to help her, but she said it was something a wife had to do alone.

Through the closed turret-room door, I heard her talking, and from what I heard, she was talking to Daddy's spirit. I wondered if she was apologizing, if it was a sad conversation, but I soon heard her laugh.

"How wonderful!" she declared, then she became very quiet. I moved away quickly. I knew that if she ever caught me eavesdropping, she would be angry.

Helping Mr. Fletcher put his clothing away, however, was an entirely different thing. This I could do. He remarked about how much space was available to him.

"The closets in this house are much bigger than they were in mine," he told me.

Afterward, the four of us. Mama. Mr. Fletcher, Baby Celeste, and me, went out to plan where we would put the tables for the wedding feast and how we would arrange it all.

Betsy was still up in her room sulking. Mama and I had created an arch for the wedding ceremony. I built it and she decorated it with vines and flowers.

She and Mr. Fletcher then pretended to have a wedding rehearsal.

"This looks more like a stupid picnic." we heard, and turned to see Betsy watching from the porch. "What if it rains?"

"It's not going to rain," Mama told her.

"Right. You control the weather. too," Betsy chimed. "I'm going to town to see Dirk," she called to her father. "By the way," she added as she walked to Mr. Fletcher's car. "he's my guest for the picnic."

She laughed and got in. She drove off too quickly, spitting up gravel.

"I warned her that I wouldn't let her use my car if she drove like that," Mr. Fletcher said furiously.

"That girl has gotten more traffic tickets. It"s a wonder she hasn't been in a serious accident. I oughta cut off every gray hair in my head, put it in an envelope, and hand it to her with a thank-you card,"

Mama laughed.

He looked at her and smiled. "I'm sorry, Sarah.

I shouldn't add a single note of unpleasantness, especially right now, but that girl..." He looked after her.

Mama stepped up beside him and threaded her arm through his.

"She will change," she declared with such certainty, he had to look at her and smile. She nodded.

"She will change," she promised.

The wind through the trees seemed to make the branches tinkle as if they were laden with tiny bells.

Baby Celeste heard it and looked that way. Her laugh turned Mama to us and the forest.

But Baby Celeste had turned completely around and was staring at the arch now. When Mama turned to look that way, her smile wilted.

Did she see him?

I saw him.

Like someone waiting. like a spider who had spun his web. Elliot was standing in the middle.

smiling gleefully at all of us.

11.

A Down-to-Earth Wedding .

The following day. the Reverend Mr. Austin, Mr. Bogart's friend, came to our house to review the wedding ceremony with Mama and Mr. Fletcher, His wife. Tani, accompanied him. She was a pleasant, amiable, and talkative little woman, and I learned she was a close friend of Mrs. Bogart's wife's and knew quite a bit about us and our family history.

The reverend was a handsome man of about fifty with light brown hair and aqua eyes. He had a soft, gentle manner and touched your hand or your arm to reassure you whenever he said anything that might in the least way cause concern. He immediately made Mr. Fletcher feel at ease.

"When you had one marriage that failed, you naturally think it"s your fault and you're naturally afraid of making another commitment," the reverend told him. They had taken a walk together and I overheard it all while I was working in the shed, sharpening my chain saw with a chain-saw file.

Later, when we were all in the house, the reverend said he had a philosophy about marriage, a belief in the joining of kindred spirits.

"It's the fortunate man or woman who finds a soul mate," he said. "Too many of us are blind to the wondrous workings of the human heart. but I believe it is true that for everyone out there, there is someone."

"It was true for us," Tani said. She smiled at me. "And to inherit a fine young and responsible boy like Noble and a child such as Celeste to boot. You are truly a blessed man.- "I think so," Dave said. The references to me made me blush, Mama prepared a nice lunch for everyone, then afterward, we all went through the steps of the wedding ceremony. Mr. Fletcher had somehow forced Betsy to attend, even though she would play no role in the formal activities. I thought she. was there simply because she couldn't get her boyfriend to pick her up and take her away.