Subj: Absolute Power, Part 2
Date: 12/26/98 9:36:21 AM Central Standard Time
From: Whitey Pale

Chapter 2 -- The Gift

When Carolyn and Danielle reached the bedroom of Elizabeth Stoddard, they discovered that she was not alone. "David! Hallie! I didn't know that you were coming tonight."

"Well, we decided spur of the moment to come and visit," Hallie Stokes Collins answered. "Dad said that Aunt Elizabeth wasn't feeling well, so we thought we'd come by and cheer her up."

Elizabeth Stoddard scowled and stared at Hallie with disapproval. "Nonsense, Hallie. I'm feeling perfectly fine. Honestly, I think that Roger exaggerates on purpose to get you two to visit more often." Carolyn looked at her mother, now nearing 90. Although largely bedridden with chronic arthritis, Elizabeth Stoddard still had the aristocratic air of the matron of Collinwood. She sat up in her bed stock straight, leaning stiffly against her pillows, her aqua blue nightgown hanging overlarge against her thinning frame.

Carolyn noticed that her mother's eyes were still intense in their gaze, but knew that there was little else that was similar from the Elizabeth Stoddard she had known. Elizabeth Stoddard was still tough as ever, but age seemed to have sucked the tenderness underlying that toughness. It seemed to Carolyn that her mother knew that she did not have much time left, and felt annoyed at wasting any of the precious seconds remaining. Her mother was more abrupt, more curt, more opinionated than before. She was also beginning to lose her memory, a fact that the Matron of Collinwood seemed to know, because it made her personality all the more tenacious and fierce, as if she were fighting to retain herself.

Carolyn tried to hide her feelings, as she always did since her mother became frail. Seeing her mother in this condition reminded Carolyn of her own mortality. She once surprised her Uncle Roger by philosophizing that you can tell if a person has reached middle age by his or her viewpoint on the existence of ghosts. Carolyn reasoned that, when you are young, ghosts are fearsome unknown creatures whose existence you deny and that you hope never to see. However, she would say, when you are older, you welcome the existence of ghosts as a reassuring reminder that there is a life after death.

David Collins cast his eyes down at his Aunt's rebuke. Hallie had crossed the line again. David still was a quiet, even somewhat sullen individual, but Hallie was always ready to blurt out every thought that was in her head, without calculating its effect on others. She had just insinuated that the Matron of Collinwood was seriously ill, and received a not-so-subtle tongue lashing for it.

David and Hallie had, in fact, been infrequent visitors at Collinwood since their marriage three years earlier. David had been the family prodigal. After failing to get into Harvard (despite his family's best efforts at using their connections), David matriculated at Carleton College, a small prestigious liberal arts college in Minnesota. There, he barely got by academically as he experimented with every drug imaginable. His family tried to get help, but David continued to be rebellious.

The big issue was that David did not want to take over the family business, as was his birthright. Instead, he wanted to become a science fiction or horror writer. He spent most of his time in college writing and illustrating his own work and selling stories to publications under the pseudonym "Whitey Pale." After graduation, he moved to New York and found a job writing and illustrating comic books for Marvel.

Needless to say, Roger Collins was appalled at what he considered to be his son's frivolousness. Even Elizabeth Stoddard, who had spoiled and coddled David as a child even in his wildest and most insolent moments, expressed disapproval at David's dereliction of family duty. Only Carolyn acted as a bridge, having had wild days of her own as a child in which she had hated the heavy mantle of being a Collins.

David finally sobered up during the Reagan years, when drug testing was in vogue, even in the comic book industry. But sobriety came at a price, as David's heretofore vivid and extravagant imagination--apparent even before he began using drugs--seemed to dry up. After alienating his co-workers and becoming fed up with frustration, David quit his job. He then hiked around the country, living off the fortune that Roger and Elizabeth, despite their disapproval, could not bring themselves to deny him.

Finally, in 1992, at the age of 34, David Collins returned to Collinwood and became a recluse. He stayed in the room of his youth for days on end, having the servants send up his meals, rebuffing overtures of assistance from his father, aunt, Cousins Carolyn and Danielle, and Cousin-in-law Adam. One gloomy fall day, David made a rare foray outdoors onto a nearby rocky beach near the outskirts of the estate and ran into Hallie Stokes, who was standing staring out into the sea.

They had recognized each other immediately, although they had not seen each other in nearly two decades. David learned that Hallie had just been through a bitter divorce from a husband who had grown tired of finishing second to her pursuit of a career in real estate. Hallie's brightness and extrovertedness seemed to warm David. He began to meet her more often, first at the beach, then on day trips to Bangor or Boston, and, eventually for long nights of hot-blooded love-making at Hallie's house, the former Evans "cottage."

By now David was writing again, and selling paperback horror and sci-fi novels, trading off his prior fame from comic books. He still spent most of his days in his boyhood room, where he claimed to find the inspiration for his books. However, he would slip in and out of the great house of Collinwood nearly unnoticed, usually without pausing to say hello to his family.

In the fall of 1995, David and Hallie were married. Once again, David irritated the family by insisting on moving into Carrie's cottage rather than live at the Great House. Roger once angrily accused his son of wanting to live at the old Evans cottage to spite him, knowing that it was the location in which Roger enlisted Sam Evans to frame Burke Devlin of manslaughter four decades before. In any event, Hallie and David had twin children: Timothy, named after the late Professor, and Millicent,
named after a Collins ancestor.

While David had settled down and become successful, he still was estranged from his family. Whenever he stopped by Collinwood other than to work, it was usually at his wife's urging, and then she did most of the talking.

Hallie blushed at her Aunt-In-Law's criticism, "I'm sorry Aunt Elizabeth, you're right, we must stop by more often." Hallie looked at David, "and next time we'll bring Timothy and Millicent, who always love to see you."

David looked at his watch and then at his saviors, Carolyn and Danielle. "Yes," he replied, "but we must be getting back because the sitter has to get up early for school tomorrow." Mrs. Stoddard frowned again and this time it was Hallie's turn to be embarrassed. She knew that her Aunt-In-Law wanted them to bring the children to Collinwood and let one of the servants look after them, but David would have nothing of the idea.

Hallie sighed. "Yes, Aunt Elizabeth, we really must go. But we'll see you at the party," she beamed at Danielle. They quickly made their goodbyes, leaving the elderly Mrs. Stoddard alone with her progeny.

"Danielle, I still can't get over how much you look like your mother!" Mrs. Stoddard grinned. Carolyn internally grimaced, because her mother had begun every recent conversation with Danielle that way as if she had thought of the idea for the first time. They talked about the preparations for the wedding and the party for awhile until Mrs. Stoddard appeared to grow tired. Carolyn suggested that she and Danielle leave, but Mrs. Stoddard gathered her strength and said, "Before you go, I wanted to give Danielle my wedding present for her. I know that it's a little early, but I wanted you to wear it at the party.
Carolyn, will you go look in the top drawer of my vanity and pull out the brown box for me please?"

Carolyn dutifully opened the drawer and saw the box that she believed her mother must have meant. It was older than the other jewelry containers, appearing to be over a century old. Carolyn brought the box to her mother.

"This present has been passed down in our family for generations to be worn by Collins' family brides. I'm afraid that it hasn't been worn for awhile. I didn't get to wear it because the family was so opposed to my marrying your father. . ." With the bitter memory of her marriage, Mrs. Stoddard trailed off for a moment, then continued, "and your mother never got a chance to wear it either because her first marriage was so sudden and tradition demands that it should only be worn for a first marriage. Now though, I think that it's time to begin the tradition anew." She handed the box to Danielle, who had been entranced by the history lesson.

Danielle eagerly opened the box and gasped. She carefully pulled out a diamond necklace with a perfectly cut crimson ruby at the center. "My God! It's beautiful!" she exclaimed and hugged her Grandmother, causing the fragile Mrs. Stoddard to wince. Carolyn couldn't help but feel a little envious of her daughter. She hadn't even known of the necklace. She glumly reasoned that there never really was a reason for her to know.

"Now Danielle," Mrs. Stoddard lectured, "you must not wear the necklace until the party, because it should first be worn at a public gathering celebrating your marriage."

"Grandma! Are you telling me that I can only wear the necklace once and never again?" Danielle appeared disconsolate.

"Of course not," Mrs. Stoddard snapped, "you can wear it as often as you like until your daughter or granddaughter gets married and then you must pass it along." Danielle drew back at her Grandmother's sudden change in mood, and Carolyn came to the rescue.

"Thank you, mother. Now, really, you should get some sleep." Carolyn and Danielle quickly said their goodnights and let Mrs. Stoddard rest her aged body.

Danielle practically skipped back to her bedroom. After she said goodnight to her mother, Danielle locked the door and hurriedly sat down at her vanity, gazing at herself in the mirror. Then, she carefully opened the brown box and lifted the shimmering necklace from its case, watching its reflection glitter in the mirror. Danielle paused for a moment, remembering her grandmother's admonition, and then slowly lifted the necklace and placed it around her neck. Then she stared at the reflection of herself wearing the glistening jewel and broke out into a broad satisfied smile.