Hope couldn’t take Einstein back to her father’s house, now that she’d seen what he was capable of. But where could they go?
Did it really matter? Anywhere was better than living with such a dreadful man. He obviously didn’t love her and never would. They simply coexisted beneath one roof...one very big roof!
She stopped suddenly. How could she have forgotten? Her birthday was next week! She would be eighteen years old. Legally an adult. That meant she could leave her father.
She let Einstein jump in the car and took her time driving home. She was no longer in a hurry, and she needed a chance to think. To figure things out. She didn’t have to worry about facing her father that evening, because he was staying overnight at the hotel after his business function. Small blessings, she thought. If she just packed up and left that night, she wondered if he’d do anything about it.
Yes, he would, she decided. She was no more than a possession to him, and he was greedy with his possessions. He would find her if for no other reason than to prove that he was in control. That he could.
By the time Hope reached the house, she had a plan. She pulled up to the garage rather than the front of the house. Even though she knew her father wasn’t home because he would’ve left for his evening engagement by now, she didn’t want to risk Einstein being seen. She didn’t trust all her father’s employees the way she did Priscilla and Morris. Not that the others were bad people; they were just fearful of her father.
She left Einstein in the car. He whined and pawed at the window, obviously not wanting to be separated from her again so soon. She spoke to him reassuringly, then climbed the stairs at the side of the garage. She knocked and was about to knock again when Morris opened the door. Sitting inside on his sofa was Priscilla. From the look of her flushed, puffy face, Hope surmised that she’d been crying.
Seeing her, Priscilla shoved the soggy tissue she held into her pocket and rushed over. “Did you find Einstein? Is he okay?”
Hope nodded. “He’s fine. He’s in my car. I’m sorry—I should’ve called,” she said regretfully.
“Oh, thank goodness you found him,” Priscilla exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Hope. “I’ve been worried sick. It’s all my fault. If anything had happened to him, I...I don’t know how you’d ever forgive me. I don’t know if I could’ve forgiven myself.” She withdrew the tissue from her pocket and blew her nose loudly.
Morris touched Priscilla’s shoulder. “Why don’t the two of you sit down. I’ll get Einstein. He shouldn’t stay cramped up in that little car, especially after what he’s been through.”
Hope smiled at him gratefully. A moment later, the door opened again, and Einstein scurried into the room. Hope noted that Morris still looked glum, and it didn’t seem to have anything to do with Einstein. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“You should tell her,” Morris said to Priscilla. “She needs to know.”
Priscilla stared intently at her hands. “It’s not something she should worry about.”
“It certainly is,” Morris replied with more heat than Hope had ever seen the stoic chauffeur exhibit.
“I’m sitting right here! Please don’t talk as if I am not. Tell me what?” Having already gone through the gamut of emotions, Hope felt her stomach tense once more. She slid her gaze from Morris to Priscilla.
Morris sat down and took Priscilla’s hand in his. “She needs to know, since you’ll both have to be careful.”
“Careful about what?”
Priscilla drew in a huge breath. “Your father confronted me, when he got back from the pound. He said I was growing too close to you.”
“I don’t understand. We’ve been careful. He doesn’t know we’re friends.”
Morris passed Priscilla a fresh tissue so she could dab at her eyes. “We have been, yes, but maybe not enough. You see, I defied him when he was taking Einstein to the pound. So when he got back, he reprimanded me for being...insubordinate.”
Morris snorted.
“He said how dare I question his decision-making, and that I was forgetting my place because of our relationship. Yours and mine.”
Morris cut in. “How could she forget? She works insanely long hours, even though she’s supposed to be done by five.”
Hope watched as Priscilla patted Morris’s knee, and she wondered if she’d missed something between her two friends.
“Anyway, your father said I had to stop being friendly with you,” Priscilla told her apologetically.
“Yeah. He said she was just the help, and if she didn’t know her place, she’d be easy to replace.”
Priscilla choked back a sob. “Your father pays very well, and even with all the help I get from Molly’s grandmothers, I need the income for her.”
Hope knew how dedicated Priscilla was to her daughter, and she was fully aware of Molly’s special needs. “You won’t lose your job,” she assured her, and the plan she’d formulated on the drive home gelled in her mind. She had to leave her father’s house, not only because of Einstein, but because of her friends. She couldn’t let Priscilla or any of them suffer on her account. She was about to tell them about her decision, but if her father found out that they knew, he would just as likely fire them both.
No, she couldn’t take them into her confidence. “I’ll think of something,” she said vaguely. She turned her attention to Morris. “I can’t take Einstein into the house with me until I get things sorted out. Could we set up a space for him in the garage again, like you did when he was a puppy?” She forced a rueful smile. “But this time so he can’t escape?”
Morris ran a hand along Einstein’s back, as he lay at their feet. “That won’t be necessary. He can stay here in my apartment for as long as you want. If he’s here or out in the back, your father won’t know.”
“I appreciate it. Please keep him out of everyone’s sight,” Hope added as she stood, Einstein clambering up beside her. She hugged them both. “I promise it won’t be long.”
She already knew the issue would be resolved in a week. She and Einstein would be gone the day after she turned eighteen.
HOPE WAS UP early the morning of her birthday. Her father was throwing her a party, mostly for his business associates and their children. She hadn’t really made any friends at school, but she’d given her father the names of some of her classmates for the invitation list. He’d offered to fly Aunt Clarissa to San Jose for the event, but Hope had declined, knowing it would’ve been too awkward for everyone involved when she left the next morning. She’d wake up early, tell her father over breakfast and be gone by nine.
She’d spent the past week preparing as much as possible. After seeing the conditions at the two animal shelters she’d visited to rescue Einstein, she realized more than ever that she wanted to work with animals. She found a posting online for a veterinary assistant in Monterey that appealed to her. She was excited when she was actually put through to the person who’d be hiring for the position. They had a short telephone chat, and Hope was asked to come for a formal interview. More from opportunity than design, she was going to Monterey, California.
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