He had me drive on different roads and took me out to a different area to show me some land he had bought four years ago.
"I own forty acres here," he said. "I can see a house on the rise there someday. Of course, not for me. I'm too old and I'll never marry again. You know what they say, 'Marriage is not a word. It's a sentence.'
He laughed.
"It doesn't have to be that way," I commented. "Maybe it won't be for you. How would you like to live here one day?"
"I have a farm I've inherited," I told him. "Someday I'd like to return to it."
"Yeah, Ami told me about it. That area of the state isn't doing anything. You won't get much for it. Now here, here property is like gold."
"How could 1 live here anyway?" I asked. "It's your land."
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"You never know," he said.
I checked the time.
"I've got a lot of homework to do," I told him. "And a report to write for the school paper."
"Make a perfect U-turn," he commanded, and I did so.
"Excellent. You handle this car as if you've owned it for years, Celeste. I'm going to have the driver's test appointment set up for you right away. We can get in a few more lessons beforehand, but I don't think you'll need them."
When I drove in through the gates and up to the house, he opened the glove compartment and pulled out a pair of brand-new ruby leather driving gloves. "For you," he said. "If you're going to drive a car like this, you should look good doing it. Not that you can be anything else."
"Thank you," I said, taking them. They were butter soft leather.
"You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow and tell you your date for the test," he said, getting out with me. He reached back, got my books for me, and came around to my side to hand them to me.
"Thanks," I said.
"No problem, sweetie," he said, kissed me on the cheek, and got into the car. He rolled the window down. "Looks like I have to talk to my car dealer about a new car sooner than I expected," he said.
I stared after him as he drive off. He has to be joking, I thought. Just like that, he wants to give me a car that costs over one hundred thousand dollars? I shook my head in disbelief.
When I turned toward the house. I saw a curtain closing, but I caught Mrs. Cukor's face glowing like a skull in the late afternoon sunlight before she disappeared within. There was no one around when I entered, so I went directly to my room and began my work. Less than ten minutes later, however, Ami appeared to tell me she had made our doctor's appointment for the day after tomorrow.
"I'll let Basil know," she said, "in case he's planning to give you another driving lesson after school."
"I think he is," I said. "He said he's going to arrange for my driving test very soon."
She nodded.
"He bought me these driving gloves," I said, showing them to her.
"Very nice. I don't even have a pair as nice as these," she commented, turning them in her hands. She handed them back to me.
"Ami, I don't know if he's kidding me or not, but he told me a few times that he was going to give me his car to use, and he was getting a new one."
"Why should he be kidding?" she replied with non-chalance. "I promised you that you would be happy here, and you will be," she said, sounding more determined than ever. "Just keep in mind that all I want for you is for you to be very, very happy. It's all I want for all of us," she added softly. For a moment she looked like she was going to cry. Then she smiled and left me swirling in a world of wonder and confusion.
Wade didn't join us for dinner that night. He sent word home that he had to remain at work and would stop someplace to eat much later. Ami wasn't upset. In fact, from the way she sounded when she told me, I gathered it was not unusual.
"It's why I end up going out myself to some of the places I've taken you to," she told me.
I sat there, imagining them both eating alone or distracted by strangers. Dinner had always been a sacred time when I was very little, I remember, and it was al-ways our special time of the day at the orphanages. All of us fantasized about having family dinners, being at a table with loved ones, everyone eager to share his or her day's activities. It was the glue that would bind us to whatever new family we had found and had found us. In our minds it was almost a religious event, a session of silent prayers of gratitude. For orphans every dinner was truly a Thanksgiving dinner.