"And I had to get back to the Medical Center and find Mona in her bed of needles and bandages and the tape tearing her skin, and somehow convince her that Quinn was hale and hearty and fine, and had grown four inches since he'd gone to Europe so long ago, her beloved. . . . "
She stopped again, as though all the words had run out. She was staring at nothing in front of her.
"These matters are of no use to us," said Mona in a hard voice.
I was shocked.
Mona went on: "Why do you tell us all this? You're not the prima donna of what's happened here! All right, so, you tried to help me not die for years! If it hadn't been you, it would have been some other doctor. And you dug up the corpses of the Taltos out here, so what-. "
"Stop, no!" Rowan whispered. "You're talking of my sins, you're talking of my daughter!"
"That's the whole point! I can't!" Mona cried. "That's why you have to do it. But you ramble on-. "
"So you gave birth to one of them too," I said gently to Rowan. I reached across the table and covered her hand with mine. Her hand was cold, but at once she clasped my fingers.
"Traitor!" Mona said to me.
"Poor darling girl," said Dolly Jean, who was now drunk and falling asleep, "having those Walking Babies, and getting her womb torn out. "
Rowan gasped at those words. She drew back her hand and her shoulders slumped as though she was drawing into herself.
Michael was deeply alarmed and so was Stirling.
"Dolly Jean, put a lid on it," Michael said.
"Rowan, can you go on?" I pleaded. "I understand everything you've said. You've been telling us exactly how and why you can keep our secrets. "
"That's right," Quinn said. "Rowan's telling us how she can abide what we are. "
The deep hurt flashed in Michael's eyes, private and almost lonely. "That's very true," he said under his breath.
"I gave birth to two," Rowan said. "I let the evil in after twelve generations. That's what Mona wants to hear. That's the secret we have to divulge in exchange for yours-. "
"Oh yes!" cried Mona sarcastically, "more of the saga of Rowan! I want to know about my own child! About the man who took her away. "
"How many times must I tell you, I can't find them!" said Rowan. "I've searched and searched. "
I became furious at Mona. I had to take a deep breath. I reached over and snatched her out of Quinn's protective hold and turned her to face me.
"Now you listen to me," I said in a small voice. "Stop abusing your power. Stop forgetting that you have it. Stop forgetting the inevitable limitations of your kindred here! If you want to search for your daughter now, you have resources that Rowan and Michael can't even dream of! Quinn and I are here to find out what the Taltos is because you won't tell us! (She stared at me wide-eyed and slightly in terror. ) Every time we ask you about it you dissolve into tears. In fact, you've wept more in the last thirty-six hours than any fledgling I've ever encountered in all my years, and it's becoming an ontological, existential, epistemological, and hermeneutical nuisance!"
"How dare you ridicule me!" she hissed. She took a deep cool breath. "You let me go this instant. You think I'm going to obey you in thought, word and deed! You're dreaming. I'm not the Wander Slut you make me out to be. I was the Design¨¦e of the Legacy of the entire Mayfair family. I know what it means to have self-possession and power. You don't look like an angel to me, and you sure as Hell don't have the charm of a bona fide gangster!"
I was stunned. I let her go. "I give up!" I said disgustedly. "You're a brash little infidel! Go your own way. "
Quinn whipped her around and looked down into her eyes.
"Be still, please," he said. "Let Rowan talk the way she wants to talk. If you're ever to be Mona Mayfair again, that must be allowed to happen. "
"Mona, this is very true," said Stirling. "Remember, this is an exposition of souls, a bartering of extraordinary revelations. "
"Oh, let me get it straight," said Mona. "I triumph over death, and we gather here to listen to the personal
memories of Rowan Mayfair?"
Dolly Jean, who had been dozing with the bottle, suddenly jumped into life, bouncing up and down and leaning forward, crinkled little eyes staring hard at Mona.
"Mona Mayfair, you button your lip," she said. "You know perfectly well, no matter how sick you've been, that Rowan almost never talks at all, and when she does talk she's got something to say, you and your fancy friends are learning about the Mayfair family, now how's that supposed to hurt you, I'd like to know, don't you want your handsome escorts to understand you? Shut up. "