The Phantom

Chapter Three

THREE

“What was that?” Mother Elena asked her. She had heard what Victoria had whispered, then.

Victoria shifted uncomfortably. “Nothing. I was just murmuring to myself.”

“I’m really sorry about that, dear.” Mother Elena said; her voice still hoarse after all the crying.

Victoria nodded and asked. “What’s my mother like?” She hadn’t had any conscious reasons to ask, really. But she wanted to know.

Mother Elena clapped her hands together, delighted. As if she were a child who had just received a piece of candy. “Oh, she was so like you! Her eyes were a deep blue, too. It was so strange yet beautiful all the same. And her hair was red. And your father has blue eyes, too. Only his hair was blond.”

Victoria pursed her lips together and thoughtfully nodded to herself.

“But your mother was not as strong-willed as you are.”She continued, laughing a little. “You’re head is quite hard at times, but I like that attitude. Just put it into place next time, okay? Make sure that what you are standing for is the right thing, the right option. But anyway, your Mother was brave, though. And so were your father and I’ve always known that you are, too.” Mother Elena gave her a small smile and touched her cheek.

Though it hurt Victoria that Mother Elena had used the past tense.

“Tell me more.” Victoria asked politely. If she was going to ask questions about her own life, she might as well do it thoroughly.

Mother Elena sighed in resignation. “As much as I hate telling this sad part of my life, I still think that you ought to know.”

“Oh, mother! If it hurts you to speak about it, then I shall not insist.” She was suddenly bewildered. She was not going to let Mother Elena feel that way.

“No, no. I would like to now. Catherine Barren. That was the name of your Mother. And Gilbert White was your father. They were both intelligent and caring people. They were the most brilliant and loving people that I’d ever met in my entire life.”

In Mother Elena’s eyes now were wonder, and Victoria wondered with her, too.

She wondered what her Mother and Father would say to her on her birthday now, if all those terrible and unfortunate things had not happened. She wondered what her Mother would be like ten years from now. Would she have the same fiery red of a hair? Or would it turn gray and dull?

Mostly she wondered about her parents’ physical description. If her father’s eyes were as blue as hers and her mother’s. If her father’s hair was strawberry blond or pale blond. If her mother’s nose was thin like hers, or if it was straight or long…

She wondered about things that seemed timid and of little value. But for her, every little detail of what her parents might have looked like was important to her.

“You know why I feel so bad right now? It’s because I never had the chance to tell her how much important she was to me. Since, you know, we practically grew up as sisters. She didn’t have any sibling, neither have I. And she was an orphan, too…”

Victoria gave a little moan that sounded a little choked-up. She was dazed and she didn’t know how to react to that. She was acting on pure instinct now.

Mercifully, Mother Elena continued on talking even before she had any time to think of anything. “Only that she was seventeen when her parents died. She stayed in a Foster Home in Portland for a year until her eighteenth birthday.” Mother Elena looked at Victoria for a moment, and then continued talking still.