“Valerie, go wash your face.” There was no ambiguity to what he said, no space for argument, and she hesitated for a moment, as he looked at his watch. “We leave in five minutes, with you, or without, but I think you should be there.” And with that, he turned his back on her and looked at Faye. “Where's Anne? I couldn't find her upstairs.” She didn't know any more than he did, she had come home from the office with him.
“She was here when I called. Van? Do you know where she went?”
Vanessa shrugged. It was impossible to keep tabs on that kid, she came, she went, she didn't talk to anyone, most of the time she was reading in her room. “I thought she was upstairs.”
Greg gave it a moment's thought. “I think I saw her go across the street.”
“To where?” Ward was beginning to get impatient with them all. It was beginning to remind him of those unbearable family vacations they used to take, to places like Yosemite, until they could finally afford to send them all to camp and have a little peace. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy his family, he did, but there were times when they all drove him nuts, and this was one of them. “Did you see where she went?” He noticed silently that Val had disappeared into the house, hopefully to take some of the makeup off, or maybe even the dress, although that seemed too much to hope, and it was. She emerged while they were still hunting for Anne, the thick black line on her eyelids had diminished by slightly less than half. The dress was just as tight and green. “Valerie, do you know where Anne went?” He looked at her exasperatedly, ready to kill them all.
“Yeah. She went to the darks'.” Simple. Finally. That child was always getting lost. He remembered the time he had spent three frantic hours hunting for her in Macy's in New York, only to find her outside, sound asleep in the back seat of their rented limousine.
“Would you mind running over to get her please?” He could see that the mod beauty queen was about to object, but after one look at her father's face, she didn't dare. She nodded, and ran across the street, the tiny miniskirt clutching her shapely rear. He glanced at Faye with a groan. “She could be arrested in an outfit like that.”
Faye smiled at him. “I'll go start the car.” And out of the corner of her eye, she saw Valerie escorting their youngest child back across the street. She was dressed more appropriately than the rest in a pretty pink shirtwaist dress, perfectly pressed, the right length. Her hair was shining clean, her eyes bright, her red shoes were freshly shined. She was a pleasure to look at, in sharp contrast to her far more flamboyant older sister. She piled into the station wagon into the farthest row of seats, not because she was angry at anyone, but it was where she liked to sit.
“What were you doing over there?” Greg asked as he got in, in front of her with one of the twins on either side. Anne was sitting alone, although usually Lionel or Vanessa sat next to her. It was no secret that she didn't get along with Val, and she didn't have much in common with Greg. It was Lionel whom she adored, and Vanessa who took care of her when no one else was around. Those were always Faye's orders to them, “Vanessa, see to Anne.”
