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"I'll take you," Beau promised.

"You will?"

"Yes. Just say when," he said firmly.

"What about your parents? Won't they be angry?"

"They don't have to know. When?"

"Tomorrow. We'll go as soon as you can."

"I'll cut practice. The coach will understand, I'll come by about three o'clock," he said.

"Daphne won't let me go. I'm sure. I'll just meet you outside the gate. I hate doing sneaky things, but she makes me."

"It's all right," Beau said, slipping his arm around my shoulders. It felt so good to be in his arms. "It's all right to do something sneaky if it's going to result in something good."

"Oh Beau, I'm all alone now. I really am," I cried with a little more desperation than I had intended.

His eyes filled with sadness. "No you're not. You have me, Ruby. You'll always have me," he swore.

"Don't make promises, Beau," I said, putting my forefinger on his lips. "It's better not to make a promise than to make one you can't keep."

"I can keep this one, Ruby," he pledged. "And I'll seal it with a kiss."

He brought his lips to mine. They felt so good, but I felt guilty for enjoying his kiss while Daddy lay dead in the parlor. My mind and heart should be directed only to him, I thought and pulled back.

"We'd better return before we're missed, Beau."

"Okay. Tomorrow, at three," he repeated.

Although the mourners left relatively early, it seemed very late to me. I hadn't realized how tiring emotional sadness could be. Beau and his parents were some of the last people to leave. He winked conspiratorially at me and continued to act formal and proper as we said our goodbyes.

After everyone had gone, Bruce Bristow and Daphne went into Daddy's office to discuss some necessary business affairs, and Gisselle and I went up to our rooms. I could hear her talking to her old friends on the telephone late into the evening. In fact, the drone of her voice and silly laughter sent me into a welcomed sleep.

Daphne didn't come down to breakfast, but the priest arrived at lunch to discuss the final

arrangements for the funeral. Some of Gisselle's friends came to visit her, more out of curiosity than loyalty, I thought. I let them go off on their own and retreated to what had been my art studio. I recalled how happy and excited Daddy was when he had first brought me to see it. And then my heart fluttered with the tingle of excitement that warmed my breasts when I thought about the day I began painting Beau in the nude. One thing led to another so quickly and so intently that even now I could experience the deliciously ecstatic descent I had taken into the depths of my own sexuality when I embraced him and kissed him and surrendered to his own driving desires. I was so lost in these memories, I almost missed our rendezvous in front of the house.

I hurried out the side entrance and down the drive to the sidewalk to wait for him at three. He was right on time. I got into his car quickly and in moments we were speeding off to the institution in which my father's poor younger brother languished in a world of confusion and mental anguish. I couldn't help but be nervous and afraid. Beau knew that Daphne had once tried to have me confined in the same place as a way of getting me out of her life.

"I know how frightening that place must be to you. You sure you can do this?" he asked.

"No," I said. "But I feel I have to for Daddy. It's something he would want me to do."

A little more than half an hour later, we pulled up to the four-story, gray stucco structure with bars on its windows. I got out of the car slowly and with Beau at my side entered the institution. The nurse behind the glass enclosure directly before us didn't look up until we were practically at her desk.

"I'm Ruby Dumas," I said. "I want to see my uncle Jean."

"Jean Dumas?" she said. "Oh yes. We just moved him to his new facilities this morning."

"New facilities? He's still here, isn't he?"

"He's here, but he is no longer housed in a private room. He's in a ward now."

"But . . . why?" I asked.

She smirked. "Because whoever is paying for him has stopped paying the extra stipend, and he is covered only by basic insurance." she replied.