Sweet Revenge

girl. They huddled close together, hands joined, bodies brushing. Celeste found it odd that for a moment she couldn’t be certain who was reassuring whom.
    Then Phoebe looked up. A range of emotions raced across her face, relief dominant. Before the relief, Celeste had recognized terror. Moving quickly, Celeste crossed to her.
    “Phoebe.” Putting everything but friendship on hold, Celeste hugged her close. “It’s so good to see you again.”
    “Celeste, thank God. Oh, thank God you’re here.”
    The desperation concerned her much more than the fact that the words were slurred from drinking. Careful to keep her smile in place, she looked down at Adrianne.
    “So this is your Addy.” Celeste touched a hand lightly tothe child’s hair, noting the shadowed eyes and signs of exhaustion. She was reminded of pictures of survivors of disasters, the same flat, vulnerable look of shock. “You’ve had a long trip, but it’s nearly over now. I have a car right outside.”
    “I’ll never be able to repay you,” Phoebe began.
    “Don’t be ridiculous.” She gave Phoebe a last quick squeeze, then handed the shopping bag to Adrianne. “I brought you a present to celebrate your visit to America.”
    Adrianne looked at the doll, stirring enough energy to trace a finger down the sleeve of the gown. The velvet reminded her of Duja, but she was too tired to cry. “She is pretty. Thank you.”
    Celeste lifted a brow in surprise. The child sounded as exotic and as foreign as she looked. “Let’s get your bags and go home, where you can relax.”
    “We don’t have any bags.” Phoebe nearly swayed, then steadied herself with a hand on Celeste’s shoulder. “We don’t have anything.”
    “All right.” Questions could wait, Celeste decided as she slipped an arm around Phoebe’s waist. A look told her the child could stand on her own. “Let’s go home.”
    Unlike her experience in Paris, Adrianne noticed little of her drive from the airport into Manhattan. The limo was quiet and warm, but she couldn’t relax. As she had during the long flight across the Atlantic, she carefully watched her mother. She tucked the doll Celeste had given her under her arm and kept Phoebe’s hand firmly in her own. She was too weary to ask questions, but was ready to run.
    “It’s been so long.” Phoebe looked around as if coming out of a trance. A little pulse beside her mouth kept jumping as her eyes darted from window to window. “It’s changed. But it hasn’t changed.”
    “You can always count on New York.” Celeste blew out a stream of smoke, noting that Adrianne watched her cigarette with dark, fascinated eyes. “Maybe tomorrow Addy would like to walk in the park or do some shopping. Have you ever ridden on a merry-go-round, Adrianne?”
    “What is it?”
    “It’s wooden horses you can ride around in a circle to music. There’s one in the park across from where I live.” Shesmiled at Adrianne, noting that Phoebe jumped every time the car stopped. If the mother was a mass of nerves, the child seemed a tower of control. What in God’s name was she going to say to a kid who didn’t know what a merry-go-round was? “You couldn’t have picked a better time to come to New York. All the shops are decorated for Christmas.”
    Adrianne thought of the little glass ball and her brother. All at once she wanted to lay her head in her mother’s lap and weep. She wanted to go home, to see her grandmother and her aunts, to smell the smells of the harem. But there was no going back.
    “Will it snow?” she asked.
    “Sooner or later.” The urge to gather the child up and comfort her surprised Celeste. She’d never considered herself particularly maternal. There was something so sad yet strong about the way Adrianne stroked Phoebe’s hand. “We’ve been having a warm spell. I doubt if it’ll last much longer.” Good Lord, she was talking about the weather. With some relief she leaned forward as the car slowed. “Here we are,” Celeste said briskly when the limo cruised to the curb. “I moved here about five years ago, Phoebe. It suits me so well, they’ll have to blast me out.”
    She led them past the security guard into the lobby of the elegant old building on Central Park West. She moved quickly, sweeping both Phoebe and Adrianne into the paneled elevator. To Adrianne it was like a slow ride to nowhere as fatigue weighed down her limbs. On the plane she’d fought off sleep, dragging herself out of fitful