The Errol Flynn Family Ch. 2

Continuing from the October 3 Post...

That home invasion in her senior year left scars on Lalique. Even as an adult she found it hard to get over it. The woman who came to burgle them that night was so bizarre, giggling insanely to herself and instead of a mask she had worn clown’s makeup. Worse, even though the authorities knew her name—Brooke Wakeley—they had never found her--she was still considered "at large" although the police said she was probably out of the state by now. Sometimes Lalique woke up in a cold sweat from nightmares. Often, even in the daytime, she’d just be out in the neighborhood, going somewhere and that creepy clown face stole into her mind.

 

Time passed.

Lalique came to the conclusion that it was time to be out on her own. She had begun her teaching career, but she did not know if she and Devon Brecht had a future together or not. His first novel had just been published to great acclaim and he was in New York and then would be on the road for a while with book signings and various PR affairs. She’d thought of just heading for New York to surprise him, but she was half afraid that she might be the one who would be surprised. Then she’d considered going to some other big city, to lose herself in the large population. In the end, Lalique knew that, no matter what happened with Devon (if anything), she wanted to be in Pleasantview, in spite of the nightmares. They were decreasing in frequency at least. She did decide, though, to take a short hiatus from her job and use the resulting free time for a brief getaway, and then house-hunting. It was suddenly that she made up her mind and late at night. She’d thought she could exit quietly that way, but the family realized she was going and ran downstairs to say goodbye. Errol was jovial, wearing that rakish grin of his and saying that her “fine adventures” had only begun. Olivia smiled her gentle smile and squeezed her tightly, 

“Bless you, my dear. You have all our confidence and love.”  

 Melanie, who was 11 and not happy with this change in the household, wailed, “I don’t want you to go!”

“Sweetface, I’ll be right here in town…somewhere…when I get back from my vacation,” Lalique told her, “And once I have my own place, you can come for sleepovers! “

 That was a stunning and happy thought for Melanie who suddenly remembered, “But my birthday! You have to be here for my birthday!”

“I will be, I promise,” and with that Lalique walked out of the beautiful mansion that had been her home for 22 years and into an uncertain future.

True to her word, when Melanie had her next birthday--it was just family--Lalique was there for supper and the celebration afterward.

And suddenly Melanie was a young lady! She looked all eyes and long colt’s legs to Lalique; who had to smile. Errol and Olivia looked at each other in amazement; the baby of the family was nearly grown.

 “Can I have Lalique’s old bedroom now? It’s a little bigger than mine,” Melanie asked almost immediately.

“No,” Errol was emphatic, “It happens to be a lot bigger than our bedroom—so we're taking it, quite frankly.  But…perhaps we can swing some other changes around here that you will like.”

“What changes?” Melanie pounced on this.

“We don’t know yet, Melanie, we’ll just have to see.” Olivia said.

Once Melanie was in her teens the slight shyness she had shown seemed to be a thing of the past. She liked being physically active and often went with her friends to the movies, shopping, roller-skating and ice skating.

Sometimes they entered the dance competitions in town. At home she entertained her friends in the yard with swimming, fishing or shooting hoops. She could count on Olivia to whip up hamburgers, grilled cheese or chili for any and all friends who came over.

In fact, it seemed now that she had more friends than ever before and when she went anywhere, even if she went alone, she would always run into at least one person she knew. Other times she would call a friend up and ask to rendezvous somewhere; like Chelsea Lomax, who met her at the Rapid Racers Roller Rink.

In bad or cold weather there were a number of indoor distractions, including the pool table, with which to entertain her friends. So far this year, her closest two friends were Chelsea Lomax and Lori Lassiter.

A little gossip was always fun, as long as it was not about you...

Melanie's dad had taught her how to be quite a pool shark. Lori's father and brothers had worked with Lori, too, and she was quite good, but not as good as Melanie. No one in town could win at any gaming or sports competition like Errol Flynn. Especially pool. He was a natural athlete and fiercely competitive.

But most of the kids who came to the house did not know this about him. What teenager pays any attentions to adults? The kids who came to the house just saw a man who was always on his computer, writing a book about his youth, or making pottery. Hardly the stuff of legends to their mind.

One morning they got the call from Mark Wilson, Yvette had just had a baby girl. They named her Simone. Olivia was beyond happy to be a grandmother and planned to go visit the baby right away.

The parents were quite pleased as well with Yvette’s husband and how things had gone. Frankly, when they first met him they were struck by the fact that he was some 20 years older than Yvette. He seemed to them to be an honest, hardworking man, with a really wicked sense of humor, but he lived on a farm. Nothing wrong with farms, but Yvette had been raised in Beverly Hills and Carmel and then they moved here to Pleasantville. She’d lived in mansions and estates all her life. 

They had worried whether she would be content and happy to live at Mark’s home, where he grew vegetables to sell and restored cars for a living. Truly it was in a magnificent setting right near the bluffs that go down to the ocean, but it was still a frame house with a smaller outbuilding used for the restoration business.  When they visited Mark’s place, before the wedding, Errol and Olivia couldn’t help but wonder if Yvette's love for Mark would be enough to keep her happy with his kind of life.

Obviously, Errol who loved the outdoors and fishing, could definitely see the beauty of the place, but would Yvette be happy here forever--Yvette, their pampered first daughter, the one who had dreamed of being a concert pianist? The house was warm and cozy; but pretty homespun, compared to their own art deco manse. 

Yet, after the wedding it soon became apparent that Yvette was head over in heels in love with Mark, loved her little farmhouse and had no plans to change it except for a few feminine touches here and there. She had an old upright piano tucked in a corner and she had access to her games; that and Mark being near her seemed to be her only requirements. Even more stupefying, Mark was teaching her to grow things! Errol never could interest Yvette in that at all--she'd always hated working in his greenhouse.

“Daddy, you keep calling it 'soil', but it looks like dirt to me. Look at my nails now. And there are icky, creepy little bugs crawling around out here.  Eeuuwww, get away!”

When the newlyweds had showed him what Yvette had been learning about cucumbers and pole leans, Errol was incredulous to say the least.

“I can’t believe he got her to dig in the dirt,” Errol muttered to himself.

“Well, that’s love for you”, Olivia whispered back.

So the Flynn parents were very happy: the birth of Simone was reason for happy hearts. Olivia thought that the sooner she could get her hands on that darling grandchild, the better. Errol was curious to see if the child resembled him in any way. He always said to friends,

"My daughters all look like Livvy; it's like I wasn't even in the room."

"Nonsense, dear, Lalique looks exactly like you. She just has my coloring," Olivia would laugh.

It was true, Errol just couldn't see it, but his middle child resembled him very much. Oldest daughter, Yvette, seemed to be a real blend of her parents, while Melanie, the baby, was a ringer for Olivia, like a little miniature.

The arrival of a new member of the family was always time for a celebration.

For her part, Melanie was wondering whether they would let her go with Lori Lassiter and Chelsea Lomax to the dance contest that weekend…

Next blog update: The Brecht Family Ch. 2 Author! Author!

For next installment on the Flynn Family go HERE