January 2005
Rating: PG
A Tangled Web was written by L.M. Montgomery. Written for Charabok for Yuletide 2004:
many thanks to MelWil for the beta-reading.
BEFORE
PETER, AND AFTER
By Sängerin
Virginia told people that her heart was buried in Rose River
churchyard simply so no one would realise it was really the property of Donna
Dark.
Donna was at the heart of all Virginia's posturings,
although Virginia never quite realised how much she was laughed at for them.
For her it was a mask - like any other mask worn by a Dark or a Penhallow, to keep the rest of the clan away from the
secrets of the self. It would never do for the clan to know that Virginia
Powell (nee Dark) loved Donna Dark (nee Penhallow).
After all, such a thing - like divorce and addiction - simply did not exist on
Prince Edward Island.
Almost Sisters
There was not a moment in Virginia's life that had not been shared with Donna.
They were born the same day, and thus the Darks and Penhallows
expected birthday celebrations to be joint occasions. When the girls reached
school age, they walked hand in hand down the lanes to the Rose River
schoolhouse, where they shared a desk, a slate, and the contents of their lunch
pails.
Perhaps another girl would have resented it - the fact there was never an event
that was hers alone. But Virginia loved Donna. At first she loved Donna because
she was expected to. They were cousins, and almost as close as the sisters
their mothers truly were. She loved Donna's sweetness, and she stood in awe of
Donna's courage. Donna who stuck out her tongue at Peter Penhallow
- in church! Donna who knew how to manage Drowned John
Penhallow and his famous temper.
And Virginia loved that while she was by Donna's side, it was Virginia who
would be considered the prettier. Donna was dramatic, her long dark hair making
her complexion appear all the paler. When they played in the woods beyond
Drowned John's back gate, Virginia would play the fairy princess, but it was
Donna who had the interesting roles in their games - the heroic prince,
fighting a dragon to save the princess locked in a tower; the prince turned
into a frog, fighting adversity to gain the love of the princess. One
afternoon, playing one of their games, the time came for Prince Donna to kiss
Princess Virginia so that the happy ending could occur. Instead of kissing
Virginia on the cheek, as she had done so often before, she kissed her on the
lips: lightly and quickly.
'Why did you do that?' asked Virginia, startled.
The two girls were holding hands. Donna looked down at their joined hands and
replied, 'I just wanted to know what it felt like.'
'It felt nice,' said Virginia, and greatly daring, leaned in to kiss Donna
back.
The kisses they shared that afternoon, and on other afternoons, became their
special secret.
Across the Gulf
Drowned John sent Donna to Kingsport Ladies College for a 'finishing' year, and
nearly broke Virginia's heart in the process. Virginia's father considered his
daughter to be finished enough for life on PEI, and her mother, with two other
children to care for, considered that Virginia would be more use to the family
at home, rather than filling her head with nonsense in New Brunswick.
And so, on a foggy September day Drowned John drove the trap from Rose River
down to the Bay Silver railway station. Beside him sat Donna, slightly nervous
but revelling in her brand new uniform, and beside her, clutching Donna's hand,
sat Virginia.
The two girls whispered to each other as the trap rattled along the red island
roads. They made promises to write every week, 'Every day,' said
Virginia. She elicited a promise from Donna not to like any of the KLC girls
better than her, and Donna giggled as she agreed, saying that no one could
possibly replace her darling Virginia. Virginia smiled on the surface, but
beneath her skin, she glowed with this tiny acknowledgement of Donna's love.
Virginia stood on the platform beside Drowned John, and tears ran down her
cheeks as Donna boarded the train. Donna didn't cry. She kissed her hand to
Virginia, and hung out the train window as it began to move away. 'Goodbye,
Father. Goodbye, Virginia, darling! I'll tell you all about it!' Donna's face
was lit up with anticipation of the joys of boarding school, and Virginia
watched her dear friend being taken away from her.
Drowned John gave his niece an awkward squeeze around the shoulders. 'Come
along, you silly wet rag. I've got to get you home - your Ma wants you home in
time to help with the milking.'
Virginia's life felt very dull that year. She was a good girl for her mother;
helped her with the children and the farm, joined the Rose River Ladies Aid and
sang in the church choir. Her mother finally lengthened Virginia's skirts, and
Virginia stopped playing in the fields with her boy cousins and learned how to
put her hair up. At a bonfire party thrown by one of the Penhallow
cousins, a boy called Ned Powell got behind Virginia and pulled out all her
hairpins. She never noticed what was happening until her golden hair fell onto
her shoulders. For five minutes, until she remembered she was supposed to be
grown up, Virginia chased Ned around the bonfire while the other young people
laughed. Virginia swore eternal hatred of Ned Powell from that night on.
When letters arrived from Donna every few weeks, Virginia would take them to a
favourite spot among the pines where they had played as children. She would sit
and read the letters in the cool green of their old playhouse and try to
picture the grand old house Donna told her about in Kingsport. She tried to
picture Donna's classmates - girls Donna told her about with an amount of
affection that almost worried Virginia until she got to the end of the letters,
which Donna always signed, 'Always yours.' Donna seemed always to be
doing things with a girl called Susan - Susan's parents had invited Donna to
spend the Christmas holiday with them, as the journey back to Rose River was
considered to be too long and too expensive. Susan and Donna had gone moonlight
snowshoeing one night. Susan had given Donna posy of flowers on her birthday -
the first birthday Donna and Virginia had ever spent apart. Susan and Donna had
played the lead roles in a play the English class had got up. In one of their
whispered conversations Virginia had made Donna promise never to kiss another
girl, but Donna breezily told Virginia that she and Susan had kissed in the
play, without ever mentioning her promise.
Orange and White
Virginia's feud with Edmond Powell didn't last very long. The summer that Donna
returned from Kingsport, Ned came to stay with his cousin Barry Dark. In the
way of the clan, Donna and Virginia were thrown together with Barry and Ned for
most of the summer. Nothing was settled that summer, but Ned expressed an
intention to take over a distant uncle's farm in Rose River, and so he stayed
in their social circle for the winter. By the time spring came around again,
Barry and Donna were engaged. Donna's engagement felt to Virginia as though it
was the end of everything, and so when Ned Powell proposed one afternoon while
they were walking along the shore, Virginia accepted him. She had forgiven him
by now for letting her hair down two years before, and conceded to Donna one
evening that Ned really was quite sweet.
When the war broke out and their beautifully planned double wedding on Drowned
John's front lawn was replaced by a rushed double ceremony in Charlottetown,
Donna was still insistent that the brides should wear orange blossoms in their
hair. Donna's sister Thekla found some, but Donna
sent Thekla out of the room while she fixed the
blossoms in Virginia's hair. She handed her share to Virginia and then leaned
forward and kissed Virginia in the old way.
'You will always be my Virginia,' she said. 'Things will change, now, of
course. But I was always yours: Barry has only come along recently.'
Virginia managed not to cry: not then, as she shakily pinned orange blossoms
into Donna's hair, and not later, when she stood with Ned in front of the
Minister, with Donna and Barry on the other side. She didn't cry when she and
Donna stood on the platform at Charlottetown, waving until the train carrying
their khaki-clad husbands disappeared from view.
At first Virginia didn't cry even when the telegram came telling her of Ned's
death. She had barely had time to set up her little farmhouse on the ridge to
her satisfaction. She and Donna were in the kitchen discussion how Virginia
would furnish her parlour - Virginia favoured the romance of draperies and rich
colours. The telegraph boy knocked on the back door, and at the sight of him,
both girls froze. Slowly, Virginia got to her feet and crossed the kitchen to
take the piece of black-bordered paper from his hand. She read the words, but
it wasn't until Donna put her arm around Virginia's shoulders and said 'Oh, my
poor darling,' that Virginia truly realised what the telegram said. Virginia
had been truly fond of Ned Powell, but as long as Donna was there, holding her,
Virginia felt safe. After the funeral, when Donna went back to the house of her
in-laws, who were beginning to clamour for her presence, and Virginia was left
alone in the great bed that had belonged to Ned's mother, Virginia cried all
night, feeling the absence of Donna, who had slept with her there, rather than
for Ned, who had not.
Amid the Tears
Virginia found that she almost envied Donna her plain white cross, 'somewhere
in France'. So much more romantic than dying in a training
camp. For a little while, Virginia had been Rose River's only War Widow.
Then, in flash, not only was her dearest friend distraught, but her status in
the community was taken away.
Donna had always loved Barry more than Virginia had loved Ned, anyway. So it
was right that it was Donna who was truly upset by her husband's death. And
Virginia made sure that she was by Donna's side through it all. She encouraged
Donna to move back home, closer to her own little farm, and away from Barry's
parents and those memories. She encouraged the memories of their childhood
together, and it was Virginia's idea to spend every rainy evening together.
With Ned not going to come home, Virginia had fixed her parlour up completely
in her own taste - rich draperies and deep colours and all. On a visit into
Charlottetown the Fall after Ned's death, a fellow
Widow from Ned and Barry's regiment had given her some sandlewood
incense, and Virginia had been drawn to the sweetness of the scent. Every
since, the rainy evenings Donna and Virginia shared had been accompanied by
burning incense and obscure teas from the corners of the world.
Virginia had always hoped that one day it would seem right to invite Donna to
come and live with her, two War Widows together, sharing the burdens of their
lives alone. But the time never seemed quite right. It wasn't that it wasn't
common - Mrs Howard Penhallow and Mercy Penhallow lived together at Maywood, with Mrs Howard's
little girl Gay; Mrs Clifford Penhallow and her
sister Rachael Dark also lived together, with Jocelyn Dark, who was as good as
a widow, living apart from her husband. But if Virginia invited Donna to live
with her, then she would know, even if no one else did, that the reason for the
invitation was the hope that each night Donna would kiss her goodnight the way
she did at the end of their rainy evenings together.
Mahala
Virginia quite liked Cousin Mahala, even if Mahala didn't seem to like her much in return. Cousin Mahala was not considered to be entirely right by the
majority of the clan. Even Penhallows and Darks had
to admit to some black (or, at any event, somewhat gray)
sheep in the fold: the Duncan Darks, for example, were considered to be distinctly
on the murky side. Cousin Mahala, however, partially
because she spared the clan her presence for eleven months of the year, was
considered to be more of a silvery colour. She made life more interesting while
she was among them, but they all breathed great sighs of relief when she
departed. Uncle Pippin's assessment of Mahala was
that she was 'something of a queer fish'. Virginia, however, used to look
forward to the times when Mahala would come down from
her retreat in the West and dispense her wisdom among them.
Mrs Clifford Penhallow gave a tea to celebrate young
Gay's sixteenth birthday. Virginia and Donna had attended, as had all the women
of the clan. Mahala, too, had been there, dressed as
mannishly as one could among a clan where trousers were not an item of clothing
worn by a female. For much of the tea, Virginia had felt Mahala's
eyes on her, and she was not very surprised when Mahala
arrived at the Powell farm the next day.
'Virginia, dear, you are becoming obvious,' Mahala
said as she accepted the offered cup of tea. 'I'd advise you to stop looking at
Barry Dark's widow as though you wanted to eat her.'
Virginia had only just taken a seat with her own tea, on the porch that looked
out across the hills towards Drowned John's farm. Her cup clattered against the
saucer.
'You wouldn't credit it, my dear, but I do understand what you are feeling,'
said Mahala, kindly. 'You're not alone in the world,
you know.' Her eyes twinkled. 'Come up west with me one day. Oh, the cats
around here will gossip and shriek about it for a while, but who knows - once
you get over that Dark girl of yours, you may find that there's more to the
world than you realise.'
Virginia eventually found her voice, but rather than tell Mahala
to leave, which she had been intending to do, she asked softly, 'How did you
know?'
Mahala smiled. 'I saw the same look on your face that
was on mine when I was your age.' Mahala told
Virginia about her own girlhood, and how she had found her way to places in
Canada that Virginia had not even dreamed existed.
'I haven't the courage to leave,' Virginia said eventually. 'I'm happy with my
life as it is now. We're closer than sisters, and nothing will change that.'
Mahala shook her head in pity for Virginia, and
embraced her warmly when they parted at the end of the afternoon. 'Think about
my offer, dear. Come up west for a time.'
After her conversation with Cousin Mahala, Virginia's
outward devotion to the memory of Ned Powell became even stronger. It was said
among the clan that her weeds got even weedier, and it was after this that the
fateful words regarding the burial place of Virginia's heart had been said.
Virginia was careful around other people, but also became even more devoted to
spending time with Donna. Donna was her lifeline, and Virginia wasn't about to
give her up.
Aunt Becky's Levee
Less than five minutes after Virginia had been given an opal ring by Aunt Becky
its bad luck had already struck. Donna Dark's eyes had met Peter Penhallow's, and Donna fell
fathoms deep in love. Worse still, Peter did as well. Virginia knew the signs:
knew them and dreaded them.
She did the only thing she could do: tried as hard as she could to keep them
apart and to keep herself and Donna together. For a while it seemed that she
had succeeded. Peter left and Donna stayed. For some months Donna seemed once
again to hate Peter as she had as a child. But Virginia knew better. Had not
she sworn eternal hatred for Edmond Powell barely two
years before marrying him?
When Virginia stood beside Donna in the Rose River church on her dearest
friend's wedding day, she looked down the aisle to where Cousin Mahala sat in the back of the church, and began planning a
trip up west.