Page 6 of Pieces of Ash
As we drive to Mosier’s gated and heavily guarded estate in Scarsdale, I hold my rosary tightly, close my eyes, lean my head against the window, and pretend to sleep.
What did Mosier mean when he said that I would “work” for him, and he had “plans” for me? We’ve never discussed my taking a job with him after high school. What is it he has in mind for me?
When Tigín and I first moved in with the Raumanns five years ago, it was summertime, and I was only thirteen, but Mosier forbade me to wear anything more revealing than a T-shirt and a floor-length skirt or loose-fitting pants, no matter how warm the weather. No shorts. No short skirts. No sundresses. My T-shirts couldn’t have a V or scoop neck. They had to cover me completely to the base of my neck. Having lived most of my childhood in LA, where I spent my entire summer running around in bathing suits, shorts, and tank tops, it was a difficult adjustment, but my mother insisted on my compliance, telling me that Mosier valued modesty and only wanted the best for me.
At one point, toward the end of that summer, Damon and Anders, who were sixteen at the time, were swimming in the pool on an especially hot day while my mother and stepfather attended an event in New York City. Even though Tig had warned me to stay in my room while she was gone, I got bored and lonely, and eventually found myself on the pool deck outside, looking for company.
“Anders,” said Damon, who paused in the middle of a game of water volleyball, “look who it is. Aunt Ashley.”
Anders flicked a glance at me. “You should go back inside.”
“Why?” I asked.
He ignored me, gesturing for the ball. “Throw it back.”
“No, no, no, bro,” said Damon. “Our new aunt’sfinallycome out of her room. We should be social. Welcoming.” He looked me up and down in my shapeless, baggy pants and high-necked blouse. “Bet you’re pretty cute under that outfit, huh? Tan all over from the warm California sun?”
Damon and Anders were identical twins, both dark-haired and dark-eyed, but Damon’s eyes were flirtatious and playful, while Anders kept his gaze carefully averted from me.
“Tata nu-i va place,” said Anders to his brother, a warning in his voice.
“El nu este aici. Taci!” said Damon, waving his brother’s words away and still staring at me. “Hot day. Why don’t you come in? Join us!”
I grinned at him, shrugging my shoulders. “No bathing suit.”
“Da-mi pace,” said Damon, clapping his hand over his heart as he winked at me. “You got underwear on under those clothes?”
“Maybe,” I said, winking back at him.
“As good as a bikini in my book!”
I’d unbuttoned my pants slowly, doing a little striptease for my stepbrothers before pulling my blouse over my head and throwing it on the pool deck. Clad in only white cotton panties and a matching bra, I’d executed a perfect dive into the deep end, joining Damon’s team for water volleyball, despite Anders’s disapproval.
An hour later, my mother and Mosier returned to find me on Damon’s shoulders, serving the ball to Anders.
“What the fuck is happening here?”
Vhat d’ fuck ees happening here?
Damon gasped, scrambling to push me off his shoulders. I fell backward into the pool. By the time I gurgled to the surface, my stepbrothers were pulling themselves out of the water, standing side by side on the pool deck.
“Dracu’ sa va ia!” Mosier thundered. “There is onlyone rule! She will bepure!”
Standing by myself in the pool, my eyes widened with shock as his fist shot forth, breaking Damon’s nose with a loud crunchbefore blackening Anders’s eye with a quick jab that sent his head reeling back.
“Du-va în pula mea!” Mosier roared. “Get out of my sight!”
With eyes cast down, and bloodied faces, they ran into the house without a glance back at me.
Mosier turned from their retreating forms to look at me. Dark and furious, his eyes stared at me with unveiled disgust. His nostrils flared. His cheeks were purple with fury.
“Get out of thefuckingpool,” he growled. “Now!” He turned to my mother. “Make her decent!”
I lifted my body onto the side of the pool, and my mother grabbed my arm, rushing me inside and upstairs.
“Stop squeezing so hard!” I cried, trying to jerk my arm away.
“What the hell were you thinking?” she demanded in a tense whisper as she pulled me up the stairs. “How could you be so goddamned stupid, Ash?”
