Alma Mater (38 page)

"Why won't it work?" he shouted.

"Because I don't love you that way, Charly. Because it's not fair."
"I
told you, I'll . . ."

"You said you'd learn to accept Chris. That's a wonderful gift,
I
know that, but I can't accept it just like 1 can't accept your ring."

"Keep the ring, goddammit!" This was the first time Charly had
ever sworn at Vic.

"Chris and I will raise the child. She wants to have the baby."

"Vic, you've gotten thrown out of school. How can you support a
child? You, too, Chris. You need me."

The three said nothing for a minute
_;
then Charly repeated, "You
need me."

"Charly, there's nothing you can do. You have your own life to
live."

"It's my child, too."

"Are you willing to have your name on the birth certificate?" Chris
asked.

"Are you sure it's mine?" Another surge of anger shot through him.
"Given that I have never slept with any man but you, unless a star
rises in the east, it's yours." Chris gave as good as she got.

"So you're gay. You seduced Vic."

"Oh, bullshit. She did not seduce me," Vic said.

"You just woke up and decided you were in love with a woman?"
Charly shook his head.

"In a funny way, yes.
I
am in love with her, Charly, and no matter
how painful that is to hear, it is the truth. Now I can't pretend to love
you in that way. If I did, you'd always wonder. You'd be miserable. You'd be wondering did I sleep with her that day or whatever. Men
seem to focus on the sex part an awful lot."

"As if you don't." He nearly called her a hypocrite.

"This isn't going to get us anywhere," Chris interjected sensibly. "Charly, I did not seduce Vic. Our attraction was sponta
neous. And I am in love with her. No, I can't give her money, social
prestige, anything like that. I wish I could. I don't know what we're go
ing to do. I don't know how we can support a baby, much less one

another. 13ut, for what its worth, I love her, and I'll do my best for
her.

"That's easy to say. She's making a lot bigger sacrifice than you
are."

"Charly, that's unfair. Her body is on the line. Mine isn't."

"Why can't you have an abortion?" Charly, exasperated, threw his
hands in the air.

"I can't take the life of this baby." Chris hastily added, "For me, it's
not an option. What another woman does is her business."

"God, if only it were you." Charly wanted to put his hands over his
eyes and cry. He wouldn't, though.

"What would that change?" Vic touched his forearm.

"You'd marry me."

"No. I would still marry Chris."

"You can't be serious."

_am.
"

^"
I
don't get it. I just don't get it." He stared at her beautiful face.
"I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I don't blame you if you
hate me, but maybe someday you'll understand."

"All I understand is that you won't marry me and you're ruining
your life. I don't understand that you want Chris."

"Would it be any easier if she were a man?"

"Yes. I'd know how to fight another man."

"But if I left you for another man, fight or no fight, I don't know if
the pain would be much different."

"Okay." He took a deep, deep breath. "All this is happening at once. It's a lot. Why don't we let everything alone? Let's talk after
Christmas. You don't know what will happen." He paused. "Do your parents know?"

"About Chris being pregnant?"

"No. About you and Chris."

"No."

"Vic, they might not take this as well as you think."

"It isn't going to change what Chris and I are going to do. We ar
e
going to live together. We are going to raise the child together."

All right. All right." He held up his hands. "But time does some
times sort things out."

"Charly, what I hope for, what I pray for, is that you'll be my friend
and that you'll learn to be a friend to Chris."

Chris, thinking along different lines, said, "We're all upset. This
really is a shock. And I don't want to hurt you either, Charly. I wouldn't
want to lose Vic. And I hope time will help, but how do 1 know that time won't only make you angry? How do I know you won't someday
try to take the baby away from us?"

Vic hadn't thought of this. She wouldn't have. Her mind didn't
work that way.

"If Vic and I got married, the baby would be safe."

"But I'm the mother."

"How do I know you won't take the baby away from Vic? What if
you leave her?"

"I won't leave her." Color rose in Chris's cheeks.

"How do you know? What chance do two women have in the
world? Two unemployed women with a kid?"

"What chance does anyone have when they start out? All we've
got is love. All anyone's got. Maybe the difference is that we know up front how unfair the world is," Vic replied.

"Vic, you're willing to ruin your life?"

"I'd ruin my life if I married you, and I'd ruin yours, too."

This
finally got through.

"Jesus." Charly had to fight back the tears.

"I'm sorry." Vic wished to her core that she had had the guts to tell
him before now. The pain wouldn't have been so great. She swore
she'd never be an emotional coward like that again. She never wanted
to hurt anyone the way she was hurting Charly now.

He shut his eyes and then opened them. "I won't try to take away
the baby. But don't you take the baby away from me."

"What do you mean?" Chris said this calmly.

"I'm the father. I expect to pay child support, and I expect to see my child."

"You just want to see Vic."

"Of course, I do. But it is my baby, and Chris, like it or not, you
two are going to need all the help you can get."

"And when you marry?" Chris could have left that unsaid, but she
wanted things out in the open.

"I only want Vic."

"Charly, I think what she's getting at is, would you and your wife try to take the baby
away?"

"I told you I won't do that. I give you my word."

"Thank you." Vic took his hand and squeezed it
_;
then she let go.
It

wasn't until Vic and Chris left him that Charly finally cried.

_T

he crackling emotions between Vic and Chris did not go unno-

ticed, but neither R. J. nor her husband could have imagined

their real source. The Savedges, ever generous, were happy to
include Chris in their holidays. Jinx and other young people not get
ting along with their parents had often found their way to Surry Cross
ing over the years.

Christmas Eve dinner was planned for seven o'clock with the
McKennas.

At half past four, the sun dipped below the horizon. Bunny had
been helping R. J. cook all day. As the sun's last rays bathed the land
scape, Don called her and said he was running a little behind, but
he was finally home. He'd shower, shave, change, and be over at the
Savedges' on time.

At six Edward Wallace rolled down the drive in a brand-new red
Cadillac, Georgia behind the wheel. He brought Yolanda a salt block and some sliced apples, which he mixed into her feed.

As he was leaving, Bunny stepped out for another armful of wood.
"Merry Christmas, Edward. When will your truck be ready?"
"Don't know. Georgia drove me by the shop, and everyone's gone,

I think, but Don."

"You must be mistaken. He's at home."

"No, saw his car parked on the side and a new Dodge Ram."

"Nora Schonfeld," Bunny hissed under her breath.

R. J. jumped when Bunny roared back into the kitchen, dumping
the wood by the kitchen fireplace. "Bunny!"

Bunny ignored the pile of wood she had just dropped. "That son of
a bitch! He's with Nora Schonfeld at the office. Edward saw her truck."
"He's an old man. Surely he's mistaken."

"Edward is an old man but he doesn't miss a trick. I am going to
nail Don. This will be a Christmas he never forgets!" She tore off her
apron.

"Vic!" R. J. called.

"Mom?" Vic came into the kitchen.

"Go with your Aunt Bunny, will you? She'll explain, and you, well,

_{just go.}
"

"I don't need a keeper!" Bunny glared.

"Murder on Christmas Eve . . . Bunny,
count to ten. The old man is
probably wrong."

Vic threw on her down jacket and ran back to the living room to
tell Chris and Mignon she'd be out for a while. Then she sprinted to
the car because Bunny was likely to take off without her.

"Goddamn his eyes!" Bunny took the left turn out of the driveway
so sharply that her binoculars would have slid onto the floor if Vic
hadn't grabbed them.

"Yes, ma'am."

"He's down there with that bitch. Edward Wallace saw his car and
her truck parked back by Service. I will kill him. No, death is too good
for him. make him suffer first."

"He could have used another car. It's not like he doesn't have a lot
of choices."

"I know him!"

"Aunt Bunny, slow down."

"It's good that you see this. Men are all the same, Vic. Conniving,
lying, cheating bastards. Just remember when you walk down the aisle."

"No time soon."

"That ring on your finger says different." She hung
another curve
too fast.

"Aunt Bunny, slow down now."

"Don't be reasonable! You're like your mother!"

"I'd like to live to be as old as my mother."

Bunny slowed slightly. "It's not like I don't give him what he wants.
He wants sex, I am always available. Remember that. Don't refuse
Charly sex. If you do, he'll find it with someone else. Men regard sex as a right, not a privilege."

"Don't we?"

"Oh, don't get philosophical! Women are better than men, and that's
the end of it!"

"Yes, ma'am."

"God, I never realized this place was so damn far away."

"Aunt Bunny, it's only fifteen minutes away. You're upset. Everything
seems, uh, tilted."

"Don't tell me what's wrong. You're my niece, not my guru."

"Yes, ma'am." Vic feared for the safety of the other cars on
the road.

"Think twice about getting married. I mean it."

Vic flatly said, "Slow down."

"If I don't kill him, I might practice on you!"

The glittering red and gold ribbons of McKenna Dodge waved
in the wind as Bunny slowed, sneaking onto the parking lot through
the service entrance. Sure enough, Don's car of the moment was sitting
next to a
1980
new Ram . . . but it wasn't Nora Schonfeld's.

She picked up her newest, most expensive binoculars, training them
on Don's office. She could easily see through the many windows.

"See him?"

"No." She scanned and then stopped abruptly. A sharp intake of
breath announced she had found her target.

Vic reached for the binoculars. Bunny, stunned, let her take them.
Vic was greeted with the spectacle of Hojo in her command post, hands gripping the edge, legs apart, skirt hiked high up, and Don
pumping away from behind. It appeared to be a very merry Christmas
Eve at McKenna Dodge.

"Oh, shit. I'm sorry, Aunt Bunny."