Country (29 page)

And Louise walked in a moment later, glared down her nose at Sandy, shook her hand, and left the room. It was what Michael and his mother had expected of her.

They all had dinner in the kitchen that night, and afterward they all went out to meet up with friends who were home for Thanksgiving. Sandy hung back for a few minutes before they left and thanked Stephanie for letting her come, said they had a beautiful house, and told her how much she missed her in Nashville.

“I miss you too,” Stephanie said sadly. And a few minutes later they all went out separately to meet up with their own friends. She heard them come in after midnight, but didn't get up to see them, but the next morning they all had breakfast together.

Charlotte and Sandy helped her set the Thanksgiving table, and Louise went to her room without saying a word to Sandy, and Michael appeared to make sure that Charlotte wasn't being rude to her. But much to Stephanie's surprise, the two girls got along really well and discovered that they liked the same music. And Sandy got excited when she saw they had a piano. She went over and played a few chords, and then sat down for a minute, and sang a few lines of a song, as Charlotte came over and watched her.

“Do you sing?” Sandy asked her.

“A little.” Charlotte looked suddenly shy.

Sandy asked her about a song they both liked, and she started to play it, and they sang it together. They had a good time and sang together for a while, and Michael joined in, and Stephanie even joined them for a few minutes. It was fun and Sandy looked happy, and then they went to finish setting the table, and at six o'clock they sat down to Thanksgiving together. Stephanie had called Chase in Memphis, and told him how much she loved him, and how happy she was to have Sandy with them. He sounded tired and lonely, just as Sandy had described, but as always he was gracious to her. He never complained about the torture she was putting him through, or put her down for her need to find herself. He was hoping that if he let her do what she needed to do, she'd come back to him, but it didn't look promising at the moment.

Stephanie said grace before they started the meal, and said a blessing for Bill, and the girls' eyes filled with tears, and then they all started eating. The conversation was lively, particularly between Charlotte and Sandy, who seemed to like each other, and Louise was more restrained and said very little to anyone, especially her mother. And Michael hovered over Sandy, trying to make sure that everyone was nice to her, she felt comfortable, and Louise didn't attack her. He was relieved that his youngest sister liked her. And when they needed a neutral topic of conversation, they talked about Pedro, who was sound asleep, lying on his back and snoring softly. They all agreed that he was the weirdest dog they had ever seen, but very sweet. And Stephanie loved him.

And much to Stephanie's relief, they managed to stay off the subject of Chase until almost the end of dinner. And as she sliced the apple, mince, and pumpkin pies and put scoops of whipped cream on them, Louise couldn't control herself any longer and turned to Sandy.

“What do you and Chase usually have for Thanksgiving, Sandy? Grits? Or spare ribs?” She couldn't seem to help herself, and Stephanie looked horrified. Michael glared at her as though he wanted to kill her.

“No, we have turkey,” Sandy said pleasantly. “We even eat it with a knife and fork.” She was unfailingly polite, but Louise had gotten the message to back off.

“That was unnecessary and just plain rude,” Stephanie said to Louise as they cleared the table and set the plates down in the kitchen. “Why would you be rude to our guest?”

“Why would Michael bring her here the year Daddy died? You might as well just have invited Chase here.”

“Rest assured, if we stay together, next year I will,” Stephanie said sternly, and Louise looked as though she were about to scream as Michael walked into the kitchen.

“If you ever say something like that to her again, I swear, Louise, I'll hit you.”

“Don't threaten me. You shouldn't have brought her.”

“Why? Because you can't control your mouth? You may get away with being a bitch to Mom, but don't try to pull that shit with me, or Sandy.”

“Oh, poor little thing, does she need you to defend her?” Louise asked, sounding just plain nasty. Stephanie hated to see that side of her take over her personality as it had for the past year. She sounded bitter and angry. But as she said it, they heard a clear strong voice behind her.

“No, I don't need Michael to defend me,” Sandy said in a drawl that was pure Nashville. “I can kick your ass all by myself, Louise, but I figured it would be rude to your mom if I did. So why don't we just make an effort to be polite for her sake?” Sandy turned and stared Louise right in the eye. Louise was taller and stronger, but Sandy looked as though she meant it, and Charlotte burst out laughing, as Michael smiled.

“Don't mind my sister,” Charlotte said easily. “She's rude to us all the time. It's kind of her trademark.” And as she said it, everyone in the kitchen relaxed, and Louise stormed out of the room and went upstairs.

“I'm sorry, Sandy,” Stephanie apologized to her, and put an arm around her and gave her a hug.

“I'm sorry I said I'd kick her ass,” Sandy said, appearing genuinely contrite. “I just figured that if I didn't say it, she'd be baiting me all weekend, and I knew no one would like it, and it would upset Michael.”

“I'd like to see you kick her ass,” Charlotte said with a grin. “She always kicked mine when we were little.”

“I think she's just really sad about your daddy, and she doesn't know how else to express it,” Sandy said wisely. “And I guess she's upset about your mom and Chase.”

“I kind of have been too,” Charlotte admitted. “We don't want her to go out with anyone yet.”

“You'd like him,” Sandy said simply. “He's a really great guy. And he loves Michael…and your mama. He wrote a song about her, and it's number one.” Charlotte started to look upset and then relaxed. She didn't admit it, but she liked Sandy, and she was willing to concede that maybe Chase was a good guy. They went to play the piano together after that, and sang duets. Charlotte had a pretty voice, and combined with Sandy's powerful one, they sounded terrific. Stephanie smiled as she listened to them while she cleaned up the kitchen and Michael helped her.

“Well, I think you won over Charlotte.” She smiled at him. But Louise was another story. She lived in an armed camp of her own making, and she was about to lose Charlotte's support about Sandy, and maybe one day about Chase too, although they weren't there yet.

Louise went out with her friends later that night without saying goodbye to anyone. Charlotte decided to stay in, and invited some of her friends over, and they sat at the piano playing and singing for hours, and all of them loved Sandy. And Stephanie and Pedro went to her room. She was listening to the music and missing Chase, when Jean called her at nearly midnight.

“Holy shit,” she said with fervor when Stephanie picked up.

“What's wrong?” She thought something might have happened to Fred.

“Alyson found out tonight that Brad had an affair with their last au pair, the one who quit so mysteriously and just disappeared. It's over now, but he had a baby with her, the same age as Henry”—their youngest. “She showed up on their doorstep tonight, with the kid, and accused him of lying to her and screwing her out of the support he'd been paying her for two years until a few months ago. Poor Alyson is in a state of total hysteria. The woman told her, standing in their dining room in the middle of Thanksgiving, with Alyson's parents there, that he's having an affair with the new au pair too. Apparently, she kept her key and let herself into the house while they were eating. I don't know what's going to happen. But Alyson wants to kill him. It looks like Saint Brad isn't as perfect as she thought after all. I always knew he was full of shit. And now she knows it.”

“OhmyGod! Now what?” Stephanie was shocked.

“She says she's going to divorce him, and she probably will. I don't know how he's going to bullshit his way out of this one. Not with a two-year-old as evidence.”

“Oh, poor Alyson, and she thought their life was so perfect, and she's so in love with him.”

“I think she got cured of that in a hurry tonight. She made him leave the house in the middle of Thanksgiving. He refused, and she started to call the police, so he left.”

“And what happened to the au pair with the baby?”

“She left with him. I think he just wanted to get her out of there. Alyson said the kid looks just like him, so he can't deny it, and he didn't try to. The au pair said they had DNA tests to prove it. And Alyson is going to fire the au pair she has now, since the other girl claims he's sleeping with her too.” It was a lurid tale, but somehow Stephanie believed it. And he had been a little too friendly with her too, ever since Bill died.

“Wow!” She was speechless.

“You should call her. Her parents are here from Michigan, and she's been crying all night.”

Stephanie called her five minutes later and heard the whole story again in more detail. Alyson couldn't stop sobbing hysterically and said she never wanted to see him again, which seemed unlikely. They had three children together. But she said she was filing for divorce on Monday, and the way she said it, Stephanie thought she would.

“I'm so sorry, Alyson,” she said sincerely, and felt terrible for her. It was an awful story, particularly knowing that her ex au pair had been pregnant and having a baby at the same time as she was.

“I'm sorry too,” Alyson cried into the phone. “I've been mean to you about Chase, but I was worried about you, and I thought it was shocking that you were going out so soon after Bill died, and with someone so different. Brad kept telling me it was a terrible thing to do…and look what he did…he's such a prick. How could he do that? I hate him.” Her words came out in a rush, and Stephanie felt desperately sorry for her. She had fallen from the heights of innocence and trust to the depths of betrayal in an instant. “I'm sure you know what you're doing,” Alyson said about Chase. “I just love you, Steph, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you. And now look what happened to me.” She cried for a while longer, and then they got off the phone, and Stephanie lay on her bed thinking about her. It was hard to imagine the rotten things people did to each other, and she remembered when she had found out about Bill's affair and how hurt she had been. She realized now that she should have divorced him, and she thought that Alyson should too. Their relationship would be irreparably damaged forever. There was no way to repair that kind of hurt and betrayal.

Stephanie was still thinking about it when she ran into Louise alone in the kitchen the next morning. She didn't say anything to her. They had all said enough the night before. Louise looked depressed as she drank her coffee, and then glanced mournfully at her mother.

“I'm sorry I was rude to Sandy last night. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm just mad at everyone all the time. I'm mad at you for being with Chase, if you still are. I wish you were still with Daddy. I'm mad at Daddy for being dead. And at Michael for being with Sandy.” And then she grinned. “And maybe I'm just mad that Charlotte was ever born. She was such a pain in the ass when she was little, and sometimes she still is.”

“It's big of you to admit it.” Stephanie leaned over and kissed her cheek. “I was mad at Daddy for a while for dying too. But it didn't help. I feel better now.”

“You really weren't happy with Daddy, were you?” she asked her mother, and Stephanie was careful about what she answered.

“I used to be. We were happy for a long time. And then I think we got sloppy about our relationship. He was too busy, I was busy with all of you, and we kind of got disconnected.” Louise nodded, she remembered. “And there was a point where we probably should have gotten divorced, but we didn't. We just stuck it out, not connected anymore. I guess I was too scared to get divorced, and I really did love him. But it wasn't much of a life for either of us.”

“Why do you think that happened?”

“What I said. Sloppy, busy, lazy, careless. You have to take good care of relationships and work at them. We didn't.”

And then Louise asked her a question that took her breath away. “Did Daddy ever cheat on you?” Stephanie hesitated for a long moment and wondered if someone had told her.

“What difference does it make? If he did, it was probably because our marriage wasn't good anymore, and that didn't help it. But I don't think people cheat in happy marriages they take good care of. Unless they're just plain stupid.” Like Brad Freeman. “And Daddy wasn't stupid.”

“Meg Dawson told me a long time ago that Daddy had an affair.” She was Jean's older daughter, and five years older than Louise. “I was about sixteen and I didn't want to believe her.” That was exactly when it had happened, and Meg must have heard it from her mother.

“He might have,” Stephanie said, sounding noncommittal.

“Maybe it would help if I knew the truth,” Louise said, sounding lost. “I've blamed you for a lot of things, Mom. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe some of it was Daddy.” She had told herself a lot of fantasies about her parents' marriage and how much they had loved each other. But she had never forgotten what Meg had said and hoped it wasn't true.

“That's possible.” She smiled gently at her. “You don't need to be mad at Daddy. He's gone now.” Louise's eyes bored through her, and finally Stephanie nodded. “Yes, he did. But I stayed anyway. He was going to marry her and she changed her mind so he came back to me.” Stephanie hated saying it to her, but it was true. And she made no editorial comment about how selfish he had been, or how much he had hurt her. She just gave her the facts and let her make her own decisions.