The Widows of Sea Trail-Vivienne of Sugar Sands

by Jacqueline DeGroot

  I could trip on my way to the table, choke on wine and have it spurting out of my nose, or get one of those eye ticks that won’t go away unless I rub off all my eyeliner. I don’t know why I get them every now and again, or what triggers them, I only know there is no warning and that once they start, they develop into a rhythmic pattern and don’t let up unless I rub my eye like crazy. I swear, getting old is like waking up in somebody else’s body everyday, it’s an ongoing series of discovering new moles and wrinkles, having to admit you’ve lost the ability to do something you took for granted just yesterday, and lamenting over something lost forever, like the ability to read a menu without cheaters or to remember your neighbor’s name when you bump into her in the grocery store.

  I was digging through my coffee can of earrings when the doorbell rang. Coffee can of earrings? Yes, years ago, while living in Pennsylvania, I had my house burglarized. The big jewelry box on my dresser was emptied out along with all the silver in the drawers of my china cabinet. The officer who came to write the report said I had made it way too easy for the thieves. Everything was exactly where one would expect it to be, in the logical place to look, and right in plain view. So, ever since, I’ve kept my earrings in a coffee can, my rings in an old Calumet Baking Powder tin, and my bracelets and necklaces in baggies hidden in a Clabber Girl Cornstarch container. The silver I never bothered to replace. And it’s a good thing I took all these precautions. I would have lost everything in the second great burglary I experienced—when my stepchildren cleaned me out on the day of Dale’s funeral.

  While my friends were consoling me, Dale’s children from his first marriage were systematically ransacking my house and loading up their cars. I didn’t even know I’d been wiped out until I went to bed that night and found they had even stripped the comforter and sheets off my bed. I didn’t even have Dale’s scent to snuggle into anymore. Hours after they’d arrived home, one of Dale’s sons had the audacity to call and say they’d forgotten to take the silverware out of the dishwasher, and could I send it so they’d have the full set? I could have prosecuted I suppose, but I didn’t want to have anything to do with those mean-spirited vultures. Luckily, I’d kept the keys to Dale’s truck in the purse I had worn to the funeral, or they’d probably have taken that, too.

  After a few years I figured out that I was ahead of the game. By their actions, they had allowed me to write them off. So there were no more birthday presents, no more Christmas checks, no more late night calls for loans. And when everything had been probated, I got the satisfaction of seeing their faces when they realized that I was the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy, now owned the house outright, and that I was also entitled to his monthly pension until the day I died. That had been a good day indeed.

  The bell rang again and I smiled as I put my hand on the doorknob and opened the door. Then I practically fell over backward.

  “Mother!” I shrieked. “What are you doing here?” Her body was hunched over, her head bent as she fiddled with some shopping bags at her feet, but there was no mistaking the hair, her trademark Cinnaberry Dark Auburn tresses leapt like tiny flames around the crown of her head. She had always said witches didn’t necessarily have to have long stringy hair, so an eighty-one-year-old Sharon Osbourne it was.

  “That’s a fine way to greet the woman who gave birth to you,” she muttered as she bent again to retrieve two fistfuls of the shopping bag handles. In she trudged with at least seven bags bulging with all manner of things. Fronds from plants filled one, a varied assortment of tins and jars filled another, old leather-bound books were jammed into a cloth tote, and elaborate fabrics and bric-a-brac draped over the edges of the rest. Mom didn’t own a suitcase, preferring to keep everything at hand in paper bags, which typically overfilled not only the trunk of her car but the front and back seats as well.

  “What are you doing?” I cried out in shock. She was obviously moving in and I was in a panic. Damn that owl!

  “I told you I was coming for a visit.”

  “You said in a few weeks, not now!” My voice had a moaning quality to it and it made her turn and look at me with suspicious eyes. A beautiful woman, in her own right, she had these amazing fiery green eyes that had the uncanny ability to read every emotion in anyone’s face—so accurately it was pretty doggone scary at times. A dark piercing look from her could silence a crow. I had seen her stop a minister from preaching about the evils of sorcery in mid-sentence, just by turning her eyes on him. It was the one aspect of her that kept me from wholly denying the existence of witchcraft.

  “Time is irrelevant. I felt like now was the time you needed me to be here, so here I am. And just in the nick of time apparently. I see you are embarking on a new path for your life tonight. One I can’t wholeheartedly condone mind you, but men have always been more a part of your life than mine.”

  “What are you talking about?” I was stunned she had gleaned all that from my face. “What? You’re using a crystal ball now, or what? How could you possibly know about my date with Philip?”

  “Ahh, so I was right. Philip, huh? His name means lover of horses, does he have any?”

  “I don’t know! Why do you know so many useless things? And how do you know about this date, dammit,” I gritted out through clenched teeth.

  “A little squirrel told me you were up to something life changing and you’ve just told me why, but honestly, Viv, from the look of you, I can see something special is afoot. I haven’t seen you this dolled up in a decade or more. So you have a date, huh? Tell me all about him.”

  “Mother! I certainly will not! And you can’t be here right now! And besides, I don’t know all about him yet, it’s a first date!”

  “He isn’t coming here is he?”

  “I don’t know, he might later, but it certainly would be nice if I could ask him to come here if I wanted to. With you here, I can’t possibly do that!”

  “Why not dear? I won’t bite. I won’t even growl at him.”

  “You’re right there, because I will not let him get close to you. I haven‘t even met the man yet and you want me to introduce him to you? For God’s sake it’s no wonder even Cat and Tessa are scared to death of you!”

  “That’s because I’m different in a way few people understand.”

  “No, it’s because disaster follows you wherever you go!”

  “I am a bit clumsy . . . and forgetful sometimes, but surely, Tessa’s over the incident of the fire by now?”

  “You almost burned her house down!”

  “She got to redecorate, so it didn’t turn out all that badly.”

  “Mom, please, you just can’t be here right now. Go home. Come back next month.”

  “It’s too far, I’ve driven all day just to get here to be with you.”

  Suddenly the sliding door to the back deck opened and a laughing Tessa and Cat let themselves in. Then both sets of eyes focused on my mother’s and they both backed up and tried frantically to get back out the door. Mysteriously, it had locked behind them and wouldn’t budge.

  “Contessa! Catalina! How delighted I am to see you!” My mom ran across the room to embrace them. They both cringed as she took each into a grand bear hug, squeezing them tightly to her chest as if they were long lost friends. The looks on my friends faces were priceless, aghast in fear, pale from remembered “incidents,” their wide eyes found mine. They clearly were saying the same thing mine were. What the hell is she doing here?

  I answered their mute question. “Mother decided to come down because a squirrel told her I was at a crossroads. Life changing, I think she mentioned. Wasn’t that sweet of her?” I could not keep the irony from my voice. The only thing life changing was that now that she was here, I would never be able to actually do the thing I wanted to do to change my life, namely be relaxed and confident on my first date in over thirty years.

  Tessa, my angel, stepped up to the plate. “Well she can’t stay here, that is not an option. Especially not tonight, there�
�s too much riding on it.”

  My mom turned back to look at me, a queer look of selfpity on her face. “You would really send me packing, Viv, tell me I’m not welcome?” I swear I could see tears filling up in those remarkable bright green eyes.

  I felt myself bending, the guilt overpowering me, “No, no mother, of course, I couldn’t do that.”

  “No, of course not, but you could put her up in our condo . . .” Lovely, sweet Cat, she was a miracle worker.

  I grabbed at the lifeline. “Yes! Yes, that would be perfect. You’d still be close, we could visit, but you wouldn’t be. . uh . . .”

  “Underfoot if things progress and you bring that man home to sleep with you.” My mother, always so to the point, so brusque she had made my teenage years a living hell. I swear that terrifying my friends was her favorite hobby when I was growing up.

  “I hardly think . . .”

  “Young lady, it’s obvious to me, from the way you’re dressed that that’s exactly what you are anticipating for tonight’s conclusion. A woman doesn’t show that much cleavage, flaunt a nipped in waist in a flirty polka-dot dress, with heels no less, if she isn’t expecting a favorable outcome with a man. My darling daughter, you may not be aware of it, but I can certainly tell what your eyes are saying, they are practically shouting that you desire to be under a man tonight, his cock riding you high.”

  We all gasped, Cat, Tess, and I. My eyes went wide and I’m sure my jaw dropped. I had never heard my mother talk like this. She was forward, yes. But she was never vulgar.

  But I had to admit that the image she had spoken of brought a warm flush that sent all my blood south. As if conjured by her words, I saw Philip’s naked body on top of mine, his gorgeous butt clenching with each downward plunge.

  “See!” she said, pointing at my face. “I see it even if you can’t.” Then her voice softened and she spoke in a ragged whisper, “I know it’s been a long time for me, but I do remember how wonderful those feelings can be, the anticipation, the flirting and teasing, and finally, the feel of a man’s hands roaming over your body. So don’t think I don’t understand.” She bent and gathered all her bags by the handles again. “Okay, where’s this condo? I’d better get situated so I can chant this evening in for her.”

  We all groaned.

  “Mother, please don’t interfere. I think I can handle this. Did it occur to you that if I can’t keep a man’s attention long enough to interest him in me, without having to seduce him into my bed, that maybe he’s not the right man for me?”

  “It can’t hurt to mix a few herbs and chant to the powers that be. You look absolutely wonderful, and I do believe enough in you to know that you can be with whomever you want in whatever way you want, but for insurance, I think it best if I at least guarantee that no one trips, chokes or sneezes in the salad.”

  How does she do that? I thought. Two out of three things that I had specifically worried about.

  “And that eye thing, I have an herb I can burn especially for that.”

  She was mind-blowing.And very, very scary. “Okay that I will allow. But please, please, don’t burn up Cat’s condo. It doesn’t need redecorating.”

  Catalina helped Mom out, shooing her out the front door and leaving Tessa and her golf cart behind with the words thrown over her shoulder that she would be right back.

  Tessa gave a huge sigh of relief when the door closed behind them and then laughed hilariously as she choked out the words, “If you could have seen your face when your mom spoke about Philip’s cock riding you high.”

  “You should talk, your mouth was practically on the floor!” I laughed with her until tears threatened to ruin my eye makeup, and then spun for her inspection. I knew that was why she and Cat had driven up on a golf cart without any prior warning. This was a last minute inspection, and they were here to boost my confidence and wish me well. They had started this ball rolling, it was only fitting that they wanted to see the kick off.

  “You look marvelous, darling,” Tessa purred in her best Billy Crystal impersonation. “Simply marvelous. I predict that you’ll be riding high or be ridden high in no time t’all.”

  We both laughed and then Tess ran back out to the golf cart and produced a champagne bucket filled with ice. “We thought we should celebrate, toast your hard work, you’ve walked close to a hundred miles to accomplish all that,” she said with a wave of her hand indicating the new me.

  Ten minutes later Cat walked back inside the front door. She made a big show of locking it. “She’s settled, pop that sucker!”

  Tessa opened and poured while I reminded them that it was not a free day for me, so I only wanted half a glass just to be sociable.

  “You’re not going to diet tonight are you?” Cat wailed.

  “Tonight I can have shrimp.”

  “Don’t you dare order a salad, men like women who have hearty appetites,” she added.

  “Make up your mind. You said they liked busty women with tiny waists. They can’t have both.”

  We all looked down at our chest, Cat being the most ample, me being next in line, and Tess with her meager set.

  “I guess Roman prefers my hearty appetite,” Tess mumbled.

  We all laughed and clinked glasses while I said a prayer that Mom was on her best behavior, and while I made earnest plans to gravitate my life in a direction that would allow me to be on my worst. A fleeting image of me crawling up a naked man’s body caused a slight shudder as I sipped my champagne. I looked over at the candle I had cleaned and put in a holder on the mantle and felt my body go warm all over remembering where it had been.

  Tess seeing me shudder said, “Gosh, Viv, how long’s it been since you had some.”

  I knew Tess meant how long had it been since I’d had any champagne, but I answered. “Too long,” thinking how long it had been since I’d been skin to skin against any man. “Too long,” I repeated. I downed the rest and put the flute on the counter.

  “Gotta go,” I whispered, my nerves now going into overdrive. “Don’t want to be late.”

  “Actually you do. Worst thing would be to get there before him. Make him wait, “ Cat said.

  “No, the worst thing would be for him to watch me approach and then trip and fall into the table. Getting there first eliminates at least one of my fears.”

  “Your mom’s taking care of the tripping thing. Trust me, he needs to get the full effect of that dress.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll wait ten more minutes.”

  “Good have another glass.”

  “You think I’m going to ruin the effect of this nipped in waist?”

  “Okay, just swill it and spit it out,” Tessa said dryly.

  “Bite your tongue.”

  The phone rang and I went to get it. I listened for a minute, mumbled something and then hung up.

  “Who was that, not Philip canceling?”

  I looked over at Cat. “Not hardly. It was Mom. She wants to know if I know where she can get some Tabernanthe Iboga roots or Black Bugbane leaves. She needs them for a potion. Something about emotional warfare.”

  “And you told her . . .?”

  “I said you must be kidding, you can’t even buy jicama here.”

  I checked myself in the mirror over the fireplace and grabbed my purse and cashmere pashmina from the sofa. “Well, I’m off. Somebody lock up and if I don’t come home for any reason, check on Mom. I seem to remember plants of the Iboga family as being some sort of hallucinogen.”

  “Great, a stoned witch. Just what we need around here,” Cat said.

  “Have a great time!” Tessa called out.

  “Enjoy your shrimp!” Cat said, and then added, “hey, eat it with your fingers and do a Tom Jones thing, that’ll shake him up.”

  I smiled at her as I opened the door. “Should I put a banana in my purse for dessert?”

  As I closed the door I heard her call out, “That’s not a bad idea, hey, get him to buy you a soft ice cream cone on the causeway, do that
tongue thing you do at McDonald’s that makes the men . . .” The door slammed closed behind me and I took a deep breath. No Cat, I am not going to make love to an ice cream cone to show him how I can turn on a few horny construction workers.

  As I put my key in the ignition of Dale’s truck, I shook my head. My friends, well meaning though they were, had no idea how scared I was at the prospect of having sex with any man. Whoever he ended up being, he would be only the second man to ever make love to me, and he would probably want do things I hadn’t done before. The way Tessa and Cat talked, sex for people in their fifties was so much more adventurous than it had ever been. I drove down Route 179 trying to settle my nerves while primping in the rear view mirror every ten seconds.

  When I got to the Isles Restaurant, I drove around the parking lot trying to imagine which car was his, but none struck me as being the right one. I pictured him driving a Jag or a BMW, maybe even a Saab. I parked and then made my way across the parking lot to the stairs leading up to the restaurant. I shifted my shawl so it only draped around my shoulders, looping over my inner arms. Gosh, I was hot, must be my nerves. By the curb was a long black limousine. As I walked behind it the door opened and a man stepped out.

  “Vivienne,” I heard him say in a, deep throaty voice. I turned and looked at the man, who by just that one husky word, uttered into a dark wintry night, warmed my entire body.

  Chapter Eleven

  First date I smiled, taking in his impressive tallness and his wavy hair lifting in the breeze. Then disaster struck.

  I tripped on the uneven payment and was headed for a facer in the concrete when he grabbed me, one large hand cupping my right breast and the other gripping my left arm. Then both hands gripped my upper arms and I was hauled upright in a matter of seconds. My eyes met his, smiling blue eyes that twinkled in a tanned face as he said, “Excellent! You’re falling for me already!”