“Jeffrey, Dr. Nadu told me that—oh, excuse me.” The female voice made Jeffrey’s heart lurch. He leaned around Penelope.
It was Claire. Of all the people who could have come into this office at this moment . . . “Claire, I—”
Her face drained of all emotion. “Excuse me. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” She closed the door quietly behind her.
“Claire!” Jeffrey headed for the door.
Penelope turned around, hands still in the air. “Where do you think you’re going, Jeffrey?”
“I’m going to get that woman.”
“You better not leave here before you tell me what you’re going to do about my breasts!” she demanded.
“There are more important things in life than your breasts, Penelope.”
“What about lawsuits?” She threw her hands down. “You got something more important than that?!”
He grabbed the door handle and jerked the door open. “Yeah, Penelope, I do.” He sprinted off down the hall toward Claire’s disappearing shadow. “Claire, wait! Wait! Please! This is not what you think!”
She was already halfway to the parking garage. He raced after her, through the crosswalk, panting hard. “Claire, please! Will you stop just for a moment! I promise it’s not what you think!”
She turned around, and he could see that she was biting her jaw to control the swimming tears. “You’re right. It’s not what I thought. I thought that maybe, just maybe, you weren’t the same man I knew all those years ago. That maybe you had changed. That you weren’t the perverted, selfish Jeffrey you always had been.” She reached for her car door. “I was wrong.”
He grabbed her arm and turned her around. “She was a patient, Claire. That’s all. She got a bad breast enhancement by the doctor who replaced me.”
“Sure. And you were checking it out to make sure everything was okay. Because after all, she’s your patient. Does that line sound familiar? It’s the one you always gave me: ‘She’s just a patient. ’ Well, enjoy your patients, Jeffrey.” She climbed into her car and slammed the door, leaving him standing in the parking lot.
Will sat on the edge of his bed in the fraternity house, his head in his hands. Three of his frat brothers—officers—stood awkwardly in a semi-circle around him. “We’re sorry, Will. It’s just that you’re not technically a student anymore, so you can’t be the president of the fraternity.”
“What about un-technically? I never liked technically anyway.”
“It’s what our advisor told us. You’ve got to go, Will. You can’t stay here.”
“Yeah, man. And we’re really sorry about it and all, but they’ve voted me for president, and now this gets to be my room.”
Will stood up and slapped one of them on the back. “You know, you guys are good. I’ll have to give you props for how you’ve pulled this year off. I still don’t know how you’ve done it all, but it’s the best prank ever.”
They rolled their eyes at each other. “You want us to help you get your stuff ?’
“Nah, you guys go ahead. I’ll get it.”
“We—ah, we’re supposed to help you. You have to go—now.”
Ten minutes later, Will found himself on the damp sidewalk with two duffel bags of clothes at his feet. He had heard about that déjà-vu stuff, and if this wasn’t it, he didn’t know what was. The rest of his stuff he had never even bothered to retrieve from the storage room at his condo. He picked up his bags and began to walk, wishing now that he had bothered to get that coat out of storage, but very grateful it had stopped raining.
Elizabeth bolted upright in the bed. She glanced over at the alarm clock across the room. But a glance didn’t work anymore. She rubbed her eyes as if that might bring the numbers into focus. It didn’t help. She needed glasses, and this confirmed it. She got up and walked over, bending down to glare at the numbers. Two a.m. “Who in the world is ringing my doorbell at this time of the morning?”
She clumped down the stairs. The doorbell continued to chime incessantly, followed by the brass door knocker. “Whoever it is, they are insane.”
She peered through the peephole. She’d recognize that shaggy head anywhere. “Will, what in the world are you doing here at this time of the night?”
“Hey, Sis. What time is it?” He slipped past her into the house.
“It’s 2 a.m. And don’t call me Sis. Do you not have a watch?”
He looked down at his shirtsleeve and shifted it up. His wrist was bare. “No. No watch. I had to give it to the cab driver. Sorry, I hope I didn’t wake you.” He dropped his duffel bags on the couch and headed toward the kitchen.
Why did every man who entered her house go straight to the kitchen? “No, Will. I’m always up at 2 a.m. It’s when I do most of my thinking and best work actually.”
The sarcasm eluded him entirely. “That’s what I figured, with you being a lawyer and all.” He opened up the refrigerator and peered inside.
“You want to tell me why you’re here?”
“I just need a place to crash for a couple days, if you don’t mind. There’s been some crazy mix-up at the school that I can’t seem to get resolved.” He pulled out a container of yogurt and rummaged through the drawers looking for a spoon. “Everything has been whacked since Dad died,” he said with his mouth full. “I can’t get into my apartment. They won’t give me my car back.”
“You still don’t get it, do you?”
“What? You’re saying all this is part of that will charade?” He pushed himself up and sat on the counter. Men didn’t seem to realize she had a table either. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you and Jeffrey were doing all this yourself, trying to get me to believe that pile of bull. Anyway, I figured I’d just come hang with you for a while until we get this settled. If you get tired of me, maybe you’ll give me my car back or something.”
“Or something,” she mumbled. This was no time to expect Will to get any wiser.
He tossed the empty yogurt container and spoon into the sink, then stuck his head back into the refrigerator as if a five-course meal might miraculously appear. “Do you ever eat, Sis?”
She ignored the question. “So what are you planning on doing now?”
He retrieved a bottle of water and headed back into the hall. “Thought I’d just crash here for the evening. Grab some z’s.”
She only had his disappearing figure to respond to. “Sure, Will. Grab you some z’s.”
Elizabeth had never understood Will. Maybe she had never tried, if she were being honest. He was just a baby when their mother had died. It was all sad, really, but pathetic as he might be, he still annoyed the blazes out of her.
How could four children from the same parents have absolutely nothing in common? They were strangers to each other. She probably understood Ainsley Parker better than she did those who shared her gene pool.
Elizabeth went back upstairs to her room, where the overhead light was still on. She heard Will before she saw him, snoring and slobbering all over her pillow.
She stifled a bellow of rage and resigned herself to the guest room.
chapter thirty-six
Jeffrey slipped into the pew of the church at Edisto. He and Matthew came every Sunday now; they picked Esau up and took him to church and then went down to the Gullah restaurant for lunch. Just as Esau and his father had done every week.
He and Matthew acted like two little boys on these Sunday excursions—rowing in the marsh, swinging from trees. Jeffrey had felt more alive over the last three months than he had felt in his entire life.
The only problem with finally being alive was that you could feel. He had found himself forced to endure the pain of Jacob’s death and Claire’s misunderstanding. But at least he could feel the pleasant moments as well.
He sat in the pew listening to the choir, with Matthew’s little hand resting on his knee. He reached down and covered it with his own, and as he turned he caught sight of Mary Catherine sitting in the back row. Again.
He had s
een her quite a few times over the last couple of weeks, but today, sitting there, he realized he didn’t even know her.
Well, he knew what he had come to believe about her—that she wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, even though his father had a keen affection for her. He knew she had pitiful taste in men . . .
As soon as the thought came to him, he recognized the irony. Mothers had probably said the same thing about him when their daughters brought him home.
“We’re so glad you’re here with us today,” the minister began as he approached the pulpit. The man’s name was Mitch Young, and Jeffrey thought that ironic too. Ministers were supposed to be old, with greased hair and black suits. This one was in his thirties, maybe, with unruly blond curls and a baby blue tie.
But when he began to preach, the youthful appearance gave way to a powerful wisdom. The sermon today was about family, commitment, morally corrupt affections, and forgiveness. And here Jeffrey sat, with an estranged sister just a few rows behind him, three former wives who hated him, a string of adulterous affairs, a son who had died without ever knowing him, and another he was just beginning to connect with. Not to mention a nearly year-and-a-half-old baby who bawled her eyes out every time Jeffrey tried to hold her.
Hot tears ran down his face, and he tried to brush them away. But Matthew squeezed his hand and nodded as if he understood it all. Sometimes Jeffrey thought there was a little ninety-year-old man wrapped up inside that eight-year-old body.
The organist played the postlude, and they walked out quietly as the music wafted through the open doors.
“It was good to see Aunt Mary Catherine there again today,” Matthew said.
“I ’spect that young pastor we got us is probably very relatable to her. You, too, for that matter.” Esau grinned back at Matthew.
Today was the monthly family dinner at the plantation, so they followed Mary Catherine back along the road and down the driveway.
“We saw you at church again, Aunt Mary Catherine,” Matthew hollered as he jumped out of the backseat.
“Oh, you did, did you?”
Jeffrey watched as she bent down and gave him a kiss on the cheek; then he ran off to help Esau get dinner out on the table. The child was always starving.
Jeffrey got out of the car next to one of the pruned wisteria plants. Esau refused to let the defiant vine get out of control. He fell into step beside Mary Catherine, and they walked toward the house in an awkward silence. “We haven’t really talked about seeing each other at church,” he said at last.
“No, we haven’t.”
“What brought you there?”
She shrugged. “Just nostalgia, I guess.”
“Are you missing Dad?”
“I’ve been missing a lot,” she muttered.
“How’s everything else?”
She turned sharply in his direction. “What do you mean, how’s everything else?”
He took a step back and held up both hands. “Just wondering about your job and Nate and your life. Just trying to have a conversation.”
“Why? You’ve never tried to have a conversation with me before.”
“Touché.” He dug his hands into the pockets of his coat. “I’m sorry about that, Mary Catherine. I’m sorry about being so self-absorbed all these years. You know, not really being a brother. I feel like I know some people in my office better than I know my own family.”
She paused on the second porch step. “You have been a sorry excuse for a brother,” she confirmed. “But you know what? I think I attract sorry men.”
Jeffrey looked at her in amazement. Maybe she wasn’t as dense as he had always thought.
“Not that I attracted you, of course. You just came with the territory. But Nate, now, Nate’s a different story. We’re getting a divorce, you know.”
“No, Mary Catherine, I had no idea.”
She sat down on the top step, and he joined her. “Why would you? You don’t know anything about me. All you know is what you want to know. I see the way you look at me, Jeffrey. Like I’m one bean shy of a bushel.”
He stifled a grin. Not exactly the way he would have put it, but true nevertheless. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Yes, you did. You’ve always had that condescending, arrogant demeanor. Elizabeth is mean, and you’re a jerk. Maybe you can’t help it. Maybe it’s just in your cell structure. But whatever it is, it sure has made for an unpleasant family life.” She caught his gaze and held it. “You know, when you and Elizabeth left, it was just me and Will. We had some wonderful times. But now I feel like I’m an orphan. You and Elizabeth aren’t even enjoyable company. And Will—well, Will is almost as pitiful as Nate.”
“I should respond to all of that, but I’m not quite sure what the response should be.”
She nudged him with her shoulder. “Well, what do you know? Mr. Know-It-All has nothing to say.”
He nudged her back. “Any chance for reconciliation?”
“With you or with Nate?”
“Either.”
“Not with Nate. You don’t reconcile with the devil. But you?” She got to her feet and looked down at him. “You have a lot of making up to do.”
“Do you ever shut up?” Elizabeth asked Will as she pulled into the driveway for her monthly Sunday affliction.
“You are a very tightly wound woman, Elizabeth Wilcott. Has anybody ever informed you of that?”
“You are a mooch. Has anyone ever informed you of that?”
He laughed, that same annoying laugh she had been forced to endure for almost three days. She brought the car to a screeching halt and slammed the car door as she exited.
With the leaves now gone from most of the trees in the backyard, the pitch of the old barn roof could be seen. She averted her eyes immediately, but she couldn’t as easily divert her memories. She pounded up the steps, shivering from the chill of winter and her hovering demons. The pruned wisteria seemed to shiver as she passed. Will slouched along behind her.
Esau opened the door. Elizabeth paused, and Will ran into her from behind. “Get off my tail,” she growled.
“Good to see you too,” Esau said.
She jerked off her coat and threw it across a chair. She smelled dinner, so fortunately she had been late enough to avoid the small talk.
Will headed straight to the table, patting Esau’s narrow shoulders enthusiastically as he passed. “Esau, my man, can’t wait to see what kind of feast you’ve made us today.” Esau stumbled forward slightly.
And a feast it was. Fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans, collard greens, and peach cobbler for dessert. Will sat down and immediately tried to snatch a piece of chicken. Esau slapped his hand as he passed. “You will wait for us to pray.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Y’all come on so we can pray.”
From the direction of the kitchen, Matthew bounded into the dining room holding a basket full of rolls, and Mary Catherine and Jeffrey came in from the parlor, both smiling. Elizabeth found that both odd and irritating.
Esau stood behind his chair and bowed his head. “Lord, we thank you for another day to partake of your great bounty. May each time we’re together remind us of the treasure of family. We pray these things in your precious name. Amen.”
“Amen!” Matthew echoed, and Jeffrey laughed.
They all filled their plates, and for a while the dining room was quiet except for the clinking of silverware against the antique china.
Mary Catherine finally broke the silence. “I have an announcement to make.” She set her tea glass down by her plate. “I’ve already told Jeffrey, but the rest of you probably need to know that Nate and I are getting a divorce.”
Jeffrey watched the others. Elizabeth cast him a knowing smirk. Will simply kept eating.
“Oh, Mary Catherine, I am so sorry to hear that.” Esau laid down his fork to give her his full attention.
Jeffrey sat at the end of the table, wondering for a moment if this was how the conversations had been around the t
ables of his ex-wives and their families when his indiscretions were exposed. He’d like to think their families had been more sympathetic, but somehow he doubted it.
“Thanks, Esau. It’s really hard.” Mary Catherine’s voice started to quiver.
Esau turned in his chair to console her with a touch. “What happened?”
“He was having an affair.” Tears streamed down her face. “But he was just using me, I think.”
“And how long did it take you to figure that out?” Elizabeth’s words dripped with sarcasm.
“Elizabeth!” Jeffrey said. “Can’t you have an ounce of empathy?”
“Excuse me? This coming from one of the most accomplished adulterers of the modern world? What, Jeffrey, are you seeing a little too much of your own life here?” She dropped her fork, and it clanged against the side of her plate.
“Do you have something you need to say to me, Elizabeth? If so, maybe we need to go into the other room so we can talk.” Jeffrey pushed his chair back.
“You have a problem with everyone here knowing the truth?”
By this time even Will had stopped eating.
“Don’t try to show up and be the big brother now, Jeffrey!” Elizabeth shouted. She had fire in her eyes, and she turned the blaze fully upon him. “I know you were there that day! You saw what was done to me, and you did nothing about it! That’s why I hate this place! That’s why I hate you! And that’s why if you get every last dime of the inheritance, I don’t care. Because I will never come here again!” She pushed back from the table with such force that the chair fell crashing to the floor.
Elizabeth dashed for the front door, grabbing her coat and purse from the chair in the foyer. She flung the door open so forcefully that it crashed into the wall.
Jeffrey ran after her and reached just as she was unlocking her Jeep. “Elizabeth, please! You’ve got to listen to me!”
“No, Jeffrey, I don’t have to listen to you! I heard you once! I heard you run! You ran away when you could have helped me! You could have stopped him, Jeffrey!”
The Will of Wisteria Page 28