Alma Mater

by Rita Mae Brown

  "Charly, every damned resident of Surry County is unique."

  "Yes, sir." Charly smiled, breathed deeply, and said with great confidence, "I am here to ask for the hand of your daughter, sir. I love her. I will provide for her and I will do everything in my power to make her happy."

  This came as no surprise to Frank. "I believe you will."

  "I love her, Mr. Savedge. I don't think I could live without her."

  "I want her husband to be a gentleman, a man who will cherish her, support her, respect her. I believe you will do that, and I grant you permission to ask for her hand."

  "Thank you, sir."

  "I assume you haven't asked her yet."

  "No, sir. I had to speak to you first."

  "Have you planned anything?" Frank smiled. "I guess I'm curious, though perhaps it's none of my business. I took R. J. fishing and waited for the sun to rise over the James, when I proposed. I put the ring in her tackle box." He smiled again, remembering how fast his heart had thumped, how he had almost forgotten to breathe and became lightheaded. "Vic loves the river, you know."

  He smiled broadly. "Part of me wants to race back to school and ask her right now and part of me wants to plan it. I'd like to ask her Christmas Eve. I was thinking I'd tie a red ribbon through the ring and hang it from a branch of the tree or maybe from the mistletoe. I haven't made up my mind."

  "You'll figure it out splendidly. I have no doubt of that." Frank stood up to shake Charly's hand.

  Charly rose. "Thank you, sir. Thank you so much."

  Frank clapped him on the back. "Come on. We'd better go home

  to R. J. You can't drive back to Williamsburg now. It's really going to be a big one."

  They reached Surry Crossing just as the heavens opened.

  Frank said nothing to his wife. Mignon stayed glued to Charly, and Frank didn't want to break the news with his youngest there. Charly called Vic and told her he wasn't in the dorm. If she guessed why he was at Surry Crossing, she didn't let on.

  Finally Frank told Mignon to go to her room and study. He and R. J. had some business to discuss with Charly. When they told R. J. the news, she cried, hugging Charly and kissing Frank. She said she was happy that Vic had such a good young man. Yet she thought to herself that Vic was so young and the world so big. Couldn't they wait a year or two? But she kept these thoughts inside. After all, she had married at twenty.

  H

  ow could you?" R. J. was so upset she whipped the kitchen counter with her dish towel. "Mom, it's not all that bad." Vic faced her mother. Both women were standing at the kitchen sink. Piper sat between them, intently watching the exchange.

  Outside, tree limbs lay scattered over the lawn. The storm that had roared through Surry Crossing the night before was now worrying ships on the Atlantic. Charly had returned to William and Mary early in the morning, so Vic had missed him.

  'People are sensitive to things like this, Victoria. You don't just go around dressing up a religious icon like the Virgin Mary."

  "Everything was really okay. Her barbecue apron was clean, her chef's hat perfect, and all her cooking utensils were clean, too. You would have been pleased at her turnout." Vic's green eyes lit up as she described the statue. "She looked just like one of the girls. I even thought I'd change her outfit to go with the season. You know, a William and Mary sweatshirt for football games, a pennant, maybe a wraparound skirt and a TriDelt pen for rush week."

  R. J. laughed. She couldn't help herself. "Honey, the Virgin Mary would be a Kappa Kappa Gamma."

  "Without a doubt."

  R. J. leaned forward and kissed her daughter on the cheek. "Oh, well—no harm done, I guess."

  "Uh, that's not exactly all that happened."

  R. J. straightened her shoulders. "Oh?"

  "The monsignor saw me. Anyway, he went to the dean." She paused. "And to make a long story short, I'm expelled."

  "What? Oh, Vic, you can't be." R. J.'s dismay was palpable. Piper licked her hand.

  "I suppose I could have lied my way out of it, but that didn't seem right. I did it."

  "But it's such an extreme punishment."

  "Yeah, it is. But after the Alpha Tau stuff, I guess they figured they had to crack down. So . . ." She shrugged.

  R. J. leaned against the sink. "This is just terrible. Your father and I will go right down there. We'll talk to the dean. We'll talk to the president if we have to. You are so close to graduating and . . ."

  "Don't. Mom, please don't."

  "Listen, young lady, in the state of Virginia there are only two diplomas that matter, William and Mary or the University of Virginia. I guess we can haul you over to Charlottesville."

  "No. I'll figure this out. If I had to go somewhere else, I'd rather it be Tech."

  "Tech? What in the world are you thinking?" R. J.'s face turned red. "Next you'll tell me you want to go to VMIi" R. J. sat down and put her head in her hands. "What are we going to tell your father?"

  "The truth." Vic stood behind her mother, her hand on her shoulder.

  "Of course, we'll tell him the truth, dammit, it's just how we'll tell him. And Bunny. Lord, it will be all over town. I suppose Jinx knows everything."

  "Yes."

  "Regina will worm it out of her. We might as well put an advertise-

  ment in the Norfolk paper." A hint of sarcasm flickered from R. J.

  "It's not like I've killed anyone. All I did was create Mary's barbecue." R. J. swiveled around, looking up at her daughter. "I guess that's

  how we know Mary is Catholic. If she were an Episcopalian, she'd be wearing a pink and green dress with three strands of pearls and matching earrings, and she'd be holding a cocktail." She let out a small laugh. "Which reminds me, you'll have to talk to Father Dermott about this."

  "Mom, we're Episcopalians. Why do I have to talk to him?"

  "Because we live here and because the word will fly around this country like a balloon with the wind escaping. You don't want the good father to think you're sacrilegious."

  "I am sacrilegious, sort of."

  "You can keep that to yourself."

  "You really think I have to call on him?"

  "Of course you do."

  "Couldn't we send all the Catholics back to Maryland?"

  R. J. pulled Vic into a kitchen chair. "You're being a bad girl." "Yes." Vic showed no sign of remorse.

  R. J. grew solemn. "Honey, you have to finish college."

  "No."

  R. J. folded her hands together. "What has gotten into you?" "I don't know exactly. Just let me find a job."

  "Here?"

  "Well, I could look in Williamsburg." Vic was trying to find the right way to approach her mother about what she really wanted to do. "To be close to Charly?"

  "That wouldn't hurt," Vic mumbled unconvincingly. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me why he was here?"

  "To pay a call. And have you considered that you might not get a job in town after your escapade?"

  "No one knows about it other than the monsignor and the dean." "I see." She drew a deep breath. "And what does Charly say about this?"

  "He's upset."

  "I would expect that Jinx is upset, too."

  "She thinks I'm bone stupid."

  "Yes, well, she has a point there." R. J. leaned toward Vic. "Were you alone in this achievement?"

  "Sure. Who else would be so dumb?"

  "I can think of at least two other people and given your power of persuasion, probably more."

  "It was just me."

  "What on earth got into you?"

  "You already asked me that, and I said I didn't know."

  "Oh, Victoria Vance, you don't just go out and tape barbecue forks to the Virgin Mother's hands."

  "Didn't you ever just do something for the hell of it? You were bored or you were full of yourself or the moon was full? I don't have a reason. I wasn't an abused child. My parents weren't alcoholic. I just took a notion," Vic said firmly.

  R. J. studied h
er eldest, noting the strong jaw, the determination underlying her beauty. "Actually, dear, I have taken few notions in my life, and I think I'm the poorer for it. I have tried to be logical, efficient, and organized. There have been times when I've bored myself silly."

  "You've never bored anyone else."

  "Thank you, dear, that's a pretty thing to say." R. J. leaned back in her chair with a flop. "Your father is going to be fit to be tied. And your sister will think it's too, too divine." She looked out the window; the river was still stirred up. "Are you in love with Charly?"

  "Where did that come from?"

  "From the heart." R. J. knew in her bones that something was different. When she and Frank were first together they were besotted with one another. She hadn't observed that in Vic. She had observed it in Charly.

  "I thought you liked him."

  "I do. It's just—oh, I don't know." R. J. reached for her Lucky Strikes.

  "I know why he came over, Mom."

  "Did he tell you?"

  "No, he didn't."

  "Then maybe you don't know why he paid a call."

  "I'm not stupid."

  "That, from a girl who's just gotten herself thrown out of college in her senior year over a prank. You might want to revise your statement."

  "Yes, well . . . Look, do you think if I marry Charly, his family will settle money on us?"

  "Yes," R. J. stated flatly.

  "Would my marrying him help you?"

  "I don't know. I don't know what you two will do with your money." "Aunt Bunny always implied that it would help the family."

  A flash of irritation crossed R. J.'s face. "She doesn't know what

  she's talking about. And since when have you listened to Bunny?" "I'm worried about money. I'm worried about Surry Crossing." "Don't. I told you to get through school. It's not your concern."

  R. J.'s voice rose.

  "It is if you're going to kill yourself worrying and working." Vic's tone matched her mother's.

  "Do I look like I'm at death's door?"

  "No."

  "All right, then."

  "Mom, do you want me to get married?"

  A long silence followed.

  "I want you to be happy. He's a wonderful young man. When you're young, a husband seems easy to find, but as you go along in life you discover there aren't that many people who will go the distance. So many things go into the equation: physical attraction and ethics and temperament and sense of humor and well, so many things."

  "Is marriage important to you?"

  "For you?"

  "For me and in general, I suppose." Vic folded her hands.

  Another long silence followed, finally broken by R. J. after she exhaled a plume of smoke. "I think it's important to be married if one is going to have children. After that, I don't know. I used to be quite sure of all these things, but having seen some ugly, ugly divorces among my friends . . . all I can say is if children are part of your dream, then it is important. I suppose my advice is, look before you leap. But then, you know Charly. You've been dating him for over a year, you worked together last summer. You say you love him. And I assume you want children some day."

  "If they turn out like Mignon, I'm not so sure."

  "She's a good kid."

  "Yeah," Vic grudgingly replied. "Actually, she's grown up a lot lately."

  "It comes in fits and starts. I'm still growing. I think you never stop if you're lucky."

  "Why did you want to know if I love Charly?"

  "I've known you longer than anyone on earth, honey. I became acquainted with you in the womb." She smiled. 'Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you love him quite as much as he loves you."

  Vic's heart thumped against her rib cage. Was this the time to tell her mother? Did she have the courage? She'd just told R. J. she'd gotten her ass kicked out of school. It would be a lot at one time. "Mother, I think women love differently than men."

  R. J. appraised Vic. "You're very diplomatic."

  "Don't you think it's true?"

  "No. Love is love, and it may never be in an equal balance between people. I don't think men love more or women love more. I love your father, for instance, and I know he loves me. Sometimes he loves more and sometimes I love more. There's no rhyme or reason to it that I can fathom. Men and women may show their love differently. Men want to provide, want to be heroes, but then I've seen plenty of women be heroes, too. But you know if there is that rolling passion like the tide, you can feel it. I don't feel that from you."

  Vic closed her eyes and then slowly opened them. "Because it's not there."

  "I see."

  "But I do love him, Mother, I do. I love who he is. I love his body. I love his mind."

  "But you're always in control of your own emotions."

  "Yes."

  "Love and reason aren't compatible." R. J. reached for her pack of Luckies, tapping out another one, lighting it with the stub of her first cigarette. "Honey, maybe if we were reasonable, no two people would ever get together. If you think about the demands of marriage, of a close relationship, I don't know if anyone would ever enter into it. Love is blind. It has to be."

  "I don't know."

  "Can you be a wife?"

  "No, Mom, I can't. I can be a partner, I can be a friend, but I don't think I can be a wife."

  R. J. smiled. "Sometimes I think you have an old head on those beautiful shoulders and then other times, like upon hearing that you've been expelled from school, I wonder what's up there."

  "Me, too." She paused. "You're worried about me getting married."

  "Of course I am. Any mother would worry. I want you to be happy, and you can't be happy being second fiddle. You need to be in charge, to some extent you need to be the center of attention. You don't ask for it, honey, it just comes to you. I don't know how happy you'd be otherwise."

  "So you don't think I'd be a good wife, either?"

  "You could, but you'll pay a high price. I sometimes think your generation is different from mine, like night and day. You girls aren't going to fulfill yourself by comparing notes about your children. You all want to be out and doing, out in the world."

  "If I marry Charly you think I'll be towed along behind him?" she questioned, interested in her mother's perspective.

  "Inevitably, because of who he is. You're both stars in your own ways, but it's still a man's world."

  "I always thought you wanted me to get married."

  "I do, When you're ready and to the right man, of course, I do. There's a great joy in a strong marriage, a joy without substitute." "You know a lot, Mom."

  "When you get as old as I am, you're bound to have learned a little something."

  "You're not old."

  "Yes, well, I'm not young."

  "If it will make you feel better, Charly hasn't asked me to marry him.",

  "What makes me feel better is that we've had this talk." She rose.

  "All right, let's go to town. We might as well talk to your father and get

  it over with. He should be in a good mood, and that's in your favor." "I'm glad to hear that."

  "He's dealing with the Wallaces again. That always perks him up." "Ratshot again?"

  "No. This time it's Yolanda."

  "God, she must be the oldest living cow in the universe." "She's the oldest living cow in the Wallace's kitchen now." "Mom, there's something else I'd like to talk about."

  R. J., who had stood up to grab her purse off the counter, turned around, "Shoot."

  "You said you and Aunt Bunny might start a nursery."

  "We're making progress."

  "That's what I would love to do. Mom, let me work for you. I'll work cheap. I'd love to start a business like that."

  R. J. put her purse back on the counter. "Do you really think, if you marry him, Charly would live here?"

  "Mom, we just sat here and both agreed I wouldn't make a good wife."

  "A traditional wife," R. J. added as a modification.

 
; "Some people are afraid of life, they're afraid to leave home and go out into the world." Vic rose and walked over to her mother to look her straight in the eye. "I'm not like that. But Surry Crossing is exactly where I want to be. Working with living things is exactly what I want to do."