Beloved (52 page)

She watched mesmerized as Celeste suddenly flushed and dropped her voice and looked away. Mac seemed to be pleading with her, trying to force her around to his way of thinking. Whatever it was he was selling, she wasn
'
t buying.

It could be about something as routine as whether Jerry can take karate lessons, or who gets
to keep all the
Calphalon in the kitchen,
Jane insisted to herself.

"
Jane, for goodness
'
sake. You
'
re staring.
"

I
'
m jealous. God help me, I
'
m jealous of her.
Jane blinked, trying to break out of the spell she was in.
"
I am not staring,
"
she lied.
"
I was just trying to remember if I turned off the oven. Yes. I
'
m pretty sure I did. Ah, there he is
—
the guest of honor himself, interrupting the McKenzies.
"

"
Shall we wish him many happy returns?
"
Gwendolyn asked politely.

They went up to the trio and Jane introduced her mother first to Uncle Easy, and then, with a certain
amount of dread, to Celeste McKenzie. Almost as an afterthought she remembered that her mother had never met Mac.

Uncle Easy pumped Gwendolyn Drew
'
s hand and said gallantly,
"
So you
'
re the visiting mum. You
'
re even better looking than they say
—
and the reports have been pretty good.
"
And then he winked.

Celeste McKenzie said wearily,
"
Uncle Easy
—
behave yourself.
"

Mac
'
s look was droll. He, too, shook Gwendolyn
'
s hand.
"
Welcome to
Nantucket
,
"
he said to her, giving Jane the briefest of glances.
"
I trust you
'
re enjoying your brief sojourn.
"

He was using that snotty, yacht-club tone Jane knew so well.

Celeste knew it, too. She gave her ex-husband a look that blew the chip right off his shoulder.
"
No one loves
Nantucket
as much as Mac does,
"
she explained to Jane
'
s mother,
"
and he won
'
t forgive us for being so unfeeling.
"

Celeste turned her attention to Jane. She gave no hint that Jane had been there for the bitter confrontation between Mac and her.
"
So you
'
ve inherited Sylvia
'
s old place. Tell me what you
'
ve done with it so far,
"
Celeste said, slipping her arm through Jane
'
s and leading her over near a table filled with chips and dips.

Uncle Easy took off again, leaving Jane
'
s mother
—
oh, boy
—
with Mac. Jane kept an eye on the pair while she rattled on to Celeste about Lilac Cottage. She couldn
'
t imagine what the two of them could be talking about.

"
We still have to paint the outside,
"
Jane finished up.
"
We
'
re waiting for warm weather, but spring is dragging its feet.
"

"
Spring
always
drags its feet on
Nantucket
. It sounds as if you
'
ve been working hard. You should be careful, Jane,
"
Celeste added with a pained look at her ex-husband.
"
Redoing a house is a great way to destroy a relationship.
"

It was candid advice; Jane wondered why Celeste hadn
'
t taken it herself.

"
I
'
m not getting into renovations all that deeply. And besides,
"
Jane added with a self-conscious glance at Mac,
"
I don
'
t have a relationship
to
destroy.
"

"
Don
'
t you?
"
Celeste took a sip from her wine.
"
It doesn
'
t look that way to me.
"

Mac was trying not to look their way and not succeeding. And in the meantime Jane
'
s mother was tracking who was looking at whom and just how longingly.
Well, good,
Jane thought, suddenly tired of it all.
Maybe she can tell me later what the heck was going on here.

She was about to say something noncommittal when Celeste interrupted her.
"
I
'
m glad we had this chance to meet
again. When I was here last ..
.
"
She laughed softly.
"
When I was here last I put on quite a show. I
'
ve had time to think over the way I deal with Jeremy, and I guess Mac is right. Partly. Do you have kids?
"

Jane shook her head and Celeste continued.
"
Then you don
'
t know the pressures on a single mother.
"
She rubbed a red-tipped finger across her sculpted eyebrow as if she were struggling to understand those pressures herself.

"
It
'
s
—
I don
'
t know
—
you want to give the child everything,
everything,
to make up for what you
'
ve done to his world. You want him never to feel any pain, of any kind, ever again.
"

Even as she smiled apologetically, Celeste was searching out her son. When she found him, still huddled with his friends in front of the TV screen, a look both tender and fierce came over her.

She said,
"
So that
'
s why you run the risk of taking a perfectly normal ten-year-old and turning him into what Mac would call a sissy. It
'
s not a case of too much love, as Mac thinks it is. It
'
s a case of too much guilt.
"

"
Celeste, you don
'
t owe me an explanation,
"
Jane said,
embarrassed.
"
That was a rough afternoon for everyone. Words were bound to be said that
—"

"
Oh, but I
wanted
to explain. I
'
m an attorney; I know that every situation has two sides. I wanted you to hear mine,
"
she said simply.
"
Whups, I think you
'
re being paged.
"

Jane looked up to see Cissy across the room, frantically waving the back of her hand at her and pointing to a ring on it. Bing was with her, looking bemused by his sister
'
s manic behavior. Instantly Jane felt less tense. Bing was a warm bath, a box of chocolates, and a good book, all rolled into one relaxed and easygoing smile.

Celeste excused herself as Cissy rushed ahead of her brother and flashed a sapphire in front of Jane, saying,
"
See? I
told
you he loved me!
"

"
Cissy! Does this mean you
'
re engaged?
"
Jane asked, amazed that Phillip had made the commitment.

Cissy looked crestfallen.
"
Who said anything about being engaged?
"

"
Well,
that
was dumb of me,
"
Jane said, trying to laugh it off.
"
So it
'
s a friendship ring?
"

"
Those are for preteens!
"
Cissy said indignantly.
"No, this is a ring that ... expresses ... a depth ...
well, I
'
m not sure exactly how Phillip worded it, but it means he really loves me.
"

Bing, who
'
d caught up to his sister by now, paused behind her and rolled his eyes. He slipped an arm around Jane
'
s waist and dropped a light kiss on her lips.
"
Missed you, damn you,
"
he murmured, brushing his lips against the lobe of her ear. It was a first, public display of his feelings for Jane, and she had to admit to feeling a thrill.

Aloud, Bing said to Cissy,
"So we can assume that Phil
lip is finally coming out of the closet about you?
"

"
Yes you can!
"
Cissy said triumphantly.
"
Probably. He never really said. But
—
yes!
"

"
Will he be here later?
"
Jane asked innocently as Bing went off in search of wine.

The sunny expression on Cissy
'
s pretty face clouded over.
"
I don
'
t think Mac even invited him. Phillip never said a thing about coming, and I was afraid to ask. I think it
'
s really crummy of Mac. Look at this place; the whole island is squeezed in here. What is Mac
'
s problem, anyway?
"

Jane just shook her head.
"
I was getting worried about you,
"
she said, thinking of Bing
'
s warning about Dave.
"
You just dropped out of sight. What do you
do
all day over there?
"
Obviously Phillip didn
'
t hole up with her; Jane had seen his Mercedes periodically come and go.

Cissy went all dreamy-eyed.
"Oh ..
. I don
't know I play music ... think about him ... look at magazines ... watch TV ..
. wait.
"

"
A prisoner of love?
"
Jane said it in the kindest possible way, but the truth was, she thought Cissy was insane. The girl was putting her whole life on hold, while some man tried to make up his mind what to do with her.

"Yeah ..
. you could say that,
"
Cissy admitted with a slow, sensuous smile.

Bing returned, juggling three plastic glasses, and they talked about what a great house Mac had. To Cissy it was just another perfectly restored piece of
Nantucket
history; she wandered off in search of more interesting topics. When she was out of earshot, Bing said to Jane in a low voice,
"
No sign of Dave, I take it?
"

"
None, and I watched your place like a hawk.
"

Bing frowned and said,
"
I told her about him; do you think she cares? This morning I caught a glimpse of a white Trans Am driving past; I couldn
'
t see if it had a
New York
plate.
Dave
has a white something-or-other.
"

"
It
'
s a pretty common car,
"
Jane said. She was thinking,
God. Another paranoic. There must be something in the water.

"
All Cissy can think of is that she got a ring today. She can
'
t seem to remember that it
'
s also the anniversary of her wedding to Dave,
"
Bing said, scowling.

"
Ah.
"
That could complicate things.