Everlasting (35 page)

“Oh, I couldn’t.”

“Why not? Mother would love to have the kids to herself, and Mary can take over whenever necessary.”

“Well … I haven’t really seen Ann for years now. It would be lovely to see her there, and to see Everly again.”

“Then go. Really, Catherine, go.”

“It just seems so—wicked! To leave my little children!”

“Think of yourself. Think how tired you are, how much time you’ve spent with the children, how refreshed you’ll be, and more energetic with them after a break.”

“You mean it, don’t you? Oh, Kit, I’d be so grateful! If you’re sure … I think I’ll go.”

Of course she didn’t tell him that Ned would be there. Or rather, though Kit knew that Ned Boxworthy lived at Everly, he certainly didn’t know Ned had once been Catherine’s lover. And of course she didn’t intend to sleep with Ned ever again, she’d always be faithful to darling Kit—but …

But it would be part of the pleasure of visiting Everly to see Ned, to enter his particular electromagnetic field and experience those old sexual sparks. Her body had belonged to her children for over three years now, in pregnancy and birth and nursing; it would be fun to see if it could, this old stretched and wearied body of hers, still incite Ned to desire.

* * *

I
n August Kit took the children to Maine, and Catherine boarded a plane for London. The flight was rough, due to a summer storm, and then the plane circled above Heathrow for over an hour. The customs lines were crowded, and when the driver met her and handed her into the Everly car, it was pouring rain. An American couple was also going to Everly, and the wife talked at Catherine incessantly for the entire hour’s drive.

When she finally arrived, Catherine hoped she could retreat to a room for a nap before saying hello to anyone. She was jet-lagged and suddenly in that state of surrender to exhaustion that, for Catherine, only happened when someone else was taking care of the children and the business. But Ann was waiting. She greeted Catherine with a warm hug.

“Catherine, I’ve got so much to tell you!”

“I want to hear everything, Annie, but please let me catch a nap first. I’m too tired to think straight.”

Ann showed her to her room. Catherine promised she’d be down for tea, but to her amazement she awoke to find she’d slept the day and night through. She threw back her covers, pulled on a bright cotton dress and sandals, splashed her face with water, and hurried down to the dining room.

“Catherine! At last!” Madeline Boxworthy was seated at the long table. She held out her arms, and Catherine bent to hug the older woman. “I didn’t know whether to wake you or not. But now here you are. You look marvelous. Tell me everything. Did you bring pictures of your children? Oh, but I’m being selfish. I know you want to see Ann. She’s already out in the gardens with Hortense. Do you want to go on out?”

“Not until I’ve had a nice big breakfast!” Catherine said, laughing. She rose and helped herself at the buffet, heaping her plate high. “I looked at the gardens from my window. They look wonderful.”

“Well, it helps to have Ann with us. And Tom, you know, is such a good worker. Elizabeth is pregnant again, and I shouldn’t tell you, because Hortense wanted to, but Hortense is getting married!”

“When? What’s he like?”

Madeline clapped her hands. “Perfection! He’s an architect! He loves Everly, and wants to renovate it himself, put everything in tiptop shape!”

“Mother! You promised you’d let
me
tell! Hello, Catherine.
God
, it’s good to see you. Don’t mind the dirt, it’s clean.” Hortense entered the dining room, a basket of roses over her arm, and embraced Catherine with her arms, holding her dirty hands away.

“Catherine! You’re up!” Ann rushed over like a child, grabbing Catherine in a big, greedy hug.

Catherine put her hands on Ann’s shoulders and held her away to study her. The past few years had changed Ann. Her hair was still golden, her face still sweet, dominated by her large, expressive blue eyes, but sun and weather had worn Ann’s face, which was finely lined now and covered with freckles. Yet in spite of these imperfections, and rather because of them, Ann’s face looked interesting. It had a quality of experience behind it, of laughter and sun. Ann’s long blond hair was carelessly tied back with a string. Catherine touched the string and laughed.

“Oh, I’m just a poor working girl!” Ann said, her eyes shining. “I can’t be bothered with makeup and frills. But Catherine, you look gorgeous! Motherhood must agree with you. Did you bring pictures of my nephew and niece?”

Catherine was happily caught up in the heat and chatter of the moment. Before the morning had ended, Elizabeth and her two-year-old son came in, kissed Catherine, and sat down to trade news. Tom passed through with some papers for Madeline to sign and greeted Catherine with a peck and a smile. Before Catherine noticed her coffee cup was empty, someone jumped up to refill it. When the telephone rang, it was never for her. Hortense wanted to show Catherine her wedding gown, Elizabeth wanted to talk about babies, Madeline wanted to hear about Kathryn, Ann wanted to hear about Drew and Marjorie.

Then Ned came in. He was wearing only a white shirt and blue jeans, and his black hair was mussed as if he’d been dragging his hands through it, but his entrance caused all the women to go quiet, each in her own way satisfied at the presence of this handsome male.

“Catherine,” he said. “You’re back.”

He stopped just inside the doorway, so Catherine rose and crossed the room to hug him. She kissed him on the cheek, which was stubbly. He smelled like ink and electricity, dark and sharp and vivid. She took his hand and pulled him to the table.

“It’s so late. What have you been doing?”

He sat down next to Catherine. Ann put a cup of coffee in front of him.

“I, my lazy dear, have been working. Since before dawn. I’ve just about finished revising a book, the first in a series, I’ll have you know, and a series that a publisher is seriously interested in!”

“My God, Ned, how marvelous!” Catherine said. “Tell me about it.”

“Yes, Ned do tell her about it,” Hortense said, her voice tinged with mischief.

“Oh, he won’t tell anyone anything,” Madeline said. “He’s a wretched tease. No one will publish his awful books, he isn’t even writing anything, he’s just pretending so we’ll all wait on him hand and foot. How I’ve spoiled the child.”

Catherine laughed and listened to the family banter. As she watched, Ann said, “Madeline, your tag’s sticking out,” and rose to tuck in a tag in the neck of Madeline’s shirt. Ann’s hands on the older woman were gentle, but casual, possessive, relaxed, as if this sort of touching were a common thing. And Catherine remembered how, so long ago—twelve years ago!—Catherine had fallen in love with this family and wished her own were like it. Now little Ann, her baby sister, had done her one better and made this family her own. She was living here, working here, one of them.

As Catherine watched, Hortense said, “Well, all, we’ve got to get back to work. See you at tea, Catherine.”

“Are you sitting in the garden today?” Ann asked Catherine, rising with Hortense. “Don’t worry. I’ll find you. I want to have a nice long lovely private talk.” She kissed Catherine on the cheek, then, before going out the door, bent to kiss Ned’s cheek, a more lingering kiss.

Well! Catherine thought. What is innocent little Ann up to? But Ned excused himself before she could ask, and soon everyone had gone off on their various errands. Catherine was left alone, stuffed with food and new thoughts.

* * *

A
fter she bathed and unpacked, Catherine wandered out in the early afternoon to survey Everly’s gardens. It was a hot, clear August day. The flower beds made her jealous. Ann and Hortense had been working hard over the past few years, and it showed. The house rose above the gardens in its grand stone solidity, scorning wood and its submission to time and weather.

Catherine found a corner to herself on a stone bench by a brick wall so covered with lustrous ivy, it seemed quilted. Above her the apple, pear, and plum trees hung down their tight green or purple-blue fruits. She had purposely found the wilder part of the garden, where the flowers blazed untidily, abundant and boisterous, greedily unkempt. Fat, prickly globe thistle, as silvery blue and swollen as a pigeon’s breast, mingled with golden rudbeckia, white Shasta daisies, and pink trumpeting Crinum, exiled here because although their fragrance was heavenly, their long, flopping, slender swords of leaves made them unwelcome in a more well groomed section.

She could hear Madeline’s secateurs click-clacking away nearby. Birds chattered and chirped, bees hummed. She closed her eyes and was almost asleep again when a fresh rush of cool air passed over her. Ann slid onto the bench next to her.

“Didn’t I arrange a smashing day for you?”

Catherine laughed. “I can’t get over how British you sound!”

“I love it here! Listen, Hortense said to take all the time I want, but we’ve got buckets of work to do, so I don’t want to leave her alone for long. Tell me, how is everyone back home? Anything you can tell me out here that you couldn’t tell me at the table?”

“No, not really. Mother and Dad are just like always. How their bodies continue to function, I don’t know. I think they miss you, Ann. They see very little of Drew and Lily. You know Mother, she’s afraid the children might mess up her clothing, and she does have a point. Children are so messy! But God, Ann, how I love them! And Kit is—” Catherine smiled, out of breath, out of words. “Wonderful.”

“You have a perfect life.”

“Perfect? Oh, I don’t know. Nothing on earth is perfect. But I know I’m very lucky.”

“And rich. And happy.”

“Yes. And rich. And happy.”

“How’s Kathryn?”

“Stranger and stranger. Very reclusive. But physically in good health. I suppose we all should be glad she has that big place to ramble around in. Her own private institution. We don’t have to worry about her. Anyway, she’s fine. Now tell me all about you. I can’t believe you haven’t been home in four years.”

“This is my home, now, Catherine.”

“Oh, Ann, really—”

“Listen.” Ann turned on the bench to face Catherine more fully. “Catherine, Ned’s asked me to marry him.” Her eyes were shining.

Catherine was surprised at the jealous little kick in the stomach Ann’s words gave her. Where did that come from? she wondered.

“Annie. How lovely. But—”

“It is lovely. Catherine, I’ve had a crush on him since I first saw him. When I was just fourteen! I’ve held every man I’ve met up to him, and no one compares. I love him, Catherine. And he loves me.”

“Oh, Annie, how wonderful.”

“We haven’t told anyone else yet. This should be Hortense’s summer. She works so hard, she deserves her time of celebration. We’ll probably make an announcement after her wedding.”

“I’m so happy for you, Annie.”

“I knew you would be—oh, and Catherine, I need to ask you something. I need your help. Ned wanted to marry someone with money, for Everly. But he loves me, Catherine, and he’s been so frustrated by this money business—Catherine, please help us. I’ve thought of a plan. You could sign over your rights to Kathryn’s Everly to me.”

Catherine flinched as if she’d been slapped. “What are you talking about? I don’t have any ‘rights’ to Everly!”

“Oh, come on, Grandmother must have—”

“She hasn’t ever said a thing about her will or to whom she’s leaving Everly!”

“Well, we all know she’ll probably leave it to you. Won’t you just hear me out? I’ve thought it all through. You’ve got your home, your children, your husband, you’ve got your apartment in New York, and your White River house, and I know when Kit’s parents die you’ll have their place in Maine. You can’t possibly want to be saddled with Everly. It’s falling apart. It will need tons of money to get it back in shape. But it’s worth a lot. The land alone is worth a fortune. Grandmother’s old. When you sell Everly, you’ll have more money than you’ll know what to do with.”

Catherine sat silent, stunned, staring at her younger sister. “Ann. Listen. We don’t know who will inherit Everly. Perhaps I will. If I do inherit Everly, I won’t want to sell it. But it’s just as likely that Kathryn will leave it to you, or to Mother and Father, and then part of it will eventually come to you—”

“Exactly!” Ann snapped, triumphant. “All right, then. I’ll sign over
my
rights to Everly to you. Now. And you give me money in return.”

Catherine laughed, astonished. “Annie, I can’t just ‘give you money’! Well, of course, I can give you something, and I will, gladly, but I can’t possibly give you enough to make any difference to this place. You’re going to need pots of money to restore this Everly.”

“You’ve got pots of money.”

“I’ve worked for it! It’s
my
money from
my
business! I certainly don’t have enough money to restore this Everly and keep my business going. I don’t think you understand. A lot of my ‘wealth’ is tied up in the business—”

“Oh, you’re so selfish!” Ann burst out, pounding her knees with her fists in frustration.

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is. You’re selfish, and you always have been. Oh, just go away. Leave me alone. If you won’t help me, then just leave me alone!”

Ann was in tears. She rushed off from Catherine, down the white stone path, around the corner of a boxwood hedge, and out of sight. Catherine was left sitting on the stone bench, breathless. What could she do now? The silence that before had spread around her in sunny innocence now seemed to hold a quality of waiting, listening—it was as still as if the garden were holding its breath. Who had heard their words? Catherine no longer heard the gentle clicking of Madeline’s secateurs. How close was Hortense? And even if no one had overheard, how many of the Boxworthys were aware of Ann’s plan? Undoubtedly Ned knew, and Ann and Hortense were best friends, and if Hortense knew, it was a good guess that she had told her mother.…

Catherine shuddered. It was completely unrealistic of Ann, and completely self-centered, to expect Catherine simply to hand over a fortune, for a fortune was what it would take to bring this Everly back into first-class shape. But Ann had never had to deal with money before, and it was true that Catherine was wealthy.