Newton Neighbors (New England Trilogy) (44 page)

The Morning After

“Where did you sleep last night?” Rick asked as soon as his wife walked into the kitchen. He was sitting at their table, drinking coffee and eating some toast.

Maria hadn’t slept, not really, but there was no point in discussing that with him this morning. “I stayed in Alice’s room. She’s still out cold.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“She’ll be one tomorrow.”

“No way. She’s one year old already? Where did that time go?” This seemed to quiet him for a moment, though not for long. “Do you want to talk about us, I mean.”

She shook her head slowly. “What’s left to discuss?” She sat down at the table across from him.

“We have to talk.”

She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples with her fingers. Then she took a deep breath and opened her eyes to face her husband straight on. “Here’s the thing, Ricky. The fur was a lovely gesture. I mean it and I don’t want to fight, but I have to tell you I saw the way you looked at Jessie last night.”

“Jesus.” Rick slammed the palm of his hand down on the table, making the breakfast things and Maria jump.
 

“Where’s Cody?” she asked, anxious their son would overhear them fighting—again.

“He’s inside watching TV. Maria, you know this is all in your mind.”

“You think?” His reaction annoyed her. She stood and headed to the coffee machine. “I’m not the one who downed a bottle of tequila. Ask Jessie, if you don’t believe me. You were making a pass at her, Ricky. You’re not the man I married. God help me, I wish you were. I loved him. I remember Vermont and all those love letters your wrote me. Do remember writing those?”

Rick didn’t respond, but she saw the recollection in his eyes.
 

She flicked the coffee machine on and came back to the table, sitting across from him. “Where is that man, Ricky? I miss him so much, but I can’t live like this. I can’t go to every party with you wondering if you’re going to hit on the help, and that’s when you even come home. You’ve become a workaholic. I haven’t seen you for the last four months. You live in that office. We do nothing together anymore, and the kids never see you. This isn't a marriage. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve been trying to survive in it, and I’ve come to the conclusion I can’t go on like this.”
 

Rick didn’t seem angry now—he looked worried. “What are you saying?”

She studied the leg of the table, unable to face her husband. “I’m saying I think we need to do a trial separation and step back for a while.”

“You’re not serious?

“I’ve never been more serious in my life. It’s been more of a slow realization than a sudden heartbreak. But it seems to me you have everything you want—a fabulous career, your time in the gym, a good social life with the wife and kids at home.” Maria made herself look into his eyes so he would know she was talking from the heart. “Me? I’m lost. I don’t have you. The kids are draining me, and I have no family support. I want to go home.”

He pushed his breakfast things away. “You can’t take the kids to live in Puerto Rico.”

“Is that a challenge? Are you saying you’d fight me in court? Are we talking custody battles already? Wow.” She rose again to get herself a mug.

Rick kneaded his hands together. “I didn’t mean that. I just meant you can’t seriously be thinking about moving there for good while I’m up here. I thought you just wanted a trial separation.”

“I have family there—support. I don’t have that here. Plus the kids love it.”

“I don’t want to break up.”
 

She thought she heard his voice break and turned to look at him. He met her eyes. She realized his were full of tears.
 

Maria turned back to the machine and pressed the big-mug button. “I don’t want to either, but staying together like this isn’t working. It’s killing us.”

“Look, maybe you just need a vacation,” he said. “Why don’t you go with the kids down to your mom’s for Christmas and New Year’s? That would be a two-week break. I’ll stay here and work. See how you feel. Maybe then you’ll be ready to come home. We can pick things up and move forward together in the New Year. Just come back.”

“You’re telling me to go with the kids?” Maria felt her body go cold as the steam started to rise from her mug.

“I’m not telling you to go. I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay here and for us to be together, but you’re saying you want space, so take it and then come home.”

Maria felt her own eyes welling up. “So this is really happening. We’re breaking up.” She came back and sat at the table with her coffee.

Rick got up, came over to her side of the table, and took the seat next to hers. He gently removed the mug from her grasp and took her hands in his. “No, we’re not. You just want a bit of a rest to figure things out, that’s all. We’re still married. We can save this. We just need some time apart.”

Maria nodded at him because she didn’t want to fight, but deep down, she knew this was the beginning of the end.

Despite her own problems, Ely was glad to see Jessie so happy. “I’ve never seen you excited like this before. Girl, you sure like your kin.”

Jessie laughed. “You know we’re a close-knit family, and we’ve never been apart for this long before. I can’t wait to see them. I don’t know who’ll be at Heathrow, but I’m sure it’ll be more than just Mum, and the whole place will be decorated for Christmas. I can’t wait.”

“What, the airport?”

Jessie grinned like a five-year-old. “You’ll have to come see it at Christmas next year. The whole place—cities, the airport, houses, of course—everybody gets into the holiday cheer. The airport will have giant snowmen and Santa Clauses. Even the planes sometimes have red noses painted on them for the fun.”

Ely harrumphed. “I’d be just as happy to hang around here. I don’t much want to go home.”

“Is Josh on his way over?”

Ely watched her best friend cramming the last things into her suitcase. Jessie had no idea she and Josh were at war, because she didn’t know about Ely’s plans to terminate the pregnancy. She forced a smile. “Yep, he’ll be over when he wakes, the big lug. We’ll spend the day together, and then we both fly home to our respective families.”

“Oh.” Jessie stopped rushing around for a moment and sat down on the bed. “I thought he might fly home with you to talk to your parents.”

“No, not yet. We can do that after the holidays.”

Jessie looked torn—like she was trying to decide whether or not she should speak. Ely prayed she wouldn’t. The last thing Ely needed now was more kind words or encouragement. By the time they were all back to school, everything would be sorted. Her daddy had once taught her it was sometimes wiser to seek forgiveness than permission. This was one of those times.

“When is your flight?” She tried to distract Jessie.

“Ely, there’s something I’ve been trying to get up the nerve to tell you.”
 

“Hey, some things are better left unsaid.” Ely forced a laugh.

“Not this. I think I should tell you.”

Ely knew she was beaten. She sat down on the bed beside Jessie. “Aw, heck, get it over with, then.”

“Well, it’s about Tristan.”

“Your little brother?”

“That’s just it. He’s not my brother. He’s my son.”

Ely stood again. “What? Bull. Shit!”

Jessie winced at her friend’s reaction but persevered. “No, I’m for real. He’s my son. I was so young at the time that my parents decided to bring him up as one of their own. I was fifteen.”

“Crap.” Ely sat back down beside Jessie and put her arm around her shoulders.

“Yes, you could say that.” Jessie looked like she might cry. “It was my fifteenth birthday, and I was out with friends. I thought I was grown-up and mature. I started to drink, and well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened next.”

“What about the father?”

“I don’t even know his name. We went to a pub.”

“Jesus.”

“In his defense, I said I was seventeen. It was around the back of the bar in an alleyway.” She started to cry. “I thought it was a rite of passage. I was growing up.”
 

“Shh, J. You don’t have to tell me all of this.”

“I think I do, Ely. I know what you’re going through. That’s the point. I was so young and stupid. I didn’t even know I was pregnant for a few months—my periods were irregular back then. What are the chances of getting pregnant the same night you lose your virginity? Anyway, by the time I found out, I was eighteen weeks. My parents decided to bring the baby up as one of their children. Now Tristan is kind of like my kid brother.”

“Does he know?”

“Yes. Most people around our neighborhood do, but the scandalmongers and gossipers ran out of steam years ago. The point is you’re twenty-three, Josh loves you, and you’re way ahead of where I was. You’ll be okay, Ely. Honest. And I love Tristan more than I love my own life. I’d do anything for him. That’s why I’m so driven to succeed. My mum’s been carrying the load for all these years. Now it’s time for me to step up and face my responsibilities. You need to, too.”

Ely felt like she was going to cry. If her friend only knew what her plans were.

“This is the darkest hour, Ely. Things will get better. You’ll look back on these days as being tough, but you know, it might just be the best thing that ever happened to you. Josh has already told you he loves you. You’re so wild, I don’t know if he’d ever have managed to tame you, but this baby will. Just go with it, Ely. Believe me.”

She wanted to. Elyse Briskin wanted to be another one of those bad stories turned good, but she knew her life didn’t work that way. Her parents would disown her. She would be cut off financially. Josh was too young to be tied down. As heartwarming as Jessie’s story was, it was her story—not Ely’s.
 

Ely made a supreme effort to smile and pretend this was all making an impact on her. “I hear you, J. I do believe it’ll all work out. I know it will.” She kissed Jessie on the cheek. “Thank you for telling me. I know it took a lot, and give Tristan an extra special hug for me. He’s one lucky little man.”
 

“I think I’m the lucky one,” Jessie said and started to pack again.

Not long after Jessie and Ely’s talk, Bruce came to pick her up.
 

“I didn’t know he was bringing you to the airport.” Ely nudged her friend’s shoulder as they headed downstairs and into the kitchen to look for Noreen.

“Our planes are leaving Logan around the same time. It’s just a coincidence.”

“What was it Freud said about coincidences? ‘There’s no such thing.’ ”

“Ha, you have been studying!” They both laughed, and Ely gave her best friend one last hug. Jessie held her very tight. After a moment, she pulled back and looked deep into Ely’s eyes. “You mind yourself, and I’ll see you in the New Year. Okay?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep a close eye on her.” Noreen joined in and wrapped her arms around both girls.
 

Ely was the first to break up the group hug. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”
 

Noreen and Ely waved Bruce and Jessie off together. The landlady was old, but it seemed like she was still perceptive, because when they came back inside, the questions started.