Sisters (13 page)

“What if she lives with all of us?” Sabrina said, smiling. The master plan was emerging.

“You mean move around and stay with each of us for a while? Don't you think that would be unsettling for her? I wouldn't mind, but I can't see Annie wanting to live out of a suitcase like a nomad, just because she's blind. I think she'd want her own place, though I have no idea where. I think we have to ask her,” Tammy said, looking pensive.

“Better than that,” Sabrina said, looking at her sisters. “I think eventually Annie will figure it out for herself, where she wants to be, and how she wants to live. But right now everything will be different for her, and she's going to need a lot of help at first. What if we all move in together for a year? Rent a big apartment, and all four of us live under one roof, until she gets on her feet? We can see how we all feel about it after a year. If it doesn't work, we move into our own apartments again, and if we like it, we sign on for another year. By then, Annie should be more adjusted. But for this year it could make a huge difference for her. What do you think?” Both Candy and Tammy looked stunned, and Chris looked surprised too. He wasn't sure where he fit in, although Sabrina kissed him reassuringly, whatever that meant.

“Am I part of this plan?” he inquired delicately.

“Of course. The way you are now. You could stay over whenever you want.”

“My very own harem,” he said with a wry grin. It sounded a little crazy to him, but was typical of them. He had never known four sisters quite like them, and without question, they took care of their own, more than most. And without their mother at the helm, he could sense Sabrina stepping into her shoes, to mother all of them. He knew that if she took it seriously, it was going to be a challenge for her, and maybe for him too. But he was willing to listen and see where they went with her idea. He could see advantages to it too, particularly for Annie, in her moment of need, initially anyway. In the long run, as hard as it was, Annie would have to find her way. Sabrina knew that too. But at least at first, they could help. And Sabrina had the feeling her mother would have approved of her plan.

“That's great for you,” Tammy said practically, looking a little unnerved by the idea. “You both live in New York. I live in L.A. What am I supposed to do? Quit my job? And then what? I'd be out of work in New York. And the show is going to be bigger than ever this year.” She loved her sister, but she couldn't give up everything for her. She had worked so hard for what she had.

“Can't you work in television here?” Sabrina asked. She knew embarrassingly little about her sister's business, despite how successful she was.

“There are no decent shows here,” Tammy said quietly. Sometimes she hated it when Sabrina came up with these harebrained schemes. “The only shows here are soaps, and a couple of reality shows. That's a major step down for me. And a huge salary cut.” She could afford it, since she had put plenty of money aside, but she didn't like playing with her career, and she really didn't want to leave the show. It was her baby now.

“What about you?” Sabrina asked Candy, who was thinking about it.

“I hate to give up my penthouse,” she said wistfully, and then smiled. “But I guess I could sublet it for a year. It would be fun living with the two of you.” She actually liked the idea. She was lonely at times in her own place, and she wouldn't be if she lived with them. Her sisters were great company, and she knew Annie needed them.

“Why don't I see what I can find that would be big enough for the three of us? And when Annie is ready for it, we can suggest the idea to her. I don't care about my apartment. I don't love it anyway. Chris, would you care?” she asked him, as part of the family, and he shook his head.

“As long as I can stay over and your sisters don't mind. It might get a little crazy at times. That's a lot of women under one roof, with three of you, but it might be fun for a year. And you can always stay with me,” Chris pointed out to Sabrina, and she nodded. As long as someone was home to help Annie, which was the whole point of it. But Candy was in town at least some of the time. The whole idea was to help get Annie on her feet and used to her blindness. And knowing how resourceful and determined Annie was, Sabrina thought a year might do it, as long as she wasn't in the depths of depression, which she hoped she wouldn't be.

“I really like the idea,” Sabrina said, and Candy giggled.

“Yeah, me too. Like going to boarding school,” which she had always wanted to do, and their mother wouldn't let her. She wanted to enjoy her last child at home, and she had never believed in boarding school. She believed in family. And so did they, which was at the root of Sabrina's idea. Their main goal was to help Annie. She was going to need them now, and this was one way to help her. Chris was actually impressed by the idea. Tammy was the only holdout, understandably, since she had a major career in L.A.

“And we'll be close enough to Dad, if he needs us. This is going to be a tough adjustment for him too.”

“What if you all hate it?” Tammy asked cautiously.

“Then I guess we give it up, and go back to our own places. A year isn't very long. I think we could stand each other for a year, don't you?”

“Maybe,” Tammy answered. “We haven't really lived together since before college. You left sixteen years ago. I left eleven. Annie left eight years ago, and Candy was an only child after we left. This should be interesting,” Tammy said with a grin. “Maybe the reason we get along is because we don't live together. Did you ever think of that?”

“I think it's worth a try for Annie,” Sabrina said stubbornly. She had been trying to think of a way to help their sister without making her feel humiliated and dependent. This might do it. And she was willing to sacrifice a year of her life for her, and so was Candy. That was something, at least. And even Sabrina could see why Tammy didn't want to do it, and didn't hold it against her. She had an important job on the West Coast, and they couldn't expect her to jeopardize that. She had worked hard to get there, and Sabrina respected her for it, so she didn't push her. “I'll call a realtor tomorrow and see if she can come up with something that would make sense for the three of us. I don't make as much as Candy, and Annie is subsidized by Mom and Dad. Maybe Dad would pay her share of the rent here instead of Florence, although I'm sure that's a lot cheaper. But she'll really need his help now.” And they all knew he could afford it. And then Sabrina frowned. “That reminds me. I guess someone is going to have to go over and close her apartment. She's in no shape to do it.”

“What if she wants to stay in Italy?” Tammy asked.

“I guess she could try it in a year, if she can take care of herself, but not right away. She has a lot to learn first, about surviving as a blind person and living on her own. She's better off doing that with us, and then she can always go back later.”

“I could pick up her stuff the next time I'm in Europe,” Candy volunteered, which was a nice gesture although Tammy and Sabrina knew that she was the least organized of the sisters, and very young. The others were always helping her, but this might help her grow up. She made an incredible living as a supermodel, but she was still very immature. And she was only twenty-one. As far as they were concerned, she was a baby. But maybe she could handle closing the apartment in Florence. It was worth a shot. Neither Tammy nor Sabrina had time to do it, nor their father.

“Well, I have to admit, it's an intriguing idea,” Tammy said, smiling, feeling faintly guilty for not participating, but she just couldn't, and the others knew that. “And it might really help her. It might cheer her up.” They still had huge hurdles to overcome, telling Annie about their mother, her blindness, and all that that would mean to her, and even about Charlie, who was now history, just because she was blind. It all seemed so cruel, and if living with her sisters would help her for the first year, they all agreed that it was worth a try. They toasted each other with their father's vintage Bordeaux wine, and Chris joined them. Sabrina agreed to spearhead the project and keep them all informed as to what she found in the way of an apartment for them, or even a brownstone, if the rental price was right.

“You sure don't let the grass grow under your feet, do you?” Tammy said admiringly, looking at her older sister. “I've been trying to think of what I can do for her too, but I don't think she'd be happy in L.A.”

“Neither do I,” Sabrina agreed. “Now all we have to do is sell it to her.” They had no idea how Annie would react. She had so much to adjust to in the coming days, it was staggering to think about.

“To sisters,” Sabrina said, raising her glass again.

“To the most interesting women I've ever known,” Chris added.

“To Mom,” Candy said softly, and they were all silent for a long moment and took a long sip from their glasses.

Chapter 9

Their mother's burial on Wednesday was the last
painful ritual the Adams family had to endure. And as Sabrina had asked him to do, the priest kept it short and sweet. Her mother's ashes were in a large handsome mahogany box. None of them liked to think about her having disappeared out of their lives and being reduced to something so seemingly insignificant and small. Her impact on them had been huge for all of their lives. Now they were leaving her here, to be buried at a cemetery with strangers, in the family plot.

They didn't wait to see the box lowered into the ground. Sabrina and Tammy had agreed at the funeral parlor that no one could have tolerated the agony of it, and when they checked with him, their father had agreed.

The priest made a point of saying during the brief ceremony that they had something to celebrate now, the survival and hopefully full recovery soon of their daughter and sister Anne, who had been spared the same fate as her mother during the accident on the Fourth of July. The priest had no idea that Annie was now blind, nor did anyone else. People would become aware of it gradually later when they saw her, but the family was keeping it quiet for now. It still felt like a very private, painful thing, for them, and above all for Annie herself, once she found out. They had no idea when they were going to tell her, and wanted to discuss it with her doctors first. Sabrina was afraid of telling her too soon, and having her get severely depressed, on the heels of their mother's death, but she knew they couldn't wait too long, and her bandages from the surgery were due to come off by the end of the week. There would be no way of keeping it from her then. And their father still insisted the diagnosis they'd made was wrong. It was inconceivable to him that one of his beautiful daughters was now blind. In the past five days everything had gone so wrong. Their family, which had never been touched by tragedy before, had been dealt a double blow, which had staggered them all.

As each of her daughters left her mother's graveside, she dropped a long-stemmed white rose next to the wooden box that contained her ashes, sitting on a stand. Their father felt each gesture like a blow. He stood alone next to the graveside for a long time, and his daughters respectfully left him there, and then finally Sabrina walked back to him, and tucked her hand into his arm.

“Come on, Daddy, let's go home.”

“I can't just leave her here like this, Sabrina,” he said as tears rolled down his cheeks. “How could this happen? We all loved her so much.”

“Yes, we did,” his daughter said, brushing away tears of her own. They were all dressed in somber black, and looked elegant and dignified. They had always been a beautiful family, and now, even without her, they still were. People who saw them were always struck by how handsome they were. And Jane had been Jim's bright, shining star. He couldn't bring himself to believe that she was gone. “Maybe it's better like this,” Sabrina said softly, as he continued to stand there, staring at the box where her ashes were. “Now she'll never get sick or old. She didn't suffer. She lived to see all her children grow up. You'll always remember her still beautiful and young.” She had hardly ever changed. Her beauty was timeless, and she exuded warmth, energy, and youth. She had been a dazzling woman right till the end. They would always think of her that way. Their mother had had enormous grace. He nodded at what his daughter had just said, without saying a word in response. He took one of the long-stemmed white roses and laid it on top of the box with the others, and then he took a second one, held it in his hand, and walked away with his head down. The past few days had been the hardest of his life, as his children knew only too well. He looked as though he had aged a decade in five days.

Her father got into the limousine without comment and sat next to Sabrina. He sat staring out the window on the way home. Tammy was in the car with them as well. Chris and Candy were riding in the second limousine. They had kept the interment private, and all three daughters were relieved that the painful rituals associated with their mother's passing had come to an end. It had been a rigorous three days, between visitation, funeral, hundreds of guests at the house afterward, and now this last poignant event, leaving her in the place of her final rest. They had talked about keeping her ashes at home, but Sabrina and Tammy had decided that it would be too hard for them, and especially for their father. It was better to leave the discreet wooden box at the cemetery. Sabrina had a sense that her mother would have preferred it that way. Since she had left no directions about funeral arrangements, they had had to guess all along the way, and they had consulted their father about each minute detail. He just wanted the nightmare to end, and for her to come back to them. Sabrina had a strong sense that the reality of it hadn't sunk in yet for any of them. She had been gone for only these few days, as though she had gone away for the long weekend and might still return.

Sabrina knew they had to concentrate on Annie now, her full recovery from the brain surgery, and her adjustment to a whole new, challenging life now that she was blind. They hadn't even begun to travel that road with her yet, and she was fully expecting the transition from artist to woman who no longer had sight to take a long time. This was no small cross for her to bear.