The Alphabet Sisters (38 page)

“Of course they had,” Bett said quickly. “Things were perfectly fine, until this. That’s why I just can’t believe it.”

Anna frowned. “Really? You don’t remember calling me about Matthew, saying that you were worried you weren’t suited? That you didn’t think he had enough get-up-and-go in him?”

“I didn’t think he’d get up and go to my sister, though, did I?” For a moment they both nearly started to laugh, then Bett started pacing the room again. “I can’t believe it.”

“Bettsie.” Anna used the pet name. “Come on. Remember our phone call? The letter I wrote that you never acknowledged? You know you weren’t feeling sure about Matthew. You told me as much. Maybe this was the chance to have told him. To bring it all into the open.”

There was no answer.

“Oh, Bett, please.” Anna gave a quick laugh. “Don’t deny it. You must be the only journalist in the world who makes a habit of changing the facts to suit yourself.”

“You’re one to talk. You’re hardly broadcasting from the Palace of Truth yourself.”

Anna abruptly stopped laughing. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

“Forget it.”

“Bett …”

Bett lifted her chin. “You and Glenn.”

“What about me and Glenn?”

“Why do you stick with him? Are you happy together? Do you really love him? Does he love you? Or is it because of Ellen? Or your social standing?”

“Don’t do this. Don’t try to change the subject.”

“I’m not changing the subject. I’m saying that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

“And sisters who come seeking help shouldn’t turn into complete and utter bitches.”

“Bitch? Excuse me? I have been completely humiliated and you turn on me.” She stood up, her eyes blazing. “Fine. Brilliant. Off you go to Carrie, then. Tell her how delighted you are. Tell her what a wonderful success she has made of her life. The two of you again, Miss Perfect and Miss Even More Bloody Perfect. No need to worry about me cluttering up your perfect space again. Just as you’ve always wanted it.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Bett gave a rough laugh. “It’s the same old story again, isn’t it? You and Carrie together, doing it properly, like you always said. Not making a mess of things, not spoiling the look—that’s how you both put it, isn’t it?”

“For God’s sake, that was years ago, we shouldn’t have said—”

“Yes, you should have. If you’ve both always thought that I lowered the tone, ruined the perfect picture, then of course you should have said it. Let’s bring everything out into the open, shall we? Carrie’s done it again tonight. You both did it years ago, so it’s my turn now.”

“Bett, calm down.”

Her eyes were glittering. “No, I won’t. Enjoying life up there in the ivory tower, are you, Anna? Good. Great. You’re welcome to it, though I’m sure Carrie and Matthew will enjoy popping in for a visit now and again, if they pass muster, don’t spoil your decor.”

Anna only just held her temper in check. “Stop it, Bett. You’re upset. You’re not seeing things clearly.”

“Oh I am, Anna. I’m seeing things more clearly than I have ever seen them before. What was it you and Carrie said to me that day? That I spoiled the look? Well, not anymore. I should thank Carrie and Matthew. They’ve given me the exit I always wanted. Good-bye, Anna. I wish I could say it’s been a pleasure being your sister, but quite frankly it hasn’t.”

Anna was now furious herself. “Taken an overdose of your melodramatic pills, have you? Calm down, for God’s sake. I told you I’m on your side.”

“You are not. You never have been. It’s only ever been about you. We saw through it, though, you know that. No one likes Glenn. I mean, all right, marry for money if you have to, but couldn’t you have picked someone who was a little more like a human being?”

“That’s enough.”

“Good thing Ellen is so pretty, I suppose, though God help the poor girl if she ever puts on a gram of excess weight. I can see it, you’ll have her down at the Kiddie Gym, in at the beauty parlor, applying layers and layers of fakeness. Like mummy, like daughter.”

“You bitch, Bett.” Her own fury rose like a geyser. “I wanted to help, but you’re beyond it. Forget it. Go. Good riddance. You’re on your own now.”

Bett stared at her coldly. “Maybe I have been for years, Anna.” She walked out, slamming the door behind her.

Anna barely had time to catch her breath when the phone on the bedside cabinet rang. It was Carrie.

“Annie?” She only called her Annie when she was upset. “I need to talk to you. Are you alone?”

Anna noticed then that her hands were shaking. “Yes. Bett’s just left me.”

“Can we talk to you? Will you come to my room?”

So “they” had become “we” already. A united team. Quelling her angry feelings toward Bett, trying to be calm—someone had to be the voice of reason in this situation, surely—Anna went straight to Carrie’s room. Inside, Carrie and Matthew were sitting side by side on the bed. Carrie was crying. Beside her Matthew had his arm around her shoulder, awkwardly stroking her, looking embarrassed, stopping, then stroking again. Anna found it very distracting.

“So it’s true,” she said, looking at them both.

Two nods, Matthew a little shamefaced, Carrie more defiant. “Is Bett okay?”

Anna gave an almost laugh. “Okay? Well, no, I wouldn’t say she’s okay.”

“We couldn’t help it, could we, Matthew? It just happened.”

Anna looked from one to the other. “And you’re sure?”

Matthew nodded.

Carrie looked at him and nodded, too. “We are. Hurting Bett was the last thing, the very last thing, I ever wanted to do. She’s my sister, but this became bigger than both of us. As if all the choice was taken from us.”

Between Bett’s histrionics and now Carrie’s mea culpa act, Anna had suddenly had enough. “All right, Carrie. You don’t have to lay it on too thick.”

The crying stopped. “What do you mean by that?”

Anna put it to her straight. “You know you and Bett have circled each other for years. I’m not saying you deliberately made Matthew fall in love with you, but be honest with me if not with yourself. At the start was there not a bit of playing with fire, flirting, to annoy Bett?”

“Are you saying I deliberately made this happen?”

“Subconsciously, maybe. I don’t think you thought it would come to this though, no.”

Carrie’s lower lip was quivering. “Yes, you are. That’s exactly what you’re saying. That I made this happen to hurt Bett.”

Anna laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Carrie looked like a sulking five-year-old. How could she have a proper fight with her sisters when the pair of them carried on like this?

Carrie turned stony-faced. “It’s not funny. You’ve always taken Bett’s side. It’s always been the two of you, ganging up on me.”

“What?”

“You know it has been. You both always hated me tagging along behind you, getting in the way.”

“Carrie, what are you talking about? Stop behaving like a child.”

“That’s it exactly. You’ve been saying that to me for years. Well, I’ve had enough. Enough of you and Bett telling me what to do and lording it all over the place. It’s always been like this, since the school fair that time.”

“What school fair?”

“That one before we moved to the Valley and Mum and Dad said you and Bett had to take me and you didn’t. You paid that girl to look after me.”

“Carrie, that was twenty years ago. You were eight years old. We didn’t want you hanging around.”

“Exactly. You didn’t want me hanging around. How did you think that made me feel?”

“Like an eight-year-old who had been left behind by her older sisters. Like every single eight-year-old with older sisters in history, I expect. Carrie, are you actually listening to what you’re saying? You are linking the fact you have broken Bett’s heart by running off with her fiancé with something that happened when you were eight?”

“It’s symptomatic.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Patterns. Recurring events. Here it is again. Matthew and I have made an adult decision. We love each other and yet here you are sticking your nose in and meddling when it’s none of your business.”

Anna’s hackles hadn’t just risen, they were now practically visible, sticking out in sharp points from her shirt. “Caroline, you need a slap. You’re the one who has made all this happen.”

“I’ll tell you something, then. I’m glad it has.”

“You’re glad?”

Carrie looked uncomfortable for only a brief moment. “If this is what it took for you and Bett to see I’m not a child anymore, then, yes, I’m glad.”

“Sorry, Carrie, can I get this clear—you’re glad you’ve broken up Bett’s engagement? I hope to God you’re joking because if you’re not you are a much sadder case than I already thought.”

Matthew leaned forward then. “I have to step in here, Anna.”

Anna didn’t look at him. “Shut up, Matthew. Mind your own business. This isn’t about you anymore.”

Carrie gasped. “Don’t you dare talk to him like that.”

Anna was beyond reason now. “What? I should keep it sweet with him in case he gets sick of you and wants to make a play for me? He’s going for the hat trick, is he?”

Now Matthew and Carrie looked outraged. “That was uncalled for, Anna.”

Inside, Anna knew it was exactly that. But the pair of them, sitting there, all smug and wound around each other, had suddenly annoyed the hell out of her. Carrie with her hand on his thigh, Matthew stroking Carrie’s arm, the physical attraction between them so obvious. When was the last time Glenn had stroked her in public like that? In private, even? She blocked the thought and concentrated on the two angry faces glaring at her.

“I apologize for that remark. But I don’t apologize for anything else I said. It’s time you grew up, Carrie.”

“I grew up? At least I’m being honest with myself, going into a relationship for love, not gain.”

“How dare you! First Bett and now you. How dare you both cast judgment on me like this.”

“Bett told you what she thought of Glenn as well? Good. Isn’t it time we said something? Rather than keep up any pretense that we like him? Well, we don’t. And I don’t like you when you’re with him. You changed when you went to Sydney, Anna. Got airs and graces. Too good for us anymore.”

“Shut up, Carrie.”

“It’s true. How come it’s all right for you to march in here and tell me off, but you won’t listen to a few home truths about yourself?”

“You self-centered, selfish little—”

“I don’t care what you think of me, actually.” Carrie’s lip quivered again. “Come on, Matthew. This is pointless. Let’s go.”

“You can’t go,” Anna had said, suddenly exhausted. “You’re in your room. I’m the one who has to go. And I’m happy to, believe me. Good-bye, Carrie. Good-bye, Matthew. Good luck whatever happens to you both in the future, but I’ll tell you something—I don’t want anything to do with it.”

“Good. Because I don’t want you to have anything to do with us either.”

And with that Anna had slammed the door.

R
ichard shook his head in amazement. “And where was Lola in all this? I can’t imagine her sitting back and letting it happen.”

“No, she didn’t.”

There had been a family conference, Geraldine and Jim, Anna and Lola, with a number of phone calls made to Carrie on her mobile phone. She had left the motel and gone to stay with Matthew in his house on the other side of town. Bett had left, too. Got in her car the next morning and just driven away. She had phoned Lola to tell her she was safe, that she was in Melbourne, and had then turned off her mobile.

Jim Quinlan had been sure it would all blow over. Lola had put him right on that. “Darling, you haven’t noticed any of this going on, have you?”

“Noticed what?”

Lola had shaken her head. “Geraldine, what about you?”

Anna remembered her mother looking a little uncomfortable. “It’s been so busy here, Lola, I thought they were all getting on so well.”

“They were indeed,” Lola had laughed. “Just in the wrong combination.”

They’d all agreed what to do next. The wedding would have to be called off, the church booking canceled, any engagement presents returned, and word carefully put around a few key information brokers in the town. Lola volunteered to do it all.

Anna had left the Valley the following day, still furious with Bett and Carrie. “They’ve shown their true colors, Lola—Bett lives in fantasy land and Carrie is a selfish little cow, and I don’t care how long it is till I see them again.”

“Now you’re being childish.”

“Don’t you start with the insults. I had enough from those two. I don’t care if I never speak to either of them again.”

“Ah, so that’s it. Not just disgust at their behavior, you didn’t like what they had to say either? And what’s all this dramatic nonsense about never speaking to each other again? Of course you will. This situation will all blow over soon.”

“It won’t, Lola. I saw a side to Bett and Carrie that I didn’t like one bit. I’m not running to them, I’ll tell you that. If they find it in themselves to apologize, well, we’ll see, but I’m not making the first move.”

“When did you get so haughty? It must have happened when you were in Sydney because I certainly would have put a stop to it if I’d seen it happening here.”

“I am not haughty. That’s a terrible thing to—” She’d stopped there at the sight of Lola laughing.

“Don’t fight with me as well, darling, or you’ll have no relatives left at all. All right, you’re not haughty, and you’re not too proud either.”

Anna colored, hating being caught out. “I need to calm down, like the whole situation needs to calm down. And then I’ll see how I feel.”

One month later she was still cross, and she’d heard nothing from Carrie or from Bett, who had now decided to stay in Melbourne. Well, if they weren’t going to apologize for their behavior, she wasn’t either. The one-month silence between them grew to two, then to twelve.

Anna heard via Lola that Bett had gone traveling overseas. Carrie married Matthew, a very small affair in Adelaide—neither Anna nor Bett was invited. Lola attended with Geraldine and Jim, and sent a photo and a report to each of them, with a note of disgust at the end: “This should have been a fun, happy day for the whole family. I am still ashamed of the three of you. It will take only one apology to get the ball rolling, you know.…”