When Jo entered her sister’s house, she took a deep breath. The clutter was choking. “I don’t know how you can live like this,” she muttered.
“It’s better than an empty apartment and no car. We’ll go in the kitchen,” Louise said. “I’ll make tea. You can state your business.”
“Tea. Good idea,” Jo said. “Hope and my granddaughters are in the hospital. It’s a long story, one that I didn’t know before today.” She sat down at the kitchen table, pushing a few things out of the way to make a place for her tea when it was ready. “It seems that when Hope left my house to move in with Mother and the judge, that was approximately her last touch with reality. I thought she was just a liar. Embarrassed by the family she came from. How could I blame her?”
“Our family was nothing to be embarrassed about,” Lou said defensively.
“Yours wasn’t, maybe. But the homelife we had with Roy was rocky and unstable on the best days. And when we got back from the lake that summer it went completely to hell. Roy had wandered off and this time it was different. He never came home. I knew too much had happened and he wasn’t off on some bender that he’d call a business trip when he came home. My children were falling apart and he was gone for good. Poor little Beverly was in the hospital, almost catatonic, barely holding it together. I had nowhere to turn and collapsed.”
“You were never strong,” Louise pointed out.
“Not in the ways you were.”
“The judge offered to help you,” Louise said. She delivered a cup of tea to the table.
“There were conditions,” Jo said. “When I couldn’t tell him where Roy was, he hit the roof. All this tragedy and loss in our family and my husband hadn’t been home or at his office in Rapid City? Hadn’t been in touch? The judge said I should pack up my house and come to live with him and Mother and he would find Roy and secure a divorce for me and I could start over. A single mother living with her children and her parents.”
Louise put milk and sugar on the table and sat down. “I don’t know why you would hesitate. That bum never did do anyone any good.”
“You know exactly why I hesitated,” Jo said. “I couldn’t have the judge looking for Roy and finding out he was connected to other missing persons. So I just said he was the father of my children...”
“You loved him!” Louise said. It shot out of her like an accusation.
“Oh, Lou, I hadn’t loved Roy for a long time by then. He was an irresponsible drunk. I’ll be the first to admit that when I met him it was like magic.” She stirred milk and sugar into her tea. “For a while, everything was like a dream come true. I thought it would last forever.”
* * *
Judge Berkey and his family weren’t exactly high society in Saint Paul, but they were damn close to it. Mrs. Berkey brought family money to their marriage and the judge was very influential. They belonged to a prestigious country club in Maplewood where the judge golfed, Mrs. Berkey played bridge and there were regular social and charity events. Louise and Jo grew up in that club; it was where they had their debutante balls. They were both popular in high school, where they were cheerleaders and homecoming queen candidates. Louise was introduced to Carl Hempstead at the club right after her college graduation and a wedding was in the works within a few months. Carl was a young businessman, already successful at the age of thirty-four, ten years older than Louise, and that made her feel extremely sophisticated. They were planning a wedding and simultaneously building a large house in Maplewood.
Josephine was finishing her last year of college during the wedding planning and was to be the maid of honor, of course. She almost didn’t graduate because of the swirl of social events surrounding Louise’s wedding, but she squeaked through, got her degree in communications just before the wedding, a degree she didn’t expect to put to much use.
Just days before the wedding Roy called Carl to say he was going to make the event, after all. Carl said he hadn’t even talked to his brother in a year but had called him to tell him he was getting married. They were ten years apart in age and after their parents died Roy, while still a boy, had moved in with an aunt and uncle. Roy had been in the Army but was discharged and couldn’t wait to meet the new bride.
“You’ll have to move groomsmen around a little and make him your best man,” Louise instructed. “He’s your brother!”
“I don’t know,” Carl had said, scratching his chin. “We’re not close. He’s young and not exactly what I’d call serious...”
That was possibly the first time Louise had called Carl an old fogy.
Then Roy sauntered into the groom’s dinner party at the club and took everyone’s breath away. Louise was the first to nearly swoon when she saw him—tall and lithe with fierce blue eyes, and the light brown hair that flopped over his forehead was streaked by sunshine. He had the devil’s dimples in his cheeks, straight and strong white teeth and was dressed in a new, tailored Yves Saint Laurent suit. He kissed Louise’s hand and she said, “I can’t wait to introduce you to my sister.”
It was like a fairy tale. The best man and maid of honor got more attention for their dancing at the wedding than the bride and groom...
* * *
“But I didn’t care,” Louise remembered, sipping her tea. “I never dreamed anything so perfect could happen at my wedding. The groom’s long-lost brother shows up, looking like Robert Redford but better.”
“Carl was a very good-looking man,” Jo said.
“He was, and he looked even better standing next to Roy. That Roy, he sure knew how to play to the crowd...”
“How long was it before we realized he had no job, Carl bought him the suit and the haircut, that he wasn’t just very social, he always had an angle. He flirted with all the old ladies, paid Mother a ton of compliments, schmoozed the judge...” Jo sighed. “I should never have been taken in by him. I shouldn’t have married him.”
“Hah! Only a woman with no nerve endings would have turned him away. He was like a sex machine!”
“No, he looked like he should be a sex machine. The truth was after several drinks all his equipment shriveled and died.”
“He got three on you,” Louise reminded her. “Three in four years.”
“The price was so high,” Jo said. “The joblessness, the arguing, the shame. Every time he let us down, every time we had to ask Carl for a loan or a job or a gift, I wanted to die. Then he’d go on the wagon, shape up a little bit, get a job, help with the girls. It never lasted long but it seemed to be exactly the right amount of time for me to trick myself into thinking things would be okay. I knew we’d never have much but I didn’t care as long as we could stay one step ahead of the poorhouse.”
“Remember when we used to drive by the county home and the judge would say, ‘There’s the poorhouse. That’s where you end up when you can’t pay your bills. Take a good look.’ And we were terrified of ending up there,” Louise said.
“Looked pretty decent to me,” Jo said.
“Well, it wasn’t actually a poorhouse, how about that?” Louise said. “It was a county-funded nursing home.”
“I think we were doomed,” Jo said. “I think on the day Roy turned up, we were doomed. There was always all this tension between us. You had the well-off husband and I had the loser, but the handsome loser. How’d he always know the latest dances? All the most hilarious jokes?”
“He hung out in a lot of bars,” Louise said.
“He went to a lot of parties,” Jo said. “No wonder we had issues, you and me. My situation, my husband, it would drag down anyone.”
“And then Carl got quieter and quieter. He got old. At thirty-four he was a handsome and sophisticated young businessman and at almost fifty he was gray, balding, thick around the middle, tired...”
“I loved Carl. He was good to his brother. Better than he should’ve been. He did that for you and me, I think,” Jo said. “So we wouldn’t end up like Carl and Roy—estranged and strangers. I’m so sorry—it was my fault. I should’ve divorced Roy and gone on welfare. The outcome would’ve been better. I should have seen it—you and me—we were destined to end up like this. We were doomed.”
“Except at the lake,” Louise said.
Jo picked up her teacup. “We’re going to need something a little stronger...”
* * *
By the time all of their daughters were in school, Lou and Jo had each been married over a dozen years. They needed a break from their city lives, from their husbands, from their parents. Life for Jo was always a struggle and Lou’s existence had become dull and monotonous. But in the summer they could leave it all behind.
Jo recalled that one of her best summers was when Beverly, her youngest, was eight and Roy had a good job. He worked construction and it was hard work but the pay was good. He was exhausted and dirty, but he only drank on the weekends. Carl drove them both to the lake on Friday nights and when he arrived Roy needed a beer, a shower and a back rub, in that order. Nothing brought Jo so much pride as seeing her handsome Roy come in wearing those tight jeans and dirty work shirt, his eyes tired, his hands roughened by calluses. He’d held down this job for months and even Carl was more animated and talkative. It was such a great summer, Jo and Lou even talked about whether it was possible to just stay at the lake year-round.
It didn’t last. The school year started and they were back in the city. Carl became quiet and distracted by the heavy burden of his company; Roy was laid off a few times and unemployment not only made him irritable and Jo cautious, but the judge and Grandma always had opinions about how the sisters conducted their marriages.
In the spring of ’89, Roy got a job in sales in Rapid City. He wanted Jo to move to Rapid City with the girls and she really didn’t want to, but she still nurtured hopes that her husband could break through his personal cloud of perpetual failures.
“Oh, God, you can’t be serious,” Louise said. “When has Roy ever kept a job for more than six months! You’ll no sooner get there than you’ll be headed back here! Or somewhere else!”
“Maybe if we start fresh, somewhere new, somewhere he’s not carrying the load of his past reputation, maybe it will make a difference,” Jo said.
“You’ll have no one!”
“Roy complains that I value my relationship with you more than my relationship with him,” Jo said.
“He doesn’t complain of that when he needs money!”
“Don’t throw that in my face,” Jo said. “It’s cruel.”
“Think about the winters, Jo,” Lou pleaded. “If you think they’re tough here, wait till you try South Dakota!”
Jo played the middle ground. She told Roy she refused to move anywhere until he’d been in that job long enough for it to be a secure position. She told Lou she hoped to move to Rapid City for Roy as soon as he could offer her some reassurance he had a solid, long-term job.
“That’ll be the day,” Lou said.
“Nice,” Jo said. “Can’t you at least say you hope my marriage can recover and last?”
“I’d love to,” Lou said. “If I thought there was a chance in hell.”
Roy was only able to get back to Saint Paul for a couple of weekends in more than three months, but he looked great. Or maybe Jo was looking through the lens of a woman missing at least the illusion of a happy marriage to a handsome, sexy man. She may have lost the glow of true love but she never forgot the fairy-tale quality of meeting him and falling for him. It had seemed that her dream man appeared out of nowhere and shook her to her core.
“I think maybe Roy has really changed,” Jo told her sister.
“How many times have you believed that?” Lou said sourly.
* * *
“We should have something to eat,” Louise said.
Jo looked at her watch. It was getting late. The summer sun was low. She knew she had to pay attention to the time and think about catching that last bus. In this part of town they stopped running at ten. “I didn’t mean to stay so long. I know it’s going to take more than one conversation. I can come back tomorrow, after I’ve been to the hospital. I’m sure after tomorrow the girls will be gone—home with their father. Hope’s going to be another story.”
“But she’ll be okay?”
“I don’t know,” Jo said. “I’m not even sure what’s wrong with her, other than the fact she’s been lying to herself for so many years she believes her fantasies. Charley said Hope was telling herself some nonsense about coming home to hear about Mother’s will.”
“Will?” Louise said. “What about her will?”
“Apparently she thinks there’s a fortune to be left to her.”
Louise laughed. “By the time it gets down to her, she’ll get enough to be able to take herself out to a nice dinner.”
“I had no idea she was suffering from a serious mental illness...”
“It’s not your fault. I’ll scramble us some eggs, make some toast.” Lou pulled out a frying pan, a couple of plates, a dozen eggs and a loaf of bread. And a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. “Since we’re getting to the serious stuff. Say whatever you like about me, I don’t think I’m ready to talk about that summer without a little of this.”
“I was the one to say we’d need something stronger,” Jo reminded her. “May I have an ice cube, please?”
“Would you like a glass with that?”
“No, no. I have a perfectly good teacup.”
Louise cracked eggs into the pan, her back to Jo. “Do you still think about it?”
“When I can’t stop myself,” Jo said. “You were so angry with me before anything went wrong. We barely spoke on the way to the lake.”
“I couldn’t believe you’d leave me. Us. Move away? I knew it was a stupid idea.”
“See, you always do that,” Jo said. “I’m well aware of all my shortcomings. Calling me stupid isn’t going to help us now.”
“I didn’t call you stupid!” Louise said, sliding bread in the toaster. “I said it was a stupid idea and I stand by that. Roy had let you down and disappointed you for over fifteen years—I couldn’t believe he was actually going to come through for the first time, do right by you and the girls. I couldn’t believe you’d be happy.”
“I knew I wouldn’t be happy,” she said, pouring a small amount over an ice cube in her teacup. “I thought I’d probably cry every day, but I was going to give it one more go, make the ultimate sacrifice, move away and devote myself to my marriage and my family. And then, when it didn’t work, I was going to be finished. I was going to admit I’d done everything I could and leave him for good. But I just couldn’t do that until I knew I’d tried everything. One more ice cube, please. No, two more.”
“You never said that,” Lou said, handing her the ice cubes from the freezer. “You never said that,” she repeated.
“No, I didn’t. Because it would have put a fire under you. You know how you are—when you want your way, you’re just so fucking relentless!”
“And you’re just so fucking stubborn!”
Jo took a tiny sip. “I’m still stubborn. I think things through for a long time. Sometimes too long. But you make up your mind in a second and that’s that.”
“Well, be grateful I could make a quick decision when you needed it most or who knows what would have happened.”
* * *
They went to the lake the day after school was out as usual. Roy said he’d come in two weeks, stay a few days. Jo hadn’t seen him in a long time, six weeks or so. They talked when they could and he sounded happy. Excited and motivated. He hadn’t been slurring. He’d even sent her some money! “Baby, this is it! This is what I’ve been looking for! I’m leading in sales for our team—time-shares everywhere.”
“I thought it was investment properties,” she said.
“It is,” he said. “Some people want to use the properties for vacation for a few years and then sell them and upgrade—it’s complicated. It’s a point system for those but we have some investment properties for sale. Big sales bring big commissions.”
“People want to vacation in Rapid City?” she asked.
He laughed. “Some do but our properties are worldwide. I can sell you a time-share in Maui from here. I can get you a summerhouse in Morocco! It’s real estate, just not the usual thing. We don’t sell them to live in so much as to invest in—buy and sell. This is the company headquarters but there are lots of offices. I’ve even looked into some transfers later, after I’ve proven myself. Maybe Florida. Maybe Hawaii. How do you think the girls would like to live in Hawaii?”
Jo was almost afraid Roy might pull it off, turn into a responsible man, though doubt and fear clouded her vision. She dreaded the idea of moving away. But to Lou she remained positive and optimistic. Lou was all too ready to condemn Roy and Jo wasn’t going to give her any fuel.
Lou and Jo were at each other. The strain it put on their relationship to dance around the idea of being separated by so many miles was tearing them apart. Nothing had ever kept them apart for very long—a week or two at most. They talked every day even if they didn’t see each other. Two or three times a day sometimes. The anticipation of Roy coming to the lake had them both a bundle of nerves.
He was making the long drive from Rapid City—over eight hours. By the time he arrived it was after eight. Jo wore her prettiest sundress and fixed her hair. When he pulled up to the house she flew across the porch, down the steps and across the yard and into his arms. He kissed her wildly and for a moment she was transported back in time and became that young girl who saw her prince appear in a formal ballroom.
But only for a moment. Roy was not alone.
A second car had followed him onto the property and a couple was getting out.
“Roy?”
“Oh, babe, this is Ivan and Corky,” he said, turning her toward the couple.
The man, who was about forty, was striking with his dark hair and eyes and a thin mustache. He smiled and she thought his teeth were so white they gleamed. He gave a small bow. “How do you do,” he said with a slightly foreign accent. “Roy has been talking about you for weeks. He’s so proud of you.”
Me? she thought. Roy had said a lot of flattering things to her but never that he was proud.
“This is my companion. She’s called Corky.”
Corky was beautiful but very young—early twenties. Her blond hair was silky, her boobs full and perky, her lips red, and she smacked her gum. “Nice to meetcha,” she said.
“Ivan is one of our biggest clients, Jo. I invited him to stay at the lake for a couple of weeks.”
“You what?” she asked.
“I invited him to use the lake house for a couple of weeks. He was saying he really needed to escape the business of money and finance and get away, get back to nature, relax. He didn’t want to be in a resort or hotel. I suggested the lake. I told him I was going for a few days and that you and Lou would make him feel welcome.”
“Oh, Roy, I don’t—”
“Ivan, come and meet my beautiful sister-in-law, Lou Hempstead.” He pulled Ivan to the porch where Lou stood, curious, waiting to find out what was going on. “Lou, this is a business associate of mine, Ivan.”
“Indeed a great pleasure, miss,” he said, taking her hand.
Jo had dressed up for Roy but Lou was wearing shorts and a halter top; her feet were bare, her hair pulled into a ponytail. Carl couldn’t make it for the weekend so she didn’t fuss about her appearance, but with her long legs, she made those shorts look fantastic. She wore no makeup but her cheeks were rosy from the sun, and on her face her expression was thoroughly nonplussed.
“But how long have you been here? Already tan as a beach beauty!” Ivan looked around. “I envy you this little hidden paradise! It’s perfect! You are so kind to have us. It’s my intention that you never even know I’m around unless I’m doing something to help you.”
“Mr....?”
“Just Ivan, my dear girl. You’d never remember the last name. I’ve brought some provisions to add to your kitchen. I’ll get them in a moment. Will you show me around your little paradise?”
“I...suppose...” Lou said.
Lou was clearly gobsmacked. This was unprecedented. They never had guests at the lake. That Roy would do this without even asking must have stunned Lou to the depth of her being. Jo leaned into Roy and whispered, “What are you thinking? They can’t stay here!”
“Why not? There’s tons of room. We can give him the boathouse. He’s an important client, Jo, and this is exactly what he said he was looking for. You wait, you’re going to love him! The women all love him!”
“We haven’t even seen each other in weeks!”
He nuzzled her neck. “Believe me, we’re going to spend plenty of time together. Where are the girls?” He wandered away from her, yelling, “Girls!”
They came flying from all corners of the house—two from up in the loft, two from down by the dock, two from the second bedroom, all of them running to throw themselves on their daddy or uncle. Within moments the house was teeming with people—Lou and Ivan had completed their short tour and now were laughing in the kitchen, working together to pull out snacks and drinks. Ivan made his “companion” a drink and she settled at the table with it. Jo noticed she was quiet but smiling all the time. She was so well put together, her long, red nails and matching toes, glossy lips. She didn’t say a word for the longest time until she pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her small purse. “Mind if I smoke?”
“I saw an ashtray beside the lawn chair on the grass, Corky,” Ivan said. Then he leaned over and whispered something to Lou and she giggled.
* * *
Lou and Jo sat with their teacups holding a splash of Jack Daniel’s on ice and tried to remember how this suave and handsome stranger with the young, blonde appendage had insinuated himself into their sacred summer retreat. It started with drinks and snacks that lasted until after the children had gone to bed. Ivan had them laughing at his exploits, told them crazy stories of all his travels and the odd people he’d met along the way.
“He was an expert flirt,” Lou said. “He always found an excuse to whisper in my ear or touch my knee, and when I got a little nervous he whispered, ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to put you in an awkward situation.’ I asked about Corky, who seemed to only come in the house to freshen her drink and then was gone again. And he said something like he was clever with money but he seemed to make mistakes with women. He said they weren’t a couple. He said, ‘You’ll see.’ Then he asked if there was a bed somewhere in the house she might use. He was bound for the boathouse. Clever—he let me know right off they weren’t sleeping together. And that he wanted a private place of his own...”
“I should go,” Jo said. “I have a long bus home. I’ll come back tomorrow. We’ll find some way to negotiate a truce. I hope.”
“You started this,” Lou said. “You brought it up. I think I was the one who wanted him to stay.”
“I think so, too,” Jo said, looking into her teacup. She took a sip.
“It was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, to take that lying bastard seriously.”
“I’ve had a lot of experience in that if you’d like some pointers,” Jo said.
“I was having fun. I hadn’t had fun in so long. He made me laugh until I couldn’t sit up and then he’d ask me all these questions about myself, my education, my life, about motherhood. He’d wanted children, he said, but he’d never met anyone he thought could be his companion for a lifetime. He could see how my husband was so lucky. And he wasn’t just fun in the evenings with his charming stories—the first morning they were there I got up to find him in the kitchen getting breakfast together. ‘What do the children like?’ he asked. And in the afternoon I’d see him sitting alone on the dock and find him reading some sophisticated book in a foreign language. He couldn’t stay away from the Wall Street news. He had that damn phone—that cell phone the size of a brick. He needed to be in touch with his investment adviser and broker. And he said, ‘My dear,’ in that fancy accent. ‘My dear, I’m afraid I may have to leave suddenly. There’s a hotel in Cabo I’ve been watching...a great investment opportunity...’” She shook her head. “He’d leave from time to time, alone, come back with something—steaks, liquor, wine, fresh vegetables, sweets...”
“My Jesus, wasn’t he slick,” Jo said. “What was that accent? British but with a little Russian affect?”
“Who the hell knows? It was all fake.”
“He knew what he was doing, that’s for sure.”
“Magnetic,” Lou said. “If you ever tell anyone this I will find a way to punish you forever. I’m more embarrassed by being suckered by him than what I really did to him.”
Jo was shaking her head. “You shouldn’t be. He was a professional. A con man. A gambler. How long was it before he started talking to you about property?”
“It wasn’t too long, a little while,” Lou said. “I was pretty worried when Roy left, but there didn’t seem to be any reason—Ivan was a perfect gentleman. Aside from being charming and helpful and wildly sexy, he didn’t make any demands at all. I think he’d been there a week.” She laughed suddenly.
“I haven’t heard you laugh in years,” Jo said.
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Lou said. “I don’t want to talk about this. I want to shut it down. Bury it.”
“We tried that,” Jo said. “Listen, neither of us is happy. Before that summer, despite all our issues and problems, we counted on each other and we were happy. Not giggling fools, maybe. But we managed. We’ve got to get back to our families. My daughters need me and yours need you, too. Megan is not well, Lou. You don’t want her to slip away without mending things, without letting her know how much you love her. And Charley...”
“Charley hates me,” Lou said. “I failed her.”
“You were a grieving mother when Charley needed you and you just didn’t have the energy to focus on her accidental pregnancy. You should have. I should have. We did the best we could. But she’s found her daughter and has a relationship with her and her children. Charley is a grandmother! And there’s Eric, your grandson. We have to pull it together. We should’ve pulled it together years ago.”
“I thought you hated me,” Lou said.
“Well...I did,” Jo admitted. “But I also loved you. And I was so hurt that you turned your back on me. So I turned away, too.” She smiled a lopsided smile. “Sisters. Best friends and enemies.”
* * *
The first week Ivan was at the lake he stirred curiosity about his experience and travels and wealth so they asked him many questions. He explained that he’d started small and sold property at a profit, doubled his investments and sold at a greater profit, doubling again and again. It was pretty simple math. And he bought in places almost guaranteed to bring an excellent return.
After a week Ivan started asking Louise about her and Carl’s investment strategy. He offered to put her in touch with some successful financial advisers. Had she considered investing in property? Vacation and recreational property. He’d done business with the company Roy was working for since long before Roy had been hired. Roy was a new kid, Ivan said, but he liked him and thought he’d go far. The resale value on his condos, hotels, apartments and houses was amazing. He didn’t buy hotels alone—he was part of many limited partnerships. They were safe investments, he said. He always chose resort communities—Hawaii, the Bahamas, Mexico. Romantic getaways.
“I’d be willing to meet you in any of those places to tour the properties. Your children are nearly grown. Maybe you should start dabbling in these opportunities.”
“Meet me?” She laughed. “I’m sure Carl would like that idea!”
“Bring your sister along and we’ll have Roy meet us. It’s very doable.”
She started having fantasies of escaping to some sunny, sandy island without her husband and children. She knew that would never happen but Lou was thirty-nine and it had been a long time since a man paid attention to her. And this wasn’t just any man—he was sexy, handsome, rich, educated, sophisticated.
She didn’t ask herself why a man with these exclusive properties all over the world would want to spend a couple of weeks at a stranger’s lake house. It was a nice lake house. But it was a family house! Full of children.
Then there was Corky. She was stingy with her words and only said things like, “Perfect day for a tan,” or “Such a cute sundress.” And she drank a lot. She was passed out early every night and very slow to rise every morning.
“Where’d you find her?” Lou asked Ivan.
“Poor thing was left stranded by a fellow I know so I’ve been looking after her for a while. I know her family. I’ve partnered with them on investments a time or two. I’m going to ship her home to her brother once I hear he’s back in the country.”
“Why would you look after her if she isn’t your girlfriend?” Lou asked.
“Because I’m a very decent guy,” he said with that beautiful smile.
“You should ship her to treatment,” Lou said.
“Has a bit of a problem with that, I’m afraid,” he said kindly.
That was the thing about Ivan; he never slipped. He never contradicted himself or acted in a rude or capricious manner.
Lou was smitten.
She might have fantasies about lovers and islands and getaways but she was not out of reality. She knew better. Carl managed their money and he kept his fist tightly around it. He did well with it, too—Lou and Carl lived comfortably.
But when Carl called to say he couldn’t come for the weekend again, Lou almost broke out the champagne. She was being thoroughly seduced and enjoying every second of it.
* * *
“It was that second week,” Lou said. “It was only the second week! And I realized later, that was when I gave him so much information. ‘What’s a house go for in your part of Minnesota, darling?’ he asked me. And I told him what we paid for ours and what it was worth and he said, ‘But that’s splendid! What about a cabin like this?’ And I gave him my best guess. He asked about Carl’s company and if he was happy because that was the most important thing, that a man be fulfilled! And I told him I had no idea. Carl never seemed particularly happy to me. He seemed worn down by work. And Ivan said that was a tragedy. For me as well as Carl.”
By the time they got to this last chapter, they were propped up in Lou’s king-size bed, pillows behind them, more Jack Daniel’s in their dainty little teacups.
“It was all so lovely,” Lou was saying. “Like visiting a posh vacation spot. Every day he would pull some treat out of that Lincoln. Filets for dinner, Bloody Marys in the morning, wine coolers in the afternoon.”
“He made the most delicious and rich stuffed mushrooms—a chef in France showed him how,” Jo said.
“I haven’t been able to eat a stuffed mushroom since,” Lou said.
“He gave us bracelets he bought in Mexico.”
“A wrap from Spain...”
“By the third week we were putty in his hands...”
Corky, always a bit tipsy, had opened up—Ivan was a friend of her brother and father. Ivan was her protector, almost like a guardian, and when she was dumped by a man, left with only a suitcase, not a dime, heart in tatters and her family out of the country, no help in sight, Ivan took charge. He said, Don’t worry, darling. I’ll look after you until your brother is back. It’s no bother.
“Really, no bother at all,” Jo said.
And where were the children during this party atmosphere? They were about—checking in, looking for food, wanting someone to watch them in the lake, asking to take out the rowboat. Jo and Lou were experienced mothers and, even with the distraction of Ivan, they checked on the kids, counted heads, kept track. The girls were safe at the lake, as long as they had boundaries and lifeguards, though every one of them swam like a fish. Carl called to check on Lou and the kids but as long as there was such a houseful, he said he had plenty to occupy him in the city—his company was demanding of his time. Not unusual for Carl the past few years. He seemed not to take note that it was so exceptional to have guests at the lake and strangers at that. He promised to be down the next weekend.
One weekend too late.