The Identicals(103)

“Nobody home,” Flossie says.

Eleanor purses her lips. What is going on here, exactly? she wonders.



In the morning, Eleanor is awakened by the doorbell. She’s disoriented at first, and the Ambien she takes each night to get to sleep leaves her voice as dry as crackers. She hears Flossie’s light, quick steps on the stairs, then she hears voices. There is a tap on Eleanor’s door.

“Come in,” Eleanor croaks.

The door opens, and Tabitha steps in. Eleanor blinks. “Where in God’s name have you been?”

“Mommy?” Tabitha says. “I’m Harper.”

“What?” Eleanor says. This is Harper? Well, it’s first thing in the morning. The way Eleanor always used to tell the twins apart was that Tabitha’s eyes were more almond-shaped, and Harper’s were rounder, as though she were in a constant state of amazement—but that distinction is only useful when the twins are standing side by side, and how long has it been since that’s happened?

“I’m Harper,” Tabitha says again.

“You’re Harper,” Eleanor says. She decides to be thrilled with this development. She has missed Harper! Harper went to live with Billy. But now Billy is dead.

Billy is dead, and Eleanor is broken. It’s a distressing state of affairs. They had been such a striking couple in their day.

Eleanor notices something in Harper’s face, something she hasn’t seen in years and years but that she recognizes nonetheless. Her daughter is upset. Her daughter needs her. Somehow Eleanor knows exactly what to do.

She holds out her arms. “Come,” she says. “Come to Mommy.”



The story tumbles out: Harper and Tabitha have switched places, just like the little minxes in that movie they used to love. Harper has been here on Nantucket taking care of Ainsley and minding the store, and Tabitha has been on the Vineyard, renovating Billy’s house so the girls can sell it and realize a profit. Speaking of profit, Harper—with the help of some poor soul named Caylee (that can’t be her real name, can it? Eleanor wonders)—has made some deeply unorthodox changes at the store (involving social media, Eleanor thinks with a shudder), but sales are up by 500 percent over last year.

Eleanor accepts news of these “changes” with equanimity, surprising even herself. Probably she is not fully awake.

But then Harper starts to weep. Eleanor hears about Tabitha’s love affair with the builder and that the builder’s sister is the woman Harper betrayed with Billy’s doctor. The builder can’t see Tabitha anymore, and Tabitha is heartbroken. Tabitha blames Harper.

“She hates me, Mommy,” Harper says. Eleanor loves that Harper still calls her Mommy, whereas Tabitha switched to “Mother” when she was ten years old. “She hated me for so long, then after Billy died, we patched things up, at least to the point where we were speaking. But now it’s over for good.”

“Nonsense,” Eleanor says. She dispatches Felipa to fetch the house phone, and not only does Eleanor call Tabitha, she also leaves a message. “Tabitha, this is your mother. I want you back on Nantucket immediately. No excuses. I expect to see you in a matter of hours. At the most!” She disconnects the call and brushes the hair off Harper’s shoulders. “You’ve gotten sun on your face,” she says. She nearly launches into a lecture about wrinkles and premature aging, but because this morning seems to be unusual in its every aspect, she refrains. “A little color suits you.”





MARTHA’S VINEYARD


It’s common knowledge that Dr. Reed Zimmer has taken a leave of absence from the hospital because of “personal reasons.” Most of us know that Dr. Zimmer admitted to having an affair with a patient’s daughter. This was not cause enough to fire Dr. Zimmer, but it was cause enough for the hospital board president, Adam Greenfield, a.k.a. Greenie, to suggest he take a break until the brouhaha blew over.

“We have the reputation of the hospital to consider,” Greenie said.

Dr. Zimmer reportedly accepted the censure without argument. He then moved out of the house he shared with his wife, Sadie.

Sadie placed a sign in the door of her pie shop that read: CLOSED UFN. This was a huge disappointment to the hundreds of summer visitors who counted Sadie’s pies as a seminal part of their summertime experience.

Some of us wondered whether Reed and Sadie had left the island together in an attempt to mend their marriage. Perhaps they headed to a place where nobody knows them. Their house, right next to the Field Gallery, would have rented for a pretty penny—at least that’s what Realtor Polly Childs thought when she drove by in her LR3. She was curious enough to pull up in front of the house and bold enough to knock on the front door. Polly was no stranger to island scandal and rumors, having once been ensnared in their vicious tentacles herself.

Sadie Zimmer had answered the door. She knew who Polly Childs was, of course, though they had never officially met. “Yes?”

“Just wondering,” Polly said, “if you’re planning on renting your home this summer. I have clients who would pay ten thousand dollars a week for it in August.”

Sadie had given Polly a tired, barely tolerant smile. “Not renting,” she said, and she closed the door in Polly’s face.

Later people reported sightings of Sadie Zimmer at Alley’s General Store and the up-island Cronig’s. Christine Velman saw Sadie driving out to her parents’ house in Katama—and in conversation a few days later during the meeting of the Excellent Point book group, Lydia Phelps confirmed that Sadie was remaining on the Vineyard for the summer, although she was taking a break from the pie business. Reed had moved out, Lydia told Christine, although whether he was off island or still on the Vineyard was unknown. Most of us guessed he was off island—and, as we know, off island is a very big place.