A Nantucket Wedding(68)

“You think? I might be, because that whole setup makes me so damned mad. Have you seen the Wauwinet? David is taking that expensive hotel over for an entire weekend? He can throw away money that should be spent on charities, on wildlife conservation groups, on helping this poor world instead of throwing parties for his group of miserable moneygrubbers! I tell you, Felicity, there is no way in hell I’m going to that wedding.”

Felicity’s hands flew up to her heart, as if afraid it would stop. “Oh, Noah. Don’t say that. Please. You have to go. Your children will be in the wedding. I’ll be in the wedding. My mother would be heartbroken if you didn’t come.”

    “That’s her choice,” Noah said. “She’s chosen the dark side. I’m not going over there.”

Felicity stared. Who was this man? She opened her mouth to plead—and instead, she found herself saying, “ ‘The dark side’? How do you define the dark side? I would say that a husband having an affair with his personal assistant is about as dark as it gets.”

Noah recoiled. “Don’t drag Ingrid into this.”

“Ingrid. You want to protect Ingrid? Noah, I am your wife. The mother of your children. If you think David’s evil because he has money, what about you? What would your adoring employees think if you got divorced so you can fuck Ingrid?”

“I never mentioned divorce.”

“Well, I did. Just now.” Felicity was standing almost toe-to-toe with her husband, as close as she’d been physically in weeks. Energy was zapping between them, and she knew her face was as red as his, and both of them were breathing heavily, but this was the dynamics of battle, not love.

“You’re being absurd,” Noah said.

“Oh, I can get crazier,” Felicity warned, and she had no idea where these words and the strength to power them was coming from, but she was filled full of a righteousness that she’d been denying for weeks. “I think Ingrid is a danger to our marriage. Either you fire Ingrid, or I’m leaving you.”

Scott’s face turned from crimson to an unhealthy burgundy, and as angry as she was, Felicity’s heart tripped with worry—had she just given her husband a stroke?

“You would do that,” he said.

“I would.”

“Fine, then. Let’s make a deal. I’ll fire Ingrid if you cut off connections with your family.”

“Oh, Noah!” Felicity burst into tears. Her power popped like a bubble. “You know I would never do that! I can’t do that!”

    She folded into a lump on the sofa, elbows on knees, face in her hand, sobbing.

“I’m not going to let you blackmail me with tears,” Noah said.

He left the room.

Felicity continued weeping until she was all cried out. She sat on the sofa, straining to hear where Noah was in the house. Would he come back in? Surely they couldn’t leave the argument at this bleak, unresolved spot. She was confused and mad and sad. Had she been strong or had she been foolish?

Rising, she swept her cheeks dry with her hands. She walked into the kitchen for a glass of water to soothe her aching throat. As she stood there drinking, she heard a door shut, and she knew from experience it was the door to their guest room.

At least it wasn’t the front door, she thought.



* * *



—

“Well!” Alison said to David once their children had gone and David had watched the Red Sox beat the Yankees, “I think this was a good weekend for everyone.”

They were sitting in the den, in separate chairs. Alison was knitting a blanket for Poppy’s new baby, and the regular movement of the soft yarn through her fingers worked like a meditation.

David cast a longing eye at the desk where his laptop sat.

“I know you want to read the Sunday newspapers, but you can give me a minute or two. Tell me what you think about the weekend.”

David laughed. “Sweetheart, not everything needs to be assessed and inspected. It was a fine weekend, a normal weekend.”

“Humor me,” Alison said. “Tell me, for example, what you think of Noah.”

David considered his thoughts before answering. “I like the man. I think he’s wound tight, but that’s no surprise given the fact that he’s trying to start up a new product, a new company. We had a good talk out at the Wauwinet. His company, Green Food, seems like a viable nutrition option to me, even an important one. It cheers me up a great deal to see our young people taking on the challenges we oldies have given them with such a complicated world.”

    “I’m so glad you liked him!” Alison held up her knitting. “For Poppy’s new baby.”

David glanced at it. “Nice,” he replied dutifully. “I’m thinking I might invest in Green Food. They could use an influx of capital, and I’d like to help them out.”

“David, how wonderful!”

“Don’t say anything yet, please. I’ve got to go over some figures before I say anything to him. I’m not sure how much I can free up.”

“I won’t say a word,” Alison promised.

“Seriously, Alison. I don’t want to get his hopes up only to disappoint him.”

“I don’t want to do that, either. But I’m pleased you’re considering this.”