A Nantucket Wedding(87)
“Wow. Mom has some nice clothes,” Felicity said. “Nicer than she had when she was married to Dad.”
“Mom was too busy to care about clothes when she was married to Dad,” Jane answered. “She was usually in jeans and a turtleneck.”
“Here’s yours,” Felicity said, lifting a heavy plastic garment bag from the wooden rod. “And mine.”
They unzipped the garment bags, stripped down to their undies, and stepped into the gowns. The satin rustled as they pulled the gowns on.
“Zip me and I’ll zip you,” Jane said.
When they were finished, they checked themselves out in the three-way mirror. The pale pink complemented Felicity’s porcelain complexion, and the deep rose accentuated the drama of Jane’s dark hair and eyes.
“You look like a princess,” Jane told her sister.
“So do you,” Felicity replied. “No, wait. No more princess. Let’s go with queen.”
“Mom’s queen.”
“Okay, duchess then. Or countess.”
Jane stepped next to Felicity. She put her hand on her sister’s waist. “Look at us. We both look so—splendid. Even after this crazy summer. And now I’ve got Scott safely home and Noah’s dissed Ingrid and you’ve got a job you can’t wait to start. Our lives are wonderful.”
Felicity walked away from Jane. She sat on the end of the bed, smoothing the satin of her skirt. “Yes, we are fortunate. I understand that. But, Jane—I’m not sure I want to stay married to Noah.”
“Oh, Filly.” Jane sat on the bed next to her sister, searching Felicity’s face. “Tell me why.”
“Because I don’t think we love each other anymore. I might even, well, hate is too strong a word, but I feel a kind of contempt for him. I told you what he did, how he said I had to break all my connections with my family. Then David said he was going to invest money in Green Food, and in an instant”—Felicity flashed her hands through the air—“Noah adores David and all of us. That is so…slimy.”
“What does he think about your job at Small Steps?”
“Ha. He asked why I want to waste my time on something any half-wit can do. That’s what he said. Half-wit. At first, I tried to argue with him, I emailed him articles about the importance of early childhood care, I quoted statistics to him, but really, I knew I wasn’t going to change his mind. Because he’s a narcissist, really.” Felicity allowed herself a sad smile. “I researched that term, too. A narcissist has an exaggerated idea of how important they are. And they lack empathy for others. But it’s more than that, Jane. It’s me. A switch has been flicked in my heart. I don’t love him anymore.” Felicity took Jane’s hands in hers. “I don’t know what to do!”
“Okay,” Jane said calmly. “Okay, first thing, don’t cry. No crying now. We’ve got to go downstairs for dinner. Second, take a breath. You’ve had a lot to deal with this summer and you’re starting a new job, and your schedule will throw everything into a new time frame, and your first duty is to your children, right?”
Felicity nodded.
Jane continued, “And take it day by day for a while. Give yourself time to get adjusted to your work. Let your thoughts settle. Remember how close I was to leaving Scott. I mean, life is long, marriage is for the long haul. We go through so many changes in our lives. But divorce is huge. For you and for your children.” Jane grinned and shrugged. “Listen to me, you’d think I know what I’m talking about.”
“No, Jane, really, everything you say helps me a lot. I wish you lived closer. I wish I could talk to you every day.”
“Well, silly Filly, we don’t have to live in the same state to do that. We’ve got our phones, and we can text. Hey, if I get pregnant, if I actually manage to have a child, you know I’ll be calling you constantly.” Jane stood up. “Now come on, let’s take off these gorgeous gowns and go down to the kitchen before Mom ends up doing all the work herself.”
* * *
—
The house absolutely bulged. Daphne and Hunter and Alice and Luke had spent the afternoon on the beach, and now they were all showering and putting on clean clothes. Pipes clanked, water ran, footsteps thumped back and forth on the second floor, mothers called out to their children, and occasionally a father would bellow a loud, low order, like a bassoon. It was a family symphony.
Tonight, for a few hours, Alison could relax with her family all around her, knowing that everyone was safe and happy. Tonight, nothing could go wrong.
Ethan was behaving like a perfect stepson, prepping vegetables, unloading the dishwasher, preparing a sumptuous platter of cheese and crackers and olives and bluefish pâté, opening the wines.
Jane had settled Scott in the den where he was playing chess with Daphne, who of course had showered and dressed first of all the children. Jane had brought a duffel bag of goodies from the city, and had taken the chopped ham and olives and orange slices and mixed them together and spread them on torn bits of baguettes. Felicity was setting the table.
Alison checked her watch. Heather and Cecil would be here any minute.
“I’ll set these on the coffee table,” Jane said. “And I’ll lay out some napkins.”