A Nantucket Wedding(95)

“Glad Tidings.” David turned to the group at the table. “Glad tidings, indeed. I’ll call a carpenter tomorrow and have the quarterboard hung over the front door.”

    “Actually,” Alison said, “you might have to wait a day or two to call the carpenter. Tomorrow we’re getting married.”

“A toast!” Scott lifted his glass. “A toast to Glad Tidings!”

They raised their glasses and called out their toasts. A sea breeze swept through the yard, so that the trees rustled and the women’s skirts fluttered and for a moment all their hearts swelled like a sail on a boat heading for home.





twenty-eight


On the morning of her wedding day, Alison woke early. David slept next to her, but she was a bundle of nerves and she probably would be until today was over. Not that she wanted to rush through this day, no, she wanted to breathe and take it all in.

She quietly slipped from the bed and padded across the thick silky carpet to the huge window facing the Atlantic. The pleated alabaster Japanese shades were lowered at night to cover the window and block early morning light. They were raised by a remote control. It was over on David’s bedside table, and she didn’t want to wake him. She didn’t need to see the entire view; she needed only a peek.

She lifted the side of a shade and peeked.

Blue sky. Sunshine.

Ahhhh.

    She tiptoed back to bed and relaxed, closing her eyes, hoping to fall back asleep.

Next to her, on this, their wedding day, David, was snoring like a chainsaw. The wedding ceremony was at five o’clock that evening, but guests were invited to check into the hotel yesterday afternoon or any time today so they could unpack and spend the day enjoying the delights of the island. They could swim, sail, kayak, hike, or drive one of the BMWs into town. A buffet lunch was set up at the hotel from noon until two. After the ceremony, the champagne would flow, dinner would be served in the huge white tent with banners flying, and later, there would be dancing.

So really, Alison could stay in bed all day if she wanted.

She heard the front door being opened and softly closed. Alani had been hired for the day to run the kitchen, so that the children and grandchildren sleeping in other rooms of this house could eat whenever they wanted. Today, Alison didn’t have to butter toast or wash a dish. And she didn’t have to solve any problems or settle any family quarrels. All the details had been sorted. She snuggled back into her pillow, closing her eyes, savoring the luxury.



* * *



—

Felicity quietly made her way from the bedroom and down the stairs and through the sleeping house to the kitchen. She said hello to Alani, gratefully accepted the freshly brewed cup of coffee, and took it outside to drink on the deck.

She’d never been here, alone, with the whole world around her, so bright and wide with morning sunshine, lightly stirred by a sea breeze. She stretched her legs out on the lounger and sipped her coffee. No one walked on the beach, no one was swimming. Everyone else in the house was asleep. For a few moments, Felicity had time to reflect on all that had happened this summer.

First. She truly had a sister. Felicity and Jane had gone along through their adult lives without each other, but during this summer, they had bonded. They knew now that they had each other to lean on, to share miseries and joys with, to plot against their families with, to laugh with. That she loved her sister who loved her back was Felicity’s happiest discovery.

    The state of her marriage was the next revelation. Felicity was glad that Noah had done his best to join Felicity’s family, even if his behavior had been inspired by David’s generous financial assistance. She was relieved that Noah had reassigned Ingrid, and pleased that his new assistant was a hyperactive young man with ears like Prince Charles.

During every spare moment when she was riding the ferry to or from Nantucket, and her children were playing Nintendo DS or reading books, Felicity had been on her phone, searching out and reading articles about marriage. Specifically, about living with a scientist.

Noah was not the clichéd geek of television and movies. He was handsome and charismatic. But he was also driven, ambitious, self-absorbed, manic, and really, truly, neurotic. Felicity had taken tests. She’d checked all the boxes. Her husband was obsessive-compulsive about his scientific brainchild, he was terrified of other scientists getting there before him, and everything else—wife, children, home—everything else took second place. Actually more like tenth place.

Felicity thought that his relationship with Ingrid, whatever it had been, was the result of needing a lieutenant, an assistant, a Watson to his Holmes. Noah would always need a person like that, and Felicity could never be that person.

The bad news, the heartbreaking matter, was that Felicity and her children would never come first with Noah.

The good news was that Felicity was free to change. She could leave Noah, but she didn’t want to. He was a good enough father to her children, and when he stepped out of his scientific fog, he could be a pleasant companion. They were a family. Not a perfect family, to be sure. But they were all right, would be all right.

And Felicity was going to take the job at the day care center, simply because she wanted to. So what if it didn’t help Noah with his financial worries. For a while, for a few years perhaps, David’s infusion of cash would weaken the fire of Noah’s financial anxieties. The job in the preschool would be for Felicity. She adored little children, and she knew that preschool was a crucial stage in their understanding of the world. Alice and Luke were in school now. Their worlds were getting wider.