Wellesley Wives (New England Trilogy) (11 page)

She heard a hiss from behind her and realized with little interest that she was burning the cabbage. She went and took the pan off the heat, but it was futile. The red cabbage had become a hard lump of purple charcoal. In a slight haze, she remembered Rosie’s cream sweater and looked over to see if the stain was still there. If it wasn’t, then this was all a nightmare and not real at all. But the red mark was still there. She looked from her eldest daughter to her youngest daughter and then from Peter to his business partner—or was that
ex
-partner?

“Jack?” she asked. “Are you having an affair with Lily?”

Lily jumped to her feet and squealed again, much like she had a little earlier. “Mom!”

Jack said nothing but his eyes flashed toward Lily. The shock and sadness he had shown about the business vaporized with that one simple question. Suddenly he looked even more serious, and guilty as sin. He glanced at Popsy and then at Peter. His jaw stiffened as he clenched his teeth together like he was preparing to fight. Popsy recognized the look, and so did Peter, apparently.

“What the hell?” he asked, swinging around. “Jesus, Jack. I had an idea that you were playing offside, but with my daughter?” He jumped to his feet and kicked the heavy kitchen chair back violently. “I trusted you! Damn it, you’re like a father to these girls. Of all the fu—”

He lunged for Jack and tried to grab him by the collar but instead Peter fell, full force and at an awkward angle on top of him. Jack pulled away and Peter fell to the floor—hard and lifeless.

Popsy shouted, “Peter, what are you doing?”

Marcus, who had moved toward the men instinctively, now rushed to Peter’s limp body on the kitchen floor. “Oh God, he’s collapsed.”

“Somebody call 911,” Lily screamed, but Marcus already had his cell phone out.

“Daddy!” Rosie cried. “Hurry, Marcus.”

Chapter 9 

Hospital

Popsy sat in a daze outside the ICU with Rosie. All they knew was that Peter had suffered a mild heart attack, he would be kept in ICU for observation overnight, and they’d been told to wait outside Intensive Care until he was settled.

    “For a day that started out with such promise, I must say, this is a bit of a letdown,” she said, her voice dripping with misery and sarcasm.

“Oh, Mom.” Rosie bent down so she could hug her mother yet again. “It’s been crazy. Let’s just get Dad straightened out this evening and then we’ll worry about everything else.”

Popsy let her eyes close and her head loll back against the back of the chair. “Did you know?”

“About what?”

“The other things.” Popsy opened her eyes again and looked at her eldest.

“Well, obviously I had no idea about Dad’s bombshell. I didn’t even know his business was in trouble. I thought he was weathering the recession pretty well.” She avoided mentioning Lily as she plonked down onto the seat beside her mom’s.

“I’m not talking about the business problems,” Popsy said impatiently. “I’m talking about your sister. Did you know about Lily and Jack? God, I can’t believe I’m even saying this.”

Rosie felt enormous guilt. “I only found out yesterday—last night, to be exact. Believe me, it came as a hell of a shock to me, too. Natasha and I went to visit Lily, and we bumped into Jack.”

“Even Natasha knew about it?” Popsy groaned.

“Mom, I don’t really think Natasha has any idea what she does or doesn’t know. She did see the two of them arm-in-arm, but I’m pretty sure I could have explained to her that they were just kissing goodbye if Lily hadn’t gone off the deep end this evening.”

Popsy spun around. “Gone off the deep end? You think she should have kept it all as her sordid little secret? Are you condoning this behavior?”

“What? No.” Now Rosie was defending herself. “How do you figure that? I’m just trying to rationalize the evening. I don’t think anything. I’m as stunned as you.” She saw her mother cool a little, so she tentatively added, “But I don’t think Lily would have wanted it to come out like this.”

“And just how the heck do you think it should have come out? Lily is sleeping with your father’s best friend. Damn it, Sandra is
my
best friend. Jack is her godfather for Christ’s sake.”

“Um, no, he’s my godfather.”

“You know what I darn well mean. He’s
a
godfather in our house. Lily’s done so much damage. She may even kill her father before she’s finished. The shock is what pushed him over the edge tonight.”

“Now hold on there a minute. Dad is a tough old boot. I know he was trying to go after Uncle Jack, but it’s pretty fair to say that the business had his heart under a lot of strain, too. You don’t blame Lily for Dad’s heart attack, do you?”

Popsy stayed silent for a moment. Rosie knew that she was maybe thinking about blaming her younger daughter.

“Lily is miserable about what happened tonight. I know she is. She’s called me seven times already.”

“Good. Stupid, stupid girl. Of all the men on the planet, why Jack? Why so close to home?”

Rosie shrugged. “Damned if I know.”

They fell into a strained silence. They could talk all night, but there was no rationalizing Lily’s behavior. Who knew where it would all lead.

“This might not be the best time to take up golf,” Popsy said at last.

“What?” For a moment Rosie was confused.

“Golf. Isn’t that what Natasha, or was it Lily, was talking about? Isn’t that why you’re going off to the Caribbean?”

“Oh that? Um, yes, wouldn’t it be fun to take up golf, Mom? Marcus thinks he’s a great golfer. A lot of the pilots play on their days off, and if he’s doing it, then so am I. Why do you think it’s not such a good idea?”

“Well, it’s a very time-consuming sport, and if you have a child, it’s difficult to be away for a full day. Even harder if you had two children, I’d guess.” She looked at her daughter with a sideways glance and Rosie understood.

She laughed at her mother. “Not an issue, Mom. We’re not even trying. Natasha is a full-time job for me.” As she said it, she realized that her mother looked like she was going to cry.

“Well, you’re going to have to get to it and give me a few more grandchildren because Lily certainly won’t anytime soon. Jack is dead-set against having more kids. What is Lily doing with an old rat like him, anyway?”

Rosie took her mother’s hand. “Don’t go there, Mom. We have bigger things to worry about right now. Lily is being stupid, but it’s not the end of her life. We’ll talk sense into her—you and I—over the next few weeks.” She forced a smile and squeezed her mother’s fingers reassuringly.

Popsy nodded and pursed her lips together.

“But, you have to try to stay calm. Your job is to stay strong and healthy. We need to get Dad well and then figure out just how bad his business situation is, and then we’ll think about Lily. Okay?”

Popsy gave her a weak smile. “Where would I be without you, darling?” She stroked Rosie’s hair like she used to when she was little. “Thank you for being so strong and focused. You’re right. We’ll worry about all of that later.”

As the young, and not unattractive, doctor approached them, Popsy jumped to her feet. “What news?”

He smiled sympathetically at both women then focused on Popsy. “As you were told, Mrs. Power, your husband has had a mild heart attack. What I can tell you is that he’s now stable and all of his vitals are good. The best thing you can do for him is to go home and get some rest. He’ll sleep all night, and you’ll be able to visit him in the morning.” He glanced back at the ICU doors.

“Can’t I see him now?” Popsy pleaded.

Rosie flanked her mother. “We just want to say goodnight,” she said. “We won’t try to wake him or anything.”

“Please, doctor,” Popsy asked with tears in her eyes.

The doctor seemed to weigh the situation. “You’re his wife so you can go in alone. But only a minute. It’s late, and there are other patients in there. Don’t attempt to talk to him or even touch him. Don’t do anything to disturb him. Just have a quick look to appease yourself and come back out.”

She nodded.

Then he looked at Rosie. “You’ll have to wait till tomorrow. This is Intensive Care. If he’s moved to a private room then, which I hope he will be, you’ll be able to see him a lot more.”

Rosie had no fight left as she watched her mother head out with the doctor.

She fell back into her armchair. There was just so much to take in. She couldn’t quite comprehend what the failure of her father’s business would mean to her. Was it really going to include the house? Would it impact her life? God forbid.

Would her parents need to stay with her? That really would be a disaster. Small chance of them shacking up in Lily’s apartment after tonight’s debacle. Rosie phoned her husband. It was late, but she figured he was waiting for an update.

He answered on the first ring. “Hey, how are you? Thanks for the text. Any more news?”

His concern made her feel better. “Hi, honey. Nothing new, just a lot of waiting. Dad’s stable. He’s in the ICU and Mom just went in to see him.”

“Oh God, is he going to be okay?”

Rosie thought she might cry, so she tried to be strong. “Yes, he’s stable now. If all goes well, he should move into a private room tomorrow. That’s one step down the danger zone from ICU, I guess. They have to run a battery of tests before he’s let out, but he seems to be okay. What about you? What happened after we left? Where are you now?”

Rosie heard Marcus heave an enormous sigh. “Jeez, what a day. I guess you saw Lily in tears before you left. She was crying and saying this was all her fault and then Jack started to comfort her. Gotta tell you, honey, it was really weird seeing them together. I’m so used to thinking of him as your uncle.”

“What do you mean?” she whispered. “Are you saying they’re openly affectionate now?”

“Well, he was hugging her, and yeah, I guess he was holding her in a fairly non-uncle kind of way. He just kept telling her that it would be okay, and he would take care of her. Rosie, he’s way too old for her, and what about Sandra?”

“I don’t think she knows yet, but I agree with you that he’s too old. Lily will be twenty-eight in December. What is he? Mid-fifties? You do the math, but it’s not pretty.”

“No, it’s not. They left together but not before she left about a hundred messages on your cell. Did you call her yet?

“No, I wanted to talk to you first.”

“Thanks, babe. Nat and I are fine. She fell asleep in the drawing room.”

“You’re still at Mom and Dad’s?”

“I didn’t want to leave because I figured your mom would be coming home at some stage and I didn’t think it was a good idea for her to return to an empty house.”

Rosie’s heart skipped a beat. “You’re my hero. Thanks, and you’re so right. I hope I can convince her to come home soon because it’s been a day and the doctor says there’s nothing we can do here. We might be there in about an hour, if I’m lucky.”

“We could all stay with your mom tonight if you’d like,” Marcus offered. “I don’t fly again until Tuesday. It might be nice to stay here with her—just so she has people around.”

“Marcus, have I told you lately that I love you?”

“I love you, too, even if it turns out that you’re broke.”

“I know. Scary, isn’t it? Who knows how that will all unravel.”

“Time will tell, babe. By the way, Matilda got back here about an hour ago, so I had to tell her. I guess she was going to help with the cleanup. I hope that’s okay.”

“I guess so. How did she take it?”

“She kinda lost it. Crying and banging her head with her fists. It was a bit awkward, so I gave her a glass of sherry and she calmed down a little. I told her Peter was going to be fine and that seemed to do the trick. Now she’s done a total blitz on this place. It’s spotless. I wonder if she would come and live with us.”

“I know, she’s amazing, isn’t she? But she’s very comfortable with them. I don’t think you’d ever get her to move. I never thought of telling her. Glad she’s okay, though. Look, I gotta go. I think I should call Lily before Mom gets back.”

“Brave woman. Good luck with that. See you soon.” She hung up feeling better about her own marriage than she had in months. Ironic that a good old-fashioned crisis would bring them closer together, she thought as she dialed her sister.

“Is he okay?” Lily asked, sounding half-crazed.

“Shhh, he’s fine. Calm down, Lily. Look, I’ll have to hang up when Mom comes back. She would be furious if she knew I was talking to you.”

“I know. I’m so sorry. You see, I thought you told her.”

“I guessed that, but we had a deal,” Rosie said, relieved at last to talk to her sister and explain what actually happened.

“I know. I was just so freaked out I wasn’t thinking straight, and when I heard Mom, well, I just assumed—stupidly. Sorry.”

“Chill. How would you know? Damn it, how could either of us have known Natasha would understand what was going on? I’m sorry she blew your cover.”

“For once I’m regretting how sharp my niece is.”

“I was trying to distract everybody with my stupid red cabbage fiasco.”

“What happened?”

“I spilled the juice on myself when I heard Nat start to talk about you and, um, Jack. And then when you walked in. I tried to distract you, but I couldn’t get you to listen to me.”

“I should have known better. I was just so darn nervous. Now, tell me about Dad.”

“He’s okay. He’s out of danger. Mom is with him in ICU.”

“ICU?” There was renewed panic in Lily’s voice.

“It’s just a precaution. He’ll be moved to his own room tomorrow. He’s going to be fine. Talk to me. Is Jack going to tell Sandra?”

“He says he has to. Now that Mom and Dad know, the cat is well and truly out of the bag. He’s going over there now to tell her, and he’s going to leave her.”

“Oh God, Lily, what have you done?”

“What have I done? We love each other. We want to be together.”

“Yes, but at what cost? You’re breaking up his marriage. Have you thought about that? Are you sure you want to go this way. Can you live with the guilt?”