Nantucket (26 page)

Andrew was left at the table with Shiva and George. “Just out of curiosity,” he said, “what was it you urgently needed to speak to me about, and then didn't after you spoke to Shiva?”

It took a moment for George to register the question. “I was trying to figure out how to get Janis to Boston tonight, but after Shiva told me he wouldn't take Judy with him, I realised there would be room for Janis on the plane to New York tonight, which solved everything.”

“But now,” said Shiva, “Judy has claimed that seat.”

“And claimed you,” said Andrew,

“So it would appear,” said Shiva.

“And there isn't room for Janis after all,” said Andrew.

“Nor a need for Rosemary to get to New York,” said Shiva. “She doesn't really have a lunch, by the way. I was just giving her an excuse if she needed one. I'm well trained. And I'm glad she's taking a nap,” he continued. “She's no fun at all when she's tired. So what are you going to do, George?”

“I guess I'll stay here,” said the Governor. “Our tickets to Boston are actually for the morning plane. Maybe I should just let Janis get a good night's sleep, and to hell with what people think when she gets to work at noon.”

“Isn't that what you always intended?” said Shiva.

“Judy was going to be coming in then too, which would have altered appearances.”

“Sorry to be absconding with your alibi,” said Shiva.

“And she's my daughter too, remember. But it's all right.”
The Governor paused and looked at Andrew. “Maybe I do need a nap.”

“I can recommend the servant's room,” said Andrew. “I think it's empty now.”

George stood up and started in that direction. “Servant of the people,” he said over his shoulder.

16

The best improvisations end where they began. Andrew set the table for dinner. They were six again, though three were new. Rosemary said it was a “Left-Overs Feast.” It wasn't clear whether she was referring to the food or the people eating it.

Andrew put Rosemary next to himself, and Janis next to the Governor. It was Cathy's house as much as Andrew's, as he kept reminding himself, so she had to be at the opposite end of the table, with the Governor on her right. This put Cynthia between Rosemary and Cathy. Andrew thought that could be awkward for Rosemary, given the tension there had been between the two St. Elizabeth's alumnae all weekend, but Rosemary said it was perfect.

“We talked,” Rosemary explained. “In the maid's room, where she was ‘hiding out,' as she put it. I told her she'd been very brave at school, that I admired her for that, and that I'd never realised she had a crush on me. ‘Schoolgirls have them,' she said.”

“She isn't facing reality yet?” said Andrew.

“No. I was wrong,” said Rosemary. “She knows what she is. She's just always been very discreet about it.”

“So she married Joe for the money?”

“Yes and no. I expect she's been telling herself she's bisexual, that all she needed to change gears was a sufficiently masculine man, and that Joe was the answer.”

“And she's behaved oddly all weekend because she doesn't know what gear she's in?”

“Correct,” said Rosemary, “though if I could refine your metaphor, I think she's been out of gear and free-wheeling downhill for the past forty-eight hours. This weekend has been pretty scary for her. The great thing about her television job is that it puts her in a bubble.”

“Joe told me she didn't like having him ride into New York with her. He said that's when she puts on her game face.”

“Joe had it backwards,” said Rosemary. “That's when she could take it off – because the game she was playing was with Joe.”

“So what's she up to with Cathy? That was strange when they met this morning.” Andrew continued to feel protective of Cathy, he realised.

“Cynthia is fascinated by Cathy's narrative, if I can use that term,” said Rosemary. “Cathy has come out – awkwardly but unambiguously. Cynthia admires Cathy for that. She's jealous. She's wondering whether Cathy can teach her how to be that brave. And Cathy wasn't being much help because she needed all the emotional energy she had just to get through the morning.”

“You think they can be friends? Lotta hostility this morning, as Joe would put it.”

“They went for a long walk, so perhaps. But it's not our problem,” said Rosemary. “Definitely not yours, at least.”

“Not yours either, I wouldn't think,” said Andrew. “Why
do you want to get involved? To be blunt about it, what do you have to contribute to the situation?”

“I guess I owe Cynthia from being a shit at school,” said Rosemary. “And in answer to your unfriendly question – what can I
contribute
? – I can be rude. Which can move things along. And which you do not have a talent for, sweet Andrew. But I'd better look after the cheese.”

Rosemary was a genius of sorts, and like most such persons, she could be prickly. Don't tell me I'm beautiful, she'd said. Tell me I'm wise. She knew she was beautiful. Those were the cards she'd been dealt. What she had to be saying was that she wasn't sure about the wisdom joker. She couldn't seem to find it in her hand. She was using tough-mindedness as a substitute.

Cynthia came downstairs for dinner wearing the dress Sally had worn to the airport Friday. “Cathy's clothes fit me,” she announced proudly.

“Amazing,” said Andrew quietly.

“I find most of life amazing,” Rosemary said.

All in all, Andrew was feeling pretty good. The “Concert of Nantucket” was essentially complete. They'd signed a document, at least, which committed the ten of them to take further actions – negotiation of details in good faith, et cetera – and not to disclose the weekend's adventures. Janis said it was an agreement in principle but not a contract. “It will only work if you want it to work,” she said.

“Which we do,” said Shiva.

Then everyone had hugged everyone else and Andrew drove the four ticket-holders to the airport.

Andrew was now forty million dollars richer – pre-tax, that is. It made him giddy to think about it as he drove back to the house. Even allowing for the division of assets his separation
from Cathy would involve, he had more than enough to live on. And he was now employed by Joe, which would presumably mean further deals to concoct and opportunities to increase his net worth.

Cynthia would be a very rich woman quite soon – as would Rosemary. Judy had continued to reject the idea of a pre-nuptial agreement. “I am not afraid,” she repeated.

“But you should be,” her father had said.

“What for?” she had said.

Joe had stepped in and solved the problem by writing her a personal check for a million dollars. “This will get you home if Shiva turns into Caliban.”

“Do you really have that much money in your checking account?” said Sally.

“It comes in handy,” said Joe.

The Governor, whose nap hadn't lasted half an hour, had a lot of difficulty not being in charge. Andrew took pleasure in observing this. He reminded his old friend that his only concern was the confidentiality matter – “that and finding Janis a job at a good law firm.”

“Oh, right,” George had said.

“So Joe can hire her.”

“Right.”

“And she can be less…visible.”

“Right.”

“Why don't you take Rosemary for a walk or something?” Andrew had eventually suggested in the late afternoon. Janis had said it would be quite helpful if someone got the Governor out of the house. “We're getting into the home stretch,” said Andrew. “I have to check the economics, as you put it. Rosemary has had a very fine nap, she tells me, and now needs exercise.

It's late enough that she won't burn. If we let her into the kitchen, she'll break more glasses.” He said this with Rosemary standing there, paying both of them back for the game they'd played in the car.

Rosemary was charmingly silent about when or whether she would ever leave. We'll tidy that up later, Andrew said to himself. Not everything in life needs to be spelled out. He'd taken the course in international politics his junior year. He knew about the Concert of Europe. It mostly wasn't written down.

When he'd returned from the airport, and Janis was almost ready to announce dinner, Cathy came downstairs, dressed in another of her summer dresses, but a different woman. He was getting used to her short hair. She was smiling. She handed Andrew her mobile phone. “Go out on the porch,” she said. “It's Eleanor.”

“Hello?” he said to the mobile uncertainly.

“Thank God,” said his elder daughter, who had evidently exchanged temperaments with Florence.

“Yes?” said Andrew. “That is to say, indeed.”

“I couldn't stand it, Daddy. You were both so unhappy and you wouldn't face up to it. I couldn't say anything. A daughter can't. That made me angry. I'm sorry.”

“I wonder if you could speak to your sister.”

“I already have. I told her if she plans to get married, she has to grow up. She's still set on June, but beyond that…”

“And how are
you
, Eleanor?”

“Gleefully heterosexual, if that's your question. Nice German boys all over the place. Being fucked in a foreign language is extremely sexy.”

Andrew didn't say anything. He was her father.

“That was your question, wasn't it?” said Eleanor. “I'm glad you asked. Facing reality is good.”

“That's what my new boss says.”

“Oh, yeah, Mom said you have a new job. You've quit the firm and now work for a billionaire. Is he a nice billionaire?”

“He's taken.”

Eleanor laughed. “Mom said you have a new partner too – a gorgeous Englishwoman, who's a lot younger than you.”

“Is younger OK?”

“Sure. Just so you're happy, Daddy. But listen, some people are waiting for me downstairs. We'll talk again soon. I've missed you.”

Andrew had to spend a little while on the porch composing himself before he could go inside. It was nice Eleanor didn't hate him anymore.

The first person he encountered was Janis. “Are you all right?” she said. “Cathy said that was your daughter.”

“I'm fine,” said Andrew. “How about you?”

“Exhausted.”

“I should think so. You did a great job. Did Joe or Shiva by any chance mention paying you?”

“Joe took my bank details. So I guess something will show up in my Christmas stocking.”

Dinner was cold steak, warm baked potatoes, green salad, the last bit of the extraordinary Gorgonzola cheese Rosemary had brought in the box with the dark red ribbons, plus ice cream and raspberries for dessert. Rosemary told them all to put the Gorgonzola on their potatoes, which at least some of them tried. Andrew opened a couple of bottles of Barolo, and even Cynthia had some. They could certainly have been excused for drinking too much, but no one did. We're fragile tonight and
we know it, Andrew told himself.

Cathy insisted that Andrew and Rosemary tell the story of arriving at the airport and finding Sally there instead of her. “George and Janis deserve to hear it – and I want to hear it again.”

“Well, I had no idea at first,” said Rosemary. “I was busy being surprised to encounter you again, Cynthia Jane.”

“Who figured it out first?” asked Cynthia. “I know I was last.”

“Joe,” said Andrew. “He'd done some research on Cathy and me before he accepted our invitation. He'd seen pictures of Cathy.”

“That's outrageous,” said Cathy.

“He is a clever man,” said Cynthia. “The problem is that he's a man.” Everyone laughed.

At some stage, Andrew realised that Cathy – and therefore his daughters – would never hear about the game Sally had made them play on Saturday night. It had been air-brushed out of history, which was fine.

“So what was the point of the note?” said Rosemary.

“Sally was supposed to tell Andrew I'd finally acknowledged that I'm… well, that I'm a lesbian, and that I'd gone back to Boston, which is where I come from, to think about what to do next. I spent the weekend in a hotel,” she said, “walking in the Public Garden and visiting familiar places. I had this theory that returning to my roots would make things clearer, but what I was actually doing was giving Andrew time to absorb what Sally was supposed to have told you.” She looked down the table at Andrew. “I couldn't face telling you directly,” she said.

“Important things are often difficult to say,” said Cynthia. This was hardly a profound observation, but it seemed to turn
her into a serious person. For the first time all weekend, Andrew decided, the idea that Cynthia was an award-winning journalist
wasn't
preposterous.

There was some passing of the cheese board and filling of wine glasses, as they all reflected on her statement. “Speaking of difficult…” said Rosemary.

“Yes,” said Andrew.

“I'm not going to sleep with you tonight, brave Andrew. I'm going to sleep with George. I don't want to spend the rest of my life wondering what that might have been like.”

“Does George know this yet?” said Andrew, looking at his old friend, who was attempting to pretend he wasn't listening. Andrew wasn't entirely surprised by Rosemary's announcement. He was relieved, actually.

“George is finding out approximately now,” said Rosemary. “He's known a lot of women, though, so he may have seen it coming. I may have hinted at it when we went for that walk you sent us on.”

“You did kiss me,” said the Governor.

Part of Andrew expected Janis to get up and leave the room, but she didn't, which was interesting.

“George's wife left him today,” Rosemary went on, “and my husband is taking his new young friend to India, so neither of us need to feel guilty about being unfaithful. I am looking forward to finding out what not feeling guilty is like. I've been unfaithful to Shiva for years, and I've always thought poorly of myself for it.” She paused but no one spoke. “You're a fine man, Andrew. Shiva's turning into a fine man too. Some days I almost forget he's a prince. Having thought about it – and yes, Cathy, it can take a bit of time to come to terms with things – I realised that what I need is a man who's as selfish as I am.”