Page 114

We had breakfast together downstairs on the rear loggia, and then he went off to finish some work he had left at his office, and I prepared to spend the day talking with ray mother and Linden. Thatcher's parents were still asleep, but before I walked to the beach house, the people setting up for the

extravaganza arrived and began to put up the tent, the tables, the flowers, and the strings of lights. Before long, I counted well over two dozen people working. How the Eatons could sleep through all this was beyond me. Jennings, however, seemed well in control: clearly, he had supervised a number of events such as this.

I found my mother sitting by herself, drinking coffee and looking out at the sea. She smiled when she saw me, but she didn't hold the smile long. Her face was quickly filled with concern and worry.

"Good morning," I said. I looked about. "Where's Linden, not yet up?"

"Oh, no, he was up very early this morning, almost at the crack of dawn. He took his sailboat and went to wherever he goes to work in private."

"That beach he calls Linden Beach." I said, and sat down. "Would you like some coffee?"

"No, thank you. Did he tell you he and I met last night after you had revealed the past to him?"

"No."

I hesitated. Should I tell her he acted suicidal?

"I saw him walking on the beach and joined him."

He was very unhappy about it all. He took it badly. He made me feel I had betrayed him by not confiding in him long before this. I should have, of course. It wasn't right to keep such a thing a secret for so long."

"You never knew I would come."

"'Na. but it was still part of my past and, therefore, part of his."

"There are things a mother can rightly keep from her children, things that are hers and hers alone because she is a woman, too." I offered.

She liked that. "Only two women would understand, however," she said, smiling like a coconspirator.

"Why shouldn't the same be true for men, for a father? Just because you are both parents doesn't mean you don't have private lives, fantasies, dreams that are your own."

"It's too raw right now for him,," she said, nodding at the water. "He's too emotional to be rational about it. Your father used to say sometimes you just have to put your emotions in a room by themselves and deal with your problems thoughtfully. intelligently. Later, you can swing by and pick them up and let them know your decisions."

She laughed. "He made it all sound so simple. After a while, I began to believe it was. Part of the illusionary world he and I created for each other while I was there. I suppose.

"But let's not talk about me anymore, not until you've exhausted yourself talking about yourself. I want to know everything, when you had your first loose tooth, your first boo-boo, your first crush on a boy, the first time you put on lipstick. everything."

"Where should I start?"

"At the beginning, your earliest memories. Don't leave out a detail. Everything is important," she said, and sat back expectantly.

I laughed. "I'll keep you here forever."

"I hope so." she said. She leaned forward to touch my cheek and stared at me. "I hope so."

.

When I left her hours later, Linden still had not returned.

"He often stays out the whole day." she explained to ward off my concern. "He'll avoid this place as much as he can now that he knows the Eatons are having one of their affairs."

"I'll come by later to see him," I promised.

"Good. Perhaps if the three of us sit quietly and talk..." Her voice trailed off like a dream that wouldn't be tied down,

"Yes," I said, and went to the main house. where Bunny was flying about, dictating orders to servants, tossing commands like rice on a wedding party. She was intent on rearranging the furniture, carrying on about the change of energy her, feng shui decorator had predicted. She told me Asher was in the game room watching a basketball game on television "as if there was nothing in the world to do."

From what I could see, there wasn't, at least for him. Her army of servants had everything well under control. All she could do was look for things to make herself appear busy. From the way the servants reacted to her exclamations, I could see they knew how to humor her. hiding their smiles behind their hands and behind her back.