Page 10 of A Mother’s Love

There was a peaceful atmosphere in Halley’s home, where Seth felt warmly welcomed, and it was obvious that the twins had grown up with a mother who loved them profoundly, even though Valerie said a little too much so.

She liked living in California now, with Olivia nearby and some breathing room from their mother, except when they wanted to see her and went to New York to do so.

Olivia missed her more than Valerie did, but she was living alone. Valerie had Seth to be with.

Olivia hadn’t dated in the nearly two months she’d lived there.

She was too busy painting, and hadn’t explored the art scene yet, or met other artists.

She was planning to do that after Christmas.

She had promised Valerie she would. She worried about Olivia being alone, and she and Seth were out a lot, for his business, and her own, although they spent most weekends with Olivia.

They had coffee in the living room, and Halley retired to her room. She wanted to give them space to be together. They opened another bottle of wine, and went to their rooms at midnight. The girls were going to help Halley cook the Thanksgiving meal, as was their tradition.

The apartment smelled delicious the next day.

They convened for champagne at six o’clock.

They were going to sit down to their Thanksgiving dinner at seven-thirty, after Seth carved the turkey.

He did a masterful job of it, although he said he’d never done it before, but he enjoyed cooking, unlike his wife and her twin.

Neither of them was particularly domestic, and both were more interested in their chosen professions.

Their mother wasn’t a great cook either. It was a family trait.

Seth had watched while Halley made the stuffing, and he and the girls helped her cook the vegetables. He made the whipped cream for dessert while Halley basted the turkey.

“I love being here,” he said happily, and gave his mother-in-law a warm hug.

They all went to dress for dinner then, and met for caviar in the living room just before dinner.

Halley served it with both blini and small triangles of toast, with finely chopped egg and sour cream, and lemon wedges on the side.

“You run a very fine restaurant, Mrs. Holbrook,” Seth complimented her with another hug.

He was a warm person, and grateful to be there.

“My kitchen is like Brigadoon,” Halley said, smiling at him. “It only appears once a year, on Thanksgiving.” And they all laughed. The dinner was as delicious as it had smelled all day while it was cooking. The table and the meal looked like a Thanksgiving spread in a magazine.

Seth had a small slice of each of the pies, smothered in the whipped cream he had made himself.

The girls only had one kind of pie each.

Olivia ate her favorite, pumpkin, and Valerie pecan.

Halley had apple pie with vanilla ice cream, and they were all quiet and sated at the end of the meal, when Halley brought out a bottle of Chateau d’Yquem, a sweet Sauterne wine, which was like mixing liquid gold with candy.

It was Halley’s favorite, and she poured a small glass for each of them. It was the perfect end to the meal.

They put the dishes in the kitchen to deal with the next day. Seth said it was the best Thanksgiving he’d ever had, and it was Valerie’s too, since he was there and they were married now. While they recovered from the meal they’d eaten, they watched a movie, and went to their rooms at midnight.

Halley lay in bed, thinking about the day.

She was soaking up the joy of having them home again, and excited to know that they’d be back in a month for Christmas.

She had a book to write after the holidays, and she was planning to go to California in early March and stay for a few weeks when Olivia had her show.

She loved staying in the bungalows at the Beverly Hills Hotel and hadn’t been there in years, not since she’d gone there with Robert.

She fell asleep making Christmas plans in her head, and drifted off with a smile. It had been a perfect Thanksgiving, and Seth was an excellent addition.

—

Halley got to the kitchen early and made order from chaos before the others got up. Seth came in before the twins and she poured him a cup of coffee. He was impressed when he saw how clean and tidy everything was.

“You should have told me. I would have helped you.” He looked as though he meant it. He was a successful man with a big job, but he wasn’t above helping her, which touched her.

“It was easy,” she said, and sat down at the kitchen table with him, with an espresso, and Olivia walked in.

“Hi, baby,” Seth said, smiling at his wife, and Olivia laughed at him. She loved it when that happened.

“Wrong baby. Your wife is still sound asleep.” He looked startled and then grinned.

“I always think I can tell the difference and then the two of you fool me. So are we going skating today?” he asked her. She was wearing a heavy pale blue ski sweater and jeans, her hair in a braid down her back. Seth’s hair was the same color as theirs, but his eyes were blue instead of green.

“I hope so, if you can get your wife out of bed. Do you want to come with us, Mom?” Olivia asked her casually, helping herself to a cup of tea.

“I think I’ll stay home, I have work to do.

And if I break a wrist, I won’t meet my deadline for the first draft of my January book.

” Halley was a good skater, and had always gone with them when they were children.

She had learned when she was at Connecticut College, and had loved it.

She’d never had the chance to do things like that when she was a child, or in the orphanage.

It would never have occurred to her parents to take her skating or do something fun with her.

There had been no joy in her childhood, only pain.

Valerie walked into the kitchen then, also in a pale blue sweater.

They often did that, showed up in the same colors, without having checked with each other before.

Olivia always said it was some kind of weird twin telepathy.

Halley had dressed them identically when they were little, for as long as they had been willing to put up with it.

Valerie was the first to object. Olivia had liked it.

The skating party left the apartment a little while later, for the rink in Central Park, and Halley sat down at her desk to check her emails.

There were two from her publisher, one about ads they were placing on social media for her next book, and the other offering her a choice of cover designs.

She liked keeping track of all the different facets of publishing.

Halley dressed before they came home. They had dates to meet friends that afternoon, and were going to dinner on their own that night. They were planning to go to the Museum of Modern Art on Saturday, and invited Halley to go with them.

They all enjoyed the exhibit, wandered around the museum afterward, and walked back on Fifth Avenue.

Halley made hot chocolate when they returned. They were having dinner at home that night, since Seth and the twins were leaving for California in the morning. The days had flown since they arrived, but had been perfect.

Seth noticed the photographs of Robert in the living room and asked Valerie about him.

She said he was their unofficial stepfather growing up, and explained what had happened to him.

Valerie had mentioned him before, but he had never seen pictures of him.

He was a handsome man and Halley looked blissfully happy with his arm around her.

“She must miss him,” Seth said, sad for her.

“She’s young to be alone.” She was only ten years older than he was.

Seth was twelve years older than Valerie and closer in age to her mother.

“Maybe she’ll meet someone now that you girls are out of the house in California,” Seth said.

He thought Halley was a lovely woman and as beautiful as her daughters.

“I don’t think she wants to. She was madly in love with Robert. I don’t think anyone else would measure up to the reality, or her memories of him.”

“You never know,” he said thoughtfully. “I didn’t expect to meet you, and then you walked into my life.” He had been determined not to marry again, until he met Valerie. They were wonderfully well suited to each other.

Valerie smiled at the memory too. “But I didn’t have much to live up to.

” Seth’s first marriage had been a bad experience, and he had no pleasant memories of his ex-wife.

She wasn’t an evil woman, it just wasn’t a match.

They had split up after two years and she moved to London.

She had been cold and inattentive, a competitive and ambitious network executive.

The marriage had ended five years before.

They hadn’t spoken since. He had found her intelligence seductive, but she had been unpleasant and critical once they were married.

His brother called her the Ice Queen. And his brother had fared no better, married to a narcissistic young actress.

Both brothers had made poor choices in their previous life partners.

They’d had no role models for successful relationships while they were growing up.

But Seth could tell that Valerie and Olivia did, with a loving mother.

Their own mother had been constantly distracted and absent.

“What were your mom’s parents like?” Seth asked Valerie, curious about them. He guessed that they were loving people because she was. She never talked about them, and he only knew they were dead now.