She never should have allowed William to invite his sister to the house on Thanksgiving those years ago, allowed that creature to meet and seduce her niece, entice her to New York, and whomever this woman was—she did not get the name—Mary was mixed up in it.
Her heart skipped a beat. What if it were true? Of course, it was not. But what if it were true? Sitting in the kitchen where she took the call, Kate flung her nearly-empty cup against the wall and glared as it scattered into a million pieces. She was glad her husband was playing golf. And then she did something that she had often done in the last two years. She cried and cried.
Eric was in his room when he heard the crash. He raced to the kitchen, where his mother sat weeping and he saw the scattered remains of a coffee cup on the floor and traces of coffee on the wall. He often heard his mother cry in her bedroom and caught her doing so in the kitchen once or twice. She was almost always in control of her emotions. He knew this was about his sister.
Since reconnecting with Suzanne last Thanksgiving, he spoke to her frequently. She was thrilled when he told of getting early-admissioned into Yale and she’d sent enthusiastic comments, always laced with pointed, but accurate, “observations” when he posted performance videos of some of his piano gigs on YouTube. Sometimes they use Skype, and Kerry often dropped into the conversations now and then. Eric thought she was kind of hot, which he would never dream of telling Suzanne, and Kerry thought he was kind of handsome, which she made a point of telling Suzanne (“just in case, you know, I get traded back to the other team”).
Eric’s calls with his sister were in the privacy of his room. His parents knew they regularly spoke, but everyone observed a strict don’t-ask/don’t-tell policy. Beyond that, Eric and Suzanne often talked about what he could or should tell their parents. Angry as she was about how her parents treated their Aunt Mary, and aware that Aunt Mary always insisted that Suzanne not permanently cut her parents off, Suzanne thought it best to keep the information that Eric passed on as generic as possible. That information did not include the fact that she was engaged to Kerry. That was something that she treasured. Eric assured her that he only told them that she and Kerry were “the best of friends” and to queries about Suzanne’s love life he told them that Suzanne never spoke to him about that, which was pretty true, to Eric’s relief.
Something had changed.
“Mother?” Eric carefully asked as he approached her.
She suddenly stopped crying and she turned to glare at him. “Is it true? Is Suzanne planning to marry some woman from school? Is it?”
Now Eric was shocked. Eric knew it was true but obviously Suzanne had not told their mother or their mother would not be reacting as she was now; she would have known it was true. Who told her? If he told her it was true, she would go off on him for knowing and not telling her. Suzanne had not appreciated that she put her brother in this very position should her mother learn of her engagement to Kerry, but she had not imagined that she would find out until, and if, Suzanne herself decided to tell her. Who else could have told?
“Mother, Suzanne told me about Kerry—”
“‘Kerry? Is that the friend’s name?”
“Yes, mother. Kerry. And it’s true. I don’t know how you found out but—”
“You knew and you did not tell me?” Eric expected that. He was not expecting her to say, “that Kerry’s or whatever-her-name-is’s mother decided to throw it at me.”
Eric was surprised again. Kerry’s Mom talked to his mother? Had Suzanne or Kerry put her up to it? This was something that he had to step back from until he could figure out what was going on.
“She called out of the blue and dropped the bomb, that ‘Suzanne is engaged to my daughter.’ Bitch. She said that Suzanne did not know she contacted me.” That answered one of Eric’s questions. “She wanted to lord it over me.”
“Mother,” he responded, “does this sound like Suzanne? Of all the people in the world, do you think Suzanne would be a party to something vindictive?”
“But she’s changed. She went to New York, started hanging with your Aunt and this girlfriend”—she spit it out—”and she changed, dropping out of school and not coming home.”
“Mother. Listen to yourself. We both know that Suzanne wouldn’t change in a way that would lead her to do what you are saying she did.”
“I didn’t say SHE did it. That BITCH said she knew nothing about it.”
“And do you think that Suzanne would fall in love with someone whose mom would be like that? Do you?
“Look,” Eric continued, “whenever I speak with Suzanne, she’s very careful about what she wants me to let you know. I think she was afraid to tell you that she is engaged to Kerry. She still resents what you and especially father did to Aunt Mary. She’s told me several times that Aunt Mary has forgiven both of you and moved on, but Suzanne is still angry about it. I think she thinks that if she forgives you two she’ll be saying what you did was okay.”