There was a pause on the line and then, again, “what do you want from me?”
“Kate, you sound like you’re pacing. Could you just sit for a second?”
“Okay. I’m sitting. You know I can never accept what has been done to Suzanne. It is immoral and it is wrong and it’s you and my sister-in-law and who-knows-who-else that’s behind it.” Eileen was letting her run. “We are good, faithful people. We raised Suzanne to be a good person and we never understood what would happen if she left us and now we know.”
To Kate, it was a muddle. She could not think. In her darkest moments, she could not imagine anything like this. Suzanne would be gone for three years and then she’d return. She’d live in San Francisco for a few years and get married and move to some affordable part of Marin County. They’d see each other and she’d have grandchildren and the house would be filled on Christmas. And now. This.
And she was on the phone with this fucking bitch who had some role in what happened to Suzanne. And why was she on the phone with this fucking bitch? Why had she called her? To get Kate’s blessing? She would never get that. And she probably knew it. She was calling because she wanted Kate to know that Suzanne didn’t need her anymore. Did not need her own, loving mother anymore. And Kate was on the phone with this woman and she had to say something. Something to keep her talking like she was a hostage negotiator, with Suzanne as the hostage.
So Kate decided to play nice. Kate was very good at playing nice.
“I’m sorry Eileen. Heally is it?”
“Neally, with an ‘N.’ And your daughter. Kerry?”
“Yes, Kerry Neally.”
“I have tried to get in touch with my daughter but for some reason, I can’t. Could you just ask her to call me? I’m sure this can all be straightened out.”
Eileen was no fool. “If Suzanne wants to speak to you, she has your number. Look, she hasn’t called you for ages and she’s been engaged for six months and she hasn’t thought to call you so what I’m doing, without telling her, is trying to make it so the two of you can get together and have some sort of life together cause right now you and she have zero life together. You can just blow me off and hang up and that’s fine. I will have done my whole I’m-a-mother thing and I won’t lose a minute of sleep if I never speak to you again. Okay.
“So, again, I’m throwing this out to you. Take it or leave it. I only care because I care for Suzanne and think down the road she will care about it even if she has already written you and her father off. So get off your high horse and talk to me.”
Kate had let Eileen have her run and she’d never been spoken to like this. She wanted to tell this bitch to go fuck herself and hang up. There was silence, and Eileen was not doing anything about it. Kate needed time, so she asked Eileen for a time to call tomorrow, Monday, and it was agreed on.
Eileen added one thing. “Please. Let’s keep Eric out of this okay? He spoke to Mary and—”
“He what?”
“Apparently he called Mary after you stormed out and Mary told him to lay low until the dust settles. Okay. So just…can we just keep him out of it?”
And Kate said yes and the two women hung up. Neither of them slept well and Eileen did not tell Tommy and Kate did not tell William what was bothering them.
Monday, 1 p. m.
At one on Monday, ten in Mill Valley, Kate called Eileen. Eileen was in her office with the door shut. Kate was in her living room. Eileen regretted starting this thing and thought it best to just end it. She simply asked Kate, “What do you want to do?”
Kate, in hostage-negotiator mode, wanted to keep going. She started talking about how wonderful Suzanne was and how important Suzanne was to her and how much she missed Suzanne and—
Eileen cut her off.
“Kate, it’s a simple question. What do you want to do? What? If you want to get back with Suzanne, there is only one thing you can do. Get on a plane and come to New York. You have got to meet with Eileen and with Mary—”
At Kate’s attempt to interrupt, Eileen rolled on, “I know you hate her, but you will never get to Suzanne without Mary’s help, and I promise you that Mary wants to help even if you don’t believe it.”
“I will never believe that. She’s—”
“Again. Trust me. She wants less to do with you than you do with her and maybe you can work that out with her but for now she’s on board with me contacting you and we both think that Suzanne will need her blessing—”
“It’s nothing to do with her.”
“Maybe to you. But Suzanne sees your treatment of Mary as how you will treat her and if you can’t forgive Mary she won’t forgive you. That’s the reality. So you have to live with that. Or die with it. Your choice.”