“But what is equally important,” Elly said, “is our—Gabby’s—final chapter. I believe we found it in that photo of Gabby at the funeral…and the story we’ve heard from Todd. Clare and Brandt never stopped loving each other. And although it didn’t come quickly, Clare did eventually have that confirmed.
“We can wrap it up. The story is finished. And so is our duty.”
EPILOGUE
June 4—Two years later
Despite all the best intentions, there were no reunions of four crazy women at a beach house in Carmel. It was not as though they didn’t meet here and there. Sable flew to Kansas City for Beth’s wedding in September, one year after Gabby’s house was closed. Beth and her new husband flew to Sacramento for Matt Vaughan’s wedding December of that same year. The following January, the women gathered in New York to toast the publication of Perfect Light. Of course, they talked all the time—local or long-distance. While the three locals in the Sacramento area didn’t meet for lunch, they dropped in on each other now and then. Their lives had gone off in strange and remarkable directions; they found, once they were resettled, that they could manage by just keeping up with each other. The bond was complete, and they didn’t need to fall back on the strength of that daily.
The closing of the house on Olive Street had been an affair of grand proportions. They packed the finished manuscript off to Sable’s agent, Arnold Bynum. In addition to the finished, original novel, Beth had managed to retrieve the rights to seven previously published novels and all five non-fiction books to be held by the author’s estate. The women had begun to move their personal belongings out of the house as the closing date approached. Beth’s household goods were shipped to Kansas City to be kept in a storage facility until she was resettled. Sable’s stuff had been carted back to Hidden Valley by some of Jeff’s employees. Ben had helped Eleanor carry boxes and boxes of Gabby’s books and papers to add to the clutter of her packed little house. And Barbara Ann’s family couldn’t move her computer, books, clothes and odds and ends back to her sparkling home fast enough.
So, the five of them, mostly moved out except for overnight items, had thrown a bash for all the people who were a part of their permanent lives. The Vaughan men came, some bringing girlfriends. Sarah, Lindsey, and even Justin arrived. David and Ed were there. Ben, of course. Jeff. And even Dr. Don. They ate mounds of food, told stories of the summer, drank wine and beer, and laughed so hard and so deeply that they cried. Things happened that night that showed how much a little trauma, time and healing can change the face of the world. Justin left early, off to play with his pals. That was the last time he ever walked out on Sarah and the baby and was allowed to walk back into their lives. Dr. Don dropped his arm around Ed’s shoulders and had a long conversation with him about David’s undeniable courage in his life and his field of medicine. David was the one to take Ceola to the airport early Sunday morning. And Ben and Elly were caught smooching.
The next day was a little tougher. Ceola was gone, the women had packed up the last of their belongings and the house was straightened up. It was to go on the market; it would be shown with the furniture still in place. The bags were loaded into cars and the women stood at the curb to have a good, final view.
“This time we really do have to say goodbye,” Barbara Ann said.
“To the house, Barbara Ann. Not to each other.”
“Some of us do,” said Beth, who was being taken to the airport by Sable.
“It’s for the best,” Elly said. “We’ve dragged this out long enough. Anything yet to be worked out in our personal lives, we’re going to have to do alone. Or we’ll cripple each other with dependence. Now, let’s make it quick. I hate sentimental shit.”
They hugged, wiped away tears, waved from cars, and drove away. But it was Elly who sat in front of the house for a long time, looking at it. Longing for it. “Goddammit,” she said aloud. “I’m not sure I was done.”
Done or not, Eleanor faced her obligations bravely. She met Ben’s family; one at a time, slowly, and then en masse. This was the day they married. Saturday, June fourth. The wedding was held at Ben’s farmhouse, outdoors, where the flowers and vines and greenery had been decorated with trellises, ribbons and bows. All of Ben’s family, friends and neighbors were there, of course. And all of Ben’s grandchildren, especially the smaller ones, seemed to want to hang on Elly.
Sable was the maid of honor—the only attendant for Elly. She had tried, desperately, to dress Elly in some chic, designer wedding dress, but Elly wouldn’t have it. She purchased a fancy dress from a department store—what to her was a fancy dress—and was done with it. “What’s the difference?” she asked testily. “Ben’s probably going to wear a lavender leisure suit. Haven’t you figured out that it wasn’t fashion that brought us together?” Sable also tried to turn Elly’s wedding into something a little more traditional—keep the bride in hiding until the wedding march is played, throw rice, throw the bouquet, take a long honeymoon, et cetera. “Nonsense,” Eleanor said. “We’re going to visit and enjoy ourselves, welcome our guests and friends, take a few minutes to tie the knot, and then we’ll eat and party. That’s it. Don’t mess with it, Sable, or you’ll irritate me.”
“What about your honeymoon?”
“What honeymoon? There are people coming from out of town. I’m not going anywhere. Why should I miss all the fun for a silly honeymoon?”
What Elly wanted was to have the caterers serving drinks and hors d’oeurvres and have music playing while the guests arrived and had some time to socialize. Then she would have this little ceremony, which would be short and to the point. They would have a buffet dinner and enjoy the setting sun with friends and family. It would not be formal and it would not be rigidly scheduled as Sable would have planned.
It was just as well that Elly had put her foot down because it was Sable who lost all composure when Beth arrived. When she came around the flagstone walk into the backyard with her new husband, Sable dropped her wineglass and screamed. She jumped up and down, pointed and flung her arms around. Elly came running from the house and Barbara Ann flew from the other side of the lawn party to see what was happening. There stood Beth with the biggest pregnant stomach. Grinning.
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“How could you have kept it secret?”
“When did this happen?”
Beth laughed at them, clutching her husband’s hand and leaning against him. She rubbed her belly fondly, proudly. “At first I kept quiet because I wanted to get past the danger zone. I didn’t tell anyone but Alex for three months. And then I kept quiet because I knew I’d be seeing you here and I wanted to surprise you. And it happened about eight months ago.”
“In the usual fashion,” Alex added, kissing her cheek.
“This is unbelievable!” Barbara Ann proclaimed.
“No, this is natural. Unbelievable is if David and Ed make some announcement today.”
“Oh, where are they? I want Alex to meet them!”
“Right over there with Sarah. Lindsey’s trying to walk.” Though she was two and a half, she was naturally a little behind, but still the most precious, good-natured baby on earth. “And go meet Sarah’s new guy. She met him at school. He’s a law student.”
“New guy? Is it serious?”
“It’s always serious, Beth. You should know that.”
“Gamma. Gamma,” a little voice was saying. They all looked down to see a tiny girl with golden ringlets pulling on Elly’s dress.
“What is it, dolly?” Elly cooed, bending and scooping up the little girl.
“I want some juice, Gamma.”
“Well, of course you can have some juice. Let’s go get you some.” She turned away from her friends and carried the little cherub toward the bartender.
“Now that is unbelievable,” Sable said.
“Gee, I thought Eleanor only slapped small children.”
“Oh, she’s already a wonderful grandmother,” Ben said, el
bowing into their little circle. He was wearing an old, beige, double-knit suit and the most awful bow tie. “Look at you,” he said to Beth, kissing her cheek. “Is it only one, Beth?”
“It’s a girl. Mama started with a girl. I’m thinking of having eight. I’ll have to hurry.”
“I’m thinking of having two,” Alex said, squeezing her shoulders.
“Maybe we’ll compromise and have seven, but it’s really better if you stick to even numbers.”
“I’d better check on my girls,” Sable said suddenly. “I hope no one’s stealing the knickknacks or smoking pot behind the barn.”
“You brought the girls?” Barbara Ann asked.
“Just three of them. I have six living with me now. Two are delightful, two are sneaky and two are absolutely incorrigible. I adore them. They’re awesome. Better warn your boys. They all have records. Want to meet them?”
“Sure. How’d you get them to come?”
“A little pop psychology. The three who were in the most trouble last week had to come with me to the wedding. It was marvelous. They all tried really hard. I think Dorothy got the worst end of the deal. She’s armed and watching the three who were left at home.”
“What about Jeff? Is Jeff here?”
“Last I saw, he was talking to Mike.”
“When are you two going to make it legal?” Beth asked.
“Oh darling, wedded bliss isn’t for everyone. Jeff and I work so well together as we are, we kind of hate to mess with it. Besides, I’m too busy to break in a new husband. I’ve got to go see about those girls. Come on, Barbara.”
Elly and Ben were wed, no one objected at the crucial moment, and after the wedding toasts were made, Elly stood to make her own. “I have some friends here I’d like to thank,” she said. “Most of you are very familiar with the story about how a few of us got together and weeded through our friend Gabby’s office, putting together her final project for publication, Perfect Light, which is now enjoying its fourteenth week on the coveted New York Times bestseller list.” There were cheers and whistles. “That was quite an ordeal, that project. It was meant to be sorting and filing—a couple of weeks’ worth of work. It ended up being a full summer of four crazy women trying to get their lives and their work in some sort of order. I guess we were really five—we had Ceola with us, too. Alas, she isn’t with us anymore. She was buried in her purple peignoir with her pistol at her side. Damn, I find I miss her helplessly. Now, I never thought I’d say that.” Elly paused while people laughed, especially those who knew Ceola personally. “But the other crazy women are here. Sable, Beth—she’s the one who’s about to give birth any second—and Barbara Ann. You were all a lot of trouble,” she said, and she was booed from some quarters. “You were impossible at times. I felt like a damn housemother. But something happened to me in that house that summer, something I could not have planned nor willed, something for which I owe you three unstable broads a debt of gratitude till the day I die. You forced me to learn how little I enjoy being alone and allowed me to open myself up to my wonderful Ben and his marvelous family. I thank you, my friends. And I toast you. To your health!”
“And yours,” the gathering said, raising glasses high and wiping tears off their cheeks.
Late in the day, when the sun was setting and stomachs were full, there were four women gathered in a small clearing on the far side of the lawn. Alone. Beth sat on a tree stump, occasionally massaging her round belly. Eleanor sat on a lawn chair, Barbara Ann stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders now and then, and Sable sat cross-legged on the grass.
“Beth, is Alex as sweet and kind as he seems?” Barbara Ann wanted to know.
“Worse. I think he lets me walk all over him. I have to stop myself and remember, sometimes, that Alex has never made a move that indicates he doesn’t treasure me. I think the shadow of an abusive husband is something you struggle with for long after he’s gone.”
“He’s adorable,” Sable said.
“Isn’t he? I love that bald head. I never realized how sexy I found baldness until I met Alex.”
“Is he all your mother dreamed of? Is he at least Catholic?”
Beth giggled suddenly. She covered her mouth with a hand and her beautiful eyes were alive with mischief. “He used to be a priest.”
“What!?”
“No way.”
“How on earth…?”
“My brother John introduced us. Alex had just left the priesthood, and John had been struggling with that decision for such a long time…. I guess John had been talking to Alex about it a lot and they became good friends. John did quit, you know. Right after he married us. And you know what? Mama didn’t die. But I think she’s nearly worn out her beads. Since I’ve been home I’ve learned that my family is pretty normal, after all. They’re wonderful, all of them, but they have the same problems in life that everyone else has. They’re just people—not trophies. Sable, I’m glad you pushed me so hard. When I think that I could still be in Sacramento, ducking Jack’s punches…”
“You wouldn’t be,” Sable said. “And besides, it was all of us. Not just me.”
“It was mostly you,” Barbara Ann agreed. “And it was you who took the final punch.”
“I hope that’s my last,” Sable said. “But with these hoodlums I consort with now, one never knows….”
“How’s it going with all that?” Elly asked.
“Fabulous. We have a bona fide foundation now. We’re helping girls get from eighteen years old to adulthood, whatever age that is. When the foster care system dumps them on the street, penniless, at the age of eighteen, we pick them up. We make sure they have family and support that’s both financial and emotional. We’ve got some going to school, which is something that only happened in rare cases before. We look for these girls when they’re about sixteen so they can finish high school without the anxiety that they’re going to be dumped by the state the minute they hit that magic number.
“All those dinner parties and trips and stuff that I did—it all paid off. I’ve gotten money out of every celebrity I’ve ever met. We’re only handling about forty girls right now, but next year we’ll take on a hundred. We’ll grow. We’re going to do a lot of good work.”
“What about the ones living with you?”
“Special projects. Lost causes.”
“You don’t really expect to save them all by giving them quarters in that fancy white house of yours, do you?”
“Oh, you miss the point. I’m not going to save anyone. No matter how many advantages you throw at someone like that, they can’t see it. They’re still worthless sluts, remember? They have to come a long way to get over that mind-set. In other words, I’m not going to save anyone at all. They have to save themselves. It’s up to them. I’m just a conduit. And besides, it’s not very white anymore. Poor Dorothy.”
“Speaking of white houses…?” someone asked. All eyes turned to Barbara Ann.
“Okay, we have our dust bunnies,” she shrugged. “Sometimes the dishwashing crew is out sick…or maybe out playing. But I don’t have any lawn mower motors in my bedroom and things are so much better than they once were.”
“And books?”
“Well, I’ve had all the same problems I had before. You know, they string me out for too long, they make me change too much, they hem and haw and ask me to revise books so that the characters are more complex—whatever the hell that means. But I’m just enjoying myself. I finally figured out that I’m doing what I want to do and it’s not a flawless business. There are ups and downs in everything. After the experience I had a couple of years ago, thinking my career was over and then having it come back twice as big, I am just not willing to let them get that much of my soul anymore. That’s my fault—creating my own problems out of fear and envy and…
“What did you ask? I’m fine. I’m happy. I’m doing what I want to do and I’m going to be a grandmother.”
“Really?”
“Matt and Stacy? When?” r />
“October. And he gets his degree in architecture in June. We’re all pretty stable.”
“Elly? What are you going to do?”
“Retire.”
“What?”
“You can’t! All those years you said school was all you had!”
“Well, I have a lot more now. Thirteen grandchildren for one thing. And by the looks of things, we have to prepare ourselves for great-grandchildren.”
“Elly, how can you not work?”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t work. I’ll do a little writing. I’m going to set up an office in what was Ben’s wife’s sewing room. I might be going soft, but I’m not going domestic. I’m going to do the biography. I’ll take on a few reviews, an occasional article.”
“I thought you hated children! You never once said a pleasant thing about a child in all the years I’ve known you.”
“I didn’t want to get involved. I didn’t think I’d ever have any. I stayed away from all that mothering nonsense. It’s too cloying for me. But Ben’s children are different, somehow. They loved me before they knew me, as if they had decided that if I was what made Ben happy, then I would make them happy, too—even if I had a horn growing out of my head. He and his wife must have been remarkable parents. And I am left to enjoy the bounty.”
“Oh Eleanor, that’s beautiful,” Barbara Ann said, sniffing.
“Stop it now. You know how I hate all that sentimental shit.”
A bell started ringing off in the distance. Dong, dong, dong. “Elly!” Ben was calling. “Elly. Dr. Marshall is leaving now. Come say goodbye.”
“This can’t be ending already,” Sable complained.
“To the contrary, it’s just beginning. Remember Gabby’s letter? The things she bequeathed us? Have any of you thought about that?” Elly asked them. “I have. I ask myself all the time—is it even possible she knew us that well without us knowing it? She wanted me to have a garden of virgins to tend…. Look at them,” she said, throwing an arm wide to the many young children scampering around the lawn. “I always assumed children would hate me—I have so little patience and such a grumpy personality. It’s the oddest thing. They’re mad about me.”