The Summer That Made Us

  She stared at it for only a few seconds, then she got in Lou’s car.

  “It’s not sinking,” Lou said.

  “That’s all right. If someone sees it they’ll think he had an accident. If they find him they’ll think he drowned in whiskey. Let’s just leave, please.”

  “But what if it doesn’t sink?” Lou asked.

  “There’s nothing we can do! Want me to swim out there and jump on it?”

  Lou didn’t answer. She sat there, staring.

  “Lou, I swear he was smiling,” Jo said.

  Lou gasped. “Look! What’s that? Is that his body?”

  “Is there a current?” Jo asked. “There’s no current to pull him away!”

  “I bet he was smiling, the bastard.”

  “Just hurry and go!” Jo said. “I’d rather not know!”

  Lou drove slowly down the road away from Winslett Lake.

  Jo showered and they both got into the big bed they shared when their husbands weren’t around. They barely talked, though neither of them slept. They were terrified and shocked by what had happened and there were just little whispers between them. We’re going to hell. No, we’re going to jail on our way to hell. There’s no coming back from this. He was a bad person. But should he have died? I didn’t mean to kill him, just stop him! We meant to sink him, though. It was self-defense. We’re going to hell. I’m so afraid.

  They were awake at dawn because they’d never been to sleep. Corky, as usual, was very slow to rise. Of course she had a miserable headache. She didn’t say anything to the women and finally Jo urged the children to the lake so Lou could handle Corky.

  “Where’s Ivan?” she finally asked.

  “Guess,” Lou said. “We found you out. Did Roy tell you our father is a superior court judge? He has tons of influence and resources. I bet there is no investment property, is there? No company, either? I told Ivan he could have a head start—I’m going to call my father.”

  “He wouldn’t leave me!”

  “Wouldn’t he?” Louise asked. “It must be difficult to seduce rich women with your girlfriend tagging along. He said to put you on a bus—you’d know where to find him.” Corky looked panicked. “Oh, dear, you’re not sure where he is, are you? Maybe you should call that mobile phone...”

  Without another word, the young woman turned and left the kitchen. She was back in less than five minutes with two suitcases. They were mighty big suitcases for such a little girl but Lou didn’t offer to help.

  The drive to the bus station was silent and far too long. When Lou got back to the lake house after the best piece of acting she’d ever done, Jo was waiting for her. “What did she say?”

  “Not a word. Not even thanks for the ride.”

  “God, what if she talks to someone?”

  Lou shook her head. “You think she’s going to report him missing?”

  “What about Roy?” Jo asked.

  Lou’s lips twisted. “I knew he took advantage of us. I knew he tried to lie his way out of messes. But throwing me to that wolf? His own brother’s wife? His own wife’s sister? How low can a man go? The real question is—did you know?”

  “You can’t be serious!”

  “But I am! Did you know Roy was sending a con man in to strip me of whatever I had? No matter how much Roy does, no matter how bad he is, you not only forgive him, you defend him.”

  “Lou, I wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “Well, you certainly could,” Lou said. “You’ve got something on me now, something big. You could get back all that stuff from our inheritance you signed away. While I rot in jail.”

  Jo looked at her sister with horrible disappointment and anger. “I’d rather starve,” Jo finally said.

  Six days later Bunny drowned. Lou was so cold, so angry. She believed she was being punished. “We’ll leave and never come back,” she pronounced.

  * * *

  The sisters talked till four in the morning, sitting in Lou’s big king-size bed not even acknowledging that this was how they’d been that night. It was that night that everything changed. At some point they both dozed off, then woke before eight because it was in both their natures.

  “I hope you got what you wanted,” Louise said. “I have a miserable headache and that summer is all in my head again like it was yesterday.”

  “Well, I never got over it, did you?”

  “No, of course not. But I managed to not think about it most of the time. After the first couple of years.”

  “I want you to know I’m going to talk to Krista about it.”

  “Oh, damn, I knew it—you have to make a confession!”

  “Sort of. Krista went to prison for killing a man. She had to do it. He was coming at her. But they didn’t really believe her. She paid the debt for herself and for everyone else. I will ask myself until I die if we just lost our minds that night.”

  “Do whatever you want, Josephine,” Louise said. “I’m too tired to argue.”

  “Krista will keep it in confidence,” Jo said. She started making up the bed out of habit. “God knows I can’t tell Hope. And Beverly just doesn’t deserve that burden—she’s been so happy the last dozen years or so. You should consider telling Charley—see if you can have a conversation with her about why things were the way they were at the time she needed you. Really, think about it. I just wanted you to know what I’m going to do. I don’t want you to be confused—it’s not to punish you. I think you did what you had to do. I think your decision in the one second you had to think about it was the right one. I know you did it to protect me, and believe me, I was in danger.”

  “There’s something you never made clear,” Lou said. “Roy. You wouldn’t divorce him. You said he ran off. Did you never hear from him again?”

  “Oh, I heard from him. Not very long after. I imagine Corky found him. I was so furious I could barely speak and it’s a wonder he understood my blabbering. I raged at him for putting Ivan on us, to use me and con you. And in our family home. I told him I would never forgive him. He said he was sorry. And asked me to tell the girls he said goodbye.”

  “Why in God’s name didn’t you divorce him?”

  “I did,” she said, straightening up. “I wasn’t going to let Daddy hunt him down and find out what kind of business he was caught up in. Besides, I wanted to do it myself. It took a while, but I finally pulled the money together.”

  “Do you know where he is?”

  She shook her head. “I had to place ads to try to locate him before my divorce could be made final but there was never a response. He would be sixty-seven now if he’s alive. With his high-risk behavior, what are the odds?” Jo looked around, plucking the nightgown that she’d borrowed. “Thanks for the loan of a gown. Louise...look at all this stuff. Have you turned into some kind of hoarder?”

  “You think I enjoy this? I’ve been saving it.”

  “What the hell for?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “For us. For our retirement. For something urgent or otherwise unaffordable.”

  “Us?” Jo asked. “What us? We’ve been in a feud for almost thirty years!”

  “Yes,” Louise said. “But if something happened to you, who was going to take care of you? One kid chose herself a new family. One moved to Philly to be a princess who never even called home. One was in prison. There was only me.”

  Jo put a hand on her hip. “Louise, if you were planning to take care of me in my declining years, why the fuck wouldn’t you talk to me at church?”

  “I find that language very offensive,” Lou said. “And I don’t know why. I did my best. Everyone seemed mad at me when I had done my best.”

  Jo looked at her and just shook her head wearily. “You giant pain in the ass.”

  * * *

  Four days
after the sinking of the Lincoln, Lou spotted a small piece in the weekly Winslett News. A man had been found wandering the back roads of Winslett disoriented, injured and soaking wet, though he was a few miles from the lake. He was admitted to the hospital with a head injury and amnesia. He couldn’t tell anyone his name. Then he wandered away from the hospital without being released. Anyone knowing the identity of the man was asked to call the local police. They printed a picture.

  It was Ivan.

  Chapter Fourteen

  After several cups of coffee and a long, sobering shower, Jo headed for the hospital. She visited with the girls briefly; they were going to be discharged later in the day and hoped to go home. Frank was unsure if he should go so soon. Leaving the girls to shower and dress, she went with Frank to the hospital cafeteria.

  “I’m sorry about the misunderstanding, Jo,” he said. “You should have had more time with the girls.”

  “It wasn’t a misunderstanding, Frank,” she said. “Hope left me behind when she was a teenager. She knew what she was doing. She didn’t want me to be their grandmother.”

  “It was wrong,” he said.

  “I’m not sure she could help herself,” Jo said.

  “I have an appointment with the psychiatrist at one o’clock,” he said.

  “She’s not your responsibility anymore, Frank.”

  “She’s still the mother of my girls. I think at this point they’d like to walk away and forget about her but that wouldn’t be good for anyone. Not Hope, not them. Why don’t you sit in with me?”

  “I’ll do that, though I don’t know how I’ll help. I’ll try, Frank. I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Hope has assets,” he said. “And she has medical benefits—I saw to that. Not because I want to take care of her but because having anything happen to her without resources would just be a burden on the girls. They’re so young. They’re not spoiled.” He laughed abruptly. “I thought Hope must be very spoiled, the way she talked. I was determined to prevent Trude and Bobbi from being like that if I could.”

  “She wasn’t spoiled,” Jo said. “She was deprived. At least, I felt she was. Her childhood didn’t resemble mine—my parents were well-to-do. But the man I married couldn’t hold a job to save his life. We struggled constantly. Hope always longed for things other girls her age had, things her richer cousins had. Things she thought I had had. But I fell for an irresponsible man. In the end he was my doom. The doom of everyone.”

  “I’m sure you did the best you could,” Frank said.

  “I thought so at the time,” she said. “Looking back, I could have done so much better. All I did was blame people. I’ll do what I can to help Hope through whatever it is she’s going through but the important thing to me now is the chance to get to know my granddaughters. My youngest daughter, Beverly, has two children—a boy and a girl. We’re not exactly close but we have a nice relationship. Trude and Bobbi have cousins. I’d just like to get to know them, Frank.”

  “I’ll be happy to work on that with you but you’re going to have to remember, the girls live in Pennsylvania.”

  “I’ll find a way. And I promise not to crowd them,” she said.

  “I’m not sure if I know anything about you and your family,” he said. “I’m not sure what’s fabricated and what’s real. Can you imagine my shock to learn you had a daughter just released from prison?”

  Jo laughed slightly. “I’m starting to see the merits of an imaginary life. I’ll be happy to tell you anything, Frank. It’s not really as horrible as it seems on the surface, but it is complicated.”

  He looked at his watch. “We have a couple of hours before the doctor will see me.”

  She laughed again. “That should get us started.”

  * * *

  There was not only enough time for Jo to tell Frank whatever he wanted to know about their family but also time for her to learn about his transition from VP of finance to bike shop owner. There were times during their conversation when he had to pause to read and send a text. “Excuse me,” he said a few times. “One of the girls, wanting to know where I am and what I’m doing.”

  “Should you go to them?” Jo asked.

  “No, they’re fine. I’m right in the same building and they’re safe.”

  Jo also learned some very disturbing things about the state of Hope’s marriage. The most upsetting was to hear that for the past six years she would not admit to anyone that they had separated and divorced. “My son is now three years old. You’d think by now she’d recognize my marriage to Pam.”

  “Oh, she is in desperate need of help,” Jo said.

  “I think you’re going to find she doesn’t want help,” he said.

  “That’s the most serious symptom of all,” she said.

  When the time came for the appointment with the doctor, Jo and Frank went to an office on the fourth floor. Frank introduced Jo to the doctor, but they didn’t even sit down.

  “I’m afraid I’m not able to give you any information on Mrs. Griffin’s condition. We’re very sensitive to issues of confidentiality and Mrs. Griffin hasn’t given permission for either one of you to be informed of her condition or to make medical decisions on her behalf. In fact, the only visitors she has approved so far are her daughters.”

  “Wait a minute,” Jo said. She put a hand on Frank’s forearm. “Doctor, will you give us a second?”

  “Sure. I’ll be right here.”

  Jo stepped into the hallway with Frank and spoke softly. He nodded. Jo gave his hand a fond pat. Then she went back into the doctor’s office alone.

  “Can you please give my daughter a message?” Jo asked.

  “I’d be happy to.”

  “Please tell Hope that I’m available to help her but there will be conditions. Therapy, for one thing. Maybe therapy and medication if that’s what you recommend. But her ex-husband and her daughters are no longer taking her calls. You can tell her the car they were in was a total loss but fortunately her daughters survived without serious injury. So, I guess Hope is on her own unless she wants help from her mother. But I’m not willing to do that unless I have permission to speak with her medical providers. If I’m going to help her and perhaps take care of her, I’ll need to know her medical condition. How long do you imagine you’ll keep her?” Jo finally asked.

  “I don’t know,” the doctor said.

  “Let me write down my number in case she doesn’t have it.” She pulled one of the doctor’s business cards from its holder on the desk and scribbled her name and number on the back. “I really must get one of those cell phones.” She took a second card for her purse. Then she put out her hand. “Thank you, Doctor.”

  “I hope all goes well, Mrs. Hempstead.”

  Frank was waiting for her in the hallway. “I don’t know about this,” he said. “I don’t want her homeless, crazy and wandering the streets.”

  “I don’t, either. I’ll check on her—I have my own sources. Say, Frank, there’s something you can do for me. I must have one of those cell phones. I’ve made it this long without one but now I find I have to cave in. Something affordable. Can you tell me what to buy? I really don’t have time to do a lot of research.”

  “I can do better than that. When Trude and Bobbi are ready to go, we’ll take you to buy one. There are no finer experts than two teenage girls. And it will help you stay in touch with them. They mainly communicate via text.”

  “Oh, I’m dangerously behind,” she said.

  “You’ll be amazed at how fast you catch on,” he said, dropping an arm around her shoulders.

  * * *

  A few days later Josephine found her life had changed in a hundred ways. Probably the most shocking was the iPhone. She called Charley, who passed her phone to Krista so they could talk. She called Louise, who answered in s
hock, amazed that Jo had come so far. She called Hope’s doctor, who said that Hope, unsurprisingly, would like to see her. She called Frank.

  She didn’t have to call her granddaughters. They were with her when she picked out the phone, which Frank insisted on buying for her. Then they all went out to an early dinner and giggled helplessly as Jo learned to text, get email and use Google and other fundamentals of cell phone life.

  She had an appointment with Dr. Sam Benoit, the psychiatrist. They shook hands and then Jo took her seat in front of his desk. She clutched her purse on her lap in front of her and he smiled reassuringly. “So, all these years without a cell phone and now you’ve become just another slave like the rest of us.”

  She smiled back. “That part didn’t take any time at all. My granddaughters taught me to text. After not really knowing them we’re making up for lost time.”

  “Do you mind if I ask, how did that happen? No contact with your granddaughters?”

  “I was always in contact with Hope, but we weren’t at all close. She left my house and moved in with her grandparents when she was fifteen because they were well-to-do and could give her the lifestyle she wanted. Frankly, I grew tired of her judgment and disapproval and didn’t try very hard to gain her acceptance. When her children came along she told me, not very politely, that she would send pictures and give them my letters but her husband was a very important man and she didn’t want her daughters embarrassed by some of our family issues—predominantly her sister serving a prison sentence for murder. It was self-defense. It was tragic. But twenty-three years have passed and Krista’s home now. Home and I must say emotionally much more stable than poor Hope. But back to your question—it wasn’t true that Frank forbade us to have a relationship.” She laughed uncomfortably. “Frank said he asked about me from time to time. He never even knew about Krista’s prison sentence. I guess that was what Hope intended.”

  “People cover up things they find embarrassing,” he said. “I suppose we all do.”