“Let me get this straight,” Evvie said. “I’m to make nice with Aunt Grace, get her to love me, so she’ll leave Megs all her money as a symbol of acceptance. Meanwhile, if she teases with hints about your dark and murky past, I’m to smile cheerfully and pretend I don’t know what she’s talking about. Is that it?”
“Exactly,” Nick said. “No wonder your grades are so good.”
“No one could manage all that,” Evvie insisted. “She’ll say one wrong thing, and I’ll explode and the next thing I know, I’ll be out on the street looking for symbols of acceptance from you. It isn’t worth it. No thank you.”
“Evvie, we all have to make sacrifices sometimes,” Nick declared. “Do things for the good of the family. And frankly, Evvie, what we’re asking of you isn’t that terrible. Be kind to an old woman. Spend time with her, keep her company. Prove to her that Daisy’s marriage wasn’t a mistake. A man who can have you for a daughter can’t be all bad.”
“Nicky, I don’t know,” Evvie said. “I can’t play a part all summer. It isn’t in me.”
“I’m not asking you to,” Nick replied. “Just go there and be yourself. You might even have a good time. Eastgate is a fine old summer resort town, Grace’s cottage is a damn sight nicer than this slum, and Clark will see to it that you meet all the right people. Grace has Mr. and Mrs. Baker as live-in help, plus a gardener and a maid who comes in daily. You’d hardly be Cinderella.”
“More like Mata Hari,” Evvie said.
“More like a loving grandniece who’s spending a summer helping her great aunt out,” Nick declared. “Reading to her. Working on needlepoint together.”
“Needlepoint?” Evvie said. “Nicky, I can’t even thread a needle.”
“Then ask Grace to teach you how,” Nick said. “She’s an old woman, she takes naps, you’ll have plenty of time at the beach to flirt with rich boys. Find yourself a husband. Your mother did at sixteen.”
Evvie gazed at her father. She wondered what was in those detective reports. But she knew better than to ask. “I don’t know,” she said. “It could be such a disaster.”
“I promise to love you no matter how big a disaster it is,” Nick said. “As long as you promise the same, that you’ll love me, too, no matter how it goes.”
“That’s easy,” Evvie said. “Nicky, give me a little time to think about it. I just can’t agree right away. Please let me see if I can agree to it at all.”
“Fair enough,” Nick replied. “It’s your birthday, after all. You have other things on your mind. Just think about how much we love you, Evvie, and I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.”
CHAPTER TWO
“Birthdays are the best,” Thea said as she watched Evvie put on her eye makeup that evening. “Presents and dinner out with Megs and Nicky. I wish it was my birthday.”
“You just had yours,” Evvie pointed out.
“But we were packing then,” Thea said. “Everyone is always in a bad mood when we’re packing.”
“Unpacking isn’t much fun either,” Evvie replied. “I hate knowing the minute we settle in, we’ll just start packing all over again. Although, frankly, I’m not going to mind leaving this place.”
“It is a dump,” Thea said. “Don’t tell Claire I said so though.”
Evvie laughed. “How do I look?” she asked.
“Great,” Thea said. “Do you know where they’re taking you?”
Evvie shook her head. “Probably someplace expensive,” she said.
Thea sighed. “It’s my curse to have been born three weeks before the trust fund check arrives,” she declared. “Some years it isn’t so bad, but this year all I got was pizza. Nicky in a pizza parlor is a terrible sight. I would have died if he’d insisted on the ritual birthday dance there, but Megs talked him into waiting until we got home. That was wonderful. He put on a record and we danced in the living room. We were surrounded by boxes and everything was a mess, but I didn’t care. We waltzed. I never really believe I’m a year older until I have my birthday dance.”
“This year I feel older even without it,” Evvie said and gave herself one last lookover in the mirror. She was wearing the blouse Thea had given her, soft blue, with a white skirt, and in spite of everything, she felt great.
“You’d better get going,” Thea said. “Your birthday dinner awaits.”
Evvie and Thea raced down the stairs. Meg and Nick had already gathered together in the living room.
“You look radiant,” Nick said as Evvie entered. He kissed her on the cheek and she smiled up at him.
“Thea, you have wonderful taste,” Meg said. “That shade of blue is perfect for Evvie.”
“I am the luckiest man in the world,” Nick declared, as he slipped his hand into Meg’s. “Come on, Daisy. Let’s celebrate the birth of our firstborn.”
They said good-bye to Thea and walked to the car. Nick unlocked their doors, then slid into the driver’s seat. “There’s only one restaurant in town with a dance floor,” he said. “They only have a pianist, and I make no guarantees about the quality of the food or the music.”
“We don’t have to go anyplace expensive,” Evvie said. “We can have my birthday dance after we get home.”
“Not very easily,” Nick said. “I pawned the stereo the day after Thea’s birthday. I suppose I could find a radio station we could dance to, but it’s not a moment I want shattered with commercial interruptions.”
“Besides, I’m in the mood for a formal dinner out,” Meg declared. “I think we all deserve one. The past few weeks haven’t been easy on any of us.”
“Dansville was a disaster,” Nick agreed. “Next time I check out my potential business partners a bit more carefully.”
“Darling, the man wore a holster,” Meg said, but then she laughed. “And did you ever talk to his wife? She told me all about her breast implants. We’re well rid of them, and I have very positive feelings about Harrison. This town needs a man like Nicholas, filled with bright ideas. All we need to do is meet a few of the right people, make a few good moves, and we’ll be on our feet again.”
Evvie smiled. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard her mother give a speech like that, and she doubted it would be the last. Roughly half the time her mother’s predictions came true. The other half of the time, Evvie chose not to think about. At least not on her birthday.
“I’ve already checked a few things out,” Nick declared. “That’s one reason why I thought we should splurge on dinner. This restaurant seems to be the place the leaders of Harrison go to. It won’t hurt to be seen there, especially with two beautiful women.”
Poor Thea, Evvie thought. By the time it was her birthday dinner, Nicky no longer cared where he was seen in Dansville.
“I like Harrison,” she said. “At least what I’ve seen of it.”
“The town is very nice,” Nick agreed. “The house we’re in is appalling though. It’s going to be tricky inviting people over, coming up with some explanation of why we’re living there, however temporarily.”
“It’ll be better once I’m through fixing the place up,” Meg said. “And the kitchen has a lot of possibilities. Maybe we can pretend to be country folk, and invite people over for a downhome kitchen supper.”
“If anyone can pull it off, you can,” Nick declared.
“I’ll concentrate on the kitchen then,” Meg said. “If we only owned the house, we could tell people we were renovating, and explain things that way. But everyone must know it’s a rental. It’s a shame you couldn’t find a better place.”
“Time was of the essence,” Nick replied. “Well, here’s the restaurant. Pierre’s. At least it pretends to be French.”
“I’m sure it’ll be delicious,” Meg said. “Come on, Evvie. Let’s celebrate.”
Evvie got out of the car and walked with her parents to the restaurant. They never failed to amaze her. Obviously, they’d decided to leave the subject of Grace alone, at least for the evening. She only wished she cou
ld stop thinking about it.
Nick confirmed their reservation, and they were shown to a table. Evvie noticed the white linen tablecloths and napkins, the roses and candles at each table. The silverware had good weight to it, and the piano was in tune. This was threatening to be one expensive meal.
She checked the menu carefully. Dinner for the three of them would cost roughly a week’s grocery budget. Meg would have to be unusually creative with pasta and peanut butter to compensate.
So she ordered one of the least expensive chicken dishes when the waiter came around, and tried not to think about the cost of the bottle of wine Nicky ordered for himself and Megs. Maybe she’d turn down dessert. If her parents followed her lead, that could save them ten dollars or so. And even though she would have loved pate, she claimed not to want any appetizers. One out of the three of them had to be practical.
“This is a lovely restaurant,” Meg declared. “Do you recognize any of the people here, Nicky?”
“That’s the mayor two tables over,” Nick replied. “I’m planning to meet him next week. And over there is John Kingsford. He’s head of the school board. That’s interesting. He’s having dinner with Mark Farrell. He owns the biggest construction company in the area.”
Evvie marvelled once again at her father’s ability to learn about the movers and shakers in any town they lived in. In a week, he’d be on a first name basis with all of them. In a month, they’d be trusting him with their money. In a year, they’d all be much richer for the association, or else it would be another middle of the night move for the Sebastian clan.
“A new year in Evvie’s life,” Meg said. “A new home for us all. New business for Nicky. A new beginning.”
“A wonderful beginning,” Nick replied. “This year is going to make up for all the bad ones, Daisy. I promise you that.”
“I promise, too,” Meg said, and she looked straight into her husband’s eyes. Evvie turned her face away from them. There were times when the connection her parents shared was so overwhelming they could block out the rest of the world, forget that others, even their daughters, shared their lives. There was nothing any of them could do then, except wait the moment out. It drove them all crazy, except maybe Thea, and Evvie suspected even she could have done with a little less romance when she needed help with her homework.
It took the arrival of the waiter with their salads to break the mood, and Evvie was pleased both by the food and the interruption.
They ate their salads and their main courses in relative quiet. Nick had no business deals to discuss with them, and Meg, Evvie knew, was thinking about Aunt Grace. So they simply enjoyed the food and the wine and the scent of money in the air. And when their dinner was over, and the pianist was playing, Nick asked Evvie to dance.
There was no one else dancing, but there was a small clearing that she supposed could be taken for a dance floor. She knew Nick would have his way about it. If he had insisted on dancing at the pizza parlor, Thea would have had only the options of dancing or dying.
Evvie smiled her acceptance, and her father led her away from the table. The pianist played a waltz, and she and Nick danced with stately formal grace. When the number ended, Nick kissed her gently on the cheek, and the other people at the restaurant broke into applause. Even the waiters were clapping, Evvie noticed, and she smiled self-consciously as she walked back to her mother.
“Happy birthday, darling,” Meg said. “Nicholas, that was wonderful.”
“You get more beautiful every year,” Nick said, and Evvie knew he meant her this time, and she smiled at him.
“We have a small present for you,” Meg said. “We wish it could be more, but maybe next year. Nicky, do you have the box?”
“Certainly,” Nick said, and he took out of his pocket a small giftwrapped box. “Happy birthday, Evvie,” he said. “May you have a hundred more of them, each more special than the last.”
“That would make me a hundred and sixteen,” Evvie said, taking the box from him. She didn’t want to open it, preferring the feel of the gift in her palm to finding out what it would be.
“Open it, darling,” her mother said, so Evvie did. She removed the wrapping paper carefully, to prolong the moment, and then, when she had no choice, she opened the box.
In it was a pearl on a gold chain. “It’s beautiful,” she said, dreading the thought of how much it must have cost.
“It’s natural of course,” Nick said. “Better to have one natural pearl than a hundred cultured ones.”
Evvie nodded.
“Let me put it on you,” Meg said, and Evvie turned around, so her mother could fasten the clasp. “Oh Evvie, it’s perfect. You were made for pearls.”
“I’ll treasure it,” Evvie said. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Nick said. “For being a perfect daughter.”
There was no point arguing the point with him, denying her perfection, or refusing the gift because it cost too much. The trust fund check had come in, and now it had gone out, and Evvie had a necklace she’d never dare get too fond of, because it was so eminently pawnable.
But even though she was aware of all that, and knew that her parents wanted something of her she had no desire to give them, Evvie couldn’t help but feel happy. It was her birthday and summer was summer, no matter where it was spent, and Nicky really had the most amazing ability to land on his feet. They’d been in worse situations before, and always come out of them all right. Nick was a magician when he had to be. He’d pull a fortune out of his hat.
Evvie enjoyed the rest of the evening, and showed off her necklace to Thea, Claire, and Sybil when they got home. She knew each one of them was calculating just what the necklace must have cost, and what their involuntary contributions to it were. But for that moment, Evvie didn’t care. It was her birthday, and she’d been given something perfect, even if it was as ephemeral as a dance.
Meg came into the room and sat on Sybil’s bed. “Were you telling your sisters about your dinner?” she asked Evvie, who was perched on Thea’s bed. Only Claire was alone.
“I told them how delicious it was,” Evvie said. “I had a wonderful time. Thank you.”
“Next year will be even better,” her mother promised. “For you too, Thea. Things are going to get much better this year, I just know it.”
“I know it, too,” Thea said. “Megs, tell us the story of how you met Nicky.”
Meg laughed. “You must have heard it a thousand times,” she said. “You really want to hear it again?”
“I do,” Evvie said. “Tell it to us again for my birthday.”
“All right then,” Meg said. “I was exactly Evvie’s age the day I met Nicholas. He came to my sixteenth birthday party.”
“What were you wearing?” Thea asked, although she knew the answer perfectly well.
“A pink chiffon dress,” Meg replied. “A perfectly dreadful dress with ruffles. How I hated it. Aunt Grace had shopped with me for it, and she had terrible taste. She thought all young girls should be decked out in ruffles, and since I was the only one she had access to, she bought me more than my share of them.”
“Pink chiffon with ruffles,” Evvie said, trying to picture her mother in it. “Did you keep the dress?”
“I burned it,” Meg declared. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you that. Nicholas and I burned it later that summer, after Aunt Grace said I could never see him again. We set fire to it by the gazebo. I was never so happy to see anything go up in flames.”
“I will never wear pink ruffles,” Claire said. “I’d rather wear rags. I’d rather wear Thea’s hand-me-downs.”
“I like ruffles,” Sybil said. “Not necessarily pink though.”
“Ignore them,” Thea said. “It was your sixteenth birthday, Megs, and Nicky showed up uninvited.”
“He was with Robert and Isabelle Sinclair,” Meg said. “Isabelle went to school with me, and Robert was her older brother. Nicky knew him from Princeton and was visiting them. I suppose he was
Isabelle’s date, technically speaking, but that didn’t really matter, since she was madly in love with someone else that summer. The year-round boy who bagged groceries. Of course she couldn’t let her parents know, although everybody else certainly did.”
“What happened to them?” Claire asked.
“Claire!” Thea said.
“Well, I want to know,” Claire said. “I know Nicky and Megs ended up together. What happened to the Sinclairs?”
“Isabelle ended up marrying into the Howe family,” Meg replied. “Certainly more acceptable than the grocery bag boy. Robert went into the Navy. I suppose he’s an admiral by now.”
“Get back to you and Nicky,” Thea said. “That’s the part Evvie wants to hear about. Right, Evvie?”
“I want to hear it all,” Evvie said.
“Nicky,” Meg said. “All right. I was standing outside, it was an outdoor party, a warm July evening, with the sea breezes making things just cool enough for dancing, and I had that awful pink ruffled dress on, feeling awkward and embarrassed, and I looked up, and there was Nicky, so tall and handsome. I thought to myself, this is the handsomest man I’ve ever seen. I thought of him immediately as a man, even though he was only nineteen. This is the handsomest man I’ve ever seen, and then I blushed at the thought. I must have turned as pink as the dress I had on.”
“Was it charged?” Claire asked.
“Why should the dress have been charged?” Sybil asked. “Aunt Grace had lots of money. She probably paid cash.”
“Not the dress, the moment,” Claire said. “Was the moment charged, Megs? Was it electric?”
“He turned around and faced me,” Meg said. “We made eye contact, and yes, Claire, it was charged. It was electric.”
“Did the two of you stand like that for long?” Evvie asked.
“It felt like an eternity,” Meg replied. “It was probably ten seconds, maybe less.”