Chapter 16
It was the morning after Shannon’s spontaneous return to Nantucket Island.
Arietta hadn’t slept a wink the night before.
She’d spent hours in the darkness, tossing and turning and thinking about the blackmail letter.
Luckily, Shannon hadn’t demanded an explanation as to why Arietta didn’t want to call the police.
Shannon had put two and two together herself.
But allowing Shannon to know this much—that Arietta was nervous about the life her husband had left behind in the wake of his stroke—felt like a poison, getting to her from the inside.
She’d wanted Shannon to remember her father lovingly.
She’d wanted her to be able to honor her memories of him, long after he was fully conscious.
At six thirty that morning, Shannon was already at the breakfast table with a cup of coffee and a strained look on her face. Arietta poured herself a mug and sat, watching the pink sunrise over the water. She wished they could engage in this beauty without fear.
“I’m glad you’re here, honey,” Arietta said. She wanted to ask Shannon what had made her come to the island last night. She wanted to ask Shannon if she’d had an intuition about Arietta’s safety. But she kept quiet. She didn’t feel ready to dig into all that yet.
“Me too,” Shannon said. “I think I might stay for a little while, if that’s all right with you?”
Arietta felt the tension in her chest slowly easing. If Shannon was here, perhaps she could sleep better. Maybe, just maybe, Fred would slowly begin to recognize them both.
This last thought was so based in fantasy that it nearly destroyed Arietta. She knew Fred wouldn’t come out of this state. This “vegetative state.”
She couldn’t indulge in fantasies.
“Do you want to go for a hike today?” Shannon asked.
Arietta wondered if Shannon wanted to corner her somewhere on an empty beach and demand answers about the blackmail letter.
But who was Arietta to refuse her daughter’s request to hike with her?
They’d always had a unique and beautiful relationship.
Arietta considered Fred down the hall, then remembered the nurse she could call for help.
“All right,” she said.
Arietta and Shannon dressed in shorts and tank tops, then greeted the nurse as she entered the foyer as though she’d entered it a thousand times before. “I know what to do,” the nurse said. “You ladies go out and have fun.”
Arietta and Shannon drove down to Madequecham Beach, where the hike began.
Arietta adjusted her backpack and watched as Shannon gulped her water.
The sun was hotter than usual for June, and Arietta considered asking her daughter to put on sunscreen.
Old habits died hard. Before she said a thing, Shannon began to smear it on, then handed the tube over to Arietta, who did the same.
For the first half hour, they spoke of nothing more than the world around them.
They pointed out birds, the sounds of the waves, and the feel of the sand beneath their tennis shoes.
Arietta talked more about the people she’d met on Nantucket Island so far—the Salt Sisters—and also about Jasper’s request that she write about their Alzheimer’s convention back in Athens.
“Oh, Mom,” Shannon said softly, turning around to look Arietta in the eye. “Doesn’t it sound wonderful to get back to work?”
Arietta had to admit that it would be fantastic to get back into that flow again.
She remembered the feeling of her fingers flying over the keys, and her mind making logical leaps that eventually made their way into the articles.
She remembered staying up till four in the morning, reading academic articles and research papers about topics that thrilled her.
Rather than agree, Arietta asked Shannon about her most recent research at Yale. Shannon spoke about her experiment, which had given her some trouble at first.
“But I got through it,” Shannon said, smiling.
It wasn’t like Shannon to have problems with research or her labs. But Arietta knew that they were all getting through the issue of Fred’s stroke in different ways.
When they returned to the house that afternoon, Arietta had a missed call on her cell from Jasper, saying that he’d come to the island earlier than expected and that he’d love to go out. “Let’s go to this new seafood restaurant near Steps Beach,” he said in his message. “I hear it’s divine.”
Arietta felt a smile flutter over her lips.
A moment later, guilt crashed into her. Up until very recently, she and Fred might have tried that restaurant out together.
They might have made a list of all the things they wanted to do in Nantucket this summer: the hikes they wanted to get to, the places they wanted to sail to, and the food they wanted to indulge in.
Fred and Arietta had loved broadening their interests together.
Even during the “off” years of their marriage, the years when they hadn’t gotten along as well as others, they’d loved pushing the boundaries on their couple activities.
But now, Arietta turned to Shannon in the living room and asked if she could stay home with her father tonight. “Jasper’s already in town,” she explained. “I want to talk to him about the article.”
Shannon smiled. “I’d be happy to.”
Arietta made Shannon a list of everything she needed to tend to while Arietta was gone.
The harder stuff—washing Fred and getting him changed for the night—Arietta could get to when she got home.
“It’s pretty easy,” she said, explaining her protocol around medicine and food and liquids.
Together, she and Shannon stood beside Fred’s bed, talking about his body as though it were something they could control.
As far as either of them knew, Fred couldn’t hear them.
Neither of them mentioned that, of course.
Jasper picked Arietta up a little after seven.
Standing at the front door in his Egyptian cotton button-down and fabulous linen pants, with his thick head of dark hair and his thick eyebrows, he looked very handsome, like a character in a film.
He said hello to Shannon, who adored him and had read almost all of his articles over the years.
“You’re all grown up, aren’t you?” Jasper said. “Your mother tells me that you’re going to end our careers as we know them. When there’s no Alzheimer’s to write about, what on earth will we do?” He grinned.
Shannon laughed. “I’m sure you’ll find something else to write about.”
“Goodness gracious, girl. Your mother is proud of you,” Jasper said.
Arietta hugged Shannon long and hard and reminded her to call if she had any questions about caring for her father. Shannon whispered, “Have a good time.”
Arietta found herself in the passenger seat of Jasper’s convertible.
With the top down, her hair whipped out behind her, and she felt somewhere between eighteen and twenty-three, with nothing to lose.
Jasper was talking fast about his trip to Nantucket, about how pleased he was that he was finally divorced, and about how dreadful it was to spend any time in the city during the summertime.
“You did the right thing, coming out here,” he said. “Tell me. How do you spend your days?”
Arietta caught herself before she said anything about the blackmail.
“Shannon’s keeping me company,” she said. “We went for a hike today.”
“That’s why you look so healthy and tan,” Jasper said.
They pulled into the parking lot near the fish restaurant, where a server showed them to a table closest to the sand.
Jasper ordered a bottle of wine immediately—a gorgeous French white with hints of orange that captivated Arietta, if only because it was something she or Fred would never have gotten for themselves.
The server poured and left Jasper and Arietta, gazing into one another’s eyes.
Or were they actually gazing? Arietta couldn’t say.
All she knew was that she felt bubbly and happy.
She was eager to laugh at every one of his jokes.
“To my freedom,” Jasper said finally, raising his glass. “Getting divorced is the best thing I ever did for myself.”
“Many of my friends say the same thing,” Arietta said.
“What are their reasons?” Jasper asked.
Arietta considered her friends back in Boston, who’d spouted the beauties of divorce for years at this point.
“They said they could finally figure out who they were. They lived for their husbands for decades. When they went to the store, they considered what their husband wanted to eat. They considered what their husband wanted to wear and bought those clothes, and they thought about their husband’s needs above their own year after year.
And then, maybe, throughout that time, their husband was cheating on them.
Their husbands were decidedly not thinking about them first and foremost. And they were forced to sit in the silence of themselves and figure out what they really wanted—not just for dinner, but in life. ”
Jasper’s eyes shone with wonder. He looked at Arietta as though she were a poet.
“I wonder,” he said then. “I wonder if my wife always thought of my needs above her own?”
“Chances are she did,” Arietta said.
Jasper turned to look out over the water. Arietta was amazed at how thoughtful he was, how eager he was to view everything from different angles. She knew his curious mind made him a good journalist.
“And now?” Jasper asked. “Now that Fred’s ill? What is married life like for you?”
Arietta considered this. Maybe, if the question hadn’t come from Jasper, she might have been angry and told that person it was none of their business.
“I’m still thinking about him,” Arietta said. “Basically all the time.”
Jasper smiled, but it was a sorrowful smile.
“Remember when we were young? Everyone got married. It was the same story. The white dress, the cake, the band. But all marriages are so different, aren’t they?
The stories begin in the same place, but then they separate.
” He threw his hands out on either side of him.
Arietta echoed his sad smile. “I think you’re right.”
Eventually, they got to the topic of the article. Arietta explained that she’d read much of the research he’d sent and was ready to dig into it. Jasper smiled.
“I can’t wait to read your work again,” he said. “I’m sure your daughter is eager to read it, too.”
After they finished eating, Jasper footed the bill and walked her outside. On the way, Arietta spotted Hilary, Stella, Rose, and Tina sitting at a little wine bar up the sand. Hilary waved and smiled, then Stella beckoned. Although she tried to fight it, Arietta felt a pull toward them.
“Do you know those women?” Jasper asked.
“Sort of,” Arietta said.
“You should go say hi!” Jasper urged. “I’m beat for the night, anyway. We can reconnect tomorrow if you want to.”
“I’d like that.” Arietta touched her hair and allowed herself to gaze into his eyes for a split second longer than any married woman should. “Thank you for dinner. I’ll get it next time?”
“It’s a deal,” Jasper said.
Arietta said good night, then hurried up the sand to the Salt Sisters’ table. They’d already secured a glass for her. Hilary remembered Arietta liked red, and she raised the bottle and poured.
“Arietta! We’re so glad to run into you!” Rose cried, clasping her hands as Arietta grabbed the seat beside her.
Arietta was surprised at how pleased she was to see them, too. Hilary, stopping by with pie and conversation, had reignited her belief in the Salt Sister community.
“We should have told you we were here,” Tina said.
“It’s all right.” Arietta waved it off. “It’s been a busy few days.”
“Who was that guy?” Stella asked conspiratorially, her eyes dancing down the walkway, where they could see Jasper getting into his convertible.
“A colleague,” Arietta said. “He needs me to write an article for him.”
Tina gasped inwardly. “He’s in love with you,” she said.
Arietta cackled. “He is not. We’ve known each other for years.” She was about to say that Jasper was friends with Fred as well, but she stopped herself.
“Is he single?” Hilary asked.
“He just got divorced,” Arietta said.
“He has that energy,” Stella said. “He seems like he’s dating for the first time in a while. He’s still excited about it.”
“Really?” Arietta wanted to pretend that she hadn’t noticed how flirtatious he’d been, but of course, she knew the dynamic had been entirely different from before. She knew there was an energy between them that maybe they hadn’t allowed during the previous years.
Had Jasper known that would happen? Had he planned it? After considering the facts, Arietta decided that no, he hadn’t. Maybe he’d been just as surprised at the vibe as she was. Or perhaps he hadn’t felt anything between them at all.
But it didn’t matter, not then. Arietta let herself indulge in one last glass of wine with the Salt Sisters (nearly a full hour of laughing and stories and more joy than she thought she deserved) before she took a cab back home to Shannon and Fred.
Shannon was watching a movie on the big screen, all tucked in under a fuzzy blanket.
After saying hello, Arietta performed all the rituals to ease Fred’s discomfort, reminding herself of how grateful she was to be there for him during his time of need.
This was what marriage was all about. Then she finished watching the film with Shannon and went to bed.
It was only later, around four in the morning, that she woke up with a start and remembered the blackmail letter.
Her face and chest were covered in sweat.
After getting a glass of water, she told herself it was beautiful that she’d allowed herself to forget about the letter for the night.
But it was going to haunt her if she didn’t do something to stop these people from taking everything she and Fred had.