Chapter 5 #3
“Army surplus?” her mother asked as she sat down on a chaise longue next to her. She was fascinated by her youngest daughter’s wardrobe, and the offbeat places where she found it.
“Goodwill,” Sofia said with a smile. She was reading a book by an Indian philosopher Eugenia had never heard of, who promised peace in your soul, which seemed like a good thing to aspire to, especially these days.
But Sofia had a very Zen attitude about life anyway.
She saw a lot of hardship and tragedy in her work, people who didn’t get treatment for conditions that could have been cured and died from them unnecessarily, women who had no prenatal care at all, who had a dozen children and were on welfare, a high infant and maternal mortality rate that could have been avoided with minimal prenatal care, and babies born in squalid conditions instead of modern hospitals that were too far away to help.
It gave her a different perspective on life than that of her sisters, and although she was younger than all of them, and looked it, she was wiser in many ways.
She got along best with Daphne, who was calm and sensible too.
Gloria and Eloise were too volatile and had always picked on her.
As a child, Sofia had learned to stay away from them as much as possible.
As the oldest and the youngest, male and female, she and Stef had never had much in common, and weren’t close.
It was interesting to see where their strongest attachments were, and Gloria had always been the neediest and most self-centered and difficult.
She was desperate to be the center of attention, and often achieved it by being the most strident and critical, demanding what she wanted in an aggressive way, which was alienating.
Her lavish, very expensive wedding, even at a hard time in the world and for her mother, was a prime example of that.
It wasn’t an endearing feature in her character.
Eugenia was more patient with her than her siblings, who were tired of Gloria’s constant ploys for center stage.
She came across as entitled and spoiled, and Geoff appeared to be equally so, with very little to back it up, and no charm to make his demands appealing.
They were a tough pair. Eugenia was finding his bad behavior hard to tolerate.
Brad, on the other hand, was another winner, like Phillip.
They were both lovely men, and good to her daughters.
Brad had already won her heart four days into the vacation.
He was a keeper, and she hoped he’d stay, although she didn’t think Sofia was ready to settle down yet.
She loved her work in the challenging conditions of Appalachia, and Brad had mentioned in passing that ultimately his goal was to return to Chicago, to be with his family and work with the urban poor there.
Eugenia had no idea how Sofia would feel about that.
In their own way, several of her children made their careers a very high priority, as she had, and Sofia was one of them.
In her case, selflessly for the good of humanity, not for profit. She was the noblest of all.
—
They all helped themselves to lunch at the ample buffet the chef set up, and Daphne came over with Tucker when he woke up from his nap.
She looked even bigger than two days before, which Eugenia thought wasn’t possible.
Sofia asked her some questions about the pregnancy, and Daphne let her feel her belly.
“They’re in good positions, they’re getting ready,” Sofia said with a professional air. “Does your doctor think they’ll come early?”
“She doesn’t know. We’re five weeks out, and with twins she said anything is possible from now on.
When all of you leave at the end of the week, we’re moving back to the city.
We’ll be back out here for the wedding, but other than that, my doctor wants me in the city now, close to home.
” Daphne was getting increasingly nervous about the delivery, worried that it would be twice as long and twice as hard as Tucker’s had been, and that she’d have to have a Caesarean if either baby was in distress, or it took too long, or their positions changed.
“That’s smart,” Sofia said. “They’re pretty low, but that’s normal, they don’t have much room, and they’re not small.
They both feel very close to normal size, which is why you’re so big.
That’s a lot of baby you’re carrying.” She smiled at her older sister, and was very professional, as Eugenia listened.
“I hope you have them before or after the wedding. I don’t want to be delivering babies while adjusting Gloria’s veil,” Eugenia said, and they all laughed.
“No, but Sofia could,” Daphne said confidently with a smile at her little sister.
“I delivered triplets once in a log cabin with no heat, electricity, or running water. The mother and all three babies survived, but I nearly didn’t. That was my trial by fire. Everything is easy compared to that.”
“It sounds terrifying,” Daphne confirmed.
She had brought the nanny with her to run after Tucker.
“I can’t keep up with him anymore. He runs too fast and I’m too slow.
Angelica is on vacation right now, so she won’t take time off when the babies come.
This is a friend of hers. She’s sweet, but not as careful.
I can’t wait for Angie to come back when we get to the city.
” The replacement nanny looked very young, and was very pretty.
She talked a lot, and she let Tucker do more and get more adventurous than his mother or regular nanny would have.
The relief nanny kept telling him he was a big boy now and was going to be a big brother.
But he was only three years old. She was running around the lawn with him playing tag, while the whole family talked and sat around the pool.
Brad and Stef came back, and Brad declared victory, while Stefano vowed vengeance.
They were all laughing, and Eugenia noticed that Geoff had slipped away from the group and was chatting with the nanny, who was wearing a red bikini.
No one had paid attention to Geoff walking away from the group and talking to the relief nanny, while Tucker continued to run around with no one watching him.
Eugenia was about to say something to Daphne but didn’t want to worry her, so she kept an eye on him.
The nanny had her back to the pool and was laughing at something Geoff said to her, standing close to him and facing him, as Tucker stumbled and fell backward into the deep end.
He disappeared without a sound, startled, and sank like a rock to the bottom of the pool, as Eugenia leapt to her feet and gave a scream.
Neither Geoff nor the girl in the red bikini had seen what had happened and didn’t realize it.
Eugenia started running toward the pool, and Brad reacted immediately, got there first on longer legs, and dove in as the nanny and Geoff stared at him, frozen in place as the whole group fell silent.
Daphne started to cry as she ran toward the pool as best she could.
Brad came to the surface within seconds with Tucker in one hand, the child already unconscious, and he laid him down next to the pool and pressed the water out of him.
Within seconds Tucker was awake, coughing and spluttering, and Daphne pulled him into her arms and held him.
Brad was the hero of the hour, and Sofia came to them immediately, took her nephew in her arms, told her sister to sit down, and looked at Brad gratefully.
“Good work, Dr. Jackson.” They were all shaken by the realization of how easily Tucker could have drowned, with no one watching him, even though they were all at the pool.
Daphne was shaking as she spoke to the nanny in the red bathing suit, who was crying, aware of what she’d done.
She’d been so engaged in flirting with Geoff that she had totally lost track of her charge.
Daphne’s voice was shaking and harsh. “Call an Uber, go back to my house and get your things, and leave before I get home. You’re fired.
You could have killed my son.” It didn’t bear thinking about, the image was so awful, and a distinct possibility.
“I’m sorry, I thought…I was watching him…
I didn’t think…” Geoff had mingled into the crowd by then and she was standing alone, fired, disgraced, and could easily have been responsible for the death of a child.
Geoff paid no attention as she picked up her sandals, blouse, and purse and left the pool area to wait for the Uber.
Eugenia wasn’t sure if the others had seen him talking to the nanny, and she didn’t say anything.
But she looked very serious for the rest of the afternoon.
That event, coupled with the mysterious woman’s visit the day before, probably Natasha Wylie, demanded a conversation with Gloria that she was dreading.
She had to take a good look at who she was marrying before too late.
He was clearly a womanizer, and possibly cheating on her weeks before their wedding.
Sofia made Daphne lie down for a while after the emotions of what had happened.
Gloria and Eloise took care of Tucker, and Stef, Brad, and Liz sat quietly talking.
Eugenia kept Daphne company and tried to calm her, urging her to focus on the fact that the worst hadn’t happened, Tucker was fine, and things like that happen with children, and all’s well that ends well.
She tried to put a positive spin on it and didn’t show that she was furious with Geoff even more than with the irresponsible relief nanny.
He had distracted her from her duties just to flirt with her.
She didn’t know if anyone had noticed, but she had and that was enough.
Geoff had disappeared into his guesthouse very quickly, and no one missed him.