Chapter 16
He left the house through a back door in the kitchen, and I was alone with Caroline Stratton for the first time in my life.
It should have felt weird—being in the house I’d stared at with my mother, sitting at the kitchen table sharing chitchat with the woman whose life my mother destroyed.
The woman who was dying.
“Is Joey coming back from Africa?” I asked.
Her finger on the photo moved back over to Joey’s handsome face. “No.”
“They must have ways to get ahold of him, even if cell coverage isn’t available wherever he is.”
“They have service. He calls every now and then. Mostly he just texts me pictures of the group he’s working with. He’s loving it.”
“They wouldn’t let him out of the program, out of whatever commitment he made, to come home to be with you?” That sounded barbaric. If Joseph Stratton didn’t have enough pull to make that happen, Grayson Spaulding surely did.
“It’s not that. He can leave at any time.”
Something wasn’t adding up. And the beginning of that odd equation began with Stick.
“And Betsy? Why isn’t she here with you?”
“She and Jason are in Europe. Or Asia, I think it is now. They’re taking an extended honeymoon before they move to their place in New York and start new jobs.”
I had known that. Joey had told me at the wedding. Both the big honeymoon and Joey’s trip to Africa had the added benefit—or perhaps sole purpose?—of keeping them out of the country while their father ran for governor.
But surely they’d put up with the annoyance of the campaign to be with their mother when she was sick?
Unless…
“You haven’t told them, have you?”
She didn’t answer, just continued to trace her finger back and forth between her two children. I noticed her path didn’t include me any longer, but just a glide back and forth between Betsy and Joey.
“No,” she finally said. There was a finality, a steeliness, in her voice that told me nothing I said now would make any difference.
And I don’t know what I would have said anyway. I was not part of this family, not Caroline’s family, much as she tried to include me from time to time.
For whatever reason, she had chosen not to tell her kids she was dying.
“I’ll tell them,” she said. “I’ll have them come back, when it’s time. When I’m closer. I will…say goodbye to my children.”
I wanted to ask when she thought that would be, but how do you ask that?
I took a drink of water, waiting for her to say more, but she didn’t. She finally stopped looking at the photos, pushed the laptop away and took a drink of tea. She held the mug in her hands after she drank, elbows resting on the table, and stared out the window to the grounds of the estate.
We sat in silence, though not awkward silence, until I saw Stick coming back into view, presumably from the direction of the garage area.
As he entered, I stood up. “Well, we should probably get back. I’ve got some studying to get to.”
She looked up at me from her seat, blinking several times, as if she was putting me in focus, trying to place me.
Had the disease settled in her brain?
“And how are you finding Bribury, Jane? Are you enjoying your freshman year?”
Okay, so she was still lucid.
“I am. Very much. I get along great with my roommates. I’m liking my classes for the most part.”
She smiled, but it was a practiced smile and didn’t quite reach her eyes. “That’s nice. Bribury is a good school. You’ll enjoy your time there. What are you majoring in?”
My pat answer for that was usually “partying,” but I held it in check. “I haven’t decided yet. I’m just getting in all the basics this year.”
She nodded, looking away from me, back to the window. “That’s a good idea. No need to commit to something right away.” She looked back to me. “You’ll find what speaks to you.”
Would I? I wasn’t quite as sure, but I knew I wasn’t the only freshman in the world who didn’t know what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Hell, I wasn’t even the only freshman in my dorm suite who didn’t know.
Stick poked his head in the fridge. “Can I make you something before we go?” he said. “How about an omelet?”
“I’m not hungry, Stick, thank you.”
He shut the fridge door and gave her a stern look that I was willing to bet very few people gave to Caroline Stratton.
“When was the last time you ate, Caro?”
“Dotty made the most delicious crab salad for lunch.”
“But did you eat any?” he asked with the suspicion of a parent wheedling the truth out of toddler.
She looked away from him, just as a guilty toddler might, and shrugged. “A little bit.”
“Where is Dotty, anyway?”
“Grocery shopping.”
“How about a quick omelet? We’ve got time.” He looked at me questioningly.
“Sure. We can stay,” I said, and made my way over to Stick at the counter. I wasn’t much of a cook, but I figured I could help with an omelet.
“Really, Stick, I can’t eat anything right now. And Dotty will be home soon with enough food to feed an army. She’ll make something mouthwatering for dinner, and I promise I’ll eat.”
He studied her, then finally gave one short nod. She exhaled, like she’d just been given a death-row reprieve.
“Are your omelets that bad?” I teased him under my breath.
He rolled his eyes at me, but moved away from the counter, toward Caroline. “Is there anything I can do before we leave?”
“No, dear, you do enough. We’re fine today.”
“And you’re sure Dotty will be home soon?”
She nodded. “I think I’m just going to go lie down until she gets back.”
“Okay. We’ll show ourselves out.” He gathered up his phone and my keys and motioned for me.
I walked over to Caroline. What was the proper etiquette here? Shake her hand? A kiss on the cheek? I felt like I might break some bones if I hugged her.
Not that she’d want a hug from me.
“Thank you for…the water,” I finally said, making no move to touch her in any way.
She smiled softly, like she got how weird the whole situation was.
“You’re very welcome, Jane. Feel free to stop by…for water anytime.”
I smiled, but didn’t quite laugh. It was all just so strange.
I turned to leave her, but she placed a cold hand on my sleeve. “I mean that. Please come by with Stick again. I enjoyed the company.”
“I…I’m not sure…”
“I’ll bring her by again,” Stick said from behind me.
“Only if you want to,” she said to me, a sadness in her eyes.
“That would be nice,” I said. I leaned closer to her. “I only hesitated because I wasn’t sure I’d need any more driving lessons from Stick.”
“Oh, is that what brings you out this way? I’ll bet he’s a good instructor.”
I thought of how he’d distracted me in Chesney with talk of his father so that I wouldn’t freeze up at the traffic lights. He was a good instructor, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing I thought so.
“There’s lots more I can teach you,” he said. He was standing right behind me now, almost touching. He held out my coat to me, his arm brushing mine.
“You help a lady on with her coat, Stick,” Caroline said in that teacher tone.
“She’s fine,” he said, and tucked my coat over my outstretched hand. “She’s got two hands.”
Caroline gave a long-suffering sigh, and shook her head at Stick, but there was warmth in her face, and this time her soft smile reached her eyes.
I put my coat on (just fine by myself, thank you very much), and followed Stick out of the kitchen.
At the doorway I turned back and looked at Caroline, still standing in the middle of the large room, looking small and frail.
I gave a tiny wave, which she returned.
“I’ll come back,” I said.
“Thank you.”
I turned and walked out of the Stratton family home.