Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Tyler was six months old today. Ivy closed the flower shop for the day and set to work on a beautiful family celebration at home, one with strawberry shortcake, balloons, and floral decorations she made by hand.
Only the family would be in attendance: her father, Wren (who was preparing to leave for good, she often told them), Daniel, toddler Lily, and, of course, baby Tyler.
Daniel told her he had class all morning but would be back by midafternoon, just in time to turn on the grill and get to work on the barbecue chicken.
As he sped out the door, buttoning his shirt, he paused to press a kiss on her forehead.
Daniel was always in a rush these days, always speeding off to school.
When Ivy asked him what he was learning about, he usually muttered something about the history of Europe, about France or Ancient Prussia or where the Roman Army marched during such-and-such a time.
Ivy had begun to think of Daniel as a man who lived in another era, as the husband she’d married on another timeline.
As Ivy frosted the cake, Wren sat at the kitchen table with baby Tyler in her arms and talked about her plans for the future: a flight to Paris, a sailing adventure across Greece, a motorcycle ride through Thailand.
It all sounded so fantastical to Ivy, like a life nobody should ever dare dream of.
She wanted to tell Wren to “take it easy and keep it safe,” but she knew that would make Wren angry and might even make her leave the birthday party.
“How is Daniel’s college career going?” Wren asked when Ivy hadn’t said anything for too long. She often got itchy like that and had to fill the silence.
Ivy sucked a bit of frosting from her finger and, against her wishes, pictured Daniel in his car, kissing whoever it was he was having an affair with.
Probably a younger woman who still had dreams of becoming something she shouldn’t become.
Probably a younger woman who’d never birthed children and whose waistline was tight.
“He’s excited about it,” Ivy said simply.
“You must not miss the fishy smell,” Wren said knowingly.
“That never really bothered me,” Ivy lied.
“It’s funny that it took you going after your dreams for him to realize he had dreams in the first place,” Wren pointed out. “Don’t you think?”
Ivy was unwilling to go there, not with her sister and not with anyone, not when it came to her husband, whom she was legally required to stand for. Wasn’t she? So she lied again. “Daniel’s always wanted to take college courses. He talked about it on our first date.”
Wren pinched her face. “On your first date? In high school?”
Ivy nodded, trying to enfold such a conversation into their first date, which had been a combination bowling-and-diner situation that had ended with them making out in the rusty truck he’d had back then.
Their conversations had had nothing to do with their dreams. They’d probably talked about how much they hated school and how much they loved Slurpees or something.
When Tyler fell asleep in Wren’s arms, Wren took him upstairs and then came back down to play with Lily.
Lily was nearly two years old, with curly hair that Ivy struggled to control.
It was nearly time for a haircut. Lily carried a doll everywhere with her, a doll she called Girlie.
When she got tired, too, Wren took her upstairs to her room, then returned, propped her elbows on the table, and asked when Daniel was due back for the party.
It was nearly four, and they’d planned to eat by six, after Lily woke up from her nap.
“He should be back any second,” Ivy said simply. The cake was finished and shining in the sunshine on the kitchen counter. “He won’t let anyone else work the grill.”
Wren frowned. “Can I ask you a question?”
Ivy looked at her sister. She knew that she was in for something dark. “Okay.”
“Would you ever divorce him?”
Ivy’s jaw dropped open with surprise. Her head spun with questions.
Did Wren know about Daniel’s other woman?
Did perhaps everyone in Bluebell Cove know?
Daniel had never been the most discreet of men.
It was possible he even bragged to friends at the bar about his girlfriend, openly stating he wanted to leave Ivy, Lily, and Tyler behind.
“Why are you asking me that?” Ivy demanded. Ice laced across her heart.
“It’s just a question,” Wren said. “I’ve been wondering if I ever want to get married and settle down, but I think I’d eventually want to get divorced and have a different story with someone else.
You know, because we only get one life, and I’d want to know what it was like to fall in love and marry another guy. ”
Ivy blinked at her little sister. “You won’t feel like that when you actually get married.”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s so much more than a romantic relationship,” Ivy said. “It’s the foundation of your life.”
Listen to yourself, Ivy, she thought. Your “life foundation” is probably off somewhere with his girlfriend. Maybe he refers to you as his ball and chain.
“You can’t just break down the foundation of your life without hurting yourself,” Ivy said.
Wren laughed. “People do it all the time.”
It was then that James Harper came by with a six-pack and a bunch of funny stories from the inn’s guests.
Apparently, one of them was a soap opera TV star, and when James and the other staff members hadn’t recognized him immediately, he’d caused a big fuss and checked out.
“He wanted his money back,” James sputtered.
“It was all really dramatic. If he brings any of that energy to television, he must be really good.”
“Did you give him the refund?” Wren asked.
“No way!” James cackled, then glanced around. “Where’s the birthday boy?”
“He’s still napping,” Ivy said flatly. She hadn’t found the will to laugh at her father’s stories. “The kids will be up in a little while.”
“And when will Daniel get back from his little school?” James asked. “Has he learned his ABCs yet?”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “He’ll be back any second.”
But the problem was, Daniel didn’t come back soon after that, not the following second, nor the one after that.
Eventually, James went to the grill and cooked the chicken himself, slathering it with the barbecue sauce Ivy had mixed up that afternoon.
The babies were up and causing a ruckus in the kitchen, and Ivy was busy chopping vegetables, drinking a glass of wine, and trying and failing to remember that Daniel wasn’t around.
Because the party was more for the adults than for baby Tyler, Tyler was eventually passed around for good night kisses and taken to bed.
Lily went shortly after that. This left Wren, James, and Ivy at the kitchen table, their platters glossy with barbecue sauce but mostly scraped clean.
It was nearly eight thirty and long after Daniel was meant to be back.
Ivy hadn’t heard from him. She’d tried his cell phone a few times, but it was off.
Ivy was busy covering for him. She told her father and sister that Daniel had a test the following morning and that he was busy finishing both studying for it and writing an essay.
James snorted. “If you ask me, he should get back in that fishing boat and make himself useful. Is he going to make money writing essays? Is he going to support his family with a few math equations?”
“He’s trying to better himself, Dad,” Ivy stammered, collecting their plates and setting them in the dishwasher.
“I’m trying to better myself with another slice of cake,” James said.
Wren rolled her eyes, got up, and got their father another slice. “You’re shameless, you know that?”
“Your mother was always ready to call me that,” James said. “Your sisters, too.”
Ivy and Wren were quiet for a moment, thinking about Juliet and Celia, the ones who’d gotten away, who’d fled, who never called home. Resentment boiled in Ivy’s gut.
“We’re all having second slices,” Wren said then, standing up to fetch more cake for herself and Ivy. “It’s a birthday party, after all.”
Ivy blinked and blinked so that her tears didn’t fall. She ate her cake and listened for the sounds of Daniel’s truck outside. She wondered if she’d spend all her life waiting for him to come home.
* * *
A few days after that, Ivy was at the flower shop, perfecting a birthday bouquet for Albany Monroe, an older woman who lived five streets away, whose husband adored her.
Spring blossoms grew from the spindly tree limbs outside, and sunshine sprawled across the floorboards.
Ivy shifted the bouquet this way and that, trying to analyze it from every possible perspective.
She knew people appreciated this level of professionalism.
When Albany’s husband came in to pay and collect the flowers, there was a skip to his step that shouldn’t have been allowed, given his age.
“How is that family of yours?” he asked, smiling.
“Everyone’s good,” Ivy answered. “Happy and healthy.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” he said. He headed back out to greet his longtime lover, his wife of practically forever.
Ivy felt her smile fall.
But the truth was, everyone in her family was mostly happy and healthy.
Daniel had returned home on the night of the birthday with alcohol on his breath and the smell of perfume in his hair, but he’d fallen all over himself with apologies and fallen asleep ten minutes later.
Ivy hadn’t really seen him since then. He’d gotten up for school, or whatever it was he did, the following morning, and she’d spent every evening till bedtime at the Bluebell Cove Inn, working the front desk and letting her children sleep in the office. She wanted to avoid him.
She guessed that he didn’t notice she was gone.