We were kissing deeply now. He was lying on top of me, sort of pressing into my hips with a regular rhythm. I had a pretty good idea that this made him happy. And as long as he was happy he kept kissing me, so I let him rock and roll. He put his hand up my shirt and rubbed my back. The next thing I knew, he had unhooked my bra and his hands were all over me. I knew I should have stopped him and discussed this, but I just let him. It felt incredibly good and I couldn’t think of a reason in the world to stop.
“Susan,” he said in a voice like syrup.
“What?” I said.
“I love you, Susan, you know I do.”
“I love you too, Simon.”
I looked at him and his eyes were half closed. He was in another world and I wanted to go with him, wherever he was headed. He unbuttoned my blouse and started kissing my breasts. I felt a tingling so far down inside of me it took my breath away. He was scrambling all over me now and I began to feel this intensity for some kind of completion. I was breathing like a marathon runner after a race.
Slap! Slap! Slap!
“All right, you two, let’s knock it off! Come on, son. Let the girl breathe.”
I looked up right into the spit shine of police shoes. It was Fat Albert, the Island policeman, slapping his nightstick in the palm of his hand. We scrambled to make some order of ourselves, knowing we were in very deep shit.
“Miss Susan? How old are you now?” Fat Albert asked.
“Sixteen,” I said, lying through my teeth.
“Mm-hm,” Fat Albert said, adjusting his belt over his stomach. “And how about you, son? Got any identification?”
“Yes, sir, in my glove compartment,” Simon said.
He and Fat Albert went over the sand dunes, and, after what seemed like an hour, Simon came back alone.
“What happened?”
“Well, he made a long list of our offenses. Drinking in public, drinking under age, corruption of a minor, you name it, we did it.”
“And?”
Simon was folding up the blanket. I gathered the beer cans and put them back in the bag.
“And he said that if he ever caught us on his beach again, he’d arrest us.”
“That’s all?”
“Yep, we’re two fools, free to go.”
“Well, there’s always the Isle of Palms,” I said.
“That’s what I love about you. You’re out of your mind!”
And that’s exactly what we were. Out of our minds and two fools. I mean, he couldn’t even take me to the movies. I was too young to date! Well, maybe I wasn’t really, but nobody in my class dated, and in my family you didn’t date until everyone was sure you weren’t convent material.
Simon was my first and only love. But I admitted to myself that Fat Albert showing up had probably been a blessing in disguise. I understood now why Maggie was so hot for Lucius. This make-out stuff was pretty fabulous fun, but dangerous too. I could just see both of us winding up pregnant. Good Lord.
May came and Dr. Send Her to School was coming for a weekend. When Momma and he weren’t writing each other, they were calling each other. Momma may have been crazy but she was different, stronger. Suddenly she had opinions and she talked about things like a happy person, instead of one who lived on the edge of Armageddon. Love did that to you, I thought. She was sitting in the kitchen with Aunt Carol, talking about him. I was snapping five pounds of green beans on the back steps with Livvie. I guess they forgot we were there, like usual.
“What’s wrong, Carol?” my momma asked.
“Oh, nothing. It’s just that ever since Easter a person can’t talk to you about anything except Stan. It’s getting kind of boring to be around you, MC. I’m sorry to say that to you, but it’s the truth.”
Livvie and I looked at each other, smelling trouble.
“Jealous,” I whispered to Livvie.
“Humph,” she whispered back.
“Well, you don’t have to be around me if you don’t want to, Carol Asalit.”
“What? Well, I never! Fine. That’s fine with me! I’m going home to my husband, who appreciates me.”
“My husband appreciated you too, I hear.”
“Well! I never!” Silence for a moment, except for my aunt’s gasping and clucking noises. “I don’t need to stay here and be insulted and falsely accused this way!”
“If you don’t behave—if you look so much as sideways at Stan—I’ll tell my brother everything I know!”
“You! You think you’re such a saint!”
“Ha! And you think you’re the only woman in the world! You’re getting old, Carol! Your varicose veins are showing and when you get angry all the little lines around your lips show.”
“I am never stepping foot in this house again!”
“Fine!” my mother said. “Then I don’t have to worry where your feet are during dinner!”
Holy moly, I thought, how did Momma know all this? And, more importantly, was that my momma talking like that?
I looked up at Livvie. She was a little sheepish. “I only told her about the feet after she tell me Miss Simpson tell she about the storm!”
Alice Simpson had spilled the beans on Aunt Carol and Daddy in their episode of “The Secret Storm.” And Livvie had iced the cake! Good!
Aunt Carol slammed out the door and raced down the steps to her car, face red as a beet. Our dog ran barking behind her. She reached her foot out to kick him and he jumped away and then lunged at her. She tore out of the yard in reverse, the dust kicking up under her car. Rascal chased her, barking his brains out, until his voice tapered off in the distance. The back door opened again and Momma came out and stood on the steps. She looked down at us and smiled.
“Do Lawd, Miss MC, what bee got in your bonnet?” Livvie was grinning from ear to ear. So was I.
“No bee, Livvie, I’m just not afraid of her anymore. In fact, I’ve never felt quite so good. Lord! What a beautiful afternoon!”
“If it makes any difference to anybody around here,” I said, “I never really liked her much and I ain’t gone miss her!”
Momma looked at me as if she were surprised all at once to see me so much older. We started to laugh.
“Did you see her swishing her butt down the steps?” I said to Livvie and Momma.
“You should’ve seen her face when I told her I knew!” Momma said. “She makes me so mad, that woman! I hope she does tell Louis and then I can tell him what I know!”
“Yeah, Momma! You were great!”
“You know, I’ve been wanting to give that you-know-what a piece of my mind for twenty years!”
“Well, ya done good, Momma,” I said. “Come on, let’s take the twins for a walk.”
And we did.
LIVVIE AND I were sweeping the porch together. Dr. Divorced, Rich and Jewish was coming in soon to spend the Memorial Day weekend, and Momma wanted everything just so. The twins were in the playpen, gurgling like babies do. They played so well and hardly ever fussed unless they were tired or hungry. Of course, with all of us to play with them, they never lacked attention. They would have their first birthday soon.
Dr. Stanley Rifkin arrived in a red convertible rental car and parked in front of the house. I heard Simon coming down the steps to greet him. Stanley got out and waved hello to us.
“Hi!” I said. “How was your flight?”
“Oh, just fine, Susan! Thank you for asking! Such a nice girl you are!”
“Jeesch,” I said under my breath and Livvie giggled, knowing that this man got on my nerves. He wasn’t like Simon, who was a wise guy like me. No, Simon’s father was slow and deliberate, his manners from another time. Everything about his demeanor spoke of his intelligence. I just couldn’t believe that a powerful, educated man like him would want to get mixed up with a crazy widow and her six children.
Livvie went to the door and held it open for him so he could put his luggage inside on the porch. It had Ls and Vs all over it. If he was supposed to have so much money, couldn’t
he have afforded his own initials?
“I’m glad you’re both here,” he said. “Oh. Simon, my boy! Come here, all of you. Got something I want to show you.”
“Hey, Dad!” Simon kissed his father on the cheek.
Stanley was clearly nervous and excited. He dug around in his jacket pockets for something, eventually producing a little velvet box. He opened it for all of us to see. It was a beautiful, big, and I mean big, door knocker of a round white diamond ring. It could’ve been the night lights at the ball field. It had smaller, round rubies on either side. My jaw dropped. Simon’s jaw dropped and Livvie started to laugh.
“Oh, Lawd have mercy! Lawd have mercy!” She was slapping her thighs and doing a little dance.
“Is this good?” Stanley asked, smiling widely. He pointed to Livvie. “Does this mean she approves?”
“Mr. Doctor? You don’t need me to say it’s okay, but I tell you what, you just what this family need! Yes, sir! You just the medicine they all need! Yeah, Gawd! That’s the biggest diamond I ever did see! Wait till I tell Harriet ’bout this!”
“My brother!” I said and hugged Simon.
“My sister!” He laughed and hugged me back.
“Well, Miss Susan, I want to tell you this,” Stanley said. “First, I’m going around to see Louis and ask for your mother’s hand. With his approval and, of course, MC’s, I’d like to marry your mother in the fall. Now, I want you to understand that I know I can’t replace your father, you’re too old for that. But, I would like to be your friend. If you ever need anything, you come to me, all right? And call me Stan. I always wanted a daughter, now I could have four! If Marie Catherine says yes, I swear I’ll be the happiest man in the world!”
“Oh, Stan,” I said, giving the old goat a good hug, “I’m so happy for both of you. I really mean it. Please make sure Aunt Carol gets a good look at the ring, okay?”
“I understand completely,” he said and winked at me.
I HAD KISSED the twins and everybody else twice or three times. Even though Momma was engaged and they could now afford Livvie, I was still very nervous about leaving. Everything would be different for Timmy, Henry and Maggie when Momma married Stanley Rifkin. But at least they would all have each other. I would be alone.
Maggie and I had had long talks, late at night, all summer long. I would miss her so much. She was considering breaking up with Lucius for the same reasons I had cooled things with Simon. Even though she was older than I was, she was beginning to realize that Lucius would never marry her. His mother and her Virginia Tidewater family would never accept a girl from Sullivan’s Island, even though our family had fought in every war in America for the past two hundred years.
Simon and I were just friends by that point. Momma and Stanley getting engaged made our love feel too weird. Anyway, Simon had promised to write me and he was going to drive me to St. Anne’s. I had given him a picture of myself that I had had taken at Furchgott’ s Studio in Charleston. I looked pretty good in the white cotton lace drape. I signed the back before I put it in a frame. To the only man I’ll ever really love, Susan. I was counting on him never opening the frame and seeing it.
Timmy started to cry when he saw my bags all packed. Then Henry started to cry. I took care of that by kicking them in the shins as hard as I could.
“Remember that this is how life here can be,” I said, “and write to me every week, okay? Look after Maggie and the twins and if they get into trouble, call me. Swear it.”
We made pinky oaths and then we hugged. They would be all right and I would be home in three weeks for the wedding. They weren’t getting rid of me quite yet. I scratched Rascal behind the ears.
The hardest person to leave was Livvie. She was waiting for me in the kitchen.
“So now what?” I said. “If it weren’t for you, I’d probably be going to jail instead of boarding school.”
“That’s true enough,” she said.
“I can’t tell you good-bye, Livvie.”
“You never have to, Susan.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“The mirror. Even when I gone to glory and my Nelson, I still come to you.”
“Yeah, but Livvie, I can’t see anything in that mirror.”
“Someday you will. And don’t you ever forget, this old colored woman loves this Geechee girl so.”
“Oh, God, Livvie, and how I love you. I always will.”
Twenty
Lowcountry Magic
1999
MAGGIE?” I was on the phone with my sister. “Guess what I found?”
I told her about the pictures of Fat Albert’s and Marvin Struthers’s feet in the photo at the Klan rally. She was stunned.
“Well, I’ll be darned. It wasn’t enough for old Marvin to be mayor? He had to be the Grand Dragon too?”
“I know. I mean, Maggie, it makes perfect sense. Albert probably ran Daddy off the road and Marvin Struthers and him probably pushed Daddy’s car into the marsh. I have to think this all through and I’m sure if I kept digging I could find the evidence, but I swear I am so relieved just to know. No wonder Marvin headed up the investigation with Albert! No wonder no one was blamed! Pity that old Marvin and Albert have been fertilizer for years.”
“You’re right. I mean, what would you do with the proof anyway? Can’t put a dead man in jail.”
“Exactly. And it wouldn’t be worth embarrassing their families.”
“Yeah, but at the same time, it’s good that you can finally put your mind to rest.”
“Yeah. Maggie, did you ever think of Daddy as a hero?” We were quiet for a moment, numbed by the news and the suggestion that he was.
“Never even considered it. Until now, that is.”
“God almighty. Life is so weird.”
IT WAS THE Wednesday before Christmas. I had been working late at the library every day and at the same time trying to prepare for the holiday. We had been blessed with perfect springlike weather all week, which made gathering greens from the yard a very pleasant task. I had finally put the last of our decorations on the tree and around our house. I arranged some of the smaller branches of magnolia in a glass bowl in the middle of the dining room table, and put red glass balls on florist’s sticks in between them. I polished the magnolia leaves with Wesson Oil—a trick Maggie taught me—and I thought you could part your hair in their reflection. Speaking of hair, I was pleased that I remembered to send a card to Kim. He was turning out to be a good friend and I was grateful to have him in my life. I needed someone besides Maggie and Beth.
I had hardly heard from Tom since he had left my house after his surgery except to discuss money and visitation, which led me to believe that Karen was firmly in his life. Occasionally, we’d discuss the treatments he was having and he seemed to be hanging on. I was relieved not to have him full-time to contend with. And speaking of money, by the grace of God, I was appointed as interim director of the library. The board planned to conduct the requisite search, but the board chairman and the search committee had assured me, privately, that they preferred to give Mitchell Fremont’s job to me. They had cited the old Gullah maxim, Keep the evil that you know. That wasn’t exactly the high praise I wanted to hear, but the raise in salary compensated for any personal slight I may have felt.
When I got home, Beth was bringing presents to the kitchen to wrap, having a wonderful time decorating packages that looked too pretty to open. She had used brown paper, twine twisted with gold metallic cord, and had sponged on stars with gold-toned paint. Thank God she has the Maggie gene for this, I thought.
“God, honey, don’t you hate to give them away?” I said. “The wrapping is a present all on its own!”
“Yeah, it sort of is, huh? Well, you know, I have like a reeleey good feeling about this holiday, I don’t know why. I guess it’s because I totally love my aunts and uncles and when they’re here I finally get some girl cousins almost my age to talk to. Bucky and Mickey drive me up the wall.”
?
??Familiarity breeds contempt.”
“Whatever. So what did you get Dad for Christmas?”
“What?”
“Are y’all still gonna exchange gifts, or what?”
“Um, I don’t think so.” I popped open a Diet Pepsi and took a long drink.
“Oh. Well, I think he got you something.”
“Like what? A gift certificate to the root canal doctor? Want a sip?”
“Nope, no thanks. You’ll see. He’s stopping by in a few minutes.”
“Like when were you gonna tell me this? I look totally disgusting!” I ran upstairs and brushed my hair, changed my shirt, put on some cologne. I was just brushing my teeth when he knocked at the door.
“Merry Christmas, Daddy!”
“Merry Christmas, princess! Where’s your momma?”
“I’ll be right down!” I called and thought, oh great, what if he wants to come to Maggie’s with us for Christmas Eve?
But as soon as I said hello to him he made his announcement.
“I can only stay for a few minutes. Karen and I are going to Myrtle Beach to meet her parents and spend the holiday.”
I saw Beth’s face fall and so I stabbed him on her behalf.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll have a lot in common with them. After all, they’re your age and…”
“You don’t have to say it, Susan, I get the drift,” he said. “Look, I didn’t come over here to discuss Karen’s age. I came to bring you something for Christmas. I know you think I’m a jerk and that I don’t care about you. This is to let you know that I do care and how proud I am of you.”
He pointed to an enormous box and a smaller one.
“Gosh, thanks. Are they household appliances? Plugs aren’t gifts, Tom.”
We had always joked about our friends who would give each other lawnmowers and blenders and toasters for Christmas and other important occasions. One sorry fellow we knew had a chainlink–fenced dog pen installed for his wife’s fortieth birthday to hold his hunting dogs.