“She’s in her bedroom, reading or listening to talk radio.”
“I’ll give her the date when she next pops out here looking for one of her servants. So she can prepare herself.” The doorbell rang and Elly looked at her watch. It was six-thirty. “Good. Diversion. Someone to remind us we have to think about food.” She stood up. “Don’t be so down about it. You can’t put off the inevitable.”
“Is that what it really is?” Barbara Ann asked when Elly had gone to the door. “Are we all scared of being on our own again?”
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t look forward to it,” Sable said. “I spent the last twenty years trying to pretend I didn’t have my past. I’m going to spend the next twenty answering questions about it. Delightful.”
“At least you didn’t make an arbitrary decision to get pregnant,” Beth said. “You know, I had absolutely no misgivings about my ability to raise a child alone. I was positively determined. Not a single doubt in my mind—until I missed a period. Then I wondered if I’d been crazy.”
“Beth?” Elly asked, taking off her glasses. “Beth, it’s Jack.”
“Jack?” she asked weakly.
“He says he wants to talk to you. I can tell him you’re not here.”
“Yes,” Sable said. “Tell him she’s gone home to Kansas City.”
“No,” Beth said. “I’ll talk to him for a minute.”
“Beth, don’t!”
She stood up. “He’s not going to hurt me, for heaven’s sake. Not with all of you around here. I’m just going to talk to him.”
Sable grabbed her upper arms as she would have passed. “Beth, he’s going to manipulate you any way he can. He’s going to try and suck you back in. Please believe me. I’ve been there.”
“I’m just going to talk to him, Sable. I’m not going to leave with him.”
Beth walked briskly toward the door, straightening her back as she went. She opened the door and walked outside. Barbara Ann, Elly and Sable all rushed to the front room the moment the door closed behind Beth. They listened at the closed door, but couldn’t hear anything. “There they are,” Barbara Ann said, peeking through the front-room curtains. “Sitting on the planter box.”
Jack was wearing his pilot uniform, twirling his hat in his hands. There was no denying the handsomeness of this forty-two-year-old man. He was tall and fit, trim and in possession of a healthy head of brown hair. He had a winning smile, a seductive twinkle in his eyes. All the women, even Elly, would have felt a lot better about things if Jack were a little less handsome, a little less sexy. They watched as he talked to Beth, then as he listened for a long time, head down and nodding in apparent agreement. Beth seemed to have plenty to say. He looked up at her and laughed suddenly. She laughed, too. He talked a little more while she listened. And vice versa. Five minutes passed. Ten. Fifteen. Barbara Ann gasped and covered her mouth as Jack put his arm around Beth’s shoulders and covered her still-flat abdomen with his large hand.
“I saw him put that same hand up some blonde’s skirt at a bar in New York,” Sable said.
“Should we call to her? Make her come back in?” Barbara Ann wanted to know.
“She’s an adult,” Elly said. “No matter what anyone says or does, ultimately it’s up to her.”
Sable was biting her nails. Barbara Ann was pacing in and out of the living room. Elly went for her cigarettes and began smoking, taking fast puffs. Beth was outside with Jack for a half hour, sitting on the planter box with him. Talking, sometimes laughing. Finally they stood, facing each other. They exchanged a few more words and Beth nodded. Jack leaned toward her and kissed her cheek. “We’re doomed,” Sable said.
Beth had to tap on the door to be admitted; it locked itself when it closed. When she came in she wore an embarrassed smile. “I’m going to have dinner with Jack,” she said.
“Have you lost your mind?” Sable demanded.
“Beth, you know he’ll only try to wear you down. This is crazy,” Barbara Ann said.
“He thinks we should talk about our separation, about visitation and child support payments.”
“The baby isn’t even going to be born for six months! Can’t you see through this?”
“He’s still my husband. He’s still the baby’s father. Even if we don’t stay together, certain things have to be worked out,” Beth said.
“If?” Sable questioned.
“Beth, you have months to work things out. It should be done through a lawyer, someone who can take care of you.”
“You can’t be saying that you intend to allow Jack to visit this baby? Maybe take him for the weekend, in case he doesn’t have anything else around to punch?”
Beth’s face became stern. Angry. “I doubt I can keep him from seeing his own child,” she answered stiffly.
“You could if you pressed charges. He beat you. You have plenty of witnesses. He’s dangerous to your baby.”
“I don’t think I’m going to worry about that now,” Beth said. “This is only dinner. To talk a few things over.”
“By all means, worry about that tomorrow,” Elly said. “Scarlett.” She turned her back on Beth and headed for the kitchen.
“Beth, you aren’t kidding yourself that he’s changed, are you?” Barbara Ann asked.
“I don’t know that he’s changed all the way,” she said, “but I’m not afraid to go to dinner with him. He isn’t going to beat me up in a restaurant.”
“Maybe not tonight, at dinner,” Barbara agreed. “And maybe not the next time you go to dinner, either. He might mind his manners for a whole month, in fact. But eventually he’s going to—”
“Please,” she said, stopping Barbara Ann. “We’re just talking about dinner. I’m not going home with him, I’m just letting him buy me dinner so we can talk things over!”
“There would be nothing to talk over if you planned to get a divorce. Beth, please don’t lie to us, of all people.”
“I’m not lying to you!”
“Yes, you are. We saw him laugh with you. Touch the baby. Kiss you. This isn’t just dinner. This is just the beginning, till he has you back in his clutches where he can—”
“He’s been to counseling!” she spat, indignant. It certainly shut them up. They stared at her, gape-mouthed. “He’s been to counseling,” she said again, more softly. “He went for help. He knows he has a problem. He knows he has to stay in control of his temper. He wants to talk to me about it. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
“Did he bring you a note from his therapist?” Sable wanted to know.
“Oh please, don’t do this to me,” she whined. “You know how hard I’ve tried. You know how much I want this baby. I wouldn’t let the baby be unsafe. He’s docile as a lamb! Please, I do have some common sense, some judgment. I don’t think going to dinner with him could hurt any—”
“Beth,” Sable said, stopping her, “will you answer me honestly? As honestly as you can?”
Beth nodded.
“If you have dinner with him and it’s pleasant, would you consider having dinner again?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“If you found out that ten dinners with him were pleasant, if you found him to be sweet and gentle and loving, would you rethink this idea of leaving him?”
“Sable, it’s too soon to say whether I would. I’m not thinking that far ahead. I just agreed to go to dinner with him and talk about the plans I have for the baby.”
“If he didn’t hit you for, say, a year, would you think you were safe? Would you move back in with him? You and the baby?”
“Why are you doing this to me? I haven’t said I’m moving back in with him!”
“I just want to know whether you believe him,” Sable said.
“What?”
“Do you believe him? Believe what he says? Believe what he said to you out there on the planter box?”
“You don’t even know what he said!”
“Doesn’t matter,” Sable said.
“Do you believe what he said to you?”
“Yes!” she burst out. “Yes, I believe him, but he didn’t say anything suspicious. He just said he was sorry. He’s getting counseling. He knows where he went wrong. He’d like another chance, maybe counseling for both of us, but he’ll understand if I’m not willing to try again. He just wants to take me to dinner!”
“You willing to bet on that?” Sable asked.
“Oh, Sable….”
“Really. Wanna bet?”
“No, I don’t want to bet! I just want to see for myself!”
“That’s just as good. Give me ten, maybe twelve minutes with him. Go back to the bedroom or up to the loft where you can hear real good and wait. Listen.”
“What?” Beth asked, totally perplexed.
“Beth, do you trust me?” Sable asked.
“Of course I trust you. But you may be wrong about—”
“If you’re right, if he’s telling the truth about how much he cares, how much he loves you, and how much he’s changed, he’s all yours. If you do this one thing for me, I’ll never ask another thing of you as long as I live. If you’ll just let me have him for ten minutes and not say a word or try to butt in no matter what happens, I’ll be your slave till you die. I’ll babysit for free till I’m ninety.”
“What are you going to do?” Barbara Ann asked nervously.
“I’m just going to talk to him. As Beth’s most trusted friend, I’d like to assure myself that he has her best interests at heart. Just listen,” Sable said. “And don’t stop either one of us. Just listen for ten minutes. If I’m wrong about him, I’ll apologize. I’ll get down on my knees and kiss his shiny little pilot shoes. I’ll take back every bad thing I ever said about Jack Mahoney, if I’m wrong.”
“That’s not too much to ask,” Barbara Ann said cautiously. “You afraid to see what he’s made of?”
“No,” Beth said. “But I don’t see the point in just trying to make him mad. Why stir up trouble? If Jack’s—”
“If Jack’s a good boy who knows where he went wrong, who’s sorry and who’s in counseling and who loves you, then Jack doesn’t have anything to worry about, does he? Come on, Beth. Take a chance.”
“This isn’t smart,” she said. “This isn’t a good idea….”
“Why? Do you think he could be…I don’t know…volatile and unpredictable? Because if you think that, you shouldn’t even have dinner with him. If you think he could get mad and maybe lose his temper if someone says the wrong thing to him, you’re in big trouble, aren’t you? But if you think he’s on the mend here, maybe learning to control his temper, then there’s nothing to worry about, is there?”
“Look, even the mildest-mannered man can be pushed too far,” Beth said.
“Hey, Beth, I’ve known a lot of men over the years and I’ve been brutal to a few. I’ve even pushed a couple with bad tempers too far. I’ve been called a bitch before—I can handle it. If Jack’s safe enough for you and the baby, then he’ll be docile and controlled and civil no matter what I say to him, right? He knows he was wrong, right? I’m not going to hit him, for gosh sakes. I’m not going to make him defend himself. Come on, Beth. Give him a chance to prove himself.”
“Come on, Beth,” Barbara Ann said. “What’s ten minutes out of the rest of your life?”
“I don’t know about this, Sable.” But Barbara Ann was already leading her away, already calling to Elly to join them in the loft.
“Time doesn’t start till he knocks on the door, wondering where you are.”
“Okay,” Barbara Ann called back.
“Oh dear,” Beth said as she was being dragged away.
Sable paced. She had a real gift for making a man want to belt her, this much she knew. But that wasn’t going to be enough. If Beth listened in and decided that Sable’s actions were somehow outrageous, no matter what the outcome, Jack would not be indicted. A part of Beth still believed that it was all right for a man to hit a woman if she provoked him. It would be Sable’s fault. About three minutes had passed when there was a knock at the door. Sable quickly ran into the family room and looked up at the loft. “You can start timing me now,” she said in a stage whisper.
Barbara Ann peeked over and gave her the okay sign.
“Stay out of sight up there,” Sable added. She ran to the door and opened it. He had a frown on his face. He’d been kept waiting for at least ten minutes. Sable hadn’t even thought about what an advantage that was. “Oh, hello, Jack. Come in.”
“Where’s Beth?” he asked, stepping over the threshold.
“In her room, I’m afraid. Crying, I think. Poor thing. She’s changed her mind. She asked me to tell you.”
“Changed her mind about what?” he asked.
“Didn’t you offer to take her to dinner? Well, she decided against it. She said to tell you.”
“Go get her,” he said. “She’ll have to tell me herself.”
“She’s with Barbara Ann and Eleanor,” Sable said. “We’ve convinced her that this would be a mistake. She’s going to pass—”
“This is none of your goddamn business, you know,” he said. “Now go get my wife.”
Sable became heady with power. What was Beth thinking? He was already mad and nothing had even happened yet.
“Well, you know how women are. We made it our business. We feel we’re in this together. We love Beth, see. We hate seeing all those bruises on her. It’s revolting.” She saw his eyes narrow and the muscles in his jaw begin to tense. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Jack. You’re a lot bigger than Beth. And hitting her when she’s pregnant, too. That’s really low.”
He inhaled sharply through his nose and glared at her. “Fine,” he said. “Tell her to call me when she’s ready to talk.” He turned and opened the door to leave.
Sable panicked. She hadn’t counted on him being unwilling to have even a verbal tussle with her. But then he didn’t beat up everyone, did he? He worked with women on the job and wouldn’t still be flying if he punched every one who crossed him.
“There’s something I think you should know,” she said. He turned around in the open door. “I was the one who told her you were fucking around. I saw you in New York. In a hotel bar. With your hand up the skirt of some young blonde. Flight attendant?”
He stared at her for a second. Then a slow, mean smile spread across his lips. “That so?” he asked, but it didn’t sound like a question. “Well, thanks for nothing.”
“I thought she should know. So, are you getting counseling for that, too?”
“Listen, why don’t you just mind your own fucking business and stay out of mine.”
“I guess with a job like yours, it’s pretty easy to pick up women. Talk about a cheap date. The airline pays for the hotel and you probably get per diem checks to cover the dinner. I guess that would be a hard habit to break. What I can’t figure out is, what’s a guy who loves women so much doing punching them around? I don’t think Beth would have complained about all your screwing around if you’d just had the good sense to keep your hands off her.”
Jack glared at her for a second and then his upper body bounced with a small huff of laughter. He turned his back on her and walked out the door, slowly pulling it closed behind him.
Well, great idea, Sable, she thought. That was a bust. The gentlest man in the world would have had a hard time keeping his temper under control during a confrontation like that. She’d done everything but call him names. And she’d been as snotty as she could be. So what did she prove? Big fat zero. She proved that Jack Mahoney could be badgered by a bitchy woman and would walk away before even talking back.
She sighed in defeat and began to move away from the door. It would be hard to apologize to Beth for that.
The door swung back open behind her; he hadn’t even pulled it all the way closed. “You know, I have you to thank for ruining my marriage. I love my wife. Until she got involved with you, we didn’t have so many problems.”
S
able turned around. He was standing there in the open door. He came in and slammed it. “Beth and I have a few things to work out, but it isn’t one-sided,” he said. “I’m not the only one with the temper. I’m not the only one who gets a little mad. Married people have disagreements all the time. That’s how it goes.”
“Getting mad and beating people up are two different things. Or didn’t you learn that one in kindergarten with the rest of us.”
“It’s not like that happened all the time. I got pushed too far a couple of times, that’s all. Maybe two times. I apologized. Under the right circumstances, anyone can make that mistake. Hell, you think Beth didn’t do a lot to push it that far? It wasn’t something that happened unless I was provoked.”
“What about your last two wives, Jack? Did they provoke you into beating them, too?”
“Is that what they said? Well, let me tell you something—they’re both lying whores. Both of them! All either of them ever wanted out of me was money—and the best way to go after it is to claim abuse. I never laid a hand on either one of them!”
“So, Beth is the first woman you’ve beaten up? I find that remarkable.”
“I never beat her up! Is that what she said? It’s not true. It’s not true. It got a little physical a couple of times—she had as much to do with that as I did. But I never beat anyone up! Were the police ever called? No! Was there ever a visit to a doctor? No! We had a couple of fights—that happens to people, okay? We just have some things to work out and when she gets away from you dykes, we’re going to be fine.”
“Dykes?” Sable repeated, nearly laughing.
“Libbers. Bitches. We never had a single problem until she started listening to you and those other two broads. There’s no way we can work anything out while she’s being brainwashed by the likes of you women. She needs to come home where we can handle our problems in private. That’s what a marriage is—private.”
“I’ve been friends with Beth almost her entire marriage! When was it your relationship was so untroubled? The first two months?”
“You know, you’ve got one hell of a nerve, talking to me like that. I’ve done for Beth and provided for her all these years and she’s never wanted for anything….”