Family Reunion, Nancy Thayer [the kiss of deception read online .txt] 📗

how women become thought of as witches, Ari thought. Eleanor turned and saw Ari at the window and smiled like an angel.

Ari unpacked while Eleanor finished the watering, then they both sat on the deck with glasses of sweetened iced tea, more ice than tea.

“How was your visit?” Eleanor asked.

“I told him I was pregnant,” Ari said. “The first night I was there, he had prepared a gourmet meal and served prosecco. I didn’t drink it, and…I told him.” Ari explained Beck’s reaction, the strange day in Boston and at the ballet, Beck’s kindness, and his hesitation.

“I’m glad he needs to think things over,” Eleanor said. “You haven’t been together long—”

“What can I do?” Ari asked.

Eleanor thought a moment. “A man would have to be crazy or maybe slightly mental to say ‘Oh, my darling, I’ll marry you and be the father of your child’ when he’s known you only for, what, two months?”

“I know,” Ari agreed.

“So, we wait,” Eleanor said, her voice kind. “I have some news as well. No, it’s not about Silas. It’s about your mother. Cliff called me to say he was with her on a cruise to the St. Lawrence River.”

“That’s nice.”

“Wait. Cliff told me your mother has a…boyfriend.”

“What?”

“He doesn’t think they’ve…slept together yet. But she’s happy. I don’t know any more than that.”

Ari rubbed her eyes. “Am I dreaming?”

Eleanor said, “It’s confusing, I know.”

“It seems like my family is flying in all different directions,” Ari said.

“I’m here,” Eleanor told her. “I’ll always be here. And I think you’re tired.”

“I slept on the boat.”

“Still, you need to get away from your thoughts. And it’s very hot and humid outside. Let’s go into the library, turn on the air conditioner, and watch something by Alfred Hitchcock. Rear Window. Or The Birds.”

Ari nodded. “Anything but Vertigo. I’m having quite enough of that as it is.”

“Do you feel well enough to continue working at Beach Camp?” Eleanor asked.

“Oh, absolutely, Gram. I really enjoy it, and after a good night’s sleep, I’ll be fine.”

“I’m so glad. I was thinking, Ari…I’ve been checking the weather forecasts and it looks like we’ve got a nor’easter coming our way. Maybe Cal and the others would like to have Beach Camp here again this week.”

“Wow, that’s so nice of you.”

“I enjoyed having the children in my house, Ari. I miss hearing their laughter, their sweet voices.”

Ari studied her grandmother. “Do you get lonely out here, in the winter, when you’re by yourself?”

“Not lonely,” Eleanor answered. “And not bored. I have my routines and my friends. And of course I have my memories. If I want, I can look at photo albums, or the holiday videos Cliff made during the last few years. But seeing those small children…it makes me more optimistic about the future. About everything, really. And Cal. I like Cal and his family. They are making a difference in the world, and if I can help by having Beach Camp here on a rainy day, I’d love to do my own small bit.”

“You’re wonderful, Gram.”

“Maybe I’m just old and wise,” Eleanor replied, smiling.

Twenty-One

That week it rained every day. The air was humid, hard to breathe in. Eleanor was delighted to have the children from Beach Camp over again. When everyone was there, they had arts and crafts in the dining room. Then, when Gabriel asked if they could watch television, Eleanor said it was time to go outside and play in the sprinklers. With her hair whizzing around her head in the humidity, she looked like an enchantress, and the children were fascinated with her.

“But if we go out, we’ll get wet!” Sarita cried.

“Yes, and when you run through my sprinklers, you’ll get wet, too,” Eleanor told her. “Now take off your shoes and leave them under your chair. That way when you come in for lunch, you’ll know where to sit. If you want to, take off your shirts. I’ll have towels waiting for each of you when you come back in.”

The boys elbowed each other to get out the door first. The girls followed, some happily, some reluctantly. Eleanor had hoses with sprinklers set out on three sides of the house. She’d bought a clever toy she’d found online that was a ball you could jump on and the hose would shoot a rubber frog up in the air. Cal, Sandy, and Ari, wearing raincoats, supervised the three groups of children, who shouted and laughed in the rain and the sprinklers.

When they finally came back into the house, chaos reigned while the adults got the children dried off and dressed in their dry tees. In the dining room, they found lunches on paper plates. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Chips. Grapes. Juice. Next, they all crawled under the table to sit with eyes closed while one child hid on the ground floor. After playing fifteen games of hide-and-seek, even the largest boy was yawning.

“Now, children,” Eleanor said. “It’s rest time. Let’s go into the living room—”

“I want to stay under the table,” a child yelled.

“Me, too!” cried another child.

Eleanor gave Ari a helpless look.

Ari was stern. “No, this is not the nap room. This is the lunch and arts room.”

Eleanor added, “Once you’ve settled down, I’ll give each of you a surprise that I think you’ll like very much.”

The children scrambled into the living room and dropped to the floor, wriggling and giggling. Eleanor opened the dining room sideboard and brought out a pile of small, colorful quilts. She saw Ari glance questioningly at Cal, who gave Ari a thumbs-up sign.

Eleanor leaned close to Ari and whispered, “I phoned Cal to get his permission.” She spoke in a stern voice when she spoke to the children. “Close your eyes,” Eleanor said. “Don’t open them until I say so.”

She walked among the children, stopping at each one to take a light quilt from the pile and place it gently on a child. The children were restless but for the most part kept their