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

The way he’d reacted when she told him she was pregnant made her nearly weak with relief that she hadn’t gone through with the wedding. That he was already in a relationship with someone else reassured her. The truth was, Ari thought, she would rather live out her life as a single mother than married to Peter just because he was the biological father of her baby. Oh, what a sad marriage that would be.

Slowly she strolled back down the pier, pausing to admire the great cruise ships in port, searching to find her mother and father. When she caught sight of them, she saw that they were arguing. As she watched, she realized a kind of force field kept her parents together so that even as they fought, they were two halves of a whole. They were joined not only by the laws of marriage and the passage of time and the parenting of a child but by an invisible yet unbreakable bond that held them together even as they struggled to be apart.

Ari put her hands on her belly. Here was another invisible bond. She hadn’t asked or reached for this baby growing inside her. She hadn’t knowingly chosen to begin this new person. She was well aware that whoever it was curled up like a little fox in a nest would bring her pain and joy and anxiety and as many arguments, if not more, than she’d had with her parents. She knew that it would change the course of her life and the core of her existence. She wasn’t completely happy about this. She was completely terrified.

And she couldn’t wait to see her baby’s face.

This time when she checked, she found her parents in the middle of a crowd. Her mother was pressed against her father. They were holding each other tight, as if they would never let the other leave again.

—

When they reached the rental car, Ari’s mother stiffened. “This is a rental car,” she said.

“It is,” Ari’s father said. “We picked it up at the airport when we flew in from Nantucket.”

The three of them were standing near the trunk of the car.

“You flew in from Nantucket,” Alicia said, frowning.

“We did,” Phillip said calmly.

“You were on Nantucket.” It was a statement and a warning.

Ari stepped a few feet away as if she was suddenly fascinated by the sky.

“I was there to speak with Eleanor and with Ari,” Phillip said. “We’ll drive the rental car to Wellesley and then Ari can return it to the rental dealer in Hyannis when she returns to Nantucket.”

“Are you returning to Nantucket?” Alicia asked her husband.

“Not unless you go with me,” Phillip said.

That seemed to satisfy Alicia. She got into the front seat of the car, Ari got into the backseat, the child’s place, and her father sat in the driver’s seat. Ari could tell by looking at the backs of her parents’ necks that they had somehow exited the zone of happy endings and gone backward into the muddle of the situation.

It was a long drive to Wellesley, with lots of traffic and stoplights.

“Who was the woman waiting for Uncle Cliff?” Ari asked.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” Alicia said smugly.

“Mom!” Ari kicked the back of her mother’s seat.

“Don’t act like you’re ten years old,” Alicia said.

I could say the same to you, Ari thought, but kept quiet. She wanted her mother to be in a good mood.

In this part of Boston, cars were double-parked everywhere. Taxis and delivery trucks honked. Lights turned red with diabolical timing. Ari’s father had to concentrate, checking his side mirror and rearview mirror constantly.

The silence grew uncomfortable. Alicia asked, “How is Mother?”

Ari spoke up. “She’s really good. I think she might even have a boyfriend.”

Alicia craned her head to look at her daughter’s face. “Eleanor has a boyfriend?”

“Yes,” Ari said. “He lives on the island. His wife died a few years ago. They were all friends. Silas Stover.”

“I remember Silas Stover!” Alicia said with a lilt in her voice. “He’s nice and very well-off.”

“Oh, Mom, stop it.”

“Stop what?” Alicia said innocently.

“You think Eleanor is going to marry Silas and sell the house.”

“Did I say that’s what I was thinking?” Alicia began to rummage around in her purse. “Where did I put my lip balm? I think I’ve gotten addicted to it. If I don’t wear it constantly—oh, here it is.” She pulled down the visor and looked at herself as she carefully applied the balm.

They rode a few moments in silence. Finally, Ari said, “I’m fine, thank you. Three and a half months pregnant now. I finished my job at Beach Camp and I’m planning to take courses online for the fall semester.” She could see in the visor that her mother’s lips tightened.

“So you told your father, I hear.” Alicia sounded displeased.

Phillip spoke up. “Yes. We haven’t been able to organize any plans but I think Ari should live with us and have the baby at Mass General.”

“I’m going to stay with Gram,” Ari said.

“That’s wonderful!” Alicia said.

“That’s not going to happen,” Phillip stated firmly.

“Nantucket has a perfectly fine maternity unit,” Alicia told him.

“She needs to be at Mass General in case there’s a problem.”

“You say that simply because you work at Mass General,” Alicia said.

“That may be true, but it’s also true that our maternity department is one of the best in the country. Also, that will make it easier for Ari to get home as soon as she can.”

“Home?” Alicia asked with iron in her voice. “For the last four years Ari has either been at school or on Nantucket. You and I have started a whole new life. You are working and I’ve made commitments to several charitable organizations, not to mention our social obligations. How do you expect me to take care of Ari? Do you remember how weak I was after Ari’s birth? I had to have a hysterectomy, I had to have so many stitches,