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

“This spring we took our relationship to a new level,” Cliff said very formally, sounding much like his father, and he turned stoplight red.

“But why didn’t you tell us you had a girlfriend?” Ari asked.

“We wanted the time to be right,” Judith answered.

“Plus, this family had so much stuff already going on,” Cliff added.

“This family will always have something going on,” Phillip murmured.

“Did you tell Judith’s family?” Eleanor asked, trying not to sound childish.

“We did,” Judith replied. “We flew out to Jackson Hole in July to tell them—”

“Your family lives in Jackson Hole?” Alicia asked, eyes wide.

“They don’t live there full-time but they have a house there,” Judith told her.

Alicia looked at Phillip. They shared a smile.

Eleanor took Cliff’s hand and for a moment they were a circle of three. Three and a half, counting Eleanor’s growing grandchild. “I’m extremely proud of you, and happy for you both.” She paused and said with her own mischievous grin, “Well, maybe happier for Cliff than for you, Judith. You do know you have a rogue on your hands.”

“I’m never a rogue when I’ve got Judith, Mom,” Cliff insisted.

“He wasn’t a rogue at all when we went on the cruise together,” Alicia said proudly. “He talked about Judith all the time, at least all the time he wasn’t talking to her on his phone.”

“Sit down,” Eleanor told the couple. She sat. “Tell us everything.”

“Congratulations, Judith and Cliff,” Phillip said formally.

“When is your baby due? You look about two months further along than I am,” Ari said.

“What legal firm?” Phillip asked.

Eleanor leaned back in her chair, sighed deeply, and simply listened and watched. Now she understood why Cliff had asked her if his father had enjoyed being a parent the day he came to the house earlier in the summer to put Eleanor’s air conditioner in the window. She saw how her son beamed when he looked at his wife, and when Cliff turned to Eleanor with a proud “Hey, Mom, look what I’ve done!” expression, Eleanor raised her glass to salute him. From a nearby chair, Alicia leaned forward to describe in detail how Cliff had told her first about Judith. Eleanor listened with joy in her heart for her children, her son and her daughter, who had kept secrets from her, as if they had become the very best of friends. But when had this happened? When had they become so close? Eleanor hoped it wasn’t simply because they were allies, trying to get her to sell the house. She thought maybe it was because with Phillip’s infidelity, it was the first time in his life that Cliff was able to take care of his older sister.

That evening, after all the good food and champagne and chat and laughter, when Alicia and Phillip were tucked away down the hall in a second-floor guest bedroom and Cliff had gone back to the hotel with Judith and Ari was off somewhere with Beck, then, finally, Eleanor slid into the welcoming comfort of her bed. She was exhausted.

Shadow slunk out from under the bed, leapt up onto her quilt, and regarded her with exceeding disfavor. He wasn’t a fan of crowds. He’d been ignored and he was cranky about it.

“I know,” Eleanor told him. “It’s just for tonight.”

Shadow’s eyes told her that she was not forgiven. Still, he curled up next to her ankles and purred.

“Now I can’t change positions,” Eleanor told him. “You always get so offended if I move after you’ve gotten settled.”

Shadow didn’t twitch an ear.

From her bedside table, her landline rang. It was her best friend, home at last!

“I’m back!” Martha said.

“Oh, I’m so glad,” Eleanor told her. “I got your postcards. It all looks amazing.”

“It was amazing, Eleanor. Truly. Our cabin was out of this world, the entire ship was luxurious. You’ve got to come over. I bought a chapeau when we docked at Nice, and gorgeous shoes in Italy, and we drank the most heavenly wine in Santorini—oh, I can’t wait to show you the photos.”

“I can’t wait to see them,” Eleanor said. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

“How are you?” Martha asked. “Did you have a pleasant summer?”

“I’m not sure that ‘pleasant’ describes it,” Eleanor said, unable to hold back her laughter. And she told Martha about meeting Silas and Phillip’s affair and Alicia’s cruise and Ari’s pregnancy and Cliff’s surprise marriage and Judith’s pregnancy and the Eleanor Sunderland Beach Camp Foundation. Finally, she told Martha that she’d sold the bluff house and was moving into town, next door to Silas.

Martha was speechless for a moment. Then she said, “Damn, I wish I’d been here this summer!”

—

Beck had come to the island for his family’s Labor Day party, too. Later, after darkness fell and Hen was playing Clue with her parents, Michelle slipped out to see her fiancé and Beck slipped out to meet Ari.

They sat at Brant Point, where the small round lighthouse blinked as boats and ferries rounded the corner into port. Ari was still wearing her lavender dress, and Beck wore white tennis shorts and a red and white striped button-down. They sat in the sand, leaning their backs against the white lighthouse, their knees pulled up to their chests as they watched the lights of boats twinkle in the slightly moving water.

“I have to leave tomorrow morning,” Beck said.

“Most of my family leaves tomorrow, too,” Ari told him. “Beck, I want to tell you something.”

“Let me tell you something first,” Beck said.

“Okay.”

“I’ve been invited to join a practice in Boston. It will be the same sort of work, with more patients and more office staff.”

“But your patients in Plymouth—”

“I’ll go down to Plymouth once a week to see them.” Beck shifted in the sand to focus on Ari. “This is an important move for me. I’m working on a paper with another behavioral therapist, about the consequences of videogames on children. We’re headed into a new world with all our electronics and we can’t go backward.”

Ari turned her face