now, as if they were peers. She spoke it aloud, Giulietta, and tried to imagine saying it to her mother’s face. Finally she scribbled, “I can’t wait. Ciao, Eleanora.”
By midafternoon the mango shade extended to the deck of Toad Hall, where Vivian sat in her wheelchair crocheting an aqua baby blanket for the church jumble sale. Els passed around sweet iced tea and a plate of biscuits.
“Doc Lytton would scold me,” Vivian said. “Find me a lemon crème, Husband.”
“What we celebratin’?” Finney popped a jam tot into his mouth.
Eulia walked up the hill from the house, Peanut in tow. She carried herself in a square-shouldered, fluid way now, and the cropped hair from her Resort days had given way to a crown of braids.
Peanut threw himself at Els, and she kissed his forehead and offered him the biscuits. He took one in each hand, looked up at Eulia, and put one back.
“My mum is arriving Monday week,” Els said. “I need all of you to help me get through her visit.”
“She some kind of dragon lady?” Eulia asked.
“It’s one of the possibilities.”
“How long she stayin’?” Finney asked.
“No clue,” Els said. “I’ve booked her a week at Oualie.” She swirled her tea. “She’s Italian, so I hope she’s into food. Vivian and Eulia, maybe you can show her some of your specialties. Finney, would you take her snorkeling?”
“You sure she up to that?”
“She’s only fifty-four. I believe she swims.”
Vivian drew herself straighter. “Husband, it’s time we gave Els back her cottage.”
“Nonsense,” Els said. “I might want to keep a little distance between Mum and me.” A kestrel swooped down over the court and rose with a gecko in its talons. “She’s been mentally unbalanced in the past. I’ve no idea what to expect.”
“Nevis can have a calming power over people,” Vivian said. “You know that yourself, Els.”
“I need more than calm,” Els said. “I need answers.”
The sight of Jack leaning against the kitchen sink made her drop the container of ice cream. Susie flattened her ears and skirted where he stood, but darted over to investigate the windfall. Els shooed her away and put the container on the table.
“I can’t wait to meet that mother of yours,” he said.
“You stay away from her,” she said. “She might be receptive too. The idea of the two of you conspiring is beyond unnerving.”
“Then I can’t wait to see you meet that mother of yours.”
“I’m having dreams—nightmares—about it,” she said, watching a moth circle the candle. “The last one wasn’t even the scariest, but it was the most vivid and coherent.”
She recounted being in Iguana’s cockpit with Liz and her mother, a Sophia Loren look-alike with big sunglasses and an ample bosom filling out her string bikini. The sea was angry, the wind blustery. Something popped and the sails began to flap. Liz shinnied up the mast and fixed whatever had broken, and when he swung back down, Giulietta gave him a sexy kiss and called him her hero and he was smiling. Giulietta put her hand on Liz’s naked chest and said, “Bellissimo.” She grabbed Els’s hair, dragged her to the rail, threw her overboard, and yelled, “You don’t deserve him.” The wind filled the sails and Iguana sped away, leaving her alone in the heaving sea.
“She may be a piece of work,” Jack said, “but I doubt she’s traveling halfway around the world to drown you.”
“She could turn Liz against me,” she said. “Or bring out my inner bitch so that I drive him off myself.”
“When are you going to give Liz any credit? That boy’s one determined SOB when he sets his heart on something.” He stepped toward the door and started to vaporize.
“Don’t leave yet,” she said. “I need to talk to you about Liz.”
“You need to talk to Liz about Liz.”
The candle flame flattened when a gust of wind knocked it sideways, but no breeze stirred the mango leaves outside the door. She thought she saw a shape moving in the garden. When she looked out, all was still and empty.
“I would,” she called, “if he would ever stay home for more than a heartbeat.” She opened the near-empty carton of ice cream, ate a runny spoonful, and set the rest down for Susie.
CHAPTER 38
On the day Giulietta was to arrive, Els returned from grocery shopping in Charlestown to find her mother asleep in Jack’s big chair, her bare feet on the ottoman and a half-finished glass of white wine at her elbow. Els studied her: hair a shade