“She probably did, it was just different. She was younger, so were we. It’s easier when they’re not your kids,” Liz answered.
“Maybe,” Phillip conceded, but he looked unconvinced. This was not the mother he had known. This was someone entirely different, riding on jet skis, laughing and playing. He couldn’t recall a single instance of seeing her this way when he was a boy. Although she’d been around more when they were younger, as they got older, she had been either tired, busy, or away. All he remembered was his own grandmother, and his father, and a mother he now realized he had never known. He had felt cheated all his life, and seeing her this way made him feel more so. If she had had this to give, why hadn’t she given it to them?
Only Liz seemed to realize that maybe she had been different then, and more pressured by what she was trying to build. Liz recognized too that maybe some part of her had grown in the meantime. Too late for them, but not too late for her grandchildren at least. And as far as Liz was concerned, Granibelle had given them all the mothering they needed. But Phillip had wanted it from his own mother, and still resented her for what she hadn’t been able to give, or hadn’t had time to.
“I think she’s mellowing as she gets older,” John added, and Phillip shook his head again.
“I haven’t seen that in the office.”
But at least they were seeing it now. That was something.
They looked into the shops briefly, and Amanda wandered into a shoe store, and then Hermès, and then they all went to dinner, at a small friendly restaurant, with strolling guitarists serenading the guests. They were given a table on the terrace, and took their places randomly. The grandchildren seated themselves around Olivia, and she chatted animatedly with them until they ordered dinner. The pasta was delicious, and it was after midnight when they stopped for a gelato and wandered back to the dock, where the tender was waiting for them. The castle and the church were lit up high on twin hills, just as Olivia had remembered, and a few minutes later they were taken back to the boat. As soon as they reached it, they saw that the crew had set out hundreds of floating candles on the water. They looked like they were floating in chrysanthemums, and they had done it so that they could swim at night. The young people squealed with delight as soon as they saw it, and went to their cabins to change, and the adults waited on deck. It was a beautiful sight, and Phillip and John ordered cognac, while Amanda and Sarah drank champagne. Liz had gone below to change with her girls. And Olivia settled happily in a chair to watch the action.
As soon as the kids appeared, they dove into the water off the loading deck, and swam between the candles in the warm water. Liz was in the water with them, looking like a kid herself, and for an instant Olivia was tempted to join them. Being with them was like drinking from the fountain of youth. She hadn’t had this much fun in years. And the two couples sat happily on deck nearby, chatting quietly and enjoying the romantic scene. They could still see the church and the castle in the distance, and the candles on the water were magical.
Sarah and John were the first to go below to their cabin, even before the young people came out of the water, and Phillip and Amanda followed a few minutes later. And when Liz and the kids came out of the water, Olivia was waiting for them.
“That was so much fun,” Liz said, breathless.
“It looked like it,” her mother said, smiling at her, and a moment later all the kids were around them, dripping water on the deck. They had decided to change and watch a movie. Their time together was one long party. Olivia loved being on the fringes of it, and so did Liz.
“Are you tired, Mom?” she asked her. It had been a long day for all of them, and she and her girls had only arrived that morning. The others had benefited from a good night’s sleep.
“Not in the least,” Olivia said, looking relaxed. “I think I’ll go to bed now, though,” she said as she stood up. She’d had a wonderful day with her