The Sins of the Mother (35 page)

But the moment was painful for them all. They all cried as they stood around the casket, in the small chapel. There were white roses and orchids all around that Olivia had ordered, and a heavy scent of flowers in the air. And Olivia broke down in Liz’s arms, at the enormous sorrow of losing her wonderful mother. And then she knelt and said a few moments of prayers, as they fell silent, heavily impacted by the sudden awareness that this was all too real. Granibelle was gone.

They were somber and silent when they got back to the house, and discussed what to do next. The funeral was in two days and they decided to stay in Bedford together, before they disbanded. Phillip, John, and Olivia had a phone meeting with the office, and everything was in control. This was a family time and none of them wanted to leave until after Maribelle’s funeral.

And Peter came out to visit Olivia that evening after work.

“How are you holding up?” He was worried about her. He knew it was a terrible shock and an enormous loss, and there had been no preparation since she hadn’t been ill or failing.

“I’m all right,” she said with a sad look, and he put an arm around her and held her gently. “It’s nice having Cass home. My mother would love that. I just wish she hadn’t died to make it happen.” She smiled through her tears, as he held her hand with an arm still firmly around her shoulders.

“I’m so sorry, Olivia.”

“I know you are.” He patted her hand. He stayed long enough to see all the others and extend his condolences to them. Everyone was pleasant with him, and Phillip was polite, and then Peter left. And that night they had dinner together again. As much as a wake for her mother, Olivia felt as though it was a celebration to welcome Cassie home. She seemed surprisingly comfortable with her siblings and even her mother after being away for so long, and she was catching up on all the family news, and telling them a little about her life, which was very different from theirs. Her nieces and nephew were in awe of her and thought she was very cool. She hadn’t seen them since they were children, and she was impressed by how grown up they were.

The next day they received visitors at the funeral home who came to pay their respects. And the following day was the funeral, which was beautiful and elegant and deeply sad. Olivia had selected the music she knew her mother would have wanted, including Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” which was the essence of her—light and beautiful and happy and effervescent. And after the minister, each of Olivia’s children spoke about Maribelle from the pulpit. Phillip went first and told wonderful stories about his grandmother, remembered from his youth, and how she had taught him to play poker when he had his tonsils out when he was six. Liz threaded beautiful stories about her grandmother, and John explained how she had loved art and encouraged him to be an artist and be himself. And then Cass went up to the front of the church solemnly, in a plain black dress, black stockings, high heels, and a hat with a small black veil. She looked striking as she stood there and told stories that reduced them all to tears. She was a powerful speaker and a beautiful woman, and her love of her grandmother and how important she had been to her were evident in every word she said. As Olivia listened to her, she realized that her baby was all grown up, and had turned into a remarkable person who had tremendous powers of drawing people to her and focusing their attention. And what was evident to her too, as she listened to each of her children speak, was how much of a mother Maribelle had been to each of them when Olivia couldn’t be herself. She had filled in for her and given them something Olivia never could have, and she felt guilty and grateful all at once. It made her feel very small and insignificant and brought the point home to her all over again of what a remarkable person her mother had been and what an enormous loss for them all. As the family filed out behind the casket in the recessional, to the sounds of Beethoven, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

They went to the family plot afterward and had a small service with only the family present, and then they went home to the two hundred people who had gathered there to mingle and lend their support. Peter stood close to Olivia most of the time, without intruding, and she was grateful for his comforting presence. Her children saw people they hadn’t seen in years, and Cass was welcomed back by all who knew her. Amanda had been at the funeral in a serious black Chanel suit, but had had the good taste not to come to the house. Phillip thanked her for coming on the way out, and she looked moved by the service too. She was human after all.

And when everybody finally left, the family collapsed into chairs. They looked exhausted. It had been an emotional few days, and a beautiful funeral for the mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother they all loved so much. There had been a lovely photograph of her on the funeral program, she was laughing and looked as joyous and mischievous as she had been. They all looked worn out. And Liz was organizing a big pasta dinner, left for them by the caterer for that night. They had served champagne and hors d’oeuvres after the funeral, but Phillip admitted that he was starving now.

“Let’s get out of our black clothes,” Olivia suggested. “We need to lighten up a little. Granibelle wouldn’t like us being so sad.” Peter had left with the others, and Phillip had spoken to Taylor dozens of times in the past few days. He couldn’t wait to see her now. They were all leaving in the morning, after one last night together, and the next day, Olivia, Phillip, and John were going back to work, and Cass, Sophie, and Carole were leaving to go back to the cities they had arrived from. It had been an intense family time.

And dinner that night had all the exuberance and excited chatter that had been so typical of Maribelle herself. The pasta was delicious and the wine and conversation flowed.

They all toasted Maribelle, and then Phillip tapped his glass with a spoon and said he had an announcement to make. All heads turned toward him, wondering what it was. He was a little tipsy from the wine, but they all were. It had been an intense few days and they needed relief from it now.

“I’m in love with a wonderful woman and I’m going to marry her when I get divorced.” A cheer rose from the crowd, and Liz said loudly, “Goodbye, Amanda!” and they all laughed, and then she went next. It reminded Olivia suddenly of when they were children and made outrageous announcements at the table. She had an instant sense that her mother would have loved this and would have joined in with some outrageous announcement of her own. They were a lively group and carried away in the moment, with love for each other.

“I sold my book for a fortune,” Liz announced, and Sarah managed not to roll her eyes although she looked momentarily pained, “and I think I’m dating my agent, although I’m not entirely sure. He’s British and very handsome and aristocratic. But I am sure I sold the book!” she said, and they all laughed. Her not being certain if she was dating Andrew was so typical of her.

“Tell us when you know,” Phillip shouted across the table, and they all laughed again, with her but not at her. Liz was rarely sure of anything, for most of her life.

Alex got in the spirit of it then, looked around at his family, and spoke up in a clear voice. “And I’m gay. And I
am
sure,” he said, laughing, as even his mother smiled, and everyone else chuckled, and both his cousins, seated on either side of him, patted him on the back for being so brave and coming out. No one at the table looked upset, not even his parents, and Alex looked pleased.

And then Cass stunned them all. Her return to the fold had been heartwarming and surprising enough. She could have flown in for the funeral, kept to herself, and left right afterward. Instead she had been with them for three days, like everyone else. And she seemed to have enjoyed it too. She had spent hours talking to her sister and mother, and trying to get to know her nieces and nephew, and had been a good sport about her two older brothers teasing her, as they always had.

Cass’s announcement topped them all.

“I’m having a baby. I’m pregnant. I just found out. And I’m keeping it. And I’m not marrying Danny Hell. He’s the father. I’m having it in June. And I’m sure too.” They all stared at her openmouthed for a minute, and then the conversation at the table exploded again as they all congratulated her, and her mother looked at her with a long, slow smile of approval. She didn’t care that she wasn’t getting married, she had come that far into modern times. She was just happy that her daughter had healed enough from the wounds of her childhood to want a child of her own.

“I’m thrilled,” Olivia said in a clear, strong voice, raised her glass to her daughter, and blew her a kiss.

“And as the oldest of the grandchildren,” Sophie said, taking over the floor, “we love you, but we think you’re all a little nuts. You’re supposed to be our role models, Uncle Phillip is getting divorced and remarried five minutes later, Mom can’t figure out if she’s dating her agent or not, which is pretty typical of her, and means she probably is. And Aunt Cassie is having a baby and not getting married, and it will probably be born with a tattoo. You’re terrific, guys, and we love you. Thank you for being our family.” They laughed uproariously, and everyone talked at once to Cass about her baby and congratulated her again. Olivia wondered what had changed her mind and made her decide to have a baby, but whatever it was, it seemed like a good thing to her, and she knew her mother would have been thrilled.

And as a final tribute to Maribelle, they all played cards until three o’clock in the morning, drank a lot of wine, and reluctantly went to bed.

They were a sober group the next morning at breakfast, ready to go back to their own lives, but in the bittersweet way of real life, the three days they had spent together had been wonderful and beautiful, happy and sad. And before they disbanded, Olivia invited them all to return for Thanksgiving. It would be sad for all of them this year without Maribelle, but Olivia wanted them to be together.

“And that means your significant others too,” Olivia said precisely. “Phillip, you’re welcome to bring Taylor. Liz, if you decide you’re dating your agent, you can bring him. And Cassie darling, I would be honored if you bring Danny. He’s the father of my next grandchild, after all.” There were tears in her eyes when she said it, and Cass hugged her mother before she left.

“Thank you, Mom, for everything.”

“Thank
you
, and take care of yourself and the baby.”

“I will. I just hope I don’t screw up his or her life. I’m as busy as you were.”

“You won’t make the same mistakes I did,” she said gently. “You’re going to be a wonderful mother.” Cassie hugged her again, and then went out to the limo that was waiting to take her to the airport. The tour had moved on to Houston, and she was meeting Danny there.

They had all agreed to come back for Thanksgiving, and it was only six weeks away. When everyone had left, Olivia rode into the city, to go to her office. She felt as though she’d been away for a year. And she already missed her mother. She had so much to tell her. So much had happened in the past few days, but somehow she had the feeling that her mother knew it already, and wouldn’t have been surprised. They were the children she had brought up, to be their own people, and follow their hearts, use their heads, and always be honest and brave. They were the same lessons she had taught Olivia, and they had served her well.

Chapter 23

T
he weeks before Thanksgiving were full for all of them. Phillip was in constant contact with his lawyers over Amanda’s increasingly unreasonable demands. She was still threatening to try and overturn their pre-nup, although his lawyers insisted she didn’t have a chance. She was using the threat to try and increase the settlement and alimony he gave her, and he finally gave her the city house just to move things ahead. He didn’t want to live there with Taylor anyway, but he was keeping the cottage in the Hamptons. His lawyers were telling him the divorce would take about a year. And he and Taylor were happy in the meantime. All was going well with them.

John had his art show shortly after Maribelle’s funeral and Liz, Phillip, and Olivia went. He had chosen some of his best work, and by the end of the evening, everything had sold.

And after she got back from her grandmother’s funeral, Liz had had dinner with Andrew Shippers several times. They alternated her coming into the city for dinner, with his coming out to the farmhouse in Connecticut, which he was slowly helping her to fix up. He enjoyed working on it with her when he spent weekends with her. They were sliding into a relationship that worked well for both of them. And news of her girls was good. Sophie was excited about getting her degree and moving back to the city, and Carole was working on her father’s latest movie and had decided to stay in L.A. She had finally found herself, and was a total West Coast girl. She had discovered her niche, and sounded as though she had grown up a lot in the past three months.

The relationship Liz was building with Andrew was exciting and fun for both of them. They were exactly the same age and had the same birthday, which he insisted was a sign that they were meant to be together, and for once in her life she felt confident and sure, and didn’t feel she was making a mistake. The sale of her book had given her new faith in herself as a writer, and being with Andrew gave her self-confidence as a woman. And the week before Thanksgiving, the dramatic agent he’d been talking to for months finally came through. They wanted to make a movie of her book. He waited until the weekend to tell her, and she screamed when he told her. She was hard at work on her new book, and now she was selling a movie. And as soon as he told her, they went straight to bed and made love, which they usually did as soon as he arrived. The sex between them was extremely good, but she had fallen in love with him too.

He lay propped up on one elbow afterward, looking at her and loving what he saw. He had never been as happy with anyone, and they had a lot in common, and enjoyed sharing the literary world.

“Tell me something. Are you sleeping with me because I sold your book, and now a movie, and you’re going to be very, very rich and famous because of me? Or because you find me irresistible?” he asked, teasing her as he always did. She loved that about him too.