Remembrance (23 page)

“Yes, like love, and children, and a good home, and—” Margaret Fullerton waved an impatient hand. She wanted to get the business done before Brad returned from downtown.

“You're a child, Serena. You don't understand. Now, we have some business to attend to, don't we?” She tried to sound forceful, but Serena stood up, her whole body shaking, and her voice choked with tears.

“No, we don't. You can't take him from me. I love him. And he loves me.”

“Does he? Don't you think he's just infatuated, Serena? And what will you do in a year or two if he grows tired of you? Will you divorce him, or let him divorce you? And what will you do then? You'll try and get the money you won't take from me now.”

“I will never want money from him.” She was shaking so hard, she could barely speak now, but the old woman had thought of this contingency too.

“Prove it. If you don't ever want money from him, Serena, prove it.”

“How? By running away? By killing my baby?” Serena was sobbing almost hysterically.

“No. By signing this.” She took another paper out of her handbag and handed it to Serena, who clenched it in her trembling hand and did not read it. She only stared at the woman she had come to hate so much in only two days. “It says that if Brad leaves you, or dies intestate, that you relinquish all right to any money from him, or from his estate, for you or any children you may have. What it basically says is that if you don't have him you don't want his money either. Will you sign that?” Serena looked at her with unveiled hatred. The woman had thought of everything.

But this time Serena nodded. “Yes, I will sign it, because if he leaves me, I don't want his money anyway. I only want him.”

“Then sign it.” It wasn't what she had wanted. She had wanted to get rid of the girl for good, but failing that, at least this way she knew that Brad was protected, and in time she could work on him. He couldn't stay married to the girl forever, no matter how pretty she was. For the moment she was young, but in a few years he would tire of her. And perhaps by then he would be tired of the army too. It wasn't too late after all, he was only thirty-four. And in the meantime she had Greg to take care of. She had time to wait for Brad to get rid of this girl. As she watched, Serena signed the paper with trembling fingers, and handed it back to her mother-in-law. A moment later Margaret Fullerton left the room and before she went, she turned to Serena with a look of determination. “This paper is legal, Serena. You won't be able to overturn it. As long as you're not married to him any longer, either widowed or divorced, you won't get a dime from him, or from us. Even if he wants to give you something. I'll have this, and that will stop him. You can't take anything from him now.”

“I never wanted to.”

“I don't believe that.” And with those words, she turned and closed the door.

Serena almost stumbled to the bed, and lay down on it, and once again, as they had the night before, the sobs came and shook her whole body until she lay in bed feeling spent.

When Brad returned from downtown, he was horrified at how pale and exhausted Serena looked. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and she was obviously feeling very ill.

“Sweetheart, what happened?” As she had the night before, she had decided not to tell him. It seemed the final betrayal to her to tell him about what his mother had done. It was something between her and Margaret Fullerton. She would never tell Brad.

“I don't know. Perhaps it's the change of water or climate. I've been feeling very ill.”

“You've been crying?” He looked upset.

“Only because I didn't feel well.” She smiled wanly at him.

He shook his head slowly, dismayed at how worn she looked. “I think I should call the doctor.”

“Brad, don't.” He gave in to her finally, but he was still distressed half an hour later when he went downstairs to make her a cup of tea himself and he found Teddy in the kitchen, making himself a sandwich.

“Can I make you one too?” Brad shook his head as he put the kettle on to boil. “What's up?”

“I'm worried about Serena. She hasn't looked right since last night.”

Teddy suddenly looked worried too. “Something happen today?”

“Not that I know of. But I just got back from lunch, and she looks awful. She looks like she's been crying since I left, and she's pale and shaky.” He smiled sheepishly at his brother. “You don't know enough about all that yet to tell anything by taking a look at her, do you? I wanted to call Mother's doctor for her, but she won't let me. I'm afraid she might have a miscarriage or something.”

“Is she having cramps?”

“She didn't say so. Do you suppose that's why she's been crying? Maybe she knows something's wrong and she doesn't want to tell me.” He looked suddenly panicked, as the water for her tea started to boil. “I'm going to call the doctor.”

“Now, calm down.” Teddy took the kettle from him and set it back on the stove. “Why don't you ask her first. Find out if she has cramps or she's had any bleeding.”

“Oh, Christ.” Brad looked pale at the thought. “If something ever happened to her or the baby …”He didn't dare finish the thought, but Teddy put a hand on his arm.

“Nothing is going to happen to Serena, or the baby either, most likely. So just stop getting yourself worked up. Why don't you go upstairs and see how she's doing, and I'll bring her tea up in a second. All right?” Brad looked at him with immeasurable affection.

“You know something, you're even better than you were as a kid. You're going to be some doctor, Teddy.”

“Shut up. You're embarrassing me. Now go take care of your wife. I'll be right up.” But a few minutes later, on his way up, Teddy ran into his mother in the hallway.

“Where are you off to? And drinking tea? Good Lord, that's a new one!” She smiled at him in amusement.

“It's for Serena. Brad says she doesn't feel well.” He had been about to make light of it, but as he said the words he saw his mother's face.

“Well.” He decided not to stall any longer. “I'll let you know if she needs to see a doctor.”

“Do that.” But she had asked not a single question as to how Serena was.

Teddy knocked on the door of their bedroom, and Brad pulled it open quickly and stepped aside.

“Something wrong?” He could see the look in Teddy's eyes, but the younger brother only shook his head and covered his own concern with a smile.

“No. Nothing. How's she feeling?”

“Better, I think. Maybe she's right. Maybe she's just exhausted.” He lowered his voice, she was combing her hair in the bathroom. “She says she hasn't had cramps or bleeding, so maybe she's all right. But Christ, Ted, I'd swear she'd been crying all morning.” The conversation was cut short as Serena emerged from the bathroom, looking radically different than she had half an hour before. Her hair was combed, her face washed, her eyes were bright, and she was smiling at Teddy, with her pink satin robe wrapped around her, and little fluffs of pink slippers peeking beneath the hem.

“My God, Serena, you look gorgeous.” He kissed both her cheeks, took her hands, and sat down next to her on the foot of the bed. “Brad said you weren't feeling so hot, but you look terrific to me.” And then with an almost professional air that made his brother smile, remembering when he had been a nine-year-old terror breaking windows, “Are you feeling all right, Serena? You have us both worried.”

“I'm fine.” She shook her head emphatically, but as she did so her eyes filled with tears, and a moment later, as though she couldn't stop herself, she reached out to Brad and sobbed in his arms. She was mortified at the scene she was creating, but she was unable to stop, and he looked at his brother over her shoulder in desperation, until at last the sobs subsided and she blew her nose in the handkerchief Teddy handed her. He patted her hand gently with a smile and looked into her eyes when she turned toward him.

“It happens to everyone sometimes, you know, Serena. You've had a lot of new experiences in the past few days, a lot of new people, it's a lot to handle. Even if you weren't pregnant, I think it might wear you out.”

“I'm sorry.” She shook her head and dried her tears again. “I feel so stupid.”

“You shouldn't.” He handed her the cup of tea, then Teddy looked up at his older brother, cocked his head to one side, and gave him a boyish grin. “If I promise not to play doctor with her, do you think you could leave us alone for a minute, Big Brother?” But he had such a disarming way of asking that there was no way Brad could resist. He nodded after a moment, and slipped out the bedroom door, promising to be back in a few minutes with two more cups of tea. Teddy waited until he knew his brother would have reached the stairs and then he turned toward Serena again. He took her hand in his own and looked into her eyes. “I want to ask you something, Serena, and I'd like to know the truth. I swear I won't tell Brad.” He had already guessed that if what he suspected was true she wasn't going to tell him. “Will you tell me the truth?”

She nodded slowly. She felt no need to be on her guard with Teddy. Even more so than with Brad, whom she wanted to protect.

“Does my mother have anything to do with your being upset?”

She hesitated and bumbled, and blushed furiously as she pulled her hand away from his and began to walk around the room. All of her actions gave her away at once as he watched her.

“Did she come to see you today, Serena?”

“Yes.” She turned to him quickly. “But just to see how I felt before she went out to lunch.”

She was playing the same game as his mother and he knew it, but he decided to call Serena's bluff. “She didn't go out to lunch today, Serena. And she told me that she hadn't seen you at all. So both of you are lying.” He looked at her pointedly, but without accusation. “Why?” It was a simple open question, and when she saw the look in his eyes, she began to cry again.

“I can't tell you.”

“I already told you that I wouldn't tell Brad.”

“But I can't … it would—” She sat down on the bed and began to sob again and this time it was Teddy who took her in his arms. She felt so soft and warm and delicate against him that it almost took his breath away as he held her. For a mad moment he wanted to tell her that he loved her, but he remembered all too quickly that this wasn't why he was holding her in his arms.

“Serena … tell me … I swear I'll help you. But I have to know.”

“There's nothing you can do. It's just that—” She paused and then blurted it out. “She hates me.”

“That's ridiculous.” He smiled into her hair. “What makes you think that?”

And then suddenly, for no reason except that she trusted him, she decided to tell him about the confrontation the night before, the awful contract, and finally the paper she had signed.

“You signed it?”

She nodded. “Yes. What difference does it make? If he leaves me, I don't want his money anyway. I'll take care of the baby myself.”

“Oh, Serena.” He gave her a hug. “But that's crazy. You'd have a right to support for you and the child. And if he dies—” Serena stopped him with her eyes. She wouldn't even hear about it.

Teddy wanted only to ease her pain. “He'd never leave you and the baby unprovided for. But what a stinking thing to do.” He stared miserably at Serena, “Welcome to the family, love. Sweet, isn't it? Christ.” He looked at her again and then put his arms around her. “Poor baby.” And then with a serious look in his eyes he looked down at her gently with an odd smile. “If anything ever does happen to him, Serena, and he doesn't have a will, I'll take care of you and your children, I promise.”

“Don't be silly …” And then with a little shudder, “Don't talk about that.” She looked at him gently then. “But thank you.”

“I do think you should tell Brad though.”

“I can't.”

“Why not?”

“It would make him furious with his mother.”

“As well he should be.”

She shook her head again. “I can't do that, to either of them.”

“You're crazy, Serena. She deserves it. That was a stinking, sick, rotten thing to do.” But he didn't have a chance to go any further, Brad had just opened the door and came in carrying a tray with three fresh cups of tea.

“How's my wife? Any better?”

“Much.” She answered before Teddy could. “And your brother is going to make an excellent doctor. He took my pulse and just from that, he told me I was pregnant.”

“What's the prognosis?”

“At least twins. Possibly triplets.”

But Brad could still see that his brother was worried, and despite the bravado and the gaiety it was obvious that Serena was still troubled. A moment later, when she went to the bathroom, he looked at Teddy. “Well? Do you think I should call the doctor?”

“You want to know what I think? I think that the minute Greg marries that little bitch tomorrow, you two should get the hell out of New York and go somewhere healthy and pretty and just take it easy. She's been through a lot just getting here, from what you've said, and from what I gather from her. Just get her out of New York, away from the family, and go relax with her somewhere before you settle down in San Francisco.”

Brad looked thoughtful. “That might be good advice. I'll think about it, Teddy.”

“Don't think about it. Do it. And my other advice is not to leave her alone here for a second.”

“You mean in New York?” Brad looked surprised.

“I mean even in this apartment. She needs you every minute. She's in a strange country, with strange people, and she's more scared than she lets on. Besides which, she's pregnant, which is emotionally difficult for some women in the beginning. Just be there with her, Brad. All the time. I think that's what happened today. She just got upset, and you weren't around to turn to.”

It sounded unusual for Serena, but Brad was willing to buy it. She had certainly fallen apart radically that morning in his absence, and there was no other way to explain it.

“What are you two plotting?” Serena emerged again with a suspicious look directed at Teddy, but from the look in his eyes and the obvious calm on Brad's face she knew that he hadn't betrayed her.

“I was telling your husband to take you on a honeymoon right away, like tomorrow.”