The Gifted (17 page)

“Look, let me come over, just for five minutes. You’ll understand then,” she said. Her voice was ragged. “This isn’t just about Vince and me any more. Something’s happened that could affect the Racette-Hunter project.”

“All right,” I said. “I was just on my way out the door. Could you come over now?”

“I’ll be right there,” she said.

After I got Madeleine settled with a book upstairs in Taylor’s room, I came down to wait for Lauren. She arrived in less than fifteen minutes. She was wearing a form-fitting red wool coat, a black cashmere scarf, and knee-high leather boots with six-inch heels. As always, Lauren’s makeup and hair were immaculate, but even the most skilful application of concealer couldn’t hide the bruising around her eye. When Willie and Pantera came to check her out, Lauren patted them absently. Then, still wearing her coat and boots, she followed me into the living room and sat on the couch.

“Have you opened your e-mail this morning?” Lauren asked.

“No,” I said. “With Lena in the hospital, it’s been a little busy around here.”

“So you haven’t seen the video,” she said. “It was sent to every member of the Racette-Hunter working team. I’m amazed no one has called to ask me to resign yet.”

“Lauren, I can’t imagine what kind of video—”

“Just take a look.”

I went to our room and got my laptop. When I came back, Lauren patted the place beside her on the couch and I balanced the laptop on my knees and opened my e-mail. I scrolled down the list of senders and found only one
unfamiliar name: Supporters of Racette-Hunter. The subject line was “Serving the Community?” There was no message, only an attachment. I opened it and watched for a few seconds. It began with a close-up of a man’s erect penis. The camera travelled slowly up his body, lingering on his navel and nipples. I was hoping that when I saw the face it would not be one I recognized. But of course the man was Julian. He was sleepy-eyed and incredibly erotic. He reached up languidly, took the camera, and began filming Lauren, starting with her genitals, circling her breasts, finishing with a close-up of her mouth as she bent, laughing softly, to fellate him.

“Do you think Julian sent this to the members of the working team?” I said.

Her headshake was vehement. “No. Not a chance. Julian wanted me to erase it as soon as we were finished.”

“Well, if Julian didn’t, who else would have had access to your camera?”

Lauren’s lovely face was knifed with pain. “It must have been Vince,” she said. “I don’t remember where I left the camera. But if Vince found it, he would have wanted to see what was on it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “Why would Vince want people to see you having sex with another man? He was devastated when he found out.”

“Maybe,” Lauren said wearily, “but from the moment he walked into that bedroom, it was game on. Vince caught me having sex with Julian. Point for him. Vince punched me. Point for me.” Her fingers touched her cheekbone. “Vince sends people whom I respect a sex video of Julian and me, and thus scores the winning point. Now anyone who looks at my face will think I got what I deserved. My whole life is crumbling,” she said. “Zack has to convince Vince to talk to me.”

“Are you hoping for a reconciliation?” I said.

“No. I only want to be with Julian. He’s the only man I’ve ever loved. The night of my birthday party at the club, I knew that Julian was my last chance. I’m forty-five years old.”

“Lauren, numbers are just numbers. I’m fifty-seven. The best years of my life have been since Zack and I met. I was fifty-four then.”

“And Zack was rich,” Lauren said. “Don’t leave that particular factor out of your equation. Julian will never earn the kind of money Zack and Vince do. I need Vince to take care of me the way I’ve been taking care of him.”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“And I can’t explain,” Lauren said. “Zack
has
to convince Vince to talk to me.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to him. That’s all I can do,” I said.

I walked Lauren to the elevator. She was a wan figure. I searched for words of comfort. “Lauren, this will pass,” I said. “You’re in for a couple of weeks of misery, but after that people move on to their own concerns. Nothing lasts forever.”

“Let’s hope,” she said, but she didn’t sound convinced.

When I went back inside to get Madeleine, I noticed that Lauren had left behind her scarf. I picked it up and folded it. The scent of her perfume clung to the cashmere. Lauren was a woman who had everything and nothing. I was worried about her and I was grateful she’d left her scarf behind. Returning it would give me an excuse to check up on her later in the day.

When Madeleine and I arrived in Lena’s hospital room, Zack was already there, in full flourish, reading
Charlotte’s Web
. He had an actor’s voice, large and warm, and he brought genuine feeling to Fern Arable’s plea that her father spare the life of the runt of the piglet litter.

Zack greeted us with mock formality. “We have visitors, Lena,” he said. “We’ll have to resume our story later.”

Lena’s face pinched with concern. “Does Fern’s father kill the piglet?”

“The piglet lives,” Zack said.

Lena beamed. “Cool.” Her cast looked very large and she looked very small, but her colour was good, and she was obviously excited to see her sister. “I’ve been thinking. Tomorrow when you take Maddy to school, can you go to my classroom and tell Madame LePage and everyone in my class what happened to me? They’ll probably want to make me a giant card. That’s what we did when Emily H. broke her leg.”

“I’ll tell them.” Madeleine went to her sister and touched the cast tentatively. “Does your arm hurt?”

“Sometimes. The doctor says it’ll hurt less every day and I’ll be doing cartwheels by summer.” She looked into her sister’s face. “Maddy, could you get into bed with me?”

Madeleine climbed up next to her sister. “You can keep reading now, Granddad,” Lena said contentedly. And so, side by side, the girls listened as Zack read the story of Wilbur the pig and his amazing journey. When Lena’s eyes grew heavy, she wriggled farther under the covers and fell asleep. Madeleine slid out of bed. “Let’s go back to the condo for a while,” I said. “Your sister needs her rest. We can come back later.”

“Okay,” Madeleine whispered, and she picked up her coat.

“Granddad and I need to talk for a minute,” I said. “We’ll just be out in the hall.”

Zack followed me into the corridor. “What’s up?”

“Lauren Treadgold paid me a visit just before Madeleine and I left for the hospital.”

“Did she tell you about the video of her getting it off with Julian?”

“We watched it together on my laptop.”

“That must have been grim.”

“It gets worse,” I said. “I asked Lauren about the chance of reconciliation. She was adamant. She’s in love with Julian.”

“He’s, what? Nineteen.”

“Yes, nineteen – young enough to be Lauren’s son. Zack, the day we had lunch Celeste told me that Julian is just one of many very young men with whom Lauren has been involved. Celeste wanted me to tell you so that Vince would have leverage when the time came to discuss the terms of the divorce.”

“And you decided to wait so we could have a nice weekend.”

“Yes,” I said. “But now it’s time to face facts. According to Lauren, Julian is the only man she’s ever loved, and she’s determined to have a life with him. This morning Lauren was frank about the fact that she’s going to need a very generous settlement from Vince to subsidize her life with Julian.”

“Jesus Christ,” Zack said. “Vince is a fair guy, and I know he’s planning to offer Lauren a decent settlement, but if she’s expecting a bundle she’s not going to get it. Especially now that the video of her and Julian having sex is making the rounds.”

I shook my head. “Lauren seems to think she has a secret weapon. She’s desperate to talk to Vince. She said, and I quote, ‘I need Vince to take care of me the way I’ve been taking care of him.’ ”

“Meaning?”

“Lauren said she couldn’t tell me. Zack, I promised her I’d ask you to have Vince get in touch with her.”

“I can do that,” Zack said.

Lena was awake when we went back into the room. “Maddy’s going to stay with me, Mimi.”

“That’s good. Now I’m going back to the condo, is there anything I can bring for any of you?”

Zack slapped his forehead. “Margot called. She has a present for Lena.”

“And, Mimi, we were wondering if you could please bring us some of those banana milkshakes you make.”

“I’m partial to those milkshakes, too,” Zack said.

“Duly noted,” I said.

Margot met me at the door with a gift bag. “This is a regift. Lena will understand. Make sure you tell her it’s for keeps.”

“Gotcha,” I said.

“I guess you heard the latest about Lauren Treadgold.”

“She came to see me this morning.”

“How’s she doing?”

“About as well as could be expected.”

“Between
BlueBoy21
and Lauren’s home movie, there’s not much of Julian Zentner we haven’t seen,” Margot said dryly.

“Agreed,” I said. “But I have a feeling that there’s a lot about Julian that we still don’t know.”

Margot sighed. “Poor Lauren. My mother used to say that there are people who are like broken glass. Get close to them and prepare to bleed. It seems Lauren is in that category. Tell Lena I’ll come by and see her tonight.”

“No, you won’t,” I said. “Hospitals are full of nasty bugs. Wait till Lena’s home and you two can visit to your heart’s content.”

Margot yawned. “Sold. I am pretty tired these days. Jo, I have a huge favour to ask. Could you and Zack handle this business with Lauren? I think she’s savvy enough to distance herself from the project for a while, but someone should talk to the other members of the team and make sure nobody does anything indiscreet with the video.”

“Of course,” I said. “We’ll keep you posted.”

——

It was close to eleven when I arrived at the hospital carrying a large thermos of banana milkshake, four thermal glasses, and a pretty gift bag containing Lena’s surprise from Margot.

I handed Lena the bag. “So how’s everybody doing?”

“Good,” Lena said. “Except, Maddy, can you help me with my present? This cast is heavy.” Maddy took the gift bag, dug through the tissue, and pulled out the plainest doll I’d ever seen.

Lena was beaming. “That’s Poor Pitiful Pearl. She was Margot’s doll when she was little.”

“Well, now she’s all yours. Margot said to make sure you knew that Poor Pitiful Pearl is yours for keeps.”

Mieka had e-mailed Lena’s teacher to let her know what had happened and Mme LePage had replied with a list of the assignments her class would be completing during the week ahead. After the milkshakes were finished, Zack began organizing the assignments. Math was first. When Madeleine was in Grade One, Zack had read the Ministry of Education’s curriculum goals. The primary goal was to make every student believe he or she was capable of making sense of mathematics. Zack taught Madeleine how to play blackjack, and she aced Grade One math.

Math was Zack’s strong suit and no one could argue with success. Zack explained the rules of blackjack to Lena, welcomed me to the game, and the four of us began to play.

We played for Cheerios. Madeleine was good with cards and Lena was a quick study. Zack and I both lost Cheerios bigtime, but Zack was gracious in defeat, commending the girls on their brilliance and warning me to be wary of card sharks.

Lena decided it was time for a real nap, so I tucked her in with Pearl and Madeleine, and Zack and I moved to the corner of the room where we could talk. “Vince stopped by
while you were at the condo. He hadn’t seen the video, and he didn’t want to see it. However, he was curious about who could have, and would have, sent it out.”

“Lauren believes Vince did,” I said. “She thinks Vince was redressing the balance, making himself the injured party.”

Zack scowled. “Vince doesn’t think like that. Besides, he seems to be handling the situation with Lauren well. He told me his
AA
sponsor reminded him to hang on to the line about acceptance in the Serenity Prayer.”

“ ‘God grand me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,’ ” I said.

“That’s the one,” Zack said. “Vince seems to have filed Lauren’s infidelity under the category of things he cannot change. He had no reason to send around that video.”

“Julian did,” I said. “This morning Lauren told me that she has to get a substantial settlement from Vince to subsidize her life with Julian.”

“And Julian doesn’t want to share his life with Lauren?”

“No. According to Celeste, he wants to end the affair. I imagine that video strengthens Vince’s hand when it comes to discussing alimony.”

“It does indeed,” Zack said. “But if Vince pays minimal alimony and Julian slips from Lauren’s clutches, you and I will have a problem.”

“Julian will be free to pursue Taylor,” I said. “And we can’t let that happen.”

“No, we can’t. But let’s take it one step at a time. I called Vince and told him Lauren was desperate to talk to him. He said he’d think about it. Vince is a proud guy. He’s not going to jump just because Lauren tells him to.”

“I realize that she’s brought a great deal of this misery on herself, but I feel sorry for her. Lauren left her scarf at our place this morning. I was thinking that I’d take it to her.
Whether Vince responded to her request or not, she might be glad to have someone to talk to.”

Zack rubbed the back of his neck. Instinctively, I moved behind him to measure the tension there. His muscles were like rocks. “Tonight’s a long-swim, mutual-massage night,” I said.

Zack covered my hand with his. “How did we manage to catch the brass ring?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But I never stop being grateful.”

At noon, Mieka arrived with sandwiches and drinks and we had a picnic. She volunteered to take the afternoon shift, but Zack said that he and the girls were at a pivotal point in
Charlotte’s Web
and besides he was growing fond of Poor Pitiful Pearl. After Mieka left, I kicked back in the recliner, put unfaithful wives and troubled young men out of my mind, and listened to the rain and my husband’s deep, lulling voice. It wasn’t long before I drifted off.