Now it was Charlie’s turn to beam. “She’s six weeks pregnant as of Saturday. As far as I’m concerned, it’s official. Isn’t it amazing?”
“That’s why he had to marry me,” Katharine said. “Otherwise, I would have been the world’s oldest unwed mother.”
“That’s not true,” Charlie said quickly. “I never wanted a divorce in the first place. And I’d been begging you to marry me again way before we found out about the baby.”
“Amazing,” Mary Bliss repeated, looking from Charlie to Katharine. “But when? Charlie’s been so sick. I can’t believe…”
“Do the math,” Katharine said, giggling. “The Fourth of July dance, you fool.”
“Oh my God,” Mary Bliss said, her eyes widening.
“Oh my God is right,” Katharine said. She planted a kiss on Charlie’s forehead. “The old fool nearly killed himself doing it, but he managed to knock me up that night. Can you believe it?”
“That’s amazing,” Mary Bliss said. She felt her mood lifting. Katharine and Charlie were holding hands, laughing their heads off, like a couple of high school kids who’d just let the air out of the principal’s tires.
“Here’s the part you’ll love,” Charlie said, a twinkle in his eye. “The baby’s due April first.”
“April Fool’s Day,” Katharine chortled. “Isn’t it too delicious?”
“It’s the best, most wonderful news I’ve heard all summer,” Mary Bliss said. She was choking up with happiness. “And I can’t believe you tried to keep it a secret from me,” she added, giving Charlie a playful punch on the arm.
“Oh, he’s full of secrets,” Katharine said, squeezing her husband’s knee. “But I’m surprised you didn’t notice something was up with us. Charlie’s been strutting around like the cock of the walk ever since we found out. And I’ve been green every morning.”
“But you were drinking wine with me, just the other night,” Mary Bliss objected.
“No. You were drinking, I was just swirling it around in my glass, inhaling the bouquet, enjoying it vicariously,” Katharine said. “That’s the only thing I mind about being pregnant. Do you realize I’ll have to get through Christmas and New Year’s without a drink?”
“I’m your best friend,” Mary Bliss said loyally. “I’ll drink enough for both of us.”
They heard a polite tapping on the limousine’s window then. Charlie pushed the button and the window slid down noiselessly.
It was Carol Kuhn, small, blonde, perturbed. She was holding a plastic-wrapped bundt cake in her hand. “Aren’t you people coming in yet? My sour-cream cake is starting to curdle in this heat.”
“You ready?” Katharine asked Mary Bliss.
Mary Bliss picked up the Bloody Mary and chugged it down. “I am now,” she said grimly.
Katharine’s house was full of flower arrangements that had been brought over from the church. Her massive cherry dining table had been pulled out to full banquet size and the white damask cloth was barely visible under the bowls and platters of food that had been arriving steadily all morning.
Mary Bliss gritted her teeth and waded into the crowd.
“Mary Bliss!” cooed Nancye Bowden, stopping her cold in the doorway to the living room.
“Hello, Nancye,” Mary Bliss said. “Thank you for coming.”
Randy hovered right behind Nancye, his hand gripped firmly in hers.
“We’re so sorry about Parker’s mama,” Nancye said. She let go of Randy’s hand just long enough to readjust the black bra strap that was sliding down her shoulder. “I know Parker was totally devoted to her. Is he around? We want to give him our condolences.”
“I’m sure he’s here somewhere,” Mary Bliss said, her voice flat. “We came back from church in separate cars.”
“So I noticed,” Nancye purred. “He gave us quite a shock, turning up today the way he did. But I have to admit, he looks marvelous. So tan and fit. Death really becomes him.”
“Nancye!” Randy’s face went gray. Nancye shot him an evil look and drifted away.
“I’m sorry,” Randy mumbled, staring down at his shoes. “She doesn’t mean anything by it. That’s just the way Nancye is. She’s got this weird, sick sense of humor.”
“It’s all right,” Mary Bliss said. “I brought it on myself. So I deserve to be the brunt of people’s jokes.”
“No, you don’t,” Randy said quickly. “None of this was your fault. You’ve been magnificent, if you ask me. It’s been the summer from hell, yet you’ve managed to survive. I wish I had your…” He shook his head, as if hoping to shake the right word loose. “Your survivor’s skills. I guess that’s what I’m looking for.”
“You survived,” Mary Bliss said. “The kids are okay. You’re okay. And you and Nancye?”
“We’re going to try and make the marriage work again,” Randy said. “For the sake of the little guys. And Josh. I’ve been offered a job down in Macon, and I’ve accepted it. Nancye agrees that we probably need to make a complete break from our past here. So we’ve put the house on the market.”
“I saw the FOR SALE sign,” Mary Bliss said. “I understand, but it still makes me sad. And Erin will be devastated to lose Josh just now.”
“She won’t lose him,” Randy said. “We promised him he could finish his senior year at Fair Oaks Academy. My younger sister just got transferred to Atlanta. She and Josh will stay in the house until it sells, then he’ll move in with her until May. Until graduation.”
“I’m glad,” Mary Bliss said. “For Josh and for you guys. And see? You’re a survivor after all. At least, your marriage is.”
“But not yours?” Randy asked. “What about you and Parker?”
Mary Bliss wasn’t looking at Randy. Her eyes were scanning the room, looking for that carefully coiffed hair, the myopic now-blue eyes, and the gold chain gleaming against the deep tan. She saw him finally, scrunched into a corner, deep in conversation with a blue-haired woman of at least eighty who must have been one of Eula’s buddies. He looked perfectly miserable.
“What?” she asked, looking back suddenly at Randy. “What did you just ask me?”
“I asked about you and Parker,” Randy said. He’d seen where Mary Bliss was looking. “Whether or not you’ll stay together after all this.”
“Together?” Mary Bliss seemed to find that funny. “How could that be? I killed him off. And he came back a different person.”
“Oh.” Randy shifted uncomfortably. “Well, I better find the kids, before they mow their way through the dessert table. See you.”
“Yeah,” Mary Bliss said vaguely. “See you.”
When she looked back at the corner where Parker had stood only moments earlier, he was gone. She elbowed her way into the living room, but he wasn’t there. A group of men were clustered around the big-screen television in the den, watching the Braves game, but Parker wasn’t with them. Finally, she worked her way back into the dining room, over to the corner, where she found the blue-haired woman picking at a plate of squash casserole and deviled eggs.
“Excuse me,” she said. “I’m Mary Bliss McGowan.”
“Darlin’,” the old woman said, beaming up at her. “Don’t you remember me? I’m Joyce Boore. I was at your wedding to Parker. Don’t you remember? Eula and I were roommates at church camp.”
“Oh yes,” Mary Bliss said. “So nice of you to come. I do remember you now. Do you know where Parker went? I really need to speak to him for a moment.”
She raised one blue eyebrow. “He said he had to see about something in the kitchen. But, sugar, I was just out in the kitchen, looking for some more iced tea, and I saw him slipping out the back door.”
“When?” Mary Bliss asked. “How long ago?”
“Just now,” Mrs. Boore said. “Not two minutes ago.”
Mary Bliss rushed through the dining room and into the kitchen. Katharine’s longtime maid, Valeria, was at the sink, rinsing off dishes.
“Valeria,” Mary Bliss said shar
ply. “Have you seen my husband?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Valeria said, not bothering to look up from the sink. “He came in here and made a phone call a little while ago. Called a cab, I believe. He waited a little bit, then he scooted on out of here not even a minute ago.”
Mary Bliss sprinted for the back door. Her heels sank into the Weidmans’ plush grass. She kicked off her shoes and ran around to the front yard. A yellow cab was just pulling into the circular drive. She saw a man, dressed in a tan suit, half hidden behind one of the entry columns.
“Parker!” she yelled.
He turned, saw who was yelling for him, then darted over to the cab.
“No,” she yelled, running to the drive. “No!”
76
The cab pulled forward, then stopped, because a black Explorer with tinted windows had pulled into the other side of the drive, blocking it.
Now the cab was backing up, but the driver had paused long enough for Mary Bliss to catch up to it.
She wrenched the back door of the cab open. Parker was huddled in the backseat, his hand on the door handle.
“Where are you going?” she demanded, sliding into the seat beside him.
He shrank away from her. “Back to the hotel. I had to get out of here.”
“Is that true?” she asked the driver. “Were you taking him to a hotel?”
The driver, an emaciated-looking Ethiopian man, shrugged. “Hotel at airport?”
“You were running away again, weren’t you?” Mary Bliss said.
Parker stared out the window.
“Weren’t you?”
Finally, he turned to face her. “All right,” he snapped. “You’re right again, Mary Bliss. Yeah, I’m leaving, if you’ll get the hell out of this cab.”
“No,” Mary Bliss said. “Not again. Not before you talk to your daughter. And me. You owe us that much.”
“Come on,” Parker said, his voice wheedling. “Those guys in the house are gonna notice I’m gone pretty soon, and they’ll come looking for me.”
Mary Bliss pointed at the Explorer. “Too late,” she said. “That’s a private detective. He was hired by one of the companies you bilked. He’s not about to let you waltz away from here. And neither am I. I want some answers, dammit. I want to know why.”
“Why not?” he countered. “You can take care of yourself. You’re the most competent person in the world, Mary Bliss. And I was entirely superfluous to your existence.”
“That’s not true,” she said.
“I had to get out,” Parker said, ignoring her. “I was buried alive here. I was going crazy, day by day, and you never even noticed, you were so busy being the world’s most perfect wife and mother and neighbor.”
“Why?” Mary Bliss pleaded with him. “Why did you leave like that?”
“Because I could,” he said simply. “Once Mama was in the nursing home, once I knew she’d be taken care of for the rest of her life, I knew it would be okay. It was like I had the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders. That’s when I started tunneling my way to freedom.”
“You mean stealing,” Mary Bliss corrected him.
“I didn’t hurt anybody,” Parker said. “A little money from a lot of people, that’s the way it worked. Nobody went out of business, nobody went hungry. But I got a new life.”
“What about us? Erin and me? We nearly lost the house. You could have talked to me, told me you wanted out. I would have given you a divorce.”
“You would have wanted half of everything, and I couldn’t afford that,” Parker said. “It was my money in the first place. I was entitled to it. All of it.”
“We would have been homeless!” Mary Bliss said. “I couldn’t pay Erin’s tuition. All those bills you left. I was wild with worry. And what was I supposed to tell Erin?”
“You figured it all out,” Parker said, laughing. “I gotta hand it to you, M. B., killing me off was brilliant. I never figured you’d pull a stunt like that. Of course, you forgot to take Mama into account. You should have known she’d never accept that I was dead.”
“And you drove me to it,” Mary Bliss said, clenching her fists in rage. “I’ll never forgive you for that. I lied to my daughter to protect you. We nearly lost her, did you know that? She ran away because she thought she might be pregnant. She was scared to death, and you turned her away. Do you have any idea of what she’s been through this summer?”
“She’ll be fine,” he said. “She’s upset about Mama, sure, a little angry with me, maybe, but Erin’s a great kid. Nothing fazes her. She’s like you that way.”
Mary Bliss hauled off and slapped him then.
“Christ!” Parker exclaimed. A trickle of blood oozed from the corner of his lower lip. “You see? I could never talk to you.”
“Why don’t you talk to me now?” Mary Bliss asked, her eyes blazing. “Tell me about your new life that you bought for yourself. You were living in Key West, right?”
“That’s right,” Parker said. He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and brought out a neatly folded handkerchief. At least that hadn’t changed about him. He was still meticulous with his appearance. He dabbed at his lower lip.
“I’ve got a new business. A bed-and-breakfast. That’s why I needed all that money. Real estate prices are astronomical in the Keys. But I don’t care. This is something totally new for me. A real adventure. Something you’d never understand.”
“An adventure.” Mary Bliss stared at him. “What makes you think I wouldn’t have wanted an adventure?”
“You? No way. There’s no way you would have picked up and moved down to Key West. No way you would have left dear old Fair Oaks. Uh-uh,” he said, shaking his head vigorously. “Anyway, it was over between us.”
“I saw the pictures of your girlfriend,” Mary Bliss said. “You didn’t think I knew about her, did you?”
“What are you talking about?” Parker asked, clearly stunned. “What pictures?”
“The pictures of you, at the ATMs. Of your new car, and the blonde, sitting in the front seat of the Range Rover. So don’t give me any crap about wanting a new life and a new adventure. You just wanted somebody new to screw, you shit!” She was screaming again, and striking out at him. He put his arms up, batting away her blows.
She saw the glint of gold at his neck then, and she reached out and yanked, as hard as she could. Mary Bliss held up her engagement ring, the broken gold chain dangling from it. “You took everything else. I’m taking this back.”
“You’re crazy,” Parker yelled. Now he dabbed at his neck, and the handkerchief came away bloody. “Look what you did. You ruined my Escada suit.”
“Uh-oh,” the Ethiopian said, looking at them in the rearview mirror, his high, bald forehead knit with worry. “I don’t want any trouble. Maybe you get out now.”
“Shut up!” Mary Bliss snapped.
“A girlfriend?” Parker said, his laugh nasty. “That wasn’t a girlfriend in the Range Rover. That was Russell.”
“Russell?” Mary Bliss was remembering the photos. The blonde shoulder-length hair nearly hidden by the baseball cap.
“My business partner,” Parker said smugly. “I met him in the real estate office. He’s the one that found the bed-and-breakfast for me.”
“Russell?”
“You talked to him when you called down there the night Mama went in the hospital,” Parker said impatiently. “He was sitting in the pew right behind you in church today.”
“Your partner? Parker, are you telling me you’re gay now? Is that what this is all about?”
“Uh-oh,” the Ethiopian said quietly. “This is very bad. You get out now. No charge. Okay?”
“Shut up!” Parker screamed. “Turn around and shut the fuck up.” His tan had turned to a mottled purple. “You see!” he yelled at Mary Bliss. “That’s why I had to get out. You take things and you just twist them around. You have no idea who I really am.”
Mary Bliss clenched and unclenched her fists. S
he was angrier than she’d ever been in her life. But she spoke calmly, quietly. She didn’t want to spook the cab driver again.
“I think I deserve some answers here, Parker. I was married to you for twenty years. Just tell me the truth. I deserve that. Which is it? Did you leave me because you hate me, or did you leave me because you found out you’re gay?”
“I am not gay!” Parker shouted. “Did you tell Erin that? Did you tell my daughter I’m gay? Is that why she’s so angry with me?”
“I told her nothing,” Mary Bliss shouted back. “I hid everything from her until after your mama died.”
“You’ll turn her against me. She’ll think I’m a fag.”
“No,” Mary Bliss said. “She’s just going to think you’re a sorry excuse for a man. I think she could deal with your being gay, if you could be honest about that.”
“I am not gay!” Parker screamed, pounding the back of the driver’s seat.
The Ethiopian turned around. “No more hitting seat. Okay?”
“I was so dumb,” Mary Bliss said, shaking her head in wonderment. “So dumb. I tried to keep Erin from learning the truth about you. But she’s going to be eighteen pretty soon. She’s a woman. She’s loved a man and been left brokenhearted. She found out all by herself how sorry a man can be. And I hate that. Not all men are like Isaac Brownlee. Or even like you. There are fine, decent men in the world. I know that now. That’s one favor you did me, Parker, by leaving. You didn’t leave me any options. I had to find out about myself. And about you. I had to find out what marriage really was and wasn’t. I got smart in a hurry. You forced that on me.”
“Hooray for you!” Parker said, clapping his hands in mock glee. “Hooray for brilliant, wonderful Mary Bliss McGowan. But don’t think I haven’t heard what’s been going on around here while I’ve been gone. I heard you found a new man already.”
Mary Bliss pressed her lips together to keep from screaming again.
“Okay,” the Ethiopian said. He’d turned all the way around and was facing them now. “Everything settled. You go, lady. I take man to airport. Okay?”
Little Bitty Lies Page 41
