The Alphabet Sisters

by Monica McInerney

  “Me, too,” Carrie said. “I wanted to go to Sydney, but Lola and Mum got in first. I rang and talked to Glenn, left a message. But then I didn’t hear anything back either.”

  Anna remembered receiving Bett’s letter, reading it once, then putting it away. She remembered Glenn passing on Carrie’s message and then doing nothing about it. “I couldn’t contact either of you. I’m sorry. I didn’t have any room for anyone but Ellen. I was so angry with everyone at that time, at myself for letting it happen, at Glenn for blaming me. I couldn’t handle anyone else. I’m sorry.”

  There was silence and then Carrie spoke. “Do we all have to tell the truth now?”

  “It might help,” Anna said.

  “I think you both should know that Matthew and I have been separated for a while.”

  “What?” Anna and Bett spoke in unison.

  “We’ve been separated for a few months. We only decided to get back together yesterday.”

  “So we were fighting about the two of you, and you weren’t even together?” Bett said.

  “We were at the start. But everything went bad for a while.”

  “Oh, Carrie, why?” Anna asked.

  “Misunderstandings about all sorts of things. And I got guilty. I thought it was because of the way we got together. That I was being punished for taking Matthew away from Bett.” She wasn’t looking at either of them. “And I wasn’t sure if Matthew was over Bett.”

  “Carrie, he was. I’m sure he was.” Bett had seen the wedding photo. She knew Matthew had never looked at her the way he looked at Carrie in the photo. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not telling you before, Carrie. And I’m sorry that you had to go through everything on your own, Anna. It had just gone on for so long, and even though I wanted to I just didn’t know how to fix it.” She was embarrassed to feel her eyes filling with tears. “It was easier to keep away, to keep blaming the two of you, rather than myself.”

  “It doesn’t matter now, does it?” Anna asked. “We’re talking again, aren’t we?”

  They both nodded.

  “And we’ll keep talking, won’t we? No matter what?”

  Another nod.

  There was a warm silence for a moment and then Carrie turned. “Bett, am I allowed to ask you something personal?”

  She tensed again. “I might not answer it, but ask, sure.”

  “Is there something going on with you and Daniel Hilder?”

  Bett looked up in surprise.

  “It’s just I noticed he looks at you all the time in a particular way. Doesn’t he, Anna?”

  Anna nodded enthusiastically. “Like this.” She put on a pantomime adoring glance, all big eyes and amused smile.

  “He does not.”

  “He does, Bett. But it’s more like this.” Carrie put on an even more exaggerated look, soft smile and indulgent expression.

  “Stop it. You’re imagining it.”

  Carrie grinned, then turned her attention to Anna. “And you and Richard are really an item?”

  Anna nodded.

  “Wow. So I should give him a discount on his room, then? Or will he be moving in with you?” She laughed. “Just joking.”

  Anna smiled. “And you and Matthew, Carrie?”

  Carrie’s expression softened. “It’s okay. It’s very good again, actually.” She hesitated. “You really don’t mind, Bett?”

  “I don’t mind at all, Carrie. I honestly don’t mind one bit.”

  They moved unself-consciously toward one another, into a long, warm hug. Then Carrie stepped back.

  “Do you want to meet him again, Bett? Now?”

  “Now?”

  “Matthew’s here. He came down this morning. He’s outside. Shall I get him?”

  Bett hesitated, then nodded.

  Carrie was nearly at the door before she turned and came back. “This is a bit awkward, but … well, do we need to tell Matthew that you were going to break up with him? It’s just I’d hate to hurt his feelings.”

  Bett nearly laughed out loud. But of course Carrie wanted to protect Matthew. “Perhaps he doesn’t need to hear it right now.”

  Carrie nodded, relieved. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

  Anna waited until she was gone before she spoke. “Do you want me to go, to leave the three of you alone?”

  Bett shook her head. “No, all for one, one for all, don’t you think?”

  “I’m glad you told her, Bett. I’m sorry I had to force it.”

  “I’m glad you did.”

  They heard noises from the hall as the camera crew finished its break. Set panels were being dragged across the stage again. They heard a faint hum of traffic from the main street. A car door shutting. Footsteps and the glass door opening. Bett turned and there he was, with Carrie a few feet behind.

  “Hello, Bett. Hello, Anna.”

  “Hello, Matthew,” they said in unison.

  Bett took in every detail of his appearance. The sandy hair, the curls now cropped short. The square, kind face. The work clothes. The stocky body. It was like looking at someone she had been at school with years before.

  He looked uncomfortable. “How are things, Bett?”

  “They’re fine. It’s good to see you again.” And it was. Nothing more and nothing less.

  “You too.” Matthew gave an embarrassed laugh, looking from one to the other. “Bett, I’m sorry for what happened. With me and Carrie. For hurting you like that.”

  For one moment she was tempted to tell him the truth. That she should never have gone out with him in the first place. That it had been for all the wrong reasons. Then she looked at Carrie, standing proudly beside him, and realized that this definitely wasn’t the time for the truth. “It’s fine, Matthew.”

  He didn’t seem convinced. “If Lola was here she would probably use her truth stick, I suppose. Make us all say how we’re really feeling.”

  “You know about the truth stick?” Anna asked.

  Matthew nodded. “And the Alphabet Sisters stories. Lola used to like telling us them, didn’t she, Carrie?” He gave another self-conscious laugh. “Not that Lola ever used the truth stick on me. It was more a family thing, wasn’t it? Very handy sometimes, though, she said.”

  “It was, yes,” Anna said. She turned to Bett. There was challenge in her voice, even though she was smiling. “If Lola was pointing the truth stick at you now, what would you say, Bett?”

  Bett answered honestly. “I would probably say I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable, but I’m also very relieved to finally see Carrie and Matthew together. And I think they make a good pair. And I’m so sorry it’s taken this long for me to tell you both how I felt. And you, Anna?”

  “I’d probably say I’ve been feeling sick about all of this for weeks—no, years—too. And I’m glad it’s over, and I hope we won’t ever have a fight like this again.”

  Carrie was gripping Matthew’s hand. “And I would say I’m sorry for any hurt we caused you, Bett. And you, Anna. And I hope you forgive us.”

  “And I would say about bloody time.”

  It was Lola, standing in the doorway. “That’s the thing about swear words,” she said, smiling broadly. “Use them sparingly and they always have much more impact, don’t you think? So, all set to do the ‘Sisters’ song for Charlie?”

  Oh hell, Bett thought. She’d forgotten all about that. “I’m sorry, Lola, but I can’t do it.”

  “Why ever not?”

  “I’ve forgotten the words.”

  “If she has, then so have I,” Anna said.

  “Me too,” Carrie added.

  “Oh, I’m sure it’ll come back to you once you get started. It’s that one about the mister coming between the sisters. No? Then it’s just as well I brought these.”

  She passed over three sheets of lyrics. They were cornered. “Come on, then. Charlie and his cameraman are waiting. He was just saying again how this is going to be the centerpiece of his segment.” Complete lies, of course. Charlie had no interest or int
ention of using any of this footage of the Alphabet Sisters. He had staged that little scene earlier purely as a favor to Lola. She had explained the whole situation to him on the phone the day before, and he had been highly amused and happy to oblige. And, by the looks of things, it had worked.

  “Come on then, girls. Time’s money, and I’m short of both.” She started shooing them in front of her, one by one. Then she stopped. “And you, too, Matthew. I’ve had the very amusing idea of using you as well.”

  Half an hour later, Charlie strolled over to where Lola was sitting, watching all the action. She took his hand and smiled up at him. “Thank you, Charles darling. You’re quite an actor yourself.”

  He bowed deeply. “A pleasure to be of service. You never know, I may end up using the footage yet. They were rather good, weren’t they? Some wonderful harmonies.”

  “Once they stopped laughing, yes, they were. That was always their problem. They didn’t take it seriously enough.”

  “Matthew was a good sport, to stand there like that while they sang that ‘Sisters’ song around him.”

  Not so much a good sport as terrified of what might happen if he didn’t do as he was told, more like it. “Wasn’t he just?”

  “I’ll send you a tape of it all anyway. For your records.”

  “My records. What a marvelous phrase. Thank you, I’d love that.”

  Lola gazed around. Anna, Bett, Matthew, and Carrie were in a corner of the room with Richard and Daniel, the group of them laughing. Well, thank God. If the feud had gone on one day longer she would have gone simply and utterly mad.

  “So what’s your next project going to be?” Charlie asked.

  “Well, I have the little matter of our gala world premiere, of course. But after that?” She smiled up at him. “A musical adaptation of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I think.”

  Their parents arrived home that night. There was an hour debriefing about their holiday, an hour hearing about the musical, ten minutes on Lola’s accident, and then Jim Quinlan was back behind his bar, sorting bottles, and Geraldine was in the kitchen organizing the freezer.

  Lola watched the three girls vying for their mother’s attention and had to stop herself from shaking Geraldine. She’d managed to restrain herself for many years. She could manage for another few, she decided.

  In bed that night, Jim and Geraldine were talking about their holiday and homecoming.

  Geraldine took off her glasses and reached out to turn off the bedside light. “The girls seem to be getting on very well again, don’t they?”

  “Remarkably well. I was sure there would have been at least one row or something while we were away, but it seems not. Perhaps that’s all it ever needed, just getting them back under the same roof again.” He chuckled. “I take my hat off to Lola.”

  Jim didn’t see Geraldine’s expression. “They’re grown girls. I knew they’d sort it out eventually themselves.”

  “Of course they would. Good night, darling.”

  “Good night, Jim.”

  He put his arm around his wife and shut his eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Bett woke up with just the slightest hint of a hangover. She and Anna and Carrie had stayed up talking and drinking red wine until very late. Richard and Matthew and Lola had joined in at first, before stealing away one by one, leaving the three girls on their own. They had taken over the small motel bar, shamelessly helping themselves to glasses of wine from their father’s fine cellar of local reds, leaving increasingly scrawled notes to him.

  “He won’t mind; I know he won’t,” Carrie had said as she opened one of the oldest bottles of Shiraz. “Anyway, it’s not as if he can sack us, is it?”

  Another time, after that much wine, Bett might have woken with a headache, a sense of the dreads. But not this morning. There was nothing to cringe about. She didn’t feel that she had said anything stupid, or talked too much. She could remember every word, every joke, every laugh they had shared, even though it had been nearly two A.M. by the time they went to bed, practically pouring a giggling Carrie into the taxi they had called.

  Bett stretched, enjoying the feeling in her muscles, the look of the sunlight streaming in through the thin curtains, the sound of the birds outside. She had a glorious, light feeling inside her, that things were going to be okay again. That things were okay with Anna and Carrie again. She hadn’t felt so good in years.

  She checked the time. Eight o’clock. She’d better get up and get ready. She had two more assignments with Daniel that day, and they’d arranged to meet at the office at nine-thirty.

  There had been more teasing about him from Anna and Carrie the night before.

  “You must have noticed something, Bett,” Anna had insisted.

  “Picked up the vibes from him,” Carrie had added, in a bad American accent.

  “You’re reading too much into it,” Bett protested. “We just get on really well. It’s nothing more than that.”

  “No?”

  “No. Stop it, you two.”

  “You really, genuinely, sincerely don’t have any romantic feelings toward him?”

  “No, I don’t,” she said, fighting a little voice in her head that was suggesting something quite different.

  “Then let me ask you a few simple questions.” Anna winked over at Carrie. The two of them were really enjoying this. “Does Daniel make you laugh?”

  “Yes. A lot.”

  Anna was ticking them off on her fingers. “Do you think he’s good-looking?”

  “Yes.”

  “Aha!” Carrie said. “The giveaway.”

  “I’m just stating a fact,” Bett said quickly. “He is.”

  “In what way is he good-looking?”

  Bett took a sip of wine and thought about it. “He’s got gorgeous eyes, all kind of crinkly, and that lovely sort of dark shaggy hair, and he wears great clothes, I reckon.” She stopped. “What? What are you both laughing at?”

  “Nothing,” Anna said, quite straight-faced. “So you’ve noticed all these things about him. You admit that you get on really well. He doesn’t take his eyes off you. But you still don’t think anything’s going on between you?”

  “It’s not.”

  Anna turned to Carrie. “It’s sweet that she’s managed to keep her innocence for so long, Carrie, don’t you think?”

  “Remarkable really, in this day and age.”

  “Stop it, you two. Leave me alone.” Bett had been laughing, too, by this stage. She was also thanking her lucky stars that she had stopped herself just in time from telling them all about her one-night stand with Daniel. God only knows what they would have made of that.…

  She hadn’t minded the teasing one bit, though. It had been good fun. Not like old times all over again, either. Much better than that. It had been the start of new times between them.

  Getting ready that morning, she chose her favorite darkgreen shirt, her favorite vintage skirt, and the Italian shoes that people always remarked on. She applied a bit of mascara. And while she was at it, she popped on a bit of lip gloss, too. She was going to be out and about doing these two interviews, so she may as well look presentable, she told herself.

  “You look smart, Bett,” her father said as she walked into the kitchen for a coffee. “Have you got something special on today?”

  “No. Just doing a couple of stories for that tourism project.”

  “With Daniel?” Lola piped up from her chair.

  “Yes, actually.”

  “Marvelous!” Lola beamed.

  Lola didn’t have to have looked quite so delighted, Bett thought as she walked into the newspaper office a half hour later. Her grandmother’s face had lit up as if Bett had said she was heading off to elope to Gretna Green. What had got into everybody suddenly? She and Daniel were becoming good friends, that’s all. Men and women could be friends, couldn’t they? She and Daniel just got on well. They worked well together. They made each other laugh. Quite a bit, in fact. And ye
s, perhaps they’d had a night of pretty terrific sex three years before, but that was in the past. All it meant was … She stopped there. All it meant was if they were to have sex again, it would probably be just as great.

  “Morning, Bett. Ready to get going again?”

  It was Daniel.

  The color whooshed into her face.

  She was a little awkward with him to begin with, she knew she was. As they spent the morning at an art gallery tucked away in the hills south of Clare, she was more businesslike than she’d been on any of the previous assignments. Brisk even. She noticed him glance at her once or twice.

  “Everything okay with you, Bett?”

  “Fine,” she said cheerily, cursing Anna and Carrie for putting the idea into her head.

  After the art gallery their next stop was Sevenhill Cellars, the Valley’s oldest winery.

  “We’ve a few minutes before they’re expecting us,” Daniel said, glancing at his watch. “Do you mind if we take the scenic route? The light’s good today for a shot I want to take over the hills.”

  “No, I don’t mind at all.”

  Daniel smiled his thanks and then turned the car off the main road onto the bumpy dirt road.

  Her reply echoed in her mind as she watched him stop and start the car at different spots along the road, choosing scenes where the sunlight filtered through clumps of gum trees, sending dappled light onto the rows of vines, or near the dry creek beds, lined with water-smoothed pebbles of different shapes and sizes. No, she didn’t mind at all if she got to sit on the bonnet of the car in the sunshine and watch him at work. She didn’t mind at all seeing him concentrate on finding the best picture, walking along the road looking for the right angle, sending her a grin when he took a shot he was happy with. She didn’t mind at all if they got to spend a bit more time in the car together. She didn’t mind, in fact, if they spent the rest of the day in the car together, talking and laughing.