The Champagne Sisterhood

by Chris Keniston

  “If you’d let me--”

  “Did he know?” she interrupted, waving her arms at him then she shook her head taking another step back. “No, of course he didn’t. How could he have been so happy, so proud, smiled so brightly, named his daughter after you if he’d known his best friend had stabbed him in the back.”

  “You don’t understand--“

  “You got that right. You had me convinced Harrison was a selfish weasel and you, oh, you were the moral majority. Mr. Chivalry, Mr. Graciousness, Mr. Family Man. Yeah, so long as it’s someone else’s wife! Harrison may have his faults, but he doesn’t lie and he doesn’t cheat.”

  His hand reached forward, barely touching her arm. “If you’d just let me--”

  “Don’t you ever touch me again!” She whipped her arm away, furious enough to spit. “God, you make me sick. I can’t stand the sight of you.”

  Nearly vibrating with anger, she turned her back on him and stomped out of the room, leaving Erin and Dr. Gibbons wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

  “Is it true?” Erin turned to him calmly.

  He blew out a soft sigh and nodded. “The father part yes, but it’s not what she’s thinking.”

  Dr. Gibbons cleared her throat, loudly. “As far as the blood transfusion goes this will make a big difference. I’ll still need to see the test results, but in the meantime, I need to get back upstairs to my patient.” She gave a curt nod and scurried out of the room.

  Erin turned from the door to Mark. “I’d better go find Anna. You may want to give her some space, let her calm down, but honestly, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.” She hesitated a moment as though searching for something to say, then shook her head. “You should at least have told us sooner.” Still shaking her head, she followed after Anna and Dr. Gibbons.

  “I’d like to thank all of you for coming so quickly.” Sid extended his arm to Mr. and Mrs. Prescott and their lawyer. “I know this could have been handled over the phone and via messengers, but under the circumstances, I felt it best we settle the custody question as soon as possible.”

  “Agreed.” Charles Emerson gave a curt nod.

  “I’ve taken the liberty of drawing up the appropriate papers. First.” Sid laid a sheet of paper in front of Howard. “We have your recognition that you accept Mark Lambert is indeed Marcia Preston’s biological father.”

  Amanda Prescott sat stiff-backed, the picture of ramrod straight.

  “Of course, as you know from the reports I faxed to your attorney, the results I received this morning of the DNA tests confirm Mark’s paternity. This paper is merely a technicality to expedite the matter with the courts.”

  Waiting for Howard to finish reading, Sid watched Amanda from the corner of his eye. She hadn’t given the papers or him a second glance. With her tightly clasped hands resting on the purse in her lap, she stared at some distant point on the other side of the window.

  When Howard looked up at him, Sid placed another few pages in front of him. “These state that even though Thomas Preston is legally Marcia Preston’s father, you relinquish all grandparental rights to the child.”

  “Saved us the trouble of dealing with a tainted child. Let those heathen raise her,” Howard muttered, signing the paper.

  “Did my son know his wife bore him a bastard?” Amanda asked softly, still sitting stiff as a board, staring past everyone.

  “Mrs. Prescott--“

  “It doesn’t matter,” Howard cut Sid off, “He turned his back on the ways of the Lord, a cheating wife is his just punishment.” Howard signed the second piece of paper, slid them over to his wife, and Sid breathed a little easier. One down, one to go.

  “Mrs. Prescott?” Sid handed her his personal pen, the one his father gave him when he graduated law school.

  “I didn’t believe Mark would betray my son’s friendship.” She turned to accept the pen. “But my husband is right. That child is not the fruit of our son’s loins. She’s the child of a whore.” Amanda signed the pages and passed them on to Sid’s secretary who was acting as witness. “You have saved us the arduous task of raising the spawn of the devil. Thank you, Mr. Spitz.”

  “You’re on drugs.” Holding her hands up, palms out, Kat shook her head. “That’s the only explanation.”

  Anna didn’t respond.

  “How can you possibly think Mark and Babs had an affair?"

  Anna leaned against the windowsill. “He admitted it.”

  That stopped Kat cold. When scampering footsteps grew louder, then stilled by the door, she looked up to see Erin standing in the hallway. “Is it true?”

  Erin nodded.

  “Holy...” Kat turned to Anna. “So now what?”

  “Marcia gets her blood transfusion.”

  “I don’t get it. Why didn’t he say something before?” Kat looked from Erin to Anna. “Why is he letting you have custody?”

  Anna ran her fingers through the sleeping baby’s hair then looked back at her friends. “Don’t you mean why did he lie and cheat. For God’s sakes, the man slept with his best friend’s wife?”

  “That’s enough.” Erin raised a single hand to silence her friends. “Standing by Marcia’s bedside is not the place for y’all to have this discussion.”

  “There’s nothing more to say.” Anna lifted her gaze from the baby.

  “There most certainly is.” Erin set her hands on her hips and tipped her head, pointing toward the door.

  “I don’t want to run into him.” Anna didn’t budge.

  “I told him to give you some space. Let’s get out of here. She’ll be fine for a little while.”

  Settled a few minutes later in the quiet family room, Erin was the first to say something. “I know this is a shock, but whatever the circumstances, Mark’s paternity is a blessing. If we’d needed to wait days to find a match, that little girl could have gone from seriously ill to near death in a heart beat. Mark just saved her life. Think about that.”

  Silently Anna stared out the window.

  “What I want to know.” Kat sat in the nearest chair. “Is why did he let those nutcases take us to court if he knew he was the father?”

  “I’m guessing it’s because in the eyes of the state it doesn’t matter who the biological parent is. Tom is Marcia’s legal father, and those nutcases, her legal next of kin.” Erin shook her head. “But you’d have to ask him.”

  Anna didn’t bother to turn around. “Because he’s a class A bastard. A lying, cheating, conniving--“

  “Hold on, sugar.” Erin cut Anna off. “What is it that has you so royally pissed? That something happened between him and Babs, or that something happened between you and him? Cause this is sounding pretty personal to me.”

  “He doesn’t deserve to be her father. Tom was his best friend.”

  On her feet now, Kat moved next to Anna. “Before you sling any more mud, we’d better face a few more facts. If Mark is Marcia’s father--”

  “He is,” Anna cut her off. “He said so.”

  “Right. So not only did he sleep with his best friend’s wife, but Babs, our friend who we all know adored her husband, cheated on Tom with his best friend. Not a pretty picture either.”

  Kat might as well have declared the world was really flat. The words would have been as much of a shock. In the window’s reflection Anna could see Erin standing a few feet away, her hands still on her hips, nodding her agreement. The idea that Babs would betray Tom with his best friend was as foreign to her as the Russian alphabet, but there was no denying it. Marcia was living proof Babs had done just that. She kept her gaze outside on the garbage cans in the hospital’s alley. “He’s still a bastard.”

  “We’re going to have to talk to him.” Erin stepped up to the window, rested her hand on Anna’s arm. “It’s only fair we hear his side of the story.”

  “I don’t care what his side of the story is.” Anna’s hands curled into fists. “How could he? I trusted him.”

  “And there we have it folks.” Kat flo
pped into the nearest seat. “You’re going to need to put away your hurt feelings and get everything out on the table. We can’t hear Babs’ side of this. Mark will have to tell us.”

  “I don’t want to hear it.” Anna hadn’t turned to look at either of them.

  “She wanted you to know.”

  “Yeah, well. I don’t want to know.” It was just too damn much to deal with. There were certain truths in life you couldn’t deny. It doesn’t snow in Tahiti. The only thing that doesn’t have a solution is death. If Erin feels it, then it has to be true. If there’s a pot of gold or a good-looking man at the other end, then Kat will follow it. If some jerk takes advantage, then she’d fight it. And if it needs caring for, Babs would nurture it.

  Babs didn’t hurt her friends. She didn’t betray the people she loved. She took care of them. That’s all Anna needed to know. All she wanted to know.

  “Anna,” Kat softened her tone. “You asked me why Babs didn’t call you? Why did she think you wouldn’t make time for her? Maybe she was afraid to tell you, or any of us, the truth. But she did want you to know.”

  “The note,” Anna murmured.

  “Yeah.” Kat sighed. “The note.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  “I seem to be in the dog house.” Mark rubbed the side of his face. “Though I’m probably lucky I still have all my teeth. For a minute there I thought she was going to haul off and hit me again.”

  “You were between a rock and a hard place.” Sid had phoned the minute the Prescotts left the office.

  “No matter what, Barb didn’t want anyone to know Tom wasn’t Marcia’s father. She thought that was best for her baby. It was so important to her. How could I tell her best friends if she hadn’t?”

  “Mark, I know you feel an obligation to Tom and Barbara, but I don’t think she meant to hold you to your promise under the circumstances.”

  “She knew she was dying, she could have told them.”

  “Are you so sure? It didn’t sound to me like Barbara was able to say much of anything. And what little she did say was up for interpretation. I’m still not convinced she didn’t mean for both you and Anna to be guardians. God knows it would be just like her to play matchmaker right up to the end. Didn’t you tell me the first time she woke up she asked for Anna and you?”

  “I don’t know anymore.” Mark turned the corner of the building, squinting at the burst of bright sun. He needed to clear his head, think through what to say to Anna, how to explain. Erin told him to give Anna a little space, time to let the idea soak in. He hoped taking a long walk around the block would be enough time for her to calm down. Or at least for her to lose the urge to flatten him. “What either of us thinks doesn’t matter. I no longer have a choice. I have to explain everything, if she’ll listen.”

  “Just keep me informed on how you want to handle the situation. I’ve got the papers signed and sealed relinquishing all rights to Marcia.” Sid cleared his throat. “You know, that Prescott has his wife on a short leash. It’s frightening to think what Marcia’s life might have been like raised by those two.”

  Frightening wasn’t the first word to come to mind for Mark, but it was probably the nicest he could say in mixed company.

  As the elevator door slid open, Mark was startled to see Becky’s mom and dad standing in the hall. “Oh, Ted. Hi.”

  Becky’s mom looked tired and pale, but Ted looked as though he hadn’t slept since the day Becky died.

  “Mark.” Ted stepped back. His wife’s gaze seemed distant, vacant. “I just stopped by to take Sally home. Is Marcia doing better?”

  “Not yet. We’re waiting on the results of a blood transfusion.”

  Sally’s head snapped up. A light of recognition seemed to flicker in her vacuous stare. “Poor baby,” she muttered.

  “Yes, honey. Let’s go home. You need your rest.” He turned to Mark. “I’m sure she’ll be fine, but we’d better get going.”

  With a curt nod, the man shuffled his wife into the elevator pushed a few buttons and watched the doors draw closed.

  “Odd.” Unsure of the reception that awaited him, Mark walked the hospital corridor with the anticipation of a death row inmate on his way to the gas chamber. Hoping what awaited him on the other end wouldn’t be painful, knowing whatever it was wouldn’t be pleasant.

  He found Kat and Erin standing just inside the doorway, watching the nurse scurry about the bed. With a casual air that reflected her years of experience, the woman checked monitors, line feeds, and then the dark bag of blood, Mark’s blood, hanging by the bedside.

  Pale and listless, Marcia’s eyes slit open only a fraction. He couldn’t tell if she was awake or asleep, but he prayed she wasn’t feeling any discomfort. At her side, Anna held tightly onto the one arm that was free of tubes and wires.

  “How’s she doing?” He asked, not sure if anyone would answer.

  “They’ve just started the transfusion,” Kat answered, her eyes still glued on the bag dripping fresh life into the little girl.

  “Any idea how long it will be before we know if it’s working?”

  “No. There was a commotion earlier at the nurses’ station Dr Gibbons went to take care of, then she got an emergency call before she could talk to us.”

  “Commotion?” He dragged his gaze away from Marcia and looked from Erin to Kat.

  “Becky’s mom came by, wanted to visit with the sick babies. The nurses told her only family could visit. She became... distraught. Dr. Gibbons sat with Sally until she was called away by the page. I think Sally’s husband just picked her up.”

  “Yeah. I saw Ted and Sally at the elevator. She didn’t look very good.”

  Kat lifted her shoulder. “I think she’s on medication of some kind.”

  “Who’s this?” Erin asked as if just now hearing the conversation.

  “You didn’t meet them,” Kat said. “The little girl who died a few days ago. Her mom and dad.”

  “The one you told me had to be taken to PICU the night before I arrived? Erin asked.

  Kat nodded, turning her attention back to Marcia. “That’s the one.”

  “So sad.” Erin leaned against the wall, and slanted a curious glance in Mark’s direction. “And you? Are you okay?”

  He took a deep breath. Somehow everything felt... different. “Not sure.”

  Finished with her final check, the nurse turned her attention to the three people in the doorway. “Only two visitors at a time. Two of you will have to leave.” She waved at them as she made her way out of the small space.

  His gaze slid across to Anna, hoping to see some sign of forgiveness, understanding, or at least a willingness to listen. But she didn’t even seem to hear the nurse, never mind notice him. Damn. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

  Listening to Becky’s mom, Sally, pleading with Dr. Gibbons to please let her help the sick babies had unraveled the last thread of calm Anna had managed to hold onto. With the mother’s every gasping sob, Anna’s fearless facade frayed another bit further. Her throat clogged with swallowed tears until she thought she couldn’t take another breath. Then, as quickly as the crying woman had appeared, she was gone. The halls were once again silent except for the soft sound of an occasional rubber soled footstep. If only Anna’s fears had left with the heartbroken woman.

  “We could lose her too.” Anna tried to lighten the grip she held on Marcia’s tiny hand, but every instinct she had told her to hold on as tight as she could and never let go.

  “Don’t think that.” Kat scooted a nearby chair up closer to the bed. “She survived the car accident. She’ll survive this.”

  “Becky died. She had the same thing.”

  “But her folks thought it was the flu. They waited almost three days before they brought her in. We brought Marcia in right away.”

  Anna lifted her eyes to meet Kat’s. “And if it weren’t for Erin’s gut feeling I could have done the same thing. Waited thinking it was a bug. Kids get colds and flues all
the time. They pass. That’s what Sally and Ted thought, and they were Becky’s real parents.”

  “Exactly. Anyone can make that mistake. No one’s perfect. We don’t know it all.”

  “If I didn’t have you and Erin, If I’d been alone with Marcia in New York,” her voice caught in her throat. “I could have killed her.”

  Kat shot up like a rocket. “Don’t you dare think that.”

  “It’s true.”

  “Are you saying Ted and Sally killed their little girl?”

  “Of course not,” Anna snapped.

  “Then I don’t ever want to hear you say anything so stupid again. Using that twisted logic, if years ago in school we’d given Babs a handful of aspirin and told her to go back to sleep, then found her dead in the morning, we would have been killers.”

  “Not the way she howled. We didn’t need Erin’s feelings to know Babs needed to go to the ER.”

  “Maybe not, but it saved us precious time. We didn’t waste even a minute debating amongst ourselves what could be the matter or what we should do. Erin woke up in a sweat convinced something was desperately wrong and within minutes Babs was awake and screaming in pain. Fifteen minutes later we were at the ER at San Francisco General and the doctor was telling us Babs’ appendix had ruptured.”

  “And your point?”

  “Life’s a damn crap shoot and you know it. We do our best and what happens happens. But as long as the three of us stick together, we can take on whatever shit the world throws at us.”

  “She’s his daughter.” Now that she knew, Anna could see small resemblances. Not just the eye color. Marcia’s fingers were long and slim, really long. Both Tom and Babs had nice hands, but Mark had fingers that could have made a Stradivarius sing. And her lashes. Anna thought it unfair that it always seemed to be the men with the long, beautiful lashes. She’d loved the way Mark’s lush lashes cast a shadow over those sapphire eyes. Just like Marcia’s. “What I know doesn’t matter anymore. Now that the truth is out she’ll stay with him.”