Daddy turned back to his ball game. He watched it for a few moments and then he slammed his fist down on the chair, stood up, turned off the set, and followed her.
He didn't look at us either. We looked at each other.
And for the first time I could ever remember. Ian looked absolutely terrified.
14 The Crazy House
. Daddy left, not us. Mama and he were shouting at each other upstairs, and then he packed his bag and rushed out of the cabin when a rental car company delivered another automobile. I watched out of my bedroom window. He didn't even stop to say goodbye to Ian or me. He got into the car quickly and drove off fast.
"Ian, Jordan," I heard Mama call as she descended the stairway. "Come out here."
I came out first and then, when Ian stepped out and she saw him. Mama brought her hand to her cheek and moaned as if all the pain' had
flown from his face to hers.
"What happened to you, Ian?"
"It's all right. I'll be all right," he said. "The swelling's gone down considerably."
"What happened?"
"I got into an argument and then a fight with a boy over at the campground in the park," he said. "It's not important. Forget about it. I'm not going over there anymore."
"Did your father see you?"
She shook her head. "He didn't tell me a thing about it, which doesn't surprise me. What was the argument about, Ian?"
"It was stupid, Mother. I don't want to talk about it anymore."
He looked down at the floor, which was usually his way of letting someone know they could talk until they were blue in the face and he wouldn't answer or speak about the subject. Whenever he did that to Daddy. Daddy would shake him so hard it looked like he was frying to rearrange everything inside him, but that did nothing and Daddy would give up and walk away.
Mama sighed. She knew the conversation had ended.
"Okay, come into the living room, both of you," she said, looking at me now.
Ian glanced at me with eyes that said. Keep your mouth shut, and then we followed her. She stood by the window.
"Sit on the sofa," she told us without turning around. She sighed so deeply. I thought her heart had cracked. "Your father and I are going to separate," she said. "I'm getting a divorce. There are lots of reasons for it, but as they say, the straw that broke the camel's back was my discovering he's been seeing someone else on the sly, apparently for some time, too."
She turned around to face us. She looked pale, but the area around her mouth was crimson. It looked like it had been burned. Her eyes were certainly inflamed.
"It's not my intention to turn you two against him. You'll make your own judgments about him when you're older, although I suspect Ian's old enough to do so now," she said, looking at him.
"Are we going to live here?" he asked.
"No. I'll be finding us a place to live back in Bethlehem. For the time being, however, it's good we have this place. I've already made a phone call to a real estate agent who is lining up potential houses. I'll rent one first and then we'll set. We'll return to the mansion to get our things, too. I just don't want to do it immediately. I'm not in the mood to face your grandmother.
"There's never been a divorce in the March family and that will be her primary concern and complaint. There's no doubt in my mind that if she wasn't confused about what is and what isn't important, she would have divorced your grandfather rather than tolerate the way he treated her. The March men are all apples that didn't or don't fall far from the tree," she added. "I'm no March woman. I'm not going to pretend nothing has happened or is happening and busy myself with distractions so I won't think about it.
"However. I am sorry that all this is happening to you two. It's no fun being part of a broken family. You're going to have more challenges, more problems. Just never blame yourselves for any of this.. It has nothing to do with either of you. It's just between your father and me."
"Daddy's not coming back here?" I asked.
"Not while we're here, Jordan. You'll see him in about a week or so back in Bethlehem when I go look at some of the possible new homes."
"Did you call a lawyer already?" Ian asked her.
She smiled. "Yes, Ian. I called a lawyer before I returned to the cabin today and it's not one of the March lawyers. He's the son of the man who was my father's attorney, Peter Morris. Did you both have your lunch?"