ChapterThree
Around noon the following day, a series of photographs pinged into Elsa Remington’s cell phone: Alexie and Mallory, holding one another in front of Alexie’s art exhibition; Alexie and Mallory, out for a (very expensive) sushi dinner; Alexie and Mallory, eating bagels that morning, both bleary-eyed from their hangover. Elsa’s heart filled with promise at the sight of her girls together: two women, aged twenty-four and twenty-five, who couldn’t have chosen different paths yet still adored one another in their own way. At least, she hoped they did.She even smiled at Alexie’s pink hair in the picture.
Zachery, who’d given them quite a scare the previous evening, sat upright in his highchair, smearing peas across his cheeks and over his bib. He laughed giddily at Elsa, as though he’d been in on the joke of his fever all along.
“You’re an artist, just like your aunt,” Elsa said, eyeing the smears of peas. “Maybe even better. Not sure I always understand her stuff, but yours? Peas on Cheeks? I get it, Zachery. I really do.”
“What kind of nonsense are you putting in that poor baby’s head?” Nancy appeared in the doorway between the porch and the kitchen with a coffee lifted to her lips. It was Saturday, which meant that that morning, she’d had three yoga sessions at the Katama Lodge and now had the rest of the day off.
“He’s turning two tomorrow,” Elsa reminded Nancy. “It’s time for him to grow up and have real opinions about art.”
“Two years old! Gosh, Zachery.” Nancy leaned down to kiss the side of Zachery’s head. “He’s been such a blessing to this house.”
Suddenly, Alyssa stepped into the kitchen with a mostly naked baby Lucy in her arms. Lately, Maggie and Alyssa had been trying to create a schedule between them to care for Lucy, especially as Maggie continued to struggle through the pains of IVF. The “adult responsibility” of caring for a child suited Alyssa and certainly kept her away from those all-night bonfires on the edge of Edgartown, the ones that had previously gotten her into heaps of trouble.
“We’ve had many blessings in this house,” Nancy corrected, greeting Lucy with another kiss.
“How’s it going in here?” Alyssa asked Elsa as she set Lucy up in her own highchair.
“Not bad,” Elsa replied, opening the fridge to remove the almost completed birthday cake for Zachery’s birthday party. That morning, she’d baked it and added cream cheese frosting to the layers. It was time to add decoration.
“Lots of presents already lined up in the living room,” Nancy said, trying to tease Zachery.
“I miss the presents you used to get as a kid,” Alyssa admitted as she wrapped a bib around Lucy’s neck. “I still remember the real joy of getting a doll or a little playset. You could imagine a whole world with one little item.”
“My kids used to play for hours and hours with their dolls and figurines,” Elsa said. “Alexie and Mallory would always rope Cole into playing with the boy characters. He always made them promise not to tell his friends he did that, which always made Aiden and I laugh.”
The memory, despite its beauty, stung.Why did time have to pass so swiftly? Why couldn’t she get just a small piece of that time back?
“Is that loser coming to Zach’s party?” Alyssa asked flippantly.
“We aren’t even going to use Lucas’s name, now?” Nancy arched her brow.
“I don’t see why we should,” Alyssa countered. “He’s probably on a boat somewhere, drinking beer and fishing while his son gets over his fever.”
“The fever really wasn’t a big deal,” Elsa began.
“Yes, but he didn’t know that when he came over,” Alyssa shot back. “He looked like a fish out of water. Blubbering, like, ‘Elsa. I need your help!’ He just wanted the weekend off. As far as I’m concerned, you got played!”
Elsa’s cheeks burned with anger. “As much as I’d like to talk badly about Lucas, I’m not sure it’s healthy to say it all in front of Zachery. So, I want you to stop now.”
“He doesn’t understand!” Alyssa countered.
“He understands more than you know,” Elsa quipped, holding Alyssa’s gaze.
“Okay, well. I think Mallory should abandon you-know-who romantically once and for all,” Alyssa returned.
“Voldemort?” Nancy teased.
“I wish. At least Voldemort didn’t listen to country music,” Alyssa grumbled.
Elsa and Nancy groaned into their laughter with their smiles bright. June sunlight crept through the yellow curtains of the Remington House. Elsa added green icing to a tube with a nub at the end, which allowed the icing to flow out beautifully, cascading in circles around the edge of the cake.
“I see that you have a vision,” Alyssa commented, peering over Elsa’s shoulder as she began to draw some trees around the outer edge of the circular cake.
“I want to make the Remington House,” Elsa replied. Her tongue poked out from between her lips. “It’s the home we’ve made here all together. It’s where I came when I needed help, where Mallory came when she left Lucas, where Zachery has taken his first steps.”
“And where I came after so many little breakdowns,” Alyssa added softly.