Danielle Steel - Southern Lights

“They can’t all be like that,” Jack suggested.

“Maybe not. But that’s how it shook out for me. Savannah is still in the honeymoon phase. She’s discovering all the beauty of it. The bad stuff comes later.”

“Sounds like marriage to me.” Jack chuckled as he looked at her. “I’m not so sure things are any different here.”

“The South is a special place. It’s from another century. It was a great place to live when I was there. I don’t want Savannah to stay there, or want to. I’m hoping I get her back here before she gets hooked. Hopefully her evil stepmother will take care of that for me. Her father is married to a real bitch.”

“Sounds like he deserved it.” Alexa nodded in agreement, and with that, she picked up her voluminous files on the Quentin case and they got back to work. They sat there till three, and ate sandwiches at her desk. And then Jack went back to his own office. Alexa was in hers until midnight yet again.

Savannah didn’t tell her mother she was going to see her paternal grandmother that weekend. She didn’t want to upset her. She knew Alexa had enough on her mind with the case. And Tom didn’t tell Luisa. It was none of her business.

He drove Savannah there on Sunday afternoon. And he was surprised to see his mother sitting in her drawing room, instead of on the porch. There was a tea tray on the table. Savannah walked in behind him, and was startled by how shabby the room looked. She only vaguely remembered it. The house had been beautiful at one time, but there was an air of decrepitude about it. Like her grandmother, it had seen better days, and was fading.

Tom’s mother was sitting in a large chair, waiting. Her hair was perfectly smoothed into the bun she wore, and her sharp eyes observed them both. She could see instantly that her son was protective of Savannah, and attached to her, and his mother didn’t like it. As far as she was concerned, Savannah didn’t deserve it. She had tried to erase Savannah and Alexa from their lives. And she felt that his feelings for Savannah were a betrayal of Luisa. But she hadn’t told Luisa about the meeting either. They were all in collusion and felt guilty. And his mother resented that too.

“Hello, Grandmother,” Savannah said politely, extending a hand to her, and the old woman didn’t take it.

“I have arthritis,” she said, which was true, but not to that extent. She always shook hands with her minister when he came to visit. And she would have preferred it if Savannah had called her Mrs. Beaumont now, but she didn’t say it. “I understand you’re here until June,” she said directly to Savannah, as her ancient maid came in to pour them tea.

“I might be,” Savannah said quietly, sitting down carefully on a narrow chair near her grandmother. Everything in the room seemed fragile and dusty. Savannah hoped she wouldn’t sneeze. “It might be May, if my mother’s case goes more quickly. But it’s a big case, it could take a while to try.”

“Your mother wasn’t a lawyer when I knew her,” her grandmother said with an air of disapproval, and Savannah nodded. It was hard not to be daunted by this ancient, sharp-featured woman. She was old, but tough as nails.

“She went to law school after the”-she started to say “divorce” and then stopped herself instinctively-“after we went back to New York. My other grandmother is a lawyer too.”

“I know.” Eugenie Beaumont nodded. “I met her. She was a very nice woman.” She was willing to concede that, but nothing about Alexa, out of loyalty to Luisa.

“Thank you,” Savannah said politely, still holding the cup of tea. She had worn a gray skirt and a white sweater, and she looked neat, clean, and demure. Tom was proud of her, for wanting to come here, and being brave enough to do it. His mother wasn’t easy.

“Do you want to be a lawyer too?” Her grandmother scowled at her. She was looking to find fault with her, Tom could see, but had found none so far. She was clearly a northern girl, and lacked the softness of the South, but she was polite and well bred, and Eugenie liked that.

“No. I think I’d like to be a journalist, but I’m not sure yet. I just applied to college, and I don’t have to declare my major for two years.” Her grandmother asked what colleges she had applied to, and was impressed by the list. They were all first-rate schools, including Duke.

“You must be a good student,” Eugenie conceded, “to apply to schools like that. In my day, young women didn’t go to college. They got married and had babies. It’s different now, though. One of my grandsons went to the University of Virginia, like his father. The other one went to Duke.” She said it as though Savannah didn’t know them.

“UVA is a very good school,” Savannah said easily, but she hadn’t applied there. Her mother had discouraged her and said she’d be an outcast if she wasn’t southern. Savannah knew it was her mother’s prejudice about the South but had decided not to apply anyway. She smiled kindly at her grandmother, and took her empty teacup from her and set it down, and then offered her the plate of cookies. The maid had gone back to the kitchen. Eugenie took one of the cookies and nibbled it as she looked at her grandchild. “You look just like your mother.” It was hard to tell if it was a compliment or an insult the way she said it. A complaint maybe. She didn’t want to be reminded of Alexa, or how much she had liked her in the beginning. Until Luisa came home for good, and her allegiance had shifted back to her first daughter-in-law, not the second. Savannah thought it wisest not to answer. “Do you know what the United Daughters of the Confederacy is?” she asked her, and Savannah nodded. She remembered hearing about it, although it sounded a little silly to her, but she didn’t say that. “I’m the president general. They gave me that title because my grandfather was a general in the Confederate Army.” She said it with such pride that Savannah smiled at her. For all her toughness, there was a fragility and vulnerability that touched her. She was just a very old woman, and life had passed her by. She was alone in a dusty old house now, proud of an army that had lost a war nearly a hundred and fifty years before, like the Japanese soldiers who had hidden in caves and didn’t know the war was over for years.

Eugenie looked at her son then and nodded. He understood the signal. She was tired. It was time for them to leave. He stood up and told Savannah they should be going.

“Thank you for letting me come to visit you, Grandmother,” she said politely as she stood up too.

“Are you in school here?” Eugenie was curious about her. She was a bright girl, and on closer inspection, she looked like her father too, not just Alexa. She had southern genes in her, after all.

“Yes, I am. I started this week.”

“Do you like it?”

“So far. Everyone’s been very nice. And Charleston is beautiful. Dad showed me around on Monday before I started school.”

“I hope you enjoy your stay here,” Eugenie said politely, letting her know that she would not be seeing her again. It was hello and goodbye in one meeting.

“Thank you.” Savannah smiled at her warmly, and then they left.

Savannah was quiet on the drive home, thinking about her. She was so small and old and not the dragon she had expected at all. It hadn’t been hard, it was easy.

Luisa was waiting for them when they got home. As usual, she ignored Savannah, and looked straight at her husband.

“I understand you just went to see your mother, and just took her with you.” She always referred to Savannah as “her” and “she” and never by name.

“That’s right. I did. I thought Savannah should see her. She’s her grandmother, after all. Did she call you?” It surprised him, but maybe his mother had felt a need to confess to Luisa.

“Someone saw you turning into the driveway.” Luisa had spies everywhere, and knew everything he did. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to upset you,” he said honestly, as Savannah left them quietly and went to her room.

“It’s a slap in my face to take her there, and you know it,” she accused him.

“Savannah had a right to see her.”

“She has no rights here,” Luisa reminded him. “This is my home, and these are our children. She’s not one of us, and she never will be. It’s bad enough that you brought her here. You don’t have to humiliate me further by showing her off, or taking her to your mother for tea.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way. She’s not the enemy, Luisa. She’s a child. My child. Her being here is not going to hurt you or weaken your position.” She didn’t answer him, but gave him a quelling look and left the room.

Nothing further was said about it, until he visited his mother again two days later. He decided not to mention Savannah again, unless she did, and at the end of his visit, his mother brought it up. She amazed him by saying Luisa had called her, and was very upset about Savannah’s visit. That didn’t surprise him.

“She said she’d prefer it if I don’t see her again,” his mother said calmly. “I’ve thought about it, and I’ve decided I’d like to anyway. She seems like a very nice young lady. And it was kind of her to come to see me.” He was floored by his mother’s decision, and assessment of Savannah. She liked her. “I told your wife not to meddle in my business.” It was the first time in years she had taken someone else’s position, and not Luisa’s. “There’s no reason I can’t see her again if I want to. No one is going to tell me what to do.” Tom smiled at her as she said it.

“No one ever has, Mother. I have complete faith in you to stand up to anyone who would try. And I’m glad you liked Savannah.”

“She’s intelligent and polite, and a lot like you.” He didn’t challenge it, but the truth was that she was a great deal more like her mother, and they both knew it. She was far more courageous than he was. He had sold his soul to the devil years before, and had allowed his mother and Luisa to influence him into betraying someone he loved, and even abandoning his own child. He had nothing to be proud of, and he wasn’t. “You did what you had to do, and you did the right thing,” she said, reading his mind, as she so often did. She did it better than anyone, and sometimes she used it against him, but not this time.

“No, I didn’t,” he said quietly.

“It seemed like the right thing to do at the time.” He wondered if she regretted it too, but he didn’t ask her.

“They both suffered for my stupidity and weakness,” he said honestly. “There’s nothing right about it.” And Luisa was the winner and didn’t deserve to be. Everyone else involved had been losers, including him. And he had allowed it to happen.

“Maybe it will do you good to have her here now.” And then she added with a wicked grin, “If Luisa doesn’t make life too miserable for you. She’s not happy to have the girl here.” Tom laughed at what she said.

“No, she isn’t. And she’s making life miserable for Savannah too.”

“She looks as though she can handle it. How is she with Daisy?” She was curious about her. Seeing her had whetted her appetite for more information.

“Very sweet. Daisy loves her.” His mother nodded.

“Bring her to see me again. She ought to learn more about her own history. There’s more to her life than those two women lawyers in New York. She should know about our family too.” It was a huge sign of acceptance that she wanted to share that with Savannah, and Tom was stunned as he thought about it when he drove away. He told Savannah that night that her grandmother wanted to see her again. Savannah looked pleased.

“I liked her too. Maybe she can tell me all about the United Daughters of the Confederacy next time, and the generals in her family.”

“That’s just what she wants to do,” he said, as he gave Savannah a hug and left the room.

He moved back into his bedroom that night, with Luisa. She was still furious with him, but it was his bedroom too, and his house. He had no intention of sleeping on the couch in his study forever, because his daughter had come to visit. He took Daisy and Savannah to a movie that night, and invited Luisa. She didn’t want to come, but he had asked her. He had a great time with both his daughters.

When he got into bed when they returned, Luisa turned her back on him, but she hadn’t moved into one of the guest bedrooms, which he had thought she might do. She wasn’t speaking to him, but he had reclaimed his territory, and his life. He felt like a man again, for the first time in ten years. Luisa no longer had him on the run, and she no longer owned him. He wanted to let out a shout of victory, but instead he just turned over and went to sleep.

The week after Savannah’s visit to her grandmother was another crazy one for Alexa. The FBI had backed down about taking the case, after a lot of pressure from Joe McCarthy, but they were still waiting to pounce and grab it if anything went wrong. So far nothing had. But Alexa felt she had to be constantly on her toes. And they had just gotten word of a link between Quentin and another murder, this one in a state where they didn’t think he’d been. As it turned out, he hadn’t, and the forensic evidence didn’t match. She wanted to be particularly careful they weren’t just throwing things at him to see what would stick. She had to be absolutely sure that the murders he was accused of were in fact crimes he had committed, and all the evidence matched up, beyond a reasonable doubt. She didn’t want to lose this case, or try to convict him for crimes he didn’t commit. She wanted to be absolutely, totally, completely sure that she was on the right track in each case, and she believed she was. Without solid conclusive evidence from other law enforcement agencies in other states, she would not add their cases to her own. It was her cautious thoroughness so far that had convinced the FBI director to let her keep the case. He didn’t think anyone could have done a better job, and Joe assured him that was true. All of which put additional pressure on Alexa to not make one minute slip or mistake. She looked and felt worn out. The trial was ten weeks away. And Quentin was continuing to hold court with a hungry press. Alexa refused to make further comment, which the FBI liked too, and at every opportunity she thanked them for their help, gave them credit where it was due, and was grateful for their enormous investigative machine that she was benefiting from to build her case.