Out the Summerhill Road: A Novel

The Women

Part 5: 1980 • A Jury of Her Friends 285 The Women Two days before Thanksgiving, Sarah and Isabel reach Betsy ’s house at the same time, and Gaynor, wearing her bright shawl, hurries them into Betsy’s sitting room. They stand in front of the fireplace warming their hands against the first hard freeze of the year. “It might be snowing by Thursday,” Sarah says, rubbing her hands together. “And everything can return to normal.” “Normal?” Betsy says, coming into the room with a tray of cups and saucers. “Well, look at you, Betsy Rogers, in your gorgeous blue!” Isabel exclaims. “What a wonderful color!” “Thank you, Isabel. But as for normal, I’m not sure anymore what normal is. But we’re having chamomile tea today. After the hard time you girls have had, you need a little pampering.” Sarah and Isabel sit side-by-side on the loveseat. Sarah is wearing khaki pants, clean khakis, and muddy running shoes. Isabel wears a black silk suit with her black, rose-covered scarf thrown round her neck. Her heels are high. Her black hair falls to her shoulders. The length of her hair makes her look older, or so Sarah thinks. “Sarah, would you pour?” Betsy says. “Sure,” Sarah says and, beginning with Betsy, she pours tea into thin china teacups. “Betsy, I’ve been thinking about the meeting we had with Theodore White. He was bumfuzzled before it was half way over.” “Bumfuzzled, how.” “Isabel mentioned the cat’s inheritance. And then to clear that up, she told . . . ,” and now Sarah is giggling and Isabel is smiling, “she told Theo the cat was imaginary.” “And then I said Miss Eyre did not like Albert,” Gaynor says merrily, and Theo said, ‘Who’s Miss Eyre?’ And then, I said, 286 Out the Summerhill Road oh my Lord, I actually said, ‘Her very real cat,’ and Betsy, if you could have seen the look on Theo’s face!” “Betsy, pay no attention to Isabel,” says Gaynor. “Miss Eyre is a real cat. I know she is. But, oh, thinking back, it was quite a funny conversation.” “Betsy, the only thing Theodore White understood was your advice to follow the money,” says Sarah. “As a matter of fact, Theo called the day after your meeting and thanked me,” Betsy says, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, and then, sipping the tea, frowning, she says, “Too bland,” and then she grins. “He also said the three of you were quite formidable around that conference table.” “Betsy, would you ever in a million years have thought that Albert Aston was a murderer? I thought Clovis murdered Mary Martha.” “No, Sarah. I never thought about Mr. Aston. And the idea that Clovis was guilty never entered my mind. I was afraid it was Jackson. Thank God it wasn’t.” “And all the saints in heaven!” Gaynor says fervently. “I thought we might never know who it was,” Isabel says, “And that would have been horrible. For Jackson most of all.” Untying her silk scarf, Isabel folds it into a sash and ties it round her waist. Giving the scarf a reassuring pat, she smiles at it. Having quietly captured their full attention with the scarf, she chuckles and says, “I’m going to marry Jackson. I’ve always loved him. Even when I was madly in love with George, there was always a place in my heart for Jackson.” The women gaze at Isabel, taking in the idea of an Isabel who loved two men at the same time. Isabel shrugs her shoulders , puts a hand over her mouth and giggles. “It’s true,” she said. “I’ve always loved him. I called him last night and told him.” Smiling demurely now, she adds, “He’s not quite sure about marriage.” “Not sure?” Sarah gasps. Part 5: 1980 • A Jury of Her Friends 287 “He’s not sure, but I am.” And grinning, she adds, “I’m sure enough for both of us.” “Oh, Isabel, Isabel, of course, he will marry you,” Betsy says staunchly. “He just doesn’t know it yet. Now, we’ll have a little sherry, shall we?” When Gaynor accepts a glass, Isabel’s shakes her head in a barely perceptible gesture of disapproval. When Gaynor sees that, she defiantly lifts her chin. Sarah frowns and clears her throat. Gaynor shrugs, sips the sherry and smiles. And then...