Channel: Private Pleasures Part 9

"Honey, I only meant you were organized, and ambitious," Nora soothed. She hated seeing her children so angry with their father. This problem wasn't really theirs. It was hers and Jeff's. Jill had always adored her father. "You have to be nice to your dad, Jill, when he comes. I don't want him taking away your law school tuition this year. There is no way you could go to Duke without him this year, and he seems to be in an odd mood. Remember that."

"Probably his teenybopper girlfriend has him on drugs. Drugs give you mood swings," Jill said nastily.

"Jill! I have no idea how old or how young this woman is. Don't say things like that," Nora scolded.

"Ma, you know she's got to be younger. When a man has enough money, and is happy in his job, the only thing he wants is red-hot s.e.x. I learned that in psych. I don't think you and Dad were having red-hot s.e.x, if you were having s.e.x at all."

"Enough!" Nora said sharply. "Your father wants a divorce. I'm happy to give him one. Our only disagreement is money. Let it go, Jill. I don't want to hear any more about this. Dad and I will both be happier apart."

And it couldn't all come soon enough, Nora thought to herself. She hadn't seen her husband in several weeks, and to her surprise she wasn't unhappy. In fact she was downright happy, and she was looking forward to starting her own life anew. Rick a.s.sured her that they would get a decent settlement out of Jeff eventually. He explained why Jeff couldn't sell the house from under her, but he didn't have the heart to tell her that in the end the house would be sold. That news would come later when there was no other choice. For now it was a huge burden off of her shoulders, as was the financial problem of J. J.'s college tuition.

Carla had come to her with a check for six thousand dollars, and when Nora had demurred, Carla had quietly explained that it wasn't right for J. J. to lose his sports scholars.h.i.+p, and that it was a graduation gift to him from his neighbors on Ansley Court, who had watched him grow up with their kids. It would pay for his dorm room and his meal plan. Nora cried. There was no way she could deny her son this chance. And he was going to write thank-you notes to them all, or she'd kill him!

On graduation morning J. J. donned his kelly green gown and cap. The school's colors were kelly green and white. Maureen Johnson was wearing a white cap and gown, like all the other girls graduating that day. The two families met on the lawns outside. Pictures were taken. Margo Edwards had come up from South Carolina in her gentleman friend Taylor's private plane. They had flown in early this morning, and would be leaving almost immediately after graduation.

"We have a dance tonight at the club, darling," Margo told her daughter. "You know, Nora, you are looking better now than you have in years. You've lost weight, and you have a positive glow about you. If this is what getting rid of Jeff has done for you, you should have done it sooner," she laughed.

Nora laughed too. "Thanks, Mom," she said. And then wondered what his mother would think if she told her about The Channel, and that she was having the best s.e.x of her life with an imaginary lover.

Since Nora had to turn in her car to the dealer, they squeezed into J. J.'s and Jill's two little cars.

"You really should have told me, darling," Margo said. "You can't be without a car. How are you going to get around?"

"I'm taking J. J.'s car for now. I'll drop him at work and pick him up every day. That way I'll have the car for errands, and he's not taking it to college anyway this year. He's got it exclusively Friday nights until Sunday church. It won't be so bad, Mom," Nora said. "Besides, I've got to pay the insurance now."

"Jeff is a monster!" Margo said, and she turned to her escort. "This is a perfect example of his perfidy, Taylor. Didn't I tell you?"

"Now, honey, don't you go getting yourself all upset," Taylor Bradford said. "I think your Nora will just be fine, won't you, girly?"

"Yes, I will," Nora agreed sweetly, and she winked at him.

They were all laughing as they parked and got out of the car. J. J. and Maureen ran off to join their cla.s.smates. Nora and her family walked to the soccer field, where chairs had been set up for the graduation. The day was sunny, with a light breeze. It was perfect June weather.

"Who is that?" Carla asked as a sleek dark gray limousine pulled into the parking lot. "Oh, Jesus, Nora! It's Jeff, and he's brought the Jennifer with him."

"I cannot believe the effrontery of that man!" Margo gasped.

Nora stared. Well, there was the answer to her question. The next Mrs. Buckley was not a great beauty, but she was a very striking young woman. Tall. Blond. Willowy.

Nora instantly regretted her mauve-and-green floral dress. While it certainly fit her better than it had in a long while, it wasn't the kind of dress in which you wanted to meet your successor. It screamed ordinary. The Jennifer was dressed in a pale gray silk suit with a fitted jacket. She was wearing a pair of the highest sling-back heels Nora had ever seen. They were straight out of Carrie's closet on s.e.x and the City. Her blond hair was pulled back neatly.

"Let's get out of here," Carla hissed. "I don't want to be introduced now."

"Agreed," Nora said. "G.o.d, I look so fat in this dress, and she looks like she lives on lettuce leaves."

"You do not look fat in that dress!" Margo said loyally. "You look lovely."

Oh G.o.d, Nora thought, lovely? She didn't want to look lovely. She wanted to look smas.h.i.+ng and s.e.xy. She wanted to look like she looked in The Channel. Oh, Kyle! She hadn't seen him since Jill got home. Jill was a night owl, and there was no chance to sneak into The Channel with Jill home. But right now she wanted to look like she did with Kyle, and she wanted to have him on her arm. Wouldn't that surprise old Jeff?

They found an open row, and crowded in. The Seligmanns, the Pietro d'Angelos, and the Ulriches were already waiting for them. Just enough chairs, including Margo and Taylor. No room for Jeff and his Jennifer. Too bad.

"Jeff just arrived in a big limo with his Jennifer," Carla hissed to the others.

"Such a nerve," Rina said. "I wouldn't want a nerve like that in my tooth."

"Do you think they'll come back to the house for the party?" Tiffany asked.

"It's his son's graduation," Nora whispered at them. "I'm sure he'll come back, and please, for the love of G.o.d, no confrontations. I've got enough trouble, and the lawyers start talking again on Monday. We don't want Jeff feeling hostile."

"I can't talk to him, Ma," Jill said. "That woman with him isn't much older than I am. It's embarra.s.sing."

"No, Jill, what's embarra.s.sing is wearing a seven-year-old flowered dress when your husband's next wife-to-be looks like she stepped out of Vogue. So shut up, and be nice to your father," Nora snapped irritably. "This situation isn't about you. Got it?"

"Good for you, girly," Taylor Bradford murmured, and he patted her hand.

The graduation ceremony began. It was like every graduation day. Pomp and Circ.u.mstance. Welcome to Parents and Guests. A small speech by the princ.i.p.al. The Salutatorian's Speech. The Valedictorian's Speech. The Awards. The Conferring of the Diplomas. The Dismissal, when all the mortarboards went flying in the air to the happy shouts of the graduating cla.s.s. And it was over.

J. J. headed toward his family. "I saw him," he said to his mother.

"Be nice. Remember what we talked about," she warned him.

And then Jeffrey Buckley and his companion were upon them. "Congratulations, son," he said. "I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Heidi Millar."

The girl quickly held out her hand. "Your dad speaks highly of you, J. J.," she said.

To Nora's relief, J. J. shook the young woman's hand. "Thank you," was all he said.

"Nora, Heidi Millar," Jeff said.

"You'll come back to the house, of course," Nora responded. "We're having a small celebration before J. J. goes off with his friends." She quickly turned away, as did the others.

"Of course," he said jovially.

"I can't believe you asked him to come here with his . . . his woman!" Jill raged at Nora in the car.

"I had no choice, Jill. Now behave yourself," Nora snapped.

"Grandma!" Jill turned to Margo.

"No, Jill, your mother did exactly the right thing. Your father isn't divorcing you, darling. He's divorcing your mother. Now behave. Taylor and I can only spend another hour with you before we leave, and I want to have nice memories of my grandson's high school graduation."

Jill slouched down in the car, scowling. "I'll speak to Daddy, but I absolutely will not talk with that woman," she said.

Nora's hands clutched the wheel of the car. If Jill started a brouhaha, she was going to kill her. She angled her way from the parking lot and headed off home. She had to get there before Jeff, and in her rearview mirror she could see the limo making its attempt to leave. She pressed down on the gas pedal and stared ahead.

Rina and Joanne were at the house ahead of her. They were already putting the sandwiches out on the silver trays. Tiffany was putting the finis.h.i.+ng touches on the sheet cake. She was their cake decorator. No one else ever bothered to do a cake once they learned how clever Tiff was. The rectangular pastry was bedecked with a soccer field design complete with goal, and a figure kicking a ball between the posts. Tiffany was just finis.h.i.+ng up the writing. "Congratulations, Jeff" was emblazoned across the cake.

The women hurried out to the brick terrace off the den, where a table had been set up, covered with a lovely white linen cloth edged in delicate lace. There were heavy paper plates with a graduation motif, cups, and silverware on the table. The cake was set in the center with plates of small sandwiches surrounding it. Nora had used a mix of her good china, her silver, and paper goods. Margo and Taylor came from the kitchen, each carrying two pitchers of lemonade mixed with iced tea. Nora liked the way Taylor Bradford seemed to fit right in with them. Trust Margo to have found the right man whether she married him or not.

Then Jeff arrived with Heidi, behaving very much like the lord of the manor. He seated his companion by the pool, and hurried over to the table to fetch her refreshment.

"Where are the gla.s.ses?" he wanted to know.

"We're using paper cups," Nora replied quietly.

"You know I don't like paper," he said irritably. "Go and get me two gla.s.ses."

"You haven't been gone so long that you've forgotten where the gla.s.ses are, Jeff," Nora said dryly. "If you want gla.s.ses, go and get them yourself. My days of servitude are over. Please try and be pleasant for J. J. sake."

"What the h.e.l.l has gotten into you, Nora?" he demanded.

She smiled brightly at him. "I have guests to attend to, Jeff." And she walked away. Inside she was shaking with her anger. How dare he bring her replacement into her house, and behave as if everything in it, including Nora, were at his pleasure.

It was a brief party, because J. J. desperately wanted to join his friends. Maureen would be having the big party tonight, but Nora knew there were other parties going on even now that the two kids wanted to go to. She got J. J. to come and make a ceremonial cut of his cake. Tiffany came then to slice up the cake for the guests.

"The girls and I want to go now," J. J. said to his mother.

"Go on, but say good-bye to your father first," Nora advised her son.

Reluctantly J. J. walked over to where his father sat with his girlfriend. "I'm going now, Dad," he said.

"Sit down for a minute and visit with us," Jeff said.

"Mo and Lily are waiting for me, Dad," J. J. said.

"Sit down!" Jeff snapped. "You haven't said a word to Heidi."

"What do you want me to say, Dad? You're dumping my mother. You've taken away my college funds. What am I supposed to say? Thank you?"

"Heidi is going to be your stepmother, J. J.," Jeff said.

"So?"

"I want you to know her, and like her," his father responded.

"Look, Dad, I don't want to know her, and I'll never like her. Got it?" J. J. told his father. "I'm eighteen now. I won't have to come to you every other weekend like some of my friends do with their parents. It's over between us. You gave me life, but not much more. You never came to my games, or the plays I was in, or the mountain house." He turned to Heidi Millar. "I hope you aren't planning on kids, ma'am. He's a lousy father."

Heidi Millar's cold gray eyes looked directly at J. J. "I don't think you have the right to speak to your father like that. You obviously have no idea what a wonderful and talented man he is. You're angry because he won't pay for your schooling. Why should he pay for a boy who obviously has no respect for him? You, your sister, and your mother have lived off of Jeff's hard work and generosity long enough. It's past time you took care of yourselves."

J. J. stood up. "So long, Dad," he said.

Jeff stood up too, holding out his hand to his son. J. J. looked at the hand, laughed, and then turned away. Jeff Buckley's face grew florid with his anger at the snub. "Your mother," he snarled, "is obviously working very hard to turn you against me. It won't help her to do it at all."

J. J. turned, his fists clenched, to glare at his father, and it was then that Taylor Bradford stepped into the fray. He put his arm about the boy, murmuring as he did, "The man ain't worth it, son. Go on with those two pretty girls waiting for you," and he gently pushed J. J. in the direction of Lily and Mo. Then he turned back to Jeff Buckley. "I think you've just about worn out your welcome here today, sir. Why don't you take the young lady and head back to town?"

"Who the h.e.l.l are you?" Jeff demanded to know.

"Taylor Bradford of Bradford, South Carolina, sir. I'm planning on being Margo's husband one of these days real soon. So as the patriarch of this family, I'm telling you to git."

"Taylor Bradford of Bradford Industries?" Heidi said, and when he nodded she continued eagerly, smiling her best smile at him. "We've been trying to get your business, Mr. Bradford, for our agency, Buckley, Coutts and Wickham."

"I don't think I'd count on my business now, missy," the older man said. "Your driver's waiting."

"I haven't seen my daughter yet," Jeff said stubbornly.

"You can say your heys on the way out." Taylor Bradford smiled.

Heidi Millar stood up. "Come on, Jeff. This is already old, and I'm bored." She took his arm and they moved off, but Jeff guided them to Nora, determined to have his say before he left.

Nora was sitting with her mother and daughter when Jeff approached. She stood, smiling weakly. "Going so soon?"

"You're going to be sorry, Nora, for turning my son against me," he growled at her. "I'm not going to forget this, and come Monday you're going to wish you hadn't done it, you embittered b.i.t.c.h."

The look of surprise on Nora's face was instant. "I didn't turn J. J. against you. What happened?"

"He was rude to me, and Heidi," Jeff said angrily.

"He was incredibly awful to his father," Heidi Millar added. "He said the most terrible things. It's no wonder Jeff is was.h.i.+ng his hands of him!"

"My brother is a good kid," Jill said, jumping up to defend her sibling. "He's hurt because of what's happened. You can't blame him."

"He's a nasty little brat," Heidi responded.

"Do you hate me, Jilly?" her father asked.

"Of course not, Daddy, and neither does J. J. I'm just upset that you are being so unfair to Mom. How is she supposed to live if you won't pay her alimony, at least for a little while? And where is she supposed to live if you sell our house?"

"Jill!" Nora put a hand on her daughter's arm, in a warning gesture.

"Your mother has a college degree. Let her get a job like everyone else these days," Jeff said, ignoring his daughter's query about the house.

"You just better be careful, Jill," Heidi said. "If your father hadn't already paid your tuition at Duke this year, you wouldn't be going. And it's the last time he's going to pay for you. I hope you understand that."

"Get out!" Nora said. Her eyes were filled with tears, which were beginning to spill down her cheeks. "Get out, Jeff, and please, don't come back. And take that girl with you. I wanted you to come to J. J.'s graduation today. You're his father. But you've spoiled the day for us all. I hope you're satisfied."

"You've gotten old and bitter, Nora," he said cruelly.

"Jeff, you wanted a divorce. I said you could have one. But just bear this in mind I will not let you have my house. Do you understand me? You will never have this house! If you want to start again, then do it all the way. Take a mortgage like all young couples do," Nora sneered at him, the tears still pouring down her cheeks.

"You will get nothing from me, b.i.t.c.h! Nothing!" And then he spun about and dragged Heidi with him as he headed for the limo.

Nora was shaking with anger now, but she couldn't stop crying. Taylor Bradford pushed a paper cup into her hand. Nora drank, and then began to cough. "It's whiskey!" she gasped.

"Yep," he agreed. "Nothing like a little drink to calm the nerves, honey."

Nora began to laugh, and looking at her mother, she said, "If you don't marry him eventually, Ma, I will." Then she drank down the rest of the potent liquid in the paper cup. And she did feel better. "n.o.body leaves here till those d.a.m.ned sandwiches are all eaten," she said. And the tension broken, her friends began to eat and talk again.

Margo put an arm around her daughter. "That was hard," she said, "but you did just fine. I never thought I'd see the day when you stood up to Jeff Buckley."