Chapter Thirty-Two

“You know?” Rose said, stunned from the pain of the slap and also from the sudden revelation that her secret wasn’t a secret.

“Of course I do,” Pamela said, as though that were obvious.

“She’s pregnant?” Melinda demanded. Then she scoffed. “It’s probably not even Will’s.”

Rose launched herself at Melinda, nearly knocking Pamela—who was standing between them—to the ground. She felt hands on her as Will held her back from ripping the bitch’s arms off. Melinda, sensibly, had backed a few paces away.

“What’s going on out here?” Chris emerged from the barn and walked toward them, a concerned look on his face. “I couldn’t find Melinda, and then I heard yelling.”

“What’s going on here, Mr. Mills, is that your … girlfriend ”—Pamela said the word as though it tasted bad—“attacked my daughter.”

“Who’s pregnant,” Will added helpfully.

Suddenly, it hit Rose that Will hadn’t been surprised to hear that particular piece of news.

“You knew too?” she said, looking at him in wonder.

“Of course I knew.”

“You hit Rose?” Chris said to Melinda.

“She called me a bitch.”

“You are a bitch,” Rose said.

Melinda bared her teeth and reached out to swing at Rose again, but Will stepped in front of Rose to take the blow, if need be, and Pamela shoved Melinda backward mightily before she could land another slap.

At that moment, Daniel strolled out of the barn, looking happy and slightly drunk. “Hey. Where did everybody …” And then he saw them. “Oh, shit.”

“Daniel. Would you take Rose inside?” Will said.

“Yes,” Pamela added. “She’s been hit. She’s hurt.”

“I’m not hurt,” Rose protested. “That skank couldn’t land a decent shot if she were trained by Mickey Goldmill.” When they all looked at her curiously, she said, “From Rocky. Burgess Meredith. Don’t you people know your movies?”

“Come on,” Daniel told her, taking her arm. “We’ll get you a drink.”

“She can’t drink!” Pamela scolded him. “She’s pregnant!”

“You are?” Daniel looked at her with wonder. “Wow. That’s … wow.”

“Oh, for God’s sake.” She pulled her arm from Daniel’s grasp. “I’m not going anywhere, so don’t even try it.”

“What the …” Chris was rubbing at his temples. “What the hell is going on?”

“Will came over to Cooper House on Thursday night, when I was there alone.” Melinda’s eyes bore into Will’s with fury. “He made a pass at me.”

“Oh, that’s a goddamned lie,” Rose said. “She’s just jealous because her ex has moved on to someone else.”

“Ex?” Chris said.

“Uh … yeah,” Will admitted. “Melinda and I … we dated before she met you. She didn’t want to tell you.”

Chris turned to Melinda. “Is that true?”

“I didn’t think it was important to tell you,” she said. “It’s all water under the bridge. Or, at least it was until Will tried to kiss me.”

“She tried to kiss me,” Will said. “And then got mad when I said no. I have the text messages to prove it. And the security video, which I saved.”

“That doesn’t prove anything.” Melinda glared at Will. “You could have doctored a video. You could have—”

“Just … shut up,” Chris said. Melinda gasped.

Chris turned to Will. “You didn’t tell me any of this.”

“I didn’t want … Oh, hell. This. I didn’t want any of this.” He gestured to the chaos around them.

Chris rubbed at his forehead with one hand and turned away from them.

“Chris, please.” Melinda put a hand on his shoulder, and he shook it off.

He turned back to face Will. “I think you’d better find a new job. And a new place to live.” Chris’s face had turned red, but he kept his voice calm as he straightened the cuffs of his tux. “In fact, don’t come back to the property. I’ll have your things packed up and delivered to you.”

“I think you’re doing the right thing,” Melinda told him, putting her hand on his arm and following him as he walked toward his car.

He pulled his arm out of her grasp and turned to her. “When we get back to the house, I want you to pack your things. I’ll arrange for your transportation home.”

“But Chris, I—”

“Just get in the car.” He turned to the group, couldn’t find anyone he wanted to be civil to, and settled on Rose. “Please tell Gen and Ryan that I apologize for the quick departure. Good night.”

When they were gone, Rose looked at Will. “Oh, Jesus, Will. Your job. Your house …”

“It doesn't matter. None of it matters,” he said. “I’ll figure something out.”

“Of course you will.” Pamela patted him companionably on the shoulder. “Did you know that Will is almost finished with his dissertation?” she asked Rose.

“I’m finished, actually,” Will added.

“Good for you,” Pamela said, smiling.

“What’s happening here?” Rose said. The events of the previous fifteen minutes had left her dizzy with confusion. Plus, her face hurt.

“What’s happening is that I’m going to defend my dissertation, get my PhD, then get a decent job, probably at Cal Poly. Then I’m going to be a father to our baby.”

“You are?” Rose said. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes.

“Yes. And we are a couple, Rose, whether you want to admit it or not. I love you. And I want to be with you. And I want our family.”

She shook her head as tears fell down her cheeks. “I don’t … I can’t …”

“Rosemary.” Pamela’s voice was stern. “Can’t you see that Will is the one? That he’s your one? My goodness, even I can see that, and I’m notoriously difficult to please.”

“That’s true,” Rose said, laughing through her tears. “You are.”

Will looked into Rose’s eyes. “I am your one. And you’re my one.”

She waved toward the barn, where the party was still underway. “I can’t get married, or anything stupid like that.”

“I know,” Will said simply.

“You do?”

“Of course I do. I know you.”

“You do.” She said it on a sigh.

He gathered her into his arms and kissed her, and the rest of the world ceased to exist.

“I was supposed to distract Melinda,” Daniel told Pamela. “I’m a shitty wingman.”

“It would seem so,” Pamela said.

 

Pamela and Daniel went back into the barn, leaving Will and Rose alone to ponder all that had happened.

“Did you see what my mother did?” Rose asked him. “Did you see her? She just … zoomed in and attacked Melinda. Like a mother grizzly bear or something.”

“I saw it,” he said in wonder. “Though she was moving so fast she was pretty much just a blur.”

“I didn’t think she really cared about me,” Rose said. A fresh tear fell down one cheek, and Will wiped it away with a gentle finger.

“Of course she does. She’s your mother.”

“I think I have to go talk to her.”

“You should.” He gave her a quick, sweet kiss on the lips. “I think that’s a good idea. You do that while I go find Daniel and chew him out for falling down on the job.”

Rose and Will went back into the barn, where the candlelight and the music and the dancing made everything seem like a gentle dream. She was surprised to find her mother dancing with Ryan’s uncle Redmond. After the dance was over, Pamela returned to her table near the back of the barn, away from the band. When Rose approached her, she was holding a martini and chatting with Daniel, who was laughing about something.

“I’ve got an issue with you,” Will told Daniel, who abruptly stopped laughing and looked contrite. “Dude. I’m sorry. I got distracted.”

“So I gathered.”

“You should kick my ass. You really should. But maybe we could just have a beer instead.”

They wandered off toward the bar, leaving Rose and Pamela alone.

“Hey.” Rose pulled out a chair and sat next to her mother.

“Rose. Does it still hurt?” Pamela gently touched Rose’s cheek.

“Not really. It’s okay. Thanks to you. If you hadn’t come charging in like … like Bruce Willis in Die Hard, she’d have broken my kneecaps.”

Pamela smiled. “Nonsense, darling. You were ready to pummel her, and you would have if Will and I hadn’t intervened. I can’t say that I approve of that sort of behavior, but you would have been justified.”

“You … you rescued me,” Rose said in wonder.

“Well, of course. You’re my daughter. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I just thought—”

“My dear,” Pamela interrupted. “You’ll be surprised what you’ll do for your own child once she arrives. And, yes, I’m convinced it’ll be a daughter.”

“But … how did you know? Both you and Will. Did Kate or Gen tell you? If Lacy blabbed, I’ll—”

“No one had to tell me. Or Will.” She waved a hand to dismiss the thought. “The signs were obvious.”

“Well, jeez. Neither one of you said anything.”

“Of course not. You had to let us know in your own time. We both knew that.”

“Wow.” Rose pondered that for a minute, and then remembered what Pamela had told her on the way to the wedding. “Are you really moving to Cambria?”

“I’d like to. I’d like to be close to my grandchild. And you.”

Rose didn’t know what to say. The idea of having her mother nearby was both heartwarming and terrifying. What if they didn’t get along? What if they continued to fight? What if Rose had to continue to live under her mother’s harsh and unyielding scrutiny?

“I’m not sure you’d like it here,” Rose said, hedging her response. “I mean, it’s so far away from your life in Connecticut. And it’s a small town. There’s no DAR. No … big society galas. Good God, I don’t know what you’d do without your social status.”

Pamela waved a hand and made a noise: pfft. “Social status. Darling, all of that exhausts me.”

“What? ” Rose was aghast. “It exhausts you? I thought … jeez, Mom. When I was growing up, everything was about social status! How I did my hair, how I dressed, where I went to school. You wanted me to go to Yale!”

“You think I wanted you to go to Yale for status?” Pamela said with disgust.

“Didn’t you?”

“No! I wanted you to go so you could have everything!” Pamela grasped Rose’s hands in hers. This display of closeness—this physical touch—was so foreign to Rose that she almost flinched.

“When I went to Brown, it was made very clear that I was there to find a man. That was the goal my parents had for me. Look beautiful, join a sorority, and marry well. The idea that there might be something more, that I might be something more … Well. It simply wasn’t an option that was presented to me. But you …” She squeezed Rose’s hands. “You could have done anything, accomplished anything. I wanted you to have the finest education so you could soar. Darling, I wanted to give you wings.”

“But you did,” Rose said, tears in her eyes, emotion thickening her throat. “You did. You raised me into a person who knew that I wanted to be free. I did have wings, and I used them. I flew here. I am the person I wanted to be. That just didn’t turn out to be who you expected.”

For the first time—perhaps ever—Rose considered that her mother might have had a hand in making her someone strong enough to do what she’d done so many years ago.

“I love you, Mom.” It was the first time she’d said it since she drove off that day in the Mercedes, a duffel bag of clothes in the backseat and a note to her parents on the dining room table. Saying it now, and meaning it, broke down a wall she’d built around herself, a wall she could now see had not just kept her safe, but had also kept her trapped.

“Oh, Rose. I love you too.” Pamela gathered Rose into her arms and rocked her like she hadn’t done since Rose was small. Had she even done it then? Rose couldn’t remember.

“You have another chance, you know.” Rose sniffled as she pulled back from her mother’s embrace. “You have another chance with your grandchild. And with me. I hope you’ll take it. I hope you’ll come to Cambria.”

Pamela nodded mutely, her eyes shiny with unshed tears.