Elin Hilderbrand - Summer People

“Beth?” she said.

Beth smiled, politely at first, flipping through her mental Rolodex. Who was this?Then a quiet panic infiltrated and she fought to keep her smile steady. She really had been out of touch in New York. Because although she had given the impending birth of this baby hours and hours of thought, never once had it occurred to her that she would have to see Rosie. But here she was-of course- Rosie Ronan, Piper’s mother. The other grandmother.

“Oh, God, Rosie,” Beth said. In her mind, Beth realized, she had filed Rosie away as “absent.” Like Arch. Not there. Beth went to the woman and took both her hands, even went so far as to kiss her on the corner of the mouth. This was so awkward. More awkward than the cocktail party so many years ago when Rosie introduced Beth to a friend as “David’s old flame,” right in front of Arch. At the time, Beth had swilled deeply off her glass of Chardonnay, and Rosie laughed and said, “Well, we’re all adults, right?What’s passed is past!” Now here she was-hadn’t aged a day in six years-if anything, she was prettier than ever. Beth turned Rosie toward the kids who were halfway to sleep-who could blame them?it was eleven o’clock and the day had been long-and said, “Winnie, Marcus, Garrett , this is Rosie Ronan, Piper and Peyton’s mother.”

Her kids, always polite with other adults, took a few seconds to process what Beth was telling them. Garrett groaned under his breath; he knew he should be the first one to his feet, knew it by the way his mother hit his name the hardest-this woman was, after all, sort of like his mother-in-law. Before Garrett could summon energy to stand, Marcus jumped up. Garrett was grateful for this; it gave him a few seconds to think.

“Marcus Tyler,” he said. “Congratulations on your impending good news.”

“Thank you,” Rosie said, with such a sense of entitlement that one might have thought it was Rosie who was having this baby. Beth wondered what she was doing out here in the waiting room, but before she could ask, she watched Garrett rise from the love seat. With a gallantry Beth rarely saw in him anymore, he introduced himself and then he introduced Winnie. “Garrett Newton, Mrs. Ronan, and this is my twin sister, Winnifred Newton.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” Rosie said. “Piper and Peyton and David are down the hall in a labor room. I’ve been banished for making too many suggestions.” She smiled sheepishly at Beth, and Beth, against her will, sympathized with her. It was always the mother who took the brunt of a teenager’s anger.

“Is Piper making any progress?” Beth asked. Just standing so close to the maternity ward brought it all back to her-how delivering a baby was a fight for ground, a struggle for centimeters, one painful contraction at a time.

“Some,” Rosie said. “She wants to wait for as long as she can before she takes the epidural. She read somewhere that it slows labor. She was moaning pretty loudly in there and she lost her dinner. The nurses here are outstanding. There’s a nurse back there with Piper now who was here when I had both Piper and Peyton. Of course, it wasn’t that long ago.”

“Only seventeen years,” Beth said, then felt like she had stated the unstatable. She removed her layers until she wore only a turtleneck and jeans. The hospital’s heating system blew hot, dry air out of a vent directly under Beth’s feet. “So I guess we’ll just wait then.”

“Is it okay if we drift off, Mom?” Winnie asked. She was curled up in a large armchair and Garrett and Marcus were each spread out on a love seat. That left a space on the sofa next to Rosie, who had returned to her magazine-perhaps hearing the blunt declaration of her daughter’s age upset her. Beth sat down, then said, “Garrett, do you want to at least tell Piper you’re here?In case she wants to see you?”

Garrett opened his eyes and stared at the acoustic tiles of the ceiling. He was so tired, this all seemed like a dream. He looked to Rosie Ronan, and she nodded at him. “That might be a good idea,” she said.

Garrett rose.

“You can ask one of the nurses where she is,” Beth suggested.

“I’ll find it,” Garrett said, walking away.

Beth removed her boots and propped her stocking feet on the glass coffee table. She fell asleep before Garrett returned.

When she woke, the waiting area was dark, though the lights in the adjoining hallway were on. All three kids snored shamelessly, and when Beth glanced next to her, she saw Rosie Ronan sitting right there, legs crossed at the ankle, eyes closed. Then, suddenly, Rosie’s eyes opened and the two women gazed at each other.

“Beth,” Rosie whispered, as though she were seeing Beth for the first time. “Beth Eyler.”

“Beth Newton,” Beth said. “I haven’t been Beth Eyler for twenty years.”

“In our house,” Rosie said, “you’re always called Beth Eyler.”

Beth didn’t like anything about that statement, and she sensed she wasn’t supposed to.

“Any news about Piper?”

“They gave her the shot,” Rosie said. “She’s sleeping.”

Beth nodded slowly, then tried to close her eyes, as though drifting off to sleep. Rosie allowed it for a few seconds before she spoke again.

“I was very sorry to hear about your husband.”

Beth opened her eyes. “Thank you.”

“David told me what a difficult time you had this summer.”

Beth resented this even more: the thought of the bereaved Newton family as a topic of conversation between the Ronans.

“We’re doing okay now, thanks.”

Rosie uttered what sounded like a soft laugh, egging Beth to look her way. “I was just thinking about the circumstances that led the two of us to be sitting here together,” Rosie said. “It’s extraordinary.”

“I guess it is.”

“To think your son impregnated our daughter.”

Beth thought about telling Rosie that Piper was hardly an innocent in all this. Those halter tops, the way she clung to Garrett-but she had no desire to fight. Instead, she stood up and turned toward the lighted hallway, thinking she would grab a cup of tea if she could find a vending machine-anything to get away!

“You’re leaving?” Rosie asked. A challenge.

“I’d like something to drink,” Beth said, and then to be gracious, “Would you like anything?”

Rosie rested her head against the back of the sofa, her eyes at half mast. “I’m all set,” she said. “But you might ask my poor husband if he wants a Coke or some coffee. We’ve been here since nine-thirty.”

Beth blinked; the heat was drying out her eyes. “Your poor husband?” she said. “You mean, David?”

Rosie answered with her eyes closed. “I mean David.”

It wasn’t the woman’s words, but her tone of voice that informed Beth. It was the slight smile of victory on her closed lips. David and Rosie were back together. Beth was shocked, incredulous, and crushed, a part of her. It wasn’t fair, was it?For them to reunite just as Beth was beginning to glimpse the possibility of moving on, and the desire, if only nascent, to want to move on with David. She brought her hand to her mouth and bit down on the diamond of her “We Made It” ring. It wasn’t fair because Beth was, once again, left alone.

A hand touched her shoulder. Beth turned to see a nurse. Gray-haired, big-bosomed, with the kind of weary and wise face that seemed to answer Beth’s thoughts by saying, You’re right. It’s not fair. But you’ll manage. Everyone does.

What the nurse actually said was, “She’s pushing. We’re very close. Would you ladies like to come watch the birth of your grandchild?”