MARY CLARK - Every Breath You Take

Tiffany opened the door. “Molly’s my grandmother. This is her home, but she’s in assisted living now.”

“Can I come in? I’m doing some fact-checking for a book we’re publishing. We’re having trouble verifying one of the author’s claims. It involves your grandmother.”

Tiffany stepped aside to welcome the woman into the house.

“Wow, this is incredible,” “Jane Martin” said, looking around in awe, as most people did when they first entered the living room.

“Full of memories of my grandmother’s amazing life,” Tiffany bragged.

The walls were decorated with photographs of Grandmother Molly with various celebrities and in her cabaret performances. There were at least a dozen of her favorite costumes on display, not to mention the miniature versions worn by an assortment of dolls placed on the chairs and end tables.

“Gran would be so excited that a publisher was here to see her!”

“I wish I could say we were doing a book entirely about your grandmother, but the project in question is a presidential biography. The author has collected a series of never-before-published facts about various presidents. As you can imagine, it’s not easy to verify the events years after the fact.”

“I’m happy to help if I can. Is this about the affairs she had with presidents?”

“Oh, so you know about them?” “Ms. Martin” asked.

“Gran was so beautiful that men fell head over heels in love with her, even three presidents.”

“Three? She must have been gorgeous!”

“Oh, she was,” Tiffany crowed.

Charlotte hoped “Jane Martin’s” next question would sound natural. “Did she have a favorite?”

“Jack Kennedy, of course. You can imagine why. He was gorgeous, too. At a fundraiser at the cabaret one of the hosts came over to her and said he wanted her to meet the President. One thing led to another and Gran and the President became involved. She knew of course that it would never last, but on her birthday he gave her a lovely charm bracelet. He said to Gran, ‘You are my charm.’ Can you imagine how she felt?

“Of course, we all know what happened. Gran never got over him, and then years later, someone got into her dressing room and stole some jewelry including the bracelet. She used to tell me how much she loved it, how it made her think of him, and how heartbreaking it was to lose it.”

“She must have been very young at that time,” “Ms. Martin” suggested.

“Oh yes, she was. And she was so beautiful that an Arabian prince proposed to her and so did the Duke of Wellington. And that was after three presidents.”

Gran must have been very busy, Charlotte thought. “When did your grandmother marry?”

“Oh, not until she was forty, but unfortunately, my grandfather never amounted to a hill of beans. Gran raised my mother alone, and then my mother and father were killed in an automobile accident, and she raised me. I loved to listen when she told me the stories about her wonderful, exciting life. Now she is in a nursing home, and I know it won’t be long before I lose her. The only thing I want is for her to be as happy as possible.”

“That’s a wonderful attitude, Tiffany,” “Jane Martin” said.

“Thanks to Gran, I live every day of my life as though it will be my last. So, will Gran’s stories be in your book?”

Charlotte felt guilty as she said, “I only collect the stories and turn them over to the writer. I’m sorry if you didn’t understand that.”

“If they don’t use her, it may be for the best,” Tiffany sighed. “The excitement might be too much for her.”

“So tell me more about that bracelet from President Kennedy.”

66

Carter was waiting when Penny arrived at the French bistro she had chosen for their meeting. Unlike the times that he had chosen a table at the back of the restaurant to avoid any chance of running into his family and friends, he was now seated at a window front table.

When he spotted her, he jumped up and threw his arms around her tightly. “Penny, you can’t believe how much I’ve missed you.”

All the anger and hurt Penny had felt over the years came to the surface. The waiter was at the table. “Black coffee please,” Penny said.

When he was out of earshot, in a low steely voice she said, “Carter, what new game are you playing now? You have the nerve to tell me you missed me when out of the blue three years ago you dropped me and never returned my calls. You had decided I wasn’t good enough to be part of the Wakeling family. You didn’t give a damn about how much you hurt me. I’ve had plenty of time to think. The fact is I should have dropped you. Ivan told me that I didn’t pay enough attention to my job when I worked for your mother. He was right. There were lots of times when I would come in late or leave early. And it was almost always to meet you.”

“Penny, I’m sorry.”

“You couldn’t be sorry enough. Just in case it never occurred to you, you’ve done me a big favor. You’re lazy. You complain because you’re jealous of your sister. She always worked hard; you didn’t.”

Carter was shaking his head.

“Don’t dismiss what I’m telling you,” Penny said. “I’ve got more to say. I’m working hard at a job, and I am going to be a success at it. And I have one last thing to tell you. I have come to the conclusion that you and your family aren’t good enough for me. How do you like that?”

There was a long pause. Then Carter, his voice low and clipped, said, “Now you listen to me.”

Penny realized that she was fighting back tears and reached for a paper napkin to stop her mascara from running. “There is nothing you could say that I want to hear.” She pushed back the chair and started to get up. Carter suddenly reached both hands across the table and grasped her wrists. She winced as he forced her back down into her seat.

“I’ll start by saying that you are exactly right. I’ve been feeling sorry for myself all my life. In the beginning my father used to take me around when he was having meetings to discuss projects. But I was bored. I went along because I had to. I didn’t like being told what I was going to do for the rest of my life. I didn’t work hard at it because I didn’t want it. Now, after I made a fool of myself during that TV interview, I finally faced myself. Everything you just said was true. But I’m going to change. I’m forty-one years old and I’m not going to waste another minute. For the first time I’m going to work hard at the company because it’s what I want. And there’s something else I really want and need.

“I’ve been missing you every minute of every day these past three years. I love you, Penny. I know I don’t deserve it, but please give me a chance to start over with you.”

Penny knew the expression on her face gave him his answer.

“Carter, I have one small problem,” she said.

“What is it?”

“I can’t drink my coffee when you’re squeezing both of my wrists,” Penny said, and they both started to laugh.

67

Laurie was waiting at the corner in Queens while Charlotte spoke to Tiffany pretending to be a book researcher. It couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes, but it felt like hours before she saw Charlotte approaching her.

“How did it go?” Laurie asked. “Did she say anything about the bracelet?”

“First things first,” Charlotte said. “That house is like a trip to fantasyland. Outfits the grandmother wore in her cabaret days complete with dolls dressed in her getups.”

“Were you able to record her?”

Charlotte played the beginning of the recording to check the audio. It was crystal clear. Tapping on her phone, she said, “I’m emailing it to you right now.”