Wicked Forest (DeBeers 2)

"Yes."

"And the second shoe is what?"

"Thatcher's defense, at least the defense he is floating out there." Manon said. nodding at the front door.

"Oh, and what is this defense?"

"The story they are spreading is that he caught you in an incestuous relationship with Linden, and he is even unsure that the baby you're carrying is his," she said.

"That last part has Whitney's fingerprints on it." Sharon added. "You knew she was circling it for some time, just waiting like a rumor vampire to sink her sharp teeth in it and bleed it all over Palm Beach."

I tried to swallow, to take a breath, but I felt as if there were fingers closing on my throat.

"How could Thatcher permit this?"

"You ever hear 'All's fair in love and war'?" Marjorie asked. "Here, love and war are one and the same."

"They have their image to protect in the community," Liana said. "Thatcher has to be the victim, I've heard they are already being invited to dinner parties so they can tell the sordid tale. and Bunny Eaton is the one eager to do it and do it well."

"I'm disappointed in Asher," I said.

"Why? He was never much of a man, as far as I could see,"

Manon said. "He's like most of them-- he goes whichever way the wind is blowing."

"And Bunny is always doing the blowing." Liana said.

They laughed. but I couldn't find a shred of humor in the moment.

"What will I do?" I looked toward the doorway, the image of Mother hobbling away fresh in my mind. "If my mother hears of this..."

"I'd get it all over with as soon and as painlessly as you can," Manon said. "The longer it drags out--"

."--the more the stories will flourish and be embellished," Sharon completed.

"Once it's over, it will become yesterday's news so quickly, your head will spin." Liana assured me. "That's the way things are here."

"Of course. finding another suitable man in this town will be practically impossible." Marjorie said. "I speak from experience when it comes to that."

"So she'll find him somewhere else." Mallon said. "Maybe there is no such thing." Liana mused aloud.

They all gazed at her for a moment.

"No such thing?" I asked.

"As a suitable man."

"There's no doubt about that," Marjorie said.

"My father was a suitable man," I said, hating their cynicism. "I'm sure you all know someone you would hold up as an example."

Not my father," Sharon said bluntly. "Nor mine." Liana added.

"Nevertheless, we shouldn't generalize. I have the freshest wound, and Fin telling you, I am not giving up my dreams just because one man brought me a nightmare." I said with heat in my face. "I won't let a man do that to me, and none of you should permit it either. You have a right to be happy. We all do." I insisted.

For a moment, they all looked like little girls again, their eyes full of fantasy and hope. even Marjorie's. Then, as if the magical bubble burst, they blinked, stirred, shook their heads, and laughed with derision.

"What do you expect from someone who wants to be a psychiatrist?" Marion asked them. "She has to be a little crazy herself to understand her patients."