Taltos (Lives of the Mayfair Witches 3)

"I presume you know," he said, "that Michael and Rowan are in London. Michael said he would call you." Then he was off, headed down the stairs.

Here stood Mary Jane.

What a change from the afternoon she'd come sprouting diagnoses of Rowan. But one had to remember, thought Mona, that those diagnoses had been correct.

Mary Jane's yellow hair was hanging loose and splendid, like flax, over her shoulders, and her big breasts were poking against the tight fit of a white lace dress. There was a little mud, from the cemetery, probably, on her beige high-heeled shoes. She had a tiny, mythical Southern waist.

"Hey there, Mona, I hope this doesn't hang you up, my being here," she said, immediately grabbing Mona's right hand and pumping it furiously, her blue eyes glittering as she looked down at Mona from her seemingly lofty height of about five foot eight inches in the heels. "listen, I can cut out of here any time you don't want me. I'm no stranger to hitchhiking, I can tell you. I'll get to Fontevrault just fine. Hey, lookie, we're both wearing white lace, and don't you have on the most darlin' little smock? Hey, that's just adorable, you look like a white lace bell with red hair. Hey, can I go out there on the front porch?"

"Yeah, sure, I'm glad to have you here," said Mona. Her hand had been sticky from the apple, but Mary Jane hadn't noticed.

Mary Jane was walking past her.

"You have to push up that window," said Mona, "then duck. But this is really not a dress, it's some kind of shirt or something." She liked the way it floated around her. And she loved the way that Mary Jane's skirts flared from that tiny waist.

Well, this was no time to be thinking about waists, was it?

She followed Mary Jane outside. Fresh air. River breeze.

"Later on, I can show you my computer and my stock-market picks. I've got a mutual fund I've been managing for six months, and it's making millions. Too bad I couldn't afford to actually buy any of the picks."

"I hear you, darlin'," said Mary Jane. She put her hands on the front porch railing and looked down into the street. "This is some mansion," she said. "Yeah, it sure is."

"Uncle Ryan points out that it is not a mansion, it is a town house, actually," said Mona.

"Well, it's some town house."

"Yeah, and some town."

Mary Jane laughed, bending her whole body backwards, and then she turned to look at Mona, who had barely stepped out on the porch.

She looked Mona up and down suddenly, as if something had made an impression on her, and then she froze, looking into Mona's eyes.

"What is it?" asked Mona.

"You're pregnant," said Mary Jane.

"Oh, you're just saying that because of this shirt or smock or whatever."

"No, you're pregnant."

"Well, yeah," said Mona. "Sure am." This girl's country voice was infectious. Mona cleared her throat. "I mean, everybody knows. Didn't they tell you? It's going to be a girl."

"You think so?" Something was making Mary Jane extremely uneasy. By all rights, she should have enjoyed descending upon Mona and making all kinds of predictions about the baby. Isn't that what self-proclaimed witches did?

"You get your test results back?" asked Mona. "You have the giant helix?" It was lovely up here in the treetops. Made her want to go down into the garden.

Mary Jane was actually squinting at her, and then her face relaxed a little, the tan skin without a single blemish and the yellow hair resting on her shoulders, full but sleek.

"Yeah, I have the genes all right," said Mary Jane. "You do too, don't you?"

Mona nodded. "Did they tell you anything else?"

"That it probably wouldn't matter, I'd have healthy children, everybody always did in the family, 'cept for one incident about which nobody is willing to talk."

"Hmmmmm," said Mona. "I'm still hungry. Let's go downstairs."

"Yeah, well, I could eat a tree!"

Mary Jane seemed normal enough by the time they reached the kitchen, chattering about every picture and every item of furniture she saw. Seemed she'd never been in the house before.

"How unspeakably rude that we didn't invite you," said Mona. "No, I mean it. We weren't thinking. Everybody was worried about Rowan that afternoon."

"I don't expect fancy invitations from anybody," said Mary Jane. "But this place is beautiful! Look at these paintings on the walls."

Mona couldn't help but take pride in it, the way Michael had refurbished it, and it occurred to her suddenly, as it had upwards of fifty million times in the last week, that this house would someday be hers. Seemed it already was. But she mustn't presume on that, now that Rowan was OK again.

Was Rowan ever going to be really OK? A flash of memory came back to her, Rowan in that sleek black silk suit, sitting there, looking at her, with the straight dark eyebrows and the big, hard, polished gray eyes.

That Michael was the father of her baby, that she was pregnant with a baby, that this connected her to both of them--these things suddenly jarred her.

Mary Jane lifted one of the curtains in the dining room. "Lace," she said in a whisper. "Just the finest, isn't it? Everything here is the best of its kind."

"Well, I guess that's true," said Mona.

"And you, too," said Mary Jane, "you look like some kind of princess, all dressed in lace. Why, we're both dressed in lace. I just love it."

"Thanks," said Mona, a little flustered. "But why would somebody as pretty as you notice somebody like me?"

"Don't be crazy," said Mary Jane, sweeping past her into the kitchen, hips swinging gracefully, high heels clicking grandly. "You're just a gorgeous girl. I'm pretty. I know I am. But I like to look at other girls who are pretty, always have."

They sat together at the glass table. Mary Jane examined the plates that Eugenia set out for them, holding hers up to the light.

"Now this is real bone china," she said. "We got some of this at Fontevrault."

"Really, you still have those sorts of things down there?"

"Darlin', you'd be amazed what's in that attic. Why, there's silver and china and old curtains and boxes of photographs. You should see all that. That attic's real dry and warm too. Sealed tight up there. Barbara Ann used to live up there. You know who she was?"

"Yeah, Ancient Evelyn's mother. And my great-great-grandmother."

"Mine too!" declared Mary Jane triumphantly. "Isn't that something."

"Yep, sure is. Part of the entire Mayfair experience. And you should look at the family trees where it gets all crisscrossed, like if I were to marry Pierce for instance, with whom I share not only that great-great-grandmother, but also a great-grandfather, who also pops up ... damn, it's the hardest thing to keep track of. There comes a point in the life of every Mayfair when you spend about a year drawing family trees everywhere, trying just to keep it clear in your mind who is sitting next to you at the family picnic, know what I mean?"

Mary Jane nodded, eyebrows raised, lips curled in a smile. She wore a kind of smoky violet lipstick, to die for. My God, I am a woman now, Mona thought. I can wear all that junk, if I want to.

"Oh, you can borry all my things, if you want," said Mary Jane. "I've got an overnight case??? You know??? Just full of cosmetics that Aunt Bea bought for me, and all of them from Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman in New York."

"Well, that's very sweet of you." Mind reader, be careful.

Eugenia had taken some veal out of the refrigerator, little tender cuts for scallopini, which Michael had set aside for Rowan. She was frying these now, the way Michael had taught her, with sliced mushrooms and onions, already prepared, from a little plastic sack.

"God, that smells good, doesn't it?" said Mary Jane. "I didn't mean to read your mind, just happens."

"I don't care about that, it doesn't matter. As long as we both know it's very hit-and-miss, and easy to misunderstand."

"Oh, absolutely," said Mary Jane.

Then she looked at Mona again, the way she had looked at her upstairs. They were sitting op

posite each other, just the way that Mona and Rowan sat, only Mona was in Rowan's place now, and Mary Jane was in Mona's. Mary Jane had been looking at her silver fork, and suddenly she just stopped moving and narrowed her eyes again and looked at Mona.

"What's the matter?" asked Mona. "You're looking at me like something's the matter."

"Everybody just looks at you when you're pregnant, they always do, soon as they know."

"I know that," said Mona. "But there's something different in the way you're looking at me. Other people are giving me swoony, loving looks, and looks of approbation, but you--"

"What's approbation?"

"Approval," said Mona.

"I got to get an education," said Mary Jane, shaking her head. She set the fork down. "What is this silver pattern?"

"Sir Christopher," said Mona.

"You think it's too late for me to ever be a truly educated person?"

"No," said Mona, "you're too smart to let a late start discourage you. Besides, you're already educated. You're just educated in a different way. I've never been the places you've been. I've never had the responsibility."

"Yeah, well, I didn't always want that myself. You know, I killed a man? I pushed him off a fire escape in San Francisco and he fell four stories into an alley and cracked open his head."