Southern Lights

Chapter 18

As promised, Alexa was on the plane to Charleston at noon the next day. Savannah had taken time off from school, and was going to meet her mother at the airport, and they could hardly wait to see each other.

Alexa had spoken to her mother the night before, while she was packing. Her mother had congratulated her profusely on the case. Stanley had called her too and done the same. He had slipped into the courtroom a couple of times to watch her, and said she had handled the prosecution brilliantly and with poise. She had never tried to turn it into a circus and had relied on facts and forensic evidence, which he thought was the way to go, and had won the case.

Sam had called that morning before she left for the airport and said he would miss her. He was based in Washington, D.C., normally and was going back, although he was in New York often and suggested they have lunch in the fall. Jack had called to congratulate her, as had Joe McCarthy the day before. There was an atmosphere of victory and celebration, and now she could bring her daughter home, which was even better. There had never been another letter. Quentin had hinted recently to one of the guards in jail that he had played a “little game” to scare Alexa, and Jack had told her about it. Quentin had been toying with her by having a friend drop off the letters to Savannah. Quentin thought it was funny, and it had made Alexa even more pleased with her decision to send Savannah away. The letters had stopped as soon as his friend reported Savannah gone, and Quentin lost interest in the “game.” It hadn’t been a game to Alexa. It had been pure terror, worrying about Savannah and the letters.

And Alexa was willing to concede that the time in Charleston may have done Savannah good. It had established a real bond with her father, which meant a lot to her, even if it had angered his wife. And Alexa’s mother reminded her again that it was nice for Savannah to know something about her father’s family too, and to meet a grandmother who was very old and wouldn’t be around forever. The timing had been right, and it had been a blessing for them all. Even for Alexa, she had put old ghosts to rest, and was no longer as bitter as she had been for so long. When she looked at Tom now, she saw a weak man who had paid a high price for his betrayal of her. She didn’t see a man she loved, or even hated. She felt freer than she had in years.

Savannah was waiting for her when she got off the plane, and they hugged each other and held tight. Savannah drove her to the hotel in the little car her father had loaned her, and she went back to school, and promised to come back later.

Tom called her while she was unpacking, and congratulated her too. He had seen her on television the night before when she left the courthouse, and as always, had been impressed by how humble she was when she said justice had been served and let it go at that. She wanted no glory, just the conviction, and she had done it.

“You must be exhausted,” he said sympathetically, and she admitted she was.

“But it was worth it, for the conviction.”

“Are you staying for Savannah’s graduation next week?” he asked hopefully.

“No, I have to get back. I only have a week off, and I’ll be at the one in New York.” She was still grateful to him for keeping Savannah for four months. It had worked out perfectly for her too, and gave her the time she needed to prepare for the trial without worrying about Savannah.

“I’m going to be very sad when she leaves,” he admitted to her. “And so will Daisy. I hope you’re planning to come down at the end of June for Travis’s wedding.” She didn’t know if he was being honest or polite and just southern. It was hard to tell.

“It was sweet of them to ask me, but I think it would be awkward for your wife.” He was disappointed when she said it. He had hoped she’d be there.

“With eight hundred guests, you could bring a bear in a hula skirt and no one would notice.”

“But maybe not an ex-wife,” she said honestly. “I’m sure Luisa doesn’t want me.” This was her turf, not Alexa’s. She was respectful of that, although Luisa hadn’t been of hers.

“It’s not up to Luisa, it’s up to Travis and Scarlette. And I know they’d like you to come. Savannah wants to come down too.”

“She can do that if she wants to. I’ll talk to her about it. She’s a big girl, she could come alone.”

“I hope you come, Alexa,” he said softly, and she ignored it. The softness in his voice was too familiar and bittersweet, and much too late.

“We’ll see,” she said noncommittally, which they both knew meant no.

“I’ll see you sometime this week, before you go.”

“I’m just going to take it easy and spend time with Savannah, and get over the trial. I’m beat,” she said honestly, and she sounded it, but happy too.

Savannah was back by six o’clock, and they wandered the cobblestone streets together. The weather was hot now, the flowers lush and fragrant. It was Charleston at its most beautiful and romantic. Alexa spent her days wandering around when Savannah was in school, and went to visit one of the old plantations and took a tour. She and Savannah went to the beach that weekend, and Turner joined them. And Alexa took Savannah and a dozen of her friends out to dinner for a pre-graduation celebration. They were all in high spirits, and Alexa was too.

The week in Charleston flew by, with no problems or unpleasant moments, or even encounters with Luisa. She was ignoring Savannah completely these days, which seemed to work well.

Savannah waited until the last night to ask her mother about Travis’s wedding. She really wanted to go, and wanted Alexa to come with her. And it was a huge wedding, so Tom’s point about it not being awkward with Luisa was well taken. The rehearsal dinner that he and Luisa were giving at the country club would have been awkward, but not the wedding reception. Alexa had had lunch with him again, and he had pointed that out. He didn’t mention again how much he missed her, or how sorry he was, or how unhappy with Luisa. He respected the boundaries she had established, and she was grateful for that. She wouldn’t have seen him again otherwise. She was past it. It was over for her, all behind her now.

“Will you, Mom?” Savannah pleaded, looking more like five than seventeen, and her mother laughed.

“What difference does it make if I’m there? You’ll be having fun with your friends.” Everyone she knew was invited, even Turner and Julianne, as their parents were going too. It was a very small social circle in Charleston, and eight hundred guests represented everyone who mattered in town. Savannah said that even the governor was coming to the rehearsal dinner, and several senators to the wedding, at least two. Luisa loved showing off her social and political connections, and so did Scarlette’s parents. The two families were well matched, as were the bride and groom.

“It’ll just be more fun if you’re there. We can come down together.” She hadn’t told her mother yet that she wanted to come back in August to see Turner before they both left for college. The romance had lasted and was going strong. They were in love.

“All right, all right,” Alexa finally conceded, “but it’s awkward for me. I knew all those people while I was married, and now I’m an outcast.” She looked awkward and forlorn as she said it, but she felt that way.

“You’re not an outcast, Mom. You’re a national media star. You’re a famous prosecutor from New York.”

“Don’t be silly,” Alexa said humbly, denying it. But it was true. “You don’t have anything to be ashamed of, Mom,” Savannah insisted.

“Only that your dad dumped me, which was a big deal here, and to me. Huge, in fact.” No matter how important she was in her job, that still mattered to her too.

“You’re bigger than that. Besides, I think you’re over it,” Savannah said cautiously, not wanting to upset her mother. “You don’t want him anymore, and I’ll bet you could have him, if you did. He’s miserable with Luisa.”

“I know,” Alexa said quietly. He had told her as much himself. “And you’re right, I don’t want him now. But I did then.”

“I know, Mom,” Savannah said, putting her arms around her mother. “So you’ll come?”

“Yes, yes.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll send the reply card back tomorrow.”

“I already told Scarlette I’d go,” Savannah giggled.

They spent a lovely last night together, and Alexa left for the airport when Savannah went to school the next morning. She had thought it would be her last visit to Charleston, but it appeared there would be one more, for the wedding.

Alexa told her mother about it when she got home.

“I don’t know how I let Savannah talk me into it,” Alexa complained. “And now I have to buy a dress.”

“It might do you good. Maybe you’ll meet someone,” Muriel said hopefully. It had always seemed ironic to both of them that Muriel had more of a love life than she did.

“That’s all I need is to meet some other southern charmer,” Alexa said ruefully. “One is enough in a lifetime. Been there, done that. I don’t need another one.”

“They’re not all like Tom,” her mother reminded her.

“That’s true. Or like Luisa. But their society is certainly inbred at times, and if you’re not one of them, you’re screwed. I hope Savannah doesn’t wind up there, and comes back to New York after college.”

“God knows where she’ll want to be, depending on her jobs, or who she falls in love with. I managed while you lived in Charleston.”

“Yeah, but you had Stanley even then. I don’t. I have Savannah.”

“Maybe you need more than that in your life,” her mother reminded her again. “You can’t hang everything on her. It’s not healthy for either of you.”

“Well, I’m about to get dumped anyway, when she leaves for college.” Alexa was worried about it, but their time apart for the last four months was a good practice run. Alexa was terrified of the empty nest thing. And even in the last four months, the apartment had been agonizingly quiet without Savannah. Alexa was glad she was only going to Princeton, and no farther. “Do you want to go shopping with me this weekend?” she asked her mother. “I need a dress for the wedding. It’s black tie.”

“I’d love it.” Muriel sounded delighted, and they made a date to go to Barney’s on Saturday, and have lunch.

“I haven’t bought an evening gown in years,” Alexa said, sounding excited… eleven years… since she was married to Tom…and now she was going back, not as his wife, but as her own person… the prosecutor from New York, as Savannah put it…how life had changed.

When Savannah graduated in Charleston, her mother was already back at work, handling a number of small cases that were a breeze after the Quentin case. She was still very much a local star for that. Several magazines had wanted to interview her, and she had declined. But she had admitted to Jack that she was a little bored with the minor cases she was handling now. It was hard to get back to routine cases after one as challenging as the one she had just done. And she was surprised to find she missed working with the FBI. Jack wondered if she was burned out, but didn’t ask.

At Savannah’s Charleston graduation, the girls wore white dresses under their gowns, and the boys wore suits. The girls carried flowers, and everyone cried when they sang the school song. It was emotional and tender and everything it should have been. And her father gave her a lunch afterward at the country club. Travis and Scarlette came, and Turner, Daisy, and her father of course, and Grandmother Beaumont came to the graduation and lunch. Luisa had been invited to both but made no pretense of caring and declined. At least, she was true to what she felt till the end. The only thing she wanted to celebrate was Savannah leaving in two days. And she was still furious that she was coming back for the wedding. She hoped that it would be the last they would see of her for a long time. She didn’t want her in Charleston again, although Tom was already making noises about Thanksgiving. Luisa wouldn’t hear of it. No one missed her at lunch.

It was lovely in the garden of the country club. Her grandmother gave her a small pearl necklace that had been her own mother’s, and her father gave her a very handsome check and told her how proud of her he was. She said she was going to buy what she would need for college. And she was coming back to Charleston to see Turner in August, and all of them of course. Tom hoped that Luisa would be away then, visiting her family in Alabama, as she did every summer. She had relatives all over the South.

For the two days after graduation, Savannah spent as much time with Turner as she could. He had a job working in the oil fields in Mississippi for June and July, and he was going to miss her terribly when she left. She was the love and light of his life. He was coming to New York for her other graduation the following week but could only stay for two days, but they were grateful for that.

Savannah’s last night at Thousand Oaks was bittersweet, as she lay in bed with Daisy, holding hands, just as they had the first night. It was a hot, moonlit night, and the girls whispered and cuddled until they fell asleep. Savannah wanted her to visit in New York or at Princeton, but both girls were afraid Luisa wouldn’t let her, and they were going to try and arrange it with their father.

Daisy stood crying on the front steps when Savannah left. Jed had put all her things in the car, and Tallulah was dabbing her eyes. Julianne had come to say goodbye too, and was sobbing. And just before she left, Savannah went back inside to say goodbye to Luisa, who hadn’t come out. She found her stiff-backed at the kitchen table, eating breakfast and reading the paper.

“Thank you for everything, Luisa,” Savannah said politely, as her father watched from the doorway with an ache in his heart. Savannah was such a good girl and had tried so hard, and Luisa had no mercy at all. “I’m sorry if I was a nuisance while I was here. It was wonderful,” Savannah said, with tears in her eyes. She was genuinely sad to leave, although happy to go back to her mother. She had gotten something here that she had never really had before, a father. And that wouldn’t stop now.

“You weren’t a nuisance,” Luisa said coldly. “Have a safe trip.” She made no move to come toward Savannah, and then picked up her newspaper again.

“Goodbye,” Savannah said softly, and left the kitchen with her father. It was about as warm a goodbye as she’d ever get from Luisa.

Savannah gave Daisy a last hug and got into the car. Daisy and Julianne and the two old servants were waving as she and Tom drove away from Thousand Oaks. Savannah would never have believed it, but she hated to leave Charleston, and what felt now like her second home. Even Luisa hadn’t been able to spoil it for her. Savannah thought that even though she had missed her mother, they were the happiest four months of her life. She had two real parents now and loved them both.