But Jack wasn’t the answer. He didn’t want her, he’d never wanted her. She was like a kid sister, his brother’s girl, someone he kissed for God-only-knew-what reason, but not someone he wanted. He was leaving, and he was leaving her behind.
She stripped off the shirt and threw it in the frilly wastebasket She could already see fresh marks on her skin where Neddie had bruised her, and she shivered again. She wasn’t going to submit tamely to their plans for her. And she found it equally hard to believe that Tallulah had submitted.
Susan hadn’t the faintest idea how she was supposed to arrange her hair, what kind of makeup she was supposed to wear. All the lipsticks were bright intense colors, and the mascara came in a tiny little compact with a separate brush. She could tell that Lou’s eyebrows had been carefully plucked, and her hair was dark enough that she shouldn’t need to use eyebrow pencil. Not unless she was supposed to look like Joan Crawford, and with any luck 1949 was too late for the skinny eyebrow look. She was forced to succumb to the girdle again—as far as she could tell there was no other way to hold up the seamed stockings. She was standing inside the closet door, staring at the possibilities, when she smelled the fresh cigarette smoke. She jumped back, startled, to face Elda.
Her mother’s stepmother looked like the very picture of a jaded woman, from her bloodred fingernails to the cigarette drooping from her coral lips. If Elda was anything to go by, the Joan Crawford Mommie Dearest style was still alive and kicking.
“I hear you upset Neddie this morning,” she said, moving into the bedroom and closing the door behind her. “I thought you were smarter than that Neddie’s easy enough to handle if you know how. You can’t threaten him or push him. He likes sweet, fluttery little girls who hang on his every word. That’s your role, darling. I thought you knew how to play it.”
Susan didn’t move, keeping her expression blank as she listened for clues. What was up between the two of them?
“I don’t want to many him,” she said flatly.
Elda’s smile was faint and unsurprised. “Of course you don’t. You’ve already told us that. And we’ve told you that you don’t have a choice. He’ll ruin us if you don’t.”
“This is like some bad Hollywood movie.”
“You should know, sweetie. You’ve always been addicted to them, like some shopgirl from the five-and-dime. People like the Abbotts don’t go rushing to matinees, they don’t marry for love, they don’t disobey their parents or their husbands. They know what’s expected of them in this life.”
“And what’s expected of me?”
“You don’t need me to remind you, Lou. You know perfectly well that without Neddie’s support your father will lose everything. This house, what little money we have left, the respect of the community. He’d probably kill himself if any of his little dabblings were made public. You wouldn’t want that on your conscience, now would you?”
Susan had never before looked in the face of pure evil, and the effect was disturbing. Elda blew a perfect smoke ring, and her coral lips curved in a catlike smile. “Of course you wouldn’t.” She answered the question for herself. “Are you afraid of sex, sweetie? I gather you kept yourself charmingly pure for your long-lost soldier boy, and I know that no one’s been around since, except for Jack McGowan, and you haven’t had the chance to let him under your skirts. I can’t really set your mind at ease about Neddie. He’s quite a demanding lover, and probably not well-suited for a virgin. By the time you’re experienced enough to enjoy him, he’ll probably lose interest, but then, no one has any right to expect a happy ending, do they?” She crossed the room and stubbed out her cigarette on the glass-topped dressing table. “Let me give you a little hint Some motherly advice on the eve of your wedding. If you’re sweet and shy and demure and do everything he orders you to do he probably won’t hurt you as much as he would if you fight him. But if you fight back, make him force you, it will excite him so much he’ll finish even more quickly. It’s up to you, my pet. If you want the pain and humiliation over quickly or if you’re willing to endure for the chance of it not hurting quite so much.”
Susan stared at her, aghast. “You sound like something out of a Victorian novel,” she said. “Sex isn’t humiliating and painful.”
Elda smiled. “It is with Neddie. Quite enjoyably so. I speak from experience.”
Susan stared at her in stricken horror, but Elda ignored her, pushing her out of the way to rifle through her closet She pulled out a fluttery peach-flowered dress and shoved it at her. “Put this one on, dear, and fix your makeup. You look like a ghost. The wedding party is starting to arrive. Cousin Doug is already loaded, and Ginny is too busy with that little brat of hers to keep him away from the bar. You’d think she’d know better than to bring a baby to a wedding rehearsal, but she never had much sense.”
Susan caught the dress in her arms, still unable to say a word. “And smile, damn it,” Elda hissed, all her false affability vanishing. “Look like you’re divinely happy and desperately in love. Just pretend you’re marrying Jack.”
That roused her. “Jack?” Tallulah’s husky voice sounded almost raw coming from her throat.
“You think I don’t know? You’ve had a crush on that man as long as I’ve known you. You only got engaged to Jimmy because you accepted the fact that you couldn’t have him, and then my, oh, my, didn’t you feel guilty when Jimmy died? You still can’t have Jack, and you still want him. So just look up at Neddie and pretend he’s Jack. It might even work in bed, at least for a while, though their styles are completely different.”
“You slept with Jack?” Susan demanded, horrified.
“A long, long time ago, precious. And very guilty he was about it. He didn’t realize I wasn’t about to let him say no. He’s good, I have to admit But not nearly as willing to play my little games as Neddie is.” She leaned over and gave Susan a cool, dry kiss on her cheek. “Too bad you’ll never have a chance to compare them, darling.”
“‘And here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson,’” Susan muttered underneath her breath.
“The strong flourish, darling. The weak fade away, which will be your fate, I’m afraid. At least you can cherish your martyrdom, knowing that you did it all for your darling little sister. And she’ll never have the faintest idea you weren’t a divinely happy bride, will she?”
Perhaps Tallulah accepted her fate. But Elda didn’t know she was dealing with a nineties woman. She met Elda’s supercilious smirk with a faint smile of her own. “I’ll be down as soon as I’m dressed.”
For a moment Elda’s complacency faded. “You are going to be sensible, aren’t you?”
Susan turned away, unwilling to let her see her expression. “How well do you know me, Elda?”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s all you’re going to get If you expect me to come down in time for the rehearsal you’d be smart to leave me alone. I’ve had quite enough upset for one morning.”
“Poor little bride,” Elda laughed, her equanimity restored. “I’ll go down and entertain the men for you. But don’t keep them waiting too long. You know about Neddie’s temper.” She touched the bruising on Susan’s arms.
The door closed behind her, leaving Susan standing in the middle of the room, trembling with anger. “I know Neddie’s temper,” she murmured. “But you don’t know Susan Abbott.”
