“I didn’t want to tell you this weekend,” Warren said. “But just as she’s done for thirty-five years, your mother got her way.”
“Didn’t want to tell us what?” David twisted his watch around his wrist.
“Your father’s divorcing me.” Mom crossed her arms over her chest.
“What?” Lisa asked, sure she’d heard her mother incorrectly.
“We’ve been in counseling,” Dad said. “Since Marigold’s death, I’ve felt a greater need to get to the truth of things.”
“He’s decided the truth is that we don’t belong together,” Mom said with a slight waver in her voice.
“You’re getting a divorce?” Lisa whispered.And you’re telling me this the day before my wedding?
David seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “This isn’t exactly a good time to tell us. Lisa’s getting married tomorrow.”
“I understand,” Dad said. “But your mother wanted it out in the open.”
“Since we’re so busy telling the truth about everything now,” Mom said, “I didn’t feel like it could wait.”
Lisa couldn’t think. A buzzing had startedbetween her ears. There were few constants in the world. She’d always figured her parents’ unhappy marriage was one of them.
“I’m leaving your mother the house,” Dad said. “I’d like to come out west. Be near you guys.”
“You want to come to Cliffside Bay?” David asked, as if their father had announced his intention to run for president of the United States. “Move from Iowa?”
“Unless you don’t want me to,” Dad said. “Which I understand. Your mother feels certain you’ll side with her.”
“There are no sides,” David said. “We’d love for you to come. It’s just…”
“Weird to think of you without Mom.” Lisa finished his sentence for him, as they’d done all their lives.
“I can imagine it is,” Dad said. “I’m sorry this is difficult. My parents were divorced, and I never stopped wishing it wasn’t so.”
“Is that why it took you so long?” David asked. “I mean, you’ve been in this for thirty-five years. Why now? Why not when we left for high school?”
“It took a long time for me to give myself permission,” Dad said.
“Permission? That’s rich, Warren,” Mom said.
Lisa studied her father. He seemed different. Less vacant. More alive. He’d been under Mom’s thumb for so long that maybe he’d lost himself. Would this be a reawakening for him? A second chance? They were only sixty. There were plenty of good years left. Still, the thought of her parents divorced was too much to get her head around.
“I’m sorry if this puts a damper on your wedding,” Dad said. “This is your time, not ours.”
“Since you cut me out of the wedding, that much is obvious.” Mom’s bottom lip trembled until she composed herself. There it was. The mask.
“I’m sorry, Mom. We wanted to do it before I started back atwork, so we could take a long honeymoon. With my filming schedule it made sense for Pepper to help.”
“That is not the reason and you know it,” Mom said. “You wanted me out of it. None of you want me to be part of your lives.”
“Not true,” David said. “But Lisa wanted this wedding to be what she wanted, not what you wanted. It’s hard to say no to you once you get involved. With anything.”
“Is that why you’ve taken the children from me?” Mom asked. “Because you didn’t like what I was doing with them?”
“Mom, I had to get out of there. Start fresh.”
“You chose Lisa instead of me,” Mom said. “And now your father is, too.”
Lisa clasped her hands together so tightly her knuckles whitened. “It’s not a contest, Mom. David and I love you. You’re our mom. No one’s choosing anyone.”
