Southern Lights: A Novel

“You have to, sweetheart. You don’t want to live here like this, worrying about some lunatic sending you scary letters. I know it’s hard, for both of us, but I’d rather know you’re safe.”

“I don’t want to go to Charleston.” She said it softly. She didn’t want to hurt her father’s feelings, he’d been really nice, and tried to make her feel better. But it was upsetting for them all.

“I’ll come to visit you. I promise,” Alexa said, trying to be grown up about it. But she felt like a sad, scared kid herself, and she was so sorry for Savannah. This was the most upsetting for her, to be uprooted like that, with no notice, to go to a place she didn’t know, with a father she scarcely knew.

“You won’t come to visit,” Savannah said, sobbing. “You hate it there. You said you’d never go back there again.”

“Of course I will, silly, if you’re there. You won’t be there for long, and it might be fun. You can go to school.”

“I don’t want to miss the rest of senior year at home.” But she was rapidly figuring out that there was no arguing about it. Her parents, both of them, for the first time in ten years, had made up their minds and had made a unilateral decision. Savannah was leaving New York until after the trial, and that was it. Savannah just sat there and cried for five minutes while Alexa tried to soothe her, and then told her she’d come to the airport that afternoon to say goodbye.

“What should I pack?” Alexa asked, and Savannah started giving her instructions. She was still crying, but not quite as vehemently as she had before. “I’ll give you both of my pink sweaters,” Alexa said, smiling through her own tears.

“And the new black high heels?” Savannah was almost smiling. More than anything, she was in shock. They all were. Things were moving very fast.

“Okay, okay,” Alexa conceded about the shoes, if it would help. “You can have them too. You drive a hard bargain.”

“What if his wife hates me? I’ve never even met her. She probably won’t like having me there,” Savannah said, panicked. That sounded like a major understatement to her mother. Luisa was a bitch on wheels, and Savannah had heard her say it for years.

“Daddy will take care of it. You’re not staying forever. It’s only for three months. I’ll try to come down next week.”

“You’d better, or I’m running away and coming home.”

“Don’t you dare!” Alexa said sternly, but she knew Savannah wouldn’t do that. She had been reasonable all her life. And she was being reasonable now too, even if it was a hard situation for her. “I’d better go pack now. I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”

Tom called her ten minutes later, and said he had gotten them on a six o’clock flight that would land in Charleston at eight-thirty, and they were leaving Vermont right then. He hoped to be at JFK by four or five.

“I’ll be there at four with her bags. Call me on my cell phone when you get to the airport.” She gave him the number, which he had never had before. All he had was her e-mail, but they had to work together now. “I’ll be at the United terminal.”

“I’ll try to get there as soon as I can, so you have a little time together. She’s pretty upset.” He could hear that Alexa was too. But none of them were half as upset as Luisa when he called and told her the news.

“Are you crazy? You’re bringing her here? You can’t do that. Daisy doesn’t know that she exists.” Daisy was the ten-year-old daughter she had conceived to break up his marriage to Alexa and get him back. She hadn’t given a damn about their boys during his marriage to Alexa—she had abandoned them for eight years. She had left him for an oil tycoon in Texas, and left the boys with their father, but as soon as her new husband died, she came running back. She had used a baby to get him, and he had stupidly fallen into her trap. He had bitterly regretted it in the years since. But it was too late to do anything about it now. All he could do was try to make it up to Alexa by taking care of Savannah. He owed her at least that—Savannah was his child too.

“Well, you’d better tell her,” Tom told Luisa coldly, referring to Daisy’s not knowing she had a sister and that her father had been married to someone else. “We’ll be home tonight, and I’m not going to have Savannah pretend to be someone else. This is hard enough on her as it is.”

“Hard on her? What about me and Daisy? Did you think about that? Or have you been screwing around with her mother? Is that what this is about?”

“I just saw Alexa for the first time in ten years. Our daughter’s life is at risk here. I’m bringing her home, Luisa, like it or not.”

“You sonofabitch. I always knew you’d go back to Alexa someday.” She knew Tom didn’t love her. It didn’t matter to Luisa. She had wanted her old life back, and him, when it was convenient for her. It was always and only about her.