Southern Lights: A Novel

“They’re both my real daughters,” Tom said firmly, as Savannah wished she could melt into the floor and disappear. This wasn’t fun. Daisy was right. Luisa was livid that she was there and made no attempt to conceal it. In fact, she wanted to be sure that Savannah knew just how unwelcome she was.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Luisa said, as she walked past them to the kitchen to speak to the cook about dinner. Savannah wondered if she was going to be allowed to eat with them. It didn’t seem likely, or appealing if she was.

Tom looked at her apologetically and shrugged. “She’ll calm down. This is hard for her,” he said lamely, unable to explain his wife’s appalling conduct and embarrassed by it. Savannah was trying to reassure him as Daisy bounded down the stairs, and threw her arms around Savannah’s waist. She was still hugging her when Luisa came back into the hall, and looked like she was going to have apoplexy when she saw Daisy wrapped around Savannah.

“Have you all lost your minds?” she said to her husband and daughter. “This girl is a stranger to us. She’s a guest here, brought by your father. She is not part of our family, and surely not of mine. I’d like you both to remember that, and to keep in mind just who I am here. I’m your mother and your wife, and whatever mistakes your father made in his past are not my business or my problem, or yours,” she said, looking straight at Daisy, who took her arms from around her sister’s waist, so as not to upset her mother further. “We’ll get through this, since we have to, but there is no need to act as though you’ve found some long-lost relative and brought her home. This is our home, not hers. And she is not my relative, or yours,” she said to Daisy again, and with that she glared at her husband, ignored Savannah, and stomped up the stairs at full speed. And an instant later they heard the door of her room slam with a vengeance, as they stood looking at each other, embarrassed and confused. Tom glanced apologetically at his older daughter, who was shaken and near tears. Luisa had hit them with the force of a tornado, and had left them like rubble in her wake.

“Daddy, maybe I should go,” she whispered to her father. “I’ll be fine in New York. Mom was just being nervous. I don’t want to cause any trouble here.” Nor be treated like a pariah, or abused by a woman who clearly hated her.

“You’re not going anywhere,” her father said firmly and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry. Luisa has a terrible temper. She’ll calm down.” He glanced down at Daisy then, who looked crestfallen.

“Are you going?” Daisy asked Savannah.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I think I should. I don’t want to upset your mom.”

“She’s being mean,” Daisy said, looking angry. “I like having you here. I want a sister. Don’t go,” she said pleadingly, and put her arms around Savannah’s waist again. She was hard to resist.

Tom led them both up the stairs, with an arm around each of them. He liked having Savannah there too. He had always wanted her to visit, but Luisa would never allow it. Now the matter had been taken out of her hands by fate, and he was glad. He agreed with Daisy, and didn’t want her to leave.

He told Daisy to go and do her homework, and left Savannah in her room and told her to relax. She thanked him for the nice day again, but her eyes were worried, and she called her mother as soon as he left the room, and told her what had happened.

“She is such a bitch,” Alexa said in an exasperated tone.

“I don’t know what to do, Mom. I think I should go. She’s scarier than the guy writing me letters. She looked like she wanted to kill me a minute ago.”

“She probably did want to kill you, but she won’t. The ‘guy writing you letters’ might. I don’t want you back here. I hate to do this to you, but you have to try and stick it out. Just stay away from her as much as you can. Did your father say anything to her to shut her up?”

“He tried. She ran right over him and told him off.”

“She always did, and so does his mother. The two of them together are a force to be reckoned with, and he’s no match for either of them. I don’t mean to be ungrateful for what he’s doing now, having you there, but he has no balls. Luisa cut them off ten years ago.” Savannah didn’t like hearing it, and Alexa was instantly sorry she’d said it. He was Savannah’s father, but it was true. She was living proof. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” Alexa apologized quickly. “Just stay in your room, or go out, or wear your iPod. I don’t want you back in New York until after the trial.”

Savannah felt as though she had been sentenced to hard labor, or prison, no matter how pretty the furniture was or how big the house. She hated it here. And Luisa hated her. It was going to be a miserable three months. And her mother was right. Her father was no match for Luisa. Savannah had just seen it for herself.