Southern Lights: A Novel

“I might be,” Savannah said quietly, sitting down carefully on a narrow chair near her grandmother. Everything in the room seemed fragile and dusty. Savannah hoped she wouldn’t sneeze. “It might be May, if my mother’s case goes more quickly. But it’s a big case, it could take a while to try.”

“Your mother wasn’t a lawyer when I knew her,” her grandmother said with an air of disapproval, and Savannah nodded. It was hard not to be daunted by this ancient, sharp-featured woman. She was old, but tough as nails.

“She went to law school after the”—she started to say “divorce” and then stopped herself instinctively—“after we went back to New York. My other grandmother is a lawyer too.”

“I know.” Eugenie Beaumont nodded. “I met her. She was a very nice woman.” She was willing to concede that, but nothing about Alexa, out of loyalty to Luisa.

“Thank you,” Savannah said politely, still holding the cup of tea. She had worn a gray skirt and a white sweater, and she looked neat, clean, and demure. Tom was proud of her, for wanting to come here, and being brave enough to do it. His mother wasn’t easy.

“Do you want to be a lawyer too?” Her grandmother scowled at her. She was looking to find fault with her, Tom could see, but had found none so far. She was clearly a northern girl, and lacked the softness of the South, but she was polite and well bred, and Eugenie liked that.

“No. I think I’d like to be a journalist, but I’m not sure yet. I just applied to college, and I don’t have to declare my major for two years.” Her grandmother asked what colleges she had applied to, and was impressed by the list. They were all first-rate schools, including Duke.

“You must be a good student,” Eugenie conceded, “to apply to schools like that. In my day, young women didn’t go to college. They got married and had babies. It’s different now, though. One of my grandsons went to the University of Virginia, like his father. The other one went to Duke.” She said it as though Savannah didn’t know them.

“UVA is a very good school,” Savannah said easily, but she hadn’t applied there. Her mother had discouraged her and said she’d be an outcast if she wasn’t southern. Savannah knew it was her mother’s prejudice about the South but had decided not to apply anyway. She smiled kindly at her grandmother, and took her empty teacup from her and set it down, and then offered her the plate of cookies. The maid had gone back to the kitchen. Eugenie took one of the cookies and nibbled it as she looked at her grandchild. “You look just like your mother.” It was hard to tell if it was a compliment or an insult the way she said it. A complaint maybe. She didn’t want to be reminded of Alexa, or how much she had liked her in the beginning. Until Luisa came home for good, and her allegiance had shifted back to her first daughter-in-law, not the second. Savannah thought it wisest not to answer. “Do you know what the United Daughters of the Confederacy is?” she asked her, and Savannah nodded. She remembered hearing about it, although it sounded a little silly to her, but she didn’t say that. “I’m the president general. They gave me that title because my grandfather was a general in the Confederate Army.” She said it with such pride that Savannah smiled at her. For all her toughness, there was a fragility and vulnerability that touched her. She was just a very old woman, and life had passed her by. She was alone in a dusty old house now, proud of an army that had lost a war nearly a hundred and fifty years before, like the Japanese soldiers who had hidden in caves and didn’t know the war was over for years.

Eugenie looked at her son then and nodded. He understood the signal. She was tired. It was time for them to leave. He stood up and told Savannah they should be going.

“Thank you for letting me come to visit you, Grandmother,” she said politely as she stood up too.

“Are you in school here?” Eugenie was curious about her. She was a bright girl, and on closer inspection, she looked like her father too, not just Alexa. She had southern genes in her, after all.

“Yes, I am. I started this week.”

“Do you like it?”

“So far. Everyone’s been very nice. And Charleston is beautiful. Dad showed me around on Monday before I started school.”

“I hope you enjoy your stay here,” Eugenie said politely, letting her know that she would not be seeing her again. It was hello and goodbye in one meeting.

“Thank you.” Savannah smiled at her warmly, and then they left.

Savannah was quiet on the drive home, thinking about her. She was so small and old and not the dragon she had expected at all. It hadn’t been hard, it was easy.

Luisa was waiting for them when they got home. As usual, she ignored Savannah, and looked straight at her husband.

“I understand you just went to see your mother, and just took her with you.” She always referred to Savannah as “her” and “she” and never by name.