Southern Lights: A Novel

“They’d kill me if I told her, but she’ll figure it out sometime. I don’t think Travis is too thrilled about it either. He’s a lot more like them than I am. He’s a small-town boy who wants to do everything he can to make them happy and fit in their mold. I’d commit suicide if I married Scarlette, but she’s just right for him, a nice southern girl.”

“You’re sounding like a Yankee,” Savannah teased him.

“Maybe I am at heart. There are a lot of hypocrisies I don’t like here, or maybe it’s just a small-town thing. I hate seeing people covering up what they really think and feel, just to be polite or fit in. There’s a lot of that here. It’s all okay, if you have a couple of Confederate generals in the family, but not a gay son, at least not in this family. They tolerate it, but don’t like it. Shit, for all we know, maybe all those generals were gay.” They both laughed, and then he looked serious again. “It wouldn’t have mattered to your mother. She was the most loving woman I’ve ever known. I didn’t know I was gay when she was here, but afterward I wondered if she knew before I did. She’s very sharp.”

Savannah nodded, proud of her mother.

“Is your mom okay?” he asked her, and Savannah nodded. “She really got a shit deal from my mom and dad. I take it she never remarried, from what Travis said the other day. I asked him.”

“No,” Savannah said, “she didn’t. She’s only thirty-nine, though. But she’s still pretty mad about your dad,” she said honestly. “Or hurt, I guess.”

“She has a right to be,” he said, equally honest. “My mother really screwed her over, and Dad let her. I think their relationship has been lousy ever since, but Dad stays in it, and my mother walks all over him. She walked out on all of us when she left my dad. And everyone conveniently forgets she did. That’s just the way it works.” He looked disapproving as he said it.

“I’ve seen it,” Savannah admitted. “She’s furious about me.”

“Too bad. He should have brought you back here years ago. I feel terrible that I never reached out to you or your mom. I let it happen too. I was fourteen then, and I hated what they were doing. And then, I don’t know, high school, college, life, I never did anything about it,” he said. “But I’m glad you’re here. I hope I see your mom too one of these days. I have a lot to tell her.”

“She’s going to try and visit me every couple of weeks. We had a great time last weekend. She didn’t want to come back here, but she did.”

“It must be tough for her,” he acknowledged, as Savannah nodded. They were both thinking about Alexa, and then Henry finally got up, gave her a hug, and went to his own room. Daisy had slept in her own bed that night. And Savannah lay under the covers thinking about what Henry had told her. She didn’t see what difference it made that he was gay. But she was from New York, not from Charleston. Things were different here.

Chapter 13

As Julianne had predicted, Turner Ashby asked Savannah out again. They went to RB’s Seafood Restaurant and Raw Bar for dinner, and they talked about more personal things. He told her about losing his mother the year before. He said they were doing okay, but it was hard on his father and younger brothers. There were tears in his eyes as he said it, so it was obvious that it was hard on him as well, but he didn’t say it. He didn’t want to look weak to her. Turner said he was glad he was leaving for college, it was too sad at home without her. And Savannah talked about growing up essentially without a dad. They both agreed that it was nice she was getting to know him now, although it was difficult dealing with her evil step-mom. Savannah told him about it and he was shocked, although he had never liked her either, and always thought she was a snob. Now he knew she was cruel as well, and rude.

Turner was a very kind, thoughtful, respectful person, and he treated her with all the grace and good manners for which the South was known. He said he really enjoyed her company, and wanted to see her more often, but she said her mother was coming to visit the following weekend. He asked if she minded if he’d drop by the house sometime, and she said that was fine. It was more like an old-fashioned courtship than two high school seniors dating, but at the end of the second date, he kissed her, which Savannah liked a lot. They were having a very nice time together, and she promised to introduce him to her mother when she came back to town.

She told Alexa all about it, who started getting nervous again. What if Savannah fell in love? What if they got married and she stayed in Charleston? She rattled her worries off to her mother, who laughed at her this time.

“She’s seventeen years old. She’s not going anywhere. They’re just having fun.” Alexa realized it was true and calmed down.

Her nerves were on edge these days. The trial was seven weeks away, and she had a thousand details on her mind. No new victims had turned up, and she was preparing her case with infinite precision and care.