Southern Lights

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.

The day after Savannah had gone out with Turner Ashby, she drove over to see her grandmother on her own. She had a free afternoon, and she thought it might be a nice thing to do, although she wondered if she should have called first. She found her sitting on the porch, dozing in her rocking chair with a book in her hand. Eugenie’s eyes flew open as soon as she heard footsteps on the porch and she was surprised to see Savannah looking down at her, in a yellow sweatshirt and jeans.

“What are you doing here?” her grandmother asked sharply, startled to see Savannah there.

“I thought you might like a visit, so I came by,” Savannah said cautiously, as her grandmother frowned.

“You should have called first. We don’t like northern ways here,” she scolded her. “Southerners are polite.”

“I’m sorry.” Savannah looked instantly apologetic and somewhat mortified. “I’ll come back another time and call first.” She started to leave and her grandmother pointed sternly to a chair.

“No, you’re here now. Sit down. Why did you come here?” She was curious about her, and Savannah looked scared. Her grandmother was a daunting figure, even as an old lady.

“I just thought it would be nice to visit. I like hearing all the stories about the war, the generals, the battles. We don’t learn much about that in New York.” It was true, but she had come mostly to be kind to an old woman, but couldn’t say that to her.

“What would you like to know?” Her grandmother smiled and was intrigued by the request. There was southern blood in her after all.

“Tell me about your family. It’s part of my history too.”

“Yes, it is,” Eugenie acknowledged, and she liked the idea of sharing it with this young girl. It was the best way for ancestors to be remembered and history to be passed on, telling stories from one generation to another.

She began with her great-grandfather, when he had come from France, and made her way down through several generations, marriages, and generals, when they came to Charleston, how much land they owned, and how many slaves. She made no apology for it, she said it was essential for cultivating the land, and how many slaves you owned was considered part of their wealth in those days. Savannah winced at that. It was a new idea to her, and not one she liked any more than any other culture that had owned slaves.

They eventually made it to the Civil War, and Eugenie’s eyes lit up. She knew every date and detail about every major battle in the South, all the ones that had been fought in and around Charleston, who had won them, who had lost. She added personal stories about who people were married to, if they’d been widowed, and if they’d remarried. She was a walking encyclopedia of Civil War and Charleston history, and Savannah was fascinated as she listened. Her grandmother had a fine memory for dates and details and talked for hours. No one had ever listened to her in such rapt attention for as long. It was dinnertime when she stopped. She had been revitalized by remembering every detail and sharing it with Savannah. And she had promised to share some books with her as well. Savannah actually loved it, and it intrigued her to think that she was related to some of those people. It was a whole other side of her life and history that she had never known anything about and wouldn’t have otherwise, were it not for her grandmother’s recollections.

Savannah thanked her profusely before she left, helped her into the small parlor where she liked to sit at night, and left her with one of her two ancient maids and kissed her cheek.

“That’s South Carolina blood in your veins,” she reminded Savannah, “and don’t you forget it! That’s not just Yankee blood in you!”

“Yes, Grandmother,” Savannah said, smiling at her. She had had a wonderful afternoon, and was still thinking about it as she drove back to Thousand Oaks.

Daisy complained about where she’d been so late, and Savannah said quietly that she’d been to see their grandmother.

“All by yourself?” Daisy looked surprised as Savannah nodded. “It’s so boring there!” Daisy hated going to see her, there was nothing for her to do, and her grandmother was so old. She hated all that “general” stuff her grandmother talked about.

“No, it’s not boring,” Savannah defended her. “She knows everything about everything and everyone in the South. I learned a lot.” Daisy made a face in response. She couldn’t think of a worse way to spend an afternoon. When her grandmother tried to tell her about her roots, she didn’t want to know. She’d rather stay home and watch TV. Seven years older, Savannah had soaked it up like a sponge.

Daisy’s parents were out at a dinner party that night, together for once, so Savannah never got a chance to tell her father about the visit. But his mother told him the next day when he stopped by to see her after lunch.

“She’s a very good girl,” Eugenie said, looking at him. He had no idea who she meant, and he thought it was the maid, whom she often referred to that way. She also called male employees “boys,” which seemed rude. But it was of her times.

“Who?” Tom said, looking blank.

“Your daughter,” she said with a spark in her eye he hadn’t seen in a while.

“Daisy?”

“Savannah! She came here for a history lesson, about the South. She listens carefully, remembers everything. That’s southern blood in those pretty young veins. She wanted to know everything about our family, and more. She’s a very special girl.”

“I know she is,” he said, looking amazed. “She came here alone?”

“Of course,” his mother snapped at him. “You don’t suppose your wife brought her here? Luisa is going to drive me insane if she doesn’t stop complaining about that child.” His mother looked sour about it and shook her head, which surprised him too.

“Does she call you about it?” Tom looked upset. He knew Luisa had called her once, but not more than that, about Savannah.

“Almost every night. She wanted me to use my influence on you to send her back. That’s not right if her life is in danger, which you say it is, and that’s probably true. Why would you lie about that?”

“I haven’t. There have been some very upsetting letters sent to Savannah, presumably from a man who killed eighteen women. He’s in custody, but he’s got friends on the outside who have been dropping the letters off at their apartment. If it’s him. If it’s not, it’s someone else just as bad. I think Alexa is right to want her out of New York.”

“So do I. There’s no reason to risk that child. Or even frighten her. Eighteen women, my word, how awful…what is Alexa thinking, taking cases like that?” She looked critical as she said it.

“She’s an assistant district attorney,” Tom said quietly. “She has no choice. She has to take what they assign her. That’s her job.”

“Noble of her, but much too dangerous, for a woman,” his mother said, a little more gently. It almost amused Tom that now his mother was protecting her and Savannah, after telling him to banish them in the first place. How soon people forget their own perfidies and crimes. “In any case, Luisa wants Savannah run out of town, and she expected me to do it, and tell you to send her back. She got what she wanted ten years ago. She got you. She has Daisy. She got her boys back, she doesn’t need to hurt Savannah now to prove the point further, or her mother. We all did quite enough ten years ago. I told Luisa to stop hounding me about it. She wasn’t pleased.” Tom imagined that she wasn’t. Her mother-in-law had been her chief ally and partner in crime all those years before and ever since.

“Do you regret it, Mother?” he asked her honestly. He had never dared to ask her before. She hesitated before she answered, sitting in her rocking chair with a shawl over her lap, and looking very old and fragile. He knew she was less frail than she appeared, and strong as iron in her will and opinions.

“Sometimes. It depends how Alexa’s life has turned out. If she’s happy, I suppose it was all right. I don’t know,” she said, looking distressed. “I didn’t want Daisy to be illegitimate, and Luisa was putting a lot of pressure on me then too, but I was younger then.” He had fallen right into Luisa and his mother’s trap for him. She had seduced him and gotten pregnant all in the same night, although he had been courting her secretly for several weeks and would have gotten there on his own. He had never gotten over Luisa leaving him for someone else, it had gnawed at him for all those years. He loved Alexa, but Luisa had been more powerful and more glamorous, and more southern. Alexa had been kind and open and naïve and loving, and trusted him completely. He still felt sick when he thought about it. “Is she happy?” his mother asked him then, and he sighed.

“I don’t think so. I’ve never seen such sad eyes. She’s alone with Savannah, and there’s no one in her life. She’s a wonderful mother.”

“Well, you can’t go back to her now and leave Luisa because Alexa is alone.” She looked panicked at the thought. “I don’t think she’d have me, and she’s right,” he said sadly. The idea had crossed his mind.

“She probably is,” his mother agreed, which shocked him. “If you loved her, you never should have left her for Luisa, no matter what I said. You went right back to her like a little lamb, and sent Alexa to New York.” He nodded. It was true. He had wanted Luisa back, to prove a point, but he loved Alexa. What he didn’t want was the life he had now, with a woman he hated, who hated him more. He had gotten what he deserved in spades, and knew it. “I just want Luisa to stop calling me about Savannah. She needs to be decent to her. She owes Alexa that. She took care of Luisa’s boys.”

“I’ve told her that. She doesn’t want to hear it.”

“She told me Savannah is a brat. She’s no brat, she’s a lovely girl. She came here all on her own, to see me. She said she’d come to visit again. I hope she does.”

“I’m sure she will,” he said kindly. Savannah was that kind of girl, to visit old ladies and keep them company. She had a warm heart. And both her father and grandmother knew it. So did Daisy, and her brothers. Only Luisa didn’t care. She had no heart at all. She had manipulated him to recoup him, and had tortured him ever since.

“I’m glad someone in this family wants to know our history. Luisa isn’t interested. She has her own. She has as many generals in her family as we do,” Eugenie said, looking miffed, and Tom fought not to laugh. His mother took those things very seriously, and always had. Even he had a little trouble with it sometimes. There were too many generals to count. And hearing about the battles and Confederate bravery and victories had bored him all his life. He was no history buff. His mother was.

Tom left his mother after that, and thanked Savannah that night for visiting her, and said that her grandmother had loved it and hoped she’d come back soon. Luisa overheard and snapped at them that Savannah shouldn’t disturb her, she was too delicate and old. Tom turned on her instantly and told her he wanted Savannah to visit his mother. Luisa sniffed and said not another word. When she had spoken to her that afternoon, her mother-in-law had said the same. The tides had turned, and Luisa didn’t like it one bit.

Savannah had told her mother about the visit, and the history lesson, and about Henry and his partner Jeff. She kept her abreast of the local news in their daily calls.

Her mother said she wasn’t surprised about Henry. He was never interested in girls once he hit puberty, although he was young then, only fourteen. She had had a question in her mind once or twice, but never dared broach it with Tom. He was so closed on the subject, and Savannah said he still was, they all were. She said that Luisa, his own mother, pretended Henry wasn’t gay. Alexa said she hoped he was happy, and would love to see him one of these days. She was coming back that weekend, and they were planning to stay at the Wentworth Mansion again. She’d made a reservation for the big suite.

“So am I going to meet that boy?” she asked about Turner, and Savannah grinned.

“Maybe. We’ll see. If he’s not busy. He has a game this weekend.”

“Maybe we can go. If you’re not ashamed of me.”

“You know I’m not. I’m really, really proud of you, Mom, and you know it.”

“I’m proud of you too, sweetheart,” her mother reassured her. And after they hung up, she went back to work with Sam and Jack Jones, and Savannah went to meet Turner for a walk before dinner, and a lot of kisses.

Daisy saw her come in afterward. She slipped in discreetly before dinner, and Daisy was on her way back from the kitchen with a snack.

“So?”

“So what?” Savannah asked innocently.

“Don’t give me that. I saw you leave with him. Is he cute? Did he kiss you?” Savannah decided to be honest with her little sister. She loved that idea, having a sister. And so did Daisy.

“He’s cute. And he kissed me.”

“Oh, yuk!!” Daisy said, running up the stairs. “How disgusting.” And then she leaned over the banister with another question. “Is he your boyfriend?”

“Nope.” Savannah shook her head, smiling. “Just a boy I like.”

“Too bad,” Daisy said, and scampered to her room, laughing all the way.