Chapter 9 - The Clear Sky
Six weeks later.
The Maine coast was gray and green, the Atlantic Ocean rolling in long, slow swells against the granite rocks below my grandmother's cottage. The air was cold, smelling of salt, cedar, and wet stone.
I sat on the porch in a heavy wool cardigan, watching the gulls circle over the tide line.
Inside the cottage, Clara was setting three small bowls on the kitchen table. Her twins—now seven months old, healthy, plump, and noisy—were crawling across a thick rag rug near the wood stove, chasing a yellow rubber ball.
Clara walked out onto the porch carrying two mugs of tea.
"They're going to eat the rug if I don't give them bananas in five minutes," she said, handing me a mug and leaning against the railing.
"Let them eat the rug," I smiled, taking a sip. "It's built for it."
Clara looked out over the water. Her face had changed over the last two months. The perpetual shade beneath her eyes had vanished; her posture was light, open, and free.
"The lawyer called this morning," Clara said softly. "The divorce decree was signed by the judge yesterday. I have sole custody. Marcus and my parents get no visitation without a court-appointed supervisor."
"And the criminal trial?"
"Arthur accepted a plea deal," Clara replied. "Eighteen months in county facilities, three years probation. Evelyn got two years house arrest and five hundred hours of community service. Marcus took two years probation and mandatory anger management."
She looked down at her hands, then turned her face toward me.
"He tried to write me a letter last week," Clara whispered. "From his lawyer's office. He said he was just doing what Dad told him to do. He said he didn't know it was going to turn out like that."
"He knew," I said flatly.
Clara nodded slowly. "I know he knew. That's why I didn't write back."
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From inside the house, a sudden, loud squall erupted as one twin pulled the other's sock off.
Clare didn't panic. She didn't look over her shoulder for instructions. She simply set her tea mug on the window ledge, smiled at me, and walked back inside to take care of her children.
