A Slender Thread by Katharine Davis Read Free Book Online Page B

inheritance to purchase a tiny one-bedroom apartment with a terrace on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Alex couldn’t believe how expensive it was for so little space and thought it a poor choice. Buying it was what Margot’s boyfriend—soon-to-be husband—Teddy wanted.
    Now, as Alex stood in the dining room in New Castle opening the two bottles of Côte de Beaune to serve with their dinner that evening, he thought of Margot’s ex-husband, who had come only once to New Castle for Thanksgiving. Alex remembered how appalled he had been that Margot had fallen for Teddy. He recalled one awful, though expensive, dinner with them in New York, and later, when Margot had brought Teddy home for the four-day holiday, he hadn’t liked him any better. That guy was too smooth, too certain of himself, and superficial. In Alex’s opinion, Teddy didn’t appreciate Margot. Lacey had agreed, and urged Margot not to marry so quickly.
    Later, after Margot’s marriage fell apart, Alex was sorry that he hadn’t intervened in some way, but how do you tell your sister-in-law that her fiancé is bad news? Margot would not have wanted to hear it from him. His mother had used an old-fashioned expression when she spoke of Teddy’s effect on Margot, saying that Teddy had “taken the bloom off the rose,” when the marriage ended. Still, that was years ago, and Margot looked happier now. Alex assumed Oliver was the reason for it. Funny how he wasn’t coming for the holiday this year. Yet lives got complicated with past marriages and grown children added to the mix.
    Alex inspected both corks and brought one to his nose. The wine would be good. He surveyed the room. Everything was ready for another Thanksgiving. He liked the brief calm before a party. This room had been the scene of many fine meals: dinner parties with friends, birthday celebrations, and the ritualized holidays that followed one after another. Lacey prided herself on getting everything just right—the combination of guests, the perfect glasses and dishes, flowers, candles, no detail forgotten. On the surface all was well—the gracious room, the table set, the wine open to breathe. But it was not just another Thanksgiving. Their lives had changed. So far, only he and Lacey, and now Margot, knew that.
    Alex wondered if Hugh and Kate, longtime friends, would sense that anything was wrong. Hugh had been Alex’s roommate in college, a fellow history major, and they had been best friends ever since. Hugh and Kate were the prototypical New England prep-school teachers. Hugh, a slight man, doubtless would show up that evening wearing a tweed sport coat and corduroy pants that bagged at the knees. His prematurely gray hair was usually long and carelessly combed, making him look like a flash-forward photograph of one of his students. He had an endearing earnestness, always giving his full attention to anyone who spoke to him. His former students often returned to visit him years after graduating from Warner Academy, and Alex could see why.
    Kate, whom he had married immediately after they graduated from college, also had a sweet, naive quality and the same perennial youthfulness. It was as if living with high school students most of the year kept both of them in a time warp, where normal aging was held at bay. Her shoulder-length brown hair stayed in place with a tortoiseshell headband and she wore no makeup at all on her wide face with its girlish, turned-up nose.
    The Martins’ lives seemed so easy and uncomplicated to Alex: They had jobs they loved and two happy grown sons already out on their own. Kate and Hugh lived in a small community where they were revered and respected. They had the benefit of free housing at the school and because of this they were able to save for and purchase their home in New Castle, where one day they would retire. Their sons had received full tuition at Warner Academy before going on to