At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen Read Free Book Online

willing to capitulate sooner, it was just a tactical difference. We were upset with our situation, not each other.
    I reached my foot out under the table and ran it lightly down his calf. His eyes brightened, and the edges of his mouth lifted into a smile.
    â€œI’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea of your mother shouting,” said Hank. “Are you sure it was your mother? The same Edith Stone Hyde I’ve known all these years?”
    â€œThe very one. And it was more like a hooting,” said Ellis. “An overtaxed owl.”
    â€œA broken-down woodwind,” I added. “Frail, yet screechy.”
    â€œI’d have paid good money to see that,” said Hank, lighting a cigarette.
    â€œI wish I’d known,” said Ellis. “I’d have offered you my seat.”
    â€œDo you really think the Colonel and your mother had an affair?” Hank asked, blowing a series of smoke rings.
    â€œOf course not,” I said. “My gorgon of a mother-in-law extrapolated that because at some point she caught him looking at her, which I’m sure he did. Everybody did.”
    â€œYes, but he also defended her,” Hank pointed out. “To his wife.”
    â€œSo maybe he carried a little torch for her,” I said, “which still means nothing, because who didn’t? She had that effect on people.”
    â€œNot your father,” Hank continued. “I never did understand why she married him. She could have had anybody she liked. Gorgeous, pedigreed, a bank account the size of Montana…I can’t imagine why she allowed herself to get hitched to an old fart like your father.”
    â€œShe wasn’t pedigreed,” I said, throwing him a dirty look. Hank knew perfectly well that my mother had married up.
    Hank looked outraged. “Of course she was pedigreed…
in the Levee District!
” He broke down, cackling at his own joke.
    â€œHa ha,” I said flatly.
    â€œNo offense, darling girl. Money is its own pedigree. But back on topic, what if it’s true? Maybe that’s why your mother-in-law was so hell-bent against the two of you getting married.
Maybe
,” he said, waving his cigarette in circles, “you’re brother and sister.”
    Ellis and I burst into simultaneous groans of disgust.
    â€œHank, that’s not even remotely funny! Please. My mother did
not
have an affair with the Colonel.”
    â€œHow can you be so sure?” Hank went on. “Maybe that’s the reason your mother-in-law encouraged him to go monster hunting. To get him out of harm’s way, so to speak.”
    â€œI’m sure she just wanted him out of the way, period,” I said. “She probably packed his bags. She probably booked his passage.”
    â€œYou’re both forgetting that it was his idea,” said Ellis. “He couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I’m surprised he didn’t leave a Colonel-shaped hole in the front door on the way out. Can hardly blame him, though.”
    â€œShe
is
a trial,” I said.
    â€œShe’s worse than that,” said Ellis, looking suddenly grim.
    Hank leaned back in his chair and cocked an eyebrow. He looked first at Ellis, and then at me. “Your drinks are empty. Let me remedy that.” He snapped his fingers over his head until he got the attention of the bartender, then pointed at the glasses.
    Ellis stared into his depleted drink, poking the ice cubes with his swizzle stick.
    â€œSo,” Hank said, rubbing his hands together. “Given the circumstances, I think you’ll be even more pleased to hear my news.”
    â€œUnless you’re about to tell me my father dropped dead, I highly doubt it,” Ellis said without looking up.
    The waiter delivered fresh drinks. Ellis pulled his toward him, picked up the new swizzle stick, and went back to stabbing ice.
    â€œMaddie, darling?” Hank said expectantly.
    I sighed before