Nora laughed. 'I can't say I disagree. Give me your cell. I'd better call the kids now, and let them know I'm okay. Were they too upset?'
'They wanted to come home,' Carla replied. 'I talked them out of it.' She pulled out her cell. 'Let me prepare them, okay?' Then she dialed.
J. J. cried learning his mother was awake and okay. He didn't want to let her go to talk with his sister, but he finally did. 'Can I come home next weekend?' he asked her.
'I'm not certain, honey,' Nora said. 'There's something else I have to tell you,' and she gently explained to her son that his father had been arrested for assaulting Heidi Millar. 'I don't want the media jumping all over you, and they might if you come home.'
'I'll make a deal with you, Ma. If they come to campus, I get to come home, okay?'
'Okay,' Nora promised her son. 'I'll call you later this week, honey, alright?'
Jill was more pragmatic about her mother's recovery. 'I knew you'd pull out of it,' she said. 'Do you need me home?'
'No,' Nora said, 'but I've got something unpleasant to tell you, Jill,' and she went on to explain what had happened.
'Daddy beat her up? Geez, I wouldn't have thought it of him,' Jill said.
'I don't know,' Nora said. 'I'm not certain when he's being arraigned.'
'They've got to charge him, or they can't hold him,' Jill said.
'I'm sure they will charge him, Jill. I can't believe it of your father, but it does appear as if he is guilty,' Nora told her daughter. 'Watch out for the media. Daddy was prominent in his business.'
'Roger!' Jill replied. 'Sure you don't need me home?'
'I think under the circumstances it's better if we're scattered,' Nora answered her daughter. 'I've got to go, honey. I haven't called Grandma yet. Bye, now.'
The last number Carla got for Nora was Margo's. 'Hey, Margo, Carla. No! Everything is okay. In fact it's better than okay. Nora woke up. She's in terrific shape, and Dr. Sam let her come home. She's with me tonight. I'm going to put her on now. Bye, Margo.'
'Mom?' Nora's voice was strong.
'My God, darling, you had us all terrified,' Margo said. 'What happened to you?'
'You got me, Ma,' Nora told her mother. 'Everyone is mystified, including me. How are you, and how is that sexy Southern gentleman of yours?'
'Taylor is just grand. Persistent, but grand,' Margo answered her daughter. 'Now, Nora, I want you to ask Dr. Sam when you can fly. You're coming down here to recuperate, darling, and I won't take no for an answer.'
'Ma, I can't,' Nora said. 'A rather nasty problem has come up. It's Jeff. He's been arrested for assault with intent to do bodily harm, and rape. He beat up his girlfriend, and she says he raped her when she said no to sex.'
'My God!' Margo exclaimed. 'Thank heavens it wasn't you, darling. I never did like that man. I'm so glad your father isn't alive to see the truth. But why can't you come down? I mean surely you aren't going to defend him, are you?'
'No, no,' Nora assured her parent, 'but you see, Ma, everything is still up in the air. I never signed the settlement, and now Rick says I shouldn't until we see what's going to happen. So I'm kind of stuck here for the time being.'
Margo Edwards sighed. 'Well, I suppose you do have to stay until it's all straightened out. I'll tell you one thing, Nora. I am very glad that neither of Jeff's parents is alive to see this either. His father in particular would be mortified. I always thought the mother sweet, but a bit of a mouse. Oh, I have to go! Here's Taylor. I'll tell him the good news. And the bad while we drive to lunch. There is an absolutely darling new little restaurant on the beach about fifteen miles from here. Everyone says the food is heavenly. You're at Carla's? I'll call you later. Bye, now!'
Nora smiled to herself as her mother rang off. Margo was Margo. She never changed, and it was certainly comforting. Everyone was fine, and her little adventure hadn't really harmed anyone. She looked around Carla's cozy guest bedroom. It was sweet, but she longed for her penthouse, or was it just Kyle for whom she was longing? Lord, she had only been gone a few hours, and she was already itchy. She needed him so badly. She wasn't going to sleep a wink tonight, she thought.
By evening the story was all over the news- print, television, and radio.
It was a slow news day and the arrest of the golden boy and partner of the most prestigious advertising agency in the country had great salacious value. A couple of Jeff's more clever campaigns were mentioned, and their commercials shown. Then came the tale of the wronged wife, just out of a life-threatening coma, and the ambitious blond mistress. The story had everything, and it took people's minds off the war and the economy.
The remote van from the city's two biggest stations appeared outside of Nora's house. She was glad she wasn't there. Eager young reporters began making the rounds of Ansley Court, knocking on doors and asking questions. The Pietro d'Angelo twins were surrounded as they got home from school, with one anchor badgering them until Tiff came flying out of her house, the protective and avenging mother to rescue her children.
'I'm calling the police,' she shouted at the media.
'First-amendment rights, lady,' one of the young reporters shouted at her.
'Fuck you!' Tiff yelled back as she hustled her kids safely inside.
Shortly afterwards the police arrived and set up barricades, behind which they moved the reporters and their trucks. The trucks were still there in the morning. One of the uniformed cops came to the Johnsons' kitchen door. He suggested that using the backyard might be a good way for Nora to get into her house without being annoyed. The barricades were removed to allow the residents out to go to their jobs, then put back. The police van departed shortly after eleven a.m. One cop remained on guard.
Carla was watching. 'They're eating sandwiches and talking,' she said. 'I think we can get you home if you want to go.'
'I want to go,' Nora told her.
'I'll have to shop for you,' Carla said. 'I doubt there's anything in the house you can eat. Heidi didn't cook. They always had takeout.'
'Jeff never wanted takeout,' Nora noted.
'Heidi told me she didn't cook,' Carla answered. 'I guess she had other talents.'
'She must have liked working alone,' Nora remarked cattily, and Carla laughed.
Carla's cell rang. 'It's Dr. Sam,' she said. 'Hi, Doc! What? Okay. Nora's going home now. We're sneaking through the backyard. I'll tell her. Bye.' She turned to Nora. 'Dr. Sam says the newspeople have Shorecrest staked out. They don't know you were released yesterday, and of course Shorecrest isn't going to give them any information. They're outside our street because they're waiting for you to come home.'
'Let's sneak through the backyard, then,' Nora said.
Getting their coats, the two women exited the back door of the Johnson house and ran quickly across the lawn. There was a large privet hedge between their homes. Their kids had worn a passage through the hedge over the years. They slipped through it, and removing her key from her pocket, Carla opened the kitchen door to the Buckley house. Entering quickly, they closed and locked the door behind them.
Nora looked about her, and smiled with pleasure. She was home. Removing her coat, she laid it aside and went to the fridge, opening it and looking in. There was a container of plain, fat-free yogurt, an open quart container of milk, and everything that had been in the fridge eight weeks ago. She laughed. 'She was no housekeeper, poor Heidi,' Nora remarked. 'I'll spend all afternoon cleaning up this mess. If only J. J. needed a science fair project, we could do the wonderful world of mold. I'm just going to toss everything. The plastic containers will have absorbed the smell after this long. Who doesn't empty out a fridge of ancient food?'
'Will you be alright?' Carla asked.
'I'm fine,' Nora assured her.
'Then I'll go do the shopping. Anything other than the basic supplies to get you through until the reporters go away?' Carla inquired.
'Get me one of those rotisserie chickens the market does. And a box of Mallomars,' Nora told her with a grin. 'I can survive on chicken and cookies.'
'I'm glad you haven't changed entirely,' Carla replied.
