back from his honeymoon in Las Vegas. He said everything was fine. They were planning to see him soon, but were giving it some time before they did, for everything to settle down.
And on the last day of the ski trip, they agreed to take a trip together the next summer. They wracked their minds about where, until Annie suggested a boat. She had always loved boats and was an avid sailor. They agreed to a price they could all put in it, and planned it for July. Brad, Paul, and Annie would be out of school, and Chris and Sabrina could take time off. John said he could steal some time. Candy would be back from the couture shows and Tammy could make her own schedule while developing the new show. The only big decision they faced was what kind of boat, motor or sail. They could hardly wait.
Two weeks after their ski trip, the girls called their father and invited him to lunch. They met him at the ‘21’ Club, and he looked uncomfortable the entire time, even more than he had before. The last time, when he told them about Leslie after Christmas, he had looked panicked. This time, as Sabrina agreed later, he looked embarrassed.
He waited until the end of lunch again to tell them. It was a shock for all of them, but nothing really surprised them anymore. He finally got the words out, and told them Leslie was having a baby in November. She had just found out, and they thought it had been conceived on their wedding night, a detail they didn't want or need.
“You leave me speechless, Dad,” Tammy said. “Good luck, I guess, but can you see yourself bringing up another child? I can't even face doing it at my age. You'll be seventy-eight years old when it goes to college.”
“I can't deprive Leslie of having children,” he said calmly. “It's very important to her.”
“I'll bet,” Candy said. Once Leslie had a baby, she had far more rights if they got divorced, but no one said it to their father. He had to have a few illusions left. He was convinced that they had married for love. And who was she to say they were wrong? Sabrina hadn't even reacted when he said they were having a baby. Compared to everything else that had happened to them in the past year, the baby their father was having wasn't the end of the world. Sabrina was just grateful it wasn't twins.
Annie's graduation from school was very moving, and was attended by everyone's family and friends. Annie had done a huge amount of work toward her diploma, and was doing well with the dog, although they still needed to do some more work.
She had asked her father to attend the graduation, preferably without his wife. At first he was very hurt by the request. He still wanted them to warm to Leslie, but then he realized that Annie's request only meant that what they really wanted was to be with him, not share his love with his new wife. None of them mentioned Leslie's pregnancy, or her at all in fact. They wanted to continue to pretend that the situation didn't exist for as long as they could. After November, that wasn't going to be possible at all. It wouldn't just be about Leslie then, but about their father's baby with her. Sabrina said it was a terrifying thought, and the others agreed. Their father with a new baby was a daunting prospect. He seemed so old to have more children. It was lucky that Leslie was young.
They had had no contact with her since she came to drop off her pie. She certainly got a lot of mileage out of a single apple pie and a porcelain plate that had to be returned. The girls were unsure if they were right about her or not. They hoped that they were wrong, and their father right. In the meantime, they wished him well. But things were not quite back to normal. They all realized, as did their father, that it would take time. They loved their father just as they always had. But opening their hearts to his new wife so soon was still too hard. Maybe one day. But not yet.
In May they chartered a sailboat out of Newport, Rhode Island, to use in July on a communal trip. The boat was well staffed with an efficient crew, and from the brochure it looked like a beautiful boat. There was a captain, two crew members, and four cabins for them. It was going to be a memorable trip.
And two days before they picked the boat up in Newport, Tammy was shaken to the core by an offer she got. A rival show to the one she was going to develop wanted her to produce their show in the coming season. It would mean moving back to Los Angeles, her friends, her house, all the things she had been so anxious not to leave in September, but had anyway. And now she had an abundance of offers, both the show she was working on in New York, and the new one they had just offered her in L.A. She could be back there shortly after they gave up the house in New York. It was a tough decision, but after a night of careful thought, she decided that she liked the show she was working on in New York, and she wanted to be closer to her sisters. She turned down the L.A. offer, the day before they left for their boat trip. She told John about it after she made the decision, and he was enormously relieved. Their relationship had flourished for the past six months. Tammy was happier than she had been in years. The freaks and weirdos in her life were history. She couldn't believe she'd actually found the right man at last. He was well adjusted, sensible, intelligent, and they were crazy about each other. And they loved each other's families.
The call that shook them all was the one they got the night before they took the boat. All four sisters were frantically packing. Candy was bringing five suitcases, and each of the others was packing one. The dogs had been boarded. Annie's dog was still in training, they hadn't completely bonded yet, but they were getting there. And the realtor called them about the house. Their landlord had fallen in love with Vienna, his research project was taking longer than planned, and he wondered if they wanted to keep the house until the end of the year, and extend their lease by another five months.
They had a serious family discussion about it, and regretfully Sabrina bowed out. She couldn't do that to Chris- she had promised to move in with him on the first of August. He had been patient for so long that she didn't dare ask him to extend it. Candy's tenant was moving out of the penthouse, and she was thinking of going back there, but it was tempting to stay on at the house. Tammy was delighted. She was so busy working on the new show that she didn't have time to look for anyplace else or move, and Annie smiled mischievously and said it worked perfectly with her plans. She had just turned twenty-seven. So at least two of the sisters wanted to stay on, and maybe three. They said that they'd miss Sabrina, but they all agreed that it was time for her to move in with Chris. He had waited long enough.
All eight of them flew to Providence the next morning, the four sisters and their men. A van took them from the airport to the dock in Newport, where the sailboat they had chartered was waiting for them. It was the first of July, and they had it for two weeks. They were planning to sail around Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and visit friends along the way. And during the second week, they were going to visit Paul's family in Maine.
It was hardest of all for the girls to believe their mother had been gone a year. They were grateful that their father had canceled the party. This was a much better way to spend their mother's anniversary. Together, among people they loved, in a different setting than the place they'd been the year before when the accident happened.
On the morning of the Fourth, the girls held a quiet ceremony on deck, and each of them threw a single flower into the water. Tammy noticed that Annie threw in two.
“What was the second one for?” she asked her quietly afterward.
Annie hesitated and then answered, “My eyes.”
They set sail shortly after and spent the day around Martha's Vineyard, and at dinnertime they motored into port for the night. It had been a magical cruise so far, and at dinner Brad squeezed her hand to give her the sign. Annie took a breath, and waited for a lull in the conversation. Moments of silent and rapt attention were hard to come by, so Brad clinked a glass with his knife. Annie was smiling and holding his hand.
“We have something to tell you,” she said, sounding excited and breathless. Sabrina and Chris exchanged a look and smiled. If it was what he thought, Chris was hoping it would be contagious. But he couldn't complain. Sabrina was seeming a lot braver about their future these days. She had even mentioned having children once or twice. “We're getting married in December,” Annie said, looking in Brad's direction. “I'm going to work at the school with Brad… and be his wife…” she added, as the group erupted in hearty congratulations.
“Damn,” Sabrina said a minute later. “I should have made it a two or three-part bet. What was that you said a year ago? You'd never have another date, and you'd be an old maid… and you'd never have kids. I could have made a fortune.” They all laughed, as Brad put an arm around Annie and kissed her. They looked blissfully happy as Annie nestled next to him. Chris kissed Sabrina and put an arm around her. And Tammy mentioned a little later that she was going on vacation with John and his brothers in August. Candy and Paul just laughed. At their age, marriage was the farthest thing from their minds. They just wanted to hang out with each other and have a good time, as they had been for the past five months.
As they sat on the boat, the four women looked at each other. They didn't have to say anything. They were thinking of their mother. The gift she had given them, of each other, was in fact the best gift of all.
“To sisters!” Sabrina raised her glass to all of them. “And their men!” All eight glasses were raised, and they
