Enchanted Ivy
Sarah Beth Durst
FOR OLD NASSAU
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Yes, I went to Princeton. I went because of the trees. Junior year of high school, I walked onto campus, saw the arch of elm trees, saw the massive oaks, and I was sold. Perhaps not the best way to choose a college, but that's the way it happened. Anyway, that moment changed my life and inspired this book. So thank you to the Princeton trees, the dorms, the classes, the professors, and the tulips in Prospect Gardens. Thank you to my roommates and my friends at Forbes, Quad, Triangle, and Theatre Intime. And thank you to the Housing Department, who assigned me to a room next door to my future husband. (We meant to send you flowers on our wedding day—sorry we forgot!)
Special thanks to my amazing agent and fellow Princetonian, Andrea Somberg, and my incredible editor, Karen Wojtyla, as well as Emily Fabre, Paul Crichton, Justin Chanda, Anne Zafian, Elke Villa, Lucille Rettino, Catharine Sotzing, and all the other wonderful people at Simon & Schuster who made this book a reality. You guys are all dream makers.
Many thanks and much love to my family, who inspire me on a daily basis, to my husband, who is the heart of everything I am and do, and to my children, whom I love unconditionally and always will, no matter where they go to college—unless, of course, it's Yale.
Although Yale has always favored
The violet's dark blue,
And the many sons of Harvard
To the crimson rose are true,
We will own the lilies slender,
Nor honor shall they lack,
While the Tiger stands defender
Of the Orange and the Black.
CHAPTER One
'Almost there,' Grandpa said.
Pressing her nose against the car window, Lily frowned at the strip malls, gas stations, and industrial parks as they rolled by. 'Really?' she said. She'd expected to see something a bit more picturesque than Wal-Marts and Home Depots en route to her dream school—at least a stately forest or a field with a few photogenic cows. And she should hear trumpets playing, plus a massive choir announcing in verse the approach of her destiny.
Maybe she'd built up this moment a bit too much.
'Just a few more miles and then I will don my illustrious blazer,' Grandpa said.
Grandpa's orange and black striped Princeton University Reunions jacket hung from the back of the driver's seat. Wondering why he'd mentioned it, she met Grandpa's eyes in the rearview mirror. He shifted his eyes toward Lily's mother, who sat slumped in the passenger seat in front of Lily.
'You'll see worse,' Grandpa promised.
'I doubt the skinless zebra would agree with that,' Lily said.
Grandpa nodded solemnly. 'The Class of 1969 wears a vest and headband covered in orange and black yin- yang polka dots.'
Lily faked a shudder. 'Oh, the horror!'
In front of her, Mom laughed. Her wild, tangled hair (today, dyed a beautiful soft green) shook like willow leaves in the wind. It was the first time since leaving Philadelphia that Mom quit looking half-wilted and smiled. Mom hated car rides. She felt caged, she said, inside all the steel and plastic and glass. If it wasn't for worries about how it would react with her usual medication, Mom would have taken a Valium for the drive.
Normally, Mom avoided car rides altogether, but this wasn't a normal weekend. It was Princeton Reunions weekend. Reunions weekend! Lily couldn't believe Grandpa had offered to take them. He always attended, even in off years like his forty-ninth reunion. It was his 'thing,' his once-a-year break from mothering both Lily and Mom. But this year, he'd said that Lily should see her future alma mater.
Not that she'd even applied yet. She was a junior, three weeks away from final exams, but Grandpa claimed this place was her destiny. No pressure, though. Yeah, right.
Grandpa pointed to an intersection. 'Next left,' he said.
Lily's heart thumped faster. She shouldn't be this excited, she knew. It wasn't as if she even had an application interview. At best, she'd take a campus tour and then spend the weekend with a bunch of seventy- year-olds who were pretending to be fifty years younger. But she found herself craning her neck for her first glimpse.
As they turned onto Washington Road, the industrial parks, motels, and malls of central New Jersey fell behind them, and all Lily saw was green, green, and more green. Her breath caught in her throat. Now this was more like it! Elm trees lined the road to Princeton University. Their branches arched over the car in a grand canopy of translucent green that stretched for half a mile. Leaves swayed lightly in the wind, and Lily wanted to reach her arms up and catch the wind in her hands. Her fingers bumped the roof of the car. Self-consciously lowering her hands, she contented herself with staring out the window. Ahead, she saw a stone bridge over a lake and, beyond it, a sprawling boathouse. Crew boats lay crisscrossed on an asphalt shore. It looked like a photograph from a college brochure, and Lily felt light-headed as she drank in the view. It was perfect!
Across the bridge, Grandpa stopped at a traffic light. 'We're here,' he announced.
'Home,' Mom said happily.
Lily closed her eyes as her perfect moment shattered.
'No, Rose,' Grandpa said in a calm and patient voice. 'This is Princeton University, not our home. We're here for my Fiftieth Reunion. Do you remember?' Opening her eyes, Lily studied Mom and wondered if she'd remember or fake it.
Mom frowned for an instant and then said, 'Of course. Yes, yes. I'm sorry.' Her chiffon sleeve fluttered as she waved her hand at the window and said, 'It's very pretty here.'
'I have always thought so,' Grandpa replied gravely. 'Did you take your medicine today?'
Lily answered for her: 'She did. But I have another here....' Unzipping Mom's purse, she drew out a single- dose medicine vial.
'I'm fine. Fine,' Mom said, false cheer in her voice. 'Just a little hiccup.' Mom had nicknamed them that: brain hiccups. A harmless name, as if that would make everything okay. 'You can put that away.'
Lily's fingers curled around the medicine vial. Mom had been happy for ... what? Five minutes? Three? Lily slid
