'I had no choice, Jill. Now behave yourself,' Nora snapped.
'Grandma!' Jill turned to Margo.
'No, Jill, your mother did exactly the right thing. Your father isn't divorcing you, darling. He's divorcing your mother. Now behave. Taylor and I can only spend another hour with you before we leave, and I want to have nice memories of my grandson's high school graduation.'
Jill slouched down in the car, scowling. 'I'll speak to Daddy, but I absolutely will not talk with that woman,' she said.
Nora's hands clutched the wheel of the car. If Jill started a brouhaha, she was going to kill her. She angled her way from the parking lot and headed off home. She had to get there before Jeff, and in her rearview mirror she could see the limo making its attempt to leave. She pressed down on the gas pedal and stared ahead.
Rina and Joanne were at the house ahead of her. They were already putting the sandwiches out on the silver trays. Tiffany was putting the finishing touches on the sheet cake. She was their cake decorator. No one else ever bothered to do a cake once they learned how clever Tiff was. The rectangular pastry was bedecked with a soccer field design complete with goal, and a figure kicking a ball between the posts. Tiffany was just finishing up the writing. 'Congratulations, Jeff' was emblazoned across the cake.
The women hurried out to the brick terrace off the den, where a table had been set up, covered with a lovely white linen cloth edged in delicate lace. There were heavy paper plates with a graduation motif, cups, and silverware on the table. The cake was set in the center with plates of small sandwiches surrounding it. Nora had used a mix of her good china, her silver, and paper goods. Margo and Taylor came from the kitchen, each carrying two pitchers of lemonade mixed with iced tea. Nora liked the way Taylor Bradford seemed to fit right in with them. Trust Margo to have found the right man whether she married him or not.
Then Jeff arrived with Heidi, behaving very much like the lord of the manor. He seated his companion by the pool, and hurried over to the table to fetch her refreshment.
'Where are the glasses?' he wanted to know.
'We're using paper cups,' Nora replied quietly.
'You know I don't like paper,' he said irritably. 'Go and get me two glasses.'
'You haven't been gone so long that you've forgotten where the glasses are, Jeff,' Nora said dryly. 'If you want glasses, go and get them yourself. My days of servitude are over. Please try and be pleasant for J. J. sake.'
'What the hell has gotten into you, Nora?' he demanded.
She smiled brightly at him. 'I have guests to attend to, Jeff.' And she walked away. Inside she was shaking with her anger. How dare he bring her replacement into her house, and behave as if everything in it, including Nora, were at his pleasure.
It was a brief party, because J. J. desperately wanted to join his friends. Maureen would be having the big party tonight, but Nora knew there were other parties going on even now that the two kids wanted to go to. She got J. J. to come and make a ceremonial cut of his cake. Tiffany came then to slice up the cake for the guests.
'The girls and I want to go now,' J. J. said to his mother.
'Go on, but say good-bye to your father first,' Nora advised her son.
Reluctantly J. J. walked over to where his father sat with his girlfriend. 'I'm going now, Dad,' he said.
'Sit down for a minute and visit with us,' Jeff said.
'Mo and Lily are waiting for me, Dad,' J. J. said.
'Sit down!' Jeff snapped. 'You haven't said a word to Heidi.'
'What do you want me to say, Dad? You're dumping my mother. You've taken away my college funds. What am I supposed to say? Thank you?'
'Heidi is going to be your stepmother, J. J.,' Jeff said.
'So?'
'I want you to know her, and like her,' his father responded.
'Look, Dad, I don't want to know her, and I'll never like her. Got it?' J. J. told his father. 'I'm eighteen now. I won't have to come to you every other weekend like some of my friends do with their parents. It's over between us. You gave me life, but not much more. You never came to my games, or the plays I was in, or the mountain house.' He turned to Heidi Millar. 'I hope you aren't planning on kids, ma'am. He's a lousy father.'
Heidi Millar's cold gray eyes looked directly at J. J. 'I don't think you have the right to speak to your father like that. You obviously have no idea what a wonderful and talented man he is. You're angry because he won't pay for your schooling. Why should he pay for a boy who obviously has no respect for him? You, your sister, and your mother have lived off of Jeff's hard work and generosity long enough. It's past time you took care of yourselves.'
J. J. stood up. 'So long, Dad,' he said.
Jeff stood up too, holding out his hand to his son. J. J. looked at the hand, laughed, and then turned away. Jeff Buckley's face grew florid with his anger at the snub. 'Your mother,' he snarled, 'is obviously working very hard to turn you against me. It won't help her to do it at all.'
J. J. turned, his fists clenched, to glare at his father, and it was then that Taylor Bradford stepped into the fray. He put his arm about the boy, murmuring as he did, 'The man ain't worth it, son. Go on with those two pretty girls waiting for you,' and he gently pushed J. J. in the direction of Lily and Mo. Then he turned back to Jeff Buckley. 'I think you've just about worn out your welcome here today, sir. Why don't you take the young lady and head back to town?'
'Who the hell are you?' Jeff demanded to know.
'Taylor Bradford of Bradford, South Carolina, sir. I'm planning on being Margo's husband one of these days real soon. So as the patriarch of this family, I'm telling you to git.'
'Taylor Bradford of Bradford Industries?' Heidi said, and when he nodded she continued eagerly, smiling her best smile at him. 'We've been trying to get your business, Mr. Bradford, for our agency, Buckley, Coutts and Wickham.'
'I don't think I'd count on my business now, missy,' the older man said. 'Your driver's waiting.'
'I haven't seen my daughter yet,' Jeff said stubbornly.
'You can say your heys on the way out.' Taylor Bradford smiled.
Heidi Millar stood up. 'Come on, Jeff. This is already old, and I'm bored.' She took his arm and they moved off, but Jeff guided them to Nora, determined to have his say before he left.
Nora was sitting with her mother and daughter when Jeff approached. She stood, smiling weakly. 'Going so soon?'
'You're going to be sorry, Nora, for turning my son against me,' he growled at her. 'I'm not going to forget this, and come Monday you're going to wish you hadn't done it, you embittered bitch.'
The look of surprise on Nora's face was instant. 'I didn't turn J. J. against you. What happened?'
'He was rude to me, and Heidi,' Jeff said angrily.
'He was incredibly awful to his father,' Heidi Millar added. 'He said the most terrible things. It's no wonder Jeff is washing his hands of him!'
'My brother is a good kid,' Jill said, jumping up to defend her sibling. 'He's hurt because of what's happened. You can't blame him.'
'He's a nasty little brat,' Heidi responded.
'Do you hate me, Jilly?' her father asked.
'Of course not, Daddy, and neither does J. J. I'm just upset that you are being so unfair to Mom. How is she supposed to live if you won't pay her alimony, at least for a little while? And where is she supposed to live if you sell our house?'
'Jill!' Nora put a hand on her daughter's arm, in a warning gesture.
'Your mother has a college degree. Let her get a job like everyone else these days,' Jeff said, ignoring his daughter's query about the house.
'You just better be careful, Jill,' Heidi said. 'If your father hadn't already paid your tuition at Duke this year, you wouldn't be going. And it's the last time he's going to pay for you. I hope you understand that.'
'Get out!' Nora said. Her eyes were filled with tears, which were beginning to spill down her cheeks. 'Get out, Jeff, and please, don't come back. And take that girl with you. I wanted you to come to J. J.'s graduation today. You're his father. But you've spoiled the day for us all. I hope you're satisfied.'
'You've gotten old and bitter, Nora,' he said cruelly.
