“My mother-in-law, Letitia Dewar, is the club’s president,” Alice continues. “And my sister-in-law, Gina Dewar, is secretary.”
“Oh, she stopped by last Thursday. She was kind enough to bring me homemade cookies and treats for Daisy.” This is unsurprising. Gina is always the first one to greet new Almanacs with cookies and pies. She’s like a deranged Betty Crocker.
“Gina is a very good baker.” Alice is hoping Antoinette will ask her about Bobby and Eva Stone. So far, she’s been discreet, which Alice is willing to bet is a strategic move on her part. Antoinette is probably afraid she’ll scare Alice off. If only she knew.
“And you?” Antoinette asks. “Do you have a title?”
“God, no,” Alice says. The words come out before she’s had a chance to calibrate her tone. She composes herself. “I’m not very good at planning or… staying organized.”
A horrific thought: if Gina becomes president, then Tish might expect Alice to become secretary. Alice would rather stab herself in the eye with a fork.
“It was founded by a Dewar, wasn’t it? Like everything else in town?”
“That’s right, by Hildegard Dewar. She was also the one who chose the town’s name,” Alice says, saddened that she has committed all this worthless history to memory. She could use another oxy. Maybe she’ll excuse herself to use the washroom and take one. She always carries extra in her purse.
“Are you all right?” Antoinette asks, eyeing Alice’s hand. Alice hadn’t noticed she was rubbing her shoulder with her free hand.
Alice feels herself grow red. It’s a tic: when she craves oxy, she touches her shoulder. Alice had dislocated it a year ago and began taking the drug to help with the pain. It wasn’t until Sophie Jenner—one of the moms at the Mommy and Me classes—confessed that she took oxy as a pick-me-up that Alice realized it could do more than help with her shoulder.
Sophie’s description of how wonderfully manageable everything became when she took the drug was what made Alice pop two a day instead of just one. And Sophie was right: it did make everything better. Not just Alma and the ASC meetings and the fact that she hadn’t managed to get an interview, let alone a job. It also helped her deal with Allegra, who needed her all the time. Since birth.
Before taking oxy, Alice had struggled with anxiety on a daily basis, feeling as though a single day was a continuous set of multiple failures on her part, but now she feels fine, great even. Alice still has problems, but they live on the outside. Tish and her controlling, nagging ways. Gina and her inexplicable happiness. Nick and his apparent lobotomy. Her failed career. Even Alma is not her problem. People need help. The town needs help. But not Alice. She spends her days in a contented buzz. And when it looks like one of the problems is about to enter her bubble, she takes an extra oxy. And when she can’t sleep, she takes an additional Valium—she has a prescription for her insomnia.
For a while, she had worried that she would run out of pills, but Sophie knows a guy. Alice refuses to think of him as a dealer—she is not a drug addict. She’ll quit eventually. As soon as they leave this town and Alice gets her career back on track. Alice has it all under control.
To prove it, she smiles at Antoinette and continues imparting town tidbits. “Hildegard was German, as I’m sure you guessed by her name. She’s the reason for the Bavarian influence in the town’s architecture. Because it’s not near the water, Alma was nothing more than land with sparse settlement until the late 1800s. Alma only became a town in 1902, which is very recent for New York standards. The company was barely off the ground when World War I hit. And it suffered quite badly during World War II with accusations that Richard had German blood.”
Antoinette tilts her head to the side. “Richard?”
“Backer and Hildegard’s son.”
“And is it true the Dewars are always twins?”
“Almost always,” Alice says. “My daughter was an exception. Gina’s son, too. He isn’t a twin.”
Antoinette lowers her voice. “Isn’t there also something about one twin dying young?”
“The Dewar Curse. Richard had an identical twin brother, David, who was killed in World War II. Richard and Lillian also had twins, two boys, Charles and Michael. Michael died mysteriously overseas,” Alice says. “There’s a whole bunch of rumors as to what caused his death, but no one really knows.”
“I have to ask,” Antoinette says. “You and your sister-in-law… you’re each married to a twin…”
Alice nods. “According to the curse, either Nick or Bobby were supposed to have died before having children of their own. Nick is my husband. Bobby is Gina’s husband.” A beat. “Have you met him?”
“I’ve heard of him.” There’s a twitch on Antoinette lips.
“Of course. How could you not?” Alice smiles knowingly.
A hush falls between them.
“I’m sorry this is happening to your family.”
Alice shakes her head. “I’m sorry this happened to Eva.”
Antoinette nods with apparent approval. Alice beams. Her instincts had been right: Antoinette is an ally, a feminist.
“I feel no ill will towards Bobby,” Alice continues. “But I will always side with women. Even if that makes me unpopular in this town.”
“I’m assuming your sister-in-law doesn’t feel the same way?” Antoinette cocks her head to the side. “She was very polite towards me, but she took off the second I told her what I did for a living.”
“That sounds like Gina,” Alice says. It’s true: her sister-in-law is naturally private, and with the scandal, it makes sense that she’d be avoiding journalists like the plague. Bobby probably told her to. “And yes, she’s standing by Bobby.”
“He is her husband.”
“That’s part of the problem, isn’t it? They’re always someone’s husband. Someone’s father or child.”
The memory surfaces, unbidden.
Professor Keyes’s hand on the small of Alice’s back. His tongue pushing its way against her mouth. Alice shivers in disgust.
Professor Keyes had always been friendly towards her,
