“Margo asleep in the bedroom had the same name as the baby I’d lost. It seemed like fate, so I lied. I said your mother left you behind because you were sick, but that she took Margo with her.” Debra paused, took another sip of her tea.
“I always wondered why she took one of us on that plane and not the other,” Maggie said. “Sometimes I felt like there was something wrong with me, like she didn’t want me. But she didn’t take either of us. She left us both.”
“She was young.”
“So were you.”
“Yes I was.”
“So, did the police believe you, you know, when you told them she took one of the kids on the plane?”
“Without question. They bundled you up and left. The next day I packed and drove up to Huntington Beach, where I got a job waitressing and rented a small apartment a couple of blocks from the ocean.”
Maggie looked into the woman’s red rimmed eyes. It was wrong what she’d done, but she understood it. She picked up her tea, but put it back on the table without a sip. Silence ruled the room for a full minute, then she said, “Your husband never knew Margo wasn’t his real daughter, did he?”
“No. Gil loved her. He was a wonderful father.” She paused, started back up. “But he was only an okay husband. He was vain. He needed the fastest car in town, the biggest house on the block, the prettiest wife on the planet. He could buy a faster car every year and a bigger house every three or four, but he couldn’t stop his wife from aging, so he did the next best thing. He found the surgeons, arranged for the surgery. Gil Murrant’s wife never looked a day over thirty. And in the end, I suppose even that was too old, because he found himself a twenty- three-year-old honey.”
She took another sip of the tea, a pause for effect. “Her name was Gloria, she fancied herself a designer. But she killed him with a heart attack during sex. Now she gets nothing and I get her house.”
“Her house?” Maggie said.
“Yeah, can you believe this place?” She swept a hand around, attempted a smile. “I didn’t get clear title till last week. I’m gonna show it myself and drop the price ten thousand a week till someone buys it.”
“She lived here, the girlfriend?”
“Never got a chance to move in. I’m only living here because escrow closed on my house in Laguna Beach three weeks ago. As soon as I dumped this place, I was going to get a condo where Margo lived, you know, so I could be close. Now, tell me about you and what brought you here.”
Maggie started from when Virgil grabbed onto her shopping cart in the Safeway and told it all, right up till she knocked on Debra’s front door.
“So, you’re going to take over her life?” Debra said. “For Jasmine and for your baby. Fortunately, she had enough money, so you could do that.”
“It’s not about the money,” Maggie said. “You can have it. We can get along without it. We don’t need it.”
“Don’t be so naive,” Debra said. “It came from her father. It’s yours.”
“What are you saying?”
“In about two hours I’m supposed to meet Gil’s parents at LAX. Their flight comes in at noon and leaves at midnight. They were going to spend the day with Margo and me before flying off to a six week European tour. They’re in their late seventies and still in good health, but Gil’s death almost killed them. I can’t tell them Margo’s gone. I won’t.”
“You’re going to help me?”
“Years ago I made a mistake and it’s haunted me every day of my life. I played God with your lives, yours and Margo’s. In my defense, I was young, grieving and through all those years I loved Margo as if she were really mine. There’s absolutely nothing I wouldn’t have done for her and now there’s absolutely nothing I won’t do for her sister.”
“I’m going to need all the help I can get.” Maggie couldn’t believe how different Debra was from her first impression of her.
“I’ll make some excuse why Margo and Jasmine couldn’t come out to the airport. I’ll have dinner with them, tell them how wonderful Margo’s getting on and how great Jasmine’s doing in school. I probably won’t get back till 2:00 or 3:00. But first thing in the morning, I’ll pack and come by. Lord knows I’d rather stay with you than in this modern art mausoleum. I wanted to do that anyway, but Margo was afraid Jasmine wouldn’t get any school work done.” She smiled. “We do like to play.”
“Really?”
“I’m her other best friend. We’re the Three Musketeers, Jazz, Sonya and me.”
“I used to be in the Three Musketeers-me, Nick and Gordon.” Maggie sighed. “I should be getting back.” She wasn’t quite sure what she thought about Debra moving in. “The bus can be unpredictable and I want to be there before Gordon notices I was gone.”
“You took the bus?” Debra got up. “I’ll drive you.”
Maggie was hardly aware of the time as Debra negotiated her Mercedes through the traffic on Pacific Coast Highway. In what seemed like only seconds, Debra was signaling a left turn into the Sand and Sea Condos, Maggie’s new home.
“Mrs. Kenyon,” Danny said to Maggie, “your friend Gordon told me you lost your clicker, so I gave him one, I hope that’s okay.”
“It is,” Maggie said.
“My, we’re looking sharp today,” the guard said as he stepped out of the shack and looked in at Debra.
“Back at ’cha, Danny,” Debra said.
“Gonna be staying awhile?”
“I was gonna stay in the new house till it sold, but I just couldn’t pass up seeing you every day, so I’ll be staying here till it’s off my hands.”
“Debra, you’re ’bout the best looking woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Danny laughed, deep from the belly.” And now that your mourning time is over, we should give some serious thought ’bout stepping out, me and you.”
“What about Darnelle and the kids?” Debra laughed, too.
“Ah, them.” Danny was still laughing as he waved them on by. He turned. “How ’bout if I get an okay from the wife?”
“In your dreams.” She put the car in gear and drove through. Then, to Maggie, “Danny’s an old scoundrel, but he wouldn’t flirt with me if he didn’t know I enjoyed it so much.” She reached up to the visor and pushed a button on a garage door opener and waited while the gate slid open.
“You have your own clicker?” Maggie said.
“The condos come with two parking spaces. Margo only had one car, the spot next to it’s mine.” Debra parked next to where the Porsche should have been. Maggie was secretly thankful the parking space was empty. It meant Gordon, wasn’t back yet. She wanted a little time before she had to explain why she’d been out running around, when she’d promised she’d stay inside with the door locked.
“You really drove the car into the bay?” Debra said.
“I really did.”
“Margo would have freaked.”
“Yeah, well don’t think I didn’t.”
“I don’t know, it sounds like you handled yourself okay.”
“It was more reaction than anything else.” Maggie got out of the car.
“Okay, I accept your modesty,” Debra said. Then, “We’ll put our heads together in the morning, me, you, Gay and your friend Gordon.”
“Okay.”
Debra backed out of the space. Maggie stood and watched till she was through the moving gate and turning onto PCH. She was a nice person and Maggie thought she was going to like her.
