Part Thirty-Two

(This episode is continued from yesterday.)

Peggy couldn't get Deidre out of her mind, even as she hurried to catch the 5:20, dragging a suitcase on wheels behind her. A canvas tote bag hanging from her shoulder contained her purse and other things she would want on her flight to Washington, D.C. She scolded herself for not taking a taxi to the ferry, and for worrying about Deidre.

She stepped onto the vessel with seconds to spare, breathing heavily from the near sprint down the ramp. As she plopped down in her seat and pulled her suitcase to the side, Florence said, "All packed for your honeymoon?"

"It's a business trip," said Peggy. Luke was with her, talking to Kelly Flinn. Peggy knew that Raoul would not be there. He was going in later and taking a limo directly to the airport to catch a different flight. She was going to the office first. They had plans to meet in Washington at the hotel.

"Of course it is, they're all business trips," she said with a wink.

Peggy was not in the mood for Florence's humor so she poured herself some tea and opened a gardening magazine. Kelly and Luke were in deep discussion over development on Bainbridge Island, which was Kelly's favorite topic of the moment. Luke had made the mistake of saying how he hoped his home value would go up as a result of Bainbridge being named one of the top ten places to live in the U.S.

"…you don't want that," Kelly was saying. "If land value keeps going up, the island won't be the same place it is today…"

Peggy tuned them out. She was hoping Marjorie would call. They had been playing phone tag since the day before. Peggy needed her daughter's advice. The last message she had left was, 'call me on the ferry.'

As she read and sipped her tea, a band of intense orange light broke through an otherwise gray sky and illuminated her hands and the pages of her magazine. Then her cell phone rang.

"Excuse me," Peggy said to Florence, "I'm expecting a call."

"Isn't that romantic," said Florence.

Peggy made a point of saying loudly into the phone, "Good morning, Marjorie." Then she walked upstairs to the sun deck.

"What time do you get in?" asked Marjorie.

"Nine o'clock."

"When will we see you?"

"Tomorrow evening, I hope. Is that okay?"

"Perfect."

"There was something else I wanted to ask you about," said Peggy. "You're going to think this is a crazy thing to discuss first thing in the morning, but the fact is, Raoul's daughter, Deidre, doesn't want us to visit her in Philadelphia. She's apparently very upset that I'm barging in on the family and trying to take the place of her late mother. She's going through a boyfriend breakup, and she misses her mother, and that's understandable, but somehow I've become the person to blame. Am I coherent at all?"

"I'm not sure what you are asking me."

Peggy took a deep breath. Marjorie had a way of making you say what you meant, she wouldn't simply fill in the gaps for you. "I guess my question is, how much should I be concerned if she, say, doesn't like me or doesn't approve of me?"

"You're already concerned. You're talking to me on the phone about it at 5:30 in the morning your time. That's my definition of concerned."

"You have a point there. Okay, let me ask a different question. How do you feel about Raoul?"

"Ah, now we're getting somewhere."

"Do you feel like he's, uh, intruding on your father's space? Are we, am I, being disloyal in any way?"

Silence. "I think what goes through my mind when I think of you and Raoul is that I wish Dad were still here. The more you and Raoul are together, the more I miss Dad. It's a reminder of the life we used to have, it makes me homesick."

Peggy had to reach for a tissue to dab at moisture forming in the corners of her eyes. She sat on a bench on the deserted sun deck of the ferry, watching the orange glow on the water. "This is not going to be easy for anyone, is it?" she said.

"I guess no one likes change, except the people who want the change. You're ready for a change, you lost your husband. But Taylor and I are not. We don't want a new father."

Peggy was glad the deck was deserted because by now the tears were rolling down her cheeks. "I suppose I should just break it off, I mean, why make everyone unhappy?"

"But you can't just break it off. If you guys like each other than you can't just turn it off like a faucet. Just go for it, and let everybody deal with it in their own way. Deidre will get over it eventually, and I think we will, too."

"Thank you."

"Now I have to go, I'm not over my morning sickness yet."

"Thanks, Marj." Peggy hung up, and wondered how her daughter had gotten to be so wise.