Page 88 of The Banned Books Club

“No, I like the Beast,” Matthew said.

“And we already got one with him,” Greydon added.

Margot chuckled. They’d liked Gaston the best, once the young man playing the character started doing one-armed push-ups while showing off for the crowd. “There will be other opportunities. After all, we’ll be fairly close to here, so, like I said, we’ll get back.”

“We can save up!” Greydon volunteered.

“Exactly,” she told them. “We’ll do what we can. And if we can’t afford it, we’ll go to a regular park, which is free, and play Frisbee. Or we’ll go to the beach, which is also free, and build sandcastles and collect seashells. Or we’ll simply make popcorn and watch movies at home. We’ll make the most of every day.”

“I’ve never been to the beach,” Matthew said.

“Neither of you have,” Margot told them. “I’ve only been a few times myself. But now we can go whenever we want.”

“Even in the winter?” Greydon asked.

“If it’s warm enough. It doesn’t snow here, so we can do things outdoors for most of the year.”

“After the Jungle Cruise, can we go on the Peter Pan ride?” Matthew asked.

“You bet. It’s your turn to pick the next attraction.” Margot slowed them down while searching the crowd for someone who would meet her gaze. “But wait just a second. I want to get a picture of all three of us before we get in line for the Jungle Cruise.”

She’d had to purchase a disposable camera to be able to take photographs, and she knew they wouldn’t be nearly the quality she could’ve gotten on her phone. But at least she was able to document this day.

After she stopped a man and asked if he’d take the shot, she squatted down, an arm around each of her boys.

“Thank you,” she said afterward, as the man handed her camera back to her. She was just putting it in her bag so she wouldn’t lose it when Matthew, squinting against the glare of the sun, looked up at her curiously and said, “You’re so different today, Mommy.”

“How am I different?” she asked in surprise.

“You’re smiling all the time!” he said and gave her an impromptu hug.

She pulled Greydon into the embrace and held both boys tightly. “Because I have a new lease on life,” she said. “You’re going to get to know the real me at last.”

Louisa hadn’t been quite as hostile today as she’d been yesterday, but Cormac noticed that she went about her work without having much to say. She was acting like a robot, just going through the motions, and he felt terrible for her. He understood what a blow it was to realize—with the level of certainty he’d come to feel—that Evan wasn’t the man they’d always thought he was. It’d hit him hard, too. He’d experienced a profound sense of loss, compounded by humiliation for allowing his father to manipulate him in the first place and embarrassment for ignoring the results of his father’s trial and doggedly defending him, anyway. Gia had offered him the commiseration that’d made it a little easier—and the excitement of being with her in such an intimate way. But his sisters didn’t have anything with that kind of power to distract them. So he tried to give Louisa the space she needed to come to terms with this latest blow. But even by the end of the day she wasn’t quite herself.

“I’m heading home,” she said flatly, poking her head into his office.

“Louisa, wait...” He was sitting behind his desk, annotating various patient files and calling to check in on the animals he’d treated in the past few weeks. “Why don’t you come in and sit down for a minute so we can talk?”

She looked tired, even defeated, when she shook her head. “Not right now, Cormac. I think I’ve heard enough for one day.”

She was still mad at him for choosing Gia’s side over their father’s. When she first arrived this morning, she’d insisted he’d done it for the wrong reason—because he’d wanted to get in Gia’s pants. But he’d figured out the truth before he’d ever touched Gia. Louisa just wasn’t ready to hear that. She preferred to take her hurt and anger out on him because she still felt betrayed that he would show up at the Banned Books Club meeting and support the other side.

“Okay, see you tomorrow,” he said and listened as she walked out and locked up behind her.

Cormac had tried calling his mother on his lunch break, but she hadn’t answered, and he’d been too busy since. After being at the hospital all night, she was probably sleeping and had her phone turned off, but he was hoping he’d be able to talk to her now, and breathed a sigh of relief when she answered almost immediately.

“You told Louisa that Dad admitted to touching Gia?” he said.

“I did,” she replied. “I told Edith, too.”

“Why?” he asked. “What happened to calling a family meeting?”

“After some serious reflection about what I could do to make this better—at last—for our family, I decided I didn’t want the news to come from you. Because of what happened at the restaurant, I was afraid they’d be tempted to shoot the messenger and would be much less likely to do that ifIwas the one to step forward.”

“I appreciate you taking the heat, especially because Dad is definitely fighting back by trying to discredit me.”

“I heard.”

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