Page 16 of The Next Mrs. Parrish

Daisy Ann put her hands on her hips and felt the heat rise to her face. “Are you still going on about that? It was over a month ago. I had an important meeting I couldn’t miss. How many times do you expect me to apologize?”

“Yes, we all know how much more important you are than the rest of us.”

Daisy Ann wanted to slug her.

Rose shook her head and sighed dramatically. “I’m just sayin’…everyone else managed to be there for Birdie while Chandler wasrushed into emergency surgery. Poor Mason kept looking at his phone, waiting for you to text him, I guess. But then again, Mason chose your family over his own anyhow. You are two peas in a pod.”

Mason was the only one of the three sons who hadn’t gone to work for Briscoe, Dixon, and Hart. The law had always called to him and after two years trying to fit in with his brothers, he’d quit and gone to law school, then taken a position at her father’s oil company when he graduated. Her father, Jake, had come to love Mason like a son, and the two men became extremely close over the years. Mason was a lot like her father in many ways. Both of them strong and determined, hard workers with bold ideas, but never proud or arrogant. Her father had always saidThink big, but act with humility.There was something exceptional about men who could be trailblazing leaders and still possess the common touch. No one was surprised when Mason, along with Daisy Ann, rose to the top hierarchy of the company, and he became its head after Jake’s death.

The Briscoe family never failed to bring up what they considered Mason’s misplaced loyalty, Chandler especially ribbing him about his “defection.” Mason let it roll off his shoulders, but Daisy Ann knew that it bothered him. Being a Briscoe came with high expectations. This family insisted that everyone do everything together. Sunday dinners at Birdie and Chandler’s no matter what, every holiday and birth, every birthday party and baptism, and on and on celebrated together. All the children and grandchildren spent a month in the summer at Birdie and Chandler’s Jackson Hole compound. Daisy Ann’s father had been a sport and gone along with it, became part of the clan, and the Briscoes had adored him, more than happy to include him in everything. She didn’t know what would have happened if she’d had other siblings, or if her mother hadn’t died. Once you married a Briscoe, they swallowed youup.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake. I don’t have time for this. Chandler had his appendix out, not heart surgery! It’s not normal for a family tospend as much time together as this one. I’m sure the waiting room was filled to overflowing and annoying the hospital staff anyhow.”

“Whatever you have to tell yourself. But maybe if you tried a little harder, you might actually enjoy being a part of this family.”

“I do enjoy the family. Most of the members anyway.” She gave Rose a pointed look.

“Well, I never…”

“That’s the problem. You never know when to shut up.” Daisy Ann stormed off, leaving Rose standing there. The woman was a pain in the ass and had been since the day she’d married Mason. Daisy Ann had tried to befriend her, had even asked her to be a bridesmaid in the wedding. Rose accepted but made a fuss about everything. The bridesmaid dress wasn’t her color, she didn’t like the flowers she had to hold, she wanted to walk with her husband, but he was the best man and there was no way Daisy Ann was making Rose her maid of honor. From the start, Rose had been threatened by Daisy Ann and was always kissing up to Birdie,yes Birdie thisandyes Birdie that.Over the years Rose had grown even more jealous of Daisy Ann when she’d seen how close she was to Birdie despite speaking up when she didn’t agree with something Birdie said or did. Daisy Ann had earned Birdie’s grudging respect because she wasn’t a mealymouthed scaredy-cat like Rose. And it burned Rose too that Mason was the apple of Birdie’s eye. Her sister-in-law never tired of reminding her that it was her own husband, Royce, who was taking a load off Chandler by being his second-in-command. Daisy Ann hoped that Mason’s middle brother, Franklin, would one day marry someone normal and then she’d have an ally against Rose, but thus far Franklin appeared to be a confirmed bachelor.

Still fuming, Daisy Ann rejoined the party and went looking for her husband. Grabbing another margarita from a passing waiter, she took a big sip. She was going to need a lot of tequila to get through the rest of the evening.

– 9 –

DAPHNE

My nerves are frayed as I wait for the Uber to pick us up from Westchester County Airport.

“Mom, how much longer?” Bella whines, stomping her sneaker-clad foot on the sidewalk.

I glance at my phone. “Just a couple more minutes.”

“Why couldn’t Dad pick us up?” Tallulah asks for the hundredth time. I’m already regretting my decision to come back. It’s been only a couple of weeks since I made the call to Jackson to feel him out about our spending the summer here. He’d been released a few days before and I wasn’t sure how he’d react. I was totally unprepared for how friendly he was, how un-Jackson-like his conciliatory tone and expressions of remorse. He apologized for everything, told me he was a changed man, and thanked me over and over for the chance to be back in the girls’ lives. I didn’t believe a word of it. But once I opened the door, there was no need for Tallulah and Bella to hide the fact that they were in contact with him. And so he knew exactly when we were arriving and had offered to pick us up. He was already encroaching on us in typical Jackson style, and I warned him that if he didn’t let me set the pace, we’d be back on a plane to California, and he wouldn’t see the girls until they were adults.

“Lu, let’s not argue, please. We’re going to get settled in, and you’ll see your father tomorrow.”

I receive a sullen look in response.

“I hope the house is nice,” Bella says. “It’s on the beach, right?”

“Yes, Meredith found us a great little cottage right on the beach near her summer house.”

“I don’t care where it is as long as it’s close to Dad’s house,” Tallulah says.

I give her a tight smile and pick up the bags as a blue Volvo, our Uber, pulls up and we get in. While we drive, closing the distance between my old and my new life, I brace myself to prepare for the two to collide.

Meredith is waiting when we pull up, the door to the house wide open. She stretches out her arms to Bella and Tallulah and envelops each in a warm embrace. “I’ve missed you girls!”

Bella gives her a shy smile, and Tallulah looks at me as she answers. “We miss being here too. I’m happy to be back.” With that she picks up her suitcase and stomps into the house.

I lock glances with Meredith who knows the whole story and she gives me a sympathetic eyebrow raise.

“Come on, I’ll help you get settled.” She picks up two suitcases and I grab two more, following behind her. We put the luggage down and Meredith gives us a quick tour.

The “cottage” is in actuality a five-bedroom Nantucket-style house on a point of land that feels safe and secluded. The interior is calm and tranquil, all blue and white, making the space cozy and inviting despite the size. An in-ground saltwater pool overlooks Long Island Sound.

“This is gorgeous, Mer, but we don’t need something this big.”

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