The Secret Life of Ceecee Wilkes Part 32

Maybe? Eve thought, but she kept her mouth shut. Eve thought, but she kept her mouth shut.

"I've got to run, Mom. We'll talk later?"

"Sure. I love you."

"Love you, too."

Eve hung up the phone with a bittersweet mixture of happiness and sorrow. Cory was finally behaving like a normal young woman. She'd met someone. A TV reporter! But Eve was losing her daughter in the process. She could feel it.

Cory went to Rocky Mount for winter break as well, and her calls and e-mails grew further and further apart. She sounded cooler, more distant, each time Eve spoke to her, sharing less of herself and her feelings. Eve missed her, but when she had her on the phone, it was like talking to an imposter, someone with Cory's voice but without her warmth and caring. At times, Eve teared up as she spoke to her, struggling to find the words that would bridge the chasm growing between them. She'd enjoyed twenty-one years with Cory, she reminded herself, every one of them stolen. Maybe that was all she would get.

"He's divorced," Dru announced at dinner one night.

"Who is?" Eve asked.

"Ken. Cory's boyfriend."

Eve and Jack looked at each other. "Did she tell you that?" Jack asked.

"Uh-huh," Dru said. Her unruly hair rested on her shoulders in a puff of dark, wiry curls. "Not only that, but he's twelve years older than her," she added.

"Oh, no," Eve said. "No wonder she hasn't wanted to tell us much."

"Or have us meet him." Jack's lips were white. They always turned white when he was angry but trying to hold it in.

"Well, we're going to meet him at spring break," Dru said, "because I told her if she didn't come home then, I was going to have s.e.x."

"What?" Eve asked. Eve asked.

Dru laughed, her braces glinting in the overhead light. "Just seeing if you're listening," she said. "Anyhow, she said they'd come. But they want to sleep in the same room."

"Forget that," Eve said. "He can have her room and she can have the sofa."

"You're fightin' a losin' battle there, Evie," Jack said.

She couldn't stand Ken Carmichael. Her dislike of him was instantaneous-and probably unfair. He walked into the house carrying Cory's suitcase, reaching his hand out to shake Jack's. He had a sweet, almost pretty, face, too tan for March, with thick dark blond hair neatly cut and sprayed into place. He had eyes every bit as green as Tim Gleason's and the slick charm to match.

She didn't give them a hard time about sharing Cory's old room. Jack was right: it would only lead to an argument and that was not how she wanted to spend her precious time with Cory.

Ken complimented her and Jack on the house and the yard, which made her distrust him more than his green eyes did. This time of year, the garden was a ma.s.s of naked trees and vines and shrubs that looked as though they would never come back to life. In a few months, it would look fabulous, but for now, Ken was merely kissing up to his girlfriend's parents.

"We're making dinner in the kitchen," Eve said to them. "Come on in and chat."

"You go ahead, hon," Cory said to Ken. "I have to go upstairs and I'll be down in a minute."

Ken walked with Eve and Jack into the kitchen, which was filled with the aroma of the pork tenderloin roasting in the oven. Dru was cutting peeled potatoes into chunks and she dropped the last piece into a pot of water as they came into the room.

"You must be Dru," Ken said. He looked appropriately awkward, as though he wasn't sure what to do with his hands. He rested them on the back of one of the chairs.

"That's me," Dru said. She picked up a can of Pepsi from the table and leaned against the counter, her eyes boring into his from behind her gla.s.ses. "So, what are your intentions regarding my sister?" she asked.

"Dru," Eve laughed as she started snapping the ends off the green beans in the sink. "Give him a chance to relax before the inquisition." Eve laughed as she started snapping the ends off the green beans in the sink. "Give him a chance to relax before the inquisition."

Ken looked unfl.u.s.tered. "My intentions are to treat her as she deserves to be treated," he said.

"That could mean a lot of different things," Dru said. She took a sip of her soda.

"What would you like to drink, Ken?" Jack opened the refrigerator to peer inside. "We have soda and wine and beer and..." He leaned over to peer behind the gallon container of milk. "Apple juice," he said, straightening up.

"Do you have bottled water?" Ken asked.

"No, sorry," Eve said. "But the tap water's filtered."

"That's okay, I'll do without," Ken said. "I've been drinking special water lately. I'll pick some up tomorrow."

Dru was studying him intently. "So, are you, like, one of those reporters you see on TV at a car crash?" she asked.

"That would be me." Ken flashed a smile at her.

"What's the worst thing you ever had to report about?"

"Dru," Eve said again. "Let Ken relax, okay?"

"That's all right," Ken said. "The worst was a school bus accident."

"Were people killed?" Dru asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Kids?"

He nodded. "Elementary-school kids," he said. "It tore my heart out."

Eve snapped the end off a bean. Why didn't she believe him? Was it that no man was good enough for her daughter? Had she truly become that type of mother? Or was it that he reminded her of Tim, the most dishonest person she'd ever known?

Cory walked into the room, her face lighting up when she saw Ken. He put his arm around her shoulders and she put hers around his waist. They both wore navy-blue sweaters and khaki pants. They looked like one person with two very beautiful heads.

"You have an inquisitive little sister," Ken said to Cory.

"I know," Cory said. "She's always badgering me for the dirt on you."

"Help yourself to something to drink, Cory," Eve said.

"There's no bottled water," Ken informed her.

"There never is," Cory said. "We should have brought some."

Facing away from them at the sink, Eve rolled her eyes. She thought of the pork tenderloin.

"Are you a vegetarian, Ken?" she asked.

"No, I eat meat. I just try to balance what I eat. You know, a certain percentage of protein, carbs and fat. And I try to make the fat olive or hazelnut oil, of course."

Oh, of course, Eve thought to herself. Eve thought to herself. How about some friggin' pork fat? How about some friggin' pork fat?

"I used olive oil in the salad dressing," Jack said, as he turned the k.n.o.b on the salad spinner.

"Corinne told me you have rheumatoid arthritis," Ken said to Eve.

"Yes, I do," she said.

"I know a lot of people who've been able to get rid of their arthritis by eliminating sugar and wheat from their diets."

She saw Jack's smile of sympathy as he opened the spinner. He knew how irritating she found it when people offered their simple solutions to a complex medical problem, and she particularly loathed it coming from Ken. It took her a moment to come up with a response that would not be harsh or sarcastic.

"Well," she said finally, "there are many different kinds of arthritis and I doubt anyone's cured themselves of RA through changing what they eat."

"What would it hurt to try, Mother?" Corinne asked. Since when did she call her "mother"?

"I follow my doctor's treatment plan," she said. "And I'm having good success with it."

"But the drugs you take are so toxic," Cory said.

Eve was losing her patience. "So is this disease, Cory," she said.

"Mom is doing really well on her drugs and they really don't have bad side effects," Dru said.

"Since when did you become a pharmacology expert?" Cory asked her.

"Since when did you become an a.s.shole?" Dru responded. She whipped past Cory and out of the room before Eve or Jack had a chance to reprimand her.

"That's unacceptable, Dru," Jack called after her, but there wasn't much volume in his voice.

No one said a word for a minute. "Can we help with anything?" Cory asked.

"Just go sit in the living room," Eve said. "It'll be ready soon." She shook her head at Jack as they left the room. Their special welcome-home evening with Cory was off to a rocky start.

Ken went out in search of bottled water after dinner, and Dru went upstairs to do her homework. Cory helped Eve and Jack clean up the kitchen in silence. Eve figured they were worn-out from trying to be polite throughout the meal. Even Ken had refrained from saying anything provocative.

Cory closed the dishwasher and pushed the start b.u.t.ton, then turned around and leaned against the counter, arms folded across her chest. "I need to talk to you," she said to them.

"Sure." Jack put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. "We miss talking to you, Cor."

Cory gave him a weak smile, then broke away and sat down at the small kitchen table.

"Ken and I are going to move in together after I graduate next year," she announced.

Eve sat down across the table from her and pressed her hands together in her lap. She would choose her words very carefully. "Ken seems very intelligent," she said, "and I can see that he cares about you. But he's so much older than you. Have you thought about-"

"Mom, listen to me," Cory interrupted her. "You need to b.u.t.t out of my life. Please. Let me make my own decisions for once."

Eve fell silent.

"I still have fears, Mom. I'm afraid of...so many things. Even driving here. We left an hour early because I insisted we take the back roads. Ken is so tolerant and patient with me and I love him for it. And-" She looked down at the table, tears welling in her eyes. Eve reached over and rested her hand on Cory's, but Cory drew hers away. She looked at Eve. "What I was going to say is that Ken's helped me understand that you're you're the reason I have so many fears," she said. the reason I have so many fears," she said.

"Cory." Jack was pouring himself a cup of decaf, but he looked up to sound a warning.

"It's true, Dad." She looked at Eve again. "You never let me do do anything when I was growing up. You smothered me. You made me feel like I couldn't be trusted to figure out how to do things on my own. Ken's...for the first time I'm doing something physical. We work out together." She held up her arm, bending it to display the small bulge of biceps beneath the sleeve of her sweater. anything when I was growing up. You smothered me. You made me feel like I couldn't be trusted to figure out how to do things on my own. Ken's...for the first time I'm doing something physical. We work out together." She held up her arm, bending it to display the small bulge of biceps beneath the sleeve of her sweater.

"How did I hold you back from working out?" Eve felt defensive.

"By making me feel as though everything was dangerous." Cory was not yelling. Not even impa.s.sioned or unkind. She was stating facts as she saw them-or as Ken saw them-by rote, much the way she'd read her lines in the audition years earlier. "You controlled so much of my life. One thing I'm not not going to let you control is who I pick as a boyfriend. And going to let you control is who I pick as a boyfriend. And please please stop sending me articles, Mom. I don't read them. I'm figuring things out for myself now. Finally. I need to build my own life...and that includes Ken." stop sending me articles, Mom. I don't read them. I'm figuring things out for myself now. Finally. I need to build my own life...and that includes Ken."

"Does it also include your family?" Eve asked. She felt wounded and raw from Cory's words.

"You'll always be a part of my life, but I need to focus on my future now," Cory said. "And there's one other thing that's been bothering me."

"Spill it." Jack sat down at the table next to Eve. "That's what this is all about, right? Dumping on Mom and Dad?"

"No, Dad, that's not what this is all about." Cory sounded annoyed. "I've just done a lot of thinking while I've been at school and so much has become clear to me."

"What's the other thing that's been bothering you?" Eve asked.

Cory looked at her squarely. "I think you kept information from me about my biological father because you wanted to keep me close to you," she said. "You wanted me to think of Dad as my father, and you didn't want to allow me to have other relatives because you'd have to share me with them. I have a right to know who they are, Mom, in case I might have inherited health problems, if for no other reason. I don't believe you've done everything you could to try to find them."

"Did Ken tell you that, too?" Eve said, biting down both anger and guilt.

"You know, Cory, that's really enough." Jack looked tired. "Mom's telling you the truth. Your father's name was Smith. How's she supposed to find your relatives with a last name like Smith? If she could help you, she would."

"And you always stick up for her, Dad," Cory said. "She's got you under her thumb, too."

Jack stared at Cory, who stood her ground, returning his steady gaze. Finally he spoke.