The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher

Author:Kerri Maher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2018-10-01T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

The convent where Rosemary was living had high stone walls like all the Sacred Hearts in which the Kennedy girls had lived and studied, walls that made everything inside cold, echoey, and damp. The familiarity of it made Kick feel small and intimidated just as she had when she was eleven. At least this building had a garden at the back, full of climbing roses and patches of vegetables, with two wrought iron tables and chairs nestled into the greenery. Kick and Jack sat and waited there until the Mother Superior brought Rosemary out.

Their sister looked pudgier than usual, and not just in her hips and arms, where she usually carried her weight—this time, her face seemed bloated, her eyes smaller. Her gray dress seemed to be made of sackcloth. Kick wondered what she put on when she snuck out.

“Rosemary,” said the nun with a solicitous smile, “your brother and sister have made a special trip to see you.”

“They live here,” Rosemary said flatly, to the ground more than to any one of the three people standing around her. She didn’t smile.

Kick took a few steps forward and gave her sister a hug, which she didn’t reciprocate. Jack went next, and he crouched down and tried to get his sister to look into his eyes. “I’ve missed you, Rosie!” He smiled that Jack smile, and for a second Rosemary smiled back.

Taking that as her cue, the Mother Superior said, “I’ll leave you three to visit. There’s a bell on the table should you need anything.”

She can’t leave fast enough.

“It’s gorgeous here,” said Jack. “Have you helped with the planting? I always suspected you’d have a green thumb.”

“Everything was planted when I arrived,” said Rosemary. “I just do the watering and pruning.”

“Well, that’s quite a lot,” said Kick. “Pruning isn’t easy! I’m terrible with flowers. Remember that flower arranging class Mother made all us girls take? I failed miserably.”

“I liked it,” Rosemary said wistfully. Then, her face brightening a bit, she asked, “How is Mother?”

Jack and Kick exchanged nervous glances. “Worried,” Kick blurted out. She felt so unbalanced here.

A few bees buzzed around the garden.

Jack took Rosemary’s hands in his and led her over to the table, where they sat at last.

“We’re worried, too,” he said.

At this, Rosemary laughed—a hard, almost cynical laugh. “Worried? I’m not doing anything you don’t do.”

The fact that she said this to Jack and not Kick was alarming. Just what was she up to at night?

Unbothered as usual, Jack chuckled. “Now, Rosie, you know that it’s different for girls. I understand as much as the next person how important it is to have someone special in your life, but sneaking around isn’t the way to find a man. Certainly not a man worthy of you.”

“How am I going to meet that man?” Rosemary demanded. “I’m not invited anywhere!”

“Rosie, darling,” Kick said, trying to adopt something like the soothing tone her father used when his oldest daughter became recalcitrant, “You must focus on your health first.

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