We Are All Good People Here by Susan Rebecca White

Author:Susan Rebecca White
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

Chapter 11

LIFEBOAT

Atlanta, 1972

It had been seven years since Robert Benno Powers—Bob—made partner at Henritz & Powers at the age of thirty-four. No doubt the fact that his late father had been one of the firm’s founding partners helped when Bob finished law school and applied for the position of associate, but making partner was certainly not a fait accompli. He had been expected to work diligently and without complaint, which turned out to be a very good thing, as legal work and playing squash were the only two things he could manage with any competency during the immediate years following Marian’s death.

In 1958, the summer after Bob received his law degree, also from Emory, more than four hundred guests packed the pews of St. Philip’s for his and Marian’s wedding, which was followed by a blowout reception at the Driving Club. Four years later, Marian had died in the plane crash at Orly Airport in Paris. She was one of 103 members of the Atlanta Arts Association on that plane, all of whom were taking part in a month-long European art tour.

Though Bob could not take a month off work to accompany her, he had encouraged her to go. His work was so all-consuming that he couldn’t even take a week off to join her at the tail end. But just because he had a demanding job didn’t mean she should deny herself the experience of a lifetime, especially since they wanted to start a family soon. Why not take a grand tour before motherhood, enjoy one last fling before full adulthood kicked in? Besides, her best friend, Betty Miller, was going, and the two of them could keep each other company. As for Bob, he would miss Marian, of course, but he wouldn’t have time to feel lonely, as he was helping with a major bank merger and was going to be working around the clock.

Well, and then there was Stella, with her bright red lipstick and curly yellow hair. She had a little girl’s voice and a high-pitched laugh, which Bob knew would irritate him if he ever spent any real time with her, her flighty demeanor so different from Marian’s soothing, steady countenance. Their entanglement was insignificant, beneath him—still, he had let himself stray. He figured that he and Stella could enjoy just a few more encounters and then he would end things before Marian returned, would end things for good and settle fully into his adult life. Three weeks into the trip, Marian telephoned from Paris. He was surprised she would make such an expensive call, but he understood once she shared the news that they were going to have a baby. “I suspected before I left,” she said. “But now I know for sure.”

He did not ask how she knew. Men did not ask such questions of their wives. Instead, he asked if she was well enough to finish the trip, if she would like to fly home early. She had laughed off his concern,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.