Stop humoring me, dammit. I'm not a child. I get it. But I'm not moving to New York, and if that's the big surprise here, then maybe we need to reconsider what we're doing. Maybe we should just live together for a while, until you figure out how you feel about California.
I like it very much, he said, looking strained. He had gotten in over his head and he knew it. But this wasn't an easy weekend for him either. He knew how difficult his mother was, and how unwelcoming she was being. Look, this isn't about you giving up your career. It's about having options. And I didn't want her to feel I would sell this house the minute she died, God forbid. It means a lot to her, and who knows, maybe we could bring our children here in the summers. I'd like that. He looked at her apologetically, and she backed down gracefully, although for a minute she'd had her claws out.
I'd like that too. I thought you were trying to tell me you expected me to move East as soon as we were married.
No, let's wait a month or two, okay? Like maybe by November. He chuckled. I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to threaten you. I know how hard you work and what a good job you do. You'll be a senior partner in no time, unless you start your own firm. I don't know ‘ old Easterners give it up slowly. I never told myself I was moving away for good. I just told myself, and everyone else, that I was coming out to do one screenplay, and now, maybe another ‘ and then I'll write a book there. And one day I'll notice that I've been there for twenty years. But it kind of happens gradually, you don't just throw away your Eastern-ness in five minutes.
You never will. She kissed him as they headed across the dunes back to the house. She liked the idea of having it for her children one day, especially without his mother. You still look preppie, she teased him.
How am I supposed to look?
Just the way you do. She kissed him again, and saw his mother watching disapprovingly from the porch. She seemed to have only one speed, and it wasn't happy. And Allegra had noticed that being around her seemed to put a strain on both of them, he because he felt he had to carry the ball for everyone, and she because she thought she had to win Mrs. Hamilton's approval.
Be careful you don't burn, she warned Allegra, with her fair skin, as they helped themselves to lemonade on the porch.
Thank you, Allegra said politely. I use sunscreen.
She watched her son's fianc+¬e as Allegra sat in a comfortable porch swing with the cool drink and sipped it.
I hear your entire family is in show business ‘ Allegra, she said as though she couldn't believe it.
Except for my brother. She smiled pleasantly at her future mother-in-law. He's in pre-med at Stanford. It was the first thing that brought a genuine smile to her lips since they'd arrived on Friday.
My father was a doctor. Actually, almost my entire family, except my mother, of course. They were all physicians.
Scott wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. The rest of us seem to be trapped in show business,’ as you put it. My mother writes, directs, and produces. She's enormously talented. My father is a movie producer. And I'm an entertainment lawyer.
What exactly does that mean? She stared at her as though Allegra had come from another planet and only appeared to be human.
It means I hold a lot of hands, and get a lot of phone calls at four in the morning. She looked shocked by what Allegra had said, and aimed her next question at her.
Is everyone that rude in show business?
Only when they get arrested, she said matter-of-factly, enjoying the shock value of what she had just said. Mrs. Hamilton deserved it. She deserved a lot of things, Allegra had decided by then, most of all a good shaking. She was the least hospitable, least pleasant, least warm woman she had ever met. And she felt sorry for Jeff now. Clearly, he had only his father's genes and none of his mother's.
Do a great many of your clients get arrested? She was wide-eyed, and even Jeff was amused. But Allegra wasn't.
Some. That's why they need me. I bail them out of jail, write their wills, do their contracts, reorganize their lives, help them with their problems. It's very interesting and I like it.
Most of her clients are very big movie stars, Mom. You'd be impressed to know who. But he didn't offer, it seemed more exotic not to.
I'm sure it's very interesting work. And you have a sister as well?
Allegra nodded, thinking of poor Sam and her big stomach and the baby she'd have to give up in August. Yes, she's seventeen. She's still in school, she said, not and she models occasionally, and gets knocked up. Allegra almost laughed at that one. She's going to UCLA in the fall, as a drama major.
It sounds like an intriguing family. There was a brief silence for a moment then, as the porch swing squeaked, and the next question almost knocked Allegra right off it. She had never expected her to be so blatant. Tell me, Allegra, are you Jewish? Jeff looked like he was going to fall right out of his chair as he watched Allegra answer.
Actually, no, Allegra said coolly. I'm Episcopalian. But my father is, and I know a lot about it. Did you want to know something about Judaism? she asked politely, but Mrs. Hamilton wasn't buying. She was a shrewd old cow and she didn't give a damn if Allegra liked her. It was horrifying to Jeff as he listened.
I didn't think you were she compounded matters further with absolutely no concern you don't look it.
Neither do you, Allegra told her calmly. Are you? Jeff almost choked, and he had to turn away so his mother couldn't see him laugh. She looked totally shocked, for once. No one had ever asked her that question.
Of course not. Hamilton} Are you mad?
I don't think so. Why not? Allegra seemed totally matter-of-fact, and his mother still didn't get it, but Jeff did. And he was mortified.
I take it your mother's not Jewish then, she pressed on, relieved at least that her eventual grandchildren wouldn't be tainted. But even at that, she was half Jewish because of her father.
No, and neither is her father, Jeff stepped in, and decided to put his mother out of her agony, and theirs from listening to her. He felt as though he were betraying Allegra, but for his own sake, he had to. Allegra's real father is a doctor in Boston named Charles Stanton.
Why in heaven don't you use his name then? She stared at Allegra in disapproval.
Because I hate him. And I haven't seen him in years, Allegra said calmly. Four years of therapy had done something. It was the most disgusting conversation she had ever participated in, and she was about to say so. Frankly, after what I've seen in my family after all these years, I'd want to bring my children up Jewish. My brother and sister are, and I think it's a wonderful thing for anyone. Jeff thought he was going to have to revive his mother, and he shot Allegra a look, which she gave right back to him. He had sold out just to shut her up, and he knew it. But his eyes said, okay, okay, but you know I didn't mean it the way it sounded. But she was going to give him a hard time about it anyway. His mother was not only stiff and unpleasant, with ice water in her veins, she was also anti-Semitic. How in hell had Jeff even turned out human?
I assume you're joking, she said coldly, and changed the subject, and they both let her. A little while later, Allegra and Jeff went upstairs and changed for dinner. They went to their own rooms, but as soon as he was dressed, and could slip out of his room unobserved, he went to Allegra in the guest room.
Before you hit me over the head with a chair, I want to apologize. I know I sold out, just to keep her quiet. I always forget how limited she is about things like that. Hell, she belongs to a club where they haven't let Jews in for two hundred years. To her, that's important.
It was important to Hitler too, and his friends. This is different. It's petty and stupid, and social.’ She thinks it makes her aristocratic to hate everyone who's not like her. It doesn't mean shit. And you know I don't feel that way. I don't care if you bring our kids up Jewish or Buddhist. I love you, whatever your name is. It's going to be Hamilton anyway pretty soon, so why worry about it? His mother made him desperately uncomfortable, and she could see it. She actually felt sorry for him, and she wasn't nearly as mad as she knew she should be, on Simon's behalf. It was mostly pathetic.