Page 94 of The Identicals
“He’lllike that,” Flossie says, and she trills her musical laughter.
“Also,” Eleanor says, “would you mind terribly going over to the carriage house to fetch Tabitha?”
“Happy to,” Flossie says. She raises her glass in a cheers. “I’m not going to lie. I can’t wait to get home. But I’m really going to miss you, Ellie.”
Eleanor feels color rising to her cheeks. It’s true—the silver lining in the cloud of breaking her damn hip has been spending the past few weeks with Flossie.
Sisters,she thinks. There’s nothing like them.
Flossie comes back a scant ten minutes later. “There’s no one at the carriage house,” she says.
“No one?”
“No one,” Flossie says. “I left a note on the counter, telling them we were home.”
“Good,” Eleanor says. “I’m sure Tabitha and Ainsley are at the store.”
But by eight o’clock that night—after the bisque, burger, and truffled fries are consumed and cleared away—there is still no word from Tabitha. Eleanor tries Tabitha’s cell phone—voice mail. She sends Flossie back over to the carriage house.
“Nobody home,” Flossie says.
Eleanor purses her lips.What is going on here, exactly?she wonders.
In the morning, Eleanor is awakened by the doorbell. She’s disoriented at first, and the Ambien she takes each night to get to sleep leaves her voice as dry as crackers. She hears Flossie’s light, quick steps on the stairs, then she hears voices. There is a tap on Eleanor’s door.
“Come in,” Eleanor croaks.
The door opens, and Tabitha steps in. Eleanor blinks. “Where in God’s name have you been?”
“Mommy?” Tabitha says. “I’m Harper.”
“What?” Eleanor says. This isHarper?Well, it’s first thing in the morning. The way Eleanor always used to tell the twins apart was that Tabitha’s eyes were more almond-shaped, and Harper’s were rounder, as though she were in a constant state of amazement—but that distinction is only useful when the twins are standing side by side, and how long has it been sincethat’shappened?
“I’m Harper,” Tabitha says again.
“You’re Harper,” Eleanor says. She decides to be thrilled with this development. She has missed Harper! Harper went to live with Billy. But now Billy is dead.
Billy is dead, and Eleanor is broken. It’s a distressing state of affairs. They had been such a striking couple in their day.
Eleanor notices something in Harper’s face, something she hasn’t seen in years and years but that she recognizes nonetheless. Her daughter is upset. Her daughter needs her. Somehow Eleanor knows exactly what to do.
She holds out her arms. “Come,” she says. “Come to Mommy.”
The story tumbles out: Harper and Tabitha have switched places, just like the little minxes in that movie they used to love. Harper has been here on Nantucket taking care of Ainsley and minding the store, and Tabitha has been on the Vineyard, renovating Billy’s house so the girls can sell it and realize a profit. Speaking of profit, Harper—with the help of some poor soul named Caylee (that can’t be herrealname, can it? Eleanor wonders)—has made some deeply unorthodox changes at the store (involvingsocial media,Eleanor thinks with a shudder), but sales are up by 500 percent over last year.
Eleanor accepts news of these “changes” with equanimity, surprising even herself. Probably she is not fully awake.
But then Harper starts to weep. Eleanor hears about Tabitha’s love affair with the builder and that the builder’s sister is the woman Harper betrayed with Billy’s doctor. The builder can’t see Tabitha anymore, and Tabitha is heartbroken. Tabitha blames Harper.
“She hates me, Mommy,” Harper says. Eleanor loves that Harper still calls her Mommy, whereas Tabitha switched to “Mother” when she was ten years old. “She hated me for so long, then after Billy died, we patched things up, at least to the point where we were speaking. But now it’s over for good.”
“Nonsense,” Eleanor says. She dispatches Felipa to fetch the house phone, and not only does Eleanor call Tabitha, she also leaves a message. “Tabitha, this is your mother. I want you back on Nantucket immediately. No excuses. I expect to see you in a matter of hours. At the most!” She disconnects the call and brushes the hair off Harper’s shoulders. “You’ve gotten sun on your face,” she says. She nearly launches into a lecture about wrinkles and premature aging, but because this morning seems to be unusual in its every aspect, she refrains. “A little color suits you.”
MARTHA’S VINEYARD
It’s common knowledge that Dr. Reed Zimmer has taken a leave of absence from the hospital because of “personal reasons.” Most of us know that Dr. Zimmer admitted to having an affair with a patient’s daughter. This was not cause enough to fire Dr. Zimmer, but it was cause enough for the hospital board president, Adam Greenfield, a.k.a. Greenie, to suggest he take a break until the brouhaha blew over.
“We have the reputation of the hospital to consider,” Greenie said.
