‘Oh, I guess it’s best to get it over with,’ Mary sighed. ‘You’re going to sell the house, aren’t you? Ted said it’s the only sensible thing to do.’

‘No, I’m not,’ David said, ‘but I’m going to move out.’

‘Oh, Daddy,’ Mary cried, and she flung her arms around him.

She was thanking him and clinging to him at the same time.

‘Let’s go talk with Ted,’ he said gently, untangling himself from that embrace.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ David said as the three of them sat together in the living room. ‘I could never have afforded to live in this house without help from my own in-laws, and there’s no reason why I shouldn’t help you if you’re sure this is what you both want.’

Mary looked at Ted.

‘It is,’ Ted said.

‘Then it’s settled,’ David said. ‘And I’ll be moving out in a few days.’

‘You’ve already found a place?’ Ted asked, surprised.

‘Yes,’ David said. ‘I’m going to live with my sister.’

Mary stared at him.

‘Well,’ Ted said heartily into the silence.

‘Is that your score to settle with the dead?’ Mary asked icily.

‘A year ago I might have said, “in part, yes,”’ David answered gently, ignoring his daughter’s tone. ‘I loved your mother, Mary. I also love my sister. She needs me now, and there’s no reason for me not to be with her.’

‘But she’s a scandalous person!’ Mary protested. ‘What will your friends think?’

‘They were mainly your mother’s friends,’ David said. ‘I hardly ever see them now, and I don’t really much care what they think.’

‘And you don’t care what I think either, do you?’ Mary demanded. ‘You’re doing this on purpose.’

‘I care very much what you think,’ David said. ‘I feel partly responsible for what you think. But you’re a grown woman, and it’s long past time for you and me to stop trying to lead each other’s lives.’

‘You think you own your father, Mary,’ Ted said. ‘You don’t.’

‘Why are you both doing this to me?’ Mary cried. ‘I don’t even want you to leave.’

‘Isn’t it hard enough, damn it!’ Ted shouted. ‘Do you have to make it impossible?’

‘It isn’t impossible,’ David said. ‘Mary?’

She glared at him through tears.

‘I want to show you how to prune the roses before I go.’

‘Do I have to learn?’

‘Yes, my dear, you do,’ David said.

— 14 —

THE SATURDAY DAVID WAS to move in, both Mike and Ben were busy carrying the spare furniture which had accumulated in Jill’s vacated rooms to the basement before they drove a rented truck over to pick up David’s own things, and the cleaning woman did chores around the house, waiting to get into David’s rooms as soon as the boys were finished.