“BEFORE YOU CAN understand what I'm about to tell you, you need to know where we all were in our lives in the early seventies,” Lu said. “Bobby and Rose had been married for about ten years.” She paused, picking her words carefully. “It wasn't a bad marriage, not totally—”

“George Standish said they were a power couple.”

“They were a good team. He had the talent—huge talent—but he had a lot of rough edges. I think in his heart he was still one of the kids hanging around the dives on Forty-second Street, hoping for a break. Rose was the one who made him fashionable—and really famous.”

“Did he resent that?”

“He loved it! Writers and composers didn't get that kind of public attention back then—not the way the actors did. They were the ones behind the scenes. But Rose always knew how to play the press. After she finished decorating their apartment, three magazines wrote stories on it. She redid Bobby's wardrobe and they were considered the best-dressed couple in New York. They showed up on the society pages of the Times all the time—not just in the theater section like the rest of us. And everywhere they went, Bobby was the star.”

“What was she?”

“Mrs. Bobby Manning.”

Carrie tried to imagine her larger-than-life mother as a woman who was dependent on her husband for her identity. “And was she happy with that?”

Lu looked out at the gardens that were so neatly laid out in front of them. There was some kind of purple flower blooming in one of the beds. “Bobby was a workaholic. If he was in rehearsal he'd forget everything—including Rose—existed. He had an office near Shubert Alley and some nights he'd sleep there, and he wouldn't remember to call her to say he wouldn't be home. If he was writing a show, he'd hole up in his office or a hotel room for weeks.”

“I can't see Mother accepting that.”

“That wasn't the worst of it.” Lu stared at the purple flowers. “Bobby was…well, in my day we would have said he was a cad. He cheated on Rose, from the beginning. It wasn't unusual in our world; a lot of men in Bobby's position played around. They had money and power, and they were surrounded by beautiful girls who wanted to make it in the business.”

“And making it with my father was a stepping-stone?”

“Bobby was too smart for that. He'd never let his fun interfere with his work. He always cast the best woman for the part—always. But, he was just one of those men …” Lu sighed, but her voice was affectionate.

“You liked him,” Carrie said, realizing it was the second time she'd said this to someone in the last two days.