Betty squared her shoulders, flared her nostrils, excused herself from the Houders, and pushed her way past the Hoopers and the Chandlers, barely remembering to say, “Merry Christmas,” through her tight smile. She quickly pinched her husband’s elbow and pulled him away from Vivian, who then turned her attentions to Burt Chandler. Betty swore under her breath, casting an apologetic glance at Reverend Alsop, who had made his way from the pulpit and down the aisle, and was standing within hearing range, although she was certain he hadn’t heard her.

“Merry Christmas, Reverend Alsop,” she said again, this time through just slightly clenched teeth.

She waved in irritation to Margie and Duncan, who were holding Little Bitty’s and Charles Junior’s hands, but still standing in the pew up at the front. We’re leaving, she mouthed, and continued to push Charles down the aisle toward the front entrance. At the vestibule she realized she had forgotten her mink back in the pew. She was rigid with irritation, and struggling to keep her eyes bright and her smile upturned as people passed them and sang, “Merry Christmas!”

“Darling,” Charles said, with a hand on her shoulder, “where is your coat?”

“Here, Mom.” Margie, in her red velvet dress with the white lace collar, was carrying the mink over her left shoulder and propelling Little Bitty, in her candy-cane-striped dress and bloomers, forward with her right hand. Duncan and Charles Junior followed single file, in their matching charcoal-gray suits and evergreen silk ties, behind them.

Betty looked at her children and then at her husband.

“Thank you, sweetheart. You’re a good girl.” She gave Margie an affectionate pinch on the cheek, and then had three thoughts: how glad she was that Margie had her delicate features, how Christmas truly was the most wonderful time of year, and how Vivian Dalton would get what was coming to her.

Chapter 16

In the grand karmic scheme of things, Vivian wouldn’t have thought she was due any sort of righteous retribution for any of her past actions or behavior.

Retribution:

1: recompense, reward

2: the dispensing or receiving of reward or punishment especially in the hereafter

3: something given or exacted in recompense; especially: punishment

But she might’ve forgotten a few things over the years. Who remembered every little thing they said or did? Vivian was much better at remembering all the slights, taunts, and teasing she’d had to suffer than recalling anything she might’ve said or done to someone else. And, currently, she was suffering more than she thought she deserved to.

Since the Betty Miller telephone conversation, on the horrible, black day of December fifteenth, Vivian’s emotions had run through shock, disbelief, rage, then anxiety, and were holding at a combination of the rage and anxiety. Christmas Eve had been the one night she’d tucked it all away in a lockbox in the very deepest part of her brain. It had been a mild distraction; a dreamlike kind of event, where Vivian, who did not usually drink alcohol of any sort, had thrown caution to the wind and polished off a tall glass of cooking sherry before the Daltons left for church. She was a little tipsy when she retouched her makeup, but the dark circles under her eyes needed a lot of powder, and then the powder had made her look washed out so she’d added more pink rouge. And, what was a little more eye shadow? After all, Christmas comes but once a year!