Mémé said a few more things to wrap up her video, but I don't think it reached any of us. When the screen went black, Gregory jabbed the stop button. "And, as we all know, although a videotape is solid proof of a decedent's mental competence- amazingly enough- and a compelling drama device on TV shows, it's meant to supplement, not substitute a properly prepared written-"

Dussault produced a pamphlet, Last Will and Testament scripted in that familiar Old English font. "Which is right here. It's all in print. Cole is the beneficiary, Olivia the executrix."

I took all of this in, trying not to let out a laugh-cry hybrid that would sound really unstable. It wasn't even about the money, I swear. It was the fact that Mémé had left the world finally getting it. That animated English girl at her table, who didn't speak perfectly and empathized with the servants, was human. She deserved a position of power as much as a Newport heiress did. Her tortured soul deserved to find peace.

But I looked at Olivia and saw an expression that was anything but peaceful. She looked more upset than Aunt Theda, who was huffing a nebulizer. "After the estrangement. The unforgivable estrangement!" Theda croaked.

"Did you know about this, Olivia?" Gregory threw her a look he'd probably given many times before, and she covered her heart.

"No! I swear, it's the first time I'm hearing about it. God, what is this, Del all over again?"

"How did Ana know about your involvement in the kidnapping? Did you tell her?" AJ asked.

"No. Del probably had too many celebratory scotches and he told her!"

"But guess who still doesn't know? Elaine," Gregory said with a sinister half grin. "Looks like you've got a lot of explaining to do when she asks why you, of all people, is Cole's executrix."

"We'll just..." she said, gesturing nervously. "We'll tell her it's because Juliana knew a meddling mother-in-law would keep the heir in line."

"You weren't his mother-in-law at the time this will was notarized, sweetheart," Gregory said. "Try again."

"Would anyone like to hear what I have to say about this?" I tossed into the fray.

Apparently, it would have to wait. "If Ana wanted to make amends for what she did, why in God's name didn't she make Elaine the executrix?" AJ said, throwing his hands up.

"She was saddened by my wife's multiple DUI's in the paper, as if they had anything to do with sending Cole to live in luxury. It would've made as much sense to appoint the truck driver Olivia rear-ended as executor," Gregory said.

"You did hear the part where she called her business savvy?" I offered. Olivia looked at me with crumbling eyes. "I wouldn't know where to start. I am bad with money."

"Earning it, at least," Gregory said.

"I can't win with you, can I? I work my ass off to provide for Caitlin and Trey- I'm a blue collar bum. I get an inheritance- I'm a rich bum! You know what? Maybe I want to give some of it to orphaned kids. Maybe I want to go to college." Gregory's laughter started before I'd even finished.

"Cole, I don't want you to have to ask me for your own money, like a child," she said, her voice shaking.

AJ said, "I don't mean to change the subject, but I attest we still shouldn't tell Elaine the truth about the kidnapping. It would only do her unnecessary harm."

"Shut up, AJ," Gregory said. "'Unnecessary harm' is your middle name! It's only a matter of time before you con Olivia into writing you a check so you can disappear again, your son's purpose fulfilled. Your so-called wealth is a time bomb of bad investments. Apple computers!" he chuckled. "They're never going to rally again."

Auntie Theda spoke again, after watching the comments shoot back and forth like a ping pong match. She put down her nebulizer. "I say we tell this barnacle on the hull of affluence to go back to the rock where she came from! Then we can do whatever we want with our money, Cole!"

"Auntie, put that thing back in your mouth and butt out!" I snapped.

Olivia shot up from her chair, trembling and shaking her head. "I can't do this," she said, and I could hear the building tears in her throat. "What if I forfeit, resign?"

Gregory lit up. "Oh…really? In that case, probate court can appoint a new executor. Any interested party will do, really, like…me, for instance. This windfall stands to whisk my daughter and grandson clear out of my life. I'd be more than happy to prevent that, and I think a judge will agree, once I produce Cole's rap sheet."

"YOU as the executor? That's a deal with the devil if I ever heard one!" AJ shot back.

Olivia pounded the table. "Stop it, all of you! I didn't ask for any of this! I'm so tired of being willed things I don't want!" She ran for the office door and didn't look back.

"Olivia..." I called after her, exhaling everything into that ocean of vowels.

"Darling, wait," AJ said. "Oh, no, it'll be so hard to talk her down from this."

"You can say that again," Gregory smiled. "She's probably going to throw the Deschanel jewels into the ocean like the Titanic lady." We went into the empty hall, not even hearing an echo of her steps. "Well, I'm off to find her first and cement the fact that stepping down is the right choice."

AJ and Gregory went one way and I went another.

I found her storming towards the horse stables, and I ran to catch up. "C'mon, Olivia! I don't get why it's so bad! Where are you going?"

"I don't know. Is there a grotto somewhere on these grounds?" she said, still marching beyond me.

"Even if there was, it wouldn't make you forget about Gregory's crap this time. Don't let him drag this into probate and win. I trust you, I want you to be my executrix."

"The very thought of it makes me feel like the old bank cronies in Mary Poppins."

I snickered. "It's my tuppence! I want to feed the birds," I said in a high-pitched English accent.

"Cole, please! I'm mortified. I was such a fool earlier, acting like a coquette in a 7-Eleven!"

"Believe me, I've seen plenty of coquetting in action. You were just telling it like it is, and it stopped me in my tracks. It made me feel again for the first time since…last night."

She cringed. "And you fought it, sensibly! Now it looks like I did know about the will all along, and I was just trying to seduce you for your money."

"I know a look of genuine surprise when I see it, Marble Eyes, and you had one in the office."

"Even so…if I get soft on you now it'll still look bad."

"You are soft on me, and you won't able to just turn it off because of this little development."

"Little development? When I heard I was going to have my talons on this estate, it brought back so much guilt about controlling your destiny. Again, and again! I'm doing the same thing by luring you back into my bed."

"You're not luring me. I want to."

"It's not going to help you, Cole- it was selfish and cruel of me to think so. IF I accept being executrix, we have to stop this flight of fancy. I may not have a shred of morality, but at least I can have business ethics."

"Until the first private meeting we have."

"Stop it! You need to be grieving right now, picking up the pieces of your life, not concerning yourself with my mid-life crisis!"

"I'll always be concerned about you, Olivia, and it's not gonna stop, whether or not we ever lay a hand on each other again!"

"Please, Cole. Go back to the house and leave me to think."

And just like that, I stopped walking after her. My worn Italian shoes were frozen in the grass. I had a certain weakness for her solitude, after the beauty I'd seen in it. Maybe if she was alone with her thoughts long enough, she'd be swept up in a monologue and say, "Nothing can drive you away."

She sped up, striding into the meadow. She turned back to me for a moment until I watched her stumble, fold, and drop into the earth.

"Olivia?!" Sprinting, I heard a low splash that was like a punch in the stomach. I ditched to the ground, staring into a twenty foot hole with black water at the bottom. Olivia surfaced, dirty and thrashing.

"Cole!... don't come any closer!"

"Olivia, oh my God, are you hurt?"

"My ankle, I think I twisted it!"

"Oh man, this must be an old well that the earthquake opened up!"

"There must be something to…grab hold of!" She dug her nails into the walls, but the brickwork was flat, except for a brambly growth that snapped when she tried to pull on it. "It's, it's alright, I can tread water until you get help! It's a little cold, but I'm fine."

I could see she was struggling already, her head getting lower, the water thick and heavy. The cold and the pain in her leg was visible in her eyes, as her energy quickly drained away. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm leaving you there while I go all the way back to the house! I'm gonna find a rope!"

"Cole, no!"

I threw off my suit jacket and ran for the nearby stable. I found a strong long-line. "Don't worry about me, just keep talking, okay?" I called back as I unfurled it as fast as I could.

Her voice sounded more and more strained. "Cole, please. I'm glad I didn't…drag you in here, with me. I'm…mmph…an albatross."

"I look good in big gold medallions. Just ask Sean!"

"Please don't. D-don't come down here..." Then I heard nothing. Then a shrill gasp for breath. "My leg-"

Chilling silence. An echoing silence.

"Olivia, no...no!" I called out, trying my damnedest to whip up a Boy Scout knot around a stake in the ground for the horses. I looked down the well and froze. It was much narrower than the ship's funnel.

I was wearing a white shirt, black dress pants.

But she was gone, and the only trace of her was churning water.

I clutched the rope and repelled in. "Olivia!"

The Neptune memories tried to paralyze me every inch of the way, but I just kept chanting her name. Making sure the rope had enough slack, I landed in the water, a blur of sediment. I must've been under, in the muffled world of my nightmares, flailing like a madman. But I felt nothing, no sensation at all until I felt her hand grab my shirt. I rocketed her to the surface and she coughed instantly.

"Oh God! Olivia, thank God. Put your arms around my shoulders, albatross, c'mon."

"Cole," she mumbled, going limp against my back except for the embrace of her shaking arms. "You're getting. Triggered."

"Big time," I nodded, breathing the stale well air heavily. "But I've got you."

The escape was torturous, a lot of kicking and slamming against the wall, dragging us up the rope and hoping to God she was strong enough to hold on. When my hand hit the air outside, I hoisted us both to safety.

I held her to my body, my thudding heart probably bruising her. I rocked her back and forth. She held on to my shirt. "Y-you could've had. A panic attack. Gotten hurt," she panted.

"But I didn't. See? I am picking up the pieces of my life. At least the loud, brunette piece."

She rested her forehead against mine, and I closed my eyes…until I heard Gregory's voice call out that one syllable that could shatter the earth.

"Liv?!"

He and AJ raced up to us.

"Darling, what happened!"

"What the hell happened is more like it," Gregory pushed me away from her.

"I fell down an old well, Cole saved me."

AJ's eyes widened as he looked into the pit. "My God, my father probably threw coins down there as a boy."

"So. An ancient well collapses on the day of the will reading," Gregory mused. "Juliana might've chosen you, Olivia, but it looks like the ghost of Armando Senior isn't happy. You really want to mess with that?"

"You're not going to frighten me out of this responsibility, Gregory, and you can forget about bringing it to probate court, because I'm accepting the position of executrix!"

"You're freezing, darling. And your hand is bleeding! Let's get you inside," AJ said, lifting her into his arms. "I'm calling the doctor."

"But-" Olivia made painful eye-contact with me over his shoulder as they left. As they got smaller and smaller, Gregory and I were still standing there.

"You knew about that well and lead her right to it, so you could win her over with your fake heroics," he said.

"Go to hell."

"And then holding on to her like an orphaned gorilla, well. That was a nice touch. Laying on the sap to get a cash advance. You're damn lucky she's alright," he growled, and started back towards the mansion.

Dr. Clarkson closed the door of the guest room, black bag in his hand. He was getting up in age, and he'd been making house calls here forever, since his family emigrated from England. Of course, his reaction to seeing AJ was a big old "Blimey!"

Olivia had been given a warm bath and monitored for the last hour. I'd taken a shower in the pool house, tempted to release the tension in a pathetic, lustful way. But, I didn't. The dirt swirling down the drain was too much of a reminder of mortality.

"She'll be alright," Dr. Clarkson said. "She has a sprained ankle, and a mild case of hypothermia that I'm treating with warm liquids and muscle relaxers. Her lungs didn't catch any of that bilge water, thank goodness. Warmth and rest will suit her well. Cole, I'm so sorry about Juliana. We'll see you at the wake tomorrow night."

"Thank you, Doctor," I said, shaking his hand, and my father did the same.

When AJ and I were alone for a moment, he braced my shoulders. "I'm so sorry you had to face your fears in this way, Cole...but I'm forever in your debt."

I smiled weakly. "I guess a baptism by fire was the way to go. At least it'll save me some therapy visits."

"Where's Gregory, do you suppose?"

"Probably scheming with Aunt Theda somewhere."

"As much as I'd love to cut him a check and send him on his way, we should make him our guest and keep a close eye on him."

"I know. He thinks I set up the whole thing with the well to schmooze Olivia into being my executrix."

"And he thinks I'm going to snake your money out of her. Why did she think you needed his legal advice, anyhow? All he's done is stir the pot!"

"Well, it could've worked in our favor if he thought Caitlin didn't get enough out of this."

"And now he's raring to contest because you got too much. You're probably worth more than he is!"

"I haven't had a chance to really to wrap my head around it. Finally, the Deschanels are back on top, right?"

"I believe the appropriate term is 'boo-ya!'" he smiled. "Well, not that we weren't superior in other ways, but… do you think, to sway her, he might attempt to…" he sighed. "-Rekindle something with her? It is very picturesque up here, unfortunately..."

I bit the inside of my mouth. "I…I don't know if he would. I don't know anything for sure anymore."

"I wonder if…knowing the way Olivia loves you, she assumes Gregory will come around, too. But, there's no warming that heart. I could see the relief in his eyes that she was alright, but he couldn't even express it."

The words Olivia loves you stuck to my ribs. I knew he meant it in a parental way, but it didn't steal the thunder it caused inside me.

"Now that everything's calmed down, you should call Caitlin and get her up to date with the good news. I'll keep vigil for the English patient."

"AJ…" I said as I turned to leave. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For having a stockpile of mercy, for whatever reason. For not giving up on me."

"Son, I will take whatever slings and arrows come my way in hopes that some day you'll call me 'Dad.' It might be many years from now, and it might slip out purely by accident, but I'll wait forever until you believe in it."

The way Elaine and Caitlin squealed with delight on speaker, I could envision them jumping up and down like we were on some sort of hologram phone. "Oh my God, Cole! Do you know what this means?" my wife sniffed. "We don't have to worry about money any more. We don't have to rely on Daddy! You don't have to go back to that horrible job!"

Elaine's voice came through. "Baby, I'm so happy for you guys. Now you can make a fresh start and put all this Francesca stuff behind you."

Yeah. Francesca. The red herring in all this. "I want that. More than anything." And I did, because it was so simple. It also would've been simple to be willed a thousand dollars and a Wendy's gift certificate. Somehow, that didn't scream fresh start.

I had worried about money over the spring. A lot. I'd thought about stealing, hard. But…I'd chosen that horrible job. Learned a lot from it, too.

I didn't even get into the executrix stuff and Olivia falling down a well like an episode of Lassie. "Can I talk to Trey?" I asked.

"C'mon, sweetie," Caitlin said in a baby lilt, and I heard the groan of a crib mattress. "Say hi to Daddy! He's at our big new house!"

And we have one in Newport and Bordeaux, too, I thought. And I know jack shit about property taxes, estate taxes- any taxes, for that manner. I heard Trey breathing and gurgling into the receiver. "Da?"

"Hey, buddy, it's me. I can't wait to see you."

"Gamma?"

"Grandma's tired, kiddo, she's resting."

"He's talking so early. So smart, isn't he?" Elaine beamed. "And you won't be needing any 529 college plan, that's for sure!"

When we all hung up, I was shivering with guilt and wanting to see them all so badly. I remembered how Caitlin recoiled at my touch at the end of the pregnancy. How I missed the whole birth. The earthquake during the baptism party. The cruise. Nothing seemed to go right for us, but money always solved everything in the movies. Only Lifetime horror movies had mistresses.

Later, I knocked on Olivia's door.

"Come in," she said, her voice comfortingly calm. I opened the door to her looking very cozy in the full-size guest bed, her leg elevated, her frame swaddled in white blankets. "Hello."

"Ta-da!" I said, holding a lap tray full of steaming china. "Brought you some dinner."

"You didn't have to do this, you could've just had the staff bring it."

"Well, I told them to take the rest of the day off. I call this the Hypothermic Special. A light beef consommé, followed by a creamy potato leek soup, and a French-pressed tea that'll knock your socks off."

She laughed. "You made it?"

"Uh...ok, no. Saoirse did. We'd have to get Dr. Clarkson back here if you ate some of my cooking."

"Well, if all that doesn't thaw me out, I don't know what will."

I put it in front of her and sat on the edge of the bed, and she ate heartily. Between bites, she was really chatty. I wasn't sure if silence between us scared her, or if she was a victim of that burst of energy after a near-death experience. "…and I think the mud actually did wonders for my hair.. It looks smarter now than it did earlier. You know…if I didn't know any better I'd think you were actually listening intently to all this babble."

"I am."

It was quiet for a moment, and she drank from the soup bowl so it obstructed her face. She put it down slowly and put the tray on the nightstand. "…thank you. If I'm not mistaken, today was the…third time you've saved my life. Fourth, if you count the possibility of the tide coming in the night we met."

"We've come a long way since then."

"Have we?" She looked down. "You didn't want to stay at the hotel that night…but you yielded to me. You always have."

"I guess I'm just used to a woman telling me what to do." I swallowed hard. "So, drink your tea, you."

She half smiled, and acquiesced. "Even though I think this place is cursed in some way, I feel so comfortable here. And it's because…I swear there's an angel's presence here."

"My grandmother?"

"No...the son we lost."

"Oh, Olivia..."

"Cole...I'm lucky that holding him in the deepest, loneliest part of your heart hasn't destroyed you."

I reminded myself to blink. I took her hand, never feeling so homesick in my own home. "It could never destroy me. I love him."

She nodded, sniffing, our eyes turning to liquid. "How can someone so much a part of who we are...be a secret?"

"How did the nurse who left her post become so much a part of who I am..?"

I clasped her face and drew her into my kiss. She made a squeak that dissolved into silence. My hands slid down to the small of her back as I kissed her like the apocalypse was coming. She gasped from my mouth, her fingers dancing through my hair. It occurred to me that she should take it easy, but at least she was getting more than enough body heat.

We broke apart for a moment, staring at each other, out of breath. "You can control me all you want," I whispered. "I need it. Just let me take control of one thing. Let me finish you." She shuddered, her head tilting back. She was alive and I was going to make her feel it, achingly. But quickly. I lifted her nightgown and worked her panties down to her feet, and away. She moaned in response and I absorbed her whimpers from a feverish kiss, deep into my chest.

The junction of her thighs, flushed with blood, was helpless to the pressure of my thumb, to my fingers pumping inside her, in time with the motion of her hips. She fumbled for my belt and I shook my head into our kiss, pushing her wrists down on the pillow. She moved against my fingertips, taking what she wanted as I lead her into what I wanted. La petite mort. I hadn't felt it overtake her since our last night at the hotel, when she writhed so hard her tiara went over her eyes.

She was close until we heard telltale creaks in the Edwardian floors of the hallway.

I practically did a backflip into a chair beside the bed as she whisked herself into a pile of blankets. AJ opened the door. "Hello, you two. Kicking off the nightshift, are we?" he asked. "Darling, you're looking much better. That rosy hue is coming back."

"Yep," she trembled.

"Are you alright?"

"Just…frustrated, to be stuck here."

"I know it's against that high strung nature of yours, but I like you restrained in bed where you can't come upon any danger."

"I should go," I said, my heart exploding.

"I'll take it from here," he said, and extended his hand. Remembering where mine had just been, I froze. I threw my arms around him in a quick hug and then excused myself.

I stood outside the door for a moment. I heard him say, with quiet joy, "Darling, did you see that? My prayers are finally being answered."

I went to the high summit of the house where my room was. Everything was just as I left it. A swimsuited Kathy Ireland poster glared at me, as she'd done for most of my teens.

I splashed my face in the pedestal sink of my bathroom, washing up vigorously.

This was what we wanted, wasn't it? To have an affair.

I'd spent a considerable chunk of my life escaping from husbands and boyfriends. Standing on ledges outside windows. It was all part of the endorphins.

But she was my rush. My Olivia.

The other man was my father, on cloud nine because I'd briefly hugged him.

The one part of AJ that I had growing up was his record collection and hi-fi turntable. I used to try to figure out what he was like from the music. It was bittersweet joy for me then. Now, the collection hurt like never before, as I wondered which songs reminded him of Olivia.

Tomorrow was time to be the conniving kid, and prod him towards Elaine.

As night fell, Neil Young's "Sugar Mountain" was spinning and I was lying on the floor of my childhood sanctuary, with the light off.