Ellen Benson had spent the last hour of her Friday morning picking out everything for her husband, Victor’s trip. It wasn’t something she liked to do. It wasn’t even something she
wanted to do. It was just something she
had to do. She sighed as she folded one of his handsome Polos and placed it neatly in the large suitcase. Twenty three years of dealing with Victor’s late meetings, business trips that could last days and weeks, and phone calls at all hours of the day. After all this time she didn’t think she’d
need love him so much that those times apart would hurt so badly. Like some cruel bird that flew off with part of her soul eventually to return.
The truth was, she hated it but she put up with it. Ellen
needed loved Victor too much to raise too much of a stink. He was an important man. And he had even cut back on his duties several years prior but even that hadn’t helped because he often spent that time with their three daughters.
A knock on the door of the huge master bedroom of their mansion startled her as it brought her mind back to Earth. “Hey hon!” Victor said peaking his gorgeous head in. Ellen felt relief as he smiled at her. “How’s it going with the suit case?” He walked in and wraped a comforting arm around her shoulders. Ellen felt herself blush as she cuddled a little bit into his broad chest. Another thing she hadn’t really been used to was the way Victor made her feel whenever he got like this. They had met so long ago in college and even now they were still the homecoming king and queen as far as she was concerned. She was the blushing bride to his amazing success story.
Ellen turned and kissed Victor on his lips and smiled at him in the most charming way she could. “I’m just about done Victor, I
promise!” She quickly folded the last pair of pants and put it in the suitcase. She began zipping it up as she said excitedly, “There! Done!”
Victor squeezed Ellen’s shoulder and gently moved her away from the bed. “Ellen, you are
entirely too good for me do you know that?” Ellen hooked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and tried not to blush a little harder. Victor took the suit case and pulled it off of the couch with his other hand. “Is something wrong?”
Ellen walked with Victor out of the room down to the foyer of their huge mansion. “I don’t… I mean you’ve been going on these business trips a lot lately. Is everything okay with work?”
“Oh you know we’re opening a lot of negotiations with a bunch of jewelry distributors in Boston and the same mob that owns them owns a bunch of other stuff so it’s really nonstop.” Ellen saw that Victor seemed to be struggling not to smile as he talked. She
might have thought that it was a sign Victor was lying to her but she
needed loved him so much she just put that silly notion out of her mind. “I will make it up to you when I get back, I swear. How about a nice weekend at the end of the month out to the Shetucket Country Club?”
Ellen sighed in relief. Despite everything Victor
didn’t forget her needs! He really was the best. “Oh that would be
great Victor! You’re giving me another reason to have me count the days before you get back.”
Victor smiled at her as he pulled the handle out of the suit case. “Oh but I’m sure you’ll be fine. I told Perse that you might be a bit lonely this weekend and, well, she agreed to come down and stay with you for a while.”
Ellen’s smile froze at the mention of her eldest daughter. “Oh I don’t… I don’t think that’s necessary. I mean, Perse is so busy with work and school. She doesn’t need to come back out here from New Lyonesse to babysit her mother.”
“Oh don’t worry about that, Perse has learned a lot about balancing her time. Besides, I think some alone time with the two of you would be positive. Work out some of those… quirks with your relationship.”
Ellen bit her lip thinking about just what those ‘quirks’ had led Persephone to do and say to her in the past.
What are you an old hen? She’s a twenty two year old girl and your daughter! Afraid of her? What the fuck is wrong with you? “I’ll call Eris too!” she added hoping that her youngest daughter would help balance things too. “Make it sort of a Benson Girl weekend thing?”
Victor didn’t frown. He almost never did around Ellen but she knew him well enough to know when he didn’t like what he heard. The slight fall of his face. The almost unnoticeable furrowing of his brow. The way his body tightened up. “Or… you know maybe Persephone and I being together would be good. Just the two of us.” She felt her husband relax. So she relaxed. Phew!
“Whatever you think is best sweetheart.” He held her head in his hands and gave her a deep but agonizingly brief kiss. “I’ll be back on Tuesday. I love you.”
It took everything Ellen had not to hold on to Victor as he stepped out the door. “I love you too. I’ll miss you!” she called out as he approached the chauffeured car. Victor just waved back with a smile.
Chez Mari was pretty busy thanks to the warm spring when people loved to emerge from their winter shelters and actually go out and enjoy life outside. It wasn’t as fancy as, say, Victor’s self-titled restaurant
Benson’s but it was more than nice enough to go out to lunch. In truth, she would have preferred not to see Persephone without Victor there but she had promised…
“Can I get you anything else while you wait Mrs. Benson?” the waitress asked. Ellen felt herself turn a little red but unlike with Victor this was more about embarrassment.
“No, I’m fine thank you,” she said waiting for the waitress to leave before checking her phone for the fiftieth time. A dread feeling came over her as she knew that, even as a little girl, Persephone was rather bullish about her punctuality. And yet, here she was, nearly half an hour late for their lunch. Maybe there was an accident. She picked up the phone to text again…
“Oh
hi Mom!” Ellen looked up at the familiar voice. Her eldest daughter was dressed like she might have been going to a fashion show to flaunt the upcoming summer styles. And the girl she was linked arms to… Persephone wasn’t exactly open with her personal life with Ellen but she had met Persephone’s long-time girlfriend Isabelle enough times to know the older smirking blonde was not her. Had she broken up with her girlfriend and not even told Ellen about it? Surely Victor would have…
Something seemed to make Persephone and her companion amused as they approached the table. Ellen stood up to hug and kiss Persephone on the cheek. “I’m
so sorry I’m late but, you know, something came up. And this is Valerie. I think you’ve met her a time or two.”
The name and pretty face both seemed vaguely familiar so Ellen nodded. “Yes I think so. Hi Valerie.” They all sat down as the waitress returned handing out menus. Ellen watched, with a feeling she knew was jealousy, as the two love birds smiled at each other warmly and whispered a joke or two. She let them talk a little after they had given their drink and appetizer orders. They didn’t seem to be
ignoring Ellen but they did seemed wrapped up in whatever they were talking about. Their relationship dynamic seemed a lot better than the one Persephone had with Isabelle. The way Persephone dominated the conversation, bossed Isabelle around, put Isabelle down all the time with her insults and sarcastic remarks. It had not been just unseemly but it had also been vaguely familiar…
“So Perse!” Ellen interjected with a smile on her face. “How long have you and Valerie been going out? And why did it take you so long to tell me?” she added as lightly as she could.
Her eldest daughter took far more after Victor than from her but those liquid brown eyes belonged solely to herself. And now those same eyes looked at her with such disdain and mockery that it was hard to reconcile it with the laughing smile Persephone had on her face. “Mom, you got the wrong idea. Val and I are
friends. I’m still dating Isabelle.”
Ellen felt the redness in her face return. Her eyes darted to Valerie who seemed to find this as amusing as Persephone did.
You must be stupid stupid STUPID! “Oh I’m…I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean…”
Valerie waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it Mrs. B. No biggie. Must be confusing to have a daughter who’s bisexual right? Anybody could be a friend or a boyfriend or a girlfriend. I totally get it.” Ellen could see that Valerie’s gorgeous eyes and plastic smile were a mirror of Persephone’s.
“Um… I suppose so. New world I guess. Old ladies like me we’re still getting used to it.” Ellen drank a little too deep from her wine glass and tried switching topics. “So Valerie, you know Perse from Merlyn right?”
“Yeah we were roommates when I was an undergrad. Now I’m finishing up my second year at law school at Merlyn and I’m doing an internship next year at your family’s company.”
Persephone bumped her “friend” lightly with her elbow. “Yup! This time next year we’ll be working together in the same building. How cool with
that be?” The two seemed to forget about Ellen again as they chatted about how excited they were for after Persephone’s graduation and the start of her career as a junior exec at the Masoch Group, Victor’s billion dollar conglomerate. Ellen felt something boiling up inside her. This blatant display of chea…Of infidel….of mock….
She stood up. “Sorry girls, I have to use the ladies room. I’ll be right back.”
“Sure Mom,” Persephone said, a half smirk on her lips. “Take your time but don’t worry. We won’t touch your wine. I know how much you like it.”
Ellen’s blush only grew worse at the mention of her
functional alcoholism love of wine. She rushed to the restroom as fast as she could without looking, well, rushed. It wasn’t the first time she had felt like this, especially around Persephone. She was thankful that the place was empty. She took one of the face cloths and dabbed her face. She stared at herself in the mirror.
You’re not going to cry. No you’re not. You’re going to go out there and you’re going to get through this. You are. You have to.Her mind went over this a few times before she departed to go back to the table but when she heard the voices of Persephone and Valerie around the bar, where they couldn’t see her, she stopped.
“…were
not kidding! I can’t believe that’s your
Mom! She’s
nothing like you.”
“I know, I take after my dad.”
“Not just the look, though. She’s so…god she’s so
pathetic! I mean did you see the way she was looking at us all slack jawed when you told her you were still dating Isabelle? She can’t be that clueless can she? How can she not
get it?”
“I know! Usually I hate dealing with her but Daddy
really wanted me to see her this weekend so I figured why not have some fun with her?”
“God you’re such a
bitch sometimes you know that?” The two young women were laughing about it just as Ellen emerged from around the bar. Valerie had the grace to freeze and look uncomfortable but Persephone just smiled at her.
“Hey Mom!” Persephone said. “We were just talking about you!”
Ellen wanted to knock Persephone's martini glass out of her hand. She wanted to rip into this little brat and demand to know where she learned to talk like this. “Oh really? I would think two young ladies like you would have something more interesting to talk about than an old lady like me.” Ellen sat down giving them both a sparkling and charismatic smile.
You’re not going to cry. No you’re not. You’re going to sit here and you’re going to get through this. You are. You have to.“So ladies, what do you think we should get for lunch?”

Andromeda

Eris
It was two thirty in the afternoon, well after Ellen had left her
soul sucking miserable interesting lunch with Persephone and her “friend.” A bottle of wine had been cracked upon the instant she had arrived back and most of it had been drained by the time Andromeda called her back.
“Andy!” she exclaimed as soon as she picked up the phone. “How are…”
“Mom?” Her middle daughter said. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
Ellen had no way to begin answering that question. “Nothing sweetie. Why would you…”
“You called me five times in the past hour,” came the exasperated response. “Mom, you forget that one o clock in New Lyonesse is seven AM in Honolulu.”
“Oh. Right.” Ellen ran fingers through her hair wondering how after three years of Andromeda going to school in Hawaii, she would still forget about the time difference. “No nothing’s wrong. Everyone’s okay I just… I just wanted to talk to you is all.”
Ellen got a big yawn back. “Oh. Listen, I had a long night last night and I really would have called you later but I thought it was an emergency.”
A long night. She knew that Persephone’s mockery of Andromeda’s sex life was heavily exaggerated…but at least somewhat accurate. She prayed that Andromeda’s long night came from being up late studying. Either way, Andromeda wouldn’t be too much of a conversationalist at this point in the day. Unlike the rest of the family her middle daughter wasn’t really much of a morning person. “Well, um… School’s fine right?”
“Yeah it’s great. Listen Mom, I’ll call you later okay? I got a shoot to do this weekend, finals to prep for, and I’m at… Well I got a lot to do. All right?”
Ellen turned the wine bottle around and stared at the label. “Oh sure honey, sorry to have gotten you worried. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Ellen hung up and dialed another contact. It cut right into a voicemail “The Eris is not in. Leave a message after the beep. It takes a second.” Ellen scowled. Another one of her youngest daughter’s jokes. She rarely understood what Eris was talking about half the time and even when she did… Well truth be told, Ellen had very little in common with her prodigy of a daughter. Even if they had talked or met, there would just be a lot of awkward silences and Eris going on about things Ellen had never heard of. Even her fashion sense was all about designer clothing but the kind that seemed to come from a foreign planet.
She declined to leave a message and hung up. She scrolled down her list of contacts. This one was too shallow to do anything but gossip. This one hated her for not inviting her to that one event. This one hated her for not inviting her to that
other event. This one was less interesting than watching paint dry. Then there was her sister...
God I don’t have anyone. She just wanted somebody, anybody, that could talk to her with no bullshit strings attached. At first glance that seemed an impossibility. Still, getting drunk on a several bottles of wine in an empty mansion struggling not to cry was not how she wanted to spend her evening. Ellen idly swept her finger across her phone again scanning through more names until the scroll brought up a certain name ...