The Marriage Plot (30 page)

Ignoring this, Phyllida said, “Leonard, I understand about the haploids and the diploids. But tell me what you’re trying to learn about them.”

“We’re trying to figure out why the progeny of a given cell division can acquire different developmental fates.”

“Oh, dear. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s not that complicated. Remember the two types of haploid cells, a type and alpha type?”

“Yes.”

“Well, of each of those haploids, there are two types as well. We call them mother cells and daughter cells. Mother cells can bud and create new cells. Daughter cells can’t. Mother cells can also switch their sex—go from being an a to an alpha—in order to mate. We’re trying to figure out why the mother cells can do that but their children can’t.”

“I know why,” Phyllida said. “Because Mother knows best.”

“There are a million possible reasons for this asymmetry,” Leonard went on. “We’re testing one possibility, which has to do with the HO gene. It’s complicated, but basically what we’re doing is cutting out the HO gene and putting it in backward so that it can be read from the other DNA strand in the other direction. If this affects the daughter cell’s ability to switch, then that means the HO is what’s controlling the asymmetry.”

“I’m afraid you lost me.”

This was the first time Madeleine had heard Leonard open up about his work. Up until now, all he’d done was complain. He didn’t like Bob Kilimnik, who treated him like hired help. He said that the actual lab work was about as interesting as combing out head lice. But now Leonard seemed genuinely interested in what he was doing. His face was animated as he spoke. Madeleine’s happiness at seeing him coming alive again made her forget the fact that he was overweight, and wearing a bandanna, in front of her mother, and made her listen to what he was saying.

“The reason we study yeast cells is because they’re fundamentally like human cells, only a lot simpler. Haploids resemble gametes, our sex cells. The hope is, what we figure out about yeast cells might apply to human cells. So if we can figure out how and why they bud, we might learn something about arresting that process. There’s some evidence that budding yeast is analogous to the budding of cancer cells.”

“So you’re finding a cure for cancer?” Phyllida said with excitement.

“Not in this study,” Leonard said. “I was just talking in general. What we’re doing here is testing one hypothesis. If Bob is right, this will have big implications. If not, at least we’ve ruled out one possibility. And we can move on from there.” He lowered his voice. “In my opinion, the hypothesis for this study is sort of way out there. But nobody asked my opinion.”

“Leonard, when did you know you wanted to be a scientist?” Phyllida asked.

“In high school. I had this great biology teacher.”

“Do you come from a long line of scientists?”

“Not at all.”

“What do your parents do?”

“My father used to have an antiques store.”

“Really. Where?”

“In Portland. Oregon.”

“And do your parents still live there?”

“My mom does. My father lives in Europe now. They’re divorced.”

“Oh, I see.”

Here Madeleine said, “Mummy, we should go.”

“What?”

“Leonard needs to get back to work.”

“Oh, of course. Well. It’s been so nice meeting you. I’m sorry we have so little time today. We just flew in on a mad whim.”

“Stay longer next time.”

“I’d love to. Maybe I can come back for a visit with Madeleine’s father.”

“That would be great. I’m sorry I’m so busy today.”

“No need to apologize. The march of progress!”

“More like creep,” Leonard said.

As soon as they were outside, Alwyn demanded to be taken to Madeleine’s apartment. “I’m going to start leaking all over the front of my dress.”

“Does that happen?” Madeleine said, wincing.

“Yes. It’s like being a cow.”

Madeleine laughed. She was so relieved the meeting was over that she almost didn’t mind dealing with the family emergency now. She led Alwyn and Phyllida across the parking lot to her building. Alwyn began unbuttoning her blouse before she was even in the door. Once inside, she plopped down on the sofa and took her breast pump out of its bag again. She unfastened the left side of her nursing bra and attached the suction cup to her breast.

“Very low ceilings,” Phyllida said, determinedly looking away.

“I know,” Madeleine said. “Leonard has to hunch.”

“But the view’s lovely.”

“Oh my God,” Alwyn said, sighing with pleasure. “This is such a relief. Supposedly some women have orgasms from breast-feeding.”

“I do love an ocean view.”

“See what you missed from not breast-feeding us, Mummy?”

Closing her eyes, Phyllida said in a commanding tone, “Will you please do that somewhere else?”

“We’re family,” Alwyn said.

“You are in front of a
large picture window
,” Phyllida said. “Anyone walking by can see right in.”

“Okay. God. I’ll use the bathroom. I’ve got to pee, anyway.” She got up, holding the pump and the rapidly filling baby bottle, and went into the bathroom. She closed the door.

Phyllida smoothed the skirt of her suit and sat down. She lifted her eyes to Madeleine’s, smiling with forbearance. “It’s never easy on a marriage when a baby comes along. It’s a wonderful event. But it puts a strain on the relationship. That’s why it’s so important to find the right kind of person to raise a family with.”

Madeleine was determined to ignore any subtext. She was going to be all text. “Blake’s great,” she said.

“He’s wonderful,” Phyllida agreed. “And Ally’s wonderful. And Richard the Lionhearted is divine! But the situation at home is dreadful.”

“Are you talking about me?” Alwyn said from the bathroom. “Stop talking about me.”

“When you’re finished in there,” Phyllida called back, “I want us all to have a talk.”

The toilet flushed. A few seconds later, Alwyn emerged, still pumping milk. “I don’t care what you say, I’m not going back,” she said.

“Ally,” Phyllida said, employing her most sympathetic tone, “I understand that you’re having difficulties in your marriage. I can imagine that Blake, like every member of the male species, has certain lapses when it comes to taking care of children. But the one who’s being most hurt by your leaving—”

“Certain lapses!”

“—is Richard!”

“There’s no other way to convince Blake that I’m serious.”

“But to leave your child!”

“With his
father
. I left my baby with his father.”

“But he needs his mother at his age.”

“You’re just worried Blake can’t take care of him. Which is exactly my point.”

“Blake has to work,” Phyllida said. “He can’t stay home.”

“Well, he’s going to have to now.”

Exasperated, Phyllida stood up again and went to the window. “Madeleine,” she said, “talk to your sister.”

As the younger sibling, Madeleine hadn’t been in this position before. She didn’t want to humiliate Alwyn. And yet there was something intoxicating about being asked to sit in judgment of her.

Having detached the suction cup from her breast, Alwyn was now dabbing her nipple with a handful of toilet paper, her lowered head giving her a double chin.

“Tell me what’s been going on with you guys,” Madeleine said softly.

Alwyn looked up with an aggrieved expression, brushing her leonine hair out of her face with her free hand. “I’m not me anymore!” she cried. “I’m Mommy.
Blake
calls me Mommy. First it was just if I was holding Richard, but now we’re alone and he says it. Like because I’m a mother he thinks I’m
his
mother. It’s so
weird
. Before we got married we used to divide all the chores. But the minute we had a kid Blake started acting like it makes total sense that I do all the laundry and shop for groceries. All he does is work,
all the time
. He’s constantly worrying about money. He doesn’t do anything around the house. I mean
anything
. Including have sex with me.” She glanced at Phyllida. “Sorry, Mummy, but Maddy asked me how it’s going.” She looked back at Madeleine. “That’s how it’s going. It’s not going.”

Madeleine listened to her sister sympathetically. She understood that Alwyn’s complaints about her marriage were complaints about marriage and men in general. But, like anyone in love, Madeleine believed that her own relationship was different from every other relationship, immune from typical problems. For this reason, the chief effect of Alwyn’s words was to make Madeleine secretly and intensely happy.

“What are you going to do with that?” Madeleine asked, indicating the baby bottle.

“I’m going to take it back to Boston and send it to Blake.”

“That’s crazy, Ally.”

“Thanks for the support.”

“Sorry. I mean, Blake sounds like he’s being a total shit. But I agree with Mummy. You have to think about Richard.”

“Why is it
my
responsibility?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Why? Because I had a baby? Because I’m a ‘wife’ now? You don’t know anything about it. You’re barely out of college.”

“Oh, and that means I can’t have an opinion?”

“It means you need to grow up.”

“I think you’re the one who’s refusing to grow up,” Madeleine said.

Alwyn’s eyes grew slitty. “Why, when I do something, is it always crazy Ally? Crazy Ally moving into a hotel. Crazy Ally abandoning her children. I’m always the crazy one and Maddy’s always the sensible one. Yeah, right.”

“Well, I’m not the one messengering my mother’s milk!”

Alwyn gave her a strange, fierce smile. “There’s nothing wrong with your life, I bet.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“There’s nothing crazy about your life.”

“If I ever have a baby and take off, you have my permission to tell me I’m acting crazy.”

Alwyn said, “What about if you start dating somebody crazy?”

“What are you talking about?” Madeleine said.

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“Ally,” Phyllida said, turning around, “I don’t appreciate the tone you’re taking with your sister. She’s just trying to help.”

“Maybe you should ask Maddy about the prescription bottle in the bathroom.”

“What bottle?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“Did you snoop in my medicine cabinet?” Madeleine said, her voice rising.

“It was right out on the counter!”

“You snooped!”

“Stop it,” Phyllida said. “Ally, wherever it was, it’s none of your concern. And I don’t want to hear one word about it.”

“That makes total sense!” Alwyn cried. “You come out here to see if Leonard’s husband material, and when you find a serious problem—like that he’s maybe on
lithium
—you don’t want to hear about it. Whereas
my
marriage—”

“It was wrong of you to read the prescription.”

“
You
were the one who sent me into the bathroom!”

“Not to invade Maddy’s privacy. Now, both of you—
enough
.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon in Provincetown. They had lunch at a restaurant near Whaler’s Wharf, with fishing nets hung on the walls. A sign in the window informed customers that the establishment would be closing in another week. After lunch, the three of them walked silently down Commercial Street, looking at the buildings and stopping into the souvenir shops and stationery shops that were still open, and going out onto the pier to see the fishing boats. They went through the motions of having a proper visit (even though Madeleine and Alwyn would barely look at each other) because they were Hannas and this was how Hannas behaved. Phyllida even insisted on having ice cream sundaes, unusual for her. At four o’clock, they got back into the car. Driving to the airport, Madeleine stomped the gas pedal as if squashing a bug, and Phyllida had to tell her to slow down.

The plane to Boston was on the runway when they arrived, its propellers already spinning. Happier clans, seeing people off, were hugging or waving. Alwyn joined the waiting passengers without saying goodbye to Madeleine, quickly striking up a conversation with a fellow passenger to show how friendly and agreeable other people found her to be.

Phyllida said nothing until she was about to pass through the gate.

“I hope the winds have calmed down. It was a little bumpy coming in.”

“It seems calmer,” Madeleine said, looking at the sky.

“Please thank Leonard for us again. That was awfully nice of him to take time out of his day.”

“I will.”

“Goodbye, dear,” Phyllida said, and then walked out across the landing strip and up the stairway of the commuter plane.

Clouds were gathering in the west as Madeleine drove back to Pilgrim Lake. The sun was already beginning its descent, the angle of its light turning the dunes the color of butterscotch. Cape Cod was one of the few places on the East Coast where you could watch the sun set. Gulls were plunging straight down into the water, as if trying to bash in their tiny brains.

Back at her apartment, Madeleine lay on the bed for a while, staring up at the ceiling. Going to the kitchen, she heated water for tea but didn’t make it, and ate half a chocolate bar instead. Finally, she took a long shower. She’d just gotten out when she heard Leonard come in.

She wrapped a towel around herself and went out to him, putting her arms around his neck. “Thank you,” she said.

“For what?”

“For putting up with my family. For being so nice.”

She couldn’t tell whether Leonard’s T-shirt was damp or she was. She turned her face up to his, begging for a kiss. He didn’t seem to want to, so she went up on her toes and started it herself. She tasted the faint metallic tang and pushed past it, slipping one hand under his T-shirt. She let her towel fall to the ground.

“Well, O.K. then,” Leonard said. “Is this my reward for being good?”

“This is your reward for being good,” Madeleine said.

He walked her, somewhat awkwardly, backwards into the bedroom, lowered her onto the bed, and began taking off his clothes. Madeleine lay on her back, waiting, silent. When Leonard climbed on top of her she responded, kissing him and stroking his back. She reached down and placed her hand against his penis. Its surprising hardness, after months of not being so, made it feel twice as big as Madeleine remembered. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed it. Leonard rose on his knees, his dark eyes hoovering up every aspect of her body. Propping himself up on one arm, he took hold of his cock, moving it in a circular fashion, almost putting it in, but not quite. For one mad instant Madeleine considered letting him. She didn’t want to break the mood. She wanted to abandon herself to risk in order to show him how much she loved him. She arched her back, guiding him in. But as Leonard pushed farther in, Madeleine thought better and said, “Hold on.”