Mirror Image

my daughter.”
    “You miss my point,” Avery said. “I’m not judging Fancy’s morals. I’m worried about her. Do you think a man like Eddy is interested in her except for one reason? In light of his friendship with Tate, do you think he’ll continue this relationship for any length of time or let it develop into something more meaningful? No.
    “What really concerns me is that Fancy considers herself in love with him. If he dumps her, the rejection would only reinforce her low opinion of herself.”
    Dorothy Rae laughed scornfully. “If anything, my daughter has a high opinion of herself.”
    “Is that why she picks up strangers and lets them work her over? Is that why she hops from man to man and lets them use her any way they like? Is that why she has set her cap for a man she can’t possible have?” Avery shook her head no. “Fancy doesn’t like herself at all. She’s punishing herself for being unlovable.”
    Dorothy Rae picked at the shredding tissue. Softly, she said, “I never had much control over her.”
    “Because you don’t have control over yourself.”
    “You’re cruel, Carole.”
    Avery wanted to take the woman in her arms and hold her. She wanted to say, “No, I’m not cruel. I’m not. I’m telling you this for your own good.”
    Instead, she responded as Carole might. “I’m just tired of being blamed for the lousy state of your marriage. Be a wife to Jack, not a sniveler.”
    “What would be the use?” she sighed dejectedly. “Jack hates me.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “You know why. Because he thinks I tricked him into marrying me. I really did think I was pregnant. I
was
late.”
    “If Jack hated you,” Avery argued, “would he have stayed married to you all these years? Would he have come back after a six-month separation?”
    “If Nelson told him to,” she said sadly.
    Ah. Jack always did what his father told him to. He was bound to his wife by duty, not love. He was the workhorse; Tate was the Thoroughbred. The imbalance could breed a lot of contempt. Maybe Jack had figured out a way to get back at his brother and the parents who favored him.
    Avery looked at Dorothy Rae from a different perspective and admitted that she might drink, too, if she were caught in a loveless marriage that was held together only by patriarchic decree. The situation was especially demoralizing to Dorothy Rae, who obviously loved Jack very much.
    “Here,” Avery said, taking a fresh tissue from her purse and passing it to Dorothy Rae, “blot your eyes. Put on fresh lipstick.”
    Just as she was finishing, Fancy pulled open the car door and got in. She sat on one of the fold-down stools facing them. “God, this campaigning shit really sucks. Look what that frigging wind did to my hair.”
    Dorothy Rae glanced at Avery with uncertainty. Avery kept her expression impassive. Dorothy Rae took courage and turned to her daughter. “You shouldn’t use that kind of language, Fancy.”
    “How come?”
    “Because it’s unbecoming to a lady, that’s how come.”
    “A lady? Right, Mom,” she said with an audacious wink. “You just go on deluding yourself. Have a drink while you’re at it.” She unwrapped a stick of Juicy Fruit and folded it into her mouth. “How much longer is this going to take? Where’s the radio in this thing?”
    “I’d rather you left it off, Fancy,” Avery said. “It will wake up Mandy.”
    She swore softly and tapped the toes of her red boots together.
    “You’ll need to wear something more appropriate to the rally tonight,” Dorothy Rae said, glancing down at her daughter’s shapely bare thighs.
    Fancy stretched her arms out on the seat behind her. “Oh, yeah? Well I don’t own anything
appropriate.
Thank God.”
    “When we get back to the hotel, I’ll go through the things you brought and see—”
    “Like hell, you will!” Fancy exclaimed. “I’ll wear whatever I damn well please. Besides, I already told you I don’t have anything—”
    “How about going shopping this afternoon to buy something?” The two of them looked at Avery, clearly astonished by her sudden proposal. “I’m sure you could find a dress that is suitable but still funky. I can’t go, of course, but the two of you could take a cab out to one of the malls while Tate’s doing that TV interview. In fact,” she added, sensing their hesitation, “I have a list of things you could pick up for me as long as you’re going.”
    “Who said I was going?” Fancy