“I swim. But I also embrace flotation devices when available,” Raj answered. “Do I need special shoes?”

“No. Those Converse I’ve seen you in are fine.”

Raj noted that Tricia had noted his footwear. That must mean something.

“Okay. I guess I can let you take me sailing in William Sweeney’s boat. It’s sort of like research.”

“Does everything have to be research with you?”

“Pretty much. But you’re the same.”

“I was the same. But maybe not anymore.”

Maggie picked up her phone and texted Gray: Big party here on the Fourth! Bring sparklers.

Chapter 15

The late afternoon sun was warm and the Winthrop pool was warmer, heated year-round because that’s how much money the Winthrops had. The congressman had been a swimmer at Princeton nearly fifty years ago, and Lucy claimed anytime someone from the press was nearby that her husband swam every day of the year, even in the dead of winter. “He’s a polar bear!”

she would exclaim, leaving out the bit about the pool being heated to eighty-five degrees. “That hearty New England stock.”

Serena was more of a floater than a swimmer and since settling into the guesthouse, she’d availed herself of the warm water every day. The pool was located on the lawn between the main house and the private beach. On a day like today, it was luxurious to float around in the deep end, staring at clouds with the sound of waves lapping in the background. This is going pretty well, Serena thought. The house tour today. The party next week. A possible connection with Liza. Serena felt sure she would have some idea after the Fourth of July where she stood with the sisters. The question in Serena’s mind was whether her story would be a warm-hearted memoir or painful exposé.

“Hello, my dear. Iced tea?” Lucy was fast approaching, in some sort of vintage Lilly Pulitzer beach cover-up and floppy hat, carrying a tray with two glasses and a sense of urgency. Something was up. Serena braced for impact. Lucy had been fishing around all week for information on exactly what Serena was doing in the guesthouse and what her sabbatical entailed.

It wasn’t impossible that DC sources could have informed her about the Straight Up resignation. Lucy lived in Southport most of the time, attending

to her philanthropic interests and maintaining her award-winning garden, but she spent enough time in the capital to keep her contacts current.

“I’d love some. Thank you.” Serena paddled over to the side of the pool and hopped out. Lucy studied her as she toweled off, like an art lover might study a Rodin bronze. Serena grew self-conscious, slipping into a cover-up she’d picked up at the hotel shop in Antigua during her last getaway with Ben.

“Hmm. Now I see it,” Lucy said, as she settled into the lounge chair next to Serena. “I just got off the phone with your mother. I know.”

Serena’s heart rate spiked. It was out, her secret was out there. In the hands of the most well-connected woman in town who could, if she wanted, weaponize the information, or at the very least, scoop Serena’s book pitch.

Don’t panic. Early in her career, Serena had made mistakes with sources who opened conversations like Lucy did, announcing they knew the details.

In several early interviews, Serena ended up giving her subjects more information than they gave her, simply by filling in the blanks for them with previously unknown information. “Know what, Lucy?”

“About William Sweeney.”

Okay, that was major. “What about him?”

“Really, Serena. Are we going to do this? You know what about William Sweeney! That he’s your real father,” Lucy declared. Then, softening her tone, “It must have been quite a shock, my dear.”

“Yes and no.”

“What does that mean? Your mother said it was one of the gimmicky DNA tests they advertise everywhere.”

“Yes. It was a lark. A gift certificate that I redeemed in a low moment.”

“What was it like the minute you figured it out?”

Nobody had asked Serena that yet. “Like winning Powerball, I imagine.

Not the luck part, the disbelief. I kept refreshing my computer and my mind was racing but my body was paralyzed. I looked in the mirror and my face looked different. I couldn’t tell where I had come from. I needed to keep checking the results, as if they were going to disappear and everything was going to be normal again.”

“But it won’t be.”

“No. It’s changed everything in ways I couldn’t imagine,” Serena said, feeling comfortable talking to Lucy in a way she would never talk to her own mother. “Did you know about the affair? Did you suspect?”

“No, I didn’t know and I didn’t suspect. I know your mother liked to flirt with the men in town to be noticed and have some fun. No disrespect, but Mitch isn’t exactly a live wire and, in any marriage, you need a little fire once in a while. But she never told me until this afternoon about Bill Sweeney.” Lucy paused for a moment. “Everybody has secrets, Serena.”

The rumor around DC was that Congressman Winthrop had an unusually close relationship with his chief of staff, Tom Whiteside, the one who had gotten divorced, whom Lucy described as “quite a catch.” Serena had always assumed it was pure speculation, but maybe it wasn’t. Lucy continued, “Your mother is more complex than people give her credit for.

Let’s face it, every mother is more complex than society gives her credit for.”

Serena breathed deeply. She was relieved. Lucy might be the perfect confidant after all. “I’m so angry at her for not telling me when I could have had the chance to sit with him and talk to him. I didn’t have that chance.”

“That’s true. He had his demons, but he also had his gifts.”

“I’m so angry that she hid this from me, I can’t get past that to even talk to her, ask her the most basic questions. And I don’t know how to be angry like this. It’s not in my DNA.”

“Or so you thought! Maybe you should get your Irish up.”

The women laughed. They sat in silence for a bit, finishing their iced teas, side by side. Then Lucy said, “Your mother desperately wants to talk to you. She’s ready now. It’s why she called me, so that I could talk to you.

Your mother is willing to answer your questions.”

“I get it. And I’m getting there. It’s funny, the one question the Sweeneys want answered is how did this happen. How did my normal mother lure their famous father away from ethereal Maeve Sweeney? They want the details that I don’t.”

Lucy let out a laugh. “That is funny. It says to me those girls let go of assuming the best about their father a long time ago. That’s the luxury that men have. They can be awful and beloved. Women don’t get that kind of leeway. Plus, your mother isn’t normal. She’s sharp. She needed a career.

That would have helped her immensely, given her a place for her intellectual gifts. But, she went the motherhood route.”

“And I think we can both agree, motherhood didn’t highlight her skill set.”

Lucy nodded. “Probably true. Though she is an awfully good tennis player. And a bridge whiz. I think it’s time for a cocktail, don’t you? I’ll text Sadie and she’ll bring out something.” The Winthrops had a house full of staff for all kinds of tasks, but everything went through Sadie, an Irishwoman who’d been with them for years. Within minutes, a tray with gin and tonics arrived with a small silver bowl of nuts. “So, let’s talk about the sisters. What do the Sweeney girls think of you? And what do you think of them?”

Serena got emotional, much to her surprise. She hadn’t had to articulate her feelings to anyone, so she hadn’t realized how Liza, Maggie, and Tricia had gotten under her skin. “I have to say, they have something. Individually and as a unit.” Serena thought about the moment in the conservatory, when Liza faltered and Maggie went to her immediately, without a word. “It’s a connection to each other like I’ve never seen.”

“Some sisters have that. I wish my girls had a stronger connection, but they had too good an upbringing. They didn’t go through what the Sweeney girls did—their poor mother. She was no match for her husband. His career swallowed her whole and then the cancer finished her off. I always thought it was strange that Bill Sweeney was a mess after her death. He seemed like a one-man band when she was alive, but I guess not. Were you aware of that?”

“Yeah, I read the book.”

“Of course you did. How did they react to you?”

“True to form, I’m guessing. Liza was warm. Maggie was truly welcoming. And Tricia was and is cautious around me. We are strangers, really, just getting to know each other.”

“And is that what you want, to be the fourth Sweeney sister?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“I heard Whit Jones moved out.”

“What?”