I'd like that too. I thought you were trying to tell me you expected me to move East as soon as we were married.

No, let's wait a month or two, okay? Like maybe by November. He chuckled. I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to threaten you. I know how hard you work and what a good job you do. You'll be a senior partner in no time, unless you start your own firm. I don't know ‘ old Easterners give it up slowly. I never told myself I was moving away for good. I just told myself, and everyone else, that I was coming out to do one screenplay, and now, maybe another ‘ and then I'll write a book there. And one day I'll notice that I've been there for twenty years. But it kind of happens gradually, you don't just throw away your Eastern-ness in five minutes.

You never will. She kissed him as they headed across the dunes back to the house. She liked the idea of having it for her children one day, especially without his mother. You still look preppie, she teased him.

How am I supposed to look?

Just the way you do. She kissed him again, and saw his mother watching disapprovingly from the porch. She seemed to have only one speed, and it wasn't happy. And Allegra had noticed that being around her seemed to put a strain on both of them, he because he felt he had to carry the ball for everyone, and she because she thought she had to win Mrs. Hamilton's approval.

Be careful you don't burn, she warned Allegra, with her fair skin, as they helped themselves to lemonade on the porch.

Thank you, Allegra said politely. I use sunscreen.

She watched her son's fianc+¬e as Allegra sat in a comfortable porch swing with the cool drink and sipped it.

I hear your entire family is in show business ‘ Allegra, she said as though she couldn't believe it.

Except for my brother. She smiled pleasantly at her future mother-in-law. He's in pre-med at Stanford. It was the first thing that brought a genuine smile to her lips since they'd arrived on Friday.

My father was a doctor. Actually, almost my entire family, except my mother, of course. They were all physicians.

Scott wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. The rest of us seem to be trapped in show business,’ as you put it. My mother writes, directs, and produces. She's enormously talented. My father is a movie producer. And I'm an entertainment lawyer.

What exactly does that mean? She stared at her as though Allegra had come from another planet and only appeared to be human.

It means I hold a lot of hands, and get a lot of phone calls at four in the morning. She looked shocked by what Allegra had said, and aimed her next question at her.

Is everyone that rude in show business?

Only when they get arrested, she said matter-of-factly, enjoying the shock value of what she had just said. Mrs. Hamilton deserved it. She deserved a lot of things, Allegra had decided by then, most of all a good shaking. She was the least hospitable, least pleasant, least warm woman she had ever met. And she felt sorry for Jeff now. Clearly, he had only his father's genes and none of his mother's.

Do a great many of your clients get arrested? She was wide-eyed, and even Jeff was amused. But Allegra wasn't.

Some. That's why they need me. I bail them out of jail, write their wills, do their contracts, reorganize their lives, help them with their problems. It's very interesting and I like it.

Most of her clients are very big movie stars, Mom. You'd be impressed to know who. But he didn't offer, it seemed more exotic not to.

I'm sure it's very interesting work. And you have a sister as well?

Allegra nodded, thinking of poor Sam and her big stomach and the baby she'd have to give up in August. Yes, she's seventeen. She's still in school, she said, not and she models occasionally, and gets knocked up. Allegra almost laughed at that one. She's going to UCLA in the fall, as a drama major.

It sounds like an intriguing family. There was a brief silence for a moment then, as the porch swing squeaked, and the next question almost knocked Allegra right off it. She had never expected her to be so blatant. Tell me, Allegra, are you Jewish? Jeff looked like he was going to fall right out of his chair as he watched Allegra answer.

Actually, no, Allegra said coolly. I'm Episcopalian. But my father is, and I know a lot about it. Did you want to know something about Judaism? she asked politely, but Mrs. Hamilton wasn't buying. She was a shrewd old cow and she didn't give a damn if Allegra liked her. It was horrifying to Jeff as he listened.

I didn't think you were she compounded matters further with absolutely no concern you don't look it.

Neither do you, Allegra told her calmly. Are you? Jeff almost choked, and he had to turn away so his mother couldn't see him laugh. She looked totally shocked, for once. No one had ever asked her that question.

Of course not. Hamilton} Are you mad?

I don't think so. Why not? Allegra seemed totally matter-of-fact, and his mother still didn't get it, but Jeff did. And he was mortified.

I take it your mother's not Jewish then, she pressed on, relieved at least that her eventual grandchildren wouldn't be tainted. But even at that, she was half Jewish because of her father.

No, and neither is her father, Jeff stepped in, and decided to put his mother out of her agony, and theirs from listening to her. He felt as though he were betraying Allegra, but for his own sake, he had to. Allegra's real father is a doctor in Boston named Charles Stanton.

Why in heaven don't you use his name then? She stared at Allegra in disapproval.

Because I hate him. And I haven't seen him in years, Allegra said calmly. Four years of therapy had done something. It was the most disgusting conversation she had ever participated in, and she was about to say so. Frankly, after what I've seen in my family after all these years, I'd want to bring my children up Jewish. My brother and sister are, and I think it's a wonderful thing for anyone. Jeff thought he was going to have to revive his mother, and he shot Allegra a look, which she gave right back to him. He had sold out just to shut her up, and he knew it. But his eyes said, okay, okay, but you know I didn't mean it the way it sounded. But she was going to give him a hard time about it anyway. His mother was not only stiff and unpleasant, with ice water in her veins, she was also anti-Semitic. How in hell had Jeff even turned out human?

I assume you're joking, she said coldly, and changed the subject, and they both let her. A little while later, Allegra and Jeff went upstairs and changed for dinner. They went to their own rooms, but as soon as he was dressed, and could slip out of his room unobserved, he went to Allegra in the guest room.

Before you hit me over the head with a chair, I want to apologize. I know I sold out, just to keep her quiet. I always forget how limited she is about things like that. Hell, she belongs to a club where they haven't let Jews in for two hundred years. To her, that's important.

It was important to Hitler too, and his friends. This is different. It's petty and stupid, and social.’ She thinks it makes her aristocratic to hate everyone who's not like her. It doesn't mean shit. And you know I don't feel that way. I don't care if you bring our kids up Jewish or Buddhist. I love you, whatever your name is. It's going to be Hamilton anyway pretty soon, so why worry about it? His mother made him desperately uncomfortable, and she could see it. She actually felt sorry for him, and she wasn't nearly as mad as she knew she should be, on Simon's behalf. It was mostly pathetic.

How did you ever stand it here, Jeff? She's not exactly open or warm, or easy to deal with.

She used to be, he tried to defend her, or at least a little bit more anyway. She got all closed up when my father died she was miserable without him. But Allegra could never imagine her much more open than she was now. She was a viper.

Weren't you lonely being with her? Allegra couldn't imagine how he stood it.

Sometimes. One gets used to it. Her whole family was like that. They're all gone now.

What did they do when they got together, make ice cubes?

She's not as bad as all that, he said, zipping up Allegra's black linen dress, just as his mother knocked, and he knew he shouldn't be there. He slipped into the bathroom after signaling Allegra not to give him away. And she opened the door to his mother, who had come to tell her dinner was served, and perhaps to atone for her earlier comments, she told Allegra she looked very pretty. The truth was she liked her much better now that she knew her real name wasn't Steinberg.

Allegra followed her downstairs to dinner, and Jeff seemed to appear from nowhere. And miraculously, they survived the dinner, mostly by staying on safe subjects, like art, and European travel, and opera. It was the most boring conversation Allegra thought she'd ever had, and fortunately after dinner, Mrs. Hamilton went to bed. That night they went out to the beach and swam, and then they lay on the sand, and he held her.

You haven't had much fun here, have you?

She rolled over on her back and sighed in the moonlight. Did he want her to be honest or not? She was quiet while she was deciding.

It was different. It was the most diplomatic thing she could think of.

Very different from your family, he acknowledged. He felt guilty now for having brought her, but she did have to meet his mother. Your family is so warm and affectionate and outgoing. Everyone's always talking and laughing, and telling some crazy story. I loved being with them from the first moment I met them. He looked ashamed now of his mother. Even he had to admit that she'd been awful to Allegra. But looking at him, seeing how badly he felt, she suddenly didn't mind it.