The Point was eventually purchased by the widow of Potter Palmer. In fact, I knew that she and the Palmers had purchased much of the Sarasota area in the early part of the twentieth century. Berthe Matilde Honore Palmer-I got most of this part from the flyer a young woman handed me when I paid the entry fee-built an estate on the Point. In 1980 the Potter family turned the Point over to the Gulf Coast Heritage Association, Inc. That too was in the flyer.
There are more than thirty acres at Spanish Point with jungle walks, a sunken garden, and lots of other things. I skipped the jungle walk and headed for the water in search of Adele. Adele loved the beach. She could lose herself in daydreams when she looked out at the Gulf waters.
It was a hot day. Few tourists. The beach was empty except for me and two women. Waves from Little Sarasota Bay were coming in gently.
Adele was seated cross-legged in the sand near the water’s edge throwing small shells into the water. Flo sat next to her wearing a big, broad-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and a blue dress with the image of a dolphin leaping between her breasts. Adele wore jeans, sandals, and a multicolored man’s shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
Flo had watched my approach. Adele didn’t look up till I was next to them. She was a beautiful girl and while she was gaining weight from the pregnancy, she had lost the last of her baby fat. Her face was unblemished. Her blond hair brushed back, cut short. She was smiling.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi,” Adele answered.
“How are you doing, Flo?”
“Clean and sober and, goddammit, signed up for AA.”
She definitely sounded sober.
Flo was smiling too. They both looked as if they were having a good time. That made two out of three.
“The bastard’s manuscripts are in the minivan, what’s left of them,” Adele said, still cross-legged and looking back into the bay. “I parked the van in the lot at Pine View School.”
Pine View was the public school for the gifted in Sarasota County. It was no more than five minutes from where we sat.
“Here,” Adele said, reaching into her pocket, fishing out the keys to the van, and flipping them to me. I caught them.
“Good catch,” she said.
“I used to play Little League,” I said. “Good field. Couldn’t hit. I was small so I got walked a lot.”
“I’m keeping the baby,” Adele said, turning her head back to the water and folding her arms on her knees.
“That’s fine, but…” I began as Flo jumped in.
“Sally’s going to help me legally adopt Adele. She’ll become Adele Zink. When the baby’s born, Adele’s going back to school. I’ll hire someone to help and I’ll take care of the baby.”
“I want to just get rid of the past,” Adele said. “Throw it in the ocean, starting with my father’s name. I could have gone back to my mother’s last name, Tree, but I want to be a different person. I don’t want Lonsberg, Hanford, or Tree tying me and my baby to the past.”
“Like the girl in Fool’s Love,” I said.
“I suppose,” she agreed. “How can someone who can get inside a person’s head so perfectly be such an asshole?”
“Conrad Lonsberg?”
“Who else?” Adele said.
“How did you get here?” I said. ‘To the Point?”
“I drove,” Flo said, still smiling.
Flo’s license was suspended and Adele had none. I hoped they would make it back to Flo’s carefully and wondered who was going to drive.
“Be careful going back home,” I said.
“I’ve got a daughter and grandchild to protect,” said Flo. “Can you beat that, Lew? I’m gonna be a goddamn mother and grandmother just like that. I wish Gus had lived to see it.”
I knew what I was going to do: drive to Pine View, leave the Taurus, and drive the minivan to Lonsberg’s. I’d get past whatever reporters and cameras happened to be there, say nothing, and hope I could get Lonsberg to open his gate so I could drive in. I didn’t want to talk to Lonsberg though I wouldn’t have minded seeing Jefferson. Maybe he would have another shell for me.
After a day or two I would call Laura. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to talk to a Lonsberg again in my life, but she deserved something from me. I wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe a chance to thank me. Maybe a chance to say I had ruined her life.
“We’ve picked out a name for the baby,” said Flo. “Adele suggested Gus if it’s a boy but I don’t think that’s a good name.”
“No offense,” said Adele, “but I’m not too taken with the name Lewis.”
“I’ve gone through phases about it myself,” I said.
“So we came up with Ames,” said Flo.
“I want to be there when you tell Ames you’re naming a baby after him,” I said.
“You’ll be there, but we’re going to wait and see if it is a boy,” said Flo.
“We asked Sally if she had any ideas for girls’ names,” said Adele. She turned and looked up at me. “She came up with a good one, thought you’d like it.”
“And?” I asked.
“Catherine,” Adele said.
I sat next to Adele. I couldn’t stand. Catherine was my wife’s name. Sally and Ann Horowitz were the only ones I had mentioned it to.
“You all right?” Adele asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.
I turned my face to the water so she couldn’t see it.
“If you don’t like the name Catherine…” Adele began.
“No,” I said, holding back a threatened rush of confusion, gratitude, and tears. “It’s perfect.”