The Lake House

It is raining. Sadie runs to clear her thoughts. It doesn’t really work. She’s near her house now and notices someone standing outside her building. Everyone else’s lights are on. Hers is the only flat that’s dark, so she presumes the person is waiting for her. Sadie was once surprised during a drug bust and vowed never to be surprised again. She has her keys ready to use as a weapon. But it’s Nancy who’s waiting for her. She’s the last person Sadie feels like seeing, especially in light of the inquiry. Nevertheless, after Nancy apologetically says she just wants to talk, Sadie invites her inside.

Sadie offers Nancy a cup of coffee, realizes she doesn’t have coffee, and offers a glass of whiskey instead. Nancy says whiskey sounds better than coffee. They talk a little. Sadie remains polite, even though she would like it if Nancy just left. She regrets having ever given Nancy hope that her daughter Maggie hadn’t simply abandoned Caitlyn. Sadie asks after Caitlyn. Nancy tells Sadie that Caitlyn is doing fine, though Nancy doesn’t see her much anymore. Sadie sympathizes with Nancy but is happy that Caitlyn is now with two parents who love and care for her. Sadie announces that she doesn’t want to be rude, but she’s tired. Nancy says she understands. She came over for an actual reason, though.

Nancy is still adamant that something happened to her daughter. She says she recently found her daughter’s notebook, which she’d taken with her a dinner date with a man named MT. Sadie wonders if Nancy thinks MT had something to do with Maggie’s disappearance. Nancy says that that is definitely not the case, that MT is a colleague of Maggie’s and that Maggie really liked him, even thought that maybe he could be “the One” (303). Nancy tells Sadie how hard Maggie fought to get custody of Caitlyn and insists that’s proof Maggie would never have abandoned her so casually. It doesn’t make sense, she tells Sadie. Sadie doesn’t want to tell Nancy that sometimes custody battles have nothing to do with the child, that sometimes it’s just about sticking it to the ex. Nancy asks why her daughter would just up and leave when things were beginning to look so good for her. Sadie reminds Nancy that Maggie had left a note, that that was the most damning evidence against her theories, and that multiple handwriting analysts had confirmed that Maggie wrote the note. Nancy still doesn’t accept it as proof. Sadie thinks, “It seemed the human brain had an unlimited creative ability when it desired something enough” (304).

Nancy’s behavior makes Sadie ponder what Clive said of Eleanor’s behavior, and Sadie finds the contrast between Nancy’s overt, emotional defiance of facts to be antithetical to Eleanor’s calm display of grace. Sadie wonders if Eleanor might have known all along what had happened to Theo and whether her cooperation with the investigating officers was somehow an apology for secretly wasting their time and resources.

Nancy apologizes for keeping Sadie from sleep. She makes to leave. Against her nature (she’s not a hugger), Sadie embraces Nancy before she leaves.

Sadie sits for a while on the sofa after Nancy’s departure. She remembers the summer she was pregnant, the falling out she had with her parents, and how Ruth and Bertie agreed to take her in. Her parents were difficult. They didn’t want her to keep the child at all and had fallen out with Ruth and Bertie years ago. Going to live with her grandparents had been awkward at first, but it all worked out in the end.

Sadie sorts through her mail and is aghast at finding another envelope from Charlotte Sutherland. She wavers between the decision to open it or not. Her curiosity wins. In the letter, Charlotte explains that she doesn’t want anything from Sadie; she just wants information, to know where she came from, because she doesn’t know who she is anymore. The words ring sincere. She remembers when she was a teenager and felt the same way. She remembers giving birth. The hospital nurses had very strict rules about how things would go. The girls were strictly told not to name their babies; it only created problems. Sadie remembers one girl screaming for someone to bring her baby back. Sadie only got to hold her daughter for 90 minutes. Sadie also broke the rule: She had named her child.

Sadie’s phone rings. It’s Peter Obel, A. C. Edevane’s personal assistant. He is calling to inform her that Alice received her letters and wants to meet. He asks, “Does midday Friday suit?” (309).

Alice remembers when her father took her to the circus. She was four years old. It’s her earliest memory of him. Clemmie was sick, so Mother stayed home to care for her. Alice believes Deborah must have gone with them, but she only remembers being with her father. Alice remembers how excited she was. She remembers watching the animals and the ringmaster, and feeding the animals peanuts after the show. She remembers a man with wooden-stumped legs wearing an iron mask. Her father sat and spoke with the man. Later her father told her that the man was a soldier and taught her that not everyone who came home from the war came back to a wonderful home and a loving family like theirs. “‘But not you,’ Alice said boldly” (312).

Alice is awaiting Sadie’s arrival. Peter does his best to be helpful and supportive. Alice remembers the soldier with the stump legs again, how she was wrong that her dad came home whole and healthy: “Her father had also lost part of himself in France” (313). Alice’s memories return to the conversation she’d had with Deborah, when she learned the truth about their father. Deborah informed Alice about their dad’s problems with shell shock and how much their mother did to try and protect them from his nightmares and fears. The idea that perhaps he had harmed Theo, killed him accidentally, was introduced in their conversation. Deborah fears that is exactly what happened and that because of their mother’s love for Anthony, she kept it all a secret. Alice can’t believe that their mother would do such a thing. Deborah said that their mother probably felt that she owed it to Anthony to protect him. Deborah was also finally able to tell Alice what Clemmie saw in the boathouse.

The news came as a great shock to Alice. She had a difficult time understanding how she hadn’t noticed anything before, how ego-centric she had been. Alice laughs at her previous belief that she had given Ben the idea to kidnap Theo with her writing.

Alice closes the file she received from Derek Maitland on Sadie Sparrow and glances up at the clock. She relaxes a little knowing that she has the upper hand on Sadie. A minute ticks by on the clock and there’s a knock at the door. Despite her anticipation, Alice’s heart skips a beat. Sadie has arrived.

Sadie rushes to get to Alice’s place on time, knowing that she needs to be punctual. She is determined to get the information she needs for the case. Peter answers the door and leads Sadie to the sitting room. Alice is waiting for her in a chair. Alice quickly reveals what she knows about Sadie, that she was the leak to the papers. The two play a cat-and-mouse game in which Alice questions Sadie about the Bailey case and why she disagreed with her department. Eventually, Alice becomes comfortable with Sadie and asks Peter to bring some tea, the afore-agreed-upon sign that Alice would let Sadie stay and talk. Sadie finds Peter attractive. Alice notices and tells Sadie a little about him. Alice and Sadie discuss Alice’s primary character, Diggory Brent, and how he became a private eye after trouble with the CID (Criminal Investigation Department), much like Sadie is having with the Met (Metropolitan Police Service).

The conversation turns to Sadie’s investigation of Theo’s disappearance. Sadie questions Alice about her father’s shell shock. Alice agrees that Anthony’s shell shock had something to do with Theo’s disappearance. Alice informs Sadie that she might find some useful information in Anthony’s journals, which are still kept at Loeanneth. Alice tells Sadie that she just wants to know what happened, to get a sense of closure to the whole history.

Before Sadie leaves, she asks Alice if she thinks her mother knew what happened to Theo. Alice believes Eleanor must have known. Sadie wants to know why Eleanor didn’t tell the police. Alice tells Sadie about Ben Munro and reveals that Eleanor and he had a love affair.

Eleanor is at the train station. It is very busy, and she was lucky to have gotten a ticket. She takes her seat. A young man takes the window seat opposite her. She thinks about Anthony and his problems and begins to cry. The young man offers her his handkerchief. He tells her to keep it. When they arrive in London, he helps her with her bag. Their hands brush and Eleanor glimpses an alternative existence wherein she and the young man are more than just strangers on a train. She thanks him for his help.

Eleanor never expects to see him again, but she does a while later in August.

Eleanor is trying to get the girls to put their shoes on so that they can go into town and run some errands (mostly to take them away so they won’t see Anthony in one of his states). Alice is being especially obstinate, using the word “Mother” in a pejorative way:

Mother. No one was particularly fond of her. Even Eleanor winced sometimes at the woman’s incessant pedantry. She wasn’t a bit of fun and could always be counted on to temper a boisterous occasion with a sermon on responsibility or safety. And yet, she was essential. Eleanor would have collapsed under the heartbreaking strain of Anthony’s condition, but Mother was always equal to the task. (340)

In town, she needs to stop by the post office, but Eleanor must gather her strength before facing the town gossip, Marjorie Kempling. When she finally musters up the courage, Eleanor pushes the door with more force than expected, just as someone on the other side opens the door, so that she falls straight into a young man. She recognizes him from the train, though he doesn’t recognize her exactly. She denies having ever seen him before. After he leaves, Eleanor asks Marjorie about him, hating herself for snooping. Marjorie thinks that Ben is so good looking that he should be in the movies. Eleanor learns from Marjorie that Ben is somewhat of a Gypsy and is currently working for Mr. Nicholson. Eleanor is unable to forget Ben now that she’s learned of him, and she finds herself thinking about him from time to time.

One day, instead of taking the girls into town, she has a picnic prepared for them, and they go spend the day at the lake. Everything goes swimmingly, and they enjoy themselves. At one point, Eleanor takes a nap. She dreams of being a child on a boat, with her father and Mr. Llewellyn waving to her from the shore. She isn’t afraid at first, but the boat is being carried away from her house and family. She awakens when someone shakes her. Edwina has run off and there are rain clouds overhead, so Eleanor has Deborah take Alice and Clemmie back to the house while she searches for the dog.

While Eleanor looks for Edwina it begins to rain. She is wet. She soon comes across a Gypsy wagon under which she spots Edwina. She goes to retrieve the dog and meets Ben. He invites her in to get warm and have a cup of tea. She wavers. In the end, she accepts and enters.