Schuyler Square Day 128 Mavis Meets Vlad

Mavis was sure that if her martini had arrived, she would be choking on the olive. Instead, her voice sputtered as she spoke. "Vlad?" she repeated.

The man sitting next to her chuckled, a rich, deep chuckle that had absolutely no accent at all. "I know. It's an odd name to you but a very common one back in my homeland."

Maybe this was another guy named Vlad, Mavis reasoned. Mavis this wasn't the same man her sister-in-law had fooled around with at the same time she was married to Tom. Maybe this Vlad had just happened to come to Schuyler Square for another reason than seeing his possible daughter. "It's an interesting name," Mavis finally managed to say as soon as she remembered to shut her mouth and stop staring at Vlad.

Vlad shrugged. "It's a name. What should I call you?"

"Mavis Schuyler."

"Mavis? You don't look like a Mavis. I think I'll call you Mavushka, if that's all right with you. It's a kind of term of endearment."

Mavis was beginning to see how Lynette had fallen for this guy. He was pretty charming. Make that very charming. She wondered if she should tell him that she knew who he was and why he was in Schuyler Square. No, Mavis decided, she'd let Vlad do all the talking. "That's fine with me," she said. Her martini arrived and Mavis took a huge gulp,making sure not to swallow the olive hole. That was the last thing she needed--to get the olive stuck in her throat and have to have a tracheotomy on top of the bar performed by the bartender with Vlad assisting. "So what brings you to America?"

"Two things: I have a new job at Schuyler College and I'm here to see my daughter." Vlad looked at her slyly. "But I suspect you knew that already, Mavushka. Your name is an unusual one too. One that I recognized immediately. Not only are you Lynnette's sister-in-law, your husband's family owns this town, doesn't it?"

"What's left of the family owns a pretty good share of it," Mavis agreed. The bartender set her drink down in front of her and Mavis took a large gulp. As soon as the martini hit her bloodstream she felt a little steadier. Wasn't she smart to have gone out tonight? If she'd stayed home brooding over Peter, she never would have met this charming, handsome man--even if she knew for a fact that he was also a first class rat.

"What's left of it? What do you mean?"

"Well, my husband died last spring and Lynnette also died."

The color drained out of Vlad's face. "Lynnette is dead? What happened?"

"She was in a car accident. It was quite tragic. The other driver was her daughter--your daughter--Tiffany." Mavis polished off the rest of her drink and signaled for another. "Of course, we don't know for sure that Tiffany is your daughter, do we?"

"No," Vlad said. "That's what I'm here to find out."

Schuyler Square Day 122 A Fresh Start

Tiffany woke up happy.

It took her a few minutes to figure out why she felt so differently, but after looking around the bedroom she had at her dad's house and seeing her clothes in the closet, her books on the shelves and her shoes on the floor, she realized that she felt happy because she felt like she was home. It was an odd feeling.

Tiffany had moved into her dad's house a few weeks earlier and almost immediately her life had changed. No more strained conversations with Aunt Mavis about how Tiffany ate too much and all the wrong things. No more irritating talks with her dumb cousin Tyler about what Tyler should do with his life--something Tiffany really thought he should have figured out by now. Best of all, no more Peter Van Husen to look at across the dinner table. Peter might have been okay once upon a time, but the guy seriously needed to get away from her aunt before he became a complete booze swilling slug.

Life at her dad's house was completely different. She still went to Schuyler Square High School, still had the same friends and still sucked at math but everything was so much calmer now. They had dinner every night at six. They watched a little t.v. together before Tiffany went to do her homework. Her dad talked to her instead of at her--a huge difference from her relationship with Aunt Mavis. Tiffany was really and truly happy for the first time that she could remember. She hoped it would never change. Well, why would it? It wasn't like there was anyone else in the world who was related to her and who might be interested in her. She figured that she could live with her dad until college, go some place that was too academically challenging for four years, get a degree and then maybe move back in with her dad. Why not?

"Tiffany? Did you see the letter that came for you yesterday?" Tom asked over breakfast.

Tiffany shook her head. "A real letter? I haven't gotten an actual letter in years." She picked up the envelope. "Where's it from? These stamps look foreign."

Her father shrugged. "I have no idea. It's probably from a college. You're a senior now so you'll be getting a lot of recruitment stuff from colleges."

Mystified, Tiffany tore open the envelope and began to read. My dearest Tiffany, you don't know me but I think I might be your father...