but to return to our principal concern here , there are other indications that cortland was stella 's father cortland 's wife , amanda grady mayfair , had a deep aversion to mary beth and to the entire mayfair family , and she would never accompany cortland to the first street house this did not stop cortland from visiting there all the time , and he took all of his five children there , so that they grew up knowing his family quite well .