Chương 6
Eleanor had seen him brief rooms full of senior officers and donors. He had a way of holding silence until other people stopped trying to fill it. Tonight, the silence looked costly.
He placed the recorder on a side table.
“Chloe admitted deleting invitations,” he said. “She admitted lying about Mrs. Alvarez. She said she wanted to replace the staff with people loyal to her after the wedding.”
Chloe wiped beneath one eye. “I was angry.”
“You also said my mother would be dead within fifteen years and there was no reason to build our life around keeping her comfortable.”
Eleanor had forgotten that line.
Hearing it from her son made it worse.
Chloe’s face collapsed. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“How else does that sentence work?”
“I was talking about time. About us having our own life.”
“You said you were tired of planning around an old woman’s decline.”
“I was ashamed as soon as I said it.”
“You laughed.”
“People laugh when they’re uncomfortable.”
“You weren’t uncomfortable until you knew she was my mother.”
Chloe opened her mouth, but no answer came.
Julian turned to Eleanor.
“You asked Chloe questions about the trust.”
“Yes.”
“You implied that if she mistreated you, you could influence whether I received my inheritance.”
“I said people who abuse employees should not control charitable assets.”
“You were not an employee.”
“She believed I was.”
“That is the point you keep using to excuse the lie.”
Eleanor stood slowly.
“I am not excusing it.”
“You began tonight by saying you were still testing her.”
“I was angry.”
“You don’t get to use her defense.”
The words landed cleanly.
Eleanor sat again.
Julian walked to the window. The glass reflected all three of them: Chloe pale in the chair, Eleanor in Thomas’s high-backed seat, Julian between them with his sleeves rolled to the forearms.
“I came home early,” he said. “The dinner ended before dessert because one of the speakers became ill. I didn’t call either of you because I wanted to surprise Chloe.”
Chloe stared at the carpet.
“I had a ring box in my pocket,” he continued.
Eleanor looked at his left hand. It was empty.
“We’re already engaged,” Chloe whispered.
“It was my grandmother’s sapphire. Mom offered it last year, and I said no because I thought you’d feel judged by the family history attached to it. Last week, I changed my mind.”
Eleanor had not known.
Julian looked at her reflection.
“I planned to give it to her tonight because I was tired of making every decision based on what you might think.”
The room seemed colder.
“And instead,” he said, “I came home to this.”
Chloe stood again. “Please let me explain.”
“You’ve explained each part separately. I want the whole thing.”
She looked at Eleanor.
Julian saw it.
“Not to her. To me.”
Chloe pressed both hands against her stomach.
“I was afraid,” she said.
“Of what?”
“That you would eventually see me the way she does.”
Eleanor said nothing.
Chloe continued, speaking faster now.
“Every time I entered this house, I felt evaluated. Which fork I used. How much I knew about art. Whether my dress was too expensive for someone with debt or too cheap for someone marrying a Vance. Your mother never had to say it directly. Everyone here knew I was temporary.”
“Mrs. Alvarez didn’t treat you that way.”
“She pitied me.”
“She made you tea.”
“She made everyone tea.”
Julian’s face tightened. “So you accused her of stealing.”
“I wanted her gone.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew things.”
“What things?”
Chloe’s eyes moved toward Eleanor, then back.
“She knew I had lied about college.”
Julian went still.
Eleanor did not understand.
Chloe’s breathing became audible.
“I graduated,” she said quickly. “I have the degree. But not from the school I told you.”
Julian took one step toward her.
“You said Northwestern.”
“I attended for one year.”
“Where did you graduate?”
“A state college in New Jersey.”
“There is nothing wrong with that.”
“I know.”
“Then why lie?”
“Because the first night we met, your friends were talking about schools. Everyone had some story about Boston or Yale or Stanford, and you asked where I went. Northwestern came out before I could stop it.”
“That was two years ago.”
“I kept thinking I would correct it.”
“You let the wedding announcement go out with it.”
“I know.”
“You let me introduce you to alumni.”
“I know.”
“Did Mrs. Alvarez discover this?”
“She heard me on the phone with the registrar. I was trying to get my actual transcript for the foundation forms.”
“And you thought she would tell us.”
“She said I should tell you.”
“So you reported her for theft.”
Chloe lowered her head.
Julian looked sick.
Eleanor’s first impulse was satisfaction. The clue fit. The contradiction resolved. The lie had a cause.
Then she saw Julian’s face and hated the part of herself that had experienced the truth as a victory.
“Is there anything else?” he asked.
Chloe shook her head.
He waited.
She closed her eyes.
“My mother isn’t dead.”
Julian’s expression did not change at first.
Chloe rushed forward.
“She’s alive. She lives in Arizona. We don’t speak.”
“You told me she died four years ago.”
“I said she was gone.”
“You showed me an obituary.”
“My aunt’s obituary. They had the same last name.”
Eleanor felt the room tilt again, though she was sitting.
Julian turned away from Chloe.
He placed both hands on the mantel and lowered his head.
No one moved.
The clock in the hall chimed midnight, one note late.
When Julian finally spoke, his voice was quiet.
“Why?”
May you like
Chloe’s answer emerged raggedly.
“Because she calls when she needs money. Because she tells people things about me. Because she once came to my job and screamed in the lobby until security removed her. Because I spent my entire childhood pretending everything was fine, and when I met you, I wanted one part of my life that wasn’t contaminated by where I came from.”
