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"What are you telling us?" Star asked, her eyebrows rising like question marks. "If they disagreed about it, they wouldn't have had you?"
"Let me assure you," I replied, "I have little doubt, especially after the last six months or so."
Star shook her head.
"I swear," she said, "Granny's right. Rich folks are not just different. They are another species."
"I don't know that it's just money that makes people different," Misty offered. She looked at Cat, who bit down on her lower lip so hard, I was afraid she would draw blood. "Jade already told us her mother didn't have to work, and both her parents having careers made for big problems, right?" Misty asked Dr. Marlowe.
"I think these are questions Jade will have to answer."
"I agree. Money doesn't make you more selfish necessarily," I said. "Yesterday, you told us just how selfish your parents were:' I told Star.
"Yeah, but just writing it all down like that," she said, grimacing. "And if they disagreed, they'd stop you from being born . . . that's cold."
"What did they write down?" Misty asked. "Did they ever tell you?"
"Of course. They both throw it back in each other's faces all the time. First, they agreed that my mother would stay home for only six months and then my father would pay for the nanny afterward out of his money."
"What do you mean, out of his money?" Star asked.
"They always kept track of what each other made. They have always had separate bank accounts and they agree on what they are both responsible for like the mortgage, real estate taxes, utility bills. She has her car and he has his and they keep the expenses for each car separate. Food is shared, of course, as it's a basic maintenance expense."
Star was looking at me with her mouth open as if I really was from another planet.
"They do that to maintain their self-integrity. My mother's not welt a radical feminist, but she believes it's important for her to keep her identity and if she turns all her money over to her husband, she loses that identity, and my father certainly wouldn't turn all of his money over to her."
"So does she call herself Mrs. Lester?" Star queried with a twist in her lips.
"She uses her maiden name for her professional name, Maureen Mathews." I thought for a moment. "Often, when they sent out invitations for things, they did write Mr. Michael Lester and Ms. Maureen Mathews."
"My mother's gone back to her maiden name now," Misty said. She turned to Cat. "What about your mother?"
"Yes," she said.
"Your parents sound like they were divorced before they got married," Star muttered.
I almost laughed. It was something I had thought myself.
"Let's just say they were together but divided. Equally," I added.
"What else went into the agreement?" Misty wondered.
"After my mother returned to work, my father was to share full responsibilities for my care. If I needed to be brought to the doctor and my mother was at work, he would have to leave work. The following time, she would. The same was true for school events, dentist visits, dermatologist visits, optometrist visits, orthodontist. ."
"We get the point," Star said.
"They actually kept track?" Misty asked.
I nodded.
"I grew up believing everyone had a large calendar on the wall in their kitchens with their father's first initial in some squares and their mother's in others. When I visited friends and didn't see their calendars, I asked and they either laughed or looked at me funny. Some admitted their parents kept small diaries for scheduled appointments, but few talked about it like I did.
"I guess that's when I began to feel a little different from some of my friends. Actually, what happened is I started to feel guilty about it all," I said.
"Why?" Cat asked and as usual looked down almost immediately.
"Because I knew my mother would rather be someplace else or my father had to shift some important meeting because he's forced to be doing things with me instead. Whenever they could when I was older, they just hired a limousine to cart me around but for quite a long time, one or the other had to be with me and there are places and meetings that require a parent to be present."
