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Well, that explained a lot. It endeared her to me even more. She didn’t have anybody. Yes, I had a horrible mother, but at least I had somebody.
“My dad is in prison,” she added, a tinge of embarrassment in her voice. Poor thing. But we all hadsomething, not that I could tell her mine.
“Oh, Syl. I’m sorry to hear that. Do you speak to him?”
“Oh, yeah! He’s great. Like, the best guy I know. I miss him all the time.”
“Is he nearby or anything?”
“Upstate.” I noticed Syl’s responses were getting shorter. I could hear the pain in her voice. The last thing I wanted to do was comfort a woman crying in public about her incarcerated father, no matter how much I was starting to like her, so I changed the subject, bringing it back to number one.
“Families come in all forms, Syl. I miss my parents, too.”
“I bet,” she said, but the tone in her voice had changed. It was cutting. Dark. Different. We locked eyes, but she looked away first, out the window, going somewhere unknown in her mind. I had never recognized a piece of myself in Syl before that moment. I almost reached out to touch her, but thought better of it. I still wanted to take it slow. A few seconds more and she noticed that I noticed the change in her demeanor and ended her thought on a lighter note.
“But, Bea, the good news is that you’re gaining a whole new family soon!”
“Ah, yes, as the newest member of the Case dynasty, I’m sure I’ll be privy to all of their centuries-old secrets and charming quirks. Come on, Syl. They won’t let me in. Not really. Collin seems to, though, and that will be enough for me.”
“You’re a lucky girl, Bea.” Syl grinned and snapped her chopsticks at me, but I actually couldn’t tell if she was being sincere or not.
It made me like her even more.
FRANCIS
NEW YORK CITY
MOTHER TELLS MEthat Francis is a very nice man who will provide a very nice life for us. I’ve never been to New York before. I always thought she was avoiding it. It feels different this time. She feels different. She’s fussing with me in the back of the car. Fluffing my hair. Picking at my dress. Like she’s nervous. But Mother never gets nervous.
“You have to look perfect,” she says.
I catch the driver looking at me through the rearview mirror. Mother hasn’t stopped talking the entire time about someone like Francis being unprecedented for us. A whole new ball game. The school I’ll get to go to is elite. I’ll have every opportunity available to me.
We can’t screw this up.
I can’t screw this up.
If I love her, I won’t screw this up.
Remember, bunny, we’re a team.
•••
FRANCIS IS Aman with staff. They dress in black. Quiet. The man who drives us. The man who answers the door. The woman who brings us tea. The other woman who talks to Mother privately, leaving me alone with another woman who dusts a nearby bookshelf, but I know she’s watching over me while they’re gone. I’m not an idiot. I can feel her eyes on me. She doesn’t speak to me.
No one has spoken to me.
Mother returns with the woman and tells me to go with them. The woman is tall, she wears a long black dress with a white collar, and her hair is in a bun. She could be Mother’s age, but it’s hard to tell, since she hasn’t faced me at all.
The house is enormous, much larger than it looks from the outside. We’re led up stairs, down hallways, around corners. Everything is dark and wooden and old, but obviously expensive. Finally, the woman in black opens a door, a bedroom inside of it, and then stands a few feet away from the door, facing away from us. She clears her throat.
When I go to follow Mother inside, Mother stops me.
“You keep going,” she says. The house is quiet. Too quiet. I want to ask Mother a hundred questions. She actually looks nervous and now I’m nervous and I have no idea why. As if reading my mind, Mother softens her tone, running a hand through my hair. “This’ll be good for us. Don’t worry. You’re a star.”
A star? A new compliment from Mother feels heavenly and frightening.
I do as I’m told and follow the woman back downstairs and downanother corridor. We stop in front of a pair of double doors, one of them slightly ajar. She knocks loudly, with purpose, and it takes me by surprise. I flinch.
