Chapter 4 - LYDIA STOPPED LAUGHING.
Lydia did not wait for Alexander to ask.
"I wasn't laughing at your mother."
Alexander stepped back into the house.
The front door closed behind him.
Lydia still wore the same navy dress and pearl earrings. Her hand was no longer over her mouth.
Now she held both hands together at her waist.
She looked embarrassed.
Alexander glanced toward the living room.
Bianca and Ewald were speaking in low voices.
Neither looked toward him.
"Then what was that sound?" Alexander asked.
Lydia swallowed.
"Nerves."
"Nerves."
"I do that sometimes."
She gave a small, humorless shrug.
"It's awful. Funerals. Bad news. Once when my sister broke her wrist. Something horrible happens and my body decides I'm at a comedy club."
Alexander might have laughed under different circumstances.
He didn't.
"Did you hear what my mother said outside?"
"Enough."
"She told me to ask why you laughed."
Lydia nodded.
"Because when Bianca said that thing about bleach, I thought—"
She stopped.
Alexander waited.
"You thought what?"
Lydia looked down.
"I thought, well, there it is."
Alexander's stomach tightened.
"There what is?"
"The thing Helga told me about."
He stared at her.
Lydia immediately raised a hand.
"Not tonight. Months ago."
"You and my mother talked about Bianca?"
"Your mother and I have talked about a lot of things."
"Why didn't anyone talk to me?"
Lydia's eyebrows rose.
"She did."
That hurt more than Alexander expected.
He looked away.
Lydia softened slightly.
"I'm sorry."
"No. Don't."
He rubbed the torn edge of the envelope again.
It had become something his hand did without permission.
"What did Mom tell you?"
Lydia glanced toward the living room.
Bianca was watching them now.
Ewald pretended not to.
Lydia lowered her voice.
"That she felt like staff whenever Bianca had people over."
Alexander looked back at her.
"Those were her words?"
"No. Her words were, 'I keep waiting for somebody to hand me a vacuum.'"
Despite himself, Alexander almost smiled.
That sounded exactly like Helga.
Dry.
Specific.
Never dramatic enough to make rescue easy.
Lydia continued.
"She told me about the side entrance."
Alexander's jaw tightened.
"You knew?"
"I saw it."
He stared.
Lydia looked uncomfortable.
"Last year. Ewald's house. I was arriving late."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"To whom?"
"To me."
She gave him a look that made him feel twelve.
"What exactly was I supposed to say? Hello, Alexander. Beautiful party. By the way, your partner sent your seventy-year-old mother through the same door the caterers were using?"
"Yes."
Lydia nodded slowly.
"Fair."
He looked toward Bianca.
She had stopped pretending not to listen.
Alexander raised his voice.
"Did you send my mother through the service entrance at Ewald's birthday dinner?"
Bianca walked into the hallway.
"It was crowded."
Lydia closed her eyes briefly.
Alexander stared at Bianca.
"The front door?"
"The foyer."
"So?"
"There were people everywhere."
"People?"
"Guests."
"My mother was a guest."
"I know that."
"Then why didn't she use the guest entrance?"
Bianca exhaled hard.
"Because the side door was ten steps away and I was trying to get fifty people inside."
Lydia looked at the floor.
Alexander noticed.
"Lydia?"
Bianca snapped, "Why are you interrogating her?"
Alexander ignored the question.
"Lydia."
The older woman looked up.
"What?"
"Was the front entrance blocked?"
Lydia hesitated.
Bianca answered for her.
"This is absurd."
Alexander held up one hand.
"Lydia?"
"No."
The word was quiet.
Bianca's eyes narrowed.
Lydia forced herself to continue.
"It wasn't blocked."
"Was it crowded?"
"There were four people near the door."
Bianca threw her hands up.
"There. Four people. That's crowded when you're carrying coats and gifts and—"
Alexander cut her off.
"What did you say to my mother?"
Bianca looked at him.
"I don't remember."
Lydia did.
She didn't want to.
Alexander could see that.
But he waited.
Finally she said, "You told Helga, 'You'll be more comfortable around back.'"
Bianca stared at her.
"That is not what I meant."
Alexander's voice dropped.
"What did you mean?"
"I meant she knew the layout."
"Because she had cleaned Ewald's house."
Silence.
Bianca's face changed.
Just enough.
Alexander saw the answer before she gave it.
"Years ago."
The hallway suddenly felt too narrow.
Alexander looked at Lydia.
She closed her eyes for half a second.
Confirmed.
Helga had cleaned Ewald's home.
Not just homes like his.
His.
Bianca's contempt had a history.
It wasn't abstract class prejudice.
She had known Helga in the role of a worker before knowing her as Alexander's mother.
Alexander felt something ugly settle into place.
Bianca stepped toward him.
"Do not do that."
"Do what?"
"Turn everything into some class-war story."
Alexander laughed once.
It sounded nothing like humor.
"You sent a former cleaner through the service entrance of the house she used to clean."
"That was not why."
"Then why?"
"I told you."
"No. You told me the entrance was crowded."
"It was."
"Lydia says it wasn't."
Bianca looked toward Lydia.
"Thanks."
Lydia flinched.
That tiny reaction told Alexander something else.
People had been managing Bianca's feelings for longer than he realized.
Ewald came into the hallway.
"Enough."
Alexander turned.
Ewald looked older than he had an hour ago.
The eager brightness was gone from his eyes.
"Everybody's upset," he said. "Nothing useful is happening."
Alexander held up the envelope.
"Useful."
He pointed toward it.
"You were holding this ten minutes ago."
Ewald's mouth tightened.
"I gave it back."
"After I asked twice."
"Alexander."
"Did you know Bianca was going to give it to you?"
Bianca answered.
"No."
Alexander kept looking at Ewald.
"I didn't ask her."
Ewald stared back.
Lydia took one slow step away from them.
Finally Ewald said, "I knew money was being discussed."
"What does that mean?"
"It means Bianca told me you were considering helping me."
Alexander's fingers tightened around the envelope.
"Helping you with what?"
Ewald looked at Bianca.
Again.
The same glance he had given earlier.
Bianca's face hardened.
Alexander saw it.
"Stop looking at her before you answer me."
Ewald's jaw worked.
"It's personal."
"You were happy to take my money in front of five people, but now the reason is personal?"
Bianca stepped between them.
"My father doesn't owe you an explanation."
Alexander stared at her.
"That's my money in his hands."
"It was in his hands."
"Because you put it there."
"Because you had already said—"
She stopped.
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
"Said what?"
Bianca remained silent.
Ewald looked at her.
Lydia looked at her.
Alexander stepped closer.
"What had I already said?"
Bianca shook her head.
"Nothing."
Ewald spoke before she could stop him.
"Bianca told me you'd agreed."
The hallway went completely still.
Alexander looked from Ewald to Bianca.
Bianca's face had gone pale.
Ewald continued, slower now.
"She told me the money was coming to me."
Alexander held up the torn envelope between them.
"Before tonight?"
May you like
Ewald nodded.
"Before tonight."
