Chapter 13 - The Announcement Card on the Vanity Mirror
The dressing suite was smaller than I remembered from setup, and hotter. The vanity bulbs threw too much light on all of us, and the cream curtain over the back window breathed a little with the air vent. Lily sat on the edge of the ottoman with her feet not touching the floor, her blue velvet skirt pulled down over her knees. My tray was on the sideboard where I'd left it. I hadn't picked it back up.
Marcello stood by the door like he didn't want to close it all the way. He had a folded card in his breast pocket, the kind they'd stacked by the staircase downstairs. He pulled it out and laid it flat on the vanity.
I read it upside down before he turned it toward us. Hart Foundation Gala. Family Futures Fund. A photo of him and her at a charity dinner last spring. Tonight we announce the next chapter.
He tapped the line under the photo with one finger. "They moved the announcement up," he said. "My father wanted it tonight. Family man. Stable home. That's the language in the press release."
The blonde woman didn't look at the card. She sat in the vanity chair with her hands locked over the magenta satin, right where the round shape rose highest. Her updo had loosened. A strand stuck to her neck.
"You told me he needed that," I said, before I could stop myself.
Marcello nodded once. "The board votes next month. The money follows the story."
That was the first time he'd said it plain. No scene downstairs, no toast yet, just the math sitting between us under bright bulbs.
She breathed out through her nose. "Don't make it sound like that."
"How should I make it sound?" His voice stayed low. He wasn't performing for the hall anymore.
She looked at Lily, then at me, then back at her hands. "I was scared to lose him," she said. "And the event. Everything was already printed. The dress was already made." She smoothed the sleeve. "You don't understand what it's like to have everyone waiting for you to be something."
I did understand a catering version of it. Show up, smile, don't spill, don't get noticed unless they need you. I felt a pull of pity I didn't want. She was still holding her belly like it might protect her.
"You were engaged?" I asked.
"Yes," Marcello said.
"Are," she said quickly.
He didn't correct her. He didn't agree either. He kept his eyes on the gown's seam where I'd seen the inner construction earlier, the line that stopped her from denying how it was built.
I shifted my weight. My black dress stuck to my back. "I get being scared," I said. "I don't get using my kid in it."
She flinched. "I didn't plan for her to see anything."
"But she did," I said.
Lily kicked her heels once against the ottoman. The sound was soft against the carpet. She'd been quiet a long time for a three-year-old, watching our faces.
"Mommy," she said, "why did the lady lie?"
The room went still. The vent hummed. Somewhere down the hall a cart rattled.
I went and knelt by her so I wasn't talking down at her. Her bows had slipped a little. I fixed the left one without thinking.
"That's what we're trying to figure out, baby," I said.
"No," Lily said. She pointed, not mean, just steady. "She said I misunderstood. I didn't."
"I know," I said.
The woman's eyes filled. She didn't cry. She pressed her lips together and looked at Marcello. "Tell her I didn't mean to scare her," she said. "Please."
Marcello crossed to the vanity and picked the card back up. He studied the photo for a second like he didn't recognize himself in the tuxedo.
"Did you mean to lie to me?" he asked her.
She didn't answer right away. Her hand moved in a slow circle over the belly.
"I meant to keep us," she said finally. "I thought if we got through tonight, with the announcement, we'd have time to —" She stopped. "Don't make me say it in front of her."
Lily leaned into my shoulder. I could feel her breathing. My pearl earring pressed against her hair.
I looked at Marcello. "Downstairs is waiting for the toast," I said. It wasn't my place to run his gala, but someone had to say the clock was moving. The music had changed sets twice since we'd come upstairs.
He slipped the card back into his pocket. "Five minutes," he said. More to himself than to us.
The woman stood. The magenta satin caught the bulbs and shone. The shape stayed perfectly round when she stood, too perfect when she moved. She saw me notice. She saw Marcello notice. None of us said what we all knew about the construction. Not yet.
"Please don't do it out there," she whispered. "Whatever you decide. Not in front of everyone."
Marcello held the door. He didn't open it wider. He didn't close it.
Lily tugged my sleeve. "Are we going back down?" she asked.
May you like
I glanced at the tray on the sideboard, at my uniform, at the job I was supposed to be doing while the wine got warm downstairs. Then I looked at her face, serious and tired and still insistent.
"Yeah," I said quietly. "Together."
