Chapter 5: Someone Had To Watch The Door
The letter was half open on the little table and Vivian's hand was still hovering near it when the knock came.
It wasn't soft. Three quick raps on the suite door, hard enough that I flinched. The cloth was bunched in my fist and the ring was sitting right there next to the folded paper where Richard had set it down. He hadn't let go of the envelope, but he hadn't finished reading it either.
"Mr. Whitaker?" A woman's voice came through the wood. "They're ready for you. They're holding the program."
Vivian stood up straight so fast her necklace caught the light. She looked at the door, then at Richard, then at me.
"One moment," she called. Her voice went smooth again, the same voice she'd used in the ballroom.
Richard didn't move. He was still looking down at the paper in his hand. His glasses were a little low on his nose and I could see his chest moving with his breathing.
The knock came again.
"Mr. Whitaker, we have about two minutes before we lose them. Mrs. Whitaker, they asked for you as well."
Vivian crossed to the door but didn't open it. She put her hand on the handle and turned back.
"This is perfect," she said, quiet and fast, just to him. "You need to go out there. I'll go with you and explain there was a delay with the sound check. You give the speech exactly as written. We don't mention any of this."
Richard finally looked up at her. "Vivian."
"Listen to me." She kept her hand on the door. "You keep her in here. Say nothing to anyone. No one else sees that ring, no one sees that letter. Do you understand? We will handle this privately after the donors leave. If you walk out there with her now, this becomes the only thing anyone remembers about tonight."
I felt my shoulders pull in. My shawl was itching my neck and my feet hurt. I didn't want to be handled privately.
Richard looked at me on the little couch, then back at Vivian. He folded the letter once, careful, and set it down on the table next to the ring.
"Go," he said to her. "Tell them I'll be right there."
Vivian's mouth tightened. She stared at the table for a second like she wanted to take both things with her, but she didn't. She straightened her burgundy dress and checked her reflection in the mirror by the door.
"Two minutes, Richard. Don't make it worse by making people wait."
She opened the door just enough to slip through. A wash of music and voices came in from the ballroom, and then a woman in a black headset was there, smiling too hard.
"So sorry, Mrs. Whitaker, we're just—"
"It's fine, Diane, we're coming," Vivian said, and pulled the door closed behind her. I heard her heels clicking away and Diane saying something about introductions.
The lock clicked.
And then it was quiet. The suite was small with a couch and a makeup mirror and a rack with people's coats. The air still smelled like Vivian's perfume but it was getting fainter. Somewhere beyond the walls the band started playing something low and warm.
Richard stood there for a long breath with his hand still on the table. He didn't look at the door. He looked at me.
I was holding the cloth so tight my knuckles were white. I hadn't let go of it once, even when he'd taken the ring out to look.
He moved slowly then. He pulled the little chair from the makeup table over and then he thought better of it and just knelt down right on the carpet in front of the couch, so his eyes were even with mine. Not the way he'd done it out in the ballroom where everyone could see. There was no one to see now.
"Hey," he said. His voice was lower. "It's just us for a minute."
I nodded but didn't say anything. I could hear my own breathing.
He glanced at the ring on the table and at the folded letter, but he didn't touch either one. He kept his hands on his own knees.
"Are you okay sitting there? Do you need water or anything?" he asked.
I shook my head. The shawl had slipped and I pulled it back up.
"I didn't mean to make her mad," I whispered.
"You didn't," he said. "This is just... a lot of people out there expecting something. That's not your fault."
He wasn't smiling like adults do when they want you to stop crying. His face was serious and his eyes were watery again, the way they'd gone wide in the ballroom. I could see the light stubble on his cheek and a little line between his eyebrows.
He took a slow breath. "Ellie, is it okay if I stay right here with you until I have to go speak? I don't want to leave you alone in this room."
I looked at the door, then at the ring. My mom had told me not to let anyone take it. It was still there, right where he'd put it, on the off-white cloth next to the letter.
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"Okay," I said.
He nodded once and stayed kneeling. He didn't reach for me. He just stayed there, close enough that I could see his silver hair up close and the white of his shirt collar, listening with me to the muffled applause starting up out in the ballroom where Vivian was now covering for him.
