Chapter 9 - Drop Earrings In The Mirror
The foyer had gone quieter after the speeches. Most of the guests were back in the ballroom for the last dance set, and the catering crew was starting to stack clean glasses on the sideboard. I was supposed to stay by the hallway door until Mr. Romano came back, but the door was locked and nobody told me different, so I moved to where I could still see it. Near the big mirror by the coat check.
The mirror ran almost floor to ceiling. It caught the chandelier light from the ballroom and threw it back in little pieces. I checked my dress in it without meaning to. Plain black, short sleeves I'd pulled straight a dozen times that night. My hair was still pulled back tight. My studs were so small they almost disappeared.
I heard her before I saw her. Victoria's heels on the marble, then laughter that wasn't really laughter.
She came around the column with two women I didn't know. Both older, both in dark green and navy dresses that probably cost more than two months of my pay. Victoria was still in that champagne gown, the beads catching every bit of light when she moved. Her updo hadn't loosened at all. Her drop earrings swung when she turned her head.
She saw me and stopped.
"Well," she said. "You're still here."
Her friends stopped too. One of them glanced at me and then away, like I was part of the furniture.
I kept my hands folded in front of me. "Yes, ma'am."
Victoria stepped closer to the mirror, right next to me, even though there was plenty of space. In the glass our reflections stood side by side. Her gown sparkled. Mine just absorbed the light.
She looked at both of us in the mirror and smiled a little. "Do they give you that dress, or do you have to buy your own mourning outfit?" she said.
One of her friends let out a short breath. Not quite a laugh.
I felt heat move up my neck. I stared at my own hands in the reflection and made myself breathe slow. "It's the uniform for tonight, ma'am."
"Mm." She adjusted one earring, watching herself. The drop caught the light and threw a thin line across the mirror. "It's fitting. Black. Simple. Meant not to be noticed."
I didn't answer that. Alessandro had told me to stay out of the spotlight, and I knew anything I said would sound wrong.
Victoria turned from the mirror to look at me directly. "You took a wrong turn earlier, didn't you? Down the service hallway."
That wasn't where I'd expected her to go with witnesses there. My stomach tightened.
"Yes, ma'am," I said. "I took a wrong turn looking for the supply closet. I'm sorry for that."
"You're sorry for that," she repeated. Her voice stayed even, almost pleasant. She glanced at her friends. "You hear that? She's sorry."
The woman in navy shifted her clutch from one hand to the other. "Victoria, we should get back—"
"In a minute." Victoria didn't look away from me. She took one more step in. Close enough I could smell her perfume, something sharp and floral. "Let me be clear, since you're new. This family gives a lot of parties. People talk after parties. Staff talk most of all."
I nodded once. "I understand."
"No, I don't think you do." Her eyes went to the mirror again, to her own earrings, then back to me. "Staff who gossip don't just lose this job. They lose the next one too. References matter. In this town, one phone call matters. Do you understand that?"
My hands were cold. I pressed my thumbs together to keep them still.
"Yes, ma'am," I said. "I haven't said anything to anyone."
"Good." She smiled again, but her mouth stayed tight. "Keep it that way."
She turned back to the mirror and ran a hand down the beaded strap of her gown, smoothing something that wasn't there. The beads clicked faintly under her fingers. For a second her expression slipped. Not angry like in the ballroom. Tighter. Like she was listening for something behind us.
Her friend touched her arm. "Victoria?"
Victoria blinked and the look was gone. She lifted her chin. "People love a story," she said, more to them than to me, but loud enough I would hear. "A girl in a black dress in the wrong hallway. Next thing you know, they've invented a whole scene that never happened."
I realized then that my wrong turn wasn't what had scared her. It wasn't the mistake itself. It was that I'd been close enough to hear anything at all, and that other people might ask me what it was.
She wasn't worried I'd broken a rule. She was worried I'd repeat something.
I kept my voice low. "I didn't see anything, ma'am. I left right away."
She studied me for a long moment. I could see my own face in the mirror behind her — pale, tears long gone, mouth pressed shut to keep it from shaking.
"See that you keep it that way," she said.
May you like
She turned and walked back toward the ballroom with her friends, heels sharp on the marble. The beads on her gown kept catching the light until she turned the corner.
I stayed by the mirror. My reflection looked back at me, small studs, plain dress, hands still folded. I didn't move until I couldn't hear her shoes anymore.
