'What are you saying? This is how you repay me for being understanding and kind to you?' she shrilled.
Gisselle's loud moan spun Daphne around.
'Get up!' she screamed over her. 'Do you hear me, Gisselle? Get up this minute!'
Gisselle's eyes fluttered, but they didn't open. She groaned and went quiet again.
'Bruce!' Daphne cried, turning to him.
He sighed and stepped forward. Then he knelt down, put his arms under Gisselle, and, not without great effort, lifted her off the floor.
'Take her upstairs this minute,' Daphne commanded. 'Upstairs?'
'This minute, do you hear? I can't stand the sight of her.'
'I'll use the wheelchair,' he said, and dropped her in it, disregarding the piece of cake smeared over the back of the seat. She sat limply, her head on her shoulder, and moaned again. Then Bruce wheeled her out the way Grandpere Jack would wheel a wagonful of cow manure, his head back and his arms extended so the stench would be as far away from him as possible. The moment Bruce and Gisselle were out of the room, Daphne was on me again.
'What went on here?'
'They had a food fight,' I said. 'They drank too much. Some of them couldn't hold their liquor and threw up. The others were too drunk to be careful. They broke glasses, dropped food, fell asleep on the floor. Gisselle told them they could go anywhere in the house but upstairs. I found a couple in your office.'
'My office! Did they touch anything?'
'Just themselves, I imagine,' I said dryly. I yawned.
'You're happy this happened, aren't you? You think this proves something.'
I shrugged. 'I've seen people get drunk and sloppy in the bayou,' I said, thinking about Grandpere Jack. 'Believe me, I have, and drunken rich young Creoles are no different.'
'I was depending on you to keep things in order,' she said, shaking her head.
'Me? Why always me? Why not Gisselle? She was brought up better, wasn't she? She was taught about all the finer things in life, given all this!' I cried, holding out my arms.
'She's crippled.'
'No she's not. You saw she's not.'
'I don't mean her legs, I mean . . . her . . . her . . .'
'She's just the spoiled, selfish young lady you created,' I said.
Daphne stood there fuming.
'I don't care about making appearances anymore,' she said. 'When she wakes up, you can tell her that, come hell or high water, you and she are going back to Greenwood. That's final.' She looked about. 'I'll have to contract with a cleaning agency to come in here and clean and repair this house, and the expense will come out of y'all's spending money. Tell her that too.'
'Maybe you should tell her yourself.'
'Don't you be insolent.' She nodded. 'I know why you let this go on. You were probably not even here when it all happened, were you? You and your loverboy were probably somewhere else, weren't you?' she accused. I felt my face turning crimson. It convinced her she was right. 'Well, I'm not surprised,' she said. 'So much for giving people second chances.'
'I'm sorry this happened, Daphne,' I said. I didn't want her to find a way to blame Beau. 'I really am. I couldn't stop it from happening. Gisselle was in charge. These were all her friends. I'm not trying to pass the blame. That's just the way it was. They wouldn't have listened to me no matter what. Whenever I complain about something they do, Gisselle laughs at me and calls me names. She turns them against me, and I have no power or authority over them.'
'This is your house too, you know,' Daphne said pointedly.
'You've never let me feel that way. But I'm still sorry this happened,' I said.
'Just go to sleep. We'll deal with it tomorrow. Up until now, this was one of the best New Year's Eves I've had in a long time.'
She started out.
'Happy New Year to you too,' I mumbled, then went up to bed.
Gisselle didn't stir until after twelve the next day, but neither did Daphne. I had breakfast with Bruce.
'She's pretty angry,' he said. 'but I'll calm her down. I don't think I can keep her from sending you both back to Greenwood, however.'
'I don't care,' I said. At this point I just wanted to get away. After breakfast, I went out on the patio by the pool and slept in the sun. A little after one o'clock, I felt a shadow move over me and opened my eyes to see Gisselle. She looked devastated. Her hair was disheveled, her face was as pale as a dead fish. She wore a pair of sunglasses and a robe, under which she was still dressed in last night's lingerie.
'Daphne said you blamed it all on me,' she said.
'I just told her the truth.'
'Did you tell her you were upstairs with Beau all night?' 'We weren't upstairs all night, but I didn't have to tell her. She figured it out.'
