'Good. I've decided to have a few holiday dinners, so there will be guests coming and going during your stay here. I myself have been invited to a friend's beach house for New Year's Eve, so I will be depending on you girls to be at your best behavior.
'You can invite friends over and go to proper parties,' she declared. Her leniency and generosity took us both by surprise. 'We're going to be together for years and years, and it's best to co-exist on the best of terms,' she added, gazing at Bruce, who was beaming like someone about to explode with one happy declaration after another. 'This is the jolliest time of the year. I've always enjoyed it, and I don't intend to spend a sad moment. Behave yourselves, and we'll all get along just fine.
'All of those gifts under the tree are for the two of you and the servants,' she concluded. Neither Gisselle nor I knew how to respond. We gazed at each other with surprise and then looked at Daphne.
'Go freshen yourselves up and put on something nice. We're having the Cardins for dinner. You might remember that Charles Cardin is one of our biggest investors. Bruce,' she said, turning to him. He snapped to attention and followed her into the study.
'Are my ears on right?' Gisselle asked. 'I can't believe what I heard. But this is wonderful. All those gifts for us!' I shook my head. 'What's the matter, Ruby?'
'Somehow all this seems wrong,' I said. 'With Daddy's death so recent.'
'Why? We weren't buried in the vault with him. We're still alive and Daphne's right: This is the jolliest time of the year. Let's have fun. Martha!' she shouted. She looked up at me and winked.
'Yes, mademoiselle?'
'Help me up the stairs,' Gisselle ordered. How long would she keep up this charade? I wondered, but I wasn't about to expose her and have her spread disgusting, untrue stories about Miss Stevens. I let her moan and groan and struggle like the cripple she wasn't.
However, afraid that Daphne would return to her domineering and restrictive ways, Gisselle was a perfect little lady at dinner that night. I never saw her so polite and charming. She spoke about Greenwood as if she loved the school and bragged about my artwork as though she were a proud sister. Daphne was very pleased and rewarded us by permitting us to be excused as soon as the dinner ended, so that we could call our friends and make plans to invite them over. Daphne, truce, and the Cardins were adjourning to the parlor for after-dinner cordials, but as we all started to leave the dinning room, Daphne called to me.
'I just want to speak with Ruby for a moment,' she told her guests and Bruce. 'I'll be there momentarily.' She nodded toward Bruce and he led the Cardins out. Gisselle wheeled herself into the corridor, peeved at not being part of the conversation.
'I'm very pleased with the two of you,' Daphne began. 'You're accepting the new order of things sensibly.'
Apparently Mrs. Ironwood had not informed her of the hearing or the circumstances surrounding it; or if she had, Daphne was ignoring it since the outcome was favorable, I thought.
'If you mean accepting that Daddy is gone, that's something we have to accept.'
'Of course it is,' she said, smiling. 'You're smarter than Gisselle is. I know that, Ruby, and I know that your intelligence permits you to make the wiser decisions. That's why I always agreed with Pierre that you should be the one to look after Gisselle. I will be giving the two of you more freedom than I usually do because of the holidays, but I will be depending on you to make sure everyone behaves.'
'I thought I was the hot-blooded Cajun,' I replied.
Her smile faded and her eyes narrowed for a moment, but then she smiled again. 'We all say things we don't mean when we're angry. I'm sure you understand. Let this be a real new year, a real new beginning for all of us,' she said. 'We'll wipe the slate clean and forget all the bad episodes in the past. Let's see if we can all get along and, who knows, be a family again. Okay?'
Her changed attitude bothered me. I sensed she was conniving, preparing us for something, and I couldn't help being anxious.
'Yes,' I said cautiously.
'Good, because anything else would just make life unpleasant for us all,' she concluded, the veiled threat clear.
I watched her leave and then followed. Gisselle was waiting in the corridor.
'What did she want?' she demanded.
'She wanted to tell me she hoped we would all have a new beginning, forget all of our past mistakes, and love each other like a family again.'
'So why do you look so unhappy about that?'
'I don't trust her,' I said, looking toward the parlor.
'You would say something like that. You're always imagining the worst. You're always looking at the dark side, almost hoping things will be terrible, just so you can be miserable. You like suffering. You think it's noble,' she accused.
'That's ridiculous. No one likes to suffer and be unhappy.'
'You do. I heard someone say your paintings show your melancholy. Even the birds look like they're about to burst into tears. Well, I'm not about to let you put a cloud over my sunny sky.' Then she wheeled herself off to call her girlfriends and start to make her holiday plans.
Was she right? I wondered. Was I prone to sadness and melancholy? How could anyone like that? It wasn't that I wanted it; it was that I was so used to hard rains, I couldn't help expecting a cloudburst every time something nice happened and sunshine beamed down over me. But perhaps I should try to be a little like Gisselle, I thought, a little more carefree. I went up to my room and waited for Beau's phone call. When it came, it was so good to hear his voice and know he was so close.
'My parents are resigned to the fact that I will be seeing you,' he said. 'Apparently they spoke to Daphne, and she was more reasonable about it. What's going on?'
