“I’m fine,” Yvonne replied. “It wouldn’t be a family dinner if it didn’t end in a verbal brawl between Nicholas and me.” She leaned back and crossed her legs. “Are you all right? I’m sorry about my brother. I can’t believe he had the nerve to say those things to you.”
“I’m fine. I’ve been called worse before. It comes with the job.”
“I apologize for subjecting you to this. We never should have come here. We should leave.”
“Is that a good idea? It’s getting late.” The drive would be dangerous in the dark.
“You’re right. We can leave first thing in the morning.” Yvonne rubbed her temples. “Coming here is always tough. There are so many memories here. Very few of them are good ones.”
Her gaze flicked over to the nightstand. Ruby followed the path of Yvonne’s eyes to a framed photo on top of it. Yvonne reached over and picked it up. The faded picture was of a young woman with the same dark wavy hair as Yvonne, holding an adorably chubby toddler in a frilly dress.
“Is that you?” Ruby asked.
Yvonne nodded. “My mother and me. It was taken a few months before she died. I was three. It was a car accident.”
“I’m sorry. That must have been awful.”
“I don’t remember it, really. I have very few memories of her. Most of them are so vague and muddled that I don’t even know if they’re real. But someone has to remember her. Everyone else seems determined to forget she ever existed. Even when he was alive, my father wanted to forget her, probably out of guilt.”
“What do you mean?”
“My brother, Nicholas. He was born exactly nine months after my mother died.”
Ruby frowned. “Are you saying…”
“I’m saying, either my father barely waited until my mother’s funeral before he started fucking his secretary, or he’d been cheating on her long before she died. I’ve always suspected the latter. It would explain why he tried so hard to erase her, and why he resented me. I was a reminder of the woman he betrayed.”
“Your father resented you?”
“He never said anything, but it was obvious. He wasn’t kind to me, growing up. And his new family—Alice, and Nicholas—they took their cues from him, treating me with the same hostility. I was the unwanted stepchild. It didn’t help that I didn’t look anything like the rest of my pale, blonde-haired family.” Yvonne’s voice wavered slightly. “I spent my entire childhood feeling like I wasn’t really part of my family.”
“Oh, Yvonne. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe anyone could be so cruel to their own family.”
Yvonne placed the photo aside onto the bed. “I wasn’t family. Not to them.”
Ruby put a comforting hand on Yvonne’s arm. So much about the woman Ruby called her Mistress was starting to make sense. She would have had to grow a thick skin to endure such a painful childhood. But did her icy exterior serve another purpose? Was it to hide the pain of loneliness, of feeling unwanted? Was it to keep others from getting close enough to reject her, just like her own family had?
“It wasn’t all bad,” Yvonne said. “I still had one person I could call family.”
Ruby recalled what Yvonne had told her that night after the wedding. “You mean your nanny. Nita.”
Yvonne nodded. “She and my mother were close, despite the fact that Nita worked for her. After my mother’s passing, Nita was the only person in my life who acknowledged her existence. She told me stories of my mother, taught me how to cook all her favorite dishes. She kept the memory of my mother alive for me.
“But it was so much more than that. In erasing my mother, my father also erased any connection I had with my Chinese heritage, my mother’s culture. Having that part of myself ignored and unacknowledged was so isolating. Nita, she helped me connect with that part of myself. She made sure I didn’t grow up feeling like I didn’t belong anywhere, made sure I knew I had a place, both in the world and with her. I’ll always be grateful for that.”
“She really means a lot to you, doesn’t she?” Ruby said. “That’s why you’re going through so much trouble to get the money for her.”
“Yes. I owe it to her.”
“That’s sweet of you.”
“I’m simply repaying her for helping me, that’s all,” Yvonne said. “I’ll breathe easier once this money comes through and everything is sorted for her for good. Nicholas finding out the truth puts a wrench in the works.”
“It’s not like he has any proof. And you said all we need is a witness who will say our marriage is genuine. We have plenty of those, especially after the wedding.”
“That’s true.”
Ruby smiled. “We’re doing a great job at this whole marriage thing. We make a good couple.”
“You’re right. We do.” Yvonne picked up the photo and returned it to its place on the nightstand, then turned back to Ruby. “So, you want to go to culinary school, do you?”
“Right.” In the chaos that dinner had descended into, Ruby had forgotten she’d said anything about it. “I was only half serious. I like baking, but I’m not very good at it, so it could be fun to learn how to do it properly. And, when I was a kid, I had this dream of opening my own bakery.” She looked down at her lap, shaking her head. “I always thought it was silly. But right now, the idea doesn’t seem so silly.”
Yvonne took Ruby’s chin, tilting Ruby’s head up to look into her eyes. “It’s not silly at all. If it makes you happy, you should do it.” She leaned in and gave Ruby a brief kiss.
Ruby’s heart fluttered, the tenderness in Yvonne’s lips unexpected. She’d gotten that same fluttery feeling when Yvonne had stuck up for her at dinner. She didn’t need anyone to defend her. She could hold her own.
But it felt good, knowing that Yvonne had her back. Ruby
