Mona couldn’t help but take pride in it, the way Michael had refurbished it, and it occurred to her suddenly, as it had upwards of fifty million times in the last week, that this house would someday be hers. Seemed it already was. But she mustn’t presume on that, now that Rowan was OK again.
Was Rowan ever going to be really OK? A flash of memory came back to her, Rowan in that sleek black silk suit, sitting there, looking at her, with the straight dark eyebrows and the big, hard, polished gray eyes.
That Michael was the father of her baby, that she was pregnant with a baby, that this connected her to both of them-these things suddenly jarred her.
Mary Jane lifted one of the curtains in the dining room. “Lace,” she said in a whisper. “Just the finest, isn’t it? Everything here is the best of its kind.”
“Well, I guess that’s true,” said Mona.
“And you, too,” said Mary Jane, “you look like some kind of princess, all dressed in lace. Why, we’re both dressed in lace. I just love it.”
“Thanks,” said Mona, a little flustered. “But why would somebody as pretty as you notice somebody like me?”
“Don’t be crazy,” said Mary Jane, sweeping past her into the kitchen, hips swinging gracefully, high heels clicking grandly. “You’re just a gorgeous girl. I’m pretty. I know I am. But I like to look at other girls who are pretty, always have.”
They sat together at the glass table. Mary Jane examined the plates that Eugenia set out for them, holding hers up to the light.
“Now this is real bone china,” she said. “We got some of this at Fontevrault.”
“Really, you still have those sorts of things down there?”
“Darlin’, you’d be amazed what’s in that attic. Why, there’s silver and china and old curtains and boxes of photographs. You should see all that. That attic’s real dry and warm too. Sealed tight up there. Barbara Ann used to live up there. You know who she was?”
“Yeah, Ancient Evelyn’s mother. And my great-great-grandmother.”
“Mine too!” declared Mary Jane triumphantly. “Isn’t that something.”
“Yep, sure is. Part of the entire Mayfair experience. And you should look at the family trees where it gets all crisscrossed, like if I were to marry Pierce for instance, with whom I share not only that great-great-grandmother, but also a great-grandfather, who also pops up … damn, it’s the hardest thing to keep track of. There comes a point in the life of every Mayfair when you spend about a year drawing family trees everywhere, trying just to keep it clear in your mind who is sitting next to you at the family picnic, know what I mean?”
Mary Jane nodded, eyebrows raised, lips curled in a smile. She wore a kind of smoky violet lipstick, to die for. My God, I am a woman now, Mona thought. I can wear all that junk, if I want to.
“Oh, you can borry all my things, if you want,” said Mary Jane. “I’ve got an overnight case??? You know??? Just full of cosmetics that Aunt Bea bought for me, and all of them from Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman in New York.”
“Well, that’s very sweet of you.” Mind reader, be careful.
Eugenia had taken some veal out of the refrigerator, little tender cuts for scallopini, which Michael had set aside for Rowan. She was frying these now, the way Michael had taught her, with sliced mushrooms and onions, already prepared, from a little plastic sack.
“God, that smells good, doesn’t it?” said Mary Jane. “I didn’t mean to read your mind, just happens.”
“I don’t care about that, it doesn’t matter. As long as we both know it’s very hit-and-miss, and easy to misunderstand.”
“Oh, absolutely,” said Mary Jane.
Then she looked at Mona again, the way she had looked at her upstairs. They were sitting opposite each other, just the way that Mona and Rowan sat, only Mona was in Rowan’s place now, and Mary Jane was in Mona’s. Mary Jane had been looking at her silver fork, and suddenly she just stopped moving and narrowed her eyes again and looked at Mona.
“What’s the matter?” asked Mona. “You’re looking at me like something’s the matter.”
“Everybody just looks at you when you’re pregnant, they always do, soon as they know.”
“I know that,” said Mona. “But there’s something different in the way you’re looking at me. Other people are giving me swoony, loving looks, and looks of approbation, but you-”
“What’s approbation?”
“Approval,” said Mona.
“I got to get an education,” said Mary Jane, shaking her head. She set the fork down. “What is this silver pattern?”
“Sir Christopher,” said Mona.
“You think it’s too late for me to ever be a truly educated person?”
“No,” said Mona, “you’re too smart to let a late start discourage you. Besides, you’re already educated. You’re just educated in a different way. I’ve never been the places you’ve been. I’ve never had the responsibility.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t always want that myself. You know, I killed a man? I pushed him off a fire escape in San Francisco and he fell four stories into an alley and cracked open his head.”
“Why did you do it?”
“He was trying to hurt me. He’d shot me up with heroin and he was giving it to me and telling me that him and me were going to be lovers together. He was a goddamned pimp. I pushed him off the fire escape.”
“Did anyone come after you?”
“No,” said Mary Jane, shaking her head. “I never told that story to anybody else in this family.”
“I won’t either,” said Mona. “But that kind of strength isn’t unusual in this family. How many girls, do you think, had been turned out by this pimp? That’s the phrase for it, isn’t it?”
Eugenia was serving them and ignoring them. The veal did look OK, well browned and juicy, with a light wine sauce.
Mary Jane nodded. “Lots of girls. Idiots,” she said.
Eugenia had set down a cold salad of potatoes and peas, another Michael Curry gentleman’s special, tossed in oil and garlic. Eugenia plopped a big spoon of it on Mary Jane’s plate.
“Do we have any more milk?” asked Mona. “What are you drinking, Mary Jane?”
“Coca-Cola, please, Eugenia, if you don’t mind, but then I can certainly get up and get it myself.”
Eugenia was outraged at the suggestion, especially coming from an unknown cousin who was obviously a perfect rube. She brought the can and the glass of ice.
“Eat, Mona Mayfair!” Eugenia said. She poured the milk from the carton. “Come on now.”
The meat tasted awful to Mona. She couldn’t figure why. She loved this kind of food. As soon as it had been set before her, it had begun to disgust her. Probably just the usual bout of sickness, she thought, and that proves I’m on schedule. Annelle had said it would happen at just about six weeks. That is, before she’d declared the baby was a three-month-old monster.
Mona bowed her head. Little wisps of that last dream were catching hold of her, very tenacious and full of associations that were just moving away from her at jet speed as soon as she tried to catch them, and hold them, and open up the dream itself.
She sat back. She drank the milk slowly. “Just leave the carton,” she said to Eugenia, who hovered over her, wrinkled and solemn, glaring at her, and at her untouched plate.
“She’ll eat what she needs to eat, won’t she?” asked Mary Jane, helpfully. Sweet kid. She was already gobbling her veal, and noisily stabbing every bit of mushroom and onion she could find with her fork.
Eugenia finally ambled off.
“Here, you want this?” said Mona. “Take it.” She pushed the plate towards Mary Jane. “I never touched it.”