Page 93 of Cookbooks and Demons

Success

The ball opening was an unmitigated success. Once the guests arrived, the hors d’oeuvres went out exactly on time along with the wine pairings. She and Yosef gave opening remarks on behalf of Scarlet when the ball began and the initial elegant dancing commenced. Compliments showered on Helena and Yosef, who were overrun with socialites and politicians all wishing them well, but also wanting to see if they could get more information on Scarlet’s stateof being.

Helena followed Yosef’s lead, saying that Scarlet intended to make an entrance and that everything was fine while paying compliments in return. More than one man asked her to dance, and she had to agree to do so with more of them than she would have liked, which was none. All the while she had to keep her smile in place and prayed it reached her eyes some ofthe time.

When it came time for the meal, Scarlet made her appearance. The applause was thunderous as she was wheeled in. It was as if a queen had entered her court. Yosef stepped forward, handsome and gallant to offer his arm to her, and she stood on her own two feet. Helena was already at the microphone. With a gesture from Scarlet, she crossed to meet them. Scarlet wrapped her arms around Helena in front of the world and kissed her cheek. A torch passing to the next generation could not have beenclearer.

With her arms linked with Helena’s and Yosef’s, Scarlet went to the microphone.

“Thank you all. Thank you,” she said with a few more platitudes as the audience calmed themselves down in anticipation for their matriarch’s words.

“I am … genuinely brought to tears,” Scarlet said. “This place is beautiful. The venue… I don’t think I have ever seen this room more magical, and as much as I wish I could take credit for what has been assembled here tonight, as many you know I have been fading as the years have finally caught upwith me.”

There were protests from the audience, but they were cheerfully waved down, and she continued.

“I cannot and will not take credit for this success, but I will take credit for my protégés whom I have nurtured and who have learned from me, and then blessed me with the greatest gift any teacher could hope for… they surpassed me.”

The applause became as thunderous as it had been when Scarlet entered, but this time it was for Helena and Yosef. The waves of approval were overwhelming, and Helena didn’t know what to do with herself. How could this moment of greatest triumph also contain the heaviest her heart had ever been? When she looked to Yosef, he and Scarlet were embracing, and she could see the same tears in his eyes that were in hers. Somehow, that slice of empathy fortified her. How else could life be but bittersweet?

We are a collection of good things and bad things. And they do not cancel each other out or make them unimportant.

When it was Helena’s turn to embrace Scarlet, the older woman whispered in her ear, “You have a wonderful future ahead of you.”

Helena nodded and smiled tearfully because she was expected to. While she truly felt it, she also knew it wasn’t true.

Her life would endtonight.

The speech continued with Scarlet thanking the rest of the office, all of the cooking and serving staff, the politicians who graced the room with their presence, and all of the donors who came to support such a worthy and important cause.

Helena heard very little of it. She only looked out at the fairy lit dark, trying to take it all in and memorize every detail.

They’ll strip everything from you, every memory that you hold precious. Everything you ever were,she thought with Rafferty’s voice.

I don’t want to forget,she thought inher own.

She didn’t want to forget about any of it, this night, the last few weeks… her time withRafferty.

It may have all been a lie… but how she felt for him hadn’t been.

At last, the speeches were over. Yosef and she escorted Scarlet to their table. The courses flew by, Helena barely tasting any of it. They were all familiar to her. Rafferty was in every flourish, their memories in every bite.

At last, they came to thedessert.

“My gosh, what is this?” a woman at their table exclaimed as the slices of layered cake covered in white, sugared fluff were set before them. A sprig of cranberries framedthe cake.

“Opera cake,” a self-important man at the table declared in no uncertain terms.

Helena broke out laughing. She tried to cover it with her hands, but it was impossible as she realized what was before her. The whole table turned to her with surprised expressions.

“It’s icebox cake,” she finally managed to say as an explanation. “It’s very similar to opera cake. It’s just made with layers of cookie wafers instead of layers of cake.” Rafferty had been determined to figure it out, and it looked like he had.

“Brilliant!” the original woman declared. The table agreed as each took their first bites and returned to their conversations.

After a few minutes, Scarlet sat back from the table. “Well, I do not know about you all, but I haven’t eaten so much rich food in quite a while. Yosef, would you be a dear and escort me to the little lady’s room?”

Yosef stood up quickly and helped Scarlet out of her chair, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm. They stayed that way for a moment too long and just as Helena realized that Scarlet might fall back into her seat again, she started movingforward.

“My gosh, she is a splendid lady,” the know-it-all gentlemen, whom Helena thought was a city alderman or something like, commented.

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