Page 55 of Dahlias, Sapphires, and Cool Autumn Dusk
I stared at my fists, the knuckles bunched white, before looking back at her, since I couldn’t force myself to glance at her grandsons. “I guess I just wanted to know about the lake. The other side of the lake, specifically. Kit said that it might have something to do with Phoenix’s kidnapping, but you never even knew any of them or said much about the lake at all. Robert took you to look at the old house once, but no one lived in it then. I mean, did you leave something out, or what did I miss?”
Phoenix‘s voice intoned solemnly when he said, “We keep so many secrets. We don’t even know what was in your folder, Alatheia. Can anyone give us at least one answer? About me? About her? Aboutanyof us?”
She frowned at him. “Don’t be theatrical. Kit didn’t tell me anything about any folder yet, so I’ll ask and get back to you. If there are secrets, it’s because your fathers want to protect you. It’s love, basically, and I don’t know that you should get in their way when they’re proving how much they care. I once tried to protect them. . . Anyway, no, based on where you are in the journals? I haven’t left anything out, except bedroom shenanigans you wouldn’t have been comfortable reading anyway. In regard to the past, all I will say is this. . .”
Her phone beeped, and she groaned as she glanced at it. Dina hated texting, squinting at the phone as she tapped with a single finger. “Stephen is on his way here, but he doesn’t know you’re here. He’s popping by just to say hello.”
She scanned their faces before asking, “What do you boys know about the history of the Lent money?”
“Department stores,” Julian said in an empty tone, not even bothering to look up from the table in front of him. “Frankly, it seemed like you guys did this.” He pointed to the board. “Charging rents and utilities while living off trust funds and if they’re bored, maybe they also have jobs. I know they expect us to go into a trade of some kind.”
She rose to fill her wine glass, not rushing to answer him. I noticed that despite the fact I regularly saw most of them drinking, they didn’t even try in front of her.Out of respect?I wondered. Her glass sparkled with popping bubbles in pink drink, a cherry floating cheerfully in the glass as an accent.
Once she sipped and crossed her legs elegantly, she answered, “They allowed you to believe what is basically a misunderstanding. No trust funds for them, or guaranteed futures. We came to New York with money, but not like the people in the city. We earned your futures with a lot of hard work. Your fathers might have been born rich kids, but they weren’t trust fund kids, either. After their fathers died, theyinherited a lot of money. Some of it now fills your trust funds. They took the seeds from their fathers, and they made them blossom and became even more wealthy.”
“Really?” Julian leaned forward, his elbows propped on his knees. “I never knew they worked for it. I figured they were like a lot of the others in their generation, and they just inherited it all.”
“No, but you specifically asked about the lake, Alatheia. Let’s start there, for now. Your great-grandfathers started out on the other side of the lake, poor but classy. They loved their wife, though, and they liked to spoil her. Few others ventured outside the community, fearing getting caught, but they took risks.”
She rolled her dice then moved her little car forward five spaces. “Risks, as you know, often mean more money. Theirs started with logging, back when the wealthiest family in town was the Trosclairs.”
“That’s Mom’s last name.” Phoenix’s mouth hung open for a few seconds as he just stared at his grandmother. “Well, itwasher last name, back before she became Rosalind Lent.”
She smiled. “Would you imagine that? While they took risks and gained wealth, the Trosclairs lost theirs just as fast. Her grandfathers drank a good amount down the drain, preferring the very best and by the cask. Your grandfathers had nothing to do with the downfall of the Trosclair family, but it didn’t stop them from getting blamed for Trosclair troubles. The Trosclairs lost everything, ending in squalor. Your great-grandfathers grew their wealth to surpass anything they ever had. Eventually, they died, though. They left a great deal of money to your grandfathers and your great-grandmother, so she lived the rest of her life as a wealthy widow, but the Trosclairs claimed she was snobby to them. Hilarious, really, since she came from the wrong side herself.”
Dina sighed, glancing around at them before clapping her hands on her knees. “I haven’t spoken about the lake insolong.”
“Please, tell us more.” Jeremy squeezed her hand. “No one else ever wants to talk about anything important, and some only want to tell us whatnotto talk about.”
I bit my lip, resisting telling them that at least there were people who listened to them at all. I lived for years like a ghost, completely invisible as anything other than a walking dollar sign. I could sort of understand their situation, though, which arguably could be worse.
“I can’t imagine someone telling you what you shouldn’t say. Your great-grandmother on your father’s side was not a nice woman, at least not to me, so I tend to think the worst of her. Your grandfathers wanted out. They spent enough time working for their fathers, and they didn’t care about the game playing and gossip of the lake. In fact, they planned to leave the lifestyle altogether before they met me.”
I had read as much, but she brought the experiences to life on the page.
“When they married me, an outsider, it didn’t go over well within their community. For the most part, though, they just hated us silently. I thought I hid it from them, that they didn’t know, but it took me too long to realize they knew all along. We visited once a year and that was it. We checked on their mama, then we went back home and back to our lives. I remember it as a happy time. We started to make money, lots of it. We worked and worked, but we liked to play, too. It was wonderful to see our work pay off—and a great distraction, since I wasn’t getting pregnant.”
The door opened and closed behind her, then Stephen entered the room. His face lit up when he spotted his sons. “Boys! I didn’t know you were here. I planned to come see you tomorrow.”
Four different versions of hello sounded, but only Dina hugged Stephen. “Having a board game night?” he asked Dina.
“It started with that, but now I’m telling them who they are and where they came from. Frankly, I was about to tell them their mother’s story.”
Stephen’s smile vanished, stark pain entering his gaze as if it hid there all along. “Mom, really? Don’t. Let their mother tell them, if she wants. She gets to tell her own story. It’s hers to tell.”
“No,” Phoenix said and stood up so fast, the board game went flying. “It’s my story, right? Your secrets almost killed me and it did kill the others. I may not remember what happened, but they died, and I didn’t, and I have a right to know why.”
Stephen grabbed him, tugging him into a hug. “You’re right, but it goes deeper than just you and your brothers. I’m only really learning what happened that night myself. For years, I honestly didn’t care about the details. They took our baby. You’re not wrong, when you say it is your story, but you wereourbaby. When you went missing, I couldn’t see straight past my fears. Only Granny knew and at the time, I thought she’d lost it.”
Dina patted her son on the arm. “I do so love being discounted.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “I know. Phoenix, your mother is coming home soon. Can you wait for her? I personally will ensure she talks about it, finally. Can you wait?”
If he expected Phoenix to agree, he grossly misunderstood his son.
He shoved out of Stephen’s hold, anger distorting his features. “You all threatened to send me away if I screw up again. You take as little interest in all of us as you can yet still pretend to give a shit. My own mother hasn’t looked me in the eyes for years. If you think I will just sit around and wait for you because I trust you, then you’re being ridiculous.” He looked away, adding, “I’m not even sure you would tell me the truth.”
Stephen visibly paled, as if his son had hit him. “I will always tell you the truth.”
