Rix wasn’t con. But, outside hitting beaches in Mexico and the Caribbean, and to go camping in Canada, he’d never left the country.
So it was Rix quizzing Dad about the value of this.
And they both looked like they were enjoying it.
And I was enjoying watching them enjoy it.
Rix had just said, “It’s expensive, and because of that, the reach would be limited.”
“Yes, Rix,” Dad replied, “but in history, it was never the masses that changed the world. It was the visionaries that changed the thinking of the masses. You reach that one child who will grow to be a visionary, he or she will lead in the charge to change the world.”
This was a good point, and I could tell Rix was pondering it (I sure was), when another feminine shout was heard.
“God! You dare! Let me in! Where is he?”
Mum.
And the second thing that concerned me that morning happened.
Dad reached out and grabbed the edge of the table.
It was so not Dad to hold on to anything, and I didn’t know if he did it because his first inclination was to upend the table in a fit of fury, or if his blood pressure had just spiked one too many times, and he was about to have a stroke.
But whatever reason, it served to steady him.
Which was good.
Because we then heard Mum yell, “Don’t you touch me!”
At that, Dad was up swiftly.
Rix got up too.
I followed.
We found Mum in the hallway just off the foyer, Cassandra behind her looking stricken.
“Your staff leaves a lot to be desired, Ned,” Mum decreed.
Dad had stopped and was looking beyond Mum to Cassandra.
“I didn’t try to touch her, Mr. Sharp,” she said, sounding distressed. “She…well, she forced her way in.”
“That’s a lie,” Mum sniffed.
“I just told her what you told me and tried to keep the door—” Cassandra attempted to explain.
“That’s fine, Cassandra. Thank you for trying. It’s fine,” Dad said. “We’re done in the breakfast room, I think.”
She nodded, and relieved to have something to do that was actually listed on her job description, because it was clear she didn’t double as a security guard, she took off.
“It’s fine your housekeeper bars the door to me?” Mum asked.
“Yes, because that was the directive I gave her,” Dad answered. “Though, I did it never once imagining you’d force your way into my home.”
“I cannot believe—” Mum began.
Dad’s shoulders drooped. “Helena, it’s been a difficult morning. I’m not doing this.”
As usual, Mum ignored him.
“Yes, it is a difficult morning, as you’re well aware we have a situation. It’s my understanding that it has not escaped you that an issue has arisen between Blake and Chad, because that issue arose in this very house.”
“Would you care to say hello to your daughter?” Dad invited.
Mum looked to me, glanced up at Rix, then back to me, and she took in my outfit.
Then she came in, and we did non-cheek touches while she murmured, “You look lovely, dear. Chloe Pierce has such good taste.”
I’d picked this outfit.
And my dress for last night.
But I didn’t share that.
I said, “Thanks, Mum.”
“John,” she said to Rix.
“Rix,” I corrected.
She did a demure grimace and returned, “Such an odd thing, that. What kind of name is Rix? That isn’t even short for Richard.”
“His last name is Hendrix,” I explained.
“I know, dear, it still seems baffling to me.”
I decided I wasn’t talking about that anymore.
Rix decided not even to say “hey.”
Mum was done with us too.
She turned to Dad. “Now, this brunch is on.”
Again, I knew it.
Dad shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up.
He straightened his shoulders. “Hel—”
She charged on. “And you and I are hosting. Obviously, Chad and Blake have things to chat about. They won’t be attending. We’ll cover for them.”
“Having a wedding brunch for a couple who doesn’t attend is asinine,” Dad said. “And I’m not going. I’ve already made myself clear about this to Blake.”
She looked horrified. “But Ned, if you don’t go, people will whisper about you and I not getting along again.”
“Helena, they won’t. They know we don’t get along. They know we haven’t gotten along since you dropped all pretense about a year after our wedding.”
Uh.
What?
What pretense?
“There was no pretense,” Mum hissed.
“You were not the woman I married.”
“Drivel,” she bit.
Dad sighed. “I’m not doing this either. And I’m not going to that fucking brunch.”
She gave up on him and turned to me.
When she did, I knew what was coming.
Thus my heart sank, my palms started sweating, and I honest to God felt a little dizzy.
“Then it’s you and me, Alexandra,” she declared. “You must stand in for Blake.”
Yes.
That was what I knew was coming.
Now I felt sick.
“No fucking way.”
That was implacable.
That was Rix.
Mum’s gaze shot up to him.
“I beg your pardon?” Mum demanded.
“You know that’d be torture for her,” Rix returned.
My mother shook her hair. “It’s high time she developed a stiff upper lip.”
Yes.
She knew it’d be torture.
She just didn’t care.
“My woman owns her own home, keeps it, pays her own bills, goes to a job every day that offers things to people and even makes a difference in their lives,” Rix retorted. “I’ve seen her, very literally, stand on the edge of a cliff and look right into the abyss without flinching. If you don’t know she’s already got one of those, then you don’t pay much attention to your daughter.”
Wow.
How sweet.
And he wasn’t done.
“She doesn’t like parties. Just like about half a billion other people on the planet. It’s not a big deal. It’s not something to get over or force yourself to do. Though, someone’s gotta get over something, and that’s you.”
Mum looked insulted.
“Well said, Rix,” Dad enthused.
My mother recovered swiftly.
“Of course,” she sneered. “The man is here a day and he’s on your side.”
“This is a family, Helena, there are no sides,” Dad shot back.
Oh boy.
I could tell by the shift in Dad’s tone.
Here we go.
As ever, Mum was there for it.
“If that’s the case, why don’t you take your daughter’s and attend this brunch?”
“Because I never liked Chad Head, but my daughter wanted him, so I put up with him. Now he’s proven himself to be what I thought he was all along, and I’m not going to toe the line simply for the sake of appearances.”
Toe the line.
Mum’s voice was rising. “It’s not for the sake of appearances, Ned. It’s for your daughter.”