All I can do is watch my daughter’s face. She’s smiling, happy, clapping her hands and singing along as much as she can. She doesn’t know the words to the songs the other children seem to know by heart. When she falters she watches the others. I think she’s trying to mimic them, to fit in. It twists something inside me. I don’t like that she has to do that.
Dex comes to stand beside me. “She’s enjoying herself.” Dex has been here for most of Angelique’s life. At some point, she took it upon herself to call him Uncle Dex. I never corrected her.
“Yeah.” She is.
“How was your meeting?” he asks after a long minute as a song finishes and Angelique catches my eye. She gives me a happy little wave.
I smile back and wave, but the smile is mechanic. “I found what I was looking for.” Found what I wish I hadn’t.
He doesn’t comment. He knows why I went to Austria.
I take a breath and exhale, turn to him. “Now to understand why.”
He nods.
The kids start to rise, mothers pushing strollers loaded with younger siblings walking over to collect their children. Angelique beelines to Isabelle, who takes her hand and ushers her over to a bookshelf. They spend the next ten minutes choosing books. My mother, witnessing this, walks toward Dex and I.
“She’s just the shiny new thing,” I tell her, not wanting her to feel hurt over Angelique’s obvious preference for Isabelle.
“Oh, I’m not hurt, Jericho,” she says, patting my hand. “Isabelle is good for her.”
I watch them too. She is. I can see it from here.
“But she’s not her father,” my mother adds.
I smile. “I’m not hurt either,” I tell her, realizing it’s not quite true as I speak the words.
“Well, if you were, it would be natural.”
I grit my teeth because my mom knows me well.
“Can we buy these, daddy?” Angelique asks, carrying a stack of books. Isabelle follows behind.
“Aren’t they a bit difficult for her?” my mother asks Isabelle after looking through them.
“I don’t think so. Angelique is quite a good reader already.”
“And I want a notebook like Belle’s please,” Angelique says.
I raise my eyebrows and look at my wife.
“For music,” Isabelle says and turns to Angelique. “I usually make my own. If you have an empty notebook, we can make—”
“Buy what you need. For yourself too.”
Isabelle looks up at me like she wants to say something but then she takes Angelique’s hand, leading her to what I guess is the music section. We follow them and a few minutes later, Angelique has two more books, a notebook, and a new stuffed animal. She is exhilarated. I see it in the brightness of her eyes. The flush of her cheeks. She’s looking everywhere, at everything, and beaming.
“Can you take care of this?” I ask Dex, handing him my credit card.
“Sure. Come on, kid,” he says. “Piggyback?”
“I’m getting too old for piggyback rides, Uncle Dex,” she says, but hops on excitedly anyway.
My mother follows them and when Isabelle tries to pass me, I touch her arm, halting her. She looks at me. “What?” Any sweetness she has in her voice for Angelique is gone.
“Why do you make your own notebooks?”
“Why do you care?”
“Isn’t it easier to just buy them?”
“Just buy them. That’s what people with money do, right? Just buy things. Anything they want. Including people.”
“Is it money?” Her cheeks flush and her gaze wavers. I know it is. She’s embarrassed. “Is that also why you’re not in school?”
She folds her arms in front of her. “I have a music group I study with. Or I used to.”
“Not a music school?”
“Again, why do you care?”
I shrug a shoulder. “Just curious.”
“No, not a school. I didn’t have money for school, so I found a group I could afford to study with. I used the meager allowance Carlton gave me. Satisfied? I won’t be humiliated for not having money. For not being allowed to have a job or go to school.”
“I’m not asking to shame you, Isabelle. I really do want to know. Now show me what you need.”
“I’m fine.”
“For my daughter then. Show me what you need to teach her.”
She grits her teeth. Stubborn. Then her expression changes. Her eyes brighten. And I swear I can almost see a lightbulb go on over her head.
“I’ve missed a bunch of violin lessons. I’d like to go again. And I’d like a job.”
“We’ve talked about a job. That’s a no.”
“But the lessons?” she asks. I realize, given the speed of her response, she knew the job would be a no. She asked so she could have something to bargain.
Angelique comes running to us then, her bag in hand. “We’re done! Let’s get cake!”
We both smile at her, and I wait until Isabelle looks at me again. “Get what you need to teach my daughter and we’ll discuss your lessons later.”
“Later when?”
“We’ll see.”
“Not good enough. Today.”
I sigh. “Fine, today.”
She smiles and it’s a smile I haven’t seen before. “Okay. I’ll be quick,” she tells Angelique and hurries to choose a few things from the shelves. She then hands them to me and again, I see a flush on her cheeks.
I take the books and lead her toward the cash register.
“I hate this,” she says as we wait in line.
“What?”
“That you’re paying. I want a job, Jericho. I want to earn my own money.”
“I will pay you to teach my daughter,” I say, the idea taking shape then and there.
From the look on her face, she’s intrigued but skeptical.
“I’ll deduct these from your first check,” I tell her as I set the books on the counter and look at her. “Deal?”
“Really?”
I nod.
She studies me. I raise my eyebrows.
“Okay,” she says. “Deal.”
“Good.” I thank the cashier, take the bag, and lean toward my wife. “Now let’s go get you that cake you’ve been craving, little liar.”
She smiles victoriously.
I can give her this.
7
Isabelle
Cotton Candy is as busy as ever but since I know Megs, I snagged us the best table at the back. Zeke’s already there when we arrive and Angelique runs to show him all her new books. I wave to Megs and take a step toward the counter. Jericho, ever suspicious, grabs my arm.
“Where are you going?”
I look from his hand to his eyes. “I’m going to say hello to my friend.” I make a point of stopping, cocking my head at him in false concern. “Do you need me to define what a friend is?”
He looks around the busy café, glancing at Dex standing at the door like some goon. He then finds his brother who I notice is watching him over Angelique’s head. “I’ll come with you.”