“It’s the middle of June.” The woman looked surprised at the question. “We didn’t set up a coat check.”
Their mother stopped scanning to glare down at them. The hand went out. The finger pointed. “You. Two. Are. In. Trouble.”
Louise swallowed hard and gripped Jillian’s hand tightly.
“How much trouble depends on the rest of the night,” their mother continued. “You two be good and charming to Anna Desmarais and much will be forgiven.”
“Do we really have to be nice to her?” Jillian had the courage or stupidity to ask. Louise squeezed her twin’s hand hard in warning.
“Don’t push me now,” their mother growled quietly so no one around them could hear her. “You will be nice if you ever want a life again.”
“She’s been awful to you!” Jillian cried. “Why do you have to be the one that’s nice?”
“Because I am better than her!” their mother snapped. “I do not let other people define me. I am who I am and that is an intelligent and gracious human being. And as such, I do not drop to the level of bullies and trade insult for insult.”
“But isn’t that just letting them win?” Jillian ignored another squeeze.
“No, it’s called standing your ground without sinking to their level.” Their mother held out her hand to Jillian. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”
With Jillian linking Louise to their mother, they went in search of Anna Desmarais. A cold dread flowered in Louise’s stomach and grew. This was going to be the worst night ever.
They went into a big ballroom full of richly dressed people. At Louise’s eye level, it was a confusing wall of silk dresses and black tuxedoes. They wove right and left, avoiding groups of people standing and talking and laughing. The wall of black parted and a woman stood alone in the crowd, quietly distanced from everyone.
She noticed them coming. For a moment, she watched their mother approach without a change in expression, like an ivory statue. Then she noticed Jillian and a slight frown crossed her face.
Louise’s feet stopped moving out of sudden fear. Nikola bumped up against her. For a moment, Jillian was pulled between their mother and Louise stopping. Her twin looked back, impatient, and jerked Louise forward to follow.
“Don’t piss her off,” Jillian whispered. “She’s killing my hand!”
The exchange had drawn the woman’s attention to Louise, and her eyes widened in surprise. Louise felt something leap the space between them, a spark of knowing, powerful and dangerous.
In that moment, she knew that this was Anna Desmarais, her mother’s nemesis. That the woman felt she was smarter than those around her. That she felt she was able to do anything she want, take anything she needed, and go through anyone that stood in her way. Louise knew because there was an answering echo inside her, a resonance of being. She recoiled as if suddenly seeing a mirror and it showed how selfish and wrong was everything she’d done in the last few weeks. What she could become.
Did Anna see that Louise was just like her? Could she guess what Louise had done in the last few weeks?
“Mrs. Desmarais.” Their mother pulled them into a line before Anna. Their father was trying hard to look at ease and failing. “This is my family. My husband, George. Jillian and Louise.”
“What beautiful girls,” the woman murmured without taking her eyes from Louise. “Yours?” The tone was polite but it put shivers down Louise’s spine.
“Yes, mine,” their mother said coldly. “I have the stretch marks to prove it.”
“Ah, I didn’t realize you had children. Twins, no less? Are they clever, just like their mother?”
Her mother lifted her chin as if sensing a hidden insult in the question. “Yes, they are. They go to Perelman School for the Gifted.”
“Perelman?” Anna cried. “Wasn’t that the school where so many children were hurt by the bomb?”
“Yes, but they were nowhere near the flying glass. They’re putting on Peter Pan for the school play. They were in the art rooms on the top floor checking on props when the bomb went off.”
“I’m Peter Pan.” Jillian beamed full-on cute at Anna. “We’re fraternal twins, not identical. I want to be a movie director when I grow up. Louise wants to be a naturalist. We’re both huge fans of Nigel Reid. We’re really excited about meeting him tonight. Thank you so much for the tickets!”
Louise nodded, glad that Jillian was handling it. Which one of them was the brave one? She added in a quiet “Thank you” and forced herself to smile.