A Reluctant Enterprise Page 7

  “I wanted to be Pippi.” Sylvie kept reading the spines of the books. “I wanted to be strong, capable, and fearless.”

  “And judging from your position in the business world, you must have succeeded.” Aeron spoke casually, but the deepening frown between Sylvie’s perfectly arched eyebrows made her realize she’d hit a nerve.

  “One would think so, yes.” Sylvie took a step back, and her stilted words showed how uneasy she’d become.

  “Which objects do you want me to ship to the Adirondacks?” Paulina asked.

  Grateful again for the interruption, Aeron thought fast. “The orbs. The books. Everything in the desk drawers. I guess the desk has to go into storage for now, but that’s it.”

  “But what about the closet and all the clothes?” Paulina looked up from her notepad.

  “Charity. Furniture, too, if you don’t want it. If you want to give anything here to your kids and grandkids, go right ahead.”

  “Are you sure?” Paulina looked hesitant. “I don’t want you to regret it later—”

  “I won’t.”

  “You need to go through your mother’s desk and the safe. I have the key and the code. Mr. Hayes has already inventoried the safe for the sake of the will, but he said you needed to look at these things yourself.”

  “Can I wait and sort through them when I’m back home?” Oh, please, she couldn’t go through all that now. The mere thought of having to immerse herself in Maeve’s private things…As much as she wanted to find out about the real Maeve, who her mother genuinely was, she was now close to nauseous.

  “If you weren’t staying at a hotel—” Paulina looked around them for a moment. “You should stay here, take your time and sort through everything. If you rush through the documents, you may miss something important.”

  “No. Paulina, you know why I can’t stay here. Besides, you need to start putting your own mark here to make it your own.” Aeron didn’t want to say as much, but in her mind, this was like Maeve’s tomb and perhaps a memorial of sorts to her weird childhood. Her mother’s ghost seemed to float through the rooms. At this thought, Aeron had to pinch herself to avoid a full-blown panic attack. This wasn’t the time or the place for that. “I’ll be staying at the hotel for the next few months or so. I’ll have everything shipped there.”

  “I have several spare rooms,” Sylvie said.

  Astonished, Aeron turned to stare at her. Sylvie stood resting one hand on the back of what used to be her favorite place in her room, second to the bookshelves, her navy-blue armchair. She looked composed and in command as usual, but something new in her eyes, something that set off tingles in the back of her neck under her hair, made Aeron pause.

  “You mean I should store all the paperwork and so on at your place?”

  “It’s large. I never use the room at the end of the hallway anyway. If you can stand a few boxes and knickknacks, you’re welcome to it.” Sylvie’s posture didn’t change, but her hand curled into a loose fist. Aeron was curious if Sylvie expected her to decline or if she was wary Aeron might accept.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Aeron spoke slowly, wanting her words to sink in. “I’d be in your hair often until I finished going through everything. Then consider the fact that we’ll be together to fulfill the terms of the will…God, Sylvie, you’ll be totally fed up with me, and that might jeopardize everything for both of us.”

  “The contents of the safe and the desk might stir questions and thoughts I can help you with, or at least help find the answers elsewhere if needed. I don’t think we’d be anywhere near each other’s hair. You’ll be in the back room with your things, and I’ll be working in my study like I normally do.”

  Sylvie sounded so self-assured and logical, it was damn near impossible to argue with her, but Aeron knew she herself had a point also. “I’m still worried I might alienate you and make you back out.”

  Paulina shook her head. “Aeron. That’s a good suggestion. As I understand it, you both have a stake in keeping a collaboration going.”

  “We do. Remember you’re traveling with me to Sweden later on. If you have all the papers sorted, at least roughly, you can look at it as a vacation or a study trip.” Sylvie’s smile was tenser. Was she worried this hurdle would break their fragile commitment before they actually signed the deal?

  “This is awkward as hell, but all right, since you insist. We’ll decide on designated hours when it’s okay for me to come over.”

  “Sounds all right to me,” Sylvie said, looking relieved in a way that didn’t make sense, unless she truly was close to panic that Aeron might cause her to lose control over her company.

  “Excellent,” Paulina said and wiggled her notepad. “Give me your address and I’ll handle everything.”

  “What…no.” Aeron knew she was repeating herself, but this was just wrong. “You’re no longer employed by my mother—”

  “Actually, I am. Until the last of this month. Please, let me to do this for you.” She placed a gentle hand on Aeron’s arm.

  How could she ever deny the woman who’d been like a true mother to her? Of course she couldn’t. “Okay. Thank you, Paulina.” She squeezed Paulina’s hand.

  Sylvie gave Paulina her information and then called her building supervisor to let the movers in with the boxes in her backroom.

  Aeron walked through the other rooms, glancing from one object to another. She added most of the finer pieces, heirlooms that she mostly remembered for never being allowed to touch them. Maeve would shriek at her if she came too close, but Paulina had taught her a way to watch them with her hands behind her back. As far as she remembered, Maeve must have stopped worrying so much about them eventually. Aeron couldn’t remember how old she’d been back then, but perhaps five or six.

  “Why don’t you open the safe?” Paulina caught up with her and handed her a sealed envelope. “Here’s the code, and I don’t believe you’ll find more than you can carry.”

  “All right.” Accepting the key, Aeron left Sylvie and Paulina in her room and walked slowly into her mother’s study. She’d rarely been in here. Maeve used this room only for the minimum of paperwork she took part in.

  A large mirror, hanging on the wall into which the safe was built, swung outward without a sound. Aeron’s fingers trembled as she ripped open the envelope. Reading the numbers on the card, she had a vague sense that they were familiar. As she began twisting the wheel on the safe, it dawned on her. It was the time and date of her birth, but in reverse.

  She pulled the handle, and the safe door opened just as quietly as the hinged mirror had. A few thick envelopes on the top shelf turned out to contain hundred-dollar bills. Aeron blinked. All that cash. Didn’t Maeve use a credit card like everyone else? Or did she keep this in case of emergency only? How strange. She didn’t count it now but knew she would later, just to try to figure out what kind of sum her mother would consider enough for an emergency.

  The second shelf held at least ten different cases of jewelry. Sighing, Aeron knew she wouldn’t take any of them with her. Not only were they not her taste, but she rarely wore any jewelry except for her beloved watch. Diamonds, rubies, and emeralds crowded the velvet boxes. It was odd. Even if she would never put them on, they fascinated her.

  *

  Manhattan—1996

  “Look, Aeron,” Maeve said and held up a red, sparkly necklace. “The son of a Saudi-Arabian sheik gave me this. He said it complemented my eyes. Here. Let’s see it on you.”

  Aeron stood willingly next to her mother’s desk and allowed her to place the necklace around her neck. The stones chilled her skin and Aeron didn’t like the feel of the necklace, but she remained still and basked in the warm smile on Maeve’s face.

  “You look like a little princess,” Maeve said. “But you need more. Look at these matching earrings that clip on.” She attached them to Aeron’s earlobes and snapped them shut. They hurt and Aeron wanted to tear them off, but she didn’t dare. Her mother was playing
with her, and that hardly ever happened. She clenched her jaw to endure the pinching sensation in her ears. “But you have to smile, like a real princess. They all smile. All the time.”

  Aeron did her best. She stretched her lips but couldn’t keep the tears from forming in the corners of her eyes. Panicked now, she tried to blink, fought all she could to force them back, but blinking only made them spill over and run down her cheeks.

  “You’re crying?” Maeve’s glittering smile vanished. “You’re wearing princess jewelry worth eighty thousand dollars and you’re crying?” She leaned back and folded her arms across her chest.

  “I love them, Maeve. I really do. B-but they hurt.”

  “What do you mean, hurt?” Looking only slightly less angry now, Maeve ran her eyes over the rubies. “For heaven’s sake. Your ears are like tomatoes.” She unclipped the earrings and winced as she looked at Aeron’s ears. “Are you allergic?”

  Allergic? Afraid her not knowing would make her mother even more annoyed, Aeron only shrugged.

  “I’ll have Paulina bring it up with Dr. Burke on your next visit. Perhaps this time he’ll do a proper workup and not just brush my worries away.” She took Aeron by the shoulders and shook her lightly. “I worry about you all the time, you know.”

  “Yes.” Aeron did know this. Maeve told her this often, especially after Aeron made her angry somehow.

  “You’re smart. I’ve told your teacher this, and that god-awful principal too. I’ve told them you’re smart. You’re too shy. That’s your biggest problem, and you better grow out of it fast or people will walk right over you. I learned that the hard way.”

  Confused, Aeron only nodded. What did Maeve mean about people walking right over her? Would they push her to the ground like some kids liked to do on the school playground? She debated asking Maeve if that’s what she meant but thought better of it and saved the question for Paulina. Paulina never made Aeron feel nervous or that she needed to think about every word in advance.

  “Good thing you’re off to school in Vermont soon. There you’ll be just one rich kid among other ones. I’m told this will build your character and bring you out of your shell.” Maeve unclasped the ruby necklace and replaced it in the velvet box with the earrings. “This means we need to be apart a lot, but you can’t be around me all the time. It’s not good for your independence.”

  Aeron wanted to call out to her mother to stop speaking like this, with such frightening words and not to use words like “independence” that she didn’t quite understand. Did it have something to do with the Fourth of July? She had no idea.

  “When will I go to Vermont, Maeve?” Aeron dared to ask in her most girly, polite voice. She needed the information but didn’t want to get Maeve all angry again.

  “When you start third grade. In a year.”

  “Oh.”

  “Aren’t you pleased that I’m looking out for your future? If we get you into the list of schools I’ve looked up, you’re a shoo-in at any of the Ivy League universities. Anyone who told me I’d just end up screwing up my kid by being a young mom can eat their heart out.”

  Feeling her eyes go big at the last part, Aeron hoped this was yet another one of what Paulina called “Maeve’s sayings” and that nobody would actually be forced to eat their own heart. She had no idea what Ivy League meant other than it was important and had to do with school. Shoo-in. Curious at that particular word, she dared to ask her mother again.

  “That just means you’re sure to get in and be successful.” Maeve stood and patted Aeron’s head. “Run along to Paulina now. For some reason, she thinks you need to learn to set the table, though I don’t understand why. I’ll put the jewelry away for when you’re older. We’ll toughen those little earlobes up before you know it.”

  Afraid Maeve would want to start right away after all, Aeron scurried toward the door.

  “Aeron? Aren’t you forgetting something?” Maeve’s voice made her stop and turn, her heart thundering. Her mother pointed at her cheek. “Don’t I deserve a kiss for playing princess?”

  Relieved, Aeron hurried back and pecked Maeve neatly on the cheek. “No sloppy kisses. We’re not dogs” was one of Maeve’s sayings.

  To her surprise, Maeve pulled her in for a hug. “You were so pretty in those rubies. I’ll give them to you when I’m old. By then you will be used to wearing all kinds of jewelry.”

  Inhaling Maeve’s scent, Aeron pressed her forehead gently against her mother’s neck and nodded.

  “Now, run along and set the silly table. Tell Paulina I’m dining out after all. Marcel is picking me up in an hour.”

  Disappointed that Maeve wouldn’t see how well she could set the table with Paulina’s help, Aeron was still thrilled about the hug. Usually she had to settle for quick fingers through her hair or perhaps equally quick strokes by the back of them across her cheek.

  Aeron turned to look at her mother from the hallway. Maeve was leaning back into her large leather desk chair and held the velvety box close to her chest for a long time with a dreamy expression. As happy as she was for the hug, it stung that Maeve would hug the precious ruby necklace and the hurtful earrings for so much longer.

  *

  Manhattan—Present Day

  “Aeron? Do you have any questions for me as far—oh my. They’re stunning.” Sylvie gazed down at the open jewelry boxes spread out before Aeron on the desk. As she turned her eyes back to Aeron’s face, she realized she’d interrupted a not-so-good situation. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. I’ll go back out to Paulina.”

  “No. Stay.” Aeron’s voice was deeper than usual and husky in a way that made Sylvie wonder if she’d been crying. Her face didn’t show any traces of tears, but she was pale and her eyes had definitely glazed over. “You like them? The rubies?”

  “Of course. They’re stunning. I actually saw Maeve wear them.”

  “Oh, yeah? I never did. Not that I can remember.” Aeron examined the contents of the box again. “Funny. I remember the earrings being clip-ons.”

  “Now there’s a coincidence.” Sylvie kept her voice even as Aeron looked close to tears still. “She told me that too. She changed them because apparently the clip-ons hurt her earlobes.”

  Aeron jerked her head up, and for a moment Sylvie thought she might burst into tears for real. Instead, Aeron began to laugh. She held on to the box and laughed and laughed. Once she was able to control herself, she refocused on Sylvie. Something devilish danced in her eyes. “You like them? You can have them. Any of these.” She gestured toward the boxes.

  “What?” Sylvie could hardly believe her ears, but then deduced that Aeron was being facetious. “Thank you for the offer,” she said with mock sincerity. “I rarely wear any jewelry. Mostly watches.” She raised her sleeve.

  Aeron gaped. “You’re kidding.”

  “What?” Sylvie said again, realizing too late she was repeating herself.

  “We have the exact same watch. A black Zenith Zero-G.” Aeron held up her arm, making her sleeve fall back. “See?”

  The coincidence was remarkable, Sylvie had to give Aeron that, but that wasn’t why she couldn’t stop looking at the woman surrounded by jewelry worth a fortune. Aeron’s eyes glittered at the welcome break in all the somberness of late. Aeron’s laughter was the most adorable, contagious sound Sylvie had heard in a long time—if ever. And what worried her most was how alluring Aeron looked where she sat looking up at Sylvie, completely guileless, at least for the moment.

  Sobering quickly, Sylvie reminded herself she was in this for her independence and to secure the investment Maeve had made. Aeron in turn had her own agenda, based in what seemed to be a highly dysfunctional relationship with her mother. Sylvie knew they had more in common than cool watches. In her opinion, Maeve’s eccentricities were nothing compared to her father Daniel’s ideas about how to raise a child. Then again, she hadn’t grown up in this condo, so perhaps she was wrong.

  “I’m not joking,” Aeron said,
breaking Sylvie’s train of thought. “If there’s any jewelry you’d like, feel free.”

  “I assume you know some of their worth?” Sylvie glanced at the sparkling stones, the muted rose gold, and the intricate filigree white gold. All of it was enough to pull anyone in, no matter if you actually wore such pieces or not.

  “I do. At least I’ll never forget that this,” Aeron pointed at the ruby set, “was worth eighty thousand when I was seven years old.” She closed the boxes. “Paulina?”

  “I’m here.” Paulina stepped inside. “Oh my.”

  “That’s what I said,” Sylvie murmured, which elicited a raised eyebrow from Aeron, another thing far too charming about Maeve’s daughter.

  “Paulina. I intend to auction Maeve’s jewelry. All of it. The money will go to the Belmont Foundation. Somehow Maeve found out about it, and since I’m greedy enough to not let the entire estate go to them, I can at least sell a few things that neither of us wants and give them the proceeds.” She tilted her head. “Unless you’d like to have any of her necklaces, Paulina?”

  It was close to comical to watch Paulina’s expression. “Oh, absolutely not.” Shock mixed with horror at the idea slid across her face.

  Sylvie liked Maeve’s former housekeeper and cook more and more. She seemed like a woman with a good head on her shoulders who really cared for Aeron. If some of the indicators proved correct, Maeve had left a lot to be desired as a mother, and Sylvie surmised that Paulina had picked up as much slack as she could. Now she’d reside here, unless she chose to sell, which would be totally in her right. Either way, she wouldn’t have to worry about the upkeep or the maintenance. She’d no doubt earned this and more by having to deal with all sides of Maeve on a daily basis.