Chapter 7
The morning after her miraculous day on Patrick’s yacht, Eugenia felt as though she
had had a month’s vacation, and was full of energy and bright ideas. She spent the
morning calling factories she knew, and others she had heard of, describing what she
had in mind, the kind of garments, and the quantity she wanted for a first run. It was a
small order, but most of the factories weren’t up and running again yet, and she finally
found one in New Jersey that was willing to take her project on and said they could
produce the order in a week, which seemed amazing, but she wasn’t making wedding
gowns, just play clothes for teenagers. Once they agreed to make the order, she was
planning to go to outlets for inexpensive fabrics and see what she could come up with.
She needed miles of pink tulle, lace, ribbon, trimmings, and a truckload of sequins,
mainly pink. She felt like she was making a giant birthday cake, and was having fun
doing it.
Eloise was impressed by the progress she had made by late that morning. And she
told them all at lunch that Patrick was coming to dinner on Friday, to thank him for the
day they had all spent on his boat. Everyone was fine with it, and said how nice he’d
been to them. They were sorry not to have a chance to visit him again before they left on
Sunday. It amused Eugenia that they assumed he would be delighted to have nine guests
for the day again, and that he had nothing else to do.
She had made a decision that morning that she was going to have a serious talk with
Gloria that afternoon. She couldn’t put it off, since they were leaving in three days, and
if Gloria wanted to cancel the wedding, it would be best to decide that now, although
Eugenia doubted that any of the suppliers would return her deposits at this late date. She
was past the contract dates for refunds, and if they canceled now, she’d have to pay in
full. But the issue was Gloria’s future, not what it was costing her mother.
She didn’t want to deal with it on the day that Patrick was coming to dinner, nor on
the last day of their vacation, which left only today. She was anxious thinking about it.
Minutes before she went to look for Gloria in the late afternoon, she got a call from
Austin Wylie, who said that he had reconsidered his offer, in light of what she had said
to him, and that he knew how important her business was in better times. She guessed
that Natasha had pushed him to do it, since he had already discussed the project with
her.
“I’m thinking that fifteen million should do it, for a forty-five percent ownership for
my wife,” he said grandly. The money was improving but the percentage was still way
off base.
“That’s kind of you, Austin,” Eugenia said politely, “but the percentage is still too
high, and the money too low. I need to speak to my financial people and get back to you.
I can’t make a decision like this without them, and you took me by surprise with your
first offer. I wasn’t planning on investors. I’m not opposed to it, but the offer has to
make sense.” He wondered if she was putting personal money into it, which he couldn’t
assess. And if so, he knew his offer wouldn’t stand up. He had hoped that she was
desperate, which clearly she wasn’t. She had played her hand well. “I’ll get back to
you,” she repeated, and called Patrick as soon as she hung up. She had already sent him
a text to thank him that morning, and he had responded warmly that he couldn’t wait to
see her and the others on Friday. She sounded mildly panicked when he answered her
call after she spoke to Austin.
“Austin Wylie just called me,” she said, breathless.
“I knew he would. What did he say?”
“He offered me fifteen million for forty-five percent ownership,” she said. “That
sounds way off to me.”
“It’s garbage,” he said, “and he knows it. You need twenty million, correct?”
“It would help us hold on until business picks up again and returns to normal. Less
than that won’t make much difference. We’ve had no significant income for eighteen
months, and our overhead is still high. We’ve cut back, but not enough,” she realized
now. Patrick thought about it for a minute. This was small potatoes for him, but he didn’t
want to make a mistake that Eugenia would suffer from.
“What do you think your business is worth? A rough guess. Fifty million, a hundred,
two hundred? I don’t know your industry well enough to judge.”
“Our accounts receivable are enormous when things are normal. Our price tags are
high. I’m not sure, and have to ask my accountant. But I’d say conservatively, the
business is worth a hundred million, ready-to-wear and couture.”
“I was guessing around that, or maybe higher. In that case, assuming a hundred, ask
him for thirty million for twenty percent ownership. He’ll push you down to twenty or
twenty-five million, which is where you want to be, and don’t give an inch on the
percentage,” Patrick said smoothly. This was child’s play for him. He bought and sold
in the billions, and he was happy to help her with her negotiation. “And if you make a
deal with him, Eugenia, obviously you’ll have your attorneys look at it, but I want you to
get two crucial clauses in the contract. One, that you can give him back his money, at
your sole discretion, at any time, with no penalty. Two, that you get a morals clause in
it, so that if at any time he is involved in any form of prosecution or situation that you
deem unseemly, distasteful, immoral, or damaging to your business, the deal is off and
dissolves immediately. I may be wrong, but if my instincts about him are right, that’s
important. I don’t trust him. Promise me you’ll get those two clauses, or no deal.”
“I promise,” she said, grateful to him again.
“And don’t call him back immediately. Let him sweat for a day or two. You can call
him back on Monday. It’s good for him, and for you.”
“Thank you,” she said gratefully, and got off the phone a few minutes later. She went
to look for Gloria, and found her with Geoff in their guesthouse. They were avoiding the
others most of the time, except for meals. Gloria’s siblings were easily irritated by
Geoff’s arrogance. They had hardly seen Gloria for the past few days; sometimes she
took her and Geoff’s meals to their house, and she ate alone with him. At dinner, they
joined the others for family meals. But Eugenia was observing increasingly that Geoff
was not someone who did well in a family setting and he had trouble getting along with
others. Given the closeness of their family, that did not bode well for the future. The
others were so tired of Geoff’s constant bragging, they had stopped paying attention to
him and barely spoke to him at dinner, which didn’t stop him from expounding on the
many theories he had opinions about that no one wanted to hear. He was painful to listen
to and share a meal with, and he did his best to isolate Gloria with him to gain control
of her.
Gloria opened the door to her mother with a suspicious look, and Eugenia smiled
warmly at her from the doorway.
“Why don’t you come and have a cup of tea with me? I’ve been looking for you all
afternoon.”
“I was here,” Gloria said primly. “Why were you looking for me?”
“I just wanted to chat. We haven’t seen a lot of you for the past few days.” Gloria
didn’t invite her in, and Eugenia was sure that Geoff was listening to them.
“You were in the city yesterday,” Gloria accused her, as though it was a capital
offense.
“True, but you two have been keeping to yourselves.” They both knew he wasn’t
comfortable with them, but Eugenia didn’t say it. She didn’t want to start an argument
before they got to the main issue. “Come on over to the house,” she said breezily, and
started to leave.
Gloria hesitated, looked back over her shoulder to check with Geoff and he nodded,
out of sight, but approving Gloria’s contact with her mother. He was controlling her,
like a puppet. “I’ll be there in a minute,” she said, and closed the door. Eugenia waited
for her on the porch of her house, and Gloria approached cautiously five minutes later
and sat down in a chair across from her, and repeated her question. “Why do you want
to talk to me? Is this about Geoff?”
“In part, but it’s really about you,” her mother said gently. “Some things have
worried me and I want you to be aware of them.”
“He feels that our family is hard on him.” Gloria was instantly on the defensive.
“That’s unfortunate. He’s a guest here, and needs to be polite and pleasant to the
other guests. He’s being rude to me when he’s rude to Brad or avoids the rest of us, and
you’re being unkind to your sisters. They’ve been nice to Geoff. But that’s not the
issue.” Gloria’s lips were pursed in a thin line while she listened. “When we went to
Patrick Hughes’s boat on Monday and Geoff stayed here, I have reliable information
that a woman appeared minutes after we left, and she spent the day with him, until we
came back. I think that is very concerning behavior. What was he doing with another
woman all day behind your back? And there was a second incident on Tuesday that
several people noticed and so did I. He was chatting up Daphne’s relief nanny and
keeping her from her duties, to the point that Tucker almost drowned while she had her
back turned and Geoff was charming her. I think Geoff has a roving eye, and I want you
to take a serious look at that. The way your relationship is right now, weeks before you
marry, is the best it’s ever going to be. It doesn’t get better than this. And if he’s flirting
with other women and cheating on you now, you are in for a lifetime of it, and I don’t
want you to go through that.”
“So what are you telling me?” Gloria said in a nasty tone. “You’re withdrawing your
approval and canceling the wedding?”
“This isn’t about the wedding, it’s about the marriage. I want you to take a good
look at who you’re marrying, so there are no bad surprises later.”
“The only bad surprise is how badly you’ve treated him since he’s been here. Brad
is Sofia’s boyfriend, he’s not her fiancé or her husband, thank God. Geoff is British
nobility, he’ll be an earl one day, and I’ll be a countess,” Gloria said grandly.
“Without a penny,” Eugenia couldn’t resist pointing out to her. “And I don’t give a
damn about titles. I care about who he is as a human being, and how he treats my
daughter.”
“And you’d rather have Sofia married to Brad?” It was a statement of thinly veiled
racism, which horrified Eugenia and she didn’t approve of. And Brad was a hundred
times the man Geoff was.
“Yes, I would. Brad is a lovely man, he’s wonderful to Sofia, he’s a doctor, he will
be able to support her, and I don’t care what color he is. Gloria, I want you to be happy,
and I don’t want Geoff cheating on you and breaking your heart.” She went straight to
the heart of the issue.
“You’re the one breaking my heart, because you’ve been such a bitch to me and
Geoff since we’ve been here.”
Eugenia fought valiantly to control her temper, and succeeded. The issues she was
concerned about were real, and she didn’t want to lose focus on them.
“That’s not true,” Eugenia said calmly. “And if I have been, I apologize. What about
the woman who spent the day here with Geoff? That was her leaving the property when
we returned from the boat, the woman in the red sports car.” She did not say how she
knew, and protected her sources. She kept her promise to the woman he had paid fifty
dollars to keep his secret.
“Geoff told me all about her. He was very upset about it.”
“When I asked him about it when we got back, he said he had no idea who she was,
that she had just come onto the property, didn’t speak to him, and turned around and left.
When in fact she spent the day here, for eight hours. What was he doing with her? And
why didn’t he say so then?”
“He was embarrassed,” Gloria said heatedly. “He said she just showed up, found
him alone, and came on to him. He said she practically raped him. He tried to get her to
leave and she refused. She wanted him to sleep with her, she begged him, and she
threatened to accuse him of rape if he didn’t have sex with her. He refused all day, and
when he told her you were coming back any minute, she finally left.” Eugenia was
stunned by the story, which she didn’t believe for a minute. Geoff had covered his ass
nicely with Gloria, who wanted to believe him innocent, and Eugenia couldn’t prove
otherwise, but she was absolutely certain that he had had sex with Natasha, and that she
didn’t have to hold him hostage to get him to do it. “It was that Russian slut who’s
married to the oilman from Texas at Daphne’s party,” Gloria said. He had even revealed
her identity to strengthen his story. And Eugenia had been right. It was Natasha Wylie,
even though her husband thought she didn’t drive a car. It was a tapestry of lies that
Geoff had carefully woven in order to convince his future wife. But Eugenia wasn’t an
innocent, and she wasn’t in love with him. She had no idea why her daughter was. He
was pompous and entitled, full of himself, narrow-minded, narcissistic, and prejudiced,
and he would live off Gloria as best he could, just as Umberto had with her. It made
Eugenia sad thinking of it. Gloria deserved better than that.
“And what about the nanny?” Eugenia asked her in a calm voice, fighting for every
bit of self-control she could muster. This was not a temper tantrum, it was about
whether Geoff was going to be a suitable husband or not. “Did you see him with that
girl? He was standing three inches from her, with her tits nearly touching him. What was
he doing even talking to her, let alone from that distance? He had no reason to be in
deep conversation with her, while she nearly let Tucker drown.”
“She was hitting on him, he told me so, but he figured you wouldn’t give him a fair
shake. You like Phillip better than Geoff because he’s rich, so you suck up to him.
Maybe you think he’ll support you when your business goes bust and you have nothing
left,” Gloria said. It was a viciously low blow that no child of hers should ever say to
her. “You let my father starve when you divorced him,” she said angrily. “If you lose
your business, it’s what you deserve. Papa is almost eighty years old, and he has nothing
left.”
Eugenia was in a white-hot rage, which she barely managed to control. “I gave your
father more than half of everything I had when he divorced me, and I had five children
to support and get through college. He almost destroyed my business then. And if he has
nothing left, it’s because he spends money like water and has never worked an honest
day in his life. He depends on everyone else to support him, which I did lavishly for
twenty years. That’s more than long enough, and what happened between me and your
father is none of your business. But who you marry is mine, and I think Geoff is a
cheater and you’re a fool if you marry him with your eyes closed. Wake up for God’s
sake, look at what he’s done, just in the few days he’s been here, right under
his motherin-law’s nose. He has no respect for anyone, and certainly not for you.
I don’t care how rich Phillip is. All I care about is that he’s a wonderful husband and father.
I hope I can say the same about Geoff one day, but it’s not looking that way to me.
He’s going to break your heart, Gloria. And no, I’m not canceling the wedding.
But maybe you should. Take a long, hard look at him, and ask yourself some questions.
This can’t be the first time he’s done something like this. You are going to wind up supporting him,
and I think he’ll be unfaithful to you. If you don’t care, that’s up to you, but don’t delude yourself
about who he is.” Eugenia was very serious as she said it, and Gloria answered her
immediately, on the defensive.
“He’s a wonderful person, and I love him, and don’t count on seeing a lot of us after
the wedding, if you’re going to treat us like this, accusing him of cheating, and if you’re
going to fill your house with Sofia’s brats when she marries Brad.”
“I’m ashamed of you, Gloria,” Eugenia said to her, as Gloria stood up. “And thank
you for giving me the opportunity to give you the most expensive wedding imaginable,
and telling me not to plan on seeing you after that. Who do you think you are? Who are
you? You have a lot of serious thinking to do, about your own values and Geoff’s. This
isn’t how you grew up, small-minded and disrespectful, ungrateful and bigoted.”
“I’m getting married in three weeks and I don’t care what you think,” Gloria spat at
her, stomped down the stairs off the porch, and marched back to the guesthouse, where
Geoff was waiting for her. They were two lone soldiers against the world, which
brought them closer to each other. Gloria believed all of his lies. He was a practiced
liar, and Eugenia felt sorry for her. She was going to have a miserable life until she
opened her eyes to who he was.
Eugenia had a heavy heart as she went upstairs to change, thinking of everything
Gloria had said. They were cruel words, the angry words of a nasty, spoiled child, each
one designed to hurt, and each one felt like a spear to her heart. She was stunned by
Gloria’s accusations about her father. She had always favored him, and he must have
told her that her mother had left him penniless, which was the biggest lie of all. He
would have left Eugenia bleeding by the roadside if he could, and she had given him far
too much, in order to be kind. He was older, and had never had a job, and she had felt
sorry for him. She realized now that she shouldn’t have bothered. He probably was out
of money, as Gloria said. But that was his problem now, and no longer hers. She had no
intention of bailing him out again. She couldn’t anyway, and didn’t want to.
She was sitting quietly in her room, when Eloise came to check on her a few minutes
later.
“You had a fight with Gloria?” she asked cautiously.
“I did. I wanted to speak to her about Geoff, before she makes a mistake. I think he’s
lying to her, and she believes him. I had to say what I did. The rest is up to her.”
“Gloria fought dirty, even as a kid. She always hits below the belt, and dredges up
things from the past.”
“She won’t forgive me for questioning her about him, but I still had to do it,”
Eugenia said with a sigh. “That’s my job. Motherhood isn’t a popularity contest, and I
can’t win with her. She thinks I cheated your father in the divorce.”
“Oh God, did she bring that up again?” Eloise groaned. “He whines to her whenever
he’s broke. That’s why I don’t want kids. No matter what you do, you wind up with
some vicious fifteen-year-old screaming at you. I’d rather not go through it. And Gloria
got stuck on that page. She’s still immature and a bitch.” She spoke seriously, and
Eugenia smiled. It was a strong statement but she believed it and had experienced it
herself. Eloise wasn’t wrong, but Eugenia didn’t want a war with any of her children,
although she had a feeling Gloria meant what she said. Under Geoff’s influence, they
wouldn’t be seeing much of her, once she got the wedding she wanted. Eugenia knew
there was nothing she could do about it, but she couldn’t stay silent. She owed it to
Gloria to say what she believed, painful or not, and it had been for both of them. Gloria
had an ally in Geoff, but Eugenia stood alone at the top of the mountain, with all the
responsibility, and always had. Even at their ages now, she had an obligation to protect
them as best she could. And she felt she had failed with Gloria. Her daughter was flying
blind into a brick wall, refusing to open her eyes.
—
Patrick texted her as she walked down the stairs to dinner. “How did the talk go? Are
you okay?” He remembered what she had said about being mother and father and how
lonely it was at times. He knew the talk with Gloria wouldn’t be easy, if her mother was
challenging the marriage and expressing doubts about Geoff that sounded justified. He
didn’t envy her.
“It was tough. I’ll live. I did my job,” she texted back. “She hates me now, but I had
to say it.” It was nice having an adult ally, and she was touched to hear from him, and
that he was checking on her.
“You did the right thing. No other choice. She’ll get over it,” Patrick texted her.
“Maybe not. But it was still the right thing. I hate these ages, they’re so hard.”
“Enjoy the others. You’re lucky you have more than one,” he answered, and she
smiled. “See you tomorrow. Can’t wait.”
She joined the others for dinner then. Gloria and Geoff did not show up, and Eugenia
decided to let them be. There was no point forcing them to come to the table and sulk.
Gloria and Geoff walked into the dining room in the middle of dinner. They were
wearing identical gray hoodies and jeans, with backpacks on. The others were
surprised to see them. Gloria looked at her family angrily, and Geoff said nothing.
“We’re leaving,” Gloria said to her mother in a cold voice.
“Now? For where?” They had startled her and the others.
“London, of course,” Gloria said. “If you’re all going to treat us like shit, there’s no
point our being here. We’re going home.” It was three days before they were due to
leave and halfway through the week’s holiday their mother had gone to great pains to
arrange, which didn’t matter to them. She looked straight at her mother then, as the
dinner on their plates got cold. “It cost us two thousand dollars to change our tickets. I
put it on your credit card,” which she had use of for wedding expenses. Eugenia had
paid for their tickets to the States, and was going to do so again for the wedding. “This
is your fault anyway, that we’re leaving early. So you have to pay for it.”
“Nice of you to ask me,” Eugenia said calmly. “Running away is never the answer.
Why don’t you stay and try to work it out?”
“Geoff doesn’t want to stay in a house where he’s not welcome, and neither do I.”
“You’re both welcome, as long as you behave,” Eugenia said firmly, and the others
watched, pained for her.
“That goes both ways. We don’t like the way you treat us,” Gloria threw back at her,
in front of all the others.
“I’m very sorry to hear it.” They heard a car pull up, their Uber had arrived.
“See you at the wedding,” Gloria said cavalierly, and no one said a word. “In three
weeks.” She and Geoff didn’t say goodbye to any of them, and didn’t thank her mother
for the trip, the vacation, the tickets, none of it. No thank-you and no goodbye, except
Gloria’s speech. Geoff had not said a single word. They left the house, got in the car
waiting for them, and the group heard it drive away a minute later. Eugenia looked
shaken, and glanced at all of them.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that,” she addressed them all.
“What brought that on?” Stef asked her, mystified.
“We had a talk this afternoon. She didn’t like what I said, so they left.”
“She’s the same as she always was, spoiled and entitled. I’m sorry, Mom,” Stefano
said to her. He was disappointed in his sister, but not surprised.
“Our talk today was about an incident that happened at the house when we were on
the boat on Monday, and Geoff chatting up Daphne’s relief nanny on Tuesday, which
almost caused Tucker to drown. I couldn’t let that pass without saying something to
Gloria. Geoff convinced her he wasn’t to blame, it’s them against the world. Anyway,
I’m sorry to drag you into it, and that they left early.” She felt terrible about it, but it was
the price to pay for doing her job as a mother, and she didn’t shirk her duty, no matter
how unpopular it made her.
There was a chorus of “I’m sorry, Moms” around the table, and they slowly got the
conversation back on track, but the atmosphere was subdued, and they all felt sorry for
their mother. Eloise had shot off a text to her sister and called her a bitch and a spoiled
brat. The opinion around the table appeared to be that, and Eugenia didn’t comment.
Gloria had responded with a slew of insults to her sister.
“Boy, the wedding is going to be really fun,” Eloise commented. “I can hardly wait.
Should we throw rocks or rotten tomatoes instead of rice? Do we all stand up in unison
and object when they get to that part?” Sofia laughed, and Daphne followed, and Liz
stepped in to try and repair the evening.
“I think we should play charades after dinner, or Cards Against Humanity, or go for
a midnight swim. Let’s do something fun. We can’t let them spoil our fabulous vacation.
Fuck them,” she said, and for once the rough side of her seemed appropriate and
everyone laughed and relaxed after the startling departure.
In the end, they did play parlor games and laughed a lot. Stef drank tequila shots and
got a little drunk, and Brad joined him. Daphne and Phillip left early. She was exhausted
at the end of her pregnancy, and she was taking care of Tucker without a nanny and
running after him all day. Their housekeeper was babysitting for them that night.
“I’ll say one thing, this family is never dull,” Liz said, “but you guys are too polite.
In my family, one of my brothers would have called Geoff an asshole, punched him in
the face and given him a black eye, and in the morning everyone would be friends,” Liz
said, and everyone laughed. She had been a good sport on the vacation and nice to all of
them. She and Stefano had been married for two years, and everyone was finally getting
used to her. She had a big mouth and a good heart, and Eugenia liked her better than
before, after this vacation. She was even beginning to enjoy the sparkling outfits. They
added life to ordinary occasions, and Stef loved them.
After dinner, they all went to their guesthouses and bedrooms, and Eugenia lay on
her bed thinking about Gloria and the things she had said. She had meant them to be
hurtful and they were. She was just sorry it had to end that way.
She guessed that they had caught a midnight flight to London. They’d be back in time
for the wedding, and Geoff’s parents were due to arrive shortly before that, via
quarantine in Mexico, since they weren’t vaccinated for Covid and they would be tested
at the airport when they entered the U.S. Eugenia wondered if the wedding would be a
disaster or if they’d all get through it. She felt as though Gloria had set dynamite traps
for all of them, and she wondered who would light the first match to the fuse. It was
almost inevitable.
