She heard the buzzer on the front door.
Who would bother me on a Sunday morning without calling first?
She hoped it was the paperboy. She wasn’t ready to entertain her grandchildren today; small children would be intolerable. There was a knock on her bedroom door. Bernice said to come in. It was Mildred, but Pam was behind her.
Oh God. No
.
“It’s you,” Bernice said. She started to weep again. “Who told you to come here?” Pam was the last person she needed to see right at that moment.
Pam walked over to the chair where her mother-in-law was sitting and knelt down in front of her. She gathered her in her arms and starting gently rubbing her back. “I’m so sorry. I should have called you. Please forgive me.” Pam held her while she cried, patiently waiting for the moment to pass. She took one arm off of her and leaned over
to get a tissue from her dressing table. She put it up to Bernice’s face and gently wiped the skin under her eyes.
Bernice wondered how Pam always managed to have breath like fresh flowers. She didn’t want to admit there was anything about Pam that was likable.
“Please forgive me,” Pam repeated. “I should have never let so much time pass between visits.” She didn’t know if Bernice knew what had transpired yesterday; Mildred wasn’t able to tell her much. Pam felt she had to stay loyal to Anne, but the truth had to come out. Sandra was on her way over, and they would tell Bernice together. She stood up and took Bernice’s hands to help her up. “How about a nice shower?”
Bernice allowed herself to be lead to the bathroom. Mildred stood with her head bowed, ashamed in some way for not being more observant to what was happening with her employer. Pam helped her mother-in-law get into the shower stall. She was shocked at how thin Bernice had gotten this summer, little more than a skeleton with skin over the bones. She remembered her own frail frame. Mildred got fresh clothes out. Pam washed her hair, and when she was finished, the two of them primped and powdered Bernice. She looked like her old self when they got done. Pam suspected that she was suffering from depression. She would take her to the doctor on Monday. The attention made Bernice feel better. Pam opened the makeup drawer and pulled out powder and lipstick for her to apply. Not wanting to undermine her self-respect was important. Pam understood how fragile Bernice had become. Pam had moments of it herself.
Through the previous night, Pam had gone over again and again what had happened to her husband’s family. The financial failure was grave enough, but then to have Anne and Bill pull their crap? It was just too much. The best thing that could happen would be to have him go back to jail for a long time. She didn’t know yet if he had been released or if he was on his way back to Rikers. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen to Anne. Pam didn’t want her to go jail for what she had done because it would mean the boys being without both parents. Bill certainly wasn’t in any shape to care for two young children. Pam would do what she could to see that justice was done, but the family’s needs were met as well.
“Thank you, Pam. Thank you,” Bernice said to her. She knew she had been hard on her daughter-in-law over the years, even cruel. Now she was the only one who seemed to care about her.
“Would you like luncheon served, madam?” Mildred asked, keeping the formality alive for the sake of the old lady, whose days in this lavish setting may be numbered.
“Yes, please, Mildred. Thank you,” Bernice said.
The three women went down the stairs together, talking about how Bernice had started her weekend, with the discovery that the coffee shop where she and Jack went to eat every week for years had finally closed its doors for good. She was still upset about it.
“Maybe you shouldn’t walk that far from the house, Bernice. Why didn’t Ben take you?”
She was paying for a full-time driver. What the hell was she walking around New York for?
“To tell you the truth, I forgot about him. I know, I am losing it.” At least she was smiling.
“No, I think you have clinical depression, and we are going to go to the doctor tomorrow to find out if there isn’t anything he can give you. Memory loss like that can be from something as simple as depression. Let’s just check it out.” She was glad she wasn’t getting an argument. As long as she was the only one with money, she was fairly sure she would be getting her way all the time.
As soon as she could, Pam gave the staff their back pay, apologizing to them for the inconvenience. She didn’t go into details with them. Cash for groceries and gasoline for the limousine was also handed over to Mildred, with the instructions to save receipts. She asked her for bills for the gardener, too. The expenses for this old house would be looked at carefully; if Bernice could stay here, she may have to be put on a budget. It would be something that would be discussed. She was certain of one important point, and that was that the contents of this house would be going to an auction house before the summer was over.
Sandra finally arrived just as Mildred was serving lunch in the den. She bent over and kissed Bernice on the cheek. “Hello, again!”
She and Pam embraced and gave each other a peck on the cheek.
Bernice was confused, looking from woman to woman and back. “Did I forget something? I feel like I planned a party and then didn’t invite myself.”
They laughed and sat down across from Bernice.
“No, dear, you didn’t forget anything,” Sandra answered. “We invited ourselves here because we have some
news. We thought it would be better if we were both here with you. I almost don’t know where to start.” Sandra looked at Pam for help. Maybe they should have planned this better.
“Well, let’s start with money. That seems to be what is foremost on everyone’s mind. When Sandra was here yesterday, you and Bill asked her for money. Do you remember that?” Pam asked.
Bernice nodded her head yes.
“Okay, good! Well, we found out through a circuitous way that Anne had been intercepting the checks I have been sending for you each week. I sent the same amount Jack did, since that seemed to be enough to keep the house running smoothly. Two thousand dollars a week. Do you both follow me?”
Sandra said, “Yes,” while Bernice, in shock, nodded her head.
“Did you ask Anne about it?” Bernice asked.
Here goes
, thought Pam. “Actually, Bernice, I called the police instead.”
“Why’d you do that?” Bernice snapped. “Why not just confront her? Why’d you have to involve the police?” Her voice had gotten loud enough to alert Mildred, who came to the den and shut the doors leading to the main hallway. “What possible good did it do to get the police involved? What did Anne do?”
Bernice was clearly upset, so Pam decided to keep it simple. They probably would not be telling her about Sandra’s encounter with Bill, either.
“Bernice, Anne forged your name on checks meant for you. It was my money. Your staff has gone without pay
for over a month. Did you know that? No bills have been paid. Mildred was buying food with her own money.” She gave Bernice a chance to catch up.
Instead, she rang for Mildred. The door to the den opened.
“Mildred, come in. Please tell my daughter-in-law that I have been paying you.”
Mildred took another step into the room. “No, madam, we haven’t been paid. Miss Pam paid us this morning for the past seven weeks.”
Bernice looked like she had been slapped. “Are you telling me no one has been paid?”
She was looking at Pam, so Pam answered her.
“That’s what she is telling you. The gardener hasn’t been paid, and Ben has been buying gas out of his pocket as well. Did you think you were paying them?” Pam thought,
Maybe it is more than depression, after all
.
“I’m not sure what I thought now. My God! What the heck have I been doing all summer? Millie, why didn’t you tell me you hadn’t been paid? I feel horrible!”
“You just lost your son, madam. We could wait. We were sure that once Mr. Bill got out of…um…jail that he would take care of it.”
He sure did
, Pam thought. No one said anything for a moment. And then for the second time that day, Bernice bowed her head and started to weep. Pam got up and put her hand on Mildred’s arm.
“You can go now, Mildred. Thank you.”
She left the room, softly closing the door behind her.
“Oh my God, what is happening to me? Of course I don’t have any money! What was I thinking that I could
stay in this house, week after week?” She looked up at Pam. “What am I going to do?”
Pam was going to grab the opportunity. “Bernice, Bill mentioned to Sandra yesterday that you had agreed to sell off the art in the house and in storage. Is that correct?”
Bernice slowly shook her head yes. “I thought it was a bad dream. This collection is beyond price; it was in Harold’s family forever. He will never forgive me.”
“I think he would want you to keep living here as long as you could, and if that meant selling something that you aren’t looking at, then he would agree. Don’t sell what you really love, like the portrait in your bedroom. But all the pieces in storage and upstairs that no one sees, let someone else who really wants it enjoy it every day.”
Oh Jesus, I sound like a broken record
. “Look at it this way, Bernice. Once us elders die, the kids will have to get rid of all of this stuff and the stuff in my house and in Bill’s, so why wait for them to do it? It will make life so much easier for them.”
“But it’s their inheritance!” she whined.
“If you are living in a crappy apartment somewhere, what is their inheritance going to be? Jack left me comfortable, but I’m not Trump, for God’s sake. We have to be realistic about this. Artwork that is boxed up and possibly getting ruined is worth nothing.”
“She’s right, Bernice,” said Sandra. “We talked about you living in the Madison Avenue apartment, but after this place, you would be miserable there.” She walked over to the courtyard. “You would miss this, for one thing.”
They looked out the window at the colorful display and the fountain.
“All right. It makes sense. And I would get to stay in the house. But what if the collection doesn’t bring in enough money? What then?” It seemed as though the fog were clearing and Bernice was finally getting the point.
“We will cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? Besides, just what is in this room alone would support you for years.” Pam had had enough. She wondered if Sandra could tie things up. She wanted to get out of that house. She would have to come back the next day to take Bernice to the doctor.
“I’ll let you think about it for a while, okay? I have to get back home; my mother is returning from Connecticut this afternoon.” She gathered up her purse and gloves. “Can you believe I drove into Manhattan on a Sunday? I ought to have my head examined.”
They said their good-byes, and Pam left.
She had parked her car in the back, by the garage, so she would have to walk around the house from the front door. She saw a police car out in front.
What the heck is going on?
She walked back through the hall.
“Sandra, could I see you out here?” she called into the den.
Sandra came right out. “What’s up?” she asked.
“There’s a cop car out in front! Do you suppose they are looking for Bill?”
“No, I meant to tell you about it, but I haven’t had time. I filed a restraining order against Bill, and they also have a detail follow me around. It’s a guy named Tom…” Sandra smiled, and the implication was clear.
“Only you could have your own personal policeman at the expense of the NYPD.” Pam laughed. “Okay, well,
as long as they’re outside, you’ll be safe, I guess. Do we even know what has happened to Bill and Anne?”
Sandra took her hand and led her to the door. “Let’s go find out. Wait one minute.” She ran back to the den to tell Bernice she would be back.
When she returned, they walked out to the police car together.
“This is my sister-in-law, Pam,” Sandra said to Tom Adams.
They exchanged pleasantries.
Then Pam whispered, “Sister-in-law?”
Sandra didn’t get it right away. “Oh my God! It just slipped out! I’m sorry. I hope it doesn’t seem disrespectful.”
Pam thought for a moment. “No. I like it. Call me later!” They hugged, and Pam said good-bye to the young detective. She smelled a romance brewing. She wondered if he knew about the baby. Jack’s baby. A pang of heartache made a brief appearance. She thought about both of them being involved with cops. That would be a real coincidence.
Oh well, he was just keeping an eye on her, not asking her to get married
. “Wait! We forgot to ask about Anne and Bill!” Pam walked back to the car.
“Do you have any news about Bonnie and Clyde?” Sandra asked Tom.
“He’s still in city jail, and she’s home with their kids. We are waiting for hallowed Monday.”
The women nodded to each other, and Pam went to her car, leaving Sandra to go back in with Bernice. She was going to say good-bye to her and go back home with Detective Adams.
Pam drove the car out of the mansion drive and headed toward the Fifty-ninth Street Bridge. Traffic was horrible coming into the city, against her, so the drive home should be okay. She wondered why she had lied about her mother coming home. Nelda wasn’t due home until next Friday. She felt it her obligation to make sure her mother-in-law was okay, but to stay there any longer, even with Sandra there, felt intolerable. So much water under the bridge. Mildly nauseated and headachy, she couldn’t shake the despair she began having when Andy was with her last night. She had a feeling she couldn’t rationalize that something more was going to happen. The horror of the Smiths hadn’t stopped with Jack’s death.