Ella laughed and glanced across the room to find Will and Quentin, sipping mulled wine and watching out the window as the first guests milled through the snow.She was surprised that Stevie had brought up Grayson.Maybe she wanted to poke fun of him.
“Yes.Will invited one of the wealthiest men of our time to the party,” she said.“I doubt he’ll show up.”
Stevie’s eyes flickered strangely.Again, Ella felt as though she were hiding something.
Maybe because of everything Stevie had been through with her daughter, or perhaps just to change the subject, Ella told Stevie that Laura’s ex-boyfriend had reached out.“She’s thinking about telling him about the baby.”Ella swallowed.“What do you think she should do?”
Stevie laughed nervously.Scarlet passed by with several glasses of wine, and Stevie took one.The glass shook because her hand was shaking so badly.“I don’t think I’m someone capable of giving good advice.I’ve made so many mistakes.”
The door opened to bring in the first guests: Esme and Victor Sutton, a couple in their seventies who’d recently gotten back together after tragedy and many years apart.Ella hadn’t seen them together since she was a girl.But as they entered, they held hands and laughed with Greta and Bernard, as though the four of them had always been on Nantucket.As though nothing bad had ever happened.As though it were always Christmastime.
The Christmas songs changed from “Jingle Bell Rock” to “Blue Christmas” to “Silver Bells.”Stevie and Ella stood by the Christmas tree, watching as the first few guests came in, carrying bottles of wine and dotting kisses on Greta’s cheek.Greta looked gorgeous.She looked like she was about to levitate off the floor.
And then, Will appeared before Ella, his smile enormous.“Grayson’s here!”
Ella let out an ironic laugh.“You’re kidding.”
But Will was not.He led Ella to the big picture window so she could see the handsome Grayson Ellis walking up the driveway next to a young woman who had to be his daughter, Camille.Like all of them, Ella had learned that Grayson was having troubles with his twentysomething daughter.He’d brought her back to Manhattan to keep a close watch on her.Even the wealthy had problems, she knew.
“I can’t believe it,” Ella said.She glanced around to catch Stevie’s eye, hoping to share a private laugh with her about Will’s new and unlikely friendship.But Stevie was no longer standing by the Christmas tree.Maybe she’d ducked into the kitchen for a fresh glass of wine.Maybe Greta had stolen her and demanded help for one party disaster or another.
Regardless, Will tugged Ella toward the front door, where she found herself shaking hands with Grayson and Camille Harris for the first time.
“Merry Christmas!”Grayson said, handing over a bottle of sensationally expensive French wine.
Greta swooped over to take the bottle and coo, “I haven’t had a glass of this since 1971!”
“It’s certainly aged since then.”Grayson winked.
Camille was French and very cool and quiet, far skinnier than she needed to be, dressed in a chic black jumpsuit with glitter in the threads.
“This is a charming house,” she told Greta.“Victorian, no?”
Greta immediately caught Camille’s French accent and swapped languages, leaving everyone around them out.Greta’s eyes flashed with excitement.Ella guessed she hadn’t expected a real French person at her Christmas party.Greta was already leading Camille to the kitchen, presumably to get her to taste test a few of Greta’s divine French recipes before she served them to the public.Camille laughed happily, charmed by Greta.But who wasn’t?
“I haven’t seen her so happy in a long time,” Grayson confessed to Ella and Will of his daughter, his eyes tracing her path to the kitchen.
“She’s taking to the move well?”Will asked.
Grayson rubbed his palms together.“It’s still too early to say.But she’s seemed at ease since we arrived.And when I asked her about the Christmas party, she leaped at the chance.She wants to see more of America.She calls it ‘discovering her roots.’”
As Grayson and Will laughed, there was something about Grayson’s face, something about his smile that triggered a memory.But try as she might, Ella couldn’t figure out what that memory was.
“I’m sorry to ask you this,” she said finally, interrupting his and Will’s conversation, “but have we met before?”
Grayson grew momentarily solemn.“We did, yes.I went to a lot of your concerts back in the late ’90s and early 2000s.I spent some time in Manhattan back then.It was my plan to live there forever, but life got in the way, and I had to go back to France.”He gestured vaguely toward the kitchen, indicating that his daughter had been the reason for his return to Paris.
“But you could say I was a huge fan,” Grayson went on dreamily.“I went to a lot of your shows by myself.I stood in the audience and pretended to be a musician myself.I could barely sing a tune, and I was terrible at every instrument I tried.”
Will clapped his shoulder and said it was time to get him a drink.“My father-in-law has some sensational whiskey,” he said, guiding him toward the back of the room.
Ella watched Grayson disappear through the crowd, her heart thudding.She couldn’t figure out why or how, but she was sure she knew him better than “just seeing him around in the music scene.”It was all so long ago.But she suddenly felt uneasy, as though something bad was about to happen.
Searching for Stevie, Ella went past the Christmas tree and into the kitchen, where Alana, Julia, Catherine, Scarlet, and Anna stood in a circle, eating Christmas cookies and chatting.It seemed there was no end to Copperfield gossip and conversation.Ella asked them if they’d seen Stevie, and Scarlet said, “I think I saw her heading back to the residency?But I’m not sure.”
“I might go over there, too,” Catherine said.“This is overwhelming!”
Ella thanked them and left the kitchen, hurrying to the long hall that separated the residency side of the house from the family’s.When she entered, all she heard were gusts of wind against the house, gusts so strong that they seemed to threaten the foundation.At first, she went to Stevie’s room, then cursed herself for her silliness.Obviously, Stevie was in the practice room downstairs.She wouldn’t be anywhere else.
