Sticking the cigarette between his lips, Wesley flipped open the lid of the piano and pounded the opening measures of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, grinning like the Cheshire cat. “Do remind us, won’t you? I can’t recall.”
Good heavens. This pair. Elsa remained where she was, spellbound by the unfolding tableau. It was not unlike reading a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It wasn’t pleasant, but neither could one look away.
“I love you, Jane. You are my only granddaughter. But you have always been jealous of Danielle. It’s unseemly, considering your privilege is so far beyond hers.”
Through the parlor doorway, Elsa could see Luke and Tom removing the chandelier in the entry hall. Tom had his back to her, but Luke sent her a look from his place on the ladder that told her he could hear everything. She hadn’t seen Crawford yet this morning, but if he was anywhere nearby, he’d be getting an earful, too.
“Yes, yes, and the fit, Granny? Leave out no details, please.” Still speaking around the cigarette, Wesley played the next measures of Beethoven’s Fifth with equal passion. Would he provide a score for the entire story?
Agnes pursed her lips together, perhaps to hide a chuckle at her grandson’s antics. “Wesley, please. I don’t fancy being interrupted. This family has enough drama without your music.”
Wesley stretched out his arm and tapped ash onto the threadbare rug.
“Wesley!” Mr. Spalding barked.
The young musician tucked his hair behind an ear. “What? Great-Aunt Birdie doesn’t care, I assure you.”
“Just because no one lives here anymore doesn’t mean you can treat the entire place as your personal ashtray. Show some respect!”
Elsa watched the carpet for smoke, but the ash didn’t spark in the fibers. By the time she released the breath she’d been holding, Agnes had begun her story.
“It was only five years ago. Jane was twelve, and I brought her here to visit her great-aunt Birdie and great-uncle Linus. When we arrived, we were brought into this parlor, and Jane was elated to see that a table had been set for a tea party.”
“But it wasn’t for me,” Jane added. “The dishes had all been used, and there were crumbs everywhere.”
“That’s right. When Birdie came in to greet us, she explained that she had just finished having a tea party with Danielle, who was seven at the time. I hadn’t told Birdie we’d be dropping by that day, so we took her quite by surprise. Jane was upset that the party hadn’t been for her. Poor Birdie tried to appease you, offering to have a fresh party arranged on the spot, but you refused. Oh, the stomping and crying and carrying on, child! The racket! The self-indulgence!”
“Can you blame me?” Jane sat up straighter and centered the pendant on her necklace. “She’d always told me I was her favorite niece. I thought it would be grand to surprise her, but I was the one who was shocked to my core that she’d been having a fine time indeed with a servant’s child who had no manners or upbringing at all. I thought I was special. Iamspecial.”
Wesley tickled the ivories at a pitch to match his sister’s rising tone.
“That you are.” Agnes lifted an eyebrow. “And so was your fit. It was such a special fit, in fact, that it brought Linus thundering in to see what was going on. Birdie and I tried to explain things calmly, but it was impossible to be heard without yelling over your sobs. And then Linus blew up at Birdie for having—and I quote—‘that immigrant gardener’s feebleminded child’ in the house. My domineering brother humiliated and shamed his wife in front of an audience.”
“Well, Danielle didn’t deserve to be here. She didn’t deserve to spend time with Aunt Birdie, let alone use the good china like she wassomebody. And shedoesn’tdeserve the aviary.” Jane turned on Elsa with a pointed finger. “I can tell you’re a kind soul, but if you’ve been trying to find the aviary for her—don’t. I’m glad it’s missing and hope it stays that way. If it goes to anyone, it ought to be family.”
Elsa stood. “That choice isn’t yours to make. It isn’t any of ours.” She paused to gather her composure. The more she learned about Birdie, the more she realized how many choices had been taken away from her, either by her husband, circumstances, or her declining health. “If the aviary is found, it belongs to the people your aunt decided to give it to, whether you like it or not.”
“Hear, hear.” Agnes thumped her cane on the carpet, adding an emphatic nod for good measure.
Elsa sent a subtle smile to her new ally. “Now, if you’ll all excuse me. I do have work to do.”
CHAPTER
14
NEW YORK CITY
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1926
Stifling a yawn, Elsa shifted on the front porch of her parents’ brownstone, making sure the pleats on her bodice lay straight. She knocked and waited.
Sleep had eluded her last night, hounded as she was by yesterday’s events. After the Spalding family reunion in the parlor, the rest of the day had been overshadowed by the uncertain future facing the Petrovics. She’d made excellent progress tagging and cataloging birds, but she had done so mechanically. Mr. Spalding had inspected Linus’s secret den and carried out more of his books and papers before Elsa had a chance to explore the space any further.
All the way home that evening, she had discussed the situation with Luke and Tom, with no solutions to show for it. Tom didn’t understand why she cared so much about the gardener and her unusual daughter.“Is iteven possible to develop an attachment to people you didn’t know three weeks ago?”he had asked. Luke had caught her eye and answered,“Of course it is.”
He was right. Perhaps it was because she’d had such a difficult time making friends during childhood that she placed even morevalue on the few friends she had now, no matter how long she’d known them. That included Luke and Tom, but with the Petrovics, she felt a protective instinct. They were kindred spirits, and they were so alone since Birdie had died. If there was anything Elsa could do to help them, she would.
Elsa knocked again on her parents’ front door, harder this time, while her thoughts remained at Elmhurst. Her middle twisted, thinking of Mr. Spalding’s reaction to Danielle’s outburst yesterday morning. He likely agreed with his uncle’s opinion of her. Did that have any bearing on Danielle’s life, or Tatiana’s?
