hed a dresser drawer for a nightgown. She was practically in a dead sleep before I was able to get her to put it on. I don’t think she realized what was happening, but moments after I had folded her things and placed them on the dresser, she was dead away, still clinging to her doll.
“I wish I could tell you that you’ll feel better in the morning, Julia,” I whispered. I really liked her. If I had a sister in the normal world, she would be whom I’d choose, I thought, and leaned down to kiss her cheek, brush back her hair, and fix her blanket. Then I turned off the light and closed her bedroom door softly as I backed out.
The enormity of the mansion struck me as I stood there and contemplated the wide hallway and how far it went to the right and then to the left. Looking down from the top of the stairway, I could appreciate the size of the entryway. There were beautiful paintings on the walls, scenes of the sea, sailboats, and some rural settings. As I descended, Liam stepped out of a doorway and looked up at me.
“That stairway fits you,” he said.
“How can a stairway fit you?”
“You just look like you belong in a house like this, like you’re used to it. Most people who come here for the first time are a little intimidated.”
I nodded and looked around after I reached the bottom. “I’ve been to many mansions and castles, but I haven’t lived in one. I’m sure there are maids, housekeepers?”
“The maids come and go, but our house manager, as Dad likes to call her now, is and always has been Mrs. Wakefield. She oversees all of the housework. She served as our nanny after my mother left. She’s a widow with no children of her own. Tonight happens to be her night off. She’s probably here but asleep. Otherwise, she would be out here, X-raying you,” he joked. “Can I give you some coffee, something cold, anything?”
“I’m fine.”
“You look like you can hold a drink. My sister isn’t really the partygoer. You want to see the rest of the place?”
“Sure,” I said.
He led me into the living room. I thought it had one of the most beautifully designed fireplaces I had ever seen. The stones continued to the ceiling but arched out in both directions. All of the furniture was oversized, but considering the vastness of the room, I thought it had to be. Liam showed me the den, where they had a very large-screen television, a pool table, and dark brown leather furniture. After that came the dining room, with a table that could seat twenty.
“You eat here every night?”
“Not really. We have a kitchenette we use most of the time. With Julia’s crazy schedule and my comings and goings, we rarely eat together these days anyway.”
The kitchen looked as if it could service a small hotel. Just off of that was the kitchenette he had mentioned. All of the rooms in the house, even the kitchen, had enough windows to make them bright.
“You can’t see it well now because it’s dark, but we have a pool out back and a tennis court we rarely use. We own about eighty acres around the house. Sure you don’t want anything to drink?” He opened the refrigerator. “We have all sorts of juice, sodas, and mineral waters.”
“Okay, I’ll have a mineral water, thanks,” I said.
He took out a bottle, opened it, and poured us each a glass. We sat on stools at the kitchen island.
“I don’t know how much Julia’s told you about us,” he said, looking down at his glass. “She was ten and I was four when our mother took off. Neither of us suspected that was about to happen. I’m pretty sure Dad did. I can’t say how much he tried to prevent it. He was devastated for a long time.”
It occurred to me that both he and I had been brought up by women other than our mothers. He had his for at least four years, although by the sound of it, she wasn’t there for him much.
“Why did your mother leave?”
“Despite what you see, how much we have, I don’t think she was comfortable and happy here. I get bits and pieces. At first, we were told she had some kind of a nervous breakdown, and then it went to her just being a self-centered woman who really didn’t want to be bothered with children and a husband. She was seeing someone on the side, someone who I guess promised her more excitement.” He paused. It was painful for him to talk about it, but it obviously helped him.
“Did you . . . were you and your sister . . .”
“Sent to therapy? Yeah, some. I hated it, and although Julia claims it helped her, I know she hated it, too. It never really helped me understand. I mean, I think it’s just natural to ask why she married my father in the first place. She must have known what she was in for, right? Then I think, maybe he promised her a different sort of life. Dad’s always been anal about his work. I’m sure she was left here many times while he was out carving new territories, bringing in more lucrative business projects. She had plenty of household help. We had a nanny for years. She didn’t have to do any of the things ordinary housewives do. She had her own sports car, a limousine driver whenever she wanted to go to Boston, but . . . it wasn’t enough.”
“The house didn’t fit her,” I said. “What I mean is, the life she was leading. I imagine she had a lot of high-society events?”
“Yes, but I don’t remember my father talking about her having any close friends. Julia says all she had was her gang of phonies.”
“She didn’t feel she belonged, I suppose. It happens. You ever see the movie Citizen Kane?”
“I don’t think so.”
“You’d remember if you did. A very wealthy and powerful man brings his new wife to a mansion ten times as large as this, surrounds her with guests, gives her any material thing she wants, but she ends up very lonely and leaves him and all that.”
“She had a prenup agreement. But for a mother to desert her own children?”