Hadley was relieved Sunday dinner was at the Bombinis’ this week. Face it, Carly was much more suited to hosting dinners than she was. She offered to bring one of Stella’s pies for dessert. Strawberry free.
Maybe going forward, they could stick to this template. She suspected both she and Carly would prefer it that way.
Their second dinner at the Bombinis’ was much like the first. Immaculate home. Well-behaved children. Delicious vegetarian meal. All orchestrated by Carly, who, Hadley was beginning to appreciate, took control freak to a whole new level. All while maintaining an outer veneer of being cool and relaxed.
At first their conversation centered around the children. Tristan and Amber were having a blast now that school was out. Tristan was enrolled in a two-week soccer camp and Amber was taking swimming lessons at Jewel Lake. Both had already made new friends and had all sorts of playdates, orchestrated by their nanny, Perlah.
Both Jeff and Carly tried to draw Madison into the conversation. But Hadley’s daughter was too shy to do more than smile and duck her head. Hadley felt for her little girl. She’d had to deal with a lot of changes in just one month. But she knew these family ties were going to help Madison in the long run. She just hoped she lived to see the day when Madison would chat and laugh as freely as her cousins.
After dessert, Jeff put a movie on for the kids in the downstairs playroom. And then the adults relaxed.
Jeff topped up their wineglasses, then opened a second bottle “so it could breathe.”
“Oh my gosh,” Carly said. “I love my kids, but I love these moments when I get to kick back with a glass of wine almost as much.”
Hadley wasn’t sure she could believe her. Even as she professed to relax, Carly was arranging the sofa cushions just so. And Jeff kept surreptitiously glancing at his phone. Until Carly called him out.
“Is something wrong honey?”
“No. Just keep getting messages from my dad. He’s been on my case all week. I’ll have to go out to the construction site tomorrow and check up on things.”
“Oh? What construction site?”
“Castle Mountain Resort,” Carly said.
Hadley knew it well. Just a twenty-minute drive from Tangle Falls, it was where she had learned to ski and where she hoped, one day, Madison would too. “What’s happening at Castle Mountain?”
“Dad’s getting a new ski chalet constructed. Nothing extravagant. He just wants to be able to visit during the winters and teach his grandkids to ski.”
Nothing much. Just a new ski chalet. In a location where new homes were rarely constructed for under a million.
It was hard not to feel resentful. This side of the family had so much. Besides his Salt Spring home and his sailing boat it seemed her uncle Anthony had cash to spare for a ski home. Hadley had to remind herself that this could end up well for Madison—as a member of the family she could be invited up for weekends. And according to Stella, this is what her mother had wanted. Family unity.
“That sounds exciting.”
“Yeah, it is. The folks are planning a trip soon to check on the construction.”
“That’s great. I haven’t seen them in forever.”
“Right. I’m sure they would love to see you, too, and meet Madison. We’ll have a dinner,” Jeff promised. “Which reminds me of something else my dad was bugging me about this week…”
Hadley could sense Carly getting tense beside her. Her shoulders were tight to her body, her arms suddenly still and clasped in her lap.
Hadley prepared herself for something bad.
“Dad was just wondering if you happened to see an emerald ring among your mother’s things. This is really awkward, but I think your mother may have taken it from Uncle Frank…she probably only meant to borrow it. But it belonged to our great-grandmother and Dad says it’s supposed to be passed from eldest male to eldest male.”
Hadley stared at him. An icy cold washed over her. Then heat. She could feel her face turning red. This was fucking unbelievable.
“The ring probably isn’t worth very much,” Carly chimed in. “It’s just the principle of the thing, you know. Keeping the ring in the family.”
Hadley swallowed. Looked from Carly to Jeff. “I’m part of the family, aren’t I? And Madison?”
“Of course, of course. But you aren’t a Bombini…you don’t have the family name. I think that’s what dad is fussed about. Keeping the ring with the people who are carrying on the family name.”
It wasn’t just Uncle Anthony who was fussed about the ring. If Jeff didn’t stop stroking the armrest of his chair, he was going to wear it down to the wood frame. And Carly had tightened to the point that only two inches of her butt was still on the sofa.
Though she wanted to explode, Hadley bit her tongue. She reminded herself who she was doing this for. And why.
“I’ve never seen the ring you’re talking about. But I’ll take a look for it when I get home.”