Chapter 7 Mia
Mia
The dining room at Bliss is dressed to impress.
Polished oak gleams under candlelight, the crystal glasses catch the firelight just right, and the centerpiece is a monstrosity of winter florals, cranberries, and silver antlers. It’s all curated, like everything in the Winter world. Beautiful and cold.
The amuse-bouche was “something” foie gras. The appetizer was oysters prepared in three different ways.
The main course is roast goose with an orange glaze, sweet potato gratin, fig and arugula salad, and a dish called ‘deconstructed stuffing’ that tastes more like breadcrumbs with an identity crisis.
I help myself to a modest portion, and smile politely at the server.
Gianna's daughter Ellie is on my lap, her sticky fingers in my hair as she tries to whisper secrets in my ear. She's three and doesn't understand volume control. I adore her. Her innocence is a balm in this tension-wrapped house.
The kids gravitate toward me.
My in-laws suggest it has something to do with me being a kindergarten teacher. I think it’s got to do with me being human. I don’t ignore children and pretend they’re less than because they’re little people, like their parents do.
In the Winter household, kids are meant to be seen and not heard.
Ellie is too young to understand that, and since she usually stays quiet when she’s with me, no one protests.
Like my father-in-law once said, “If she wants to play nanny, let her.”
I’d thought I was being a good family member, but he reduced me to the help. It had cut deep back then. Now, I know nothing this man says or does can touch me anymore.
Even the thought of letting go of this toxicity feels cathartic. I can only imagine how freeing it will be when I’m done with this family for good.
Aiden sits across from me. His eyes flick to me every few minutes like he's trying to read a language he never bothered to learn.
I’ll miss him. I know that.
I love him—that didn’t end the moment I saw him kiss another woman, and it won’t end when I hand him the divorce papers.
But it will take work—real, gut-deep work—to get past these last six years…
especially the last two, when my husband all but left me for someone else.
It took seeing them together—physically intimate—for the reality to finally jolt me into action.
Love blinds you to the flaws of the person you want.
But love that isn’t returned is worse. It makes you ignore the flaws you do see, because asking for more—more time, more care, more of him—might scare him away. And deep down, you already know the truth: he doesn’t love you the way you love him.
“You know, Mia, a kindergarten teacher is low on the totem pole. Have you ever thought about teaching older kids?” Tristan wants to know. Well, he actually wants to insult me, but wraps it in a question.
“Tristan,” Aiden barks.
I kiss Ellie’s hair and take comfort in her. "Sometimes I do. But I find it more rewarding to shape young minds before the world teaches them to smile while insulting people."
The table goes quiet.
“What did you say?” Tristan is all pumped up chest and whatnot.
He thinks I don’t know about him. But I do. Aiden used to vent to me when he was frustrated, so I know precisely who Tristan is—a complete loser, riding on the family name. He draws a salary without lifting a finger, and let’s be honest, he’s got a weak zipper on top of it.
But then again, don’t all the men in the Winter family?
Aiden. Nelson. Tristan.
All motherfucking cheaters.
“Aiden, darling, did you tell Nelson about your meeting with the Lancaster Group?” Diana interjects.
Darling?
Wow! That, too, in front of everyone.
Was she staking a claim?
And why the hell does it still hurt so fucking much?
Aiden looks perturbed at the question. “What?”
“The Lancaster—”
“The meeting was fine,” he cuts her off, his eyes on me.
I keep my emotions stifled. I’ve been practicing for years. It’s coming in handy now.
Aiden clears his throat. "I don’t know if you know, but Mia’s being honored with the Governor’s Award for Educational Impact. Teacher of the Year.”
I look up at him. He usually doesn’t share my accomplishments, probably feels they’re not accomplished enough, as they have nothing to do with money.
“Really?” Nelson gives me a condescending look. “Did it come with a raise?”
Case in point!
“Not everything is about money, Dad,” Aiden protests.
Okay, that’s weird. He usually doesn’t defend me, not to his father…or anyone else in his family.
Nelson scoffs. “Not when the money is insignificant.”
I zone everyone out but then phase in when Ellie tugs at my sleeve. "Auntie Mia?"
I blink, caught. "What, sweet pea?”
“You weren’t answering me,” she complains softly.
“Sorry. I was just thinking."
"Thinking makes Daddy yell," she says.
I kiss her forehead, and whisper, "Then Daddy needs to try listening instead."
From the head of the table, Nelson grunts. "Did I hear you say something, Mia?"
I look him in the eye, unbothered. "Just sharing a few kindergarten wisdoms. They're shockingly applicable to grown-ups."
Before Nelson can figure out how I’m telling him he’s an asshole, Nelson Jr. spills his juice.
Betty shoots to her feet like the tablecloth is lined with explosives. "Lulu, napkins!"
The poor nanny, who is waiting by the doorway, comes in running.
I feel like I’m in freaking Downton Abbey, what with the help waiting to eat until the masters and mistresses have eaten.
"It's okay." I blot at the spill with my napkin. "No harm done."
“It’s time for the kids to go to bed.” Edith gets up and snaps her fingers at Lulu. “Can you get them all to bed? Mia, let Lulu take care of Ellie.”
I kiss my niece. Probably the last time I will. My heart twists a little as I hand her over to Lulu.
“But, Mama, we haven’t eaten dessert,” Nelson Jr. cries out.
“Enough,” Nelson snarls.
Poor Nelson Jr. shrinks, as does Carla.
I hate this man with everything inside of me.
Once the kids have been sent away, Nelson is back at the not-so-subtle art of humiliating his children.
“How much did you get out of the Lancaster Group, Aiden?” he asks.
My husband straightens in his chair like he’s a student in the principal’s office. “Closed at two-fifty. Plus, performance incentives tied to Q3.”
Nelson raises an eyebrow. “Only two-fifty?”
“It was a conservative bid. They were looking elsewhere—”
Nelson scoffs. “They were looking elsewhere because they weren’t convinced you had the leverage to close.”
Aiden’s jaw tics, but he says nothing.
Nelson swirls his wine. “You know, if I’d been running point, we’d have walked away with three-fifty and a seat on their board. But hey—nice try.”
The silence that follows is brutal.
Gianna looks away. Tristan pretends to check his phone. No one comes to Aiden’s defense. No one ever does. It’s sad because everyone knows that Nelson sucked at running the company and that the family’s finances are healthy because of Aiden, and yet, he’s trampled over without a care.
Nelson leans back, satisfied. “Your generation’s big on ‘trying your best,’ isn’t it? You can hang a participation ribbon in your office next to your MBA.”
I glance at my husband. His posture is perfect, his jaw set, the muscle in his cheek twitching. He looks calm to everyone else.
But I know better. He’s shrinking—just like he always has under his father’s thumb. For a moment, I almost feel sorry for him.
“We’ll do better with the next one, I’m sure,” Diana chimes. “We have a meeting with Sherman Financial, and I know we can make that big. Right, darling?”
My feeling of almost being sorry for him turns into a ‘screw him’, regardless of the fact that Aiden doesn’t seem happy about how Diana is dropping the word ‘darling’ like pigeons drop shit on rooftops.
“Sherman Financial is fucking with you. They always ask for a meeting and then, last minute, go with someone else.” Nelson downed his wine.
Tristan then decides to say his piece, and then Patrick and…I zone them out, again.
My phone buzzes.
I slip it out from my pocket under the table and glance at the screen.
Katya: Merry Christmas, babe. Hope you're holding up. I just finished dinner with my mom. Cristiano is in Stowe. He's waiting on your signal. He'll pick you up and take you to his place. You won't be alone tonight. Love you.
Katya is with her mother, and I wish I were with them. I am sure that eating in the assisted living facility's dining room would be more comfortable than this shitshow.
Since she can’t drive me out of Bliss after I’m done with my show and tell, she recruited Cristiano Rivas. A friend of hers from law school. He’s general counsel for a large non-profit and owns a beautiful old farmhouse close to Bliss. I know him well—the three of us often hang out together.
There’s a text from him as well, telling me to let him know when I’ll be ready to leave, and he’ll be there within ten minutes. I hate inconveniencing him but Katya was adamant that either I accept Cristiano’s help or she’d cancel Christmas with her mother.
I put my phone inside my pocket and look up to see Aiden’s eyes on me. There’s something new there. He tilts his head and smiles at me. Like he used to, like he’s silently saying, “I love you.”
But you don’t love me, Aiden. If you did, you wouldn’t have kissed that bitch.