Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Nora had been on Nantucket Island for a week, which felt hard to fathom, since every day felt like a month of difficulties: of wrangling the kids, packing their breakfasts and lunches, and keeping them out of the watchful gazes of their parents, who seemed to hate them.
It was terrible for Nora to remember her own parents, how interested they’d been in Nora’s development, how curious they’d been about her thoughts.
It made her realize how heartless her “newly adopted parents” were.
And it made her realize that the people she’d lost were really gone, never to return.
Never would she experience that love again.
After Nora put the kids to bed on that seventh evening, she went to her bedroom with the hopes of reading until she fell asleep (if sleep came for her at all).
There was a knock on the door, and Nora jumped up to answer it, sensing it was important, and she couldn’t avoid whatever it was.
Jan stood on the other side in her maid’s uniform, wrinkled after a full day of work.
“Your aunt wants to see you in the study, darling,” she said in a small voice. She looked worried.
Nora put on a black dress and a pair of tights and headed to the study located on the second floor, the one with the book-lined walls and the ornate paintings from a forgotten time on another continent.
When she arrived, she found her aunt and uncle drinking and laughing together.
The jazz music played on the record player in the corner was piped through the speakers.
There was an easy air between them, as though they’d just made up after an awful fight. Nora knew never to let her guard down.
“Nora, please. Sit down! Relax,” Aunt Cynthia declared, lighting a cigarette and grinning at Nora. Her lipstick was the color of blood.
Nora sat across from them and waited. Uncle Everett beckoned for Jan to make the three of them drinks, which Jan did, her face graying as she put the cocktail next to Nora.
Nora considered telling her aunt and uncle that she was too young to drink alcohol.
Obviously, they knew that, though. They felt above the law in every single way.
She took a small sip and wanted to wince at the bitter flavor, but couldn’t, because she knew her uncle would think she was weak.
“How are you liking your time on the island?” Uncle Everett asked. His eyes were like daggers, being hurled across the space between them.
“It’s been beautiful,” Nora lied. “I feel very lucky.”
Uncle Everett and Aunt Cynthia grinned. It occurred to Nora that they liked thinking of themselves as the ones who’d swept in to save Nora’s life.
Maybe that was how they described it to all their friends.
Again, she ached with the memory of the kindness in her ex-neighbor Gwen’s eyes.
Why couldn’t Gwen have taken her in until she turned eighteen?
For a little while, Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Everett asked Nora questions about how much she loved the children and their house.
Nora poured compliments over them, careful not to stare at the clock and show how impatient she was to leave.
Twenty minutes shot to forty minutes, and still, they wanted more from her.
She felt like their night’s entertainment.
“We wanted to share something with you,” Aunt Cynthia said, tapping the end of her cigarette to drop ash into the tray beside her.
“We’re planning a rather luxurious party for next week.
It’s been on the calendar for months and months, but with my sister’s death and everything, we let it slip our minds. It’s been a great deal to handle!”
Uncle Everett let out a strangled laugh. Nora reminded herself to keep it together.
“We want to tell you,” Aunt Cynthia gushed, “that it means the world to us that you’re watching over the children during this difficult gap between nannies.
Truly, it’s been wonderful. And we really hope you can join us at the party.
But you see, it’s a childfree event. The last thing we want is little Felix to storm through the crowd and make a mess of things.
That’s his way. He takes after his father. ”
Uncle Everett cackled. “That he does.”
“We hope it’s all right for you to stay upstairs with the children?
” Aunt Cynthia was buttering Nora up. “We’ll send a big feast upstairs for the five of you.
You’ll need to stay around their rooms while they sleep, of course.
The children get very anxious when there are so many people downstairs.
They want to be involved. They want to be the center of attention. ”
Nora wanted to point out that they were never the center of attention, at least not in their parents’ lives, which meant it made sense that they’d want some attention elsewhere. But she knew better than to bring anything like that up with her uncle and aunt.
“Understood,” she said instead.
“Darling, you’re a wonderful new addition to this family,” Aunt Cynthia said in singsong. “I don’t know what we would do without you.”
“Remarkable,” Uncle Everett said distractedly, his eyes on Jan, who was making another cocktail for him, as his was already empty.
Over the following few days, Nora watched out of the corner of her eye as the estate was prepared for the upcoming party.
The grounds were mowed, new flowers were planted, and lights were strung over the pool and around the veranda and the gazebo.
Tables and chairs were set up around the pool, along the veranda, and near the beach, and the kitchen sizzled with adrenaline as Greg, Toby, and a few other guest chefs worked to prepare for the four hundred visitors to the Greenaway house.
Nora did her best to maintain her schedule with the children.
Now that she knew where everything was in the kitchen, she sped in to pack picnic baskets, then sped out again to get out of the way.
Just barely old enough to drive, she loaded up one of her aunt’s non-sports car vehicles, double- and triple-checking Mona’s car seat before heading off to one of the other beaches on the island.
The kids loved riding around in that car, listening to music, and eating snacks.
Nora drove slower than slow, still frightened after her parents’ car accident.
But she didn’t want to let that fear get in the way of living her life.
Her parents wouldn’t have wanted that, either.
At the beach, she watched as Felix and Sarah tried to teach Mona how to build a sandcastle. Henry hung back, arms crossed, as though he thought of himself above it. Nora snuck over and stood beside him. “What do you think?” she asked him conspiratorially.
Henry raised his chin. “I don’t know if it’s structurally sound.”
Nora thought he sounded a lot like his father. She swallowed a lump in her throat. “Do your parents throw these big parties a lot?”
Henry turned to look at her. She’d never asked him a question about their parents.
She reminded herself that he wasn’t on her side.
He was a Greenaway to his bones and loved his parents above all else.
But he didn’t seem to sense any malice in her question, so he said, “They throw a party like this once or twice a summer. Everyone who is everyone comes. There was a movie star last summer. Mom told us that the movie star won an Oscar this year.”
“Wow,” Nora said, pretending to be impressed, although she wasn’t sure she could care. “Do you think they’ll ever let you attend the parties?”
“The parties aren’t for kids,” Henry said firmly. Then he asked thoughtfully, “Are you a kid?”
“I guess so,” Nora said.
“But you can drive,” Henry pointed out.
“Yes.” Nora didn’t know what to say to that. She still felt too young to drive.
“Mom said your parents died,” Henry blurted.
Nora was surprised. It felt as though she’d torn at the boundary between them, and now, Henry would pepper her with questions until bedtime.
“They did,” she said. She told herself not to break down.
“Are you sad?”
“I am.” She maintained eye contact as best as she could.
Henry seemed to appreciate her honesty. “I’m very sorry,” he said.
Something cold in Nora’s stomach melted. “Thank you, Henry,” she said. “I appreciate having you around.”
It was a formal yet loving exchange. It helped Nora through the rest of the afternoon, until she loaded the kids back in the car and drove them home.
After she parked, she led them past the pool, where several pre-party workers set up what looked to be an elaborate bar and DJ stand.
One of them, she realized, was Max—the young man who’d bought her and the kids an ice cream on that first full day on Nantucket.
They’d hardly exchanged any information.
Yet here he was, as though he’d walked out of a dream and onto the Greenaway property.
His eyes found hers immediately, and a shiver went down her spine.
She told herself to keep walking, to yank her eyes away, but she physically could not.
Then, slowly but very secretly, Max pulled what looked to be an envelope out of his back pocket.
He slipped the envelope between two cabinets on the bar they’d built, fluttering his fingers as though to indicate the envelope was meant for her.
Nora couldn’t believe it. She looked from left to right, waiting for someone to call him out and ask him what he’d hidden there. But nobody had noticed.
Someone called Max’s name, beckoning him to the opposite side of the pool. Max bowed his head again to the hiding spot, then turned on his heel and moved away from her. Nora’s heart pounded, and the tips of her fingers tingled. Was that what she thought it was?
All evening, Nora felt as though she was levitating. She made the kids bathe, dressed them for dinner, then made sure they ate everything on their plates before she took them upstairs to get ready for bed. It was a charade that felt so purposeless. But still, she was doomed to do it.
When the kids finally fell asleep that night, Nora crept down the dark hallways, listening intently for signs of her aunt and uncle.
Just to make sure, she checked to see that they were tucked away in the study, drinking and listening to records.
She could just barely hear them talking about the upcoming party and who they thought would show up, and who they regretted inviting, and what they thought might happen.
They sounded like kids. Wealthy, drunk kids.
Like a ghost, she swept outside and all the way to the newly-built bar, where she found the envelope still tucked between the cabinets.
The envelope was unlabeled but sealed. She half imagined that it was a trick.
But why would Max trick her? He was an employee here at the house, it seemed like.
Just as she was. And wasn’t he one of the only people who’d shown her any compassion since she’d arrived?
Nora put the envelope under her shirt and crept back upstairs, frightened that her aunt or uncle would see it and take it away.
Safe behind her locked door, Nora took deep breaths and finally opened it.
There, in a funny scrawl, Max had written: I’ll be here working the party.
After you put the kids to bed, sneak out and see me. Nobody will notice, I promise. Max.
Nora remained standing, her heart in her throat. How did Max know about the rule that kept her inside, taking care of the kids? Maybe he was familiar with the other babysitters who’d come through the Greenaway house. Perhaps he’d even tried to date one.
But it wasn’t like Nora knew any of that for certain. She didn’t want to discredit Max before she got to know him. She knew she couldn’t trust enough people in her life, so she didn’t want to enter every situation cynically.
Nora wondered what would happen to her if her aunt and uncle discovered that she’d broken their clearly stated rules and sneaked into the party. Would they send her back to New Hampshire? Wouldn’t that be beautiful? A smile crept across her face.
If there was anything she needed to do, she thought as she hid the letter in one of her books, it was to start living the life she wanted, rather than the one that made things easier for her aunt and uncle. She’d keep looking after the children, but only because she was starting to love them.
She would not be a prisoner in her own life.