Page 48

It Was an Un mitigated Success

T he ball opening was an unmitigated success. Once the guests arrived, the hors d’oeuvres went out exactly on time along with the wine pairings. She and Yosef gave opening remarks on behalf of Scarlet when the ball began and the initial elegant dancing commenced. Compliments showered on Helena and Yosef, who were overrun with socialites and politicians all wishing them well, but also wanting to see if they could get more information on Scarlet’s state of being.

Helena followed Yosef’s lead, saying that Scarlet intended to make an entrance and that everything was fine while paying compliments in return. More than one man asked her to dance, and she had to agree to do so with more of them than she would have liked, which was none. All the while she had to keep her smile in place and prayed it reached her eyes some of the time.

When it came time for the meal, Scarlet made her appearance. The applause was thunderous as she was wheeled in. It was as if a queen had entered her court. Yosef stepped forward, handsome and gallant to offer his arm to her, and she stood on her own two feet. Helena was already at the microphone. With a gesture from Scarlet, she crossed to meet them. Scarlet wrapped her arms around Helena in front of the world and kissed her cheek. A torch passing to the next generation could not have been clearer.

With her arms linked with Helena’s and Yosef’s, Scarlet went to the mi crophone.

“Thank you all. Thank you,” she said with a few more platitudes as the audience calmed themselves down in anticipation for their matriarch ’s words.

“I am … genuinely brought to tears,” Scarlet said. “This place is beautiful. The venue… I don’t think I have ever seen this room more magical, and as much as I wish I could take credit for what has been assembled here tonight, as many you know I have been fading as the years have finally caught up with me.”

There were protests from the audience, but they were cheerfully waved down, and she c ontinued.

“I cannot and will not take credit for this success, but I will take credit for my protégés whom I have nurtured and who have learned from me, and then blessed me with the greatest gift any teacher could hope for… they surpa ssed me.”

The applause became as thunderous as it had been when Scarlet entered, but this time it was for Helena and Yosef. The waves of approval were overwhelming, and Helena didn’t know what to do with herself. How could this moment of greatest triumph also contain the heaviest her heart had ever been? When she looked to Yosef, he and Scarlet were embracing, and she could see the same tears in his eyes that were in hers. Somehow, that slice of empathy fortified her. How else could life be but bi ttersweet?

We are a collection of good things and bad things. And they do not cancel each other out or make them un important.

When it was Helena’s turn to embrace Scarlet, the older woman whispered in her ear, “You have a wonderful future ahea d of you.”

Helena nodded and smiled tearfully because she was expected to. While she truly felt it, she also knew it was n’t true.

Her life would end tonight.

The speech continued with Scarlet thanking the rest of the office, all of the cooking and serving staff, the politicians who graced the room with their presence, and all of the donors who came to support such a worthy and importa nt cause.

Helena heard very little of it. She only looked out at the fairy lit dark, trying to take it all in and memorize ever y detail.

They’ll strip everything from you, every memory that you hold precious. Everything you ever were, she thought with Rafferty ’s voice.

I don’t want to forget, she thought in her own.

She didn’t want to forget about any of it, this night, the last few weeks… her time with Rafferty.

It may have all been a lie… but how she felt for him had n’t been.

At last, the speeches were over. Yosef and she escorted Scarlet to their table. The courses flew by, Helena barely tasting any of it. They were all familiar to her. Rafferty was in every flourish, their memories in ev ery bite.

At last, they came to the dessert.

“My gosh, what is this?” a woman at their table exclaimed as the slices of layered cake covered in white, sugared fluff were set before them. A sprig of cranberries framed the cake.

“Opera cake,” a self-important man at the table declared in no uncert ain terms.

Helena broke out laughing. She tried to cover it with her hands, but it was impossible as she realized what was before her. The whole table turned to her with surprised exp ressions.

“It’s icebox cake,” she finally managed to say as an explanation. “It’s very similar to opera cake. It’s just made with layers of cookie wafers instead of layers of cake.” Rafferty had been determined to figure it out, and it looked li ke he had.

“Brilliant!” the original woman declared. The table agreed as each took their first bites and returned to their conve rsations.

After a few minutes, Scarlet sat back from the table. “Well, I do not know about you all, but I haven’t eaten so much rich food in quite a while. Yosef, would you be a dear and escort me to the little lad y’s room?”

Yosef stood up quickly and helped Scarlet out of her chair, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm. They stayed that way for a moment too long and just as Helena realized that Scarlet might fall back into her seat again, she started moving forward.

“My gosh, she is a splendid lady,” the know-it-all gentlemen, whom Helena thought was a city alderman or something like, c ommented.

“She looks like she is on death’s door,” another woman commented snottily, only to get nudged in the ribs. “What?” she asked, then followed a none-too discreet fork jab in Helena’s direction. “What? What about her? I don’t understand you, Harold,” she said just as loudly and with a complete lack of self-a wareness.

Yet, Helena couldn’t even be offended. All she could think about was the cake. And about the demon wh o made it.

“If you will all excuse me, I need to check on something in the kitchen. I’ll be back,” sh e assured.

“You see what you did,” the woman’s husband chided as Helena moved quic kly away.

It proved to be a challenge to get through the room with everyone stopping to congratulate her on a successful event. It took éliott coming up to her and saying there was an urgency in the kitchen that required her attention to disen gage her.

“Thank you,” she whispered to him as she escaped down the fake ic e tunnel.

Despite steeling herself for whatever she needed to say, it was still a shock to walk into the kitchen. The servers were still moving in and out with desserts and wine, but the preparation areas where the majority of the cooking happened were complete ly empty.

All the cooks and assistants w ere gone.

The stations were all cleaned up and spotless as if nobody had b een there.

Al l but one.

At Rafferty’s station, the final cakes were being prepped. Each slice of the layered icebox cake had been plated. He stood before them, tearing apart one of the flower arrangements. It looked like one of the dozen larger ones that had been by the entrance. With a paring knife, he pruned off the flowers to add the last embellishments to hi s dessert.

She approached his station slowly, not sure what she was going to say to him, instead watching as his fingers flew. He moved quickly, gathering the newly cut buds and setting each on the plate. He never adjusted the impromptu garnish once it was set; each flower seemed to find its perfect place instantly. A waitress approached the station to take the final tray just as he finished.

“Go, go, go,” he barked, waving away the tray as he dropped the last flower in place. For a second, he turned back and forth, looking for the next thing to do, but that was it. He had finished. So his hands found his towel to wipe the remaining torn up leaves toward the garbage can by his hip.

Only then did his eyes drift up to her. “It is done,” he said.

“Where is everyone?” she asked, looking again at the otherwise spotless kitchen.

“They’ve all returned back to where they are supposed to be,” he said.

“But…”

“What?”

She licked her lips. “What about what they’r e … owed?”

“I’ve already taken care of it,” he said. “I bound them to me and paid their prices in order to keep them under control and every one safe.”

Warily, Helena stared at him. “Rafferty,” she said softly, calling for his attention, but he still refused to give it. “What did you pay t hem with?”

Suddenly, Rafferty stumbled, collapsing backward.