to you and asking for it like a box of crayons or something?”
Nina shrugged. Perhaps a year ago she might have snarked at the notion, but these days, she felt more and more that no one was in the position to judge what a mother did for her child.
Nina didn’t mention how many times Calvin also commented jealously on the state of her breasts. She didn’t understand why. Aside from the fact that they were small, never anything to write home about, it wasn’t like he had ever touched them anyway. Or ever would.
One month, Peppe. I’m coming.
In just one more month, this miserable year of marriage she and Calvin had promised each other would be over. She would move on, and her first order of business after the imminent divorce was going to Florence and introducing Giuseppe to his daughter. She hadn’t yet gotten up the nerve to contact her former lover, but that was neither here nor there. The tickets were purchased. The summer villa rented.
After that…who knew?
“Come on, darling,” she cooed to Olivia. “Take the bottle so Mama can have a bite with her friend.”
But it was no use. Olivia batted and pawed at Nina’s shirt, shoving the rubber nipple away until finally, Nina conceded.
“I’ll be right back,” she said to her friend. “It won’t take more than twenty minutes, and then I can put her down.”
“Oh, you don’t have to leave,” Caitlyn said, waving her fork around. “Trust me, ever since Kayla ‘breast is best’ Cartwright had hers last March, she’s been whipping it out all over the place. Central Park, Bergdorf’s, you name it. Half of New York could probably sketch her nipple from memory.”
Nina hid a smile. While she was so far the youngest of her own cohort to have children, it didn’t surprise her that there would be a few of the older ones—new money, mostly—to embrace what they saw as more “natural” methods of childrearing. She, however, generally fed her daughter alone, lest she risk the shame of her husband or the prying eyes of staff. She honestly couldn’t imagine nursing Olivia in public. But then again, there were a lot of things she couldn’t imagine doing these days.
And it really had been a long time since she had seen her friend.
“All right,” she said, almost nervous as she unbuttoned her blouse. “I will.”
“Good job, N. Live a little,” Caitlyn joked even as Olivia craned her head eagerly.
“What are you doing?”
Both girls whirled around, and Nina yanked her shirt closed.
“Oh, hello,” she said as Calvin entered the room. “I thought you were traveling again this week. I wasn’t expecting you until tomorr—Mother? Grandmother?”
“Hello, Nina.”
Calvin stepped aside to reveal Violet, as addled as ever by the effects of Valium and likely a Bloody Mary within the hour, followed by the petite, imperious, and extremely sober Celeste de Vries, who peered around the yawning dining room as though she were inspecting a starving artist’s garret apartment. This, of course, was the bigger surprise. Celeste de Vries didn’t visit other people. They came to her.
“I see you haven’t done much to the place,” she remarked dryly as she walked in. “I had expected more of you, Nina. My cousin had such terrible taste in wallpaper.”
“She really did,” agreed Violet as she examined the teal jacquard. “God, look at it. It must have been done when I was a child.” She turned brightly, if slightly vacantly, to her daughter. “Hello, darling! I was at Mother’s when your lovely husband paid us a house call. We decided to return the favor.”
She smiled, revealing a row of bright white caps, but the expression didn’t reach her eyes. Nina rocked Olivia, who was starting to fuss again.
“I—I’m sorry. I, I’ve been busy. As you must remember.” Nina gulped, not knowing exactly what else to say. What did she really care about wallpaper at the moment? She had a baby to take care of, and it was only now, seven months into the job, that she was starting to feel a little like she was getting the hang of it.
But the entire situation was odd. Her mother barely remembered she existed on the best of days, and her grandmother called people to her, not the other way around. What on earth was going on?
She didn’t have time to find out. As if to reinforce her mother’s point, Olivia gave a great yowl. Caitlyn smiled at her plate while Nina pushed back from the table.
“I’ll only be a moment. I just