My cousin, Jonah, stopped laughing mid-sentence, his face going slack with confusion as he looked from me to the woman standing behind me.
Our guests looked first at my furious face, and then at Esther, who still had her sleeves damp and the distinct, humiliating imprint of the apron around her waist.
“What a lovely, cohesive family toast we are having here tonight,” I said, letting my voice ring out across the cold marble floor.
“It is a real shame that the actual owner of this house was forced to wash dishes in the basement like a common servant.”
A thick, suffocating silence descended upon the room, broken only by the sound of someone’s heavy breathing.
My mother forced a tight, brittle smile that did not reach her cold, calculating eyes.
“Preston, my dear son, do not start with this utter nonsense, as Esther was simply helping us out with the cleanup.”
“A decent woman of her station should surely know how to take proper care of her own house,” she added with a sneer.
“It is one thing to take care of your own home,” I replied, “but it is entirely another thing to be systematically humiliated by you inside of it.”
An awkward, buzzing murmur rippled through the room as some of the guests began to discreetly gather their handbags and head toward the exit.
Gabriela spoke up before anyone else could manage to formulate a coherent reaction to my arrival.
“He has already completely manipulated you, and he knew exactly how you would play the victim the moment you saw him.”
Esther barely flinched at the accusation, but that tiny, weary gesture ignited something volcanic inside of me.
“Do not dare talk about her as if she is not standing right here in front of you,” I blurted out.
My mother placed her crystal glass on the polished mahogany table with a loud, aggressive thud that echoed off the high ceilings.
“Then let us be perfectly clear about this whole situation, because ever since you married that girl, this family has had to work hard to protect your image.”
“Esther simply does not understand how this world works, she does not know how to entertain, and she certainly does not know how to behave around our important guests.”
“We were only preventing her from embarrassing you in front of people who actually matter to your career.”
Esther closed her eyes for a long moment, and I knew that those words were not new to her, but a recurring soundtrack to her misery.
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