staircase, off to the ballroom where the party was being held.
“Your brother is very much like your father,” Yvo said thoughtfully as he eyed his retreating figure. “And you have your mother’s serenity.”
“I don’t feel serene,” I muttered.
I felt embarrassed and out of place. A sensation I’d had most of my life. But it had never happened here before, and I hated feeling like that in this place. Before, this had always been a sanctuary—my awkward teenaged self hadn’t felt out of place here. I think.
Yvo laughed and hugged me. “You have… magic, for lack of a better word. Rik is very centered in this world.”
I frowned, wondering what my uncle was talking about. “Rik is good at what he does.” I defended my brother, since it was the right thing to do.
Rik had been all about the bottom line, the big picture, and whatever other business buzzword he had been brainwashed with, ever since he’d gotten his MBA. He’d had to take over the company when our parents had died, and I had been useless to him after the car accident. He liked the pressure and the lifestyle, and had grown the company wildly during the decade he’d been in charge. And Rik felt that I was a failure because I didn’t want to live that way.
“And angry you don’t have the same interest in the family company that he does,” Yvo said tartly. “I simply pointed it out to him earlier that it was better you didn’t. Then you might be a rival.”
“Shit!” I cursed. Rik wouldn’t want to hear that either. His screwup younger brother might be worth something. I would never hear the end of that from him, in cutting words and mocking tones, about how Uncle Yvo thought I could be useful in the family company. “Oh crap… I didn’t mean….”
“I assure you I’ve heard and occasionally said that word,” Yvo said with a smile, probably wondering why I wasn’t taking the compliment very well. “As crude as it is.”
I nodded and vowed to watch my words around my uncle in the future. This wasn’t a place where such language was acceptable. I had felt like I had stepped back a hundred years in time. There was electricity, but no Internet or other modern amenities. Rik had been annoyed by the lack of net connection, even after Yvo had pointed out there wouldn’t be anyone doing business on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
I could have hot-spotted his phone, and turned it into an Internet connection, but I kept my mouth shut. I liked being out of touch with the world for a couple of days. But I wasn’t into business like Rik was. Rik was one of those people who lived and breathed while constantly connected to the Internet.
“And now that your brother has made his entrance,” Yvo said with an odd chuckle, “it’s time we made ours.”
I WALKED into the ballroom, trailing after Uncle Yvo. We didn’t make the splashy entrance Rik had. We didn’t need to, because every eye went to Uncle Yvo as soon as he walked into the room. If I had thought I was underdressed before, right now I felt as if I should flee to my room, because there seemed to be butterflies the size of SUVs in my stomach, from my nerves. Everyone in the ballroom was dressed up, and they were all staring at us as Uncle Yvo and I moved into the room. I wondered if it was too late to run even as Yvo reached out an arm and looped it through mine. Yvo smiled up at me, and I resigned myself to whatever he had planned. I hated being in the spotlight, and Uncle Yvo shone like a diamond.
The men were in suits from the era of Uncle Yvo’s or even older. The women were in ball gowns, the cut and style ranging from Georgian to Edwardian. I only knew all this because one of my college roommates had been really into costuming. No one besides Rik and me had dressed in clothing from the twenty-first century, and I wondered if I had missed the memo that this was a costume party as well as a Christmas one. I didn’t remember the parties being this formal
“Your brother is very much like your father,” Yvo said thoughtfully as he eyed his retreating figure. “And you have your mother’s serenity.”
“I don’t feel serene,” I muttered.
I felt embarrassed and out of place. A sensation I’d had most of my life. But it had never happened here before, and I hated feeling like that in this place. Before, this had always been a sanctuary—my awkward teenaged self hadn’t felt out of place here. I think.
Yvo laughed and hugged me. “You have… magic, for lack of a better word. Rik is very centered in this world.”
I frowned, wondering what my uncle was talking about. “Rik is good at what he does.” I defended my brother, since it was the right thing to do.
Rik had been all about the bottom line, the big picture, and whatever other business buzzword he had been brainwashed with, ever since he’d gotten his MBA. He’d had to take over the company when our parents had died, and I had been useless to him after the car accident. He liked the pressure and the lifestyle, and had grown the company wildly during the decade he’d been in charge. And Rik felt that I was a failure because I didn’t want to live that way.
“And angry you don’t have the same interest in the family company that he does,” Yvo said tartly. “I simply pointed it out to him earlier that it was better you didn’t. Then you might be a rival.”
“Shit!” I cursed. Rik wouldn’t want to hear that either. His screwup younger brother might be worth something. I would never hear the end of that from him, in cutting words and mocking tones, about how Uncle Yvo thought I could be useful in the family company. “Oh crap… I didn’t mean….”
“I assure you I’ve heard and occasionally said that word,” Yvo said with a smile, probably wondering why I wasn’t taking the compliment very well. “As crude as it is.”
I nodded and vowed to watch my words around my uncle in the future. This wasn’t a place where such language was acceptable. I had felt like I had stepped back a hundred years in time. There was electricity, but no Internet or other modern amenities. Rik had been annoyed by the lack of net connection, even after Yvo had pointed out there wouldn’t be anyone doing business on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
I could have hot-spotted his phone, and turned it into an Internet connection, but I kept my mouth shut. I liked being out of touch with the world for a couple of days. But I wasn’t into business like Rik was. Rik was one of those people who lived and breathed while constantly connected to the Internet.
“And now that your brother has made his entrance,” Yvo said with an odd chuckle, “it’s time we made ours.”
I WALKED into the ballroom, trailing after Uncle Yvo. We didn’t make the splashy entrance Rik had. We didn’t need to, because every eye went to Uncle Yvo as soon as he walked into the room. If I had thought I was underdressed before, right now I felt as if I should flee to my room, because there seemed to be butterflies the size of SUVs in my stomach, from my nerves. Everyone in the ballroom was dressed up, and they were all staring at us as Uncle Yvo and I moved into the room. I wondered if it was too late to run even as Yvo reached out an arm and looped it through mine. Yvo smiled up at me, and I resigned myself to whatever he had planned. I hated being in the spotlight, and Uncle Yvo shone like a diamond.
The men were in suits from the era of Uncle Yvo’s or even older. The women were in ball gowns, the cut and style ranging from Georgian to Edwardian. I only knew all this because one of my college roommates had been really into costuming. No one besides Rik and me had dressed in clothing from the twenty-first century, and I wondered if I had missed the memo that this was a costume party as well as a Christmas one. I didn’t remember the parties being this formal
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