Chapter 16
Lily turned five.
She asked whether Aunt Delia could come to her birthday.
Sofia looked at me.
I looked at Sofia.
Then both of us looked at Lily.
Her birthday.
Her relationship.
Within boundaries.
“Yes.”
Delia arrived early.
Not to organize.
That was important.
She asked Sofia:
“Where should I sit?”
A simple question.
Sofia noticed too.
“Anywhere except the head table.”
Delia laughed.
“So cruel.”
Sofia froze for half a second.
Delia immediately corrected:
“Bad joke.”
Good.
Awareness arriving faster.
She sat with cousins.
No family brooch.
No special place.
Lily dragged her toward the cake before dinner anyway.
Children create their own hierarchy.
Sugar first.
During the meal, a server dropped a tray.
Everyone turned.
The young woman went pale.
Delia stood instinctively.
For one second, I saw the old version.
The woman who managed.
Corrected.
Controlled.
Then she stopped.
Sat back down.
The house steward handled it.
Small.
Huge.
Later Delia carried her own plate toward the service kitchen.
Sofia saw.
“Staff will take it.”
Delia looked at her.
“I know.”
Then:
“I can still carry a plate.”
Sofia smiled faintly.
Better.
Work without theater.
May you like
Service without humiliation.
Maybe that was as close to Mother’s tradition as any of us had come.
