"There was a time when you wanted me to stay home."
"There was a time when…" Laura stopped in midsentence and continued up the stairs.
He watched her disappear around the corner, closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. When he turned to go back down, he spotted Teresa standing in the archway. "See that she doesn't hurt herself, and remember to make sure she takes her medicine every morning."
"Yes, Mr. Connelly, I'll remember."
As soon as he reached the bottom step, he stopped, looked at her for a long moment, and started to say something. He changed his mind, and instead, walked out the front door, letting it slam behind him.
Teresa went to the window, moved the curtain aside and watched. One of the garage doors opened, Mathew backed out, and then drove his red Ferrari around the curved driveway toward the gate. After he was gone, she let the curtain close and went upstairs to see about Laura.
*
The next morning, Teresa stood beside the bed, opened her palm and offered a pill to Mrs. Connelly.
Laura Connelly's enormous bedroom on the second floor was decorated in outdated pastel mauve and blue. The room held a dressing table, a sofa and loveseat with a matching reading chair, a reading lamp, a magazine rack and a coffee table. Her walk-in closet was bigger than most bedrooms, held three dressers and more clothes than any one woman had a right to own. Teresa expected to spend an entire week just organizing it.
"I don't want that, take it away," Laura moaned. In her king-size bed, complete with a lace trimmed mauve canopy, she turned her back to the maid and buried the side of her face in a pillow.
"Mr. Connelly gave me specific instructions to see that you take your blood pressure medicine."
"Of course he did, he wants me alive, not dead…at least not yet."
"You wish to die?"
Laura turned back over. "No I don't. I can't die now; I would miss all the fun."
"What fun is that?"
Laura sat up and then held her head as her hangover pain began. She waited for it to subside, took the pill, put it in her mouth, and then washed it down with the glass of water Teresa handed her. "The inheritance, my dear, we have to go to court to settle the matter of my inheritance."
"Is that why you were gone yesterday?"
Laura wrinkled her brow. "Didn't I tell you?"
"I'm new, remember?"
Laura thought about that for a moment. "Of course you are. We are contesting the will, you see, and I…what day is this?"