Vanessa looked at me.
Her eyes were furious.
“I apologize for the misunderstanding.”
I held up the phone.
“That is not what happened.”
She glanced at the guests.
“I apologize that the situation became unpleasant.”
“That is still not what happened.”
Ethan’s expression changed.
I had seen that look only a few times in his adult life.
It appeared when grief or betrayal forced him to see something he had worked hard not to see.
He looked at Vanessa and asked, “Do you know my mother at all?”
Vanessa said nothing.
He continued.
“Her photograph was in the profile you sent your parents after our second date.”
Patricia closed her eyes.
George looked toward the mansion doors.
Ethan turned to me.
“Did you come like this on purpose?”
“Yes.”
The word settled over the lawn.
I told him why.
I told him I had wanted to know how the Mitchell family treated someone they believed had no money, no status, and no connection worth respecting.
I told him I had hoped to be embarrassed by my own suspicion.
Instead, I had been sprayed with a hose.
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“So this was a test.”
“No,” I said. “A test has hidden rules. You were simply given a person you thought you could mistreat.”
