"Really? Not one of the guest rooms? That's a surprise," she commented.
For a moment my grandmother looked like she would stammer, but she pulled herself back quickly and shook her head.
"It really doesn't matter where she sleeps and Megan's room has everything all set up for her."
"Isn't that where you usually put Alison, though? Won't your granddaughter be upset?"
"When was the last time Alison stayed overnight with me, Victoria? I don't even think she would remember where she slept," my grandmother said.
"You're sending her to Dogwood?" my Aunt Victoria asked, looking at me disdainfully.
"That's correct."
She spun around in her seat to fully face my grandmother.
"Do you know what the costs are at that school? I happen to know that they've gone up considerably since Megan and I attended and--"
"Why don't we leave that worry up to my accountant, who gets paid plenty to worry," my grandmother said.
"I just don't see why she can't attend the public school here as well. You pay enough taxes. You could send her there with no difficulty and it wouldn't cost you anything."
"Yes, well, that's not your decision to make, Victoria." Aunt Victoria glared at me as if I had forced my grandmother to send me to the private school.
"I don't understand all this," she said shaking her head. There was a deep moment of silence. Grandmother Hudson glanced at me and I looked at her, then down quickly.
"But then again," Aunt Victoria said, "I don't understand half the things Megan does and three quarters of the things you do, Mother:'
"Isn't that unfortunate?" my grandmother said in the same tone of dry understatement Victoria had used earlier.
Victoria shook her head, sighed and then sat forward, turning away from me and to my
grandmother again.
"I have a few business issues I want to discuss with you, Mother," she told her. "Can we excuse Rain or go to the office?"
"Can't it wait, Victoria? I'm exhausted today."
"Did you see the doctor this week?" Aunt Victoria followed quickly.
"No. I'm not running to the doctor every other day. There isn't much he could tell me that I don't already know."
What was. wrong with her? I wondered.
"Still, I think--"
"Actually, I didn't expect you to be coming around at all tonight, Victoria, and I had intended to go to bed with a book and relax. Call me tomorrow and we'll make arrangements to have a business meeting. I'll call my accountant,"
"I wish you wouldn't involve him at every meeting we have, Mother. I think by now you would agree I have proven myself quite capable of handling things. I don't expect Daddy would have given me as much responsibility if he didn't think I could manage it."
"Yes, well, I can't manage it," my grandmother said rising. "That's why I need someone like Philip Gassman." She turned to me. "Be ready by seventhirty to be driven to Dogwood," she said. "My driver will be waiting outside. Merilyn already knows to have breakfast prepared for you by six-thirty. That should give you sufficient time:'
She started out of the dining room.
"You're going up to bed now, Mother?" Victoria asked, astonished.
"I thought I made that quite clear, Victoria."
"I wouldn't advise you to stay up too late, Rain," she told me, shifting her eyes toward Aunt Victoria and then quickly back to me. "You'll need to be as fresh and ready as you can for the challenges that lie ahead." She glanced again at Victoria and left me alone with her.