"So where have you been, Victoria?" Grandmother Hudson said casually.
I was holding my breath because I knew something more significant was about to happen. I also knew Grandmother enjoyed baiting and teasing Victoria. Her attitude made me laugh, but I hid my smiles behind my drinks of water and behind chewing my food.
"I've been in Richmond on the Snowden Project, Mother. I told you all about that, but you never listen to me when I discuss business."
"It's usually so boring, Victoria. How can you enjoy all that work with profit and loss statements, receivables, ledgers and workman's compensation? It's more suited to men."
Victoria pulled herself up in her seat. She looked like she had a spine that unfolded like a telescope, raising her neck and head higher and higher as she reached down for her words.
"It's not only old fashioned, it's insulting to conclude that a woman can't succeed and enjoy herself in the business world today, Mother. Women are not only equal to men; they're superior in many instances, and men are beginning to realize it," Victoria bragged through thin lips and clenched teeth.
Grandmother shrugged.
"It's always been my experience that when you make a man feel inferior, you close down his heart and you lose your feminine advantage?'
"That's your experience, Mother. That's passe."
"Not for me," Grandmother insisted, which only further infuriated Victoria.
"I didn't come here to debate equality between the sexes, Mother."
"Oh, how I hate that terminology. Equality between the sexes. It's so ...impersonal," Grandmother Hudson said looking to me. "Makes us all sound like lumps of coal being balanced on a scale." I risked a small smile and she turned back to Victoria. "This is delicious, Victoria. Are you sure you won't have some of the veal?"
"Yes."
"When do you eat?" Grandmother Hudson pursued.
She chewed her food and stared at Victoria as if she was interviewing some other form of human species.
"I eat when I need to eat," Victoria replied impatiently.
"Not because someone ordains a time for dinner."
"How pedestrian," Grandmother Hudson said. Victoria's eyes widened. She took a deep breath.
"I'm not here to discuss my eating habits."
"Well now that we know a couple of reasons why you are not here, why don't you tell us just why you are here, Victoria? I'm glad to see you, of course, but you look like you have a hive of angry bees buzzing around in your head." Grandmother sipped some water and held her nondescript expression.
Victoria placed her long hands on the table, palms down, the fingers curling up slightly. She began, looking down at her hands as she spoke.
"This morning I called our attorney, Mother, on a business matter and I learned you've made a change in your will."
Grandmother Hudson lowered her fork, gazed at me and sat back.
"He had no right to discuss that."
"He didn't actually discuss it. It came up in a convoluted way because of some trust changes I was suggesting. Fortunately, it came up," she added and looked up at Grandmother Hudson. "Does Megan know about the changes you've made?"
"No, it's not any of her business, either."
"Can you explain to me why or how a complete stranger gets included in your legacy?" Victoria demanded, glancing at me.
I stopped chewing, nearly choked on what I had in my throat, and gulped some water. Grandmother Hudson had put me in her will?
"I don't care to discuss that right now," Grandmother Hudson said. "It's not a topic conducive to dining."
"I don't think it's a topic conducive to anything. It's maddening and bizarre. What has this ... this girl," she said gesturing emphatically at me, "done beside cooking you a good meal to deserve being included in our family fortunes?"