“I wonder what she did this time?” Cassandra mulled.
“Well, until these pictures leaked, I actually thought Astrid might have a chance at inheriting Tyersall Park,” Jacqueline theorized.
“Astrid? Never, lah! Su Yi is so old-fashioned, she would never leave that house to a girl! She might just as well leave it to her own daughters!” Mabel insisted.
“Then if it’s just the boys, my bet is on Eddie. I hear that he’s really been working overtime to be the number-one grandson. He apparently won’t leave her side!” Cassandra reported.
“I’m not sure it will be Eddie. Su Yi told me herself that she can’t take him seriously,” Jacqueline said.
“Well then she’s running out of contenders. No way she would ever let one of the Leong boys get ahold of the house, but maybe one of the Aakaras?” Mabel wondered.
Cassandra snorted. “That would be too ironic for words! Would she really spite Philip and Nicky—the only true Youngs left—in favor of those foreign grandsons getting Tyersall Park? I think not.”
“Maybe she’s had a change of heart, then. Don’t you think Nicky might have been reinstated?” Jacqueline said.
“Definitely not. He’s still banned from the house! My sources tell me that he goes over there every day groveling on his knees, hoping to see her, but he still can’t get in. Why would she suddenly give him Tyersall Park now?” Cassandra argued.
Mabel scrunched her face. “That stupid boy. Giving everything up for that ugly girl.”
“Come on lah, Mabel, she’s not ugly. She’s quite pretty, actually. She’s just…not the kind of beauty one would have expected for Nicky,” Jacqueline remarked diplomatically.
“I know what you mean. Rachel is pretty, but in a very conventional way. Her lack of style doesn’t do her any favors, either,” Cassandra said.
Jacqueline smiled. “I wish I could tell her that she needs to grow out her hair by another four inches. That medium-long length is just so American.”
Cassandra nodded in agreement. “And her nose is a bit too rounded. Her eyes could be a bit bigger too.”
“And have you seen the way she sits? So frightfully common.” Mabel sniffed.
“Uggh! I can’t bear to listen to any more of this!” Lucia shrieked in anger, pushing her chair back dramatically. “You’re all talking about Rachel as if she was some kind of show dog! What does it even matter what she looks like, as long as they love each other? Uncle Nicky gave up everything to be with her. I think that’s sooooo romantic! I can’t wait to meet her. And you’re all wrong—I know what’s going to happen to Tyersall Park, and it’s certainly not what any of you think!”
“Shut up, Lucia! Stop making up stories!” Mabel scolded.
“Ah Ma, you and Auntie Cassie just chatter on and on about so much rubbish but none of you have a clue what’s really going on! Do you ever listen to what Grandpa and Daddy talk about?” With that, Lucia stormed out of the breakfast room, the ladies staring openmouthed after her.
“What utter nonsense!” Cassandra scoffed.
Mabel shook her head gravely. “Can you believe how rude that girl has become? I knew Bedales would be all wrong for her—those teachers do nothing but keep encouraging her confidence! My goodness, back in my day at the Convent,*8 if I had talked like that, the nuns would have beat me blue black with a wooden ruler! Neh kor suey neui moh yong, gae!”*9
Jacqueline’s eyes narrowed. “On the contrary, Mabel—I don’t think she’s useless at all. I think you have a very smart little girl on your hands. Smarter than I ever realized…”
* * *
*1 The interiors were given a marvelous face-lift in the mid-1990s by David Mlinaric, coinciding with Mabel’s own (much less marvelous) face-lift.
*2 Cantonese for “fish porridge.”
*3 Cantonese for “This half-breed granddaughter will be the death of me.”
*4 Cantonese for “so crazy.”
*5 Hokkien slang for “contacts” or “connections.”
*6 Cantonese for “so shameful.”
*7 Malay slang for “mates” or “buddies.” Although, should you really be calling the cheating scoundrels who try to screw you at every mah-jongg game your buddies?
*8 Mabel, like many other well-born women of her generation, attended Singapore’s venerable Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. These days, the nuns have long since retired, and by most accounts, corporal punishment is no longer practiced.