Chapter 10 - Surviving The Teachers
Three years after leaving the mansion, Nora hosted dinner in the Green Table office after a winter storm knocked out power in half the city.
The staff brought candles.
Someone made pasta.
Grace complained about the sauce and ate two servings.
Mrs. Bell brought bread.
Tessa washed dishes without being asked.
A young woman named Leah sat at the end of the table, one arm in a sling, staring at a set of unsigned documents her husband had tried to force on her that afternoon.
Nora noticed the way Leah looked at the pen.
Like it was a weapon.
She sat beside her.
“You don’t have to sign tonight.”
Leah swallowed.
“He said things get easier if I cooperate.”
Nora looked at the candle flame.
For one second, she was back beneath the chandelier.
Michael’s knife.
Evelyn’s smile.
The phone vibration.
The doorbell.
Then she returned.
“They might,” Nora said. “For him.”
Leah looked at her.
Nora gently slid the papers away.
“But we’re not building his easier anymore.”
Leah began to cry.
Nora did not touch her without asking.
She only stayed.
At the table.
Where no one laughed.
Where no one cut food to humiliate.
Where no one called pain dramatic.
Outside, snow pressed against the windows.
Inside, the candlelight warmed every face.
Nora lifted her glass of water.
Not wine this time.
Water.
Clear.
Simple.
Hers.
“To valuable lessons,” Grace said from across the table.
Nora looked at her, then at Leah, then at the women gathered around the small imperfect table.
May you like
She smiled.
“To surviving the teachers.”
