Chapter 4
Bellmont called the next morning.
The withdrawal had been removed from Zoria’s record. Her scholarship and housing grant were secure. Mr. Avery asked if she wanted a written explanation for her files.
“Yes,” Zoria said. “I’d like everything in writing.”
I watched her say it. Her voice was steadier than it had been at the party.
After she hung up, she sat down beside me.
“I’m happy,” she said. “Why do I still feel awful?”
“Because someone you trusted tried to take it away.”
“And everyone saw me in that apron.”
I had been thinking about that too.
“Renee says most people left worried about you, not judging you.”
“I know. I keep hearing them ask me to take their plates.”
“You shouldn’t have had to.”
Zoria looked at the table.
“I thought if I refused, Vanessa would say I had spoiled the party. She’d already told me you were upset about the scholarship.”
“I wasn’t upset with you.”
“I know that now.”
That last word hurt.
I had been home every night during the weeks Vanessa hid those letters. I had looked at my daughter across the dinner table and missed that she was frightened.
Kendra joined us with her phone.
“Mom wants to talk,” she said.
“Do you want to?” I asked.
“I want to ask why she lied to me. I don’t want her telling me it was all for my sake.”
“You can tell her that.”
Kendra called Vanessa from the living room. I stayed close enough that she could find me but far enough to give her privacy. The call lasted four minutes.
When Kendra returned, she looked angry.
“She said she panicked because she couldn’t stand seeing me disappointed.”
“What did you say?” Zoria asked.
“I told her I was disappointed already. Then she made it worse.”
Zoria reached for her hand.
We spent the rest of the morning taking down party decorations. Renee came to help. When she found the unopened cake, she asked what we wanted to do with it.
“Eat it,” Zoria said. “I picked the flavor.”
We put it on the kitchen counter and cut three enormous slices.
For a little while, the girls argued about which piece had more frosting. I let them.
That afternoon, a guest named Mrs. Coleman came by. She worked with Vanessa and had attended the party.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said. “I thought you should hear what Vanessa told some of us.”
She had been told Zoria had withdrawn because she was “not ready for college” and needed to learn responsibility. Vanessa said serving at the party would help her appreciate the money spent on it.
Zoria heard every word from the hall.
I thanked Mrs. Coleman for telling us. After she left, Zoria went upstairs without speaking.
I followed and knocked.
“Come in.”
She sat at her desk holding her graduation cap.
“She told people I wasn’t ready?”
“Yes.”
“They’ll believe her.”
“Some might. We can tell the truth to the people who matter to you. You get to decide whom.”
She turned the cap in her hands.
“I don’t want to spend the whole summer explaining myself.”
“Then you don’t have to.”
She nodded, but I could see the story had lodged inside her.
That evening, I called Vanessa.
“Mrs. Coleman told us what you said about Zoria.”
Vanessa was silent.
“You owe Zoria a correction,” I said.
“I’ll apologize.”
“Privately, when Zoria is ready. You also need to correct what you told the guests. Tell them she earned her place and you were wrong.”
“You want me to announce our family problems to everyone?”
“You told them a false story about her. Fix that story.”
Vanessa said she would think about it.
“No,” I said. “You need to do it.”
She ended the call.
Two hours later, a message arrived in the group thread she had used for party invitations. She wrote that Zoria had never lost her scholarship and that she herself had given guests incorrect information. She said Zoria had earned both her university place and her financial awards.
It was less than the whole truth, but Zoria read it and breathed out.
“She said I earned it,” she murmured.
“You did.”
Kendra leaned over her shoulder.
“You earned the cake too.”
Zoria smiled for the first time since morning.
Just before bed, I found another message from Vanessa. This one was only to me.
Bellmont has asked to speak with me. Their legal office says they may report the forged form.
May you like
I read it twice.
Then I looked toward the girls’ rooms and knew the party was only the beginning of what we would have to face.
