The Family Fortune Read Online Free Page B

father.
    â€œI have to,” she said. “We can do something later.”
    â€œI’m shopping this afternoon. You’ll miss the shopping,” Miranda complained.
    At the mention of shopping, Teddy looked at his feet. Finally, Dolores trotted out of the room on her impractical heels. If she was really going to the Esplanade, those heels would be a hindrance. She’d sink right into the grass.
    After she was gone, Littleton put his cup on our elaborately carved mantelpiece. He stood at the fireplace with his back toward us, his arms outstretched in an odd, theatrical pose.
    He spun around so quickly his body made a swishing sound.
    â€œI’ve been going over your finances, and we need to take drastic measures,” he said.
    Astrid, who had just come in with some mini-biscotti and more coffee, put the tray down on an ottoman and backed quickly out of the room. I tried to catch her eye, but she wouldn’t look at me.
    Drastic measures?
    What was he talking about and why didn’t Teddy look surprised—or Priscilla? The words drastic measures yanked Miranda from her natural lethargy.
    â€œWhatever this is,” Miranda snapped, examining a pearl-toned fingernail, “can we get it over with? I dislike histrionics of all sorts. Drastic . Please. What on earth are you talking about? There’s a special sale at Louis today and I’d like to get there before everything is gone.” Though Miranda is always happy to pay full price, she can never resist a really good sale.
    â€œLouis will have to wait,” Littleton said. “I want you to sit and listen very carefully. This is the bottom line.” I hated the term bottom line .It always struck me that the people who used it didn’t really know what it meant. It was something a slick financial adviser would say, and Littleton was hardly one of those. “You have overspent and invested unwisely.”
    The room, though large, felt like the inside of a cigar box. I wanted to pull back the velvet drapes and open some windows. Didn’t anyone else notice how hot it was?
    â€œI don’t understand,” Miranda said. She was looking at Littleton as if he held the key to the vault at Shreve, Crump & Lowe.
    â€œThe Fortune family is experiencing an insufficiency of funds.”
    â€œGo on,” Miranda said.
    Littleton was sweating at his hairline.
    â€œEconomies must be taken,” he said, “compromises made. Your fortunes, excuse the pun, have diminished.”
    Miranda continued to stare blankly at him as if he were speaking in tongues.
    â€œWe’re broke,” I said.
    Miranda turned on me.
    â€œJane, must you be so dramatic? Must you always be so dramatic?” Miranda must have been very upset, because as everyone knows, I am not in the least dramatic. “We couldn’t be broke. We’re not broke, are we, Daddy? Broke—it’s such a shoddy word. We may be experiencing a financial shortfall, but people like us—we don’t just go broke.” She spat out the last word as if it were made of broken glass. “What does it all mean?” Her words were drawn out and her voice was as nasal as Gwyneth Paltrow’s when she played English. Miranda slumped onto her chair. Teddy walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder, but he couldn’t look at her. He ran his fingers through his thick blond hair. Teddy’s hair, like Dolores’s, was a deception, but he had a good colorist and his looked completely natural.
    Miranda peered up at him and touched his hand. Her look was pleading, the same look she gave him as a child when she wanted a new toy.
    â€œLittleton discussed it with me and I discussed it with Priscilla last week,” Teddy said. “She and I thought it best that Littleton explain it to you, but the fact is—Jane’s right.” There had been many times when I had wanted to hear those two words, but this was not one of them.