A Good Woman

by Liz Cronkhite

  But Aly knew what Erika wanted her to see was beyond the yard. They were on a hill and there were no neighbors to obstruct a view of the entire city. Up here in the western foothills, looking east, the hotels of The Strip, the four mile feature most people think of when they think of Las Vegas, rose jaggedly from the flat city spread far around them. The entire city was encircled by dry brown mountains.

  “Wow.”

  “The house was perfect for us, of course. But this is what sold me.”

  “It must be amazing at night.”

  Again, Erika seemed pleased with Aly’s reaction. “Oh, yes. Like a carpet of stars, as they say.”

  “You have a beautiful home, Erika.”

  “We’re very happy here,” she said, turning back toward the house. “Come. We have a lot to discuss and I have a trip to get ready for.” She led Aly back to the kitchen and motioned to the benches at the bar. There was a contract and pen and a box on it. “Have a seat. Would you like some coffee?”

  “If you’re having some.”

  “I am. Light, medium, or dark roast?”

  “Wow. Choices. Medium. Two sugars.”

  Erika quickly made their coffees with a pod coffee maker, reached into drawers to produce two sugar packets and a spoon for Aly, poured hazelnut creamer into her own coffee, and sat down with Aly at the bar.

  She went over the contract. It was very simple, what was expected of Aly as well as her compensation. It was for a year beginning July 31. Aly signed it.

  Then she went over their schedule. She was up at five thirty on weekdays and got the girls up at six so they could have breakfast together. She left just before seven. That’s when Aly would be on. She was in charge of the girls until Erika got home around five thirty. The girls were to help her make dinner and to do the dishes. They alternated which did which each night. They would like Aly to join them for dinner when she didn’t have other plans. When Erika was home, which was most nights, Aly was free after dinner. The girls were responsible for all of the family’s laundry. Erika liked this done during the week so it didn’t interfere with their time with her or Julio on the weekends. The girls were in bed at eight and nine.

  Their school was The Verkammer, which Aly recognized as a private school known for its diversity and liberal philosophy. If you were gay, black, had a nontraditional family, and could afford the tuition it is where you would want your kids to go.

  It was only five minutes south on the 215. “My office is five minutes north on the 215, on Cheyenne,” Erika explained. “Unless I’m coming from court or our downtown office I don’t spend much time commuting. I want my free time for my girls, not sitting in traffic.” Erika opened the box and slid a phone over to Aly. It was the latest iPhone. “This is for you. You can just use this or keep your own phone as well. But you must have it with you at all times. You’re on our family plan. It is unlimited, but don’t go overboard. You can put your music or anything you want on it. It’s yours.”

  “Thank you.” Aly felt overwhelmed by more generosity. It did not have to be the latest iPhone.

  “It’s not ‘thank you’. It’s your leash,” Erika laughed. “By the time you move in I should also have a credit card in your name. That will be for expenses with the girls. I won’t set a limit. Just use common sense. If you can’t, I’ll set a limit.”

  “I think I can be reasonable. Erika, I realize the responsibility of the position and I’m grateful for your trust.”

  Erika gave what Aly recognized as her characteristic expression when she was confused or concerned, a frown and cocked head. This time she had a small smile playing on her beautiful full mouth as she briefly touched Aly’s arm. “From what I’ve heard, you won’t disappoint.”

  Aly was surprised. “That’s very generous.”

  Erika studied her for a moment and then took a deep breath and let it out. “Well, I think that’s it. Do you have any questions?”

  “Not off the…there is something. I don’t know if it’s…Bianca. Is she in the picture?”

  “Ha! Bianca,” Erika shook her head at herself. “Yes, I guess you should know about their other mother. She calls the girls about once a week. She comes out in January for their birthdays. Both of their birthdays are in January, by the way. Not what we planned, but Mother Nature had her own ideas. And they spend spring break with her in L.A.”

  “So she doesn’t need to interview me?”

  “No, she doesn’t care about the details.” Erika pursed her lips briefly. “The girls don’t know, but there’s no formal custody agreement with her. She didn’t seem to want to be bound by one. But she likes the idea of daughters, if you know what I mean. Well, she contributes financially, I’ll give her that.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me, too. For the girls. It affects Whitney more. She was older when Bianca left.”

  “I don’t think they lack for love. You and Julio seem pretty devoted to them.” As Aly said this she realized she didn’t know if it was true. What Erika and Julio said and what they did could be different things.

  But Erika beamed. “We are. We wanted them.”

  Aly was curious about how their arrangement came to be, but she certainly didn’t know Erika well enough yet to ask. Erika then moved on to her moving in. “Can you move in the last weekend in July? The girls come back then. You’ll have about three weeks to get to know them before they start school.”

  “That will be perfect. The Gianni’s leave the following week.”

  Erika moved off the stool. “One more thing and then we’re done.” She led Aly to the garage. A light went on when she opened the door. There were two Audis, a small white sedan and a dark blue SUV. Another bay stood empty. “You’ll park your car in here. When you move in you’ll get keys to the house and the SUV. That’s what you’ll drive when you drive the girls. They call it ‘Gigi’. Don’t ask me why. Whitney called it that one day and Lu thought it was hysterical. I don’t think she realized it’s an actual name.”

  “I’ll be driving the SUV?” Aly all but gulped. It was a huge step from her seven year old Hyundai to a late model Audi SUV.

  “When you have the girls, yes. The sedan is my commuter, basically.” Erika pressed the toggle on the wall to open the garage door so she could leave. “I will see you at the end of July.” She put out her hand for Aly, and when Aly took it she covered her hand with her other one. “Thank you, Aly. It’s a relief to have this lined up. Now I can enjoy my vacation! I will be back in two weeks so if you need to contact me for any reason…”

  What Aly wanted to say was, “Are you sure you have the right person?” But instead she fell back on niceties. “Enjoy your vacation. Where are you going?”

  “Tokyo. Every year I join my best friend and her family wherever they choose to go. They spend the month, but I only go for two weeks. That’s all I want to be away from work. Then I come back and rattle around the house alone for the rest of the month missing the girls. I have the weekend to myself every other week, but when they’re away in Florida I find it eerie.”

  Aly laughed. “Well, enjoy Tokyo, anyway.”

  They said goodbye and Aly walked out to her car. She felt overwhelmed by the Milton-Allendes’ generosity, hopeful about the future, and unreasonably disturbed by the Ice Queen.

  9

  The Wong clan in Las Vegas was really the Wong-Rivera-McMahon clan due to Aly’s father’s aunt’s marriages. For the Fourth of July she and the Gianni’s gathered with the extended family for a barbeque at Sunset Park in southeast Las Vegas near the airport. Not far from there Aly had owned a home with Toy. It was with painful twinges that she returned to familiar scenes left behind because of circumstances beyond her control.

  The day was hard for Aly in other ways, too. The clan usually gathered only for Thanksgiving each year, but today they were using the holiday to send off the Giannis. So, for Aly, it was bittersweet. Her immediate future was settled and this should have left her free to just enjoy the holiday. But without
the distraction of her own problems she felt more keenly a well of sadness over Gemma’s leaving. She had been Aly’s closest friend for the past two years. And, of course, Aly was also very close to the children. She was going to miss them all fiercely.

  The clan had reserved a pavilion for the occasion. It was decorated in red, white, and blue streamers and balloons. The tables were piled with all the usual: various chips, burgers, hot dogs, corn-on-the-cob, potato salad, pot stickers, egg rolls, chow mein, white rice, Spanish rice, grilled chicken, beans, tortillas, salsas, flan, chirros, cookies, cakes, pies. As a joke someone was piping hundred year old patriotic marching music through speakers set up around the pavilion. There was a lot of moaning about it from the white, olive, and brown skinned clan spread around at tables and on blankets. But no one knew who was responsible or how to change it.

  The younger children ran into everyone playing an obscure form of tag whose arbitrary rules no one understood, but it didn’t manner. The running seemed to be the point and the adults were happy to have the kids exhaust themselves.

  Aly ran into cousin Milo while getting food. “Do you know a lawyer named Erika Milton?” she asked after greeting him.

  Milo, short, pudgy, a fringe of salt and pepper hair around a shining pink pate, looked at her sharply. “You’re looking for a lawyer?” She reassured him that she was not and explained her situation. He relaxed and shrugged. “From what I know she and her partner are solid. But I can’t tell you how she’ll be as a boss.”

  When it came time to leave, Aly stood nearby, choked and teary, as the clan lined up near their van to say tearful goodbyes to the Giannis. It was a relief to get it over with in one fell swoop, but she still had her own goodbyes to dread at the end of month.

  When she and the Giannis got home they all rested for a while. Nick had splurged on fireworks, including sparklers for the children, so around eight they and the rest of the neighborhood gathered outside to set off the fireworks and dazzle the air with sparklers.

  Zoe, sleeping in Aly’s arms, missed it all. The child could sleep through a war, and with three siblings, she often did.

  Later, with the two youngest in bed, the adults took the boys up to the roof to watch the fireworks over the Strip. Aly thought of the view from Far Hills and realized no one was home at the Milton’s to enjoy it.

  ◆◆◆

  Milo might not have information, but a week later Aly learned more about the family she was going to work for from Anita. They were at a small Greek mom and pop fast food restaurant in the south central part of the city near Spanish Trail Country Club, the affluent neighborhood where Anita lived. Aly assured Anita she could afford to take her to a restaurant with wait staff, but Anita said it was not about the cost. “I have been craving these gyros since I first tried them. And I want everyone I know to love them so this place stays open!”

  “Did you know I wanted to ask Erika out?” she started, unprompted, as they unwrapped their lunches. “This was back about a year after Bianca left. Erika was still pretty raw. But she’s such a lovely woman. I don’t just mean just to look at. It goes without saying she’s beautiful to look at. I mean, she’s a lovely person. Warm, generous.”

  “Really?” Nothing had happened in their two meetings to change Aly’s first impression of Erika. Certainly, Erika was more relaxed in her own home. She did have that gesture of touching a person when concerned or making a point, which did not seem like the action of a cold person. But that could just be an affectation.

  “You don’t think so?”

  Like anyone, Aly was certain of her own opinions even in the face of someone who would know better. But she didn’t want to contradict Anita and only shrugged. “She’s really only an acquaintance.”

  “She called me every day when I had my surgery and chemo. Every. Day.”

  “So why didn’t you ask her out?”

  “Oh, the age difference. I’m a good twenty years older than her.”

  “But isn’t Carla much younger?” Carla was Anita’s current love. They had been together for four years, though they lived apart.

  “Oh, that just happened. We were friends and we fell in love. I wouldn’t have had the druthers to ask her out,” Anita laughed.

  “I’ve always thought of you as full of druthers.”

  “In most things,” Anita shrugged defensively. “We all have our insecurities.”

  Aly saw an opportunity to fill in some blanks. “So did you know Bianca?”

  “Yes. I knew them as a couple.”

  “How long were they together?”

  Anita puckered her lips and squinted, thinking. “Ten years? Something like that. They had just moved out here from L.A. when I met them. One of them took a job here. They were young lawyers, you know, trying to make their way. They ended up in different firms. That’s where Bianca met Julio. Have you met him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Nice guy. Very good father, according to Erika.” Anita stopped to drink some soda and was lost in thought for a while. “If I remember right, he didn’t want to get married but wanted children. And he was the perfect racial make up, Afro-Mestizo. Blended both of them. Although, I don’t think Erika cared. Race wasn’t the issue for her. She was looking for a good father. She wanted him to be involved in their kids’ lives. It’s ironic that Bianca cared about race because, in the end, she doesn’t have much to do with the girls.”

  “That’s what I gathered from Erika.”

  “It’s hard to know if they’re better off. I think they felt the loss, especially Whitney. But I don’t think it’s such a loss.” Anita pulled a face. “I suppose that’s not very nice of me.”

  Aly laughed. “You’re safe with me. You can be honest.”

  “I mean, I love Bianca. Really. But I think with Erika she was trying to be something she’s not. I don’t know if Erika walked into that or if Bianca tried to be something for Erika. But she’s very materialistic. She comes from a wealthy family that thinks if you go into some field you do it to make the most money. Like, her brother is a doctor so he’s a plastic surgeon in L.A. So, Bianca, of course, wanted to sue people. You know, big corporations. And she couldn’t understand why Erika didn’t want to do the same. But Erika loves family law. She loves the personal side of it. I mean, it’s not all divorces, you know. She does adoptions and personal contracts. Small businesses. Immigration. She likes being an everyday lawyer. And she does very well, as I’m sure you’ve seen. But Bianca could not understand that. She wanted to start a firm with Erika and Julio. The three of them suing the wazoo out of the world. She felt held back by Erika and finally had enough and left.”

  For the first time Aly felt a softening toward Erika. She remembered what Erika said about Bianca liking the idea of children. “But the girls!”

  “Oh, I know. That was what Erika could not get over. To leave your children to pursue wealth. I mean, Bianca had money from her family. She didn’t do it for the money, per se. What was it? Status? Prestige? Luxury? Whatever a higher number in your bank account gets you.”

  “That’s sad.”

  “It is very sad,” Anita agreed. “She gave up good people, children, family, for money.”

  Aly tried to imagine what it was like, this woman walking out on Erika and two little girls. “Julio must’ve been hurt, too,” she said.

  “Oh, yes. Think about it. Bianca’s not even in the biology mix. Except she’s how they met, Erika and Julio didn’t need her. The girls certainly didn’t. It would’ve been kinder to leave before the babies. But life doesn’t work out that way. I don’t know when Bianca figured herself out.”

  They were both quiet, thinking of the situation for a while. Aly now understood what Erika meant when she said the girls were wanted. She had a clearer picture of their family and the parenting partnership between Erika and Julio. “And Erika and Julio work together now, too,” she said.

  Anita nodded. “He does personal injury downtown. Erika’s office is up on Cheyenne. They’re g
rowing, but I know they’re waiting for the girls to be up and out before they really put their backs into it. If they’ll still want to when the time comes. I think they’re happy. I only wish Erika would find someone. I think it would round out her life.” Anita looked carefully at Aly and she wondered if Anita was thinking the same about her. She was aware that now she would have time for more of a social life beyond family. But dating was something else altogether. How do you go on?

  “Has there been anyone since Bianca?”

  “She’s dated. She saw someone for a few months a couple of years ago. She didn’t make much time for her. Just her nights off from the girls. The woman - I think her name was Teri - didn’t think that was enough. And Erika admitted she had a point. She didn’t bring Teri into her life with her girls. She realized if she was really into her that would have been automatic.”

  Aly grew quiet, thinking about how hard it is to truly connect with someone, to have that chemistry. Anita watched her. “What about you? It’s been a couple of years. Have you seen anyone?”

  Aly shook her head. “I never expected to be divorced.”

  “Oh, no one does. It’s common, but no one expects it.”

  “I don’t know what I want, really. I don’t trust my partner picker. And I don’t know if I want that again, anyway. I mean, I know I’m supposed to.”

  “Didn’t you once want a family, children?”

  “Yes. I still do. But time’s running out.”

  “You have time. And I know you. You’d be happy adopting, wouldn’t you? Do they have to come out of you?”

  “No,” Aly sat back, done with lunch. “Maybe I’ll just spend the rest of my life taking care of other people’s children. I hadn’t thought of it beyond Gemma’s kids. But now I’m going into it as employment. Maybe it’s better that way. Not having the ultimate responsibility.”