Julia

by Marty Sorensen

  *

  Leonard Krause, dressed in a black pinstripe suit, with a dark red tie set off by his heavily starched white shirt, stood before the painting of Hugh’s father above the mantelpiece. He swirled his single-barrel Jack Daniels around the glass, looked into the amber liquid, sipped just a little, let out a breath, then looked up at the painting. “Your father was a great man, Hugh.”

  Hugh nodded, looking up at the hard eyes that glared down at him. “Yes, he certainly was.” In imitation of Leonard he swirled his whiskey in his glass.

  Grace's voice came from behind them. “A great man in a great family,” she said with admiration on her face as she looked up to the painting. .

  The two men turned to face her. Leonard raised his glass to her, and smiling, said “You look beautiful as always, Grace.”

  Hugh, trying to catch up with his lawyer on civility, raised his glass quickly.

  Grace smiled and raised her glass of white wine but looked only at Leonard. “Why thank you very much, Sir. It’s Christian Dior.” She smoothed the long line of the black silk skirt.

  “Oh?” Leonard said. He turned toward Hugh and smiled in feigned embarrassment, “I'm afraid I don't know him.” Then he swiveled back to Grace. “If it’s a him. But then I don't know dress designers. Only the ones that my wife wears and she thinks I should know.”

  “Oh, yes, he's a new designer for Robert Piquet. I thought I would try him out for tonight.”

  “Well, I certainly will recommend him to Marianne. I'm sure she will be calling you about it.” He looked over his glasses at her. “Probably soon after I get home.”

  “Who’s getting home?”

  At Julia’s voice they all turned toward the door. She walked in with a smile and wore a bright orange floral dress with large ruffles across the top. Her blonde hair fell in long curls down to her shoulders. She carried a martini glass

  Leonard gave her a broad grin. “I will be eventually, Julia. You look lovely tonight.” Then he swiveled to face each of the women in turn, “You and Grace both.”

  Julia curtsied, one hand on her hem, the other careful to keep her cocktail glass from spilling. “Thank you, Leonard. I hope Marianne is well.”

  Leonard nodded. “Thank you, yes, I’ll tell her you asked after her.”

  Grace’s smile stayed on her face but it lost its luster.

  The room fell silent. They all sipped.

  Grace’s eyes betrayed her concern at the lawyers presence in her house, but she didn’t ask why. She turned to Leonard and said, “Dinner will be ready in just a little while. I have to thank my son for ordering it. We were all busy doing other things today.”

  Leonard laughed. “Yes, he has the burden, since he invited me to dinner tonight, with not much advance notice, I can tell you.” He laughed again, leaning toward Hugh in companionable sympathy.

  “Is there something special, Leonard-” Julia said.

  Leonard pushed his drink toward Hugh.

  Hugh shuffled his feet, then looked at his mother. “You see, Mother, it’s about the property on Orchard Street.”

  Grace put her hand on her chest. Her fears had been justified. “Oh, I do hope it’s nothing serious. I remember when your father purchased that property. I must tell you, I thought it was-what shall we say-below par, I wouldn’t even go down there to see it, but he said it would pay off in the long run. Is something wrong down there?”

  Hugh looked at Leonard, who remained silent, his face expressionless. Then he spoke to Grace. “It seems there’s been a fire there. One of the tenants died. The Fire Commissioner wants to talk to us about it. But I’m sure we have no responsibility for the fire.” He pointed his glass at the lawyer. “That’s what Leonard is here to talk about, he’s going to fill me in with the details. The timing couldn’t be worse. I’ve got a meeting with Sachs tomorrow, to increase our holdings in gold, and now this has to happen.” Then Hugh motioned to Leonard to continue.

  Grace and Julia, both quiet but with eyes open wide, waited for Leonard’s response. Grace’s eyes shone with fear. Julia had started with news of the death of a tenant and now watched Hugh and Leonard with barely restrained disapproval. Why had she not been told?

  Leonard shuffled his feet and gave a quick glance at Hugh before speaking. He seemed unsure how much he should reveal. “Well, as you know, this property was left in equal parts to you, Grace,” he said, lifting a finger from his glass and pointing at her, “and to Hugh. So it’s not just a financial matter, it’s also a family responsibility. And I understand completely Hugh’s situation.”

  “I see,” Grace said. “Perhaps the three of us ought to discuss this alone.” She turned to Julia. “This doesn’t really concern you, My Dear.”

  Julia, surprised, said, “I think this definitely concerns me if it concerns my husband. I’m especially worried if a tenant has died. Do we know anything about that?”

  Hugh raised his eyebrows and looked at Leonard. “That’s why our friend is here this evening. I wanted him to come earlier, but we’re not his only client.”

  Leonard finished his drink and looked for a place to put it down. Grace held out her hand and took it from him.

  “Perhaps we should all sit down,” he said.

  When they were all seated, he spoke. “We know these people aren’t careful about-”, he surveyed the room, “quite frankly, about everyday life. Someone there, we don’t quite know who, started a fire in their apartment. The Commissioner hasn’t completed his investigation, so we are not sure of all the details yet. These buildings-”

  Julia interrupted him. “Buildings? You mean more than one?”

  Leonard smiled, but he kept his lips closed as he did it. “No, Julia. Only the one, and the fire was contained within the one apartment. What I was going to say-there are several buildings that were constructed at the same time, in the late 1890s. This is one of those buildings. And that’s very important to our case.”

  Grace sat up, bewildered and afraid. “Our case? Oh my god, what does that mean?” She swiveled her gaze between Leonard and Hugh.

  Leonard smiled again, and made a patting motion in the air with his hand. “No, no, Grace. I’m sorry. That’s just the lawyer talking. There is no case. Not in the legal sense, anyway. I should have said ‘in this instance’.”

  Grace relaxed and smiled at Hugh before turning to Leonard. “You were saying, about the buildings?”

  Leonard continued. “The building were constructed in the late 1890s. That means they have been grandfathered.”

  Grace interrupted again. “Grandfathered?”

  Hugh said, “Mother, it’s a technical term. You have not been involved in all of this for years. Father did it all for you, and now I’m doing it. I don’t want Leonard to have to explain every legal term you’re not familiar with.”

  Grace looked ashamed, but she didn’t let her point go as she glared at her son, her voice quavering. “Don’t talk to me like that, Hugh. First you tell me the fire marshal is coming after me, and now you sound like you want to keep me in the dark.” She sat back in her chair, satisfied that she had made her point.

  Hugh nodded in deference. “Yes, Mother, of course, you are right. Leonard, will you please explain the term for all of us.” He made a quick glance over to Julia and back to Leonard.

  Leonard continued. “Let me explain the issue first. The fire started with the wainscoting. You know, wood paneling about three feet up the wall. It has varnish on it, and varnish is particularly flammable. Now, Grace, this has been superseded by modern building codes. But back in early 1890 building codes permitted it.”

  Julia spoke up. “So why didn’t we change the wainscoting when the new codes came out?”

  Hugh frowned at her. “First of all, this all happened before we owned the buildings. So it doesn’t apply to our assets.” He looked over at Leonard.

  Leonard nodded. “That’s right. But you see, Julia, property owners can’t change everything they own every time the code cha
nges. That would be prohibitively expensive-”

  Hugh jumped in. “So, then, when new buildings are constructed, they then become subject to the new codes. Wainscoting with varnish is perfectly proper on our very old property. It was, after all, constructed in the last century.”

  Julia wouldn’t let it go. “Yes, property, I understand.” She stood up. “Varnish I understand. But this was a human life, Hugh. We can’t treat a human life like property.”

  Leonard put his hand out and stopped Hugh from speaking. “You are of course right on this, Julia. I applaud your concern. But I’m here as your attorney. I’m here to discuss your legal situation.”

  “Legal? No.” She stood, put her hand up to her forehead, then addressed them all with a loud voice. “This is a moral situation,” she said, with an emphasis on ‘moral’. She looked to Grace for support, but as soon as she saw the woman she knew there was none from her mother-in-law. She turned to Hugh, who was looking down at the floor, leaving all the defending to be done by Leonard.

  Leonard sighed. “I’m sorry, but I must correct you. I’m your lawyer, not your pastor. I am not in a moral situation here. You have to work that out in your own conscience. I can’t bill you for that, now, can I? And you must understand this, Julia. I have talked to the fire commissioner for Lower Manhattan. That’s what I came to talk to you about. I know him, he’s a fine man, but he tries to go beyond his authority. He thinks he is a one-man crusade to convince people to upgrade their property according to his modern standards. He’s Irish, the tenants are Irish-well, I can tell you, he has no authority. He now knows that we won’t fall for this tactic.”

  Grace let out an audible sigh. She leaned forward, smiled and laughed at the same time. “Thank God for that, Leonard. Can’t thank you enough. Oh my goodness. What a relief. I’m up for a refill on my wine.” She stood and walked over to the wall and pulled open a cabinet and picked up a rhine-shaped bottle of white wine in a silver cooler. Still smiling, she filled her glass and took a drink. “Now that’s refreshing. Can I get anyone else a drink?”

  Julia took a sip out of her glass while she shook her head and looked down, her lips straight. Leonard said no with a gesture. Hugh sat back in his chair, raising his eyebrows at his mother’s unusual behavior.

  “It’s not quite over yet,” Leonard said, cocking his head and looking out over his glasses.

  Grace put her wine glass down on the green marble counter and turned to face the room. She sucked her lips in, switching her gaze between Hugh and Leonard.

  “I don’t mean to alarm you, Grace. And quite frankly, it’s why I don’t like to give people information outside of the office. I should have spoken to Hugh alone. Here we are in your magnificent library discussing this-trage-this mess.”

  Grace came back to her chair and sat down, but she sat up straight leaning forward, her hands on her knees.

  “The fire marshal’s investigation will show that the tenants were completely at fault. But it is still one of your properties, and you would be well advised to have your property management people pay careful attention. This property will now be on the marshal’s list, his watch list. I merely want to advise you to take this opportunity to make absolutely sure that the property is up to code in all respects.”

  Hugh spoke up. “Yes, yes, you are right, Leonard, I will talk to Elmer in the morning and make sure it is taken care of. I can’t thank you enough.”

  “Oh, yes, we are all grateful, Leonard,” Grace said. “Now I think I’ll take my wine in and get ready for dinner If you all just wait here a couple of minutes, I’ll call you in.” She looked toward Hugh with a glow in her eyes. “Perhaps Hugh should do this. I didn’t know he was such a wonderful cook.” She laughed as he left the room and uncharacteristically drank more wine as she walked.

  When she had disappeared, Leonard turned to Hugh. “I’m glad I made at least one person happy.”

  Hugh put his hands on Leonard’s shoulder. “I’ll make sure that Elmer invites the fire marshal to see the apartment when the work is complete. And, I appreciate your visit, Leonard. As you have seen, Mother has been relieved of a great deal of stress. As have we all.”

  Julia’s face darkened. She cleared her throat and the two men turned to face her, both waiting for her to say something they clearly did not want to deal with at the moment.

  Hugh said, “My Dear, Mother has dinner waiting. Why don’t we go in and eat. You and I can talk later?”

  She straightened her spine. “No. I want to clear this up. My so-called moral situation.”

  “Which is-”, Hugh said in an irritated voice, looking first at Leonard then back to his wife.

  Julia knew this was the first time she had gotten involved in his business affairs. At the moment she wished she had done it earlier. She had just naively assumed that the business Hugh was the same as the Hugh she loved. And now she has to deal with the shock. “Which is, that you have now settle the question of the assets, but what about the people?”

  Hugh raised his head back in disbelief. “The people? What do you mean by that? I will certainly have Elmer get right on top of this.”

  She opened her eyes wide. “No, Hugh. Not your staff. What about the person who died? What about the people who now have nowhere to live?”

  Hugh waited several moments before he responded. He turned halfway toward Leonard, then came back. “Julia those people are not mine.”

  “But they have nowhere to live.”

  “Then they should have thought about that before they lit matches.”

  “Oh, Hugh, please. That place is a firetrap and you know it.”

  “Well, so is Yankee Stadium if you start fires.”

  “This isn’t Yankee Stadium, it’s your building.”

  “Dinner’s ready, everybody.” Grace’s happy voice came from the dining room.

  Julia folded her hands across her chest. Hugh put his hands in his pocket and looked down at the floor.

  Leonard pursed his lips, then said in a quiet voice, “Why don’t we go in. Grace is waiting on us.” His eyes moved between Hugh and Julia.

  Julia unfolded her hands and started to walk. “Yes, you’re right. Let’s have dinner.”

  Hugh gestured for Julia and Leonard to walk ahead of him. Leonard stood still to wait for Julia to go ahead of him. She smiled and moved to the door. Inside, her heart did not settle down. She walked alone to the dining room and sensed her isolation and loneliness in her moral world.

  Once Leonard had left the house after dinner, not a word had passed between them. Or between Julia and Grace. Julia heard Hugh and Grace exchange a long dialogue while she got Lizzie ready for bed. When Lizzie fell asleep, Julia came in to the library and they all sat reading in silence. Hugh and Grace exchanged glances now and then.

  That evening, as Julia and Hugh prepared to go to sleep, she sat on one side of the bed in her black satin nightslip, her arms hanging down between her legs, her shoulders hunched over, head bowed. Hugh sat on the other side in his blue striped pajamas and took his slippers off, pulled the covers back, slipped into the bed and turned the light off. Without saying a word. Julia turned her light off and lay down on her back, facing the ceiling, listening to Hugh breathe in and out. Grateful he didn’t come over to her side.