All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(94)
X X. i set my house in order; am returned to liberty
THE FIRST MONDAY IN JUNE, Natty left for genius camp with Miss Bellevoir.
Following the terms of our agreement, Charles Delacroix announced my sentence to the media on Tuesday. It came towards the tail end of a press conference that had largely been about matters relating to his recently announced candidacy. ‘As Miss Balanchine is only a minor,’ he said, ‘she is being given the relatively light sentence of ninety days at Liberty Children’s Facility. Let us not forget that she used the gun in self-defence and that she also saved a life that night. A life very near to my heart.’
‘Mr Delacroix,’ a reporter called out. ‘Is Miss Balanchine still involved with your son?’
Mr Delacroix replied, ‘Sadly, no! My sources tell me she has found a new boyfriend. The course of true teenage love never did run smooth.’ There was mirth in his voice when he said this, and I hated him for it.
Another reporter: ‘Is it true that while in detainment for shooting your son Jakov Pirozhki confessed to orchestrating the Balanchine chocolate contamination?’
‘Expect an announcement about that in the next several days,’ Mr Delacroix replied. ‘But yes.’
So, Jacks had done it. Though Jacks had sworn that he hadn’t and had told my brother it was Mickey, this news didn’t exactly come as a surprise. Jacks would have done whatever he could to improve his position in the family. I suspect that included the particularly repellent act of convincing Leo to shoot Yuri Balanchine, who was Jacks’s own father, after all. Though Yuri’s heart was badly damaged, he had, more or less, recovered. In the wake of Jacks’s confession and to facilitate Natty’s and my safety, I felt it was time to mend fences.
Wednesday, I called a summit with Yuri, Mickey and all the other Balanchines.
Mr Kipling accompanied me. Before we went in, he asked me, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’
I assured him that I did.
Security at the Pool had been particularly tight in the months since the shooting, and Mr Kipling and I were both thoroughly frisked before we were allowed in the building.
The space that had been chosen for the meeting was a round conference table that was at the bottom of a lap pool. A lift had been installed along the side of the pool for Yuri’s wheelchair. The rest of us had to climb down using ladders. Everyone else had already arrived. My seat was at the opposite end of the table from Yuri’s, in the deep end.
I was the only female at the meeting, and I had chosen my wardrobe carefully. Nana used to say that it alienated the men if they thought you were trying to dress like them, so a men’s suit was out of the question. I had tried wearing one of Nana’s old dresses, but it seemed too formal and like I was playing dress-up. What I finally settled on was my good old school uniform. It was non-threatening, I thought, but also somehow official.
I sat down in my chair, and Mr Kipling stood behind me, as was the custom.
‘So, young lady.’ Yuri’s voice echoed across the pool. ‘You called this meeting. What do you have to say for yourself?’
I cleared my throat. Daddy always said that it was a lie that you should only speak from your heart – you ought to let your brain play a part, too. I cleared my throat again. ‘Many of you know that tomorrow I begin a three-month sentence at Liberty Children’s Facility. It’s not Rikers Island but it won’t exactly be a trip to Hawaii either.’
The men laughed at this.
‘I wanted to speak to you today because this bloodshed has to stop. In the last ten years, I have lost my mother, my grandmother and my father. My brother may or may not be dead, but he is lost to me. The only one I have left is my sister and’ – here, I paused to look at each of the faces of my ragtag band of relatives – ‘all of you.’
There were murmurs of approval.
‘I think about what Cousin Jacks did, and what I feel is incredibly sad. He truly felt his only option was poisoning the supply and my brother’s mind. You might wonder if I bear ill-will towards Jacks, and I am here to tell you that I do not. My deepest hope is that there will be no more retaliations in the wake of Jacks’s confession and that my sister and I can live our lives in peace. I am just a girl, and even I can see that we will destroy ourselves if we don’t stop fighting each other. We must treat each other as family again.’ I paused. ‘That’s all I have to say.’
It was not the most eloquent speech, but I had said my piece.
Yuri peered up at me. ‘Little Anya, who is now a grown woman, I see. Anya, you have my personal assurances that no one will seek out your brother, if he should still be alive. And that, if in some time, after emotions have cooled, he should choose to return to you, young Leo will not be harmed. It was my mistake to employ him at the Pool against the wishes of my dear departed half-brother Leonyd, and I have certainly learned my lesson. You have my additional assurance that you and your sister can go about in peace. No one holds you responsible for shooting my son Jacks or for his imprisonment. It pains me to say this but he is the product of a tainted union and perhaps the bastard deserves what he got.’
Uncle Yuri rolled his wheelchair towards me. The chair descended easily, as the pool floor was sloped and I was seated in the deep end.
When he got to me, the old man kissed me on both of my cheeks. ‘So like your father,’ Uncle Yuri said, and then he whispered in my ear, ‘You could run this place better than either of my sons.’