Page 33 of Executive Decision

Davey read my face and called out., “Let’s head out!”

And with that, the Carlisle-Delphines were on their way to lay their patriarch to rest.

12THE EULOGY

Cal

“I cannot imaginewhat they are feeling right now,” Joanna Reed, my Chief of Staff, said.

A line of mourners led the procession at Holy Name Cathedral. Joanna—we called her Jo—took it all in. As a former teacher and then alderman, she had seen many things. However, being in a billionaire businessman and philanthropist’s motorcade was new. Following David’s casket bewildered us.

“Did you call the widow?” My mother asked, exasperated. “You spoke to her, right?”

“I called Lady Danna, yes, of course,” I said. “She wanted an overview of my speech, so I sent it. I didn’t want to spring it on her. She’s okay, though. I get the feeling it’s been a process.”

“That and she’s never been emotional,” Mom said.

I turned and glared. My stepfather, Tom, followed suit.

“Lanie is okay,” Chloe, my younger sister, said. “She said it’s been hardest on Daphne and Dora. Dora is always sensitive. But Daphne seems to carry the world around.”

Lanie Delphine was Chloe’s best friend. Lord knows our mother tried and failed to separate them. Chloe was twenty years my junior and more like a niece than a sister, as she grew up differently—with everything—and was accepted into society like any heiress. Mom did well for herself over time. She’d built a beauty empire and bought up enough real estate to turn handsome profits, but only after people read her as the teenage single mother.

“Daphne is the oldest daughter,” Tom, my stepfather and Chloe’s father, said. “Oldest daughters always take the brunt. You’d know, Elise.”

I didn’t have to look at my mother to see her roll her eyes.

“Danna has so tortured Daphne,” Mom said. “No wonder she chose to live across an ocean.”

“Hey!” I said sharply. “Danna Delphine just lost her goddamn husband. Can we maybe give her a little respect? Yes, Mom, Lady Danna can have a challenging personality, but you don’t give her much of a chance, either.”

“It would take her coming down from her ivory tower for me to give her a chance,” Mom muttered.

“Mom, it’s Lanie’s mom and her dad. They’ve been through hell, okay? Let it fucking go. What is this about? Cuz she didn’t invite you to a fucking party twenty years ago? Cry me a fucking river and grow up!”

I looked at Jo, stifling a snicker. Chloe told it how it was. I admired my baby sister’s passion for blazing her own path. My mother didn’t accept my sister’s nomadic influencer lifestyle, but I found her belief in herself an asset.

We pulled up to the cathedral door and departed. Spring rain poured, so I booked it up the steps. Jo, more than a foot shorter, cursed as she tried to keep up.

“Your mother is… something. What did this Delphine woman do to her?” Jo asked over the organ playing as we slowly filed in.

Thousands lined the aisles—packed like sardines to pay respects to a great man.

“These people are royalty,” I said. “A girl who grew up in Stickney and never went to private school cannot hang. You know what it’s like.”

Jo shrugged. “I guess. Going to private school as the lone Black girl wasn’t easy. But you all… I don’t want to point it out… but?—”

“New money versus old money. It never changes. They are the Astors. We are the low-rent Vanderbilts. And nothing my mother does will make her an Astor. Now, you have nothing to worry about. Lady Danna is plenty welcoming and grateful we are here.”

“Why do we call her Lady Danna?”

“Because she was born Lady Danna Carlisle, daughter of a Scottish Baron. And trust me, call her Lady Danna.”

“Oh… okay,” Jo said.

“I’m not helping you relax, am I?”

“Not at all, Cal.”

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