Gloria

Trigger warning: this story contains death and suicide.

Gloria has eyes that follow you anywhere in the room. Posed with her hands folded in front of her slender body. She sits with quiet patience with a hint of a smile on her youthful face. She wears clothes from an era long gone, elbow-length satin gloves, a large pearl necklace, and a red fedora. She is my husband's great, great grandmother.

Gloria is my new companion in the drawing room. She sits above the mantel on her ancient canvas and watches in silence as I pour through the papers on the table. I hate Gloria with her tracking eyes, and I pity her. Born in 1907, she became the heiress of her family’s industrial fortune in 1925. She was the first woman from her family to attend college, Vassar. She was the driving force that grew the family’s fortune to new heights in those early years. She was a bright shining star that burnt out well before her time.

As the family lore goes, she met Nikolai Volkov while she attended Vassar. He was tall and handsome. He was often quiet, and when he did speak. He had an indistinct accent rumored to come from the Russian aristocracy. He and his brother owned an architectural business. Nikolai was the businessman, and his brother Alexei was the artist.

As the story goes, when Gloria met Nikolai, the world stopped. They married two months later. Alexei painted Gloria’s portrait as a wedding present, and it has hung in the drawing room of the Volkovs ever since. A constant reminder of the original Madam. Alexei disappeared after the wedding. Many think his brother forced him away. Gloria and Alexei had spent many sittings together in private.

Gloria and Nikolai had a passionate marriage that resulted in a single child, Thomas. Thomas never knew his mother. She died during the delivery. An unfortunate reality of that time. His only image of his mother was her portrait that hung on the mantel with a cool smile and knowing blue eyes. His journal had large sections dedicated to the subject of wanting a mother. I cried as I read them.

Thomas grew up with the luxuries of an industrial prince. He never wanted for anything. With his immense wealth and impressive figure, he took on the world and served in the army. When many were joining out of patriotism or necessity, he joined out of boredom. After 12 years and a world war, Thomas returned to a company that was all but dead. The war effort had sucked the life out of the business. To his good fortune he met Candice.

She was the sole heiress of an oil titan. She had curly brown hair and a full figure, to say the least. She looked out of place, short and stout, next to Thomas' tall, lean, broad-shouldered figure. They married soon after they met. Their son Theodore came so fast after that many said he was the reason for the accelerated wedding. Gloria took her place in their home.

Still an adventurer, Thomas took his wife for a hot air balloon ride. The newspaper said it was to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary. It was only a coincidence that her father had died a month earlier. He left everything to his only daughter. The wind was fierce that day. Thomas had the heart of an adventure but lacked the skill to control the balloon. They crashed into a cliff. Thomas broke his arm. Candice had her neck broken.

Theodore has told me he doesn’t remember much of his mother. He recalled that she was full of life and fun. She was always up for an adventure and never one to say no to dessert. She loved and trusted his father with all her heart, right up to the very end.

By his own account, Theodore grew up motherless and feral. His father had little time for anything that involved a child. Thomas was always away, and it was rarely on business. For all their wealth, the Volkovs seem to be terrible at business. Theodor didn’t have a genuine conversation with his father until he left for college. Thomas shared his sage wisdom with Theodore, who then passed it on to Mikail, my husband.

The wisdom amounted to the importance of marrying the right woman. As Mikail’s wife I find this a flattering lie, especially from a widower. Theodore’s wife passed when Mikail was five. Mikael thinks it was a heart attack, Theodore told me the truth. It was a drug overdose. It was a death no one had expected for her. No one had ever seen her drink, let alone do any sort of drug.

Of course that doesn’t mean anything. The more money we have, the better we hide our secrets. My own family has had its scandals with the death of my brother and the mental breakdown of my mother. This left me an orphan. With my elderly father, thirty years older than my mother, he was more of a grandfather to me in my formative years.

One day, my mother found a short piece of rope and left this world. My father’s heart broke shortly after leaving me alone with the lawyers. I hate lawyers, they never want you to live your life. When I first met Mikhail, I knew I was in love and in the whirlwind of passion we married the summer after college. The lawyers told me to get a prenup. I told them they work for me and that I tell them what to do, not the other way around.

Now I am in the drawing room of my late father’s house, where my husband is away on business. I can feel the kicks of our soon-to-be baby boy as I pour over the family history for his baby book. I’m in heaven as I lean back on the couch, looking up at Gloria’s knowing eyes and subtle smile. I don’t know if she is happy for me, or if she pities me.