Chapter 15 Summary: Yaffa feels guilty about comparing Shani to Moriah when she learns how Shani gave up her own night out for her sister. Ilana discusses her parents’ wealth with Danny, and he asks her if she’d be willing to drop her anthropology degree.

“Hi Dad, how are you?” Ari stood up as a nurse wheeled his father into the visitor’s lobby of the rehab center. “Look who I brought to surprise you!”

Shani jumped up and gave her grandfather a gentle hug. “Hi Grandpa! It’s so good to see you!”

Next to him, Ari saw Debbie’s lips tighten. When Yaffa had called him last night and asked if he’d mind bringing Shani along on their visit, he’d also been surprised. Why couldn’t Yaffa bring her daughter on one of her own visiting days? But Yaffa had explained that Shani could only go on Sunday, when Shmuel was off of work and home to watch the rest of the kids.

It had sounded reasonable enough to him—but Debbie, predictably, was suspicious.

“Suddenly her daughter has a burning desire to visit?” she’d asked. “Sounds odd, if you ask me. And why is Yaffa spending another week at your mother’s? I thought she was only coming for one week.”

Ari sometimes wished he could shake this prejudice out of his wife. It had been on the tip of his tongue to ask her last night what she had against his sister—but he didn’t think he could stomach the barrage that would surely follow.

She expects us to do everything for your parents, except when it’s convenient for her to step in and play the hero! She thinks she’s so much better, so much holier than the rest of us! And look what they’re doing to Jake! They’re so convinced that their way is the only way that they’re taking our son and brainwashing him, together with that yeshiva of his!

The arguments had risen so swiftly and naturally in his mind that, for a moment, Ari had asked himself if they were Debbie’s grievances… or his own. But Ari had kept silent as usual, simply saying in his mild way that they were going anyway and Yaffa would bring Shani to them, so they couldn’t justifiably refuse to take her.

Now he watched as Shani planted herself next to her grandfather and began chattering about her teenage life: her vacation activities, her makeup business, her outings with her friends, her makeup business, her siblings’ lives, her makeup business.

After a while, Ari began to suspect a pattern here, and a glance at Debbie’s narrowed eyes showed that she did, too.

“Grandpa, it’s amazing how much my clients love me! I have, like, so many people calling—my friends, and their friends, and their sisters. There are some weeks that I’m so crazy booked, I don’t have time to breathe!”

Larry smiled and patted her cheek. “That’s—my—girl,” he said, slowly and painstakingly. “A—real—business—woman.”

Shani beamed. “Baruch Hashem.” She twirled a strand of hair around her finger and said playfully, “Hey Grandpa, wanna be my investor?”

Ari’s eyes widened, while Debbie’s narrowed even further.

But Larry laughed. “Investor! Psshhh.”

Shani leaned forward. “Yeah, see, there’s this amazing new line of makeup that would totally take my business to the next level. You know, make me really stand out from the other makeup artists out there. But the cosmetics, plus a training course, will cost me about $5,000.”

Debbie cleared her throat. “That’s a lot of money.”

Shani glanced at her and then back at her grandfather. “Yeah, it is. So I was wondering… I mean, if you have any extra cash lying around that you want to invest in a really cool and growing business…” She giggled.

Debbie let out a little hiss. Ari realized he was holding his breath.

Larry looked at Shani for a moment and then he nodded. “You—got—it. A—good—deal.” His eyes twinkled.

“Wow, thank you!” Shani gave him a kiss. “You’re the absolute best!”

There was no mistaking the triumphant gleam in her eye.

***

“She knew!” Debbie cried, as soon as they’d dropped Shani off at his parents’ house. “We all agreed not to tell our kids, but apparently rules don’t apply where Yaffa’s concerned.”

“You don’t know how she found out,” Ari said. “Maybe she overheard something.”

“Oh, come on, Ari. Will you stop being so naïve for once? Yaffa’s clearly decided to milk your parents on her own, while we all sit back quietly. What do you wanna bet that tomorrow, Yaffa will try the same tactic herself, to get your father to pay off those debts she’s forever talking about?”

Ari closed his eyes, wishing he could be somewhere else. Too much emotion made him want to escape. “Yaffa’s not stupid,” he said.

“You bet she isn’t! That’s why she’s figured out how to manipulate all of us here so that she can get what she wants!”

Seriously? Ari raised an eyebrow at Debbie who, after a moment, said grudgingly, “Fine, maybe not manipulate exactly.”

Ari asked slowly, “Even if she were to ask Dad for money—what’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Debbie spluttered. “It’s—it’s not fair, it’s—”

She paused.

Ari gave a short laugh. “You know what’s really bothering you, right? That a 16-year-old girl had the courage to do what all the rest of us have been thinking about since we first heard the news. You’re not upset that she got $5,000 out of Dad; you’re upset that we haven’t asked yet for $300,000.”

Debbie frowned and opened her mouth as if to protest. Then, a sudden gleam came into her eyes.

Clutching Ari’s elbow she said, “So how about we ask?”

***

“I’m back!” Shani announced as she skipped into her grandparents’ house.

“We’re in the den!” Yaffa called out. Shani appeared in the doorway and, to Yaffa’s surprise, ran straight over to her grandmother and gave her a big hug.

“Thank you, Grandma!”

Gail looked bemused. “For what?”

“I was telling Grandpa about how I need to buy more makeup for my business and he said you guys would pay for it!”

“Did he?” Gail smiled. “Well, then, he must think highly of you. Grandpa’s a shrewd investor.”

“So I hear.” Shani looked quite pleased with herself, but Yaffa was furious. Hadn’t she told Shani not to bring this up with her grandparents? And here the girl went and asked for a handout the very next day!

“Shani,” she hissed. “Can I have a word?” She saw Moriah look at them curiously as she pulled Shani out of the room.

“So that’s why you wanted to visit Grandpa today? How could you, after I trusted you with this information, and told you to keep it quiet?”

“I did, Ma! I didn’t say anything about it! I just asked for some help with my business. Isn’t a girl allowed to ask her grandparents that without causing suspicion?”

Yaffa shook her head stubbornly. “Not in our family,” she muttered. It was true; from when they were young, her parents had raised them with the ethic that you worked hard and paid your own way. As a teenager, she worked in a clothing store on Sundays to pay for her wardrobe and outings with friends; her spending money in seminary came out of her summer job as a mother’s helper.

Now she wondered—while she was slaving away her high school years to save another dollar, were her parents already millionaires?

Shani put her hands on her hips. “Wanna know what I think? I think our family has some major money issues going on. And it’s not about not having enough of it.”

By Ariella Aaron