Whoever concocted that rumor spiced it up with an added flavor—a man was seen behind the balustrade.
"Who?" Isabella asked Zen and the four more homehelp. She was asking who leaked such a silly story. She was angry.
But the maids and boys shook their heads. They were, in fact, smiling, because they knew that Isabella, as good as Aaron, was incapable of getting mad. They were some of the gentlest home employers they had ever met.
"So, who…?" She asked again.
"Aarf, aarf," Jackson was waiting to be fed. Zoraida was quietly giving everybody a stern look as Isabella went on to insist that somebody tell and apologize if they ever had clumsily told a neighbor about her and a man "having a sweet time" at the banquet hall.
"We don't know anything," Josh shook his head, too.
"I don't know," Suzy frowned at the question. "Gossip."
"Yes, and if no one admits who breaks such gossip to neighbors, I don't know…" Isabella sighed, shrugged her shoulders, giving up questioning.
"But why do you care? Who cares?" Josh asked again. He was trying to console his mom, giving her the option that she could choose to ignore those "nasty" talks if she thought it to be inappropriate.
"Yes," Suzy had always seconded.
"Yes," Isabella, convinced by her son, nodded her head.
Aaron entered the scene, ready for office. "What is going on?" he asked.
Isabella said, "Nothing.".
Everybody left. The Lee's had breakfast before the head of the family finally left for work.
The children were looking at dad in front of the dinner table.
They wanted to tell.