As Natasha had predicted, Ingrid's room at the Baxter mansion was luxurious, and for comfort compared favorably to a room at a five-star hotel. Maia was assigned to an equally magnificent room. Maia's revelations concerning the relationship between her mother and Jed Baxter in their conversation during the ride in Ingrid's BMW roadster, proved to be intriguing. Thus, they were mutually in the mood for some further conversation plus willing to imbibe a drink, before retiring for the night. As it was, Jed Baxter and the Estonian Ambassador did not bother to disguise the fact that they were sharing a bed that night. After Jed had pointed out the rooms each of them could use, he and Maia's mother unceremoniously departed to the master bedroom never to be heard from again until the morning.
Consequently, Ingrid and Maia each undressed in their respective rooms. They were each able to don a linen robe provided by the household staff. During their time at Erica's, as Jed became aware of these two extra guests, he had a household maid still on duty. So, he was able to instruct her by phone to suitably prepare the two rooms. Accordingly, when the two women were ready, they meandered down to the main floor where they found a bar located and situated in conjunction with a large ballroom like area on the main floor. They surmised that this must be the scene for some special well attended high end social gatherings hosted by the billionaire. Sitting on the bar stools, Maia was sipping on a Gray Goose on the rocks and Ingrid settled for a Jack and coke,
Ingrid started the conversation rolling by talking in Russian with, "I like to practice my Russian as the language is really handy for me to know while I progress through my projected concert career. Besides since Russian isn't the mother tongue for either of us, we should be on an equal footing during our conversation."
Maia responded naturally in Russian, "I like your reasoning, so I have no objection."
Ingrid then said, "As I understand it you are an American citizen having been born right here in this city. But your mother whisked you away to Estonia when you were still a breastfeeding infant and have lived there ever since. Since you are going to go to school at the University of Illinois for a few years for your graduate degree, do you think you will be staying here? I would imagine there would be more opportunity for high paying jobs in the United States than in Estonia."
Maia answered, "Well there are some opportunities in Estonia in my field that would interest me, but of course not as many as in the United States and would be lower paying there than here. Luckily, though, I have no money worries as my mother is rather well off. And if she really does go ahead and marries Jed Baxter, I would then really have no money worries whatsoever. I can sense from the times I've met him, that he truly does love my mother. So, I surmise that he wouldn't want to see his newly acquired stepdaughter destitute. Besides I gather from what my mother has told me, he is awfully disappointed with the way his own adult children have turned out. His son has become a drug addict despite every advantage in life was made available to him.
"Mr Baxter barely tolerates his daughter, who seems to be an airhead and a bimbo. She has given birth to four children each of them by a different man, none of whom she had deigned to marry. And her children seem to be all brats bringing no joy to their grandfather. So, in all modesty, I can safely say that should my mother marry Mr Baxter, I'm sure I would be welcomed by him as a precious stepdaughter."
Ingrid asked, "Because you say you have been well off, I was wondering why you didn't pursue a professional tennis career. I imagine that to reap the potential lucrative earnings one can acquire in playing tennis requires not only talent but hard work, dedication and discipline. Perhaps then because of your wealth, it's not incentive enough to make the necessary sacrifice. Mind you I understand that one of the top American players is the daughter of a billionaire."
Maia advised, "That would be Jessica Pegula. Yes, she certainly has the drive and ambition to be the best tennis player that she possibly can be. And she also is disciplined to run a business enterprise at the same time as she's involved in competing in professional tennis. I certainly admire her, just as I admire you for your talent in playing the piano. Besides your obvious talent, I imagine you must practice quite a bit to achieve the level of professionalism for a concert pianist."
Ingrid confirmed, "Yes, I've been playing the piano since I was three years old. Now I must practice at least four hours daily, and it is especially imperative while on this current worldwide tour. I just barely have the luxury to attend this orgy and skip two days practice. With Natasha I have the great opportunity to jump start my concert career with such an auspicious beginning. The recital at the White House this past January certainly has helped provide me with name recognition in the concert music world. That event by the way was the first time I met your mother. She proved to be a gracious hostess for me and Natasha at the subsequent dinner at the Embassy,"
Maia chuckled as she replied, "So I heard from my mother. I understand that you and Natasha were properly feted for the occasion. Incidentally, I have learned to play the piano, and I can do so adequately enough that my listeners can recognize the tune I'm playing. I don't have the talent you possess, and I certainly do not have the discipline and dedication required to play at your level. Your playing of the Mussorgsky piece was brilliant. I could perhaps learn to play it from the sheet music score, but I never could replicate the passion and the magic you instilled in your performance."
"Thank you for your kind words, Maia. I noticed at Erica's you did not mention that you could play the piano, but you did advise you played tennis even so far as to compete at the professional level, I take it then that you had more talent and perhaps dedication to tennis than you had towards mastering the piano. "
Maia replied, "Yes I had some talent in tennis. I did win the Girls Singles Wimbledon title when I was seventeen and I was runner-up the year before. But when I turned nineteen and no longer allowed to play in junior tournaments, I bombed out first at Indian Wells CA and then at Miami FL, in March of that year and later on at Wimbledon. I still think had I trained harder I would have been more successful, but I realized there was one thing about me that is holding me back from becoming a topflight, elite player on the WTA tour,"
Ingrid innocently asked, "Oh? And what would that be?"