All of that drifted away on the wings of a sea gull and left me standing alone on a beach in a strange new place, looking out at the water and waiting for a sign of what was now to come.
13
Happy Forever
.
I did remarkably well an my finals considering
all that had occurred around me and to me during the final days of school. Mommy quit working almost a minute after Winston gave her the engagement ring. We wouldn't be needing the added income, of course, and she now had a great deal to do in planning the wedding itself. Winston gave her carte blanche on every aspect and told her to spare no expense.
"I know you think I've become obsessed with all this. Grace." Mommy told me when I muttered one morning that the event had taken over our lives.
She wasn't up a minute in the morning before she was on the telephone, and as soon as she gobbled down some breakfast she was out and about meeting with every person and every business that was involved in the affair. Winston provided her with the chauffeur and limousine to do all this. Sometimes I accompanied her, but most of the time I remained at home. She didn't seem to notice whether I was with her or not anyway. I couldn't believe how much time and energy she spent on the colors, designs, and fonts of her wedding invitation. I was sure the presidentelect of the United States didn't spend as
much time on the invitations to his inaugural balls.
"But you have to understand that we are getting married sooner than most people do in a proper Palm Beach wedding," she continued as a justification.
"Proper?"
"Well, the ideal duration for an engagement is from three to five months. Ours is barely two. If it weren't for Winston's influence with people we would have a very hard time booking caterers, decorators...
'Our engagement was announced the morning I showed you the ring, so people know about us. Normally we would have had an engagement party, but there is no time for that. Even sa. engagement gifts have begun to arrive at Joya del Mar. and I have to get out thank-y ou notes ASAP. I'm working on the design and paper style for that now. Winston is having his personal secretary assist me. You met Virginia Wilson. She's very good at this sort of thing.
"We should be getting the wedding invitations out ASAP so people will have at least a month's advance notice. The people we're inviting have very busy and full calendars. Many will cancel their trips just to be there," she said proudly.
"You don't know anyone," I said, which was a big mistake.
She hoisted her shoulders like a hen and looked down at me. "I happen to have met many of Winston's business associates over the last month or so. Grace. I know many more people than you think. I've been to luncheons and charity events and have become acquainted with some of the richest people in town."
"The only real friend you have is Dallas," I persisted.
She softened her demeanor. "I know that. That's not something I would forget. Dallas is going to be my matron of honor. She's very excited about it."
"I guess that means Phoebe's coming." I muttered.
Mommy smiled. "I want her to come to see where you will be living. It will take the air out of ballooned ego so fast she'll shrink right in front of you." Mommy replied. She looked happier about that than anything, certainly caring more than I did. "Naturally you'll be sitting at the dais with the immediate wedding party. She'll sit somewhere out there with a table of strangers."
"I'd rather she wasn't there at all," I said. but Mommy didn't hear or didn't want to hear. She was riding so high my voice could no longer reach her.
"'You'll be my maid of honor. I'll be giving you a description of your responsibilities," she said. 'The first important thing is our dresses. This will be a formal wedding. I'll be wearing a long white gown with a train, and I've decided to wear a veil. too. Normally that's optional. but I sort of like the idea, don't you?"
I shrugged. I couldn't care less, I thought. I certainly wouldn't lose a moment of sleep over it.
The pursuit of the proper wedding gown began the week after her engagement announcement. I thought to myself that the FBI didn't go after its most wanted criminals with any more intensity. Mommy met with wedding planners, experts who gave her a history of weddings in Palm Beach. She actually took notes! Later she pondered every possible choice and then spent nights tossing and turning, agonizing in fear that she might have made a wrong decision.
"This isn't a naval battle. Mommy," I made the mistake of saying at breakfast one morning. "It's just a wedding."
"Just a wedding! Are you mad? This isn't just a wedding. It's a way of introducing me to Palm Beach. I'm to be Winston Montgomery's wife. Grace. That means a great deal to people here. You had better get used to it, understand it. Afterward we'll be featured in the society columns, have our pictures taken often, be invited to practically every significant party or event. Why, the only comparison I can make is I will be like an admiral's wife." she said.
It was precisely the wrong thing to say as far as I was concerned. Being an admiral's wife was the fantasy she had enjoyed with Daddy. That was their fun dream, their pretend. and I was a part of it as soon as I was old enough to appreciate and understand it.
"Well, you're not an admiral's wife," I snapped back at her too sharply. It made her wince. "And you'll never be."
I marched out of the kitchen before she could respond. Ordinarily she would have come to see me, to soothe my bruised heart, but she was back on the telephone moments later jabbering with some decorator, and soon afterward the limousine arrived and she was off again.
'Be happy for us. Grace." she pleaded on the day we went for our gown fittings. "People here gossip like crazy. Don't let anyone think you're in the slightest way upset. Please."