"Ami, you're looking as ravishing as usual," Basil said, ignoring his son. "What a pair of beauties. Much too much for Wade to handle by himself. If I were married to you, Ami, you'd have a couple of kids crawling all over this place for sure by now."
He glanced at Wade and then turned back to us.
"I might just move back into the house to make sure these women are treated as they should be treated," he added, and
laughed. Wade dropped his eyes quickly to hide his embarrassment.
"Oh, Basil," Ami cried, "you're such a flirt."
"I hope I'm more than that. Teenage boys flirt. Real men seduce," he added with another laugh.
Wade turned away.
"Ladies," Basil said, holding his arms up and out. "May I escort you to dinner?"
Ami took his left arm, and I took his right. Then he glanced at Wade and spoke over his shoulder.
"Cover the rear and watch how it's done," he told him as we started for the dinning room.
Ami was beaming.
"My, you both smell delightful," Basil said, bringing his nose close to my cheek. "I feel like I'm drowning in a beautiful lake reeking of female aromas. Who will save me?"
"Not us," Ami replied, and he laughed as we entered the dining room.
As it turned out, Wade was the one made to sit in the chair with his back to the windows. Ami and I sat across from him, and Basil Emerson sat at the head of the table. Mrs. Cukor served the dinner, with Mrs. McAlister looking in from time to time. I gathered that she did this only when Basil Emerson came to dinner. I noticed that whenever Mrs. Cukor brought something in, she avoided looking at me as much as she could.
"So now," Basil Emerson said, "tell us all about yourself, Celeste. How long have you been in an orphanage?"
"About eleven years, with a short break when I went to live with two elderly people."
"Eleven years! I bet if they had dressed you like And has, you would have gotten adopted real fast," he said, and laughed. "Hell, I would have adopted you." He turned to Wade and said, "Sad-faced, poor orphan girl?"
"I didn't say that, Dad," Wade countered. "Stop saying I said that."
"Well, what did you say?" Basil snapped back. He was drinking his wine quickly and had apparently al-ready had a few drinks in his office-den with Wade.
"I merely said she was unfortunate."
"Unfortunate." He turned to Ami, who smiled and nodded.
"That's true, Basil. She was unfortunate," she said, "but she isn't anymore."
"I'll drink to that," Basil said, lifting his glass.
"You'll drink to anything," Wade muttered.
Basil smirked and then looked at me.
"Hey," he said, "let the kid have some wine. She looks old enough."
"We're supposed to be setting a good example for her," Wade complained.
"Well, that's what we're doing." Basil laughed. "We're showing her how to dine properly, right, Anti?" "Yes, we are," she sang.
"Mrs. Cookie, another wineglass, please," Basil ordered. She stepped into the room, took another wine-glass out of the cabinet, and put it down in front of me so hard, I thought it would shatter.
"You drank wine at her age, didn't you, Mrs. Cookie?"