Jade (Wildflowers 3)

"My father is an architect. He's actually a very successful one who designed some of the buildings in Los Angeles and one of the big malls now being built. He has designed buildings outside of California, too, and even did one in Canada. My mother and her attorney have tried to make a big thing of his travel to point out that he would be away too much to provide proper parental care and supervision, especially for a young teenage girl.

"Daddy says my mother's grueling schedule is worse than his and she, too, often travels on behalf of her company, so she would be away too much to provide proper care and supervision. They have subpoenaed each other's travel receipts, business diaries and credit card records to support their arguments in court."

I thought for a moment and looked at Dr. Marlowe.

"I've been wondering what will happen if the judge believes they are both right. That would leave me with parents who are both incapable of being proper parents, right, Dr. Marlowe?"

"That situation has occurred, of course, but I doubt it will in your case, Jade."

"Really. That's a relief," I said. "Otherwise, I might have had to move in with Star and her granny."

"Like you could stand one day without maids and chauffeurs and such?' Star shot back.

Misty laughed and Cat smiled.

"Maybe you're right," I said, "but I can tell you this . . . I'm not giving anything up to make their lives easier for them. They raised me to expect a luxurious life and that's what they have to provide. Enjoy the lifestyle to which I have been accustomed, remember?"

Everyone stopped smiling. I sat back.

"You all know I'm a Beverly. Star called me that just a few minutes ago," I said, looking at Misty who had told us about her boyfriend classifying spoiled rich girls as Beverlys because they came from Beverly Hills. "I'm not ashamed of being rich. I don't think of myself as being spoiled. I think of myself as being . . protected."

"Against what?" Star asked. "Certainly not unhappiness?'

"There are degrees of unhappiness and different things that make you unhappy. I don't have to worry about buying anything or going anywhere I want."

"Big deal," Star said.

"It is to me and no matter how you act here, I know it is to you too," I said recalling my mother's advice about people who had less.

"You don't know anything," Star fired back.

"Oh, and you do?"

She folded her arms and sat up straighter, putting herself in a defensive posture.

"Do you have a big house?" she asked me.

"Bigger than this in fact," I answered, looking around the office, which was admittedly quite large. It had a desk and bookcases on one end and the sofas, chairs and tables on the other with large windows facing the back yard. "My father designed our house, of course. It's not a Tudor like this one. He thought there were just too many Tudors in Los Angeles.

"We have what's called a two-story

Neoclassical. It has a full-height, semicircular entry porch with Ionic columns. It has two side porches and all the windows are rectangular with double-hung sashes, nine panes to each sash. It's very unique and always gets a lot of attention. Cars actually slow down when they come up to it and people gape even though there are many other magnificent homes in the community.

"What is this house, Dr. Marlowe, four thousand square feet?" I asked her.

"Something like that?' she said.

"Mine is closer to eight. Does that give you an idea?" I asked Star.

"So you have a big house. Do you have your own car?" Star questioned.

"I will have this year. I haven't decided what I want yet. My mother suggested I ask for a Jag convertible after my father had suggested a Ford Taurus. Now my father is thinking maybe a Mustang. They're both dangling carrots. Until I do decide, I have a limousine available whenever I need to go anywhere."

"Great. Glad you explained all that," Star quipped. "So you have transportation. I'll bet you also have lots of clothes?'

"My walk-in is almost a third as long as this office and full of the latest trends." I glanced at Misty. "I know from what you told me you have nice things, but the difference is I wear mine. This gray sleeveless sheath I'm wearing today is a Donna Karan," I pointed out.

"I don't have anything that expensive," Misty said. "My mother does."