Mimi was taken aback. It was true - she reacted to Dylan with an outsize revulsion. Why did she hate him? She wasn't sure, but she recognized the gut feeling, and her gut was never wrong. There was something she didn't like about that guy, but she couldn't put a finger on it.
"What's up with your boyfriend, by the way? He's like a zombie," Bliss said, pointing to the corner. The Italian heir had followed them inside the ladies' room and was currently drooling on the doorway column. All of Mimi's guys seemed to be like that - brain dead.
"I'll deal with him later."
"I'm going to go back to my date," Bliss said pointedly.
"Fine. But you better be there on Monday for The Committee meeting."
Bliss had almost forgotten. She wasn't even sure she wanted to join some snotty social committee, but she had to appease Mimi somehow. "Sure."
Mimi watched her friend leave. What a waste. It bothered her that Bliss was exerting her independence. There was nothing Mimi disliked more than rebellion in a subordinate. She walked out of the bathroom, tugging on her date's tie to move him forward. And that's when she saw the second image that scorched her brain.
Her brother Jack, on the dance floor, with that Van Alen girl in his arms. Now Mimi really felt like vomiting.
When Schuyler was with Jack, it was like time and space stopped. She didn't even feel like she was in a room full of crowded, sweaty teenagers. They moved with the same rhythm, their bodies perfectly in tune with each other. Jack expertly kept her body close to his, leaning down to breathe lightly on her neck. It was strange how she could see him so clearly in the dark, when everyone else was a shadowy blur. She closed her eyes, and for a moment, saw the two of them - dressed differently. They were in the same ballroom at the mansion, except it was a hundred years earlier - and she was dressed in a long evening dress with a tight corset bodice and silk petticoats, and he was handsome and debonair in a white tuxedo with tails. The music ceased to be the sexy enchantment of the Muse song and became a gentle waltz.
It was like a dream, but it wasn't.
"What's happening?" she asked, looking at him as he twirled her around.
Around them, the ballroom was filled with light and soft music. The tinkling of champagne glasses, the gentle fluttering from the ladies' fans.
But Jack only smiled.
They continued to dance, and Schuyler found that she knew the intricate steps. At the end of the song, they clapped politely.
Schuyler looked around, and suddenly she was back in the present again, wearing her fifties prom dress, Jack in his blue blazer and red tie. She blinked. Had she imagined it? Was it real? She was confused and disoriented.
"Let's take a break," he said, as he took her hand and steered her off the dance floor. They walked out to the balcony. Jack lit a cigarette. "Want one?"
Schuyler shook her head.
"Did it happen to you too?" she asked.
Jack nodded. He took a puff and exhaled.
They looked out at Park Avenue. Next to Riverside Drive, Schuyler thought it was one of the most beautiful streets in the world. Park Avenue, with its regal array of prewar apartment buildings, fleets of yellow cabs streaming up and down along the median. New York was a magical place.
"What was it?"
But before Jack could reply, there was a scream from inside the mansion. They looked at each other, thinking the same thing. Aggie's death. Was there another? They ran back into the hall.
"It's fine," Mimi Force was saying. "He just passed out. God, get a grip, Kitty." Mimi's Italian date was splayed out on the landing, completely passed out, his face drained of all color. "Jack, a hand?" she snapped, seeing her brother in the doorway.
Jack hurried to his sister's side and helped lug the Italian to a sitting position.
Schuyler could see Jack saying something angrily to Mimi, and she overheard bits of his harangue, "stepped over the line ... You could have killed him ... Remember what the Wardens said..."
She stood there, not knowing what to do, when Bliss and Dylan appeared. Dylan took one look at the compromising tableau. "Let me guess, he was with Mimi Force?"
Schuyler nodded. "I think it's time we blow this joint."
"I couldn't agree more," Bliss replied.
Schuyler gave Jack one last look. He was still arguing with his sister. He didn't even notice that she was leaving.
Catherine Carver's Diary