Chapter 3 #2
“No, it’s not,” Sofia answered. “There are racists everywhere. Geoff has an incredibly narrow point of view. And are you really going to marry a man who thinks like that?” Gloria didn’t answer her, and was quiet for the rest of their foray into the village.
The shops were terrific, and eventually Eloise and Sofia relaxed, and Sofia found a pair of vintage cowboy boots with graffiti on them that she fell in love with, and they were her size.
She bought them, took off her high-top Converse, and put them on, and she was delighted with how they looked with her ragged denim shorts.
Eloise smiled when she looked at her. She still dressed like a fourteen-year-old, but their battle with Geoff had brought them closer together.
They both felt sorry for Gloria and thought she was making a terrible mistake marrying Geoff, and it seemed sometimes that she was more in love with her wedding than with the groom.
They drove back to the house and sat down to lunch together, except for Geoff, who said he had a headache, went to their cottage, and did not emerge for the rest of the afternoon. Gloria stayed with her sisters for a while and then went to check on Geoff.
Eugenia looked at Eloise and Sofia. “Did something happen in town?” she asked, concerned.
“Just Geoff being Geoff,” Eloise said, helping herself to a fabulous-looking salad prepared by the chef. “Gloria is crazy to marry him. He’s pompous, arrogant, entitled, and a racist.”
“But she’s going to marry him,” her mother said in a neutral tone, to mask her disappointment.
“We have to make our peace with it.” She agreed with Eloise and couldn’t understand what Gloria saw in Geoff.
He was insufferable, and she’d end up supporting him, or her mother would.
He didn’t have a job, except an occasional freelance editing assignment.
Eugenia didn’t believe he could write. She knew that Gloria was paying for everything on her meager salary.
Eugenia was paying the rest, and she couldn’t afford to do that forever.
They would have to support themselves if her business failed.
She was planning to explain that to Gloria before they went back to London.
Her theory had always been that if you were old enough to marry, you should be old enough to support yourself, and your spouse should contribute, not your mother.
If they had a baby, they wouldn’t be able to support it either, since they couldn’t support themselves without her help.
Gloria was twenty-seven and Geoff was thirty-three, and had never had a job he could live on.
He had been living with his parents when he met Gloria, and had quickly moved in with her.
Gloria had a long history of poor choices in the men she went out with, which worried Eugenia considerably.
This time was no different. Eugenia had somehow gotten maneuvered into the big wedding that Geoff and Gloria wanted, and it had grown exponentially into an unmanageable beast. His father being a penniless earl didn’t warrant it, in Eugenia’s opinion.
Geoff was incredibly entitled and so was Gloria on his behalf.
But it would all be over in four weeks and the deed would be done.
Eugenia wasn’t looking forward to it and neither were Gloria’s siblings.
When Brad and Stefano appeared in time for lunch, each one was claiming moral victory, but the actual score had been a tie, twice, and they were planning to go back to the club the next day for the final match.
They were in great spirits and ate a hearty lunch, and then everyone lay by the pool all afternoon.
The weather was gorgeous. They swam and dozed in the sun.
Geoff never reappeared but Gloria joined them halfway through the afternoon and said he was asleep.
Daphne showed up for a visit with Tucker.
Stef took him in the pool and helped him paddle around.
Eugenia was in heaven, with all five of her children and her only grandchild around her, which was the whole point of the vacation.
Brad was a welcome addition, and he managed to convey his message to Eugenia that his intentions were honorable toward her daughter.
They had a few minutes alone after lunch when he told her, and she said she was pleased to hear it and thanked him.
She asked him the same question Stef had, about how his parents would feel about it, and he said that they would adjust in time, because Sofia was so wonderful no one could resist her, which touched Eugenia’s heart.
He seemed like a very direct, honest guy.
Everyone was relaxed and happy by the end of the afternoon.
It was the night of Daphne and Phillip’s dinner party with some of their friends and neighbors, who were a pretty important group of hard hitters and well-known, successful people.
Eugenia was touched that Phillip and Daphne had planned the evening for them.
Eloise asked her mother what she was going to wear, and Eugenia said a simple white Hermès summer dress she’d bought before the pandemic and never had a chance to wear.
Eloise looked at Sofia then. “Let me lend you a dress,” she said, pleading with her, and Sofia grinned.
“I was going to wear cutoffs and combat boots. That should be okay, don’t you think?” Eloise groaned, and Sofia laughed, teasing her. “Okay, you can lend me a dress, but nothing too fancy.”
“I promise,” Eloise said, relieved. Sofia was a beautiful girl, she just didn’t care what she wore.
She had better things to do, and Eloise respected that.
But she wanted to see her looking really pretty and well dressed, just once.
The dress would be black of course, since it was all Eloise had with her, and all she owned.
Whatever Liz wore would inevitably have gold or rhinestones or glitter on it, but Eloise was feeling benevolent about her.
She was smart, and a decent person, and she loved Eloise’s brother, so her flashy taste and penchant for stilettos and rhinestones could be forgiven.
The one who couldn’t be forgiven was Geoff, who had managed to alienate the entire group with his high-handed attitude.
But they all promised Eugenia that they would behave at Daphne’s party that night, no matter what Geoff said or did.
They didn’t want to upset Daphne or Phillip, and they were all curious about what the party would be like.
Daphne had gone to check the last details with the caterer, and they were invited for eight o’clock.
They went to the party in two cars and arrived punctually.
Eugenia saw to it that Geoff and Brad did not go in the same car, which suited them both and kept tension to a minimum.
The difference in their manners and personalities was even more of a problem than a question of race.
When they got to Daphne’s house, they were amazed by the trouble she had gone to.
There were four tables for eight on the patio, with a view of the pool all lit up, and extensive grounds and flowerbeds around them.
There were lanterns strung up which shed a soft light on the tables, candles and flowers on all the tables, and candles floating on the pool like lilies.
And everyone was relaxed and happy as the evening began.
The guests arrived promptly, handsomely dressed men in blazers and white pants, and women in cocktail dresses.
Daphne was wearing a white and gold brocade tent which encompassed her enormous girth, and her husband looked proud of her.
And Sofia looked lovely in the dress Eloise had loaned her.
It was a simple black strapless column that showed off her flawless figure and bare shoulders, and Sofia admitted she liked it a lot.
Eloise told her she could keep it, if she promised not to wear combat boots with it when Eloise wasn’t around.
The group mingled until nine o’clock, and Eugenia noticed that a number of women were wearing her cocktail dresses. She enjoyed talking to Daphne’s friends, and before they sat down to dinner, a very attractive man came over to compliment her.
“You have a lovely family,” he said kindly.
She guessed him to be a little older than she was.
In fact, he was sixty, and his name was Patrick Hughes, which rang a bell but she couldn’t remember why.
He was very soft-spoken and understated, in white jeans, a white shirt, and a well-cut blazer.
He had short gray hair, and an air of quiet confidence about him.
She could tell from experience that he was an important man.
They talked about the fashion business for a few minutes, and he said he knew very little about it.
He said he was in commercial real estate, which sounded innocuous to her.
The only guests Eugenia hadn’t met and didn’t want to were a flashy couple that someone had brought as their houseguests.
They looked pure Vegas. He was wearing a white western-style shirt and white jeans with white alligator boots, a Stetson, and a diamond rope around his neck.
His wife was Russian, in her very early twenties.
She was covered in expensive jewelry and wearing a skintight minidress that barely covered her, and carried a white mink wrap she didn’t need but wanted to show off.
She was wearing silver platform sandals with six-inch heels that Liz would have worn in a minute.
She was a strikingly beautiful girl who looked like he had rented her for the evening, but she was his wife.
All the other women looked at her with thinly veiled disapproval, and stood closer to their husbands.
As it turned out, she was twenty-two and he was sixty-five.