Chapter 10 Amelia Ridley #2
This was hard for Adesua initially, as she saw the prices and would put something back.
Mother would look down at her and grab her by the cheeks, assuring her that she could get anything, as the price was just a silly little number.
This caused Adesua to laugh and warm up to the thought.
Mother found herself distracted, looking at the perfumes and smelling each scent.
That was when Adesua’s hand was grabbed by a sales associate who had just returned from the dressing room.
“I found this little thief trying to steal a dress. Oh, you wait until I get authorities on you, little girl.”
Adesua wept so loudly that Mother bolted and grabbed her hand back from the lady.
“How dare you touch my child!” The lady was puzzled. “How could you assume she was stealing when she was just looking?”
At this point, Mrs. Ridley was fuming, and the heat was evident all over her face. The perfume saleswoman ran in front of her coworker.
“Mrs. Ridley! Mrs. Ridley! I am so sorry. She is new here. We have run into thieves lately, and she may have been too passionate about implementing her training.”
The saleswoman ushered the lady back to tending the dressing room. Mrs. Ridley thought for a moment that she was foolish for adopting her children. She knew the world hadn’t progressed to where it should be, and it was a moment of failure she would never forget.
They had quietly walked out without getting a thing.
A lady almost the same hue as Adesua had walked out after them, yelling, “Mrs. Ridley!”
Caroline turned to face her, expecting to be scolded for bringing her daughter there.
“I have seen the papers about you adopting these fine children, and I think it’s lovely. If you want to shop at a place where you won’t feel unwanted, head over to Harlem or the Blackwoods’ clothing store. It’s my family’s store.”
This made Caroline burst into tears. She rarely heard anything positive about her and the children, which filled her heart with joy. Without thinking, Caroline hugged her, and the lady smiled.
“My name is Adaline. If we ever run into each other again.”
From that day, Adesua said if she ever had a child, she would name her Adaline, or Addie for short.
She thought the woman was a guardian angel that had been sent by God.
Because that day turned out to be one of their best days together.
Now, as they roamed the rows of Lord & Taylor, employees threw themselves at the sisters, giving them refreshments and snacks as they shopped to their hearts’ desire.
Their shopper, Martin, ushered the salesgirls over to block off a private fitting room for the girls.
There were red velvet chaises and seats in every corner of the room.
The phonograph set the mood, playing all the right jazz music to prepare them for a vivacious shopping day.
Martin escorted them around the store and set up the room with racks of flapper dresses, silk gowns, and the best fur-trimmed coats.
Adesua went to the perfume counter and stocked up on her favorite perfumes, Guerlain Shalimar and Chanel No.
5. She was also fond of having an eclectic collection of heels.
She saw one pair that stood out from the usual neutral colors: strappy dark-purple heels nearly covered with sequins.
At the same time, Amelia grabbed the wine-red gloves and a matching dress.
She didn’t know where she would wear the outfit, but it had her name written all over it.
Amelia and Kavita looked at each other, as they knew Martin would have them leaving with more than they had originally intended to get.
Adesua’s and Kavita’s eyes were like daggers as they homed in on the snack table.
Martin had laid out an assortment of finger sandwiches, pink and green macarons, and chocolates filled with liquor.
He brought out a nice champagne bottle, holding it behind his back, as the store secretly held it for their top customers.
He poured it into champagne flutes. The girls clinked their glasses, as they knew Martin had them now.
Amelia heard giggles and loud voices in the next private suite drowning out the music.
Martin excused himself, assuring them that all their needs would be taken care of and giving a curt smile.
Amelia stepped out into the hallway after he exited.
Something was itching at her as she wondered what the women in the next room could be laughing at.
“Excuse me, ladies, for being so brash, but my heavens, I can’t believe they let those Ridley girls waltz in here,” one girl nearly yelled to her friends.
Another laughed even harder at the statement. “Martin, don’t you think it would be bad press for them to be in here? I mean, ladies, Dale’s body is not even cold yet, and they are out shopping like royalty!”
Amelia looked at Adesua, who stopped chewing on her half bite of macaron.
Kavita was staring at herself in the mirror, her rage building.
Amelia knew that at any minute, Kavita would take off and go into those girls’ room to give them a piece of her mind, and she was ready to hold her back if it came to that.
Amelia knew this was quite the load to carry.
She wasn’t one to let sly remarks go by, especially when they were about her family.
Now things were very different. The tables had turned, and the watchful eyes of New York were in charge. If even one of those missing files came out, Amelia saw their future vanishing as quickly as it had arrived, and Kavita wasn’t going to help their case. Especially not now.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they all ended up like Marie Antoinette, especially that hussy Kavita. And no one cares about that charity case—what was her name, Anora or something? Whatever it is, they all should burn just like Dale,” another woman added.
Kavita turned around and bolted for the door, but just as Amelia had promised herself, she and Adesua stopped her.
“No, we are leaving. Get out of this dress and let’s go check out now,” Amelia insisted.
Amelia noticed that Kavita’s chest was rising and lowering rapidly.
She was clearly ready to defend her family, but the last thing they needed was another scandal so soon after Dale’s death.
She could see Kavita thinking, which she rarely did.
Not that she wasn’t smart. Kavita was highly intelligent, but she insisted on acting first and thinking of the repercussions later, like how the public could easily twist her actions to claim that she was unsuitable to be a wife.
Amelia paid for everything in the hope that it would be an olive branch for not telling her sisters about the plans Father had for her.
Amelia waved another taxi down, exhausted from their escape from reality.
The young driver smiled as he adjusted his round glasses. “I see you ladies had a grand time. Where are you gals headed now?”
“The Ridley Estate,” Amelia said with no hesitation.
He whipped his head around. “I knew you ladies look familiar. One day I’ll get one of them fancy gold invitations!”
Amelia and Kavita smiled at the man, then looked at Adesua, who had her head resting against the door. She was already nodding off, as she usually stayed home and only went out for events.
“Well, I was thinking of going to Tiffany’s, but Adesua looks worn out,” said Amelia, slightly disappointed.
Adesua sprang up from where she’d been nearly falling asleep. “No, please, just go without me. I’ll be resting up in the taxi.”
Amelia and Kavita felt terrible—they didn’t want to go without her.
“No, I insist you two go find something that’s the cat’s meow for me too.”
Amelia blew her an air-kiss. “I’ll be right back.”
Adesua rolled her eyes, knowing how long they would be.
Amelia and Kavita dashed through the door at Tiffany’s, almost slipping on the marble floors.
Now, this was their ideal shopping heaven.
Each piece of jewelry was delicately laid out on lush velvet within a clear glass case.
But this didn’t impress Amelia. She went to the back, seeing the variety of items fit for her desk.
Her eye caught a gleaming crystal inkwell and pen stand.
She figured she could get both, along with the paperweight she saw.
Kavita was ushered to another room by a new sales associate who was trying to make a good impression.
The young man smiled nervously. “I didn’t realize you were going to come in today. My boss said the Ridley girls always have appointments.”
Kavita was flattered by his shyness. “Well, we decided to do a little spontaneous drop-in. I need something dazzling.”
He went to the safe, which was a very large vault.
“Well, I am not supposed to show this without my boss, but you deserve the best. He said you’re one of our regular customers.”
The young man carelessly put in the combination code within Kavita’s eyesight.
She thought to herself, No wonder his boss didn’t let him do it by himself.
He carefully put on his gloves, then pulled out the most stunning choker she had ever seen.
The deep-ocean-blue sapphire was cut in geometric shapes and set next to eye-catching diamonds.
Kavita almost forgot to exhale after placing her hand over her mouth.
“Oh my stars, she is—”
“Gorgeous, isn’t she? She should be, for the price. They got her running at around thirty thousand dollars.”
“Oh, my father would have a heart attack if I came back home with that!”
The boy smiled and placed it around her neck.
“Well, not too many people could even have the opportunity to say that.” He paused, embarrassed at his bluntness. “Forgive me—I wasn’t—”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re right. Maybe one day it will get into the hands of someone who really deserves it.”
He smiled and nodded as he carefully placed it back with the other jewels.