Chapter 22 Kavita Ridley
Kavita Ridley
The Manhattan Herald
Metropolitan Musings
Our Favorite Socialite Wants no Spotlight for Twentieth Birthday!
Our favorite heiress, Kavita Ridley, is twenty years old!
It seems like yesterday when she joined our beloved Ridley family.
We are a little somber to say that her wild escapade days may have come to an end.
As everyone knew, she would soon tire of the wild double life that seemingly every Ridley child has been living except for Mr. Edward Ridley’s prized eldest sons, Wei and Omar.
A swarm of satin, silk, and feathers flew over Kavita as Adesua and Amelia threw options for her grand birthday slumber party at her.
Kavita enjoyed being at home now. The more mess she found herself in, the more she realized why Adesua enjoyed staying out of the spotlight and at home.
She felt a change in herself, as now going out with her friends felt forced, and the fact that her sisters knew how to treat her on her special day showed what she had been missing out on with them.
The people who mattered the most were her family.
Sebastien stormed in like he was on a deathly mission. “Kavi, honey, we mustn’t lose the day! Which one have you decided to wear?”
Sebastien pestered her, holding different silk pajamas lined with feathers up to her skin.
Kavita hated having to choose a color, because she loved so many.
One day, she loved lavender and would get everything in that color; then another day, she would want a particular shade of pink that was not too salmon nor too hot.
Sebastien clicked his fingers at a quick pace. “Sweetheart, none of us are getting younger here.”
She pointed to the forgotten pajamas thrown to the side under the pinks, baby blues, and purples. “That one. I want the emerald one.”
Sebastien looked displeased, as it didn’t have the same bells and whistles as the others.
“Oh my, Kavi always wants to be the underestimated one. Never worry, my dear. You shall wear the gold crown. It will match perfectly with the green,” he said as he sauntered away.
Kavita tried to interject. “Bu—”
“Bu-bu-but nothing. You are the birthday girl, and you will look like it.”
Kavita looked to Amelia and Adesua for aid, but they were of little to no help, as Adesua slipped on the orange pajamas and Amelia slipped on the black.
Kavita saw hordes of girls swarming through the front door as Sebastien escorted them in, allowing the maids to attend to the guests and help them choose from the finest pajama sets and nightgowns in the enormous powder room near the ladies’ grand hall bathroom.
This made her smile, because there were faces she hadn’t seen for a while, some for years.
Amelia had invited the neighbors’ daughters, who lived in the small cottages.
She’d always seen Kavita look at them as they passed their quaint homes and knew that she longed to meet them in some way.
Adesua invited some artist friends and other ladies Josephine had introduced them to at one of their galas.
Sebastien invited all their cousins from Illinois and Pennsylvania.
For once, Kavita forgot her life from before.
Today, she was celebrating a new beginning.
Even though the ping of sadness occasionally hit her, she was surrounded by people who cared about her, or at least wanted to.
She just never let them in. A poke on her shoulder from her sisters, and she knew it was time.
A satin blindfold was placed gently over her eyes and she was led through the house.
Kavita laughed as she thought to herself, What haven’t I seen in this home?
But she loved not having control for once.
Her cheeks started to hurt, as this was the most she had smiled in ages.
Her bare feet felt cold as she stepped onto the icy marble.
She couldn’t tell whether they were in the kitchen or the ballroom.
She heard shuffling and giggling and then a loud gasp.
“You have my cousin’s delicate feet bare on the floor!” Sebastien scolded the maid—hopefully playfully, Kavita thought. “She is the queen of the night. Go get her slippers immediately, thank you.”
Although she was slightly annoyed at Sebastien’s overbearing command, she knew how frazzled he got with large events.
The fur did feel good on her feet, though, so maybe he was right.
As Amelia removed the blindfold, she found herself in the grand ballroom.
It was like her own version of heaven on earth.
The long tables of food and delicacies caught her eye.
It was everything she could imagine. All the food she loved looked absolutely divine, from samosas, Peking duck pancakes, deviled eggs, empanadas, and chicken-tikka skewers.
But, for Kavita, the desserts may have been her favorite part.
Milk- and white-chocolate fountains flowed next to a bowl of strawberries, and the colorful macarons almost looked like every girl in there with their colorful pajamas.
Kavita was rushed with hugs and a glass of a cloudy drink.
She smelled it instantly, and to her delight, the chai calmed her.
She didn’t know why, but at that moment, she didn’t want to drink alcohol again.
The room, filled with pillows and vibrant rugs on the floor, reminded her of a dream.
The feather-stuffed mattresses were covered in plush blankets and small bedside tables.
The jazz band played light music while everyone was eating at the seven rows of tables.
Kavita clocked Amelia, staring at her with happiness.
“I want to make a toast to my dear baby sister,” Amelia began as everyone raised their teas and juices.
“As she enters into a new level of womanhood at twenty, we all wanted to show her how much we love her with a party featuring everything she holds dear to her heart, from beautiful saris and champagne towers to a new Cartier vanity case lined with emeralds. She has grown into the fiery, courageous spirit we always knew her to be, and we know she will bloom into the love flower she chooses to be, and we will be there for her when every petal dies and a new one grows. Here’s to new beginnings. ”
The league of girls clapped their hands, hugging each other.
This was what Kavita had been missing. She saw she wasn’t alone in this story of life.
Yes, her story sometimes felt like she could go no further, but she was making that choice at that very moment.
Right now, the scandals didn’t matter. She never paid too much attention to the chandeliers but wished to hang from them like a flying monkey.
She chuckled to herself. If anything made her happy, it was not the trails of gifts lined up in the corner, but instead seeing everyone enjoying themselves at the perfume bar and the spa area, along with the artists drawing their portraits and the fortune teller she’d avoided the whole night.
In the middle of her thoughts, Mrs. Darla came rushing into the room.
“Your doting fiancé is at the door, Kavi,” she said giddily.
The girls all followed her to the door. Franklin stood there with a bouquet of yellow tulips.
He knew how much she’d started to hate red roses everywhere and that she needed some sunshine in her dark life.
In another hand, he held a gold locket necklace.
She opened the locket to find dried marigolds pressed onto the glass with a note in his handwriting saying I love you.
Kavita hugged him so tightly that she thought maybe this hell was slowly coming to an end.
The never-ending threats were tiring. If she were the person doing it, she would have confessed a long time ago.
Kavita felt the person was holding back for whatever reason.
They wanted the Ridleys to own up to their mistakes to the world so badly, but that was a thing a Ridley would never do, blood or not.
She thanked Joseph before shooing him away and getting back to the festivities.
Her birthday cake was the most perfect ten-layered caramel-honey cake she could dream of.
As she blew out the candle, she wished it all would disappear.
What exactly did she want to go away? She wasn’t entirely sure, but she hoped and prayed that God would figure it out.
That was the only fortune she needed to hear tonight.
The morning light seeped through the draperies onto her golden skin.
It felt good, like she hadn’t been outside and her spirit was begging her to run into the light.
Some girls stirred when she stepped beside their beds to reach the garden.
For a moment, she didn’t feel an ounce of sadness.
The sun removed any thoughts she’d had before.
Kavita never understood why the darkness made her feel despair even more deeply.
Was this why every time she went out at night, she had to have her friend Lila by her side?
In the light, she felt renewed. When she stooped down, she grabbed a lone rose that had fallen from the bush.
Kavita thought of Dale as she grabbed the rose and ripped off one of its petals. She looked to the sky.
“I am sorry for what I have done, and if I could trade places, I would . . . Actually, no, I wouldn’t, but I promise I will make better choices and live a life to be proud of, not in the shadows.”