Chapter 3 #2
Felicity and Taylor had made love again, cautiously, but that bridge had been crossed.
The rape was forgiven, not forgotten but tentatively put on a shelf so they could go forward by the time he and his parents came to dinner at Dominique’s house the night before Thanksgiving.
Violet had left for Boston with Jamie that morning, and Dominique and Felicity were going to have a quiet Thanksgiving dinner, just the two of them, and work on wedding plans.
The Whitfields were impressed when they saw the elegance of Dominique’s home.
Marie-Aurélie had given her several important paintings over the years and she had bought a few of her own.
There was a graceful stairway leading to the second floor, where she and Felicity were waiting for Taylor and his parents.
It made Felicity feel like a child again, and as though they were going to be scolded by their parents, or the rules were going to be laid down for them.
She was nervous and she could see that Taylor was uneasy too.
At thirty-seven, he wasn’t used to dealing with anyone else’s parents.
Dominique had always been pleasant to him when they met, but he wasn’t sure that she approved of him for her daughter, and he knew that his own parents were critical of her, at least his mother was.
But all assumptions that she was bohemian in her lifestyle, because she was French and a designer, went out the window when the Whitfields saw her home, and the museum quality of the antiques and art.
This was where Felicity had grown up. Everything around them was of the finest provenance.
Dominique greeted them graciously. She had hired the first-rate chef and catering team she used when she entertained.
She gave frequent small dinner parties for select friends, many of them famous and former clients.
They felt safe in her extremely discreet environment, and her most important clients often became friends when she designed their wedding dresses or their daughters’.
Elizabeth Whitfield was looking around unabashedly as she accepted a glass of champagne from the butler, and Phillip asked for his usual Scotch on the rocks, a double.
Felicity and Taylor chatted quietly, while Dominique made small talk to make his parents feel welcome.
She saw Phillip bend closer to a small Degas painting to check that it was what he thought it was, and Dominique pretended not to notice.
They sat down on two small comfortable couches in front of the fireplace, which was lit and added warmth and charm to the handsome room.
“So, we have a wedding to plan.” Dominique smiled at them.
She was wearing slim black velvet pants and a cream-colored satin blouse, with two long ropes of pearls, and she looked like a page in Vogue.
Felicity had worn a simple short black dress that showed off her legs.
Elizabeth had commented several times in the past that Felicity wore her skirts too short.
Taylor’s mother was wearing a black suit that looked severe and her gray hair in a tight bun.
She had noticed that Felicity was wearing her engagement ring, and was turning it nervously around her finger.
And Elizabeth jumped right in, once the subject was touched on.
“The dates we’re considering are June sixth and twentieth.
There’s no need to tempt fate having a wedding on the thirteenth.
The sixth is our anniversary, and Taylor agrees with us that it would be meaningful to do it on that date.
” Felicity looked instantly panicked when she said it, and spoke up quickly.
“My show opens on the sixth. I can’t do that.”
Dominique nodded. She knew it the moment Elizabeth said the dates.
“Just tell them to move it to another date,” Taylor said easily. It didn’t sound like a big problem to him.
“They’re the most important gallery in New York, it’s a huge honor that they’re willing to show my work.
They have a two-year show schedule set in stone, and it was just blind luck and incredibly nice of them to find a way to fit me in.
The opening cocktail party is the night before.
I can’t do the sixth, it would have to be the twentieth.
” Elizabeth’s lips pursed and she took a sip of her champagne.
“And it’ll be nice for them to have their own anniversary,” Dominique said to soothe the awkward moment. “I’ve had two ideas for location, but it will depend on how big a wedding Felicity and Taylor have in mind,” Dominique said easily, to move past the date issue.
“I’ve been looking over our list,” Elizabeth said officiously.
“We have at least two hundred people who are an absolute must on our side. We can’t cut that down.
We’ve been to all their children’s weddings.
You must have a long list too, and Taylor and Felicity will have their friends.
I think we’re talking about at least four hundred guests, possibly more,” Elizabeth said, looking at Dominique intently, who glanced at her daughter and saw the imperceptible shake of her head.
Taylor was smiling. Four hundred sounded good to him. He loved a good party.
“Maybe five,” he said. “Big weddings are always more fun.” Felicity didn’t look as though she agreed with him, and spoke up in a gentle voice.
“I think five hundred would be too big. We won’t get to talk to half the people there.
The bride and groom always look harassed at big weddings, not to mention the expense.
” Dominique was well aware that so far the Whitfields had not offered to share the expenses.
Traditionally, the bride’s family paid for everything, and the groom’s only footed the bill for the rehearsal dinner.
But in recent years, with wedding expenses easily reaching six figures, and sometimes seven, the groom’s parents often pitched in.
Dominique didn’t plan to ask them to contribute.
She wondered if they would. So far, all they had to say was that they expected a big wedding, and had two hundred guests of their own, without asking if Dominique was okay with it, or waiting to hear Felicity’s vision of her wedding, and she was shy with them.
Her future mother-in-law was so aggressive with her opinions and Felicity already sensed that she didn’t approve of her, and hadn’t since the first time they met.
Elizabeth hadn’t softened toward her. And seeing Dominique’s home, she could easily see that Dominique could afford the very biggest, most lavish wedding, which would indirectly improve the Whitfields’ social status.
It was plainly visible that whether earned or inherited, Dominique Dupont had a lot of money.
Her home and even her appearance confirmed it, which Elizabeth didn’t mind at all.
She was all for showing off at certain times, and a wedding was one of them.
“I think two hundred people would be warmer, and more manageable,” Felicity said softly.
She felt outweighed and outranked by the Whitfields.
Elizabeth Whitfield looked instantly annoyed by Felicity’s timid comment.
Elizabeth was a force to be reckoned with, and Taylor championed his mother. His father didn’t say a word.
“If my parents have two hundred guests for the list, then we’ll need at least double that,” Taylor said firmly, and smiled at his parents, as Dominique artfully directed the conversation to another area. She could discuss the number of guests with Felicity later.
“I’ve been thinking of a suitable venue, and I’ve had two ideas, since art is such an important part of Felicity’s life, and we’re art lovers in our family.
What about having the reception in a wing of the Metropolitan Museum?
That could be very dramatic, and really beautiful, depending on which wing we choose.
I’ve been to several weddings there and they do a lovely job.
Or the Frick, which would be exquisite. Their capacity would be smaller, more like what Felicity has in mind, although I don’t know the exact numbers and haven’t checked it out yet.
I think it’s probably fairly expensive, but it would feel more like a private home, which it originally was.
I went to a wedding there years ago, I think the bride was related to the Fricks somehow, and it was one of the most elegant weddings I’ve ever been to.
The art is amazing.” Elizabeth looked pleased with the suggestions.
Clearly, Dominique was planning to go all out for her daughter’s wedding, at a social level Elizabeth felt was worthy of the Whitfields.
Phillip was on his second double Scotch by then, and wasn’t paying attention to the exchange.
He didn’t enjoy weddings, and whatever they decided suited him, as long as he didn’t have to pay for it.
He was delighted he had a son and not a daughter.
And they had already agreed that the rehearsal dinner would be at his club, which wouldn’t be expensive.
The food wouldn’t be exotic or extraordinary, it would all be very standard, at a price he could live with.
The heavy lifting would fall to Dominique for the actual wedding.
He and Elizabeth had already agreed that the wedding reception wasn’t their problem.
Dominique could tell. Felicity didn’t want her wedding to cost her mother a fortune, it wasn’t fair.
She listened raptly to her mother’s suggestions, and both museum ideas sounded beautiful to her.
“I’ll price them out next week,” Dominique was saying, and she made several notes.
Once they decided on the venue, she would do a walk-through with her florist. She was well-versed in big events, and intended to organize most of it herself, without a wedding planner, which would be a major saving, and Felicity could help.