Chapter 3 #3
The conversation went on through dinner, and the chef had prepared a delicious meal.
The caterers served a very fine French wine, and by the time they left, Felicity looked exhausted.
Taylor left with his parents, since he was staying with them that night, to have the holiday with them, and Felicity had agreed to stay at her mother’s.
It felt odd saying good night to him, since they lived together, but Felicity didn’t want her mother to be alone on Thanksgiving, since Violet was away, and Bill only made cameo appearances on holidays, and had his own family obligations.
Dominique collapsed on the couch and looked exhausted when they left, as she turned to her daughter.
“So, you don’t want four hundred guests at the wedding, we saved your gallery show date, and what else don’t you want? Your mother-in-law has some pretty big ideas,” Dominique said, without mentioning specifically that they hadn’t offered to share any of the expenses. Felicity had noticed it too.
“I wasn’t even thinking about a wedding when Taylor proposed to me,” she said, looking at her mother.
“I wanted to spend the next six months getting ready for my show. Marriage didn’t even occur to me, and I wouldn’t mind waiting another year.
But Taylor got so upset when I mentioned it.
I think his parents are putting the heat on him that he’s thirty-seven and he should be thinking about marriage and kids. ”
“And do you want kids now?” her mother asked her, and she shook her head without hesitating.
“No, I don’t. Not yet. I’m not going to rush into that,” but Felicity did feel that Taylor had cornered her into agreeing to marriage when she wasn’t ready, and he took it so personally when she tried to suggest that they wait.
He was mortally wounded at the idea of a year’s delay.
She had the feeling that Taylor’s parents were pushing the marriage, especially now that they had seen her mother’s home.
Materially, Taylor had far more to gain from the marriage than Felicity did, and they were relieved to discover that Dominique wasn’t the bohemian they had feared, even if she was French and her parents hadn’t been married, a flaw in Felicity’s background they never let Taylor forget.
Felicity felt rushed into a wedding the following June, but it seemed too difficult to turn the tides and easier to go along with it.
The June twentieth wedding date was a given now, since her mother had defended her gallery show opening on the sixth.
Elizabeth Whitfield was superstitious about the thirteenth, which left the twentieth as the date Felicity would become Taylor’s wife.
She felt a nervous shiver run down her spine when she thought about it and a knot in her stomach.
“What do you think about the museum ideas for the reception?” her mother asked her, and Felicity smiled.
“I love those ideas,” and then she looked pained for a moment, she had something to say to her mother, and didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
“And, Mama, I know you would make me a beautiful dress. I love your designs, but I want something different, simpler, not really your style. I don’t want something elaborate with a long train.
You make the most beautiful wedding gowns in the world, but I want something really plain.
” Dominique looked startled, but she tried not to react.
She wanted Felicity to have her dream wedding, and she was gracious about it.
“Do you have a designer in mind?”
“I’m not sure.” She looked anxious and hopeful as her eyes met her mother’s. “Could we go to Paris sometime and look?”
Dominique didn’t miss a beat, and she liked the idea of a trip with her daughter, even if it meant she couldn’t design a wedding gown just for her.
It was ironic. She designed wedding dresses for the most important brides all over the world, from princesses to movie stars, and her daughter didn’t want one of her creations.
She would wear a dress by a random designer on her wedding day.
It was a blow to Dominique’s ego and heart, but she didn’t let it show, and looked bland about it.
Dominique thought about it for a moment.
“Why don’t we try to go sometime between now and Christmas?
Paris is so pretty then, and your grandmother will be thrilled to see us before the holidays.
We can do an early Christmas tea with her, or a fancy dinner, whichever she prefers.
” Felicity lit up at the mention of it. She loved her grandmother, and Violet did too.
Marie-Aurélie was open-minded, modern, and understanding, and always interested in the new ideas her granddaughters shared with her.
They had frank conversations with her, and she was sometimes more forward-thinking and reasonable than their mother, although they had altered Dominique’s points of view on many subjects by then too.
But their grandmother was sometimes easier to convince, and they were fascinated by her stories and the treasure trove of memories she shared with them, particularly about their grandfather and their love for each other.
Violet and Felicity were always sorry for her that her parents had been so rigid that they never saw her again.
They thought that was terrible, and Marie-Aurélie agreed with them, although she said she had forgiven them, but not until much later.
She looked peaceful when she said it, and bore her parents no malice, although she had no warm memories of them.
On Thanksgiving Day, since they were alone, Felicity and Dominique had agreed to share their Thanksgiving meal at lunchtime, and go to a movie that night.
Even one person missing from the table made a difference, and it felt more festive to do it a little more informally, earlier in the day, and go out together in the late afternoon or evening, rather than a formal Thanksgiving dinner for just the two of them.
* * *
After the delicious traditional meal served by the caterer, they put on jeans and heavy sweaters and went to a movie they had both wanted to see and hadn’t had time for until then.
They had talked a little about the wedding over lunch, but more about Felicity’s hopes and preparations for her gallery show in June.
She had nothing more to say about the wedding for now.
The subject made her feel anxious whenever it came up.
Bill had called Dominique after lunch, and was sorry not to be able to come by.
He and Eileen had other guests at their Thanksgiving lunch, and he said he couldn’t get out, but he promised to visit the next day for a drink before dinner.
Felicity would have gone back to her own apartment by then.
Taylor was meeting her there. The holiday would be over for them by lunchtime on Friday, but they had thoroughly enjoyed it, and Dominique checked her datebook against Felicity’s before she left on Friday morning to find a date for a trip to Paris to look for a dress.
It sounded like a fun adventure to both of them, and Dominique was looking forward to it.
She loved spending time in Paris with her daughters.