"Yeah, well, Sage, let's be practical here. You don't want to lose your Aunt Victoria's land, it appears that everything you thought she had is gone in bad investments. You've sold off all the cars except that awful limo because you can't find a buyer, you've had to dismiss the domestic help."
"Yes, Tina, I know all of what I've had to do."
"I'm just saying, don't you think the wise route would be to marry... dare I be familiar?... Anthony?"
"Wise? But Tina, I'm not in love with him."
"Well, that settles that! No weighing things out. No sleepless nights trying to make the best, the most practical decision."
"I did try to give it some serious thought, Tina, but it's just no-go. If I can't do it, I can't do it!"
Tina studied Sage's impassioned expression. "You're going to have to face him sooner or later. He's enough of a gentleman not to harass you during your grief. And he won't either at a party he's throwing."
"You're right. He calls me once a week, and we have polite little five-minute chats where neither of us says anything. I know he's concerned about me. He tried to get me to let his cook to stay at my place. I always say no thanks, but every couple of days there's a food package by my door. In his heart he
is
a dear man."
"A dear, good-looking, wealthy man, who is probably head-over-heels in love with you. But don't worry, don't give it a thought. You don't love him."
"Well, I don't."
"And you couldn't, wouldn't, will never love him."
"I don't know, Tina. I only know how I feel now. And I'm not going to make a life decision based on stress in the middle of a life crisis."
"It might be easier to let him know how you feel – or don't feel – about him, at his party. It's better than just letting him hope for something that will never be."
"Perhaps you're right. Anyway, if you're there I'll feel more confident."
"See? I
am
good for something! Now I'm going to get serious about this food before my peach shake gels."
Chapter 5
"W
ell then, wear something of mine," Sage said to the extremely disgusted reflection of Tina in the mirror. "But, really, that dress is very cute."
Tina, in a pink cotton summer dress, turned to grimace at Sage in a floor length white sheath, with black beading across the shoulders and down one side where a slit in the skirt revealed a well-turned thigh.
"Cute, Sage?! I look like your handmaid."
"I'm probably over-dressed," Sage turned to look at low back of her dress.
"The riddle goes, when is an over-dressed woman under-dressed?" Tina said.
Sage turned around, smiled and put an arm around her friend's shoulders. "Come on! Let's raid some closets!"
"No, we'll be late."
"I don't care about that, I don't even want to go!"
"I do though. But not looking like this!" Tina squinted at her reflection. "Ugh! Nothing helps. What was I thinking? What does semi-formal
mean
to me, anyway?"
"Relax, Tina." Sage pushed her to the walk-in closet. "I guess you're a size or two smaller than me, but I bet we can find something."
"I've always been partial to the blue velvet."
"I just wore that thing."
"When?"
"You remember, that opening I went to, when the motorcycle gang scared me to death."
"That was
three weeks
ago!"
"Yes."
"To me, 'having just worn something,' means it still has body heat in it."
Sage laughed.
"I'm serious, Sage!"
"But with formal things," Sage pointed out, "I don't like to be seen in them more than once a season, if that much."
"Okay, fine. You don't have to wear it again this season. With me in it, no one will recognize it."
"I don't care if you don't care! Here, try it on."
Sage handed the blue velvet gown to Tina.
"Thank goodness I wore this strapless foundation," Tina said as Sage helped her slip it on over her hair. Then Sage zipped it up.
"Looks pretty good back here," Sage said.
"That's half the battle, but things look pretty bad from up here." Tina turned around, the bodice stays were concave where they should be convex.
"Oh-oh," Sage said.
"Oh-oh is
not
what I had in mind for tonight."
"Turn around." Sage unzipped the back part way, then over-lapped the two sides. She looked around into the mirror.
"How's that? Looks fine, I think."
"Yeah, it looks okay," Tina said. "Titled; 'Scarecrow in Blue Velvet.' I was so proud of losing that weight and now I look kind of spindly. Don't you have anything from when you were spindly Sage, say about twelve years old?"
"When I was twelve, I was poor. We're going to make this work. This dress has a little bolero that goes with it. I'm going to baste this together."
"Sew me into it? That's one way to make me think twice about doing... anything I ought not be doing."
Within half-an-hour, Sage and Tina drove the limo through the Williamson gateway, both of them giggling as Sage insisted on carrying out the chauffeur routine to the hilt, getting out and going around to open Tina's door.
Sage handed the doorman her invitation and she and Tina entered a gigantic circular entry room, three stories high and bathed in a kaleidoscope of colors from the circle of stained glass windows around the dome far above.
"Oh, wow, Sage! Wow, wow."
"Excellent word choice, Tina."
"People live like this?"
"People do. You may as well brace yourself. The whole place is fairly... ah, exotic."
"Wow, Sage," Tina reiterated.
"Are you broken?" Sage edged Tina through the doorway and coaxed her up one of the two circular stairways winding around the walls of the domed entry.
"Where are you taking me?" Tina whispered as they rustled up the stairs.
"To the lady's room. We need to freshen up."
"Oh, yeah, that's right, after all, we just drove four miles and are exhausted and wind-tossed."
"That's more like my Tina," Sage said. "I thought I lost you altogether there for a minute."
"You
did
,
for a minute."
Sage led Tina into a massive peach-colored room, walls of peach-tinted mirror, peach carpet, peach ceiling, peach crystal chandeliers.
"Well, Sage, I can't even say wow anymore. I can just die in peace."
"Oh no. You have to see the rest, and then you can die."
"Look at you in that black and white in this peach light, you look like sherbert. I look like mud."
"Will you stop running yourself down? You look fabulous. But I don't need to tell you. You'll see soon enough when all the heads turn."
"As long as you're standing beside me, sure."
"Nope. And I'm going to leave you alone to prove it."
"No, no, don't leave me alone! Anyway, I'm perfectly happy to be the moon to your sun, to glow in your reflected light."
Sage giggled. Strains of classical music came to them at a distance. "Enough poetry, Tina. There's the orchestra, it's a good time to make an entrance."
Sage let the way through a maze of rooms, halls and stairways.
"How do you know this place so well? I'd think you'd have to live here for years to learn your way around."
"I had the head butler take me on a tour once. It's pretty logical when you've been over the whole place."
"I feel like I'm in that Esher drawing where all the people are going up and down stairways that are upside-down and sideways and no one falls off, or runs into anyone. Why do I see so many people far away, but I don't see anyone around us?"
"Because we're going the back way."
Sage went down yet another stairway, closed-in with only a dusky light coming from the noisy room below.
They came out in a huge, bustling kitchen.
"Hi, Robert," Sage greeted a monumentally officious-looking butler.
"Hello, Miss Elgin, I'm very glad to see you decided to come, and so will Mr. Williamson."
"Thank you, Robert."
Sage and Tina scooted through the bustle and came out on a patio leading to the grounds that stretched for acres.
"Anthony usually has his throne set up across from the orchestra," Sage said as she moved from the three steps on the brightly-colored patterned tiles of the patio to the terra cotta tiles of the paths on the grounds.
"Sage!" Tina exclaimed, "the pool!"
"Three Olympic-sized pools, actually," Sage nodded.
The pools stretched ahead of them out to the fading sunset towards the ocean, each of the three pools tiered three steps below the previous, each cascading a water-fall into the next. One silk oriental carpet after another was laid out on the terra cotta tiles. Exotic oriental party lanterns with soft pastel-colored lights hung about everywhere.
Sage spied Anthony Williamson, seated in his usual place when entertaining outside, in a gazebo across from the orchestra.
Chapter 6
"I'm a happy man tonight," Anthony Williamson said, handing his cell phone to his great-nephew who stood beside his throne-like wicker chair.
"You should be, Uncle Anthony. Everything is perfect."
"It's not just the party that makes me happy, but it's the reason I'm
having
the party."
"I thought it was a no-occasion party."
"That's what the invitations said, only to make sure the guest of honor would come. Robert just informed me that she's here."
"The guest of honor? Who?"
"You'll meet her soon enough." Anthony turned to Michael's companion. "Tell me, missy, are you and Michael an 'item' as they say. Are you serious?"
Millie exchanged a quick look with Michael.
"I'm never serious, I'm just a kidder."
"So he won't come through for you?"
"Really, Mr. Williamson, we're just pals... from work."
"Tell me something though, am I a prejudiced old man, or is my grand-nephew awfully good-looking?"
"He's gorgeous," Millie gushed. She stopped, shy. "Well, that's my reserved opinion."
Anthony laughed. "She's very cute, Michael."
"She is, indeed."
Millie went on, "Michael is not only attractive, he's really smart too! You should hear the things he can talk about. I've never known a man who knew so many things."
"Oh, please, that's enough talk about me," Michael protested. "Uncle, let me tell you what happened to me on this road a few weeks ago...."
"Here it comes," Millie said, "the beautiful chauffeur story again."
"Poor Millie, I guess once was enough for you."
"Naa, I'm just kidding. Besides, your uncle might know who the mystery woman is."
"You kids can sure talk a lot about a story without telling it," Anthony pointed out.
"A few weeks ago," Michael began, "I was driving on the Canyon Road. I had in mind to stop and visit you, but my carburetor was giving me trouble, so I decided to head on home. Further down the road was a white limo stretched almost entirely across both lanes. When I walked up to the door, there was this beautiful blonde woman behind the wheel."
"Sage!" Anthony said.
"Oh!" Michael said, then stopped. "So you
do
know her."
"Indeed I do."
"Well, I guess you'd know the domestic staff of your neighbors," Michael reasoned.
"Domestic staff? Sage is anything but domestic staff. What makes you think, even suggest...?"
"I assumed, since she was driving the limo...."
"Oh, I see! That's a reasonable assumption, sure." Anthony laughed jovially. "What a funny picture." He stopped laughing. "But no, it's not at all funny. Why was the limo across the road?"
"Some motorcycle gang had been harassing her. Apparently my arrival was very timely and I scared them off."
"Good for you, Michael! Good for you!"
"That sure answers a lot of questions," Michael observed, "like why she went in the front door as if she owned the place, why she was dressed-up in that blue velvet gown. Of course it doesn't answer why she was driving the limo...."
"The poor girl has happened on some extremely hard times of late," Anthony said. "It wouldn't be appropriate for me to discuss her personal life, but she's a strong young woman. I've come to admire her more and more in the recent past."
"Speaking of blue velvet, there's a beautiful gown," Millie said, gesturing.
"That's her!" Michael said, surprised.
"But she's not blonde."
"No, I mean the blonde."
"You don't mean the blue velvet?"
Michael looked again. "Well, yes, I believe that
is
the blue velvet, but that's that not Sage." Michael brought Millie to her feet, so she could see Sage around the plant blocking her view. "
That's
Sage."
Millie gasped. "Oh, Michael, now I see what you've been talking about! That... that is not a usual human being."
"No, that's a goddess," Anthony said.
Michael studied his uncle's enchantment at the sight of Sage. So this was where Sage's entanglement was, right in the branches of his own family tree, Michael thought.
Sage was touching her friend's elbow and gesturing to the gazebo, so engrossed was Tina in the pool and orchestra that she couldn't look anywhere else.
Tina and Sage turned to the gazebo, Sage started to make a little wave to Anthony when her eye caught Michael's. Her hand froze as their eyes met.
"Sage," Tina said, "do you see that wonderful, wonderful looking man there?"
"That's him!" Sage whispered.
"Him who?"
"Michael, that's Michael."
"Oh boy, Sage. Yeah, you'd have to be blind to not call
that
gorgeous. But isn't it a strange coincidence, him being here? Sage... Sage? How long are we going to stand here like we're waving good-by to the Queen Mary?"
"Ahh, yes, embarrassing." Sage moved toward the gazebo, Tina shadowing her.
"Sage!" Anthony said, getting up, taking her hand, kissing her cheek. "I've been waiting for you to get here. Everything else just fades away when you're around. But before I get too faded away, I'd like to introduce you to my grand-nephew, Michael, who, I've just been learning, you've recently met."