The Arrangement [Box Set] (5 page)

—But it’s so short, Walter. And the lace is almost see through. It’s like lingerie.

She turned her butt to the mirror and it was just an inch or two lower than where her butt cheeks ended and her legs began. If she bent over, or even sat down there’d be very little covering her thighs or buttocks. Possibly even the front of her underwear would show. And her breasts were extremely exposed. The lace worked into two delicate cups that seemed to present her breasts to whoever was before her.

—I can’t wear it, Walter.

—You have to.

—Excuse me?

—I won’t have you offending the Kingsley’s on our first night out with them.

—Well he shouldn’t have sent me something so skimpy.

—You have no choice.

—What if I wear something underneath it? Some leggings or something?

—You’re wearing it as it is, and that’s the end of it.

Walter stormed out of the bedroom and went to make sure the girls were ready.

April looked at her watch. They’d have to leave soon. She went into the bathroom and showered and shaved. Then she did the best she could with her makeup and hair before Walter came in to hurry her up. She had a sick feeling in her stomach as she put on the dress. She was absolutely terrified of wearing it in public but she put on the bravest face she could and came down the stairs with her hands straight by her sides.

The girls thought she was wearing pajamas and she had to correct them. Walter brought the cadillac around to the front door and she helped them into the back before getting into the front with Walter.

—April, you look perfect.

—I don’t feel perfect.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. —If you could just go with the flow for once it would be greatly appreciated, he said.

She didn’t understand why he was being so hard on her. It wasn’t like she had forced him to wear something he found humiliating. She appreciated Herb giving her a gift but he didn’t know what women wore. This was underwear, not a dress. She felt like she could do nothing right with Walter though. Nothing she did seemed to please him.

She looked back at the house as they went down the driveway and was amazed at how grand it looked. There were lights in the law shining up at it and at the trees around it and it looked like a castle from a fairy tale. She vowed to correct her attitude and be more grateful. After all, she had Walter and Herb to thank for everything she had.

XI

A
T THE DOOR THEY WERE MET
and welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Prentiss. Midge Prentiss was a charming and attractive woman with light-brown hair and April couldn’t say why but she was relieved to see that she was older. She was about forty-five, maybe ten years younger than her husband. She kissed April on the cheek and then her husband Pete welcomed her and kissed her too.

Midge then bent down to say hello to the children. She was warm and friendly to them and they lost a little of their shyness. Midge said that the children were having their own separate party in another part of the house and a maid came to escort them away. She gave them each a small box wrapped in colorful paper and tied with a ribbon. They looked at April before accepting their gifts and she smiled and nodded and told them to say thank you.

She watched them follow the maid across the hall and they were so excited they didn’t even look back to her. Maybe they’d be better off at the boarding school. It might even be the best thing for them.

There was also a man in a tuxedo standing by the wall, as straight as a fencepost. April didn’t know what to call him and the closest she could think of was
butler.
She didn’t even know butlers existed outside of books and movies. This certainly was a different world to the one she was used to. The butler offered to take her coat and it was with some reluctance that she gave it up to him. She was afraid of what Pete and Midge might think of the dress she was wearing. It was so short that she’d been forced to wear a g-string under it. Anything else might have shown. To her relief, no one raised an eyebrow at it or said anything.

Midge wasn’t wearing anything nearly so risqué. She had on a full length silk gown that was low cut around her bosom but draped all the way to her ankles. It was fabulously glamorous.

She shot a look at Walter and he returned a genuinely warm smile. He was having the time of his life. This was a dream come true for him. She would try to remember that from now on, and try not to allow her own insecurities to get in the way of their happiness.

When they arrived at the dining room, April gasped. It was the most beautiful thing she could have imagined. The table was long and set so elegantly with silverware, glass and tall candlesticks that she almost cried. There were bouquets of white lilies in the center of the table. There were also two chandeliers hanging above and they were lit entirely by candlelight. It was spectacular. Beyond the table the room opened through a series of arches onto a huge balustraded balcony overlooking the valley. She could see the lights of the city twinkling below in the distance. She had never imagined that places like this really existed. She almost let out a squeal of delight but restrained herself.

The Wellingtons, Pete and Charmaine, were already seated at the far end of the table and they rose to greet them. Pete was about the same age as Frank but his wife was a little older than Midge. She was about fifty, April guessed, but what an extremely attractive fifty it was. Her face was as smooth as porcelain and she also had on a full length gown in a style similar to Midge’s.

April squirmed a little in her skimpy dress and wished she could have been as comfortable as the two ladies in their gowns but that couldn’t be helped. If anything, she should have been glad Herb had sent the dress because if she’d worn anything from her own closet she’d have been terribly under-dressed.

The butler, if that’s what he could be called, escorted April to her seat and she was surprised when Walter was shown to a seat at the opposite end of the table. Their hosts each took a seat at either head of the table and April gathered that it must have been something of an honor for her to be to the right of Frank Prentiss. Walter was sitting at Midge’s right hand. Next to her on her own right was Pete Wellington. His wife Charmaine was sitting opposite him. The two remaining seats were facing her and Walter and she realized that Herb would be sitting opposite her, and his wife Kit would be opposite Walter.

There was something very charming and sophisticated about the seating arrangement, which ensured that the couples were all spread out and would have to get to know each other. But she also couldn’t help but notice that she was surrounded by Herb, Frank and Pete while Walter would be surrounded by Kit, Midge and Charmaine.

—Now, we’re just waiting on Kit and Herb, Midge said.

—They’re always the last to arrive, Charmaine said. I’m sure they do it on purpose.

—Well they’ve earned it, Frank said. They’ve been here longer than any of us. In fact this whole place, everything for miles in all directions, has belonged to Herb’s family since the Civil War.

That was news to April. She knew Herb was the senior partner at the firm and came from blue blood but she’d never realized just how wealthy he was. She was impressed. In fact, she could feel the excitement from all that wealth and power oozing through her veins like a drug.

They were drinking a very dry, white wine as an apéritif and it was going straight to April’s head. She hadn’t eaten a thing all day and she was beginning to feel giddy before she’d even finished her first glass. They waited for half an hour and Herb and Kit still hadn’t arrived so the chef sent them out a round of
amuse-bouches
. Frank explained to April that
amuse-bouches
were a sort of appetizer that a chef would select for his guests to demonstrate what he had in mind for the evening’s dining. Judging from the little plate in front of her, April thought they were in for quite a treat. It was a very thin slice of some kind of cured ham, served with a piece of grilled peach and a white cheese. She popped it in her mouth and it was delicious.

By the time the Kingsleys arrived April was having a lot of fun. She couldn’t help drinking the wine, it was so good, and everything was so pretty. Frank and Pete were as charming as they’d been at the restaurant and when she checked on Walter he seemed to be having as much fun as she was with Midge and Charmaine. Then the butler came in and announced Herb and Kit Kingsley and everyone stood up. All the men were dressed formally, but Herb took the cake, dressed in tails and a top hat he looked like an aristocrat from another age. But when Kit walked into the room everyone went silent. Kit was about Herb’s age as far as April could tell, that put her in her mid-sixties, but again she was as beautiful and stylish as any woman could be. She wore a long white gown that actually trailed on the ground behind her and she had white silken gloves that extended past her elbows. An intricate bead-work on the bodice of her gown made her glitter in the candlelight like a chandelier and to top it all off she was wearing a tiara. She looked like a queen.

April didn’t know what to say when Kit came around and kissed her on both cheeks and told her she looked beautiful in her black dress. She certainly did stand out against the three white gowns the other women were wearing.

—Don’t be shy, child, she said. You couldn’t be more adorable.

April didn’t know what to say.

—I picked it out, you know, kit said and winked.

—Thank you, was all April could manage before Herb came around and kissed her on both cheeks.

As she’d expected, Herb sat in the chair opposite her, and Kit sat at the other end of the table, opposite Walter.

The conversation over dinner covered many topics, and April found it all very enjoyable. At one point she started to feel the need to reconnect with Walter but it was difficult to get his attention. She found herself getting a little jealous that he was with all the other women and was too engrossed in his own conversation to notice her but then another course was served, accompanied by another delicious wine, and she was able to enjoy herself well enough without his attention.

She also couldn’t complain about her own company. While Herb, Frank and Pete were all quite a few years older than she was, they were charming and handsome men and they couldn’t have possibly given her more attention than they did. April also found that she was becoming intoxicated by the wealth and power that they all enjoyed. It made them all so sexual and sensual in her eyes, they way they talked about things that most people could only dream of. They asked her how she liked the new house and how the move had gone but they also asked her more personal questions. They wanted to know about her career before she got married, about her views on the private school they’d selected for her children, which they assured her was world class, and her taste in art, literature, film and music.

She was delighted when she brought up her favorite poets and found that the men could hold a conversation on the topic. She was amazed when Frank went to the library and brought back a signed first edition of
The Bell Jar,
secretly brought in from the United Kingdom. The book still hadn’t been published in the United States and she was thrilled when Frank said she could borrow it. She was also impressed by the music they were listening to. The Prentisses had one of the finest collections of jazz recordings she’d ever seen.

She was starting to really see how a life in this world could be and she was delighted at the prospect. She could start collecting art and books and music like she’d always dreamed of doing. She could read and write and learn new things. She and Walter would have time to go to concerts and art openings in the city and she was sure there would be many pleasant occasions shared with the other three couples around the table. She wondered with a twinge of guilt what traveling they might do now that the girls would be away at school.

As far as she could see, the other wives were good mothers, involved in their children’s lives and concerned with their wellbeing. Apart from the Wellingtons, all their children were grown-up, but their lives and families arose frequently in the conversation and it seemed like they had all maintained healthy relationships with happy, well adjusted and successful children. Boarding school wouldn’t be such a bad thing, she told herself, and a little guiltily she thought of all the time it would give her to learn new things and develop an appreciation of the finer things in life.

She’d never dared to dream about a life like this but now that it was being offered to her she realized just how completely and utterly enamored she was by the possibilities.

After the final desert course had been served the waiter brought out a bottle of Drambuie for the men and a cocktail of champaign and Drambuie for the women. Then Herb stood up and asked the ladies if they would excuse the men. The ladies smiled and nodded and April felt relieved that she would have a chance to talk to the other women alone for a while, but that was not to be.

Herb, Frank and Pete as well as Walter stood up, but Herb came around to April’s chair and put his hand out for her.

—Am I coming too? she said, surprised.

Herb just smiled and nodded. She looked around the table at the three women still seated and saw that they were smiling at her too. She didn’t know what was going on. She looked for Walter. He was right there next to Frank and Pete and he was smiling at her also, as if he knew as well as everyone else what was going to happen.

April stood and was reminded just how short her dress was. She tried to pull the skirt down lower but it made no difference. She took Herb’s arm and allowed him to escort her through the drawing room, which was decorated beautifully, out into a wide hall. It was not the hall they had entered through and she wondered just how large the house must be. There were doors across the hall and they took one that led to the library. The library was obviously Frank’s domain, it was very masculine with dark leather chairs and oak and mahogany shelving. At the other end of the library was a set of double doors and they made their way toward them.