Lies and Weddings(116)

“He’ll never let me forget that. Well, thanks anyway for always being on Dad’s side. Where is he, by the way?”

“Upstairs with your mum, I believe. He’s been gone for ages.”

“I guess this means she’s speaking to him again.”

“Apparently so. I hear there’s some new twist in the plot with Beatrice that necessitated the détente.”

“If they’re hashing things out with Bea, I think I’ll leave them be.”

“Oh, Bea’s long gone.”

“Where did Bea go?”

“Not sure, but she and Gopal Das slipped away two days ago without telling a soul.”

“Ah. I’m guessing that’s why I was summoned. I should go up.”

“Don’t sound so excited about it.”

Rufus grinned.

“Do try to get your father to come back down, will you? I can’t make heads or tails out of this mess,” Thomas grumbled.

“I’ll try my best,” Rufus said as he trudged up to his mother’s bedroom, dreading whatever disaster awaited him there. He found his mother seated at her Montigny-stamped bureau plat while his father slumped on the Koloman Moser settee facing her, looking like a dog that had just been punished.

“Good afternoon!” Rufus said with forced cheeriness.

“Ah, good, good. You’re back. Pack your bags. You’re going to Venice today,” Arabella commanded.

“Venice? You’ll need to catch me up,” Rufus said.

“Bea’s eloped to Venice with Gopal Das,” Francis said simply, handing a note to Rufus. Written on Bea’s stationery in her florid handwriting was the following:

    Dear Mummy and Papa,

Martha Dung has graciously invited Gopal Das and me to her palazzo in Venice, where she will host an intimate wedding ceremony for us. Afterward, we have been offered the use of a marvelous seaside house in Byron Bay where Gopal Das will teach a series of workshops under Martha’s patronage. Gopal Das has also revealed to me that he is the beneficiary of a small trust fund from his family in America, so you see we shall not be a financial burden to you in any way. I will have my baby in Australia and will be a respectable married woman if and when I ever return to England with my child. You will no longer have to worry about or be ashamed of me bringing disgrace onto the Gresham name. I hope you in time find the grace to forgive me. I am, for the first time in my life, leading with my heart.

Love always,

Bea



“Well, that’s sorted. Are we all going to the wedding?” Rufus asked.

“Going to the wedding? Are you a complete moron? I want you to go to Venice to stop the damn wedding!” Arabella shrieked.

“Bea’s in love with Gopal Das, and he’s always been a decent chap as far as I’m concerned. Why disrupt their plans?”

“Precisely what I told your mother,” Francis chipped in as Rufus continued trying to reason with his mother.

“Bea’s obviously doing all this to please you, don’t you see? She thinks you’re ashamed of her, so she’s run off to get married without any fuss. Instead of making her feel even more guilty, we should be supporting her, especially at this moment. She’s pregnant with your first grandchild!”

“YOU were supposed to give me my first grandchild! Not my youngest daughter, who is still a baby herself. Everything is out of order!” Arabella cried.

“Bea’s the same age as you were when you had Augie. Maybe having this baby will be the best thing to happen to her—it will give her some purpose beyond going to parties and attending perfume launches,” Rufus reasoned.

“Do you know how important going to perfume launches is? I’ve spent years carefully crafting Bea’s brand, and we were so close to getting an endorsement deal!”

“She can still do all that if she wants to, can’t she?”

“Not if she marries the Hindu!”

“If Gopal Das was the maharaja of Jaipur, would you still be objecting that he was Hindu?”

Arabella paused for a moment, clearly caught. “But he’s not the maharaja! He’s a haam sap lou[*3] who preyed on my baby! What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you defending your own flesh and blood? Maxxie humiliated your big sister—you should be hunting him down and whipping him till he has permanent scars! You know what the problem is? All this British breeding has bred the balls out of you, along with that silly woke school of yours! I should have sent you to Gordonstoun.[*4] Why do I always have to do everything for this cursed family? If neither of you will go to Venice to stop this travesty, I’ll just have to do it myself. I will not let Bea throw her life away. Anya! Tatiana! Luggage, now!” Arabella screamed into the intercom on her desk.

Francis gave his son a weary look. “There’s no reasoning with her when she’s like this. Come, let’s talk in my room.”

They left Arabella’s boudoir just as the housemaids were arriving with Arabella’s monogrammed Globe-Trotter luggage and headed down the hallway into Francis’s dressing room. Shutting the door behind them, Francis immediately poured two tumblers full of Dalmore single-malt scotch and handed one to Rufus as he sat down.

“To your health,” Francis said, sinking into his favorite wingback chair with a little groan and taking a big gulp. “I appreciate your coming home on such short notice…I needed to discuss something with you in private. I had the most peculiar conversation with Luis Felipe Tan’s solicitor early this morning. Perhaps you might have already heard?”