Lies and Weddings(15)
Arabella glared at Eden as if she had said something ridiculous. “It’s natural selection. Beautiful people always fall for beautiful people. Look at me and my husband. I took one look at him and I immediately felt myself begin to ovulate.”
“We also have a secret weapon on the way…,” Bea whispered conspiratorially.
“A secret weapon?”
“You’ll see,” Bea said with a gleam in her eye.
* * *
?
Eden was wondering what “secret weapon” Arabella and Bea could possibly have when she was jolted out of her daydream by Rufus’s tapping her on the shoulder and handing her a ceramic mug. “You still like your coffee with a spot of half-and-half?”
“I do.”
“Can I add one more thing to your coffee? It’s something I picked up here.”
“Sure.”
They went outside to the wooden deck and sat down on a pair of canvas butterfly chairs. Eden inhaled the steam from her coffee mug, which was infused with a sweet scent. “Did you add vanilla?”
“It’s actually Big Island lehua honey blended with vanilla beans.”
“Mmm. Love it.” Eden smiled as she took a long, slow sip, closed her eyes, and eased into her chair. The sun on her face felt so lovely, she could hardly believe that it was the middle of winter back in Britain. “Now I feel like I’m truly on holiday.”
“I think this is our last moment of peace before guests start flooding the island. Ready for the craziest wedding weekend ever?” Rufus asked.
“I’m just a spectator. How about you? Are you ready?”
“I’m as much a spectator as you.”
No you’re not, Eden thought to herself as she sipped on her coffee, taking in the sounds of the waves pounding onto the lava rocks and the ecstatic screech of birds. “I’ve never heard birds quite like this before,” she said.
Rufus laughed. “Because they aren’t birds. That’s the sound of the coqui frog. They’re everywhere on the island. That’s their mating call.”
Eden gave him a curious look. “No wonder.”
Skip Notes
*1 Founded in 1875 in Venice, Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua was also the official supplier of precious fabrics to the Vatican until Pope Paul VI decided to tighten the belt on luxury goods. (This would explain the pillows from Target I saw in the waiting room during my last audience with the Pope.)
*2 Arabella’s secret panel of experts included the première vendeuse at Christian Dior, the president of the Bal des Débutantes, the admissions director at Institut Villa Pierrefeu, the ma?tre d’h?tel at Le Voltaire, the executive vice president of private banking at Rothschild & Co, and, of course, Sima from Mumbai.
*3 The iconic muse to Yves Saint Laurent, she wore his safari jackets and Le Smoking suits better than anyone else.
*4 Arabella is either incorrect or has been given wrong information. Marie Antoinette’s last descendant was her daughter Princesse Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, who had no children and died in Vienna in 1851. The de Courcys are princes du sang—princes of royal blood—through a Bourbon great-grandmother, but they generally use the honorific only in select circumstances—for instance, whenever they wish to book tables at Michelin-starred restaurants.
*5 Among the nasty rumors surrounding Lucrezia Borgia: that she wore a ring with a secret compartment filled with poison; that she attended “the Banquet of the Chestnuts,” an infamous orgy; that she had an incestuous relationship with her father, Pope Alexander VI; that she also had an incestuous relationship with her brother Cesare, who was planning to murder her first husband, Giovanni; that she was having an affair with her father’s valet, Pedro Calderon, who later turned up dead on the banks of the Tiber. If ever anyone was in need of a better publicist, Lucrezia was it.
III
Bellaloha Resort
SOUTH KONA, HAWAII ? SUNSET FEAST
Bea was just fastening the labradorite-bead[*1] necklace around her sister Augusta’s neck when there was a series of quick raps on the door.
“Come in!” Bea said.
A blond woman in a stylishly unobtrusive black Nili Lotan jumpsuit and Roger Vivier ankle boots opened the door to the suite slightly and poked her headset-clad head in. “How are we doing in there?”
“Almost ready. What do you think, Jackie?” Augusta said, turning to present herself to the event producer, Jackie Zivenchy (Hillcrest Elementary/Kakiat Junior High/Ramapo High/Hobart and William Smith/Brooklyn Law). She had on an off-the-shoulder silk print dress with delicate flared sleeves that draped beautifully around her like butterfly wings. Even though she was five years older than Bea, with her more petite frame, dusting of freckles across her cheeks, and long chestnut hair blown into bouncy loose curls, Augie looked more like the younger sister.
“You look stunning,” Jackie said.
“This was the compromise. It’s not couture, exactly, but the style pays homage to Queen Emma of Hawaii,” Augusta explained.
“Doesn’t look like a compromise to me. It’s an original look that’s totally you, and I love that necklace!”
“Thank you. Will you please say that in front of Mummy? She’s morally opposed to semiprecious stones.”