Lies and Weddings(35)
For most of her life, she had lived in a village in England where she and her father were treated as beloved members of the community. Everyone knew she had been raised alongside Viscount Rufus and the Ladies Augusta and Beatrice, the British-Chinese children who made up the noblest family in the county. She had always attended schools where there was plenty of diversity and moved in circles where her race seemed to be invisible or irrelevant to her peers. Eden realized she had been exceedingly fortunate to have grown up in this protected way, to have lived in England as a Chinese woman but to have never truly suffered the real stings of prejudice in her daily life. Until now. For the very first time, she was experiencing what other people like her living in the West must feel every single day.
Eden contemplated all this as she slipped on the peach organdy and lace Dolce & Gabbana halter-neck gown that Bea had lent her, a gown that she knew from the price tag still affixed to the label cost ￡4,700 but had been deemed not special enough for her best friend to consider wearing to this august occasion. Something came over her, and instead of fastening the hooks, she unzipped it, stepped out of the dress, and threw on a pair of jeans and a tank top. She rushed out of her room and down to the resort’s boutique, where she remembered seeing a dress she loved. It was a black floor-length dress printed with a gold fan pattern on a voluminous skirt created by the Hawaiian designer Manaola. Eden quickly bought the dress and rushed back to her room. Entering the suite, she saw the friendly hotel staffer again, this time laden with another trayful of drinks for the magazine stylists.
“Are you sure I can’t get you anything, Dr. Tong? Afternoon tea? Vodka martini?”
“You know my name?”
“Of course. You’re the actual guest in this suite, but you’re the only one who doesn’t seem to need anything.”
Eden smiled. “What’s your name?”
“Nicole.”
“Nicole, thank you. I really don’t need anything.” Eden laughed. “Actually…do you know where I could find some fresh flowers?”
“Like for a lei?”
“No, bigger, like hibiscus blossoms?”
“Oh, I know just where to get some of those! Give me a few minutes!”
Eden went into her bathroom, where she saw a mess of makeup bags arrayed on the floor for Bea’s shoot. She rummaged around till she found what she was looking for. Then she looked in the mirror, took a deep breath, and did something she had never done before: she put on red lipstick.
XII
Kukio Beach
FOUR SEASONS RESORT HUALALAI ? SUNSET
Under an open-air pavilion created from an intricate latticework of bamboo, palm fronds, and selenite shards, the wedding guests sat in rows of white-slipcovered chairs overlooking the crescent-shaped beach, scrutinizing each other and tittering sotto voce. Some of the European royals were being cattier than usual…
“Arabella’s like the von Trapps, climbing every mountain. Now that one daughter’s snatched her prince, I expect she will want to be made an archduchess.”
“Did you see Mrs. Mittambani’s gigantic sapphire choker? Bought from the heirs of the nizam of Hyderabad for a song, so I’m told.”
“Now, who in the world is that stunning creature with the hibiscus in her hair? Is that the princess of Thailand?”
At the appointed moment, Jackie the event director gave the green light, and the orchestra began playing Vivaldi’s “Spring 1” recomposed by Max Richter as the wedding party began their procession into the pavilion. Leading the charge was the younger brother of the groom, His Serene Highness Prince Tassilo zu Liechtenburg (Crossroads/Aiglon/Santa Monica College), in a seersucker suit that looked two sizes too small,[*1] accompanying the Honorable Lady Beatrice in a scene-stealing rose-pink Giambattista Valli gown that frothed over with so many layers of ruffles she could barely sit down.
Next came the parents of the groom, His Serene Highness Prince Julius (privately tutored/Le Rosey/Heidelberg University) in a periwinkle-blue suit and natty white fedora, arm-in-arm with his wife, Her Serene Highness Princess Hanne Marit (Oslo International School/Parsons), who wore a beaded Giorgio Armani bolero jacket and matching cream sheath dress that she had purchased at the Armani outlet at Bicester Village and had already worn to the wedding of Prince Manuel of Bavaria and Princess Anna of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg in 2005. Bea gawked at her outfit in shock, wondering why she had bothered with rushing a new Giamba to Hawaii when the mother of the groom obviously gave zero fucks about wedding protocol and had chosen to wear an outfit that was as white as any bridal gown.[*2]
At this point, the triumphant chords of Rupert Gregson-Williams’s “Duck Shoot”[*3] filled the air as Rufus, the Viscount St. Ives, looking particularly dashing in a bespoke pearl-gray linen suit from Sartoria Ripense and loafers from Bocache & Salvucci, entered with Lady Arabella, who wore a gold cape dress with a plunging neckline, architectural shoulders, and a flowing train of overlapping gold disks designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, whom she lured out of retirement for this special couture commission. As Rufus escorted his mother up the aisle, he beamed charmingly at the few guests he recognized and the many he did not. He smiled at the marchioness who used to force him to sit in her lap as a little boy while she guzzled martini after martini and pinched his nipples; he smiled at Auntie Rosina and Uncle Peter (Diocesan Boys’/Andover/Harvard/Wharton), who had just jetted in for the ceremony, along with their sons Alexander (Diocesan Boys’/Andover/Harvard/Wharton), Adam (Diocesan Boys’/Andover/Harvard/Harvard Law), and Aurelius (Diocesan Boys’/American School Hong Kong/Millbrook/Colorado College), who had also arrived at the last possible moment in their own separate planes, all bearing the surly expression of men who were much too important to attend family weddings but had decided to honor everyone with their presence anyway; he smiled at Dr. Tong and the strikingly gorgeous girl beside him that he did not recognize but figured must be the Thai princess everyone was talking about. The princess winked at him, startling him into the realization that it was Eden. But this was an Eden utterly transformed—she was breathtaking in a starkly simple off-the-shoulder black linen dress, her exquisite features somehow even lovelier with her short hair dramatically slicked back and pinned with three beautiful hibiscus blossoms.