Lies and Weddings(48)
Eden looked at her in confusion. “Er…I haven’t been nauseous since that morning on Freddy’s boat.”
“That’s right, you were on Freddy’s boat too, weren’t you? Looks like you’ve been everywhere with everyone.” I’m not as deranged as you think, girl. I know everything that’s going on.
“Um…I’m not sure what you mean.”
Like hell you don’t. You were in my son’s bed. He can still smell you in his sheets. “Give me the dresses.”
“I can take them in to Bea.”
“No, no, hand them over. Hurry up, I’m in the midst of a very important interview with Cabana magazine at the moment.”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize. I’ll get out of the way,” Eden replied, handing over the clothes and making a hasty exit.
Arabella stood holding the heavy stack of garment bags. Suddenly she called out, “Bea…” And then much louder: “BEEEEEA!”
Bea came rushing out onto the lawn. “What’s the matter? Are you okay?”
“Take these,” Arabella said, shoving the stack of garment bags into Bea’s arms.
“Oh, was Eden here? Why didn’t she come up?”
“Because I didn’t allow her to. Now, please burn those dresses.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Burn them!”
“Even the ice-blue Chanel couture gown?”
“It’s tainted. I don’t want any of those dresses in my house. Just like I never want that sor hai[*] to set foot in my house ever again!”
“Mummy, Eden’s really not the one to be blamed…,” Bea said cautiously, knowing her mother was rapidly losing it—the Cantonese swearing was always a dead giveaway.
“Like hell she’s not! She was supposed to help Rufus fall for Solène…”
“And she tried…”
“She sure did. She swanned around in these couture gowns—paid for with my money—in order to entrap your poor brother and Freddy Farman-Farmihian!”
“What do you mean entrap?”
“Beatrice Gresham, are you really that slow? Can’t you see how she’s been toying with both of them? First of all, she seduced Freddy on his boat—”
“Mummy, I was with Eden on Freddy’s boat. We all were. Trust me, she was too busy projectile vomiting to seduce anyone.”
“Then she seduced your brother at his beach shack! That gold-digging tramp forced him into that slimy outdoor shower and had her way with him! I know things about Eden Tong that you don’t…,” Arabella said ominously.
Francis, who had heard all the commotion, wandered into the garden. “Hellooo. Is anything the matter?”
Bea said in a low voice, “Mummy has officially lost her mind.”
“I have not! Francis, that little slut slept with Rufus!”
Francis looked horrified. “God in heaven! What could ever possess you to think that Bea would sleep with her own brother?”
“Not Bea, you nincompoop! EDEN!!” Arabella screeched.
“Eden Tong?”
“What other Eden do we know? Don’t pretend you didn’t hear Rufus on the sound system. We all did. She was shagging our son in the rain forest, right under our very noses!”
Bea spied Cosima peeking out the window of the orangerie and nudged her father urgently. “Let’s get Mummy to her bedroom. I think she’s feeling out of sorts—”
“I am not out of sorts!” Arabella protested.
“Darling, do come inside,” Francis said, grasping Arabella’s hand gently.
Arabella swatted him away. “Stop ordering me around!”
Francis steeled himself to remain calm. “Darling, please come inside with me. I need to tell you something rather important—”
“Tell me right here!”
“Trust me, you really won’t want me to do that.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you! Spit it out now!”
“All right then, have it your way. We’re broke, Arabella. Completely, utterly, flat broke. We’ve been mortgaged to the hilt for years, but now that Bellaloha’s destroyed we owe the banks hundreds of millions that we have no way of paying back. We’re going to have to give up all the hotels, all the houses, the art, your jewelry, even the clothes on your back—”
“Eek! Eek! Shut up, you fool! Come inside for god’s sake!” Arabella shrieked as she disappeared into the house.
Francis sighed as he reluctantly followed after his wife, leaving Bea standing in the garden holding on to the garment bags, utterly stupefied.
Skip Notes
* A quaint Cantonese expression that translates to “dumb cunt.”
IV
THE ORANGERIE
GRESHAMSBURY HALL ? MOMENTS LATER
Cosima Money-Coutts could hardly believe what was happening in the garden. Did that Chinese girl really shag Rufus in the rain forest? Were the Greshams really flat broke? She had a front-row seat to the scoop of the century. Maybe she ought to call Graydon and offer up this morsel for Air Mail. She took her phone out of her purse and began fumbling away, trying to find the video function to record more of the hysterical scene.