The Life She Wanted: A Novel(14)
Everyone laughed, and a few guests clapped.
“This treasure is a little different. I hid it myself, and it’s only for one person.” Owen took a piece of paper from his trouser pocket. “One might say it’s the Winthrop way of welcoming the Clarksons to Hyde Park.”
Pandora wondered what Owen was talking about. Owen’s mother had hidden the treasures and written out the clues.
Owen addressed Lillian, who stood in the front row.
“To find this treasure, think back to our drive from Nice to Monte Carlo,” he read from the paper. “Don’t be afraid to look thoroughly. Whatever oil or grease you encounter will be worth it.”
Pandora felt a small stab, as if she’d pricked her finger on one of the rosebushes. She knew that Owen met Lillian in Europe last summer, but she hadn’t realized they’d spent time together.
Lillian smiled prettily at the crowd. She ventured close to the car and opened the glove compartment. She looked beneath the seats and in between the spokes of the wheels and finally under the hood. Suddenly Lillian squealed and emerged, holding a small velvet box.
“Well done.” Owen joined her. “Your hands might be greasy. Let me open it for you.”
He took off his straw hat and dropped to one knee.
“Lillian Grace Clarkson,” he began. “I knew from the first time I saw you on the beach in Cannes, that you were right for me. You’ll be the perfect mother to our children and the best wife I could ask for. I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate America’s birthday than asking you to marry me.”
Lillian stuck out her hand. “Yes, yes!”
Owen took out the ring and slipped it on her finger. The yellow topaz looked huge, even from a distance. It was a rectangular cut, surrounded by a burst of small diamonds.
“My mother insisted I use her ring, which is yellow topaz and diamond, that my father brought back from Brazil,” Owen said, addressing the guests. He turned back to Lillian. “I promise to add to it with the latest trinkets from Tiffany’s.”
Lillian kissed Owen and ran straight to her mother. A champagne bottle popped, and everyone started cheering.
Pandora’s stomach dropped, and she was afraid she might faint. She glanced up and saw the other young women crowding around Lillian to get a closer look at the ring. That ring should have been Pandora’s. She should have been standing in the center of the group, the diamond made even more sparkling by the joy in Pandora’s heart.
Archie was nowhere in sight; he had probably grown bored with Owen’s lengthy speech and gone inside before Owen proposed. If only Virginia were there, she would have made some kind of dry comment that would force Pandora to keep breathing.
She ducked into the house and walked through the kitchen to the pantry. The pantry at Riverview was often her refuge. She found something soothing about hiding away in the neat rows of jars and spices. But here, seeing the English marmalade that only this morning she had imagined serving at her own dining table with Owen, the pain became unbearable.
The full force of Owen’s betrayal washed over her. Owen’s words by the river had meant nothing. In the fall she’d have to start secretarial school. She and Owen would never live on a grand estate together, with children and dogs romping on the lawn.
More important than anything, she loved Owen and had been confident that he felt the same. Last Christmas he gave Pandora a bottle of No. 4711 eau de cologne. He had brought gifts for Virginia and Archie too, but Pandora’s gift was special: No. 4711 eau de cologne was her favorite scent in the world. She always stopped to smell the sample bottle at the pharmacy in Hyde Park.
At Easter, Owen had sat with his family in the church pew in front of her. He glanced back so many times, Pandora became embarrassed. Six weeks ago, when Princeton let out for the summer, he greeted her by picking her up and twirling her around. Archie laughed that Owen greeted the Winthrops’ poodle in the same way, but Pandora ignored him. Then there had been the walk to the river, when Owen said he wanted to get to know her better. Pandora had been so sure of his intentions. She had believed he was in love with her.
She had been wrong. Owen didn’t have feelings for her. He thought of her as his tennis partner, and as part of the household staff at Riverview. Not as someone who could fit into his world, someone he might marry. The worst part was that she’d let herself fall in love with him. How could she have developed feelings for someone when he didn’t feel the same?
Owen was the first person besides the Van Luyens and her father who had paid attention to her. Pandora had mistaken that for love.
A few tears spilled onto her blouse. Pandora brushed them away.
She couldn’t go back to the party and watch Lillian fawning all over Owen. Celebrating the fireworks with the other guests was out of the question. She needed to find a chauffeur who would take her back to Riverview. Virginia could make Pandora’s excuses when she returned from Byrdcliffe and bring her suitcase home in the morning.
Pandora ducked out the kitchen door and ran out to the driveway. Daniel, the Van Luyens’ chauffeur, lounged against a late-model black sedan. Maude and Robert Van Luyen were spending the night at Rosecliff, the car wouldn’t be missed if it was gone for an hour.
She explained to Daniel that she had a terrible headache, and he offered to drive her to Riverview. She had never ridden in the Van Luyens’ car. Despite her distress, she couldn’t help but marvel at the supple red leather upholstery on the seats and the bird’s-eye maple dashboard.