I did what she wanted and wore a mask over my true feelings whenever we were in public. She tried to include me in every decision, running different ideas, gifts for the wedding party, favors, decorations, and styles past me. All I did was agree with every decision she made, but that was enough to satisfy her. I was at least paying lip service in front of the wedding planners. Not that they cared, but no one had any idea about my true feelings.
A week before the ceremony we moved cut of our condo. When I say we moved out I really mean we picked up our most precious possessions, only what we could personally carry, and walked out. Winston had arranged for movers to do everything else. It was truly as if we were whisked away on a magic carpet. I had been given the choice of a half dozen rooms at Joya del Mar and picked one just down from what would be Mommy and Winston's suite. That week Mommy, like some virgin bride-tobe, stayed in one of the guest suites. While Mommy occupied herself with the wedding dinner
arrangements I became more acquainted with the maids and the butler, as well as Winston's chef. I even met the head groundskeeper.
For a while I felt as if I was staying at a very expensive resort. I didn't think of it as my new home. Our breakfast was prepared whenever we wanted it. We had about as much choice as anyone would have in a hotel, and we could easily have it brought to our rooms on silver trays. I had no household chores anymore. I could spend my time reading, swimming, learning how to sail, being chauffeured to shopping or anywhere else I chose. It was truly as if one day I was a scullery maid and the next I was a princess.
Mommy had little or no time to spend with me. When she did finally settle down for an hour or so she was always complaining about how exhausted she was.
"I might need a vacation before our
honeymoon." she quipped.
Winston was keeping their honeymoon destination a surprise until their wedding day.
"I love the way he does that," she told me. "He enjoys overwhelming me with unexpected things, like he did the night he took us both to Paradise Island for dinner. That's sweet, isn't it?" She held her eyebrows up, waiting for my reaction.
"Yes," I admitted. I really had nothing bad to say about Winston. He was always very sensitive to my needs and feelings and even spent more time with me that week than Mommy did.
He described many of his wedding guests to me, explaining that his best man was a long-trusted business associate. He was very concerned with what I would do the week he and Mommy were on their honeymoon.
"Maybe you should come along," he suggested.
I shook my head quickly. It was one thing to see Mommy on his arm at balls, dinners, and charity events or to see them kiss on the cheeks occasionally, but to be there when they were spending what to me was always the most romantic time of married life was surely too much to bear. Their kisses would have to be more passionate, their time together closer and far more intimate.
"I'll be fine," I said.
"Soon you'll be making new friends," Winston assured me.
He and Mommy had chosen a new school for me to attend. It was called the Edith Johnson Wood School, named for its principal benefactor. It was only twenty years old. A. group of very wealthy Palm Beach residents had created it, and it was like no school I had ever attended. and I had attended quite a few.
few.
acre tract of land with a waterway, bridges, fountains, and palm trees, everything beautifully designed. The buildings looked brand new It had a very modern small theater that could hold eight hundred people, an up-to-date computer laboratory, a beautiful
gymnasium, and classrooms designed for only ten
, possibly fifteen students at the most The school's population was kept to an exclusive 750 students from kindergarten to grade twelve. My entire class would have fewer than fifty students.
Ordinarily any prospective new student would have to go through an admission procedure not unlike that of an Ivy League college, but Winston's contributions to the school fund put me at the top of the list. I could have been a mass-murdering drug addict. and I would have been admitted. Everyone I met was overly solicitous. I wasn't used to or comfortable with teachers and administrators who were so concerned about how I felt and haw happy I was.
No one could not be impressed with what was offered to every student. however. There was an elaborate music program, a program in theater arts, an art department, and a language program. Every student practically had a personal trainer when it came to physical education.
Mommy squealed and clapped at the sight of everything. "I wish I was your age and attending this school," she told me. "Aren't you excited about it. Grace?"
"Yes," I said, but overwhelmed was more like the truth. The school year at Edith Johnson Wood began in late August, so I would be back in class faster than I had expected. I was happy about that. though. I needed desperately to occupy myself with things other than the recreation available to me at Jaya del Mar.
The night before their wedding. Winston stayed away, supposedly having dinner with close friends. He told Mommy he wanted to give her some space. We dined on the rear loggia overlooking the setup for the wedding: the tables, the dais, the dance floor, and the various kiosks to serve the great variety of food and drink. The altar had been created out of flowers.
"All this for me," she said, shaking her head. "I have to pinch myself every five minutes."
She smiled at me and reached for my hand. "We've beaten fate. honey. We've driven it out. We'll never have a sad day from now on. If anything displeases us, we'll get rid of it or buy something else. When we have some dark moments well call up and make reservations for dinner at the best places in the world, and whenever we're bored we'll get on the private jet and see something new. No one at school will ever look down on you again, and you can be ar do anything you want."
She waited for me to smile back. I knew how important that had become for her. "Okay. Mommy," I said, giving her that smile, "We'll be happy forever,"
"That's my girl," she said. "That's my Sail..." She stopped herself, bit down on her lower lip.
"You can say it. Mommy. None of this ever changes that," I told her with firm, steely eyes.