“You’ll get used to those things someday, I hope.” She started out. “It’s the world we both belong in, Semantha, little Semantha.”
She suddenly kissed me on the cheek.
“I’ll get your opinion of what I wear and how I look. Try to think beyond Uncle Perry’s idea of what’s in style and what isn’t.”
I returned to the kitchen to finish the dinner preparations.
A little more than a half-hour later, she appeared.
“Well?” she said, standing in the hallway.
I put everything down and went out to her. She was wearing one of Mother’s more elegant and expensive dresses. I remembered when Mother had bought it and the first time she had worn it. It was an Oscar de la Renta strapless, cherry silk, sponge crepe column dress, ankle-length. When I had seen Mother coming down the stairway, I thought to myself, my mother is as pretty as, if not prettier than, any movie star. I had dreamed of becoming as beautiful, but as it turned out, Cassie was the one who continued to resemble her more and more.
In fact, right now, Cassie looked more beautiful than I had ever seen her. It took my breath away, because her wearing this dress, fixing her hair to be like Mother’s, wearing Mother’s makeup just the way Mother had worn it, and wearing Mother’s beautiful pearl necklace and matching pearl earrings made it seem as if Mother had been resurrected.
Before I could say anything, however, Daddy came in, and the expression on his face said it all. He stood there stunned.
“Cassie,” he said. “For a moment … my God, you look beautiful, as beautiful as your mother.”
The expression She was exploding with happiness had never fit anyone as well as it did Cassie at that moment.
“Thank you, Daddy,” she replied.
“I’m jealous of Porter,” he said, smiling. It was a real Daddy smile from before Mother’s passing.
“You don’t have to be,” Cassie said. “You don’t ever have to be jealous of anyone when it comes to me.”
“I know, honey.” He hugged her and kissed her cheek. Then he looked at me. “Your sister’s something, huh, Semantha?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Semantha has been working on your dinner, Daddy,” Cassie told him. “She’s making you a rack of lamb.”
“Is she? Well, I actually have something of an appetite tonight,” he said. “Seeing you in this dress, Cassie, stirred the old juices. I’ll be down in a little while, Semantha.” He started away. “Oh. Have a good time, Cassie.”
“Thank you, Daddy.” She watched him go up and then turned to me.“Remember, now, he’s very fragile. Be careful of what you say to him. Mention nothing about Mrs. Underwood or anything that could add to his tension and burden, okay?”
“Yes, Cassie.”
“I’m depending on you to take care of him.”
“I will, Cassie. I promise.”
“Good. Good. I’ll stop by your room wh
en I return and give you a report, just the way you gave one to me when you went out with that … what’s his name.”
“Kent?”
“Right.”
She hugged me just as the doorbell sounded.
“That’s Porter. Come. You can say hello,” she said, fixing my hair and straightening my blouse. She took my hand. “I want him to see that both of the Heavenstone sisters are beautiful, Semantha.”
Suddenly, she had become my older sister again and not some guardian ogre.
When she opened the door, I thought I was looking at what Daddy surely had looked like when he was younger. Porter Andrew Hall was my father’s height and had a similar build, but he also had stunning black opal eyes, what Mother used to call jewels in a face. He had ebony hair as well, and the contrast with his almost caramel complexion was as striking as his eyes. I thought he was one of the handsomest men I had ever seen, and that included movie stars. His strong, firm mouth and straight, perfect nose completed a face that would make the Greek gods jealous. When he smiled, everything came to life in that face, as if there was some little magic lantern inside him. I actually felt a tingle beneath my breasts and knew that I was blushing. He was looking so intently at me.