A Feast of You (16 page)

I smiled when we pulled in front of The Drake’s awning and classic gold doors. I shouldered my equipment and Asa grabbed the bag with the gift. The doorman saw the baby shower bag and directed me to the Palm Court. The hotel’s dark wood accents and cream crown moldings were perfectly accented by the brilliant chandeliers and plush carpets. Large gilded mirrors and fresh flowers spoke to the understated elegance of the iconic building.

The Palm Court’s central feature was a limestone fountain with a gorgeous bronze urn. The room had been beautifully styled for Lauren’s shower with flowers, pink and blue balloons, and a draped gift table. As with all things William’s family, the décor was refined, but it was also whimsical. I noticed that each of the luncheon tables had a pair of booties worked into the centerpiece. Cute. I immediately grabbed my camera to get a few shots of the light, airy space before the room was too full of guests.

I caught sight of Asa in the camera lens and giggled as I watched my big, burly security guard—in a tight black suit that barely contained his brawn—deliver the gift bag to the table filled with similarly beribboned presents. More than a couple of the guests were also following his progress, turning back to look at the direction he’d come from and at me. I was relieved when Abigail and Lauren approached, and I smiled warmly and greeted both of them. “Lauren, this is so nice. Thank you so much for inviting me.”

As clichéd as it sounded, Lauren really was glowing. She wore a cute polka-dotted wrap dress that accented her baby bump and looked like she should be a model for a high-end maternity site, especially as she confidently walked over on sky-high heels. I was impressed that she could walk in them at all, let alone at nearly seven months pregnant. Abigail also looked chic in classic pantsuit.

“We’re so happy you’re here, Catherine. And thank you again for offering to take pictures,” Lauren said.

“I’m happy to.”

“Thank you, also, for providing the eye candy,” she said looking at Asa, “He’ll take some of the attention off me, which I appreciate. There’s only so much belly rubbing I can stand.”

I laughed. It must be so crazy to have people touching you because you were pregnant. But before I could say as much, Lauren was whisked away by one of the staff, and Abigail ushered me into the center of the room. Sarah, William’s oldest cousin, gave me a quick hug.

“I’m so glad you could make it.” Sarah was in a navy shift dress with three-quarter length sleeves, her hair back in a knot.

“Thanks. Did you just get in from D.C.?” I asked. “I hear the airports have been horrible.”

“Luckily I came in a few days early to help Mom get everything ready so I missed the really bad storms.”

Abigail smiled. “The museum can spare you for a few days, Sarah. And we’re so happy to have you. Catherine, I know you’ve met Zoe.” She gestured to her youngest daughter, and Zoe made her way over.

“I have.” I held out my hand, and Zoe took it. “Good to see you again.”

“You too. You look great. Can I get you a glass of wine?” Zoe looked good, too, in a white, long-sleeve sweater tucked into a cute high-waisted mini-skirt that showed off her toned legs.

“I’m fine right now, but thanks.”

Zoe was a lot warmer than she’d been the first time I met her, but I was still skeptical. I had a feeling that if her mom hadn’t been standing beside her she would have ignored me. But these sisters were William’s family, more like his siblings than his cousins, so it was up to me to make an effort. If Zoe genuinely didn’t like me, at least I could know it wasn’t for lack of trying on my part. The three of us chatted about the weather and the décor and their excitement over welcoming a new member to the family. I was a little relieved when Abigail introduced me to Joanna Matthews, Lauren’s mother-in-law, and Danielle Fitzgerald, Zach’s sister. I learned that the grandmothers were at odds over the sex of the baby. Abigail was sure Lauren was having a boy, whereas Joanna had her money on a girl. I snapped a few pics of the doting grandmothers-to-be and sneaked away to get some photos of the other guests.

Through my lens, I spotted Elin Erickson across the room. After those first weird minutes at the Botanical Society event, I’d liked her, so I made my way to her. “Hi, Elin. I’m Catherine Kelly. We met the other night at The Peabody Club.”

She smiled. “Of course. Good to see you again.” She looked as gaunt and wan as she had the first time we’d met, today wearing a plum blouse and black pants, but she chatted brightly about the last event she’d attended at The Drake and how much she liked Lauren’s choices for the shower.

I nodded and agreed, and, as Elin moved away to chat with someone else she knew, I was never so glad to have a job to do. Of the fifty or so guests, I only knew Abigail and William’s cousins—and I didn’t even know them that well. I glanced around the room, feeling out of place and conspicuous. Of course, that was when I spotted Lara Kendall. My heart sank into my belly. She was the last person I ever wanted to see again. The first time I’d met her was at the Art Institute event I’d attended with William, our first real date. When she’d found out I was with William, she had accosted me in the ladies room and basically called me a whore to my face. I had nothing to say to her now, so I went back to my bag and busied myself with replacing the battery in my camera.

I moved around the court, taking various shots of the room and the guests. I wanted a shot of the gift table, the place settings, the centerpieces, and the adorable cake made of cloth diapers. Everything was in cool pink and blue pastels, more icy than Easter egg-y, which I appreciated.

I started taking candid pictures of a radiant Lauren talking with her friends. She looked so happy. As I snapped away, capturing her smiling and laughing and stroking her belly, it was hard not to think about babies. What girl didn’t think about babies at a baby shower? Jace and I had talked about kids a few times, but it had been sort of a joke between us, something to think about for the distant future. We were so young and carefree when we got married, and Jace’s surfing career had been most important to us then. But that future wasn’t so distant any more. So much had changed since I was married to Jace and since he’d died.
I’d
changed. I was more settled now, more mature. But what about William? He was the wild card. I knew he loved me, but I had no idea if we were we heading down the path toward marriage and children or not.

I lifted my camera to capture another image of Lauren and caught sight of Asa lingering near the door. I loved William, and I wanted to be with him—today, tomorrow, forever. But I needed answers from him about our future. When was the right time to have that conversation? Between discussions of stalkers and what was for dinner? How could I even be thinking about having babies with William when I required round-the-clock security?

* * *

A
bigail finally called us all to lunch. I was thrilled to be invited and to spend time with William’s family, but being the outsider got old quickly. I found my place card and made my way toward my table. I passed Lara Kendall on the way—thankfully going in another direction—but she just smiled her ice-princess smile and kept walking.
Bitch
. I’d been at the shower less than an hour and had already begun wondering how long it would last.

And then it couldn’t end soon enough when I saw Zoe and Elin were seated at my table, Elin on my left and Zoe to my right. Elin would hopefully be okay, but I hadn’t trusted Zoe’s show in front of her mother earlier. Hopefully we’d be too busy eating to have to talk much. We started with a light salad of mixed greens with strawberries and blue cheese. I was starving and ate every bite in between polite chitchat with my tablemates.

The rest of the table was made up of Lauren’s friends, a few from college who already knew one another and were dying to catch up, and a pair of girls from Lauren’s work. It was easy to talk about the food—how light the dressing was, the merits of blue cheese versus goat cheese—and then the waiters brought out an assortment of small sandwiches: egg salad on brioche, salmon on pumpernickel, cucumber on white bread. An afternoon tea theme struck me as genius because ladies like these wouldn’t eat much more than a few bites of anything.

Zoe and I both reached for our water glasses at the same time, and the sleeve of her sweater slid up slightly, revealing the edge of an inky tattoo. I’d seen something peeking out from the neckline of her sweater, and now I wondered if the tattoo wound its way from her arm to her chest. I would have loved to ask her about it, but with how icy she’d been during our last meeting, I wasn’t sure I wanted to bother. Maybe William had some insights?

Zoe caught my eye. My cheeks burned at being caught looking at her arm so intently, so when Elin said something about the petite sandwiches in front of us, I quickly turned away and pretended to be interested. But Zoe wasn’t having any of it.

“So you’re living with William now?”

I turned back and shrugged, trying to play it cool. “It’s temporary. I have my own place.”

“How long have you been dating?” Zoe asked, taking a bite of her cucumber sandwich. “A couple weeks?”

“Longer than that,” I said.
But not much longer
. I knew where she was going. My relationship with William had seemed to progress quickly, and she didn’t like it.

“Looked like you were pretty settled when I was over there, but I’m sure it’s helpful to have William’s staff drive you around and walk your dog.”

Her words stung and my first instinct was to defend myself, but this wasn’t the place and I wasn’t going to give Zoe the satisfaction. Besides, her thoughtless comment made me think that Zoe didn’t know about the threats. If that was the case, then I wasn’t going to tell her. Besides, it wasn’t any of her business what I did. If she wanted answers, she could ask William.

“How did you two meet?” she asked. She was not letting the subject drop “Did you manage to con someone into giving you an invite to some exclusive event where you knew he’d be?” Evidently she was intent on getting in a few punches no matter what. Well, if she wanted to hear the story, I was happy to oblige.

“No,” I said quietly and met her eyes before continuing. “We met when I was doing a photo shoot for Willowgrass, a new restaurant. William is one of the investors.”

“That’s right,” Elin said, surprising me by jumping in. “I’d heard you were a talented food photographer. Wasn’t your work in
Chicago Now
?”

“That was the Willowgrass shoot,” I told her, happy to talk about my work instead of my love life.

“It was gorgeous. I guess I’d never thought much about that sort of work. Clearly, you have the eye for it,” Elin added.

“It all just seems really fast,” Zoe remarked, preventing me from responding to Elin’s comment and taking the conversation in a different direction.

Elin shrugged. “I saw them together at The Peabody Club the other night, and William seemed really happy. Besides, people fall in love fast for lots of reasons.”

I nodded, not sure what to say. Who would have thought Elin, as awkward and aloof as she was, would have been my defender?

“We should all be so lucky to find that kind of happiness,” Elin added. Then she looked directly at Zoe. “I imagine pickings are kind of slim for you in Oklahoma City, Zoe.”

I glanced down at my plate to hide my smile.
Nice one, Elin
. Not only was it the perfect zinger, it shut Zoe up. She turned to the lady on her other side and didn’t speak to me again. I turned to Elin and gave her a wobbly smile. She’d saved me from a really awkward, really uncomfortable situation, but Elin, too, was talking to the woman seated next to her as if nothing had happened. I picked up my water glass and just about drained it in one long gulp. Fortunately, Abigail announced Lauren would open gifts shortly thereafter, so I excused myself to take more photos. I’d never been so happy to leave a table in my life.

* * *

A
s the shower wound down, I gathered my camera equipment and packed it away. I had taken some really great shots. I was particularly hopeful about one of all the Smith women together—even Zoe was all smiles now that her family was around. I’d look at them all later, but when I’d scanned the images I was pleased. I was almost done stowing my camera stuff when Lauren approached. “Catherine, thank you so much for coming and for the Baby Bullet. I can’t wait to make my own baby food. And the cloth diaper delivery service too. Really, it’s too much!”

I smiled. “Well, you know how William is. I’m glad you like it.”

“I love it, and now I think I need to go home and take a nap.” She stroked her belly and smiled. “Everyone keeps telling me to get sleep while I can.”

I almost laughed. “Lauren, you look amazing. I didn’t even know you were pregnant until a week ago. Congratulations.”

“I’m lucky I’m tall. The best thing is these boobs. I’ve never had boobs like these. That’s definitely one of the perks.” She laid her hand on my arm. “I’m sorry we didn’t get to chat much.”

“That’s okay,” I reassured her. “It was your shower. You had so many friends here.”

“I hope you and Zoe got to know each other a little better. I asked Abigail to seat you next to her. She doesn’t get to town much and she is so important to William.”

There she went with that “important to William business.”
How could that be possible?
They were so close yet she wouldn’t give me a chance.

I forced a smile. “Yes, we did.” It was the truth. Zoe made it clear she didn’t like me with William.

“I’m sure,” Lauren said with a knowing look.

Only, I imagined, she didn’t know the half of it. It was obvious that Zoe was an old hand at being one way in front of her family. No matter what bond she and William had, I doubted Lauren was in on all of it.

“I told you she’s a handful, but she always means well. You know, I keep telling William that the four of us need to get together for dinner soon. Zach is game for it, so I’ll stay on William.”

“That sounds great. Thanks again for having me, Lauren.”