Love-in-Idleness (26 page)

Theo shook his head disdainfully, “I’m trying to feel his pain, but it
’s not happening.”

Titania leaned over Miles and whispered to Theo. “I feel kind of sorry for him.”

On stage Pyramus wailed grievously. “Oh, Mother Nature! Why did you make lions of this sort that has deflowered my Thisbe?” This lament caught Grace in mid-drink. She was so startled by the misnomer that she almost shot wine out of her nose. “My Thisbe, who was the fairest girl that ever lived or looked, or loved to look with cheer. Come tears! Come sword, and pierce the chest of Pyramus, here where his heart is.” Pyramus drew his sword and paused for dramatic effect.

Just when Grace thought the play
couldn’t get any worse, Nick turned sideways, his right side to the audience, and thrust his sword between his arm and his left side. “Thus I die, thus, thus, thus. Now I am dead. Now I am fled. My soul is in the sky. Tongue lose thy light. Moon, take thy flight. Now die,” Pyramus moaned, falling slowly to the ground. When everyone thought he was finished, he held his head up one more time to moan, “Die, die, die.”

Miles chuckled, “Shall we call a doctor so that this ass can live to carry on some more?”

As the room grew quiet, Thisbe crept onto the stage, looking everywhere but at Pyramus.

Titania took a long drink and said, “I hope she won’t carry on too much when she sees him. He wasn’t much of a catch.”

Ryder chimed in. “Look, I think she’s spotted him.”

Thisbe threw her
self onto Pyramus and shook him, cooing, “Asleep, my love?” Slowly, Pyramus slid onto his back, the sword sticking straight up into the air. Thisbe let out a distressed squeak. “What, dead, my dove? Oh, Pyramus, arise! Dead, dead? A tomb must cover thy sweet eyes. These lily lips, this cherry nose, these yellow cowslip cheeks are gone. Lovers make moan. His eyes were as green as leeks. Tongue not a word. Come trusty sword. Come, blade, my breast imbrue.” Thisbe stood and pulled the sword from Pyramus’s side and employed the same pretend stabbing technique that Pyramus had used. It occurred to Grace that she had read that it was extremely difficult to pull a knife from someone who had been stabbed, and that it took a great deal of strength to stab oneself. Plays always made it look so easy.

Thisbe continued. “Farewell, friends. Thus Thisbe ends. Adieu, adieu, adieu.”

Theo smiled and offered, “Perhaps wall and Lion will come back to bury the dead.”

Nick sat up suddenly and quite out of character to respond to Theo. “No,
wall is down and gone. Would you like to hear an epilogue to our play?”

Everyone at the head table burst out with almost perfect synchronicity, “NO!”

Miles stood up and generously held up his glass. “What we are saying is that your play is more than adequately concluded. Everyone is dead. No one is left to blame, and it is time to lift our glasses in thanks for the fine drama that has been performed for us tonight.”

Grace squirmed at those words. It was only a few days since she had been left to conclude her own little drama. Now, everyone’s fate was determined, and few people knew who was to blame. She only allowed herself a moment of reflection before she shook it off and held up her glass in response to the speech Miles had just given.

Everyone in the room stood and toasted the boys, who linked arms and took an extended bow. After they left the stage, Miles was still standing. “May I offer one final word of congratulations to the happy couple? And now, it is late, which means that we all need to get up and do some dancing before we get too comfortable in our seats.”

As h
e spoke, the band was taking over the other stage. After a few moments of adjusting their instruments, they began to play a cover of a top 40 ballad, and the dance floor quickly filled with couples. Grace surveyed the crowd, trying to make a rough estimate of how much money had been spent on Bottega Venetta and Dior gowns. How many pairs of Jimmy Choos were gliding across the floor right now?

Cam stood and took her hand
to lead her to the dance floor. “How many hungry people,” she asked, “do you think could have been fed with the money that was spent on shoes for tonight?”

Cam grinned at her and kept walking. As they joined the other dancers, he put his left hand lightly on her waist, and took her left hand in his right. Beginning to turn with practiced steps, he said, “I know it seems excessive, but you’re going to have to find a way
to balance your conscience and your new wealth. Find a way to use it for charity if that’s what gives you some peace.”

Cam expertly gave her a little twirl, which she found sur
prisingly simple to execute. She landed back in his arms and smiled up at him. “Don’t worry. I’ll find my way,” she said. Grace was about to speak again when Puck cut in and swept her away from Cam. In the past few days, she had become acquainted with Puck. She liked him, though she had been warned by Cam to use great caution in her dealings with her new cousin.

He looked down at her and asked, “Having fun?”

“Actually, yes I am,” she replied.

“Good,” he said. “How’s your conscience?”

“So far, so good.” Grace found it a little strange to have a confidante such as Puck, who she wasn’t sure she should trust.

“Remember, everything that’s happened has turned out for the best. The spells that have been ca
st will remain in place. No one can take offense if they don’t know that they are living in a dream.”

“What about you and Cam? You’re right back where you started.”

“Things may appear to have not changed, but the truth has shifted our relationship. When we can understand why we stand where we do, it’s easier to move forward. Trust me. Be my friend, Cousin Grace, and I’ll try to be nice to Cam.”

“How will you amuse yourself?” Grace grinned.

Puck smiled back. “I’ll think of something.”

Grace threw her head back and laughed. “This is going to be fun.”