The Abducted Heart (Sweetly Contemporary Collection) by Jennifer Blake

Author:Jennifer Blake [Blake, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance
Publisher: Steel Magnolia Press
Published: 2012-10-13T04:00:00+00:00

Six

Doña Isabel had not forgotten the engagement party. On the morning following Anne’s visit to Teotihuacàn she sent for Anne to discuss the affair. When the old lady began to sigh over the hundred and one details that must be seen to by way of preparation, Anne offered her help. As a result, she spent the next three days in close collaboration with Doña Isabel and María. Her principal function was to make endless lists. It took the best part of one day to decide who was to be invited, including the discussion of many contemporaries of the old lady who were no longer living and the chuckles the two older women indulged in over Anne’s attempts to spell the unfamiliar names. Another morning was devoted to the type and amount of food and drink that would be served. Anne was able to be of help in this area, which speeded the process of decision-making considerably, especially when it came to settling the brisk argument between Doña Isabel and her longtime housekeeper over the rival merits of pink and plain champagne. Then there was the question of the floral decorations. Doña Isabel wanted to use flowers from their own gardens, a practice María, mindful of the family honor, did not hesitate to call shabby and too much like making do. A pointed reminder of the number of gardeners employed in the household did not move the housekeeper, nor did the claim that if they used the services of a florist their entertainment would look like that of everyone else. Maria would have no part of it. Open warfare was prevented only by Anne’s rather diffident suggestion that flowers symbolic of the two countries of the principals be used. It was agreed, and an order placed for massed arrangements of American Beauty roses and bright yellow dahlias softened with greenery and white gypsophila. Anne made no objection to the last addition, but neither did she mention that in the United States the dainty white flower called gypsophila were known as baby’s breath.

All the worry, the decisions, and the lists were unnecessary. The entire affair could have been turned over to Ramón’s staff. Doña Isabel would have had no more to do then choose the gown she would wear and enjoy herself. She had repudiated the suggestion with scorn. Such a thing was well enough when Ramón was entertaining business associates; it would not do for her grandson’s engagement. Doña Isabel assured Anne that Ramón was content so long as he knew his grandmother was not trying to shoulder the burden alone. As for Anne herself, she had had no opportunity to discover for herself what he thought. She had not seen him since they returned from Teotihuacà. He had thrown himself into his work as if to make up for the afternoon away from it. He did not breakfast at home, nor did he eat any other meal there. Sometimes Anne heard his car returning in the early hours of the morning and she would lie awake wondering where he had been and who had been with him.

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