They Call Her Dana by Jennifer Wilde

Author:Jennifer Wilde
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781497698239
Publisher: Open Road Media

Chapter Thirteen

DELIA WAS IN FINE FORM, wonderfully refreshed and full of delicious gossip with which she regaled us at breakfast the morning after she returned. I sipped my coffee, trying my best to pretend an interest in the goings-on of the gentry on the River Road, and Charles was frankly bored. With a captive audience, Delia continued to chatter on with great vivacity, looking charming in her pale lilac frock. Her cheeks were flushed a delicate pink, her eyes all asparkle, and her hair was a soft, silvery cloud framing that aged but piquant face. I was glad she had had such a good time, but her enthusiasm was rather hard to take so early in the morning.

“—and then the ball, my dears! I’ll say this for Alicia, she spared no expense. The food, the champagne, the flowers! Huge bunches of lilies wherever you turned, all tied up with blue and silver ribbon. I wore my buttercup-yellow gown and, I might as well confess it, I was rather a hit with the elderly set. You’d never believe how many arthritic old men shuffled me around the dance floor. One of them even proposed! Poor dear, eighty-five if he was a day, and with only one kidney—”

“You should have grabbed him,” Charles said dryly.

“Don’t think I wasn’t tempted,” she retorted. “His father made a fortune in tobacco and indigo before we even grew cotton in Louisiana. He has a palatial town house in Baton Rouge, a famous collection of Ming porcelain and investments amounting to three million—still, there’s that missing kidney.” Delia sighed and helped herself to more apricot preserves. “Did I tell you all about Alicia’s cousin Jessica?”

“Her horse fell on her,” Charles said.

“They had to amputate a leg,” I added.

“I guess I did. It hasn’t stopped her from enjoying herself one bit. She sat on the sofa, painted like a doll, fanning herself with an exquisite fan and flirting outrageously with any male who came within range. Later on, at cards, she cleaned up. Everyone was vying to be her partner. Of course, with those full skirts she wore, you couldn’t tell her leg was amputated.”

“How did she get around?” I inquired.

“I understand she uses a crutch at home, but at Alicia’s she had a perfectly enormous Negro in white velvet livery who carried her to and fro. Very dramatic. Jessica always was theatrical, Alicia tells me, even before she lost her leg. I for one think it’s splendid how she copes. I must say, Charles, you’ve been very quiet and solemn this morning.”

“Who’s had a chance to get a word in edgewise?”

“I know you don’t really mean that, dear. I know you’re positively delighted to see your old aunt again. Confess it—you missed me?”

“The peace and quiet almost drove me mad.”

“Eat your ham and grits, dear. I feel altogether too good to let you get a rise out of me this morning, even if you have spent the entire meal looking like you were staring into an open grave.

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