The Philadelphia Heiress: A Novel by Anita Abriel

Author:Anita Abriel [Abriel, Anita]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2024-03-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Sussex, England, March 1928

Daisy’s telegram had arrived three weeks after Christmas, when Helen was packing her steamer trunk.

Helen’s mother read out loud, “Roland and I are married and living in Italy. Letter to follow. Very much in love and very happy—Daisy.”

Helen expected her parents to be devastated, but Charlotte didn’t seem terribly upset.

“I’ll miss planning their wedding. Daisy has been waiting to be a bride since she was a little girl,” Charlotte said wistfully. “But what else could she do? She’s in love with Roland. She couldn’t stay behind.”

Helen wanted to tell her mother that she was wrong. Her parents could sail to Italy and bring Daisy home. Daisy should finish college and build something of her own. Without that, she’d be dependent on Roland for everything. And there was Daisy’s dream of being an interior designer. Female designers like Elsie de Wolfe and Syrie Maugham were becoming quite famous.

The previous year, Charlotte took Helen and Daisy to the Colony Club in New York. Elsie de Wolfe had transformed the dark Victorian interiors into a space that resembled an outdoor pavilion. The ceiling was painted an avocado green, and the wallpaper had a trompe l’oeil design that made one believe one was sitting in a tropical garden. The club was such a success that everyone in New York and Philadelphia was clamoring for Elsie’s services.

Syrie Maugham had her own interior design shops in New York and London. She was well known for her all-white rooms. Vogue did a piece on some of her outrageous antics—once, she dipped silk drapes into white cement to get the perfect shade of white; another time she installed a white birdcage in a drawing room and filled it with white doves.

Daisy could be as successful, but now it was too late. She’d spend her youth catering to British tourists who only cared that they could eat their favorite English marmalade while they were on holiday.

Helen and Edgar had sailed at the end of January on Cunard’s RMS Aquitania. The ship’s public rooms were decorated by the same team that designed the Ritz in London. There was a sauna and an indoor orangery. Helen’s favorite was the smoking room. She and Edgar often sat together in leather wingback chairs, drinking port and smoking cigars.

It took a while to get used to the cigar’s taste. But she loved the pomp of lighting it and then waving it around while she and Edgar discussed books and farming.

The best part of the trip was the times they spent away from other passengers. She loved their morning walks around the deck and dancing in the ballroom late at night. Helen, wearing one of her mother’s fabulous Chanel gowns, rested her head on Edgar’s shoulder. The orchestra played Lee David and Billy Rose’s hit song “Tonight You Belong to Me,” and she was almost glad they’d had a terrible fight. She’d never been happier in her life.

Jack’s house in Sussex was a three-story manor house set in a park. There was a garage filled with bicycles and an Aston Martin.

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