Danielle Steel - A Good Woman

“Have a good time skiing,” she said as she walked him to the door. He was wearing an impeccably cut black coat and a white silk scarf over his tuxedo, with a homburg. As always, he looked extremely elegant. And Annabelle looked pretty and young in her simple black evening gown.

“I’ll call you when I get back,” he promised. “It will be after the first.” He kissed her chastely on the cheek, and she did the same, as they said good-bye.

Annabelle found her mother in the library, thumbing through a book. It was one of her father’s that Annabelle had read before.

“Why did you come in here?” Annabelle asked, looking surprised. Her mother wasn’t much of a reader, and she turned to her daughter with a gentle smile.

“I thought you and Josiah might like to be alone to say goodnight.” There was a deeper meaning in her eyes, and Annabelle looked momentarily annoyed.

“Josiah? Don’t be silly, Mama. We’re just friends. Don’t start getting ideas about him. It would spoil everything. I love the friendship that we have.”

“What if he wanted more?” Consuelo asked cryptically, and her daughter frowned.

“He doesn’t. And neither do I. We like it just the way it is. Just because Hortie got married and is having a baby doesn’t mean I have to. I can’t even go out for another four months. So I’m not going to meet anyone for a while, and who knows if I’ll ever meet someone I like and want to marry.” She sighed and put her arms around her mother. “Are you trying to get rid of me, Mama?” she asked gently.

“Of course not, I just want you to be happy. And nothing makes a woman happier than a husband and a child. Ask Hortie. I’ll bet she can’t wait to have that baby in her arms.”

“She sounds pretty happy,” Annabelle admitted with a shy smile. “She was trying to tell me all about her honeymoon. It sounds like they had a lovely time.” Mostly in bed, but she didn’t say that to her mother, she didn’t even want to know it herself.

“When is the baby due?”

“End of August, I think. She’s not sure. She says it happened in Paris, and James is thrilled too. He wants a boy.”

“All men do. But the ones they fall in love with are their girls. Your father did the minute he saw you.” They both smiled at the memory. It had been a hard Christmas Eve for both of them, but having Josiah there had helped. Everything was easier and more pleasant when he was around.

Arm in arm, they walked up the stairs to their rooms, and they exchanged presents the next day. Her mother had bought her a magnificent fur coat, and Annabelle had gotten her mother a pair of sapphire earrings at Cartier. She had tried to get her the kind of gift her father would have given her, on a slightly more modest scale. He always bought wonderful gifts for all of them. And she wanted to somehow make it up to her mother this year, although she knew that she couldn’t make up for all that they had lost. But her mother was deeply touched by the gesture, and the beauty of her daughter’s gift, and put them on immediately.

They went downstairs together, and had a big breakfast cooked by Blanche. It had snowed during the night, and there was a blanket of white covering the garden. After breakfast, they dressed and went out for a walk in the park. It was going to be difficult for them to fill the day alone. They had lost half of their family, and on holidays like this, the absence of Arthur and Robert was sorely felt.

In the end, the day was less painful than they had feared. They had both dreaded it so much, and had tried to keep busy. Consuelo and Annabelle had lunch together, played cards that afternoon, and by dinnertime they were both tired, and ready for bed. They had gotten through it, that was the main thing, and as she undressed that night, Annabelle found herself thinking of Josiah in Vermont. She wondered if he and Henry had gotten there safely and were having fun. She would have loved to go skiing with them sometime, as he had suggested. It sounded like fun to her. And she hoped she got a chance to, maybe next year, if she could talk her mother into going.

The rest of the holiday was easier than Christmas. Annabelle spent some time with Hortie, and all her friend talked about now was the baby, just as she had talked about nothing but the wedding for six months before. She had little else on her mind or to keep her busy. Consuelo congratulated her when she saw her, and Hortie rattled on for half an hour about Paris, and all the clothes she’d bought, which very soon she would no longer be able to wear. She said they would still go to Newport that summer, and if she had the baby there, it was fine with her. She was going to have it at home anyway, in Newport or New York. Listening to her talk to Consuelo about it, Annabelle felt left out of the conversation. She had nothing to contribute. Hortie had turned into a married woman and mother overnight. But Annabelle still loved her friend, boring or not. Hortie had brought her a beautiful sweater from Paris, with pearl buttons. It was the palest pink, and Annabelle couldn’t wait to wear it that summer.

“I didn’t want to buy you a black one,” Hortie said apologetically. “It’s too grim, and you can wear it pretty soon. I hope that’s all right.”

“I love it!” Annabelle reassured her, and meant it. It had a beautiful lace collar, and it was the subtlest powder pink. It looked wonderful with Annabelle’s skin and hair.

The two young women had lunch together several times that week, and felt very grown-up going to the Astor Court at the St. Regis Hotel. Hortie was taking her new status very seriously, dressed up, wearing the jewelry James had given her, and looked very grand. When they went to lunch, Annabelle wore the new fur coat her mother had given her for Christmas. And she felt a little like she was playing dress-up in her mother’s closet. She was wearing Josiah’s bracelet on her arm.

“Where did you get that?” Hortie asked when she noticed it. “I like it.”

“So do I,” Annabelle said simply. “Josiah Millbank gave it to me for Christmas. It was very nice of him. He gave Mama a scarf.”

“You two looked great together at my wedding.” And then suddenly Hortie’s eyes lit up, as she had an idea. “What about him?”

“What about him?” Annabelle looked blank.

“For you, I mean. You know, as a husband.” Annabelle laughed in response.

“Don’t be stupid, Hort. He’s twice my age. You sound like Mama. I swear, she’d marry me off to the milkman if she could.”

“Is the milkman cute?” Hortie was laughing at the thought.

“No. He’s about a hundred years old and has no teeth.”

“Seriously, why not Josiah? He likes you. He’s always hanging around.”

“We’re just friends. We like it that way. Getting mushy about it would mess everything up.”

“That’s a very nice bracelet to give to just a friend.”

“It’s only a present, not a proposal. He came to dinner on Christmas Eve. It was so sad this year,” she said, changing the subject.

“I know,” Hortie said sympathetically, forgetting about Josiah for the moment. “I’m sorry, Belle, it must be awful.” Annabelle only nodded, and they moved on to other topics, mostly clothes. Hortie couldn’t imagine what she’d wear when she got bigger. She was planning to go to her mother’s dressmaker to figure it out in the next few weeks. She said her waistband was already getting tight, and her corset was killing her. And she swore her breasts had doubled in size.

“Maybe you’re having twins,” Annabelle suggested with a smile.

“Wouldn’t that be funny?” Hortie said, laughing. She couldn’t begin to envision what that entailed, and it was all one big thrill for her right now.