Disillusion Meets Delight (17 page)

“No.  The boys at my school are so immature.  They may be cute on the outside but then they open their mouths and are total cavemen.”  Maggie said rolling her eyes. 

“Well, you are only 13.  You have your whole life to be annoyed by immature boyfriends.  But you’ll find that when you get older, they come in pretty handy.  You get dinners and movies free and if you’re really lucky, they buy you gifts just because!”  Jenna exclaimed.

“You mean they buy you stuff just because you’re their girlfriend?”  Maggie asked unconvinced.

“Yes!  My boyfriend just bought me this purse.  Look, it’s an authentic Louis Vuitton.  He felt bad because he had to cancel dinner tonight for some work stuff so he bought me this instead!”  Jenna hugged her cute Speedy handbag.  Maggie still did not look convinced.

“I don’t know Jenna.  Ian was a really good boyfriend, even to that horrible girl he dated and I never saw him buy expensive gifts like that just because.” 

“Well, to each his own.  I guess I will just feel lucky that I have such a generous boyfriend.  So, what movie are we going to rent tonight?”

“I want to see Heathers.” 

“Heathers?  Ian said you were into the Brat Pack movies.  Isn’t Heathers a bit dark?”  Jenna asked apprehensively.  Granted, she was probably Maggie’s age when she saw Heathers but she wasn’t sure how Ian would feel about his little sister watching a film that makes murder look exciting and sexy.  Christian Slater has that effect on all of us.

“Oh, it’s fine Jenna.  I’m onto a new decade now.  Besides, I’ve seen all the Brat Pack movies.”  Maggie proclaimed as she picked up the remains of their pedicure party. 

“Okay if you say so.  If Ian gets mad at me then I’m blaming it all on you.”

“You would sell out a kid just to save yourself?”  Maggie asked shocked.

“Yep!  Besides, you’re not a kid anymore.  You’re a teenager and everyone knows they’re the devil, I should know, I was one once.”

Maggie smiled and they got into Jenna’s SUV.  Jenna was having fun with Maggie and realized why Ian was so protective of her.  Of course, she was his little sister and his responsibility but there was something a little extra special about Maggie that made you adore her. 

As we stepped out of the car, I suddenly became light headed.  Probably due to the extreme stress I was about to put myself under.  Ian must have noticed because almost right on cue, he took my hand and gave it a squeeze. 

“It’s going to be fine, Natalie.”  He whispered and at that moment, I began to breathe again.

It’s funny how you can have such an intense feeling and then almost instantaneously experience something completely different.  That was how I felt when Ian calmed my nerves for that moment.  Of course, true to form, that calmness went straight out the window at 80 miles an hour as soon as I stepped through the door of the Wellington home. 

The house was quite elegant.  With all of Jan Wellington’s faults, I had to admit that decorating was not one of them.  Classic artwork sat perfectly still on the warm neutral walls that seemed to meet up to the sky with the crown molding and cobweb free ceilings.  Where my home dons remnants of trips to IKEA and Target, the Wellington home is like walking into a Restoration Hardware catalog with perhaps a trip to Italy along the way.  In the background, amongst the elated chatter, I hear Mozart’s Serenade #9 in D.  Okay, I am not so stuffy as to know exactly which composer and what song it is.  They all sound the same to me.  I will give all the credit to Ian for picking up that one. 

“My grandmother was a piano teacher okay?  Don’t look at me like that.”  I roll my eyes and scan the area for my mother. 

“Yoo hoo, Natalie darling!”  I hear my mother holler through an old white haired man and a petit-four server. 

“Hi mom.  Quite a turnout isn’t there?  Oh, mom, this is Ian.  Ian this is my mother, Caroline.”  I try to say discreetly, given the fact that we are here to sell a lie of true love.

“You’re even more handsome than I imagined, Ian.  I must say, you and Natalie make a charming couple.  This won’t be hard to pull off now will it?”  My mother replies with a wink.  It appears that her second glass of champagne could have been perhaps postponed.  Tonight should be interesting.

“So, where are the bride-to-be and her Prince Charming?”  Ian asks.

I must admit that I thought I would see Mallory and Rob by now.  To my right, I spot Dr. Wellington talking to a short, fat, balding man with a surprisingly attractive and ample bosomed blonde woman.  He must be from Dr. Wellington’s plastic surgery practice.  Jan Wellington appears to be doing her hostess mingling, although she has yet to come greet me.  The less time I have to spend with Jan Wellington, the happier I will be.  Too late.

“Well Caroline I see Natalie has brought her new beau.  Maybe there is hope for her yet to be as happy as my Mallory.”  Jan says with a smarmy grin that makes my blood boil and teeth grate.

“You must be Mrs. Wellington.  It’s a pleasure to meet you.  I am Ian O’Reilly, Natalie’s boyfriend.  I have heard so many things about you.”  Ian puts a hand out to shake Jan’s while putting the other around me.  I have to say that he is great at schmoozing and pretending to be my man.

“Well, I hope they are all good things Ian.  So, are you from Portland?  I don’t know that I have heard of your family.”  Seriously, who does this woman think she is? 
Heard of his family?
  We live in Portland for crying out loud!  There is no aristocracy in Portland!

“No I’m afraid I am from the East Coast.  I grew up in the suburbs of Washington D.C. - Alexandria to be precise.” 

“Oh how nice.  Is your family in politics?”  Oh dear lord send this woman away.  Send her away on a slow boat to China.  Send her over a bridge.  Send her to the kitchen-just send her away!

“No, not exactly.  I come from a family of lawyers actually.  Somewhat different occupation, but similar reputations.” Ian replies with a chuckle but gets nothing back from Jan Wellington but a polite fake smile. 

“Well, it was nice to meet you Ian. I am the hostess of this event however so I am obliged to my socializing.  Enjoy yourselves and you must try the caviar.  It was imported from Russia.”  And with that, Jan Wellington was off to be artificial and smarmy with some other poor guest.

“I think she liked you Ian.”  I say with satisfaction.

“Are you kidding?  She was a complete, well, you know what I mean.”  Ian replies with restraint.

“You don’t understand her.  She knew you were a catch and better than her precious daughter’s fiancé.  That’s why she was behaving that way.  You did good kid.  You did real good.”  I compliment him with a wink and gentle punch to the arm.  So far, so good.  I have almost forgotten that at one point in time, I hated this man passionately.  Maybe this night won’t be as bad as I thought it would be. 

“Oh darling, there is Mitzi Gordon.  I have to go say hello.”  My mother wisps off to say hello while picking up another glass of champagne from the server.   

“O’Reilly, is that you?  What are you doing here?”  A tall husky man in his fifties asks my date while looking rather perplexed.  For the first time, I actually see Ian look distressed.

“Mr. Jones, what a surprise.  I am here with my, um, girlfriend.  She is friends with the family.” 

“Well O’Reilly, aren’t you going to introduce me?”  He asks with a burly chuckle as Ian gets paler by the second.

“Of course, sir, sorry.  Mr. Jones, this is Natalie.  Natalie, this is my boss, Mr. Jones.” 

“It’s after hours O’Reilly.  The name’s Don.  Don Jones and it’s nice to see our man O’Reilly has finally gotten himself a hot little number.  Some of the guys were beginning to wonder if he was a little light in the loafers if you know what I mean!”  And again Mr. Jones lets out a big burly laugh while spilling some of his gin and tonic on my not on sale heels.  I look over to see Ian trying his hardest to laugh with his intoxicated boss while I still sense some distress on his face.  

“Well, I need to hit the little boys room so I’ll see you on Monday, O’Reilly.  It was nice to meet you darlin’.”  As he walks past he pats me on the shoulder and I can’t help but feel that I got away lucky with that.

I still wonder why after nearly an hour at this engagement party, I fail to see either one of the engaged couple.  Are they here?  I know that Rob can’t be with Jenna because she is with Ian’s little sister.  So where are they?

“Aha.  It seems our couple was trying to be fashionably late.”  Ian states as we see Rob and Mallory walking down the stairway of the Wellington home.  Rob is grinning from ear to ear with his perfectly white teeth and glowing tan while Mallory has her typical expressionless game face on.  I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t something more to the situation however.  My suspicions are enhanced when from across the room, Jan Wellington strolls over to her dear daughter and escorts her to what appears to be the den.  Rob floats away to a group of men that one can only assume are golf buddies or topless bar cohorts. 

“What do you think that’s all about?”  I ask in my private detective tone.

“Okay Jessica Fletcher.  Don’t go
Murder She Wrote
on us.  It’s probably just mother daughter talk.”  Ian replies.  Ah it’s nice to see the smart ass back that made me hate him so.

“Don’t you think it’s a just a little bit strange that the stars of the night don’t appear until now and as soon as they do, the mother leads the bride-to-be away in a dash.  No, Jan did not plan for this.  There is something going on.  Come on.  Let’s get closer in to see if we can hear something.” 

“I don’t think so.  You can do this one alone.  I think I’ll go do some mingling and support this charade that we worked so hard to master.  There’s your mother over there.  I’ll meet up with you later.”  Rather than waste any time responding to his remark, I carefully make my way down the hall to appreciate the collection of art on the wall that happens to be outside the den.

“How could you do this Mallory?  Do you know how hard I have worked on this party for you?  Your father has invited very important people here tonight and you make him look like a fool!  You and Rob are more than an hour late to your own engagement party!”  I hear Jan scream at Mallory and for the first time ever, I can hear Mallory speak.  I mean
really
speak. 

“Mother, don’t you even care about my life?  Don’t you even care that the man I’m about to marry is cheating on me?  I know he is!  I’m not stupid!”  Holy crap, this is good. 

“You listen to me and you listen well.  Do you think I got where I am by believing in love?  I am one of the wealthiest women in Portland because I have a husband who makes me that way.  I didn’t marry for love.  Do you honestly think I don’t know that your father screws around with the little bimbos he makes boobs for?  Do you for one second believe that his business trips are all business?  Mallory wake up.  If you want to live the lifestyle that you are accustomed to, you have to marry into it.  You won’t ever make the money that your husband can.  So what if he’s cheating on you with some whore that he’ll forget about tomorrow.  He comes home to you and deposits his check into your joint account.  I suggest you wipe your tears, gain your composure and tell everyone that you had a work emergency and apologize for the delay.” 

“Yes mother.”  I hear someone walking and bolt into a nearby room that appears to be a closet.  As the door shuts twice I finally deem it safe to escape the faux furs and trench coats and get back to the party. 

It doesn’t take me long to find Ian who is surrounded by a bunch of women who are hanging on to his every word and laughing uncontrollably.  It seems that my pretend boyfriend Ian is quite the charmer with middle aged housewives. 

“Oh Natalie there you are!  How could you let this man of yours free?  He is an absolute doll!”  My mother exclaims and the other women in her company all nod their heads in unison.

“Ian was just telling us about the day you first met!”  Middle aged woman #1 says.

“Oh really.  It seems to have slipped my recollection.”  I reply.  Okay so maybe it wasn’t such a good idea leaving him alone for so long.

“How can you forget?  It was so comical!”  Middle aged woman #2 asks.  Again, feeling strong regret over the abandonment thing.

“It’s a story right out of a movie if you ask me.  He steps on you, right in the middle of the video store!  Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks couldn’t do better!”  Middle aged woman #3 proclaims.  I immediately take the arm of my beloved.