Perfect Little Ladies Part 6

She should be ashamed, but she was not. It was as if Elinor's infidelity had instilled a new twist on the rules.

What would their mother have advised?

"Do you love him?" Dianne Harding had asked CJ when CJ was heavy with a pregnant belly. Dianne had walked into the greenhouse at Elinor and Malcolm's new house in Washington and caught Malcolm and CJ in a kiss. Not just any kiss, but a breathless, tongue-touching, lip-melting kiss. Oh, and Malcolm's zipper was undone and CJ just happened to be holding his throbbing member in her hand, or at least that's the way Dianne Harding described it after Malcolm had zipped and CJ had turned red and they had pulled apart.

His throbbing member, CJ thought now with a hint of a smile. Her mother had sounded more like Poppy's, as if CJ and Mac had been in the middle of a romance novel and not a real-life family drama.

"Yes," CJ had answered. "I love him very much."

Dianne had paced the narrow rows of the aptly called "hothouse" that smelled of earth and dampness and of Malcolm and CJ and family betrayal.

"It must be your hormones," Dianne said. "When I was pregnant with you girls, I wanted to jump the mailman."

Their mother always had tried to be more contemporary than their father. ("The world is changing, Franklin. If CJ wants to study at the Sorbonne, perhaps that's where she belongs.") Still, this was the first CJ had heard that their mother had even known what hormones were. CJ had not, however, had the heart to tell her mother that her feelings for Malcolm-indeed, their feelings for each other-had begun that first night they had attempted to conceive, when they'd "been one" according to Elinor's plan and CJ's ovulating schedule.

Dianne had stopped and turned and looked back at the lovers, at Mac, who was as frozen as the small statue of Saint Francis of a.s.sisi that he'd bought to watch over the shoots and roots and buds of the offspring in the greenhouse.

"I love her, too," he'd said before Dianne had a chance to ask.

She stood quietly for a moment, or maybe it was a year. Then she said, "Well, we can't have this, can we?"

She had not reminded them that Elinor was fragile, that she'd been through so much, that she trusted her husband and her sister with her life and, good heavens, with her child. She had not had to tell CJ that the headmaster would never allow it.

Instead, Dianne left CJ and Malcolm standing in the greenhouse.

Three weeks later, Jonas was born, and that was the end of that.

And now CJ thought about the black silk nightgown in her lingerie drawer. She hadn't worn it since she'd walked out on her husband, Cooper, who had then moved to Denver, as if distance would help him forget. She stared at her paintbrush, trying to decide whether or not to pack the black silk, when the crunch of tires upon gravel interrupted her thoughts. Peering out the window, she saw the Esplanade and watched the three women clamber out.

Thirteen.

"I need a wig Poppy announced when CJ met them in the driveway and they traipsed into the cottage. "Should I be a brunette or a blonde?"

They dropped, one at a time, onto CJ's furniture-even Yolanda, who now seemed quite at home.

"A blonde," Yolanda said. "You're too fair to be a brunette. No one will believe you."

"But will they believe she's lost her momma?" Alice asked.

Yolanda laughed and Poppy said, "They will! They will!" her cheeks flashing pink, the way they did when she was excited.

"Excuse me," CJ said, "what are you talking about?"

"Poppy wants to go back to the hotel tomorrow and pretend she's lost her momma," Alice said.

"Maybe I can access security," Poppy chattered. "Yolanda says there must be a room where all the monitors are kept. If I can get in there, maybe I can see if there's a camera pointed at the Dumpster where Elinor's panties were found!"

CJ supposed a good shrink would diagnose Poppy as bipolar, with the emphasis on whichever pole was more manic. Between Poppy's erratic behavior, Elinor's need to control, and Alice spending her life mimicking Elinor, it was no wonder CJ had once gone off to Paris and left the others to their harebrained lives.

"She's hoping there's a tape of the blackmailer taking the panties out of the Dumpster," Yolanda said. "She thinks he'll turn and wave to the camera so we can see his face."

"I do not!" Poppy exclaimed. "Besides, none of you are coming up with alternative ideas!" Which made it sound as if she'd been speaking about alternative energy solutions or alternative medical miracles.

"If there is a tape, how the heck will we get it?" CJ asked. "And do they even make tapes anymore? Isn't everything digitally recorded?"

Poppy played with her hair. "I guess that's another thing we have to find out."

"And we need to hurry," CJ said. "On Wednesday, Elinor will be leaving the country for a couple of days. She's going to get ransom money."

No one asked where she was going or why she had to leave the country to get the cash. It was almost as if that part of the adventure was more information than they felt they should know.

Yolanda stood up. "Sorry to break up the party, ladies, but I have to get home. If you insist on doing this, Poppy, come by the shop. I'll fit you with a wig."

Yolanda left the cottage. The rest of them heard the roar of the Jaguar that had belonged to Vincent, Yolanda's dead husband. Poppy looked at Alice and Alice looked at CJ and CJ said, "I think this is nuts," but Poppy said she thought it was nice to have something important to do.

Alice wasn't certain she agreed with Poppy's a.s.sessment that thinking they could find Elinor's blackmailer was important. Childish, maybe. Risky, perhaps. And maybe, as CJ said, nuts.

After leaving the cottage, Alice dropped off Poppy and headed home to focus on her own things to do. Within a few minutes she was in her garage, then her kitchen, where she nearly jumped a d.a.m.n foot. Neal was sitting at the table with a bowl of minestrone and a pet.i.t baguette.

"Neal?"

Her first thought was that he'd been fired.

Or he'd heard about Elinor.

Or he'd learned of her out-of-town activities and had come home to confront her.

She rubbed her throat and dallied with the five-carat diamond necklace he'd presented to her on her fortieth birthday.

"Alice?" he replied with a note of sarcasm that he deferred to when he was trying to be funny.

She wondered if she'd turned off the computer in the media room, or if she'd left her e-mails displayed. She was still so unaccustomed to having something to hide.

Steam oozed up from her toes; she grabbed a place mat and fanned her face.

"Sit," Neal said. He gestured to the slim, postmodern Sacha Lakic chair that he'd insisted on buying because he'd said less was more.

She sat.

"We made the presentation this morning. It looks as if we've landed the account."

She couldn't remember if "the account" was the beauty products manufacturer or the national chain of health-food stores. After so many years, they all sounded the same. "That's great," she said. "Congratulations." Apparently the conversation would be about him, not unemployment or Elinor or Alice's indiscretions. She set down the place mat.

"They've invited management to dinner."

When the invitation was formal, it often meant wives were included-or, rather, domestic whatevers, since the management of Neal's firm now boasted one or two females and a h.o.m.os.e.xual man in order to attract clients who cared about that sort of thing.

"Well," she said, "it certainly seems as if you've landed it."

"They'll make the announcement at the dinner. I'm sure they think everyone will be thrilled to have an inside connection to the resorts and spas."

Resorts and spas. Neal must be referring to Tang Worldwide, named for an early Chinese dynasty famous for its delicate, hand-painted folding screens that brought inner peace and balance. Alice once remarked it sounded more like the orange powder mix they'd been encouraged to drink in school because the astronauts brought it with them to the moon.

She watched Neal's spoon scoop a piece of tomato and a red bean. "Will we get 'family' discounts? I'm sure the girls would love to go." How many cities and countries enjoyed a Tang Worldwide resort? Could it be a chance for Alice to go international with her new hobby? When Neal finished his minestrone, she'd have to go online. If he didn't get there first and figure out what she'd been doing.

"The dinner is Thursday," he said, as he stood up.

"Thursday?" she asked, her voice in a squeak. "But I won't be here Thursday. Kiley Kate has her compet.i.tion in Orlando."

"I'm sure Melissa will go, under the circ.u.mstances."

Melissa was a sweet girl, though she'd gotten pregnant too young and robbed Alice of the fun of planning a big wedding. She was a good mother and a good wife, but she was terrified of flying. Neither Ativan nor Xanax seemed to penetrate her fear. "You know that's not possible, Neal."

"Well, David, then," he said as he carried the soup bowl to the sink because though he now could well afford domestic help, he'd been raised in a row house in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he'd shared a tiny bedroom with three brothers and a dog and cleaning up after yourself had been instilled. "For G.o.d's sake, Kiley Kate is their daughter, not yours."

Alice sighed. "David is not at a point in his career that he can take a few days off for something, well, unscheduled."

"Of course he can. I'll make the call."

Alice stood up. "No, Neal. That isn't fair. Helping Kiley Kate is one thing, interfering with David's job, quite another. It won't teach the children to be independent." Neither of them mentioned their dependent daughter, Felicity, whose Miss Porter's education had been a waste of time and hope, not to mention dollars. So, too, had been the girl's college years, which she'd turned into a career from Barnard to Boston College, from Swarthmore to Simon's Rock. She was such a bright girl, but sometimes brains just didn't count.

"Then ask the babysitter to go with Kiley. Good G.o.d, Alice, it's not as if I ask for much."

"It's hard to ask for anything when you're never home."

She supposed she shouldn't have said that. She supposed she should be a dutiful, spoiled wife and say, "Okay, honey, whatever you want, honey, you're the one who wears the pants." Sometimes, however, the working-cla.s.s roots of her father leaked through, and Alice spoke her mind.

"You seem to like the money I bring home." He turned around, leaned against the sink, and folded his arms. He was marking his turf, she supposed, the way a dog pees on his terrain. In Neal's case, the property was her.

She rose from the uncomfortable chair, tossed back her hair, and said, "They need to change the date. I won't disappoint my granddaughter. I'm sure they'll understand." With more att.i.tude than she felt, Alice left the kitchen and headed for the computer room before Neal could beat her to it.

"She's going to dress up in disguise and say she's lost her momma. I'm going to fit her to a wig." Yolanda balanced Belita on one hip while she tossed laundry into the dryer. Her cell phone was tucked between her ear and neck. "She'll get into trouble, I'm afraid."

Manny let out a big whoosh of air. "And you want me to do what?"

"Go with her?"

He laughed. "You are insane."

"Tomorrow is Tuesday. It's your day off."

"Summer's over. The kids are back in school."

"Big deal. They're teenagers. They know how to get on and off the bus without you."

"I told you, Yo. I can't get involved."

"You live in Brooklyn. The Lord Winslow is in Manhattan. A thousand miles away."

"I have friends on the force there."

"Great. Maybe they'll help. You don't have to say what's going on. Just that some lady left behind unmentionables, and she'd like to find them before someone else does."

He laughed again. "These guys are pros. They'd see right through that."

Yolanda sighed. "Okay," she said. "I get it. It's just that Poppy is so delicate. I'm afraid she'll get caught and wreck everything."

"Her name is Poppy?" He didn't laugh again, but she could tell he wanted to.

She slammed the dryer door. "Manuel," she said, "forget it, okay? You think because you sent me to school and I live, as you say, 'uptown,' that my life is terrific. Well, I'm not one of those rich ladies who you think has nothing but air inside her head. I was born and raised in the Bronx, and I learned to care about other people, no matter what their name is or how much money they have in the bank. Maybe you've forgotten what that feels like because you're so important, Mr. Police Detective."

"Yo...," he said, but she hung up before he could say more.

Fourteen.

"Momma? What are you doing in the orchid garden? It's time for tea." Poppy never understood why Momma liked getting her hands dirty when there were day laborers for that.

"My red swans are magnificent this year. Come inhale their perfume-it's just like sandalwood and rose."

"I've smelled them, Momma. Now come in. Your tea is getting cold." Some years ago, they'd made the transition from Momma being the one to watch over Poppy to Poppy watching over Momma, though Poppy was never quite sure why that had happened or when. She supposed it was a mother-daughter thing that happened in most families, even the best.

Momma stepped out of rubber clogs and into purple flip-flops. She untied the sash of her wide-brimmed straw hat and hung it on a hook beside the potting table. Her bright white hair looked even brighter in the greenhouse light, like halogen illuminating a translucent face. Her bright blue eyes blinked and winked and smiled. "I must remember to have Lucky move a 'Jumbo Lace' into the house," she said. "I do enjoy its lilac fragrance in the powder room downstairs."

Lucky was Momma's longtime companion, paid to be at her beck and call, which was a full-time job. He made sure her orchids were as she wanted; he acted as her mouthpiece when anyone needed scolding; he escorted her to appointments and into Manhattan for lunch. Since the incident years ago, Momma had never been "quite right," a diagnosis that had grown more apparent with time. Still, Momma seemed content.

"I had Lila set out tea in the silver room," Poppy said, leading Momma by the arm, up two flagstone steps, through the covered walkway, and into the house that was too large for Momma, even with Lila, Lucky, Bern (driver and all-around handyman), Fiona (Bern's wife and Momma's personal secretary, though she hardly needed one anymore), and Cain and Abel, the two flat-headed Pekinese.

They settled in the Queen Anne chairs that had been handed down for generations, like the money from the railroads and the "skysc.r.a.pers" in Manhattan.

"Momma," Poppy said, "I need your advice." She poured the tea and pa.s.sed the crumpets, then told her about Elinor and the lavender lace panties and the quest to find the blackmailer before Jonas's engagement party. Even with Momma's peculiar personality, Poppy still depended on her for wisdom when it counted. It wasn't as if she'd tell a solitary soul.

"I've always loved a good mystery," Momma said. She dotted strawberry jam on her crumpet, then took a tiny bite.