Leah and Kayana shared a glance. “Derrick and I decided to marry next Christmas Eve, but we’re not certain whether it’s going to be in Florida, where his daughter and other family members won’t have to travel for the event.”
“I told Lee she and Derrick could marry in Florida, and then honeymoon in Dubai, like Graeme and I did.”
“How was it?” Cherie asked.
Kayana closed her eyes, smiling. “Incredible.”
“Graeme’s wedding gift to her was incredible,” Leah drawled. “When she showed me the thirteen-millimeter South Seas drop pearl earrings capped in yellow diamonds, I nearly lost my shit.”
Cherie and Kayana laughed. “Now you really sound like a sister when you talk about losing your shit,” Cherie said.
Leah sighed as she shifted into a more comfortable position on the sectional’s chaise. “Aren’t all women sisters under the skin? We get paid less than men for doing the same job, and there so many other things I want to bitch about, but I don’t want to ruin my buzz talking about it.”
Cherie raised her flute. “Talk about a buzz. These mimosas are deliciousandlethal. You guys can go upstairs and sleep it off before you even attempt to get behind the wheel, because I willnottake the blame for providing you with alcohol if you get stopped for driving drunk.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. We intend to hang out here today until we wear out our welcome,” Kayana announced.
“I did saymi casa es tu casa,” Cherie reminded them. Brunch was nothing short of perfection. Kayana made eggs Benedict, substituting pastrami for Canadian bacon, with Hasselback potatoes, and Leah’s French toast. She’d sliced challah bread, stuffed it with cream cheese, and topped it off with a bourbon-maple syrup. They’d emptied one and a half of the three bottles of champagne. And after cleaning up the kitchen, they’d retreated to the family room and literally collapsed on the sectional.
Cherie set her flute on a glass coaster on a side table. “Speaking of weddings and gifts, have you worn your earrings, Kayana?”
“Not in a while. I’m waiting for a formal affair. I’ve been dropping hints for Leah and Derrick to have their wedding in Newburyport.”
“What’s in Newburyport?” Cherie questioned.
“Graeme’s ancestral home.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Ancestral like in Leah’s Kent House?”
Kayana shook her head. “I don’t know because I’ve never been to Kent House, but Graeme’s family’s home is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is a beautiful Victorian mansion filled with priceless Turkish and Aubusson carpets, porcelain vases, Baccarat chandeliers, Tiffany lamps, and vast collections of fragile bone china, silver, and crystal.”
“Did you know about this before you married him?” she asked Kayana.
“Yes. He told me about growing up in Newburyport and attending private schools and college in Boston. His mother was what folks call old money, while his father’s family were blue collar, and as an only child, he inherited everything. What I didn’t know was that he’d retired from teaching and wasn’t returning to Massachusetts at the end of the summer season. That’s when, as Leah put it, I lost my shit. Meanwhile I was sleeping with the man, spending more nights at his place than in the apartment above the restaurant, and he hadn’t said a mumbling word about living year-round on the island.”
Leah stared at Kayana. “The fact that he’d bought a house on the island should’ve given you a clue, Kayana.”
“Some people have purchased houses and condos as vacation properties. Look at you, Cherie. This home could very well be your second home. You could have a job where you’re able to work remotely and have the option of working here or in Connecticut.”
Cherie laughed. “I really don’t have it like that,” she lied smoothly. Her friends didn’t know she did have enough resources to maintain two residences, but it would result in her withdrawing money from her retirement account. “Leah, have you thought about having your wedding at Kent House?”
Leah gave her a stink eye. “Hell no! Once is enough. Alan and I were married at Kent House, and it was more like a wake than a wedding.”
Cherie shifted on the leather cushion and folded her legs into the lotus position. “That was then, and this is now. Your ex is gone, and so is your witch of a mother-in-law. I know you gave the house to your sons, but it’s time for you to begin new traditions. Have Caleb and his fiancée talked about where they want to have their wedding?”
“Marisa has talked about having it at Kent House.”
“There you go,” Kayana drawled. “If your son and his fiancée plan to marry at the family estate, then so should you, Lee. And weren’t you the one who said you were never accepted by Richmond’s so-called crème de la crème because there had been a time when your family lived in a trailer park?”
Leah nodded. “And they never let me forget it. If I hadn’t married Alan, they would’ve expected me to step off the sidewalk to let them pass. I felt like a hypocrite during Alan and my mother-in-law’s funeral, pretending I was grieving when, deep down inside, I wanted to tell everyone that I was free at last. Free from Adele’s condescending bullshit and free from Alan flaunting his whores and disrespecting the mother of his sons.”
“That’s why you should have your wedding at Kent House,” Cherie told Leah.
Leah closed her eyes and let out a breath. “Don’t you think folks would talk about me remarrying a little more than a year after Alan’s passing.”
“The hell with those sows!” Kayana shouted. “I don’t understand you, Lee. The very people you’re concerned with didn’t bother to hide their contempt because they felt they were better than you, while their cheating husbands had long rap sheets with endless names of women they’d fucked.”
“I’m with Kayana,” Cherie said, chiming in. “Fuck those fake heifers. I’d make certain to send out invitations to the folks I did get along with, and within days, the word would be all over Richmond that recently widowed Leah Kent was getting married again. And I’m willing to bet that, when you show up with Derrick, most of the women will be craning their necks to get a look at him, and those who do will have to go home and change their wet panties.”
