Page 50
Three nights later, Guy burst into Adele’s bedroom as Maggie was slipping the last tight white rosebud into her chignon next to her diamond-topped combs.
“Guy!” Adele chastised as the maid’s hand juddered in surprise, scraping Adele’s scalp with the stem.
“I’ve had an idea,” he explained, his eyes wild and a little bright.
Adele met her maid’s gaze in her mirror. “If you please, Maggie.”
Maggie dipped into a curtsey and silently let herself out.
“You startled Maggie. She could have hurt me,” she complained as soon as the maid was gone.
Her husband crossed the room to slide his hands down her arms and drop a kiss at the crook of her neck. “I am sorry, dearest. I should hate to think of you with so much as a bruise.”
She sighed. “What is it that you wished to tell me?”
He kissed her neck again and then straightened. “I think I’ve come up with something that could occupy your mind as Dr. Morris advised, and it doesn’t involve a single embroidery needle.”
She arched a brow as she looked at him in the mirror. “Really?”
“A ball.”
“A ball?” she asked, skeptically. She had thrown two at Guy’s hotel, and although the first had felt like a great deal of work, the second had been considerably easier.
“Not just any ball. One to celebrate the opening of the Colorado Grand Hotel.”
She frowned. “You wish me to throw a ball for the opening of your new hotel?”
“On November first,” he said. “It will be the evening of the grand opening, a way to throw our doors open and celebrate the beginning of a growing empire of hotels.”
Now that he had planted the seed of the idea, it began to grow. “The guest list will be complicated,” she said slowly. She would have to balance the great and good of Pasadena with those who might patronize the hotel from all across America.
“I want the hotel’s investors there, but businessmen, ambassadors, and socialites, too. It needs to be the single greatest party Pasadena has ever seen. One that everyone will speak of for years to come.”
She laughed. “That is a tall task.”
“One you think you are up to?”
She heard the friendly challenge in his voice, but still she warned, “Something on that scale will be expensive. I know with the renovation of the Gables and Rosewood House, and your generosity toward my parents—”
“Spare no expense. I expect you to bring all your English refinement to the do. That’s what all of us Americans really want.”
“Perhaps I could invite Margot and James,” she mused. It had been two years since she had last seen her cousin at Margot’s wedding.
“Invite Margot and James,” said Guy. “Show them how we live here in Pasadena.”
She smiled. “All right. I will do my best.”
May 15, 1906
The Gables, Pasadena
Dearest Margot,
I hope you, James, and baby Charles are well. Normally I would say that I wish more than anything that I could see all of you while lamenting that it is impossible, but today I have something of a proposal for you: What would you say to a visit to Pasadena?
As you know, Guy’s new hotel is set to open in November this year. He is very keen to celebrate it properly, and he has asked me to arrange a ball in honor of the opening. I would be so delighted if you and James were able to attend.
You would, of course, be most welcome at the Gables for as long as you should wish. I know Mama and Papa would like very much to have the chance to see you and to meet James after all this time. I, too, would enjoy taking you around and introducing you to all the ladies I’ve written about over these many years. What fun it will be to find out whether your sense of them from my letters matches up to your expectations.
