Read Online The Daughter-in-Law by Diana Diamond - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Diana Diamond
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“Wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Donner.”
“Alexandra,” she repeated. “And may I say that you are breath-takingly lovely.”
Nicole mumbled and blushed.
“Your dress,” Alexandra went on, “is absolutely gorgeous. Where did you ever find it?”
Nicole told her about the small boutique, making it sound as if they were her personal designers.
“You’ll make them famous,” Alexandra said.
Jonathan eased past her and kissed his mother’s cheek. “Well, was I exaggerating?”
“Not in the least,” Alexandra answered. “She’s very beautiful.” She glanced down at her guest list. “You’re at table six.” She rattled off the names of the others at the table. Nicole recognized the name of the conductor of the City Opera, and Tisdale, the real-estate developer who had been at the ball game.
She spotted Pam instantly, a young woman with her mother’s long face and piercing eyes, slim and energetic in a pastel gown that used a lace pattern to enhance her small breasts. She was coming toward them, walking too fast for the lines of the dress so that it seemed she might step right out of it. “Jonny,” she said to herbrother and lunged into his arms. “I got your present and it’s perfect. I just love it.” She wheeled out of the embrace and reached for Nicole. “And you’re Nicole. As beautiful as he’s been telling everybody.”
Nicole again mumbled and blushed. “Congratulations on your graduation,” she said. “It must be a big relief.”
“More like breaking the chains of slavery,” Pam told her. “An MBA was Dad’s idea. I hated every course.”
They gushed back and forth for a minute, fawning over one another. Then Pam excused herself, promising to see them later, and Jonathan led Nicole along the pool’s edge to their table. She recognized Tisdale, who introduced a Wagnerian wife, and the conductor who was with a young tenor from the chorus. The other couple was the county supervisor, an overweight man with a politician’s smile, and his wife who introduced herself as “his better half.”
“Ben is late, as usual,” Jonathan said, and Nicole remembered his jump partner, Ben Tobin, who apparently was going to complete their table.
The whole party walked down to the far edge of the pool to take in the sunset over Manhattan. From the top of the cliff, Nicole could look down at the miniature harbor below, with its own seawall and lighthouse. At the dock was a fifty-foot cruiser, bristling with fishing poles, and a forty-foot ketch with roller-reefed sails.
“Your navy?” she asked Jonathan.
“Part of it. The battleships are in Newport.”
A cannon fired when the sun disappeared behind the skyscrapers. The trumpet from the band sounded colors. Then the caterer’s carts rattled into place.
Ben showed up with the appetizer, wearing a collarless black shirt under his dinner jacket. The young lady who trailed after him was an Asian of indeterminate age, wearing a white sheath that set off her skin perfectly. “You look much better without a helmet and parachute,” he told Nicole. And later he allowed that “Jon was keeping what he saved,” reinforcing the notion that Jonathan was planning a long relationship. The evening was going better than she could have ever hoped.
It was a grand affair. The younger crowd from across the pool jumped into every rock number, filling the dance floor with theirarm-waving and stamping. The big band numbers drew from her side of the pool, following the lead of Jack and Alexandra who rose for every fox-trot. Jack danced mechanically, moving with the precision of a balance sheet. Alexandra moved to the music with an intrinsic grace as if she, too, were an orchestral instrument. Tall and slim, her coloring was perfectly complemented by a deep gray sheath that flared outward at her thighs. In her heels, she was an inch taller than her husband.
“Your mother is terrific,” Nicole said as she and Jonathan danced near his
“Wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Donner.”
“Alexandra,” she repeated. “And may I say that you are breath-takingly lovely.”
Nicole mumbled and blushed.
“Your dress,” Alexandra went on, “is absolutely gorgeous. Where did you ever find it?”
Nicole told her about the small boutique, making it sound as if they were her personal designers.
“You’ll make them famous,” Alexandra said.
Jonathan eased past her and kissed his mother’s cheek. “Well, was I exaggerating?”
“Not in the least,” Alexandra answered. “She’s very beautiful.” She glanced down at her guest list. “You’re at table six.” She rattled off the names of the others at the table. Nicole recognized the name of the conductor of the City Opera, and Tisdale, the real-estate developer who had been at the ball game.
She spotted Pam instantly, a young woman with her mother’s long face and piercing eyes, slim and energetic in a pastel gown that used a lace pattern to enhance her small breasts. She was coming toward them, walking too fast for the lines of the dress so that it seemed she might step right out of it. “Jonny,” she said to herbrother and lunged into his arms. “I got your present and it’s perfect. I just love it.” She wheeled out of the embrace and reached for Nicole. “And you’re Nicole. As beautiful as he’s been telling everybody.”
Nicole again mumbled and blushed. “Congratulations on your graduation,” she said. “It must be a big relief.”
“More like breaking the chains of slavery,” Pam told her. “An MBA was Dad’s idea. I hated every course.”
They gushed back and forth for a minute, fawning over one another. Then Pam excused herself, promising to see them later, and Jonathan led Nicole along the pool’s edge to their table. She recognized Tisdale, who introduced a Wagnerian wife, and the conductor who was with a young tenor from the chorus. The other couple was the county supervisor, an overweight man with a politician’s smile, and his wife who introduced herself as “his better half.”
“Ben is late, as usual,” Jonathan said, and Nicole remembered his jump partner, Ben Tobin, who apparently was going to complete their table.
The whole party walked down to the far edge of the pool to take in the sunset over Manhattan. From the top of the cliff, Nicole could look down at the miniature harbor below, with its own seawall and lighthouse. At the dock was a fifty-foot cruiser, bristling with fishing poles, and a forty-foot ketch with roller-reefed sails.
“Your navy?” she asked Jonathan.
“Part of it. The battleships are in Newport.”
A cannon fired when the sun disappeared behind the skyscrapers. The trumpet from the band sounded colors. Then the caterer’s carts rattled into place.
Ben showed up with the appetizer, wearing a collarless black shirt under his dinner jacket. The young lady who trailed after him was an Asian of indeterminate age, wearing a white sheath that set off her skin perfectly. “You look much better without a helmet and parachute,” he told Nicole. And later he allowed that “Jon was keeping what he saved,” reinforcing the notion that Jonathan was planning a long relationship. The evening was going better than she could have ever hoped.
It was a grand affair. The younger crowd from across the pool jumped into every rock number, filling the dance floor with theirarm-waving and stamping. The big band numbers drew from her side of the pool, following the lead of Jack and Alexandra who rose for every fox-trot. Jack danced mechanically, moving with the precision of a balance sheet. Alexandra moved to the music with an intrinsic grace as if she, too, were an orchestral instrument. Tall and slim, her coloring was perfectly complemented by a deep gray sheath that flared outward at her thighs. In her heels, she was an inch taller than her husband.
“Your mother is terrific,” Nicole said as she and Jonathan danced near his
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