Chapter 1
It was then that she had chosen to wear the white gown.
Upon smelling the perfumed roses being thrown at her feet on the red carpet, the slightly acrid smoke of the popping bulbs, as the photographers went mad for her get up like they would have for Mae West at a film premier. All glamour and elegance.
Or Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
She smiled and turned, almost striking a pose.
Oh yes, those loving cameras... listen to the crowd...
The shop manager had then cleared her throat. “I think you’ll agree with me- it fits you quite perfectly. It’s lovely on you.”
And so, reluctantly, she- Giverny Jameson- had come out of her reverie. “I’ll definitely take it.”
Then she had changed back into her work clothes, signed for the order and left the boutique.
And although she had pictured it all in her mind, God knows how surprised she had been when the crowd had exploded with applause and the event photographers had taken her picture.
As she stood, poised on stage with her trophy, the cameramen couldn’t seem to get enough of her. Even as the applause had died down and she made her brief speech, the bulbs had flashed.
Mae West at her best, she thought, slightly wistful now, back in her lab and every day clothes once again.
She took her eyes off the framed pictures of her at different award ceremonies and events, concluding on the day of the epic white dress a few months ago. It was the one she treasured most.
At that moment, her phone rang, drawing her completely back into the present.
“Hello... hi Claudette. You’re coming home, that’s nice.” She nearly dropped a test tube. “With your what? When did this happen? My gosh, congratulations! How long will you be- ten days? Aw, that’s fantastic... wow.”
After a few more minutes of chatting, Giverny finished her conversation with her adopted sister Claudette.
Once she had hung up, she poured the cultured sample down the nearest drain. Thanks to her absentminded behaviour, she had wasted her whole afternoon in the moment she had mixed the two clients’ DNA samples she was meant to be analysing.
She hoped she would still make her deadline. The last thing she needed were disgruntled clients bugging her for their results during the Thanksgiving break.
Despite her hopes, that little mistake seemed to be the beginning of a dismal weekend. She had to deal with an extended work period which took two days away from the time she’d put aside for her on-again-off-again boyfriend of over a year, Bruce.
When she arrived at his place tired and triumphant, she received a chilly reception.
“Well, gee sweets, I’m thrilled to be here,” she said drolly.
“You can hardly expect me to do cartwheels, Giverny. You never make time for us!”
She shook her head to rid it of the images of him doing gymnastics on her account. “I do,” she insisted, “it’s just that sometimes it gets taken up by my work.”
“Sometimes?” he echoed, more than a little bitter.
He stood by the window overlooking the urbane park behind his house, full of reds and yellows.
Resisting the urge to snuggle up on the comfortable sofa and close her eyes, she walked over to where Bruce stared stonily over his grounds.
“BB, come on! I’m sorry, but you know that I can’t just drop some of the assignments I get. When the results are wrong or incomplete, I have to do it right and deliver the product before I can take a break.”
He glanced at her and said nothing.
“What do you want from me?” she finally demanded with exasperation.
She watched him quietly sort out his words before sharing them with her.
“Giverny,” he began fondly, taking her hands in his, “you know I want you to stop working so hard. Become my wife! Take your place by my side as Mrs. Benton.”
Giverny almost laughed out loud.
Instead she smiled and said, “My place, Bruce? Flying around the world, cruising across oceans, partying and sporting all year?”
Bruce Benton had made his first ten million before he was twenty-seven and he only spent about a month in the office all year.
“Of course. You weren’t brought up to slave away in a lab like Frankenstein- or Einstein even.”
Now at thirty-one, he didn’t see any need for an office job.
“I’m a scientist, BB!”
“And a brilliant one at that,” he said in a placating voice as he saw her beautiful eyes flash angrily. “I just wish you’d take it easy... spend more time with me. What’d be the point of a ring on your finger if we never saw each other? I’d spend my life missing you.” Pause. “More than I do now.”
Giverny looked as if she hardly believed that Bruce could ever be lonely, so he finally smiled, flashing perfect white teeth. Then he drew Giverny closer.
“I’m sorry Gigi. I can tell you’re tired. Give us a kiss and I’ll go about making your night memorable.”
When she kissed him, she found herself thinking that it was time to say goodbye to Bruce for good. But she spent the night in utterly comfortable surroundings. Bruce was very good at what he did and since he had no clue what was on her mind, he treated her like a princess.
“So, how’s Bruce, Gigi?” her mother asked at dinner, a few nights later.
“He’s fine, Mom. Please pass the salt.”
“Isn’t he coming down this weekend?”
“We broke up.”
“Again?” her father asked. “Really Giver-”
“It’s final this time,” she said resolutely.
Her mother, the socialite mistress Mrs. Jameson, frowned. “That sort of messes up the seating for the charity ball.”
Giverny changed the subject, but not before she rolled her eyes. “Claudy called me today. She’s coming home tomorrow.”
“That’s great, honey,” her dad said.
“I was hoping she’d come,” her mother smiled. “Even planned it for the ball.”
“And,” Giverny continued, gleefully the bearer of the latest news, “she’s bringing her fiancé!”
“What?” the Jameson’s exclaimed.
“She got engaged a couple of days ago.”
“To who?” Mrs. Jameson asked. She had a close relationship with both her girls, so she was surprised to hear of such a special man in Claudette’s life whom she knew nothing of!
“What’s his name?”
“I don’t know.” Giverny was personally enjoying the suspense- it gave her space to dream up her own man. As she imagined up the perfect foil for her sister her father asked another question.
He had to pinch her lightly to bring her attention back to the table.
“Hey Giggles, you still here?”
“What? Oh, yeah, I’m here.” Pause. “What were you saying Daddy?”
The man looked fondly exasperated with his abstract child.
“I said where is he from?”
“America..?” she ventured. “I didn’t think of all that. I’d accidentally mixed Mr. and Mrs. May’s DNA samples and I couldn’t get her off the phone fast enough.”
Her parent burst out laughing.
Giverny smiled wryly. “I mean imagine my mortification when I realised I was creating a mutant hybrid for them.”
Her father laughed harder and her mother shook her head.
“We’ll just have to find out about him when they come home,” Giverny supplied, wiggling her eyebrows. “They arrive on the nine o’clock flight tomorrow morning. Dad, please don’t send me to get them,” she pouted bewitchingly at her father. “I’ll be snoozing off the weeks of accumulated sleep debt- this last project alone added a few hours.”
“It’s alright, baby. We’ll send Harry,” he said of one of the employees.
Cynthia looked at her husband and smothered a smile. “You’re a slave to your child, Gregory.”
“Not a slave,” he protested without heat. “Just sympathetic.”
