Yvonne’s father and mother, both high school teachers, had thankfully retired to Florida after she graduated from her local state college. When she spoke of them, she promoted them to having been full-time college professors. Using her excellent command of French, she had taken one semester her junior year at the Sorbonne, and now referred to that as where she went to college.
Dana and Valerie had gone to the exclusive Deerfield Academy prep school and had been classmates at Vassar. Like Yvonne, they were in their early forties and very attractive. The difference was that they had always had a secure background, while she had to plan her way to the top.
Yvonne had met Roger Pearson when she was twenty-six and he was thirty-two. And he had fit the bill. Good-looking enough, at least when she had met him. Like his father and grandfather, a graduate of Harvard, and he also had been a member of the university’s most exclusive clubs. Like them, he was a CPA. Unlike them it had turned out that he was not particularly ambitious. He liked to drink and was a gambler. Both of these traits he had kept carefully hidden. What he could not hide was the considerable paunch that he had developed over the almost twenty years they had been married.
It did not take long for Yvonne to see the real Roger, and that he was lazy. Five years ago, after his father’s death, he had become president of the family’s wealth management firm and had persuaded many of its clients, most importantly Lady Emily, to stay with him. She named him the new executor of her estate.
In Lady Em’s presence Roger was a different person, speaking with authority about global finances, politics and the arts.
Together he and Yvonne kept up the appearance of a happily married couple and attended the social affairs and charity galas that they both loved. Meanwhile Yvonne had been on the lookout for a newly divorced successful man or—even better—a widower, but neither had appeared on her horizon. Her two best friends, Valerie and Dana, had both successfully remarried divorcés. She longed to join them.
Now over Prosecco and salads, they discussed the amenities of the ship and the people on it. Valerie and Dana knew Lady Haywood and, like everyone else, were in awe of her. The fact that Yvonne found her boring was fascinating to both of them.
“I’ve heard her twice-told tales, make that twenty-times-told tales, about her late great Sir Richard, more than I can possibly tell you,” Yvonne confided, as she daintily removed a tomato from her salad. Why can’t I remember to tell the waiter that I don’t like tomatoes? she asked herself.
Valerie had a copy of the daily activities. “We can listen to a former diplomat who will dissect the history of troubled relations between the West and the Middle East.”
“I could not think of anything more boring,” Dana said as she took a large sip of her wine.
“Okay, we’ll skip that one,” Valerie agreed. “How about this? A master chef will demonstrate his quick and easy technique to add a gourmet touch to even the simplest meal.”
“That might be interesting,” Yvonne suggested.
“Valerie and I have live-in chefs,” Dana explained. “We leave the cooking to them.”
Yvonne tried again. “Here’s one that might be fun: ‘Emily Post’s Classic Book About Etiquette: The manners of the nineteenth and early twentieth century.’ Why don’t we go? I’d love to hear about the way they did things in those days.”
Valerie smiled. “My grandmother told me that my great-grandmother lived by the society rules of that time. Her first home after she was married was a brownstone on Fifth Avenue. At that time, people left calling cards with the butler. I understand that when my great-grandfather died, they draped the home with mourning cloth. The butler in his day clothes would answer the bell with the parlor maid standing close behind him until a footman secured black livery for the staff.”
“My grandfather was one of the first to collect modern art,” Dana said. “Emily Post referred to it as ‘frightful things in vogue today with flamboyant colors, grotesque triangular figures and designs, that aside from novelty, are in bad taste.’ My grandmother tried to make him throw them out. Thank God he didn’t. They’re worth millions today.”
Yvonne added, “Well, if we’re going to spruce up on our manners, let’s start with that lecture. Maybe there’ll be a section on the proper way to exit one marriage and enter another.”
They all laughed. Valerie signaled the waiter and pointed to their almost empty glasses. They were quickly refilled.
“Okay,” Dana said. “What other ones are they doing today?”
“There’s the Shakespeare lecture,” Yvonne volunteered.
“I saw that Professor Longworth was at dinner with you,” Valerie said. “What is he like?”
“No barrel of laughs,” Yvonne told her. “He has a habit of raising his eyebrows. I guess that’s why his forehead is so wrinkled.”
“How about Celia Kilbride?” Dana asked. “She’s the one who is accused of being part of that hedge fund swindle. I’m surprised they invited her on this ship. I mean the way the Captain went on about everything being the best of the best. Why would they invite a crook to be here?”
“I read she claimed she was a victim too,” Yvonne said. “And I know she’s considered to be a very knowledgeable gemologist.”
“I should have had her look at my engagement ring from Herb,” Valerie laughed. “It had been his grandmother’s. If you squinted, you might get a glimpse of the diamond. When I got the divorce, I gave it back to him. I said, ‘I wouldn’t want to deprive some lucky woman of the chance to be adorned with this.’?”
As they laughed, Yvonne thought both of them had married classy guys the first time, and they married big money the second time. I’ve got to keep my eyes open. Or better than that . . .
After they each took long sips from their glasses, Yvonne said, “I’ve got a mission for you two.”
They looked at her expectantly. “Both of you dropped the guys you started with,” she said. “Did you have another lined up?”
“I did,” Valerie confirmed.
“So did I,” Dana agreed.
“Well frankly, whatever existed between Roger and me is long since over. So keep your eyes open.”
“Now, back to the lectures. So what’s our schedule?” Valerie asked.
Dana answered. “I’m in the mood to be entertained. Let’s go to all three: Emily Post, Shakespeare, and Celia Kilbride.”
“To entertainment,” Valerie said, as they clinked their glasses together.
20
Anna DeMille did not like to remember that she had started to drink the water in her finger bowl before she saw Ted Cavanaugh dip his fingers into his. She was pretty sure that no one had noticed, but the fact that someone might have continued to annoy her. That was why she opted to go to the lecture on etiquette. Maybe I can pick up some tips, she thought, no harm in that. And I can see that a lot of the people on this ship are pretty ritzy.
There was also the hope that Devon Michaelson might just happen to be there.
She waited to take a seat until the last moment before the lecture began, just in case he walked in and they could sit together.