Page 80 of The Night the Lights Went Out
The theme music fromGone with the Windplayed loudly on hidden outdoor speakers as their golf cart/carriage approached the front door and the line of people waiting to go up the front stairs. “Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Wade asked. “Because that looks like a receiving line at a wedding.”
“No, we’re definitely at the right place, and that’s definitely a receiving line, because that’s Heather greeting all the guests. I bet Dan is probably hiding somewhere.”
“Can’t say I’d blame him,” Wade said as he helped her from the golf cart and guided her toward the stairs and the growing line of people.
When Heather spotted them, a look of sheer relief passed over her face and she beckoned them to cut the line. Excusing themselves, they rushed to join Heather.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” Heather said, seeming genuinely surprised and relieved and pressing her hand with the giant diamond ring against her heart, as if she’d truly believed Merilee would skip the gala on which she’d been working more hours over the last two months than she’d dedicated to her actual paying job.
“Of course we’re here. I meant to get here earlier, but there was an accident on 400. Is everything all right?”
Heather smiled brightly. “It is now.” Her face seemed flushed, and Merilee assumed it was from the space heaters placed strategically along the steps and the threshold of the house. Or maybe it was just the excitement of the night. “You look lovely,” Heather said, taking in Merilee’s dress and then kissing her on each cheek. “Except for that hideous stole.” She wrinkled her nose. “Is that mothballs I smell?”
“You look beautiful, Heather,” Wade said, interrupting before Merilee had to think of an appropriate response.
“Thank you,” she said, smiling deeply, so that a hidden dimple appeared in her right cheek.
And she did, Merilee admitted to herself. Of course, Heather Blackford always looked gorgeous, and especially tonight, with her hair piled on top of her head, hidden crystals sparkling from the intricate curls, and the amazing column dress that hugged her perfect figure, the side gathered in elegant waves and clasped with a giant diamond brooch at her tiny waist.
Still, there was something missing. Nothing obvious, but... something. Merilee wondered if it could be the color of Heather’s gown, which was a pale yellow, definitely a color made for blending in instead of standing out. Merilee had assumed Heather’s gown would be red or fire orange, or something that would make her a beacon in a crowd of sparkling beautiful people. If Heather had wanted to find a gown in a color that would make her blend in unnoticed, then she’d found the perfect one. She wondered if Heather had simply not wanted to compete with the elaborate theme decorations for the party. Lindi had already warned her that they were over-the-top and to prepare herself.
“Where’s Daniel?” Merilee asked.
Heather shook her head. “I sent him down to the wine cellar to bring up a few special bottles for our table, but that was a while ago. He’s probably hiding.” She grabbed Wade’s arm and brought him to stand next to her. Addressing Merilee, she said, “Would you mind checking the wine cellar for me to see if he’s still there? And if he is, please tell him he’s neglecting his duties as host. Just be careful on those steps—you should probably take off your shoes. I’ll just borrow Wade to fill in until Daniel returns, if you don’t mind.”
Wade shot Merilee an amused glance.
“Of course not,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”
“One more thing,” Heather said, indicating that Merilee should step closer. She leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Can you please hold on to this for me? It’s too big and I don’t want to lose it, and I have no place to put it right now.” Merilee felt Heather tug on her hand and then place something against her palm before closing her fist over it. Heather stepped back. “And please put that stole somewhere—anywhere. I’m quite sure that’s mothballs I’m smelling.”
Wade raised his eyebrows at Merilee as she smiled and backed out of the receiving line on her mission to find Dan. After escaping the crowd on the front steps, she paused in the foyer that opened up into the great room. It had been transformed into a banquet hall that closely resembled the Twelve Oaks barbecue in one of the opening scenes ofGone with the Wind.
Long dark green velvet drapes with gold trim now hung from the floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the back of the room. Perfect replicas of live oak tree limbs festooned the walls, one of them even sporting a wooden rope swing dangling from it. A large screen had been hung on the wall, and the actual movie was playing, the sound off, but the theme song clearly audible from the speakers outside. It was the scene with Scarlett in her white dress and green sash sitting down surrounded by her suitors. Merilee looked away. She’d always hated the movie, mostly because her mother had been nicknamed Scarlett when she was younger. So much more meaningful than “Tallie,” she’d always been happy to point out to Merilee.
All the furniture in the room had been removed and the doors to the large patio opened to double the size of the already-huge room, tall heaters placed liberally around the patio to make sure nobody got chilled. Round tables, elegantly set with china, sterling, and crystal, had been set up both outdoors and indoors, table numbers written in gold gilt perched at the top of centerpieces made of fluffy cotton bolls and magnolia leaves spray-painted gold. Auction paddles were placed strategically above each place setting for the live-auction portion of the evening.
Pushed against the perimeter of the room were smaller tables with the silent auction items Merilee had worked so hard to procure, including the diamond tennis bracelet donated by her employer. She was happy to see several people already milling about, placing bids on the lined forms. As soon as she’d found Dan, she’d go check on the bids to see how they were progressing and determine if she needed to encourage the waitstaff to be more liberal with the wine and cocktails that were currently being hawked on silver trays by butlers clad in white tails and ties.
Outside in the backyard, a white tent—its front designed to resemble the columned antebellum Greek Revival mansion of the movie, Tara—had been set up to house the band and the dance floor for the postauction entertainment.
Merilee headed toward where she remembered the stairs leading down were, assuming that was her best bet to take her to the wine cellar, but stopped when she became aware again that she held something in her hand. Opening her palm carefully, she found herself looking at the gorgeous pearl ring Dan had purchased for Heather for their anniversary.
It was as beautiful as she remembered, so exquisite. She wondered if Heather had liked it. Merilee opened her evening purse, but it barely fit her large phone, lipstick, and keys, and she was afraid if she shoved in the ring she might scratch it or damage it in some way.
She remembered how well it had fit at the store and, after just a brief hesitation, placed it on her finger. She allowed herself a moment to admire it, to wiggle her fingers to catch the light from the chandelier above, then went to find Dan. As she neared the top of the staircase leading down, she noticed several women coming out of a pair of double doors through which she could see a large bed and coats strewn on top of it. Unclasping the hooks at her neck, Merilee took off the stole and headed through the doors, smiling at the women as she passed them, aware as she did of how they immediately stopped talking.
A waitress was walking by with a silver tray of champagne flutes, and Merilee quickly took one and drained it as she walked into the bedroom. She tossed the stole on the bench at the foot of the bed and turned around to leave, but stopped for a moment, noticing her surroundings.
It was undoubtedly the master bedroom, the size of it about the same size as the cottage she lived in with her two children. On an end table sat a framed wedding photo of Dan and Heather, looking like a toothpaste commercial. They were standing on what appeared to be the front steps of a large home, enormous fluted columns directly behind them, two massive mahogany-stained doors standing out from behind the happy couple, with an elaborate fan window adorning the top and matching sidelights along the sides.
Merilee stared at the photo, something about it vaguely familiar. Had they been married nearby? Because she was sure she recognized those doors and columns. It wouldn’t surprise her if she drove by the house every day and didn’t notice it. She was always so busy going over her to-do lists in her head that she sometimes ended up in the parking lot at work with no idea how she’d gotten there.
She peered through an archway to what looked to be a sitting room with a rounded wall of windows, a gas fireplace in the middle. Oil portraits of both girls, painted when they were around three or four, were hung above the mantel, a smaller photograph of the entire family sitting in a frame on a small table next to a chaise longue. The Blackfords were almost a cliché of the perfect family, of two beautiful people who fell in love and had two beautiful children and then started an empire.
Merilee was glad her mother didn’t know Heather, or about this party or this house or any of it. Because then she’d be comparing Merilee’s life with Heather’s and finding her daughter’s lacking. Deanne wouldn’t notice how far Merilee had come since the divorce, or how she didn’t cry herself to sleep anymore. Because none of that mattered to Deanne.
She backed out of the room and found another waitress with champagne flutes, and replaced hers with a full one before heading down the back stairs. The basement level was similar to the one in the Blackfords’ Sweet Apple house, with a wrought-iron railing on the open stairs leading downward. But these were spiral and more narrow, and Merilee was wearing four-inch heels and a gown that reached just below her ankles, not to mention having already downed a glass of champagne. Recalling Heather’s advice, she bent down and unbuckled her shoes before slipping them off and leaving them in a corner of the top step. Gripping the railing tightly with one hand and clutching her champagne flute in the other, she proceeded to walk down the stairs without incident.
