SPECIAL ORDER
By
Victoria Chatham
“Oh, Royce! No, not tonight, please.”
“Sweetheart, it can’t be helped. I need to sort out some loose ends
on the Blanchard account. I won’t be any later than seven thirty, I promise.
Grab a taxi and go ahead. Paul will look after you.”
Carolyn closed her phone.
Seven o’clock at O’Keefe’s, Royce told her last night, with that
little boy grin she so loved pulling at the side of his mouth. It was going to
be a celebration; he said, a double celebration in fact.
Promises, promises. She’d heard them all. And yes, she knew that
Paul, the maitre d’ hôtel at their favourite restaurant, would look after her.
He’d had plenty of practice, she thought bitterly.
Carolyn headed upstairs. There was no point in feeling sorry for
herself, she thought as she stepped into the shower. But today of all days.
Couldn’t he, for once, have been on time? She pampered her hair with a
freesia-scented shampoo, cleaned her lightly tanned skin, and when everything
was rinsed, reached for her robe and towel.
Once in her bedroom, she opened her wardrobe and took out the hanger
with her dress, bought especially for tonight. She held it up, admiring the
midnight blue slipper satin beneath an overlay of navy lace, with the round
neckline, short sleeves, and empire waistline. She thought it stunning in its
simplicity as she slipped the dress from its hanger.
A smile of anticipation lingered on her lips as she pulled the dress
over her head and shivered with sensual delight as the cool satin whispered
against her skin. She fastened the side zipper and smoothed the fabric over her
hips. With the dress on, she reached up and took out the pins from her hair. It
tumbled over her shoulders in a mass of blue-black waves subtly streaked with
silver. She shook her head, glanced in the mirror again, and grinned at the
rumpled, windblown look that she knew Royce adored.
Reaching once more into the closet, she pulled out a pair of stiletto
sandals. They consisted of just a few thin straps of leather attached to the
heels, which raised her height by three inches and highlighted the curve of her
well-toned calves. She slipped her feet into them, fastened the tiny buckles,
took one last look at herself, and allowed her smile to broaden into one of
satisfaction with her reflection.
***
The taxi dropped her right outside O’Keefe’s restaurant. Paul, smiling,
opened the door for her.
“May I say how charming you look tonight, Mrs. Pinnell,” he said,
with a slight bow.
“Thank you, Paul, yes, you may.”
Carolyn smiled at him with genuine pleasure as he guided her to a
candlelit table which, she noticed, was set for four. A martini was already
waiting for her as Paul pulled out a chair to seat her.
Carolyn lifted her martini. “Thank you.”
He departed with a slight bow. The smile faded from her face as she
placed her glass on the table.
The sting of disappointment that Royce could be late today of all
days lingered slowly in her heart. Their first meeting had been purely by
chance, she sitting with coffee at a busy little sidewalk café, he asking if he
could take the only free seat and join her. She hadn’t intended to start a
conversation with anyone but couldn’t help but notice how attractive he was.
Tanned skin and closely cropped hair. Long,
black, silky eyelashes beneath well-defined brows. His chin was square, and his
jaw was firm. A man who knew what he wanted and would pursue it relentlessly,
she had thought then, and she had been proved right.
“Penny for them,” a voice whispered in her ear.
“Royce!” Startled, she looked up, then her blue eyes widened, and
she stood up.
Royce took her in his arms, his lips firmly stopping her protests of
surprise. Behind him, their son and daughter waited, and when Royce released
her, they crowded in with hugs and kisses of their own.
“Happy twenty-fifth wedding anniversary,” they said.
Still stunned, Carolyn gazed at Royce across the table. “So you
being late had nothing to do with any of your accounts?”
Royce shook his head. “I had to collect Tracy and Brad from the
airport, but I couldn’t tell you that.”
“And Mom,” Tracy chipped in, “you would not believe the trouble we
had coordinating flights for Brad from New York and me from San Francisco.”
“But we wouldn’t have missed that look on your face for the world,” Brad
said
Royce picked up his menu. “Have you had a chance to decide what
you’re having, sweetheart?”
Carolyn looked at her children and husband, still bemused by his
little deception, and shook her head. The buzz of conversation faded as she
opened her menu. Inside, she found a long, slim envelope addressed to Mrs.
Royce Pinnell. Her family watched as she withdrew it. She lifted the flap of
the envelope and took out two tickets for a luxury cruise in the Bahamas. The
pink, heart-shaped post-it attached to them declared, ‘To Mom and Dad. Happy
Anniversary’. There was something else in the envelope too, and she tipped into
her hand a diamond tennis bracelet.
Carolyn clutched the tickets tightly as Royce secured the bracelet
around her wrist. Her thoughts darted through the years they had spent
together. She brushed aside the frustrations and arguments, tuned out the
annoyances, relished the pleasures, and smiled at the memories of fun. Tracy
and Brad watched her expectantly.
“I don’t know how you managed this,” she said, waving the tickets in
one hand and letting the light catch the diamonds circling her wrist. Under
their delighted gazes, she pretended to peruse the menu. “I will have,” she
spoke slowly, running her finger down the page as if making a selection. She
looked at her husband and whispered, “A special order of at least twenty-five
more years with the man I love.”
Royce took her hand in his. The promise she saw in his grey eyes
brought a smile to her face, then Brad and Tracy caught her attention again
with noisy questions, and they were all soon engaged in lively conversation. The
smile still lingered on her lips as she pictured Royce unwrapping his gift.
But that would have to wait until much, much later.
END
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Just lovely. Thanks for sharing.
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