Chapter 16
Charlie Humphrey telephoned Margaret as soon as the showroom spaces had been properly partitioned and ready to be decorated.
“Come before noon, Margaret, if it’s convenient, and we’ll go over what the different ‘area rooms’, for want of a better term, will portray. Afterward, I want to take you out for a quiet lunch.” He leaned back into his comfortable leather office chair and glanced out of the window. The day was bright and nearly cloudless.
“Even though the workmen have all gone, I can still hear the hammering and sawing in my head. I look forward to luncheon at the Dorchester with you.” Actually, I’m looking forward to any time I can spend with you, Margaret Gregor.
Hanging up the extension, Margaret walked to the east wing and tapped on Cara’s door.
“I’m not disturbing you, am I?”
“Of course not. Come sit down.” Cara gathered up a book and some magazines from the chair she meant for Margaret to sit on. “Duff just left for a meeting of some-kind-or-other having to do with more doctor visits needed for the vets. Donal won’t be home until four o’clock and I just finished James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Tales of the South Pacific. Lord, it was a long book ... very good, but very long. Have you read it?”
“Yes, a couple of years ago. Right now I’m in the middle of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. American writers are popular with the Gregor’s, apparently.”
“Right you are. Mind if I have a go at it after you’ve finished?”
“Don’t mind at all. I saw a letter addressed to us all from Da and Charlotte. Do you have it?”
“Yes, it’s right here.”
“Good! Just tell me the highlights, if you don’t mind. I don’t have my reading glasses with me.”
“Paris was soggy nearly the whole time they were there, but the food was ‘out of this world’; Rome was wet, too, but having spent most of their time in galleries and museums in both cities, they weren’t too inconvenienced. Charlotte enjoyed the Italian food but your father didn’t care so much for pasta and red sauce, pasta and white sauce or pasta with green sauce. They’re in Madrid now and it is warm and sunny.”
“Thanks ... I’ll read all the details later.” Margaret huffed a sigh and smiled at Cara. “Mind if I ‘bend your ear’ a bit?”
“Oh, I’d love it. Rosemary’s latest gaff?”
Margaret laughed. “No ... what did she do this time?”
“Nothing she hasn’t done twenty times before. Come on now ... ‘bend my ear’.”
“I’m going to Humphrey’s tomorrow to decide on the décor for each of the ‘area rooms’, as he calls them.”
“’He’ being Charles Humphrey ... right?”
“Yes, of course.” Squirming further back into the chair, she began again. “
“Mr. Humphrey ... err ... Charlie, has asked me to go to lunch with him. We’ve eaten lunch together before, but this feels different ... more like a lunch date than a lunch meeting.”
“It’s not an illicit tryst, Margaret. Why are you so worried?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It probably has to do with me not having a date since Robert Findley. Not that I hadn’t been asked out since then. But, Mother and Rosemary were so adamant against my going out with anyone that I always said ‘no’. Eventually, chaps stopped inviting me. I don’t know how to act or what to expect. I feel like a sixteen year old in a middle-aged woman’s body. I feel ridiculous!”
Cara groaned. “Those two women have a lot to answer for!” Then she leaned toward her sister-in-law. “I wish Charlotte were here, but barring the best, we’ll have to make do with second-best ... me.”
She stood up, walked to the window overlooking the rose garden, paced over to the bedroom door then turned around and went back to stand next to Margaret, a crease of concentration pinched between her eyes.
“First, you have to appreciate what Charles Humphrey sees when he looks at you.” Cara pulled her out of the chair and pushed her in front of the gilt mirror hanging on the sitting room wall. “He sees a very attractive woman; an intelligent woman who has talent, a career and a partnership in her own business. Second, what he doesn’t see is a clinging, fortune-hunting female out to snag a husband.”
The women walked back to their chairs.
Cara continued. “Third, the man asked you to lunch because he obviously enjoys your company. Forth, you are only required to be pleasant, a trifle hungry and to be open to the charming ways of an unattached nice-looking man who will probably go to great lengths to impress you.”
“I know it’s not going to be that easy, Cara. He’s a sophisticated, confident and prosperous man used to being with sophisticated and confident women.
“It may surprise you to learn that I have had some experience dating a sophisticated, confident and prosperous man. All I did to interest him in me was to ask him about himself and then I listened. It was easy to do because I truly wanted to know all about your brother. Pay attention, Margaret, dear ... listen while Charles Humphrey talks. The time will fly, you’ll see.”
“What if he should, by any leap of chance, ask me out again?”
“Say, yes, Margaret ... just say, yes!”
----
“I feel I’ve completely abandoned you, Judith. How are you doing?” Margaret sat down at the little antique secretary that Daisy had used the summer before.
“I’m terrific ... so glad to hear from you. Guess what, my friend? The estate house is completely done ... and on time. Can you believe it? The Gregor’s may come view it anytime. I expect their son is out of school and they’re moving up here for the summer as planned?”
“As a matter of fact they are leaving in three days and I fly in Wednesday next. A short stay for me ... two weeks, I expect.” She picked up a pencil and began doodling on a notepad. “I’ve missed your good eye and expert advice. Do you have plans that hopefully include coming back to London?”
“Are you sitting down, Margaret?” Judith moved over to stand in front of the large window that faced the sea. The sky was bright with roiling white clouds and the sun glare on the rough water cascading against the rock wall caused her to squint ... she turned back into the room.
“Oh dear. Yes, I’m sitting down. What is it?”
“Nothing dire, to be sure. It’s just that I have a proposition to put to you ... a business proposition.” Noticing that she was nibbling at her thumbnail, she tucked the offending digit into the pocket of her cardigan. “I’d like to sell my half of the studio, Margaret ... to you, if you could swing it. Hunter wants us to be married right away, you see. I’m going to be a June bride ... isn’t that wild?”
“Well ... that’s wonderful news, Judith ... just wonderful. And, hardly an unexpected announcement as you two seemed to hit it off immediately. When in June ... the wedding, I mean?”
“The second Saturday. It’s not going to be a formal affair ... just the two of us taking our vows in the tiny chapel at Sto’ven with a few friends looking on. I’d like you to stay for the ceremony, Margaret. In fact, I was hoping you’d stand up with me.”
“I’d be happy to so long as you don’t insist I be swathed in lime colored netting.” After a confused silence she resumed. “Twenty years ago, my sister dressed all her attendants like circus clowns. Of course, she didn’t see it that way. To her we were symbolizing the ‘fruits of the season’ ... apple, orange, lemon, lime and blueberry. Nevertheless, my brother, who had at the time a rather childish sense of humor, rented a brightly painted and dreadfully noisy calliope and hired a vendor to serve cotton candy and caramel corn to all the wedding guests at the reception. Mother was extremely annoyed and Rosemary had a cow.”
Laughing, Judith promised her she could wear whatever she liked.
“Will the sum of the buy-out be the same as what I paid you when I bought into the studio?” Asked Margaret.
“Yes. Does that sound fair to you?”
“It does ... but I’ll have to think about how I’m going to manage the financing before I give you an answer. Can you wait until I arrive in Scotland? I should know one way or the other by then. Our flight leaves Heathrow on June second.”
Judith agreed and after a few pleasantries the call was disconnected.
----
“Da, Duff ... I have all the figures totted here showing what it would cost to reconfigure, decorate and equip the attics to create a one bedroom apartment with an office, sitting room, fully functioning kitchen, laundry and bathroom.”
“A pretty hefty sum, daughter. And, this would be without the fancy furniture, I presume?”
“It’s all listed here, Da. Everything that would be considered part of the Manse ... construction, labor, paint, paper, rugs, drapes, bath and kitchen fixtures and appliances.”
Duff looked it over and nodded. “So when do you want to get started on it?”
“Well ... I’ve had to give up the idea of having this lovely apartment because I need the cash, instead. Judith wants to sell her half of the business. She’s going to marry a building contractor she met in Sto’ven and set up a design studio there. This money will cover three-quarters of the amount she wants. Hopefully, she’ll be willing to wait for the rest. My rooms in the west wing suit me fine.”
“I’d like to see your books, Margaret ... profit and losses ... income and outlay. See if what Judith is asking for is warranted.” Duff laid his hand on his sister’s arm. “We are happy to invest whatever you need to buy Judith’s half of the studio. It’s just good business to see that you are being treated fairly, my girl. Your talent is interior design ... mine is monetary acumen.”
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