Lotus Blossom (22 page)

“How did you Find me in this crowd?” Lotus felt such a surge of happiness that he was with her.

“There will never be a time when I don’t find you, darling, wherever you are.” Dash looked down at her.

“My goodness, I like the way you look at me, but we might get picked up for indecent exposure . . . or something.”

“Funny lady.” He touched her nose with his one finger then picked up her left hand. “I do love seeing my ring on your finger. I can’t remember anything giving me as much joy as that does.”

“I like it myself.”

Dash smiled, then looked up and over her head, swiveling slowly. “So you want to see Quincy Market . . .” he said slowly, a smile drifting across his face.

“I hadn’t realized it would be so large, so bustling . . ." Lotus breathed, looking round her. “It seems as though persons who work nearby come here for lunch . . ." she mused.

“Indeed, they do. The food is very fresh.” He grinned down at her. “And I’m going to take you to Durgin Park for lunch.”

“You are? Good. Is it close?” Lotus smiled just because Dash laughed out loud.

“It’s very close, but first I want to take you to the boutiques and stalls. I feel like buying. Do you feel like buying, Mrs. Colby?”

Lotus stopped and bit her lip, her glance sliding away from him. Would he be bored doing such a mundane thing as browsing in Quincy Market? “Maybe you would rather—”

“Darling . . ." Dash bent over her. “I’ll enjoy being here with you. It makes me happy that you want to see my city.”

Lotus lifted her hand to his cheek. “And you make me happy. I guess I’m still a little unsure about what you enjoy . . . but I don’t want to change you. I want to keep the man I married. I suppose at some point we’ll stop being so sensitive with each other.”

Dash shook his head. “I don’t think I will.” He took her hand and turned her so that they could walk along the open concourse next to the covered section of the market. “That business with Alan taking you sculling proved that to me.” His smile was twisted as he looked at her. “It wasn’t only the danger that angered me, though that was most of it. It blew me to hell that someone else was showing you things for the first time, and I wanted to be the one to do that.”

Lotus pulled her hand free and slipped it around his waist. “I understand that. I feel the same way about you.” She leaned on him when they paused in front of a leather-working shop. “When you love someone, all the nerve ends are exposed. Everything quivers in the air and is vulnerable. Love is ridiculous when you think about it.”

“My wife, the philosopher,” Dash said, kissing the top of her head, his arm hooking around her shoulders to keep her close to him. “Let’s buy you one of those suede carryalls with the Indian beading.”

“Why? I have room to carry things in my purse.” Lotus could feel herself being propelled forward as she gestured to the small leather shoulder bag she carried.

By the time they purchased the carryall, Dash had already spotted the jewelry stall. “I’ll be over there. You get the change,” he murmured, kissing her cheek, then striding away.

“Wait,” Lotus called to him, then the leather stall owner caught her attention. “Oh, yes, the change. Thank you.” She put it in her pocket, so that she could give it back to Dash, then hurried after him across the narrow plaza.

“But do you have a pink or lavender jade? My wife looks wonderful in those colors,” Dash was telling a goggled-eyed salesperson as he pointed to several things that he wanted.

“Well, sir, just a moment, let me get the owner.” The young man looked down the counter and gestured for an older man to join them.

“What are you doing?” Lotus whispered to Dash. “You can’t buy all this— ” She swung her hand to encompass the earrings and necklaces on the black velvet.

"I can too,” Dash told her, then he turned from her to smile at the older man. “I do have a nice coral set that goes with her coloring, but I’m interested in pink or lavender jade.”

“No such thing,” Lotus again whispered to him out of the corner of her mouth.

Dash looked at her. “Stop doing that with your mouth or you’ll freeze that way. Do you want to spend your life with your mouth two degrees left of center?”

“I was trying to be discreet,” Lotus answered, lifting her chin, then feeling her mouth drop as the man opened up a square of velvet in front of them. “Good Lord. Is that real?” Lotus bit her lip and smiled weakly when the man looked affronted.

“That’s marvelous, Calvin. Louis at VanCleef and Arpels told me you had a fine collection of ade,” Dash interjected, throwing Lotus an irritated glance.

“He did? Who’s Louis?” Lotus couldn’t take her eves from the richness of pink and lavender jade in front of her.

“Uh?” Dash looked at her blankly for a moment, then looked back at the jewelry. “I can’t make up my mind. I like the rings “Rings?” Lotus gulped. “Plural?”

Dash frowned at her. “And the earrings, but I can’t make up my mind.” He leaned his chin on his hand. “That necklace is delicate. I like the dragon motif. Oh, well, we’ll take all of it. I’ll give vou a check.”

“No,” Lotus groaned. “We can’t take all that. Besides, the man would be a fool to take a personal check for such an amount. And jewelers aren’t fools.” Her fingers twitched at his sleeve, trying to pull him away.

“What is it, darling? Are you hungry?”

Lotus could only shake her head as she watched Dash write the check. “Isn’t he going to check your credentials?” she whimpered.

“Just be patient, love. I’ll buy you chowder for lunch.”

For the first time since she met him, Lotus began thinking of Dash as dense. She waited until they were outside, then she pulled on his arm. “That was extravagant. I don’t need so much jade.”

Dash smiled at her, then patted her arm. “Indulge me a little, sweetheart. I love giving you things.” He kissed her cheek. “Shall we go?”

“But, Dash . . . I . . .” She gaped after him as he strolled across the square. “I think I married Santa Claus,” she muttered, nonplussed when he turned and gestured for her to join him. “1 really don’t think I need so much jade—”

“It looks wonderful with your skin.” Dash looked a little bemused as he ran his eyes around the area. “You can forget how alive it is here, yet how relaxed,” he said almost to himself.

Lotus was going to say more, but just then he turned around and put his arm around her, his face relaxed, much of the tautness in his frame dissipated. She wanted him to remain that way. She sighed and swallowed her arguments.

“This is fun. Come on, lady. Durgin Park has to be experienced.” Dash laughed out loud, turning smiling faces in his direction. He hurried her through the market.

They went into a rather dark small room that opened off the square and a young man called to them over the bar.

"Going upstairs?”

"Yes,” Dash told him. Then he led Lotus up a rather steep flight of stairs to a smoky, steamy kitchen area, where a woman led them into another room.

“Table for two?”

“Please,” Dash told her, joy filling him because his wife’s head was swiveling every which way trying to see it all.

“They have an oilcloth on the table,” she said, grinning up at him.

“Yes.” Dash looked around the crowded low-ceilinged room, delighted that they had been led to a table by the window which was open so that the noises from the market wafted up to them. "Didn’t I tell you it had to be experienced?”

Lotus nodded, so busy people-watching that she paid scant attention when the woman took the order.

When her chowder came in a huge bowl, she looked open-mouthed at Dash. “Do I swim in it or eat it?”

“Taste,” he invited, lifting his spoon.

“
Ummmm
.So good.”

They fed each other, delighting in each other’s responses.

“I would rather come back to the market than go to the Symphony Ball,” Lotus told him, leaning near her husband.

Dash nodded, loving the sparkle of happiness in her eyes.
She is totally unaffected by anything but living, and I love that about her.

“Tell me about the Symphony Ball. Is it white tie?”

“Probably.”

“You’ll look so sexy,” Lotus snarled at him, snapping her teeth as though she would bite him.

“Love, don’t do that.” Dash looked deep into her eyes. “I wish we were back in our bedroom.” “Do you think we have time for ... us before we dress in all our finery?” She bit her lip, then sighed. “I hope my wedding dress will be all right.” Dash nodded, watching her closely. She wasn’t saying much, but he could tell she was nervous.

When they were finished and it was time to go, Dash led the way down the steep stairway to the street level.

“Love”—Dash kissed her forehead as they ambled back through the market— “let’s grab a cab. I want to go to a store.”

“Is it far?”

Dash shook his head as he urged away from the market and out to the street. He flagged down a cab, put her inside, and followed her. “Charine’s,” he told the driver.

“Charine’s?” Lotus echoed. “Isn’t that a haute couture house in New York?”

Dash nodded. “They also have shops here, and in Chicago and L.A.”

“I didn’t know that.”

The short ride was almost over when Lotus wheeled on him. “Why do we need to go there? Do you think my wedding dress would be outre for the Symphony Ball?”

“No. I think it would be lovely, but I don’t think you feel that way and you seem nervous about tonight. I just thought if there was anything here all made up that caught your fancy we could buy it. But if you don’t see anything, that’s fine too. Then, at least, you’ll be happier with your choice,” Dash told her, shoving some bills at the driver then getting out of the cab, his hand holding hers.

When they were standing on the sidewalk together, he put his hand on her lips. “And please don’t tell me I shouldn’t spoil you. I love getting vou things, love. Please indulge me just a bit.” Lotus looked up at him. How had she ever gotten anyone like him? Even at night sometimes when she would wake up in his arms, she could hardly believe that he was hers, and that they were married. She sighed.

“You’re in that dream world again, love.” He kissed her cheek, then drew her toward the glass-fronted establishment that had beige silk sheers on the door and window and the name CHARINE
’S
scrolled on the window in gold.

Lotus dragged her feet. “We can’t go in there in running clothes. . . ”

“Yes, we can,” he told her gently, pushing open the door into the plush champagne-carpeted and silk-walled reception area.

There were two other women waiting as they entered, who looked at them askance. A salesperson crossed the spacious area, her feet sinking into the pale, thick carpet. She smiled at each of the women in turn, then gestured to two assistants who followed her. They took the two women through a door that Lotus surmised must be the fitting rooms. She then turned and looked at them, her eyes icy, her chin raised. “Yes?”

“Charine is sometimes here on Fridays. Is she here today?” Dash’s strong voice reached out to the woman, cracking the starch in her demeanor. “Tell her that Dash Colby is here.”

“Colby?” the woman’s smile widened. “Yes, of course. If you’ll take a seat.” Her glance slid off Lotus. “I assume you are together.”

“Tell Charine we’re here,” Dash said coldly, making the woman almost scuttle into the back of the salon.

“You were a bit rough on her,” Lotus ventured, leaning on him when he put his arm around her.

“I didn’t like what I read in her tiny mind. You’re my wife. I will not let anyone think of you as anything else.”

“Yes, sir.” Lotus giggled, without raising her head from his chest.

The curtains were flung back and a doll-like woman tottered toward them, her hair as black and silky as Lotus’s, her arms raised. “You dog . . ." Her rather high-pitched voice had a trace of accent. “You are married! I read it in the
Times.”
Charine’s eyes slewed toward Lotus. “Ahh, so you have chosen well, cheri.” The tiny woman looked at Lotus. “You are lovely.”

“Thank you,” Lotus said.

“Thank you,” Dash said at the same time, then laughed and hugged her. “She’s beautiful and tonight we are going to the Symphony Ball. . . ” “Ahh . . . and you expect me to outfit her in twenty minutes,” Charine interrupted dryly, shaking her head when Dash laughed and nodded. She clapped her hands, then spoke in rapid French to an attendant who came on the run, then scurried away to carry out the command. “I am not sure it’s here,” Charine said, talking to no one in particular, a slight frown on her porcelain skin.

“Come, we’ll wait in my quarters. Marie will bring it there.”

"This number thirty-four you sent her for must suit my wife, I take it, by the way you’re pacing,” Dash told her when he followed the women into a large studio area and straddled a chair, his chin on the back. He sat very close to Lotus who sat on the edge of her chair.

Charine stopped her pacing and smiled at him. Ah, your French is still good, I see.” She looked at Lotus. “And do you speak the language of the gods, madame?”

“Some. My first languages were French, Japanese, and Chinese. Then I learned English. My father was from the United States, but he was very comfortable with the other languages,” Lotus told her. Dash beamed at Charine.

“You love this lady very much, I think.”

“Very much.” Dash grinned at a reddening Lotus. “You must not mind me,
cherie,”
Charine spoke to Lotus. “I always speak my mind. It is me to do so.” She looked back at Dash. “As for the dress . . . Ah, you have it, Marie.” Charine gestured to the girl to bring it forward. Then she turned and gesticulated to Lotus to stand near her. “As I thought, this green silk is the same color as her eyes. Marie, you will help Mrs. Colby and get shoes in her size, please.” Her bow-shaped mouth curved upward when she saw Lotus’s surprised look. “So you worry about the shoes I tell Marie to bring? Do not. I always keep a supply of try-on shoes for my customers.” She shrugged in a Gallic way. “It is more efficient.”

Lotus felt as though she had climbed aboard a fast-moving merry-go-round when Marie took her into a dressing room adjacent to the studio. She could hear the murmur of Dash and Charine’s conversation as Marie and another woman pulled off her sweats, then had her don nylons and medium-heeled shoes. The dress, in sea foam silk, was slipped over her head. It was strapless except for a long scarf that was tossed over one shoulder, Roman-style. The dress was form fitting from under the bust to the kneecap. There the silk was draped from a point at the knee downward so that it flared back and down like a ruffle. It delineated every curve of Lotus’s body and didn’t allow for any bra.