School of Fortune by Amanda Brown Read Free Book Online

luncheon, Pippa. Perhaps in Dallas it is customary to make a respectable woman wait over an hour. In Houston it would be scandalous for me to keep the appointment after such an indelicacy.”
    â€œI see.” Pippa tucked yet another rule of Houston etiquette into her memory bank. “I’m afraid my mother was suffering a touch of jitters herself.”
    â€œThayne may have bitten off more than she can chew, poor dear.” Rosimund opened the white carton. “This smells divine. Tell me about the luncheon.”
    Pippa related a few innocent highlights as Rosimund tucked into her soup. “The girls are so excited at meeting all those eligible bachelors.”
    Dallas hussies! “I do hope they will concentrate tonight. I fear this rehearsal will be extremely difficult to coordinate.”
    Pippa’s wedding was to take place in Meyerson Symphony Center. Workmen had constructed a marble-covered extension to the stage in order to accommodate the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and chorus, a bell choir, two brass quintets, the bridal parties, and last but not least, Pippa’s bridal train, a confection embossed with what Thayne claimed to be her family crest. When fully extended, the train occupied its own zip code. In an attempt to work out the complex logistics before the wedding rehearsal, Thayne and Wyeth had twice rented Meyerson, musicians, thirty-one actors, and tried a few dry runs. Wyeth had reached a peak of frustration when, even on the fifth go, the small army of attendants was still receding from the hall when the Hallelujah Chorus ran out of notes. He finally calculated that everyone had to walk at a pace of twenty-two inches per second in order to evacuate the auditorium by the time the brass quintets opened fire.
    â€œThe bridesmaids have been practicing their paces for months,” Pippa said. “They should be able to march up and down that aisle in their sleep.”
    Rosimund smiled thinly. She had been young once herself. She knew that the moment the bridesmaids set their eyes on Lance’s retinue, all training would go out the window. “We shall see.”
    Room service appeared bearing Rosimund’s shrimp and dandelions. She ate that, too, with gusto: it would be eons before dinner and she had played two sets of tennis with Lance this morning. “Did the bridesmaids like my gift?” she asked, refilling her glass with Evian.
    â€œThey loved the barrettes. Thank you so much.”
    â€œAnd Thayne’s gift? I hope they didn’t notice her pearls were smaller than mine.”
    â€œI didn’t see any calipers at the table.” Pippa waited until Rosimund finished her shrimp before asking, “How’s Lance holding up?” She and Ginny had never located him.
    â€œWe had breakfast followed by tennis. I believe he’s off playing rugby now. I hope you will forgive me for taking him away from you today, Pippa. It was my last chance to have him all to myself.”
    â€œThat’s perfectly all right.” Actually it was perfectly infuriating, but Pippa tried to put herself in Rosimund’s satin mules with the little red pompoms. “I’m sure I would only bore him with my tempests in a teapot.” She stood to leave. “I’ll be so glad when this wedding is all over.”
    Pippa burst into tears, surprising herself as much as her mother-in-law-to-be. Rosimund gathered her in her arms. “There there, dear. Courage!” Rosimund cursed Thayne for making Pippa’s nuptials a nightmare instead of a fairy tale. “Would you like me to call my nu-merologist? She’s excellent at jing luo massage.”
    â€œThat’s okay,” Pippa sniffled. She needed Lance, not a massage. “I’m sorry to be bawling like this.”
    â€œI was exactly the same the day before my wedding.” Rosimund’s husband and his groomsmen had spent the day at the racetrack. “But I did what I had to do. And