That evening at Alicia Palmer's dinner party for the vivacious Maggie Sheraton, this topic was on all lips.
Alicia originally had envisioned a small dinner party where Herb could meet Maggie. BoomBoom brought up the fact that that looked like a setup. What if they didn't take to each other? Better to protect them by having more people.
More people turned into Harry and Fair, Miranda and Tracy, Bo and Nancy Newell, Susan and Ned Tucker, Tazio Chappars and Paul de Silva (now dating), and Big Mim and Jim Sanburne. Little Mini and Blair Bainbridge were in Washington attending the opera. Little Mim still had not told her parents that she was engaged. Her father knew it was coming because Blair, quite properly, had asked him for his daughter's hand, but the handsome male model did not indicate exactly when he would be asking for her hand, her foot, and other parts. The father was a bit nervous, which he prudently did not share with his wife. Big Mim had the skills to run the country, but she couldn't run her daughter. This did not prevent her from trying, nor did it prevent the attendant resentment from Little Mim.
Alicia Palmer would have asked Deputy Cynthia Cooper, for she was a lively dinner guest, but she'd been tied up for weeks helping Sheriff Rick Shaw reorganize the department, top to bottom.
Patterson's created an elegant, low, long centerpiece for Alicia's dinner party. She had requested white, pink, and purple flowers. This was December 2, and Alicia wouldn't decorate with red, green, and gold for a few more days. She thought it vulgar to rush the holidays. The decorations came down on New Year's Day, too, just as Mary Pat Reines had done. Alicia had absorbed most of Mary Pat's ways. Mary Pat was considered a rebel in her family, not because she was a lesbian (most families had gay members; however, they married and then discreetly engaged in affairs) but because she refused to marry and live by Reines standards. Mary Pat's mother and grandmother had a servant behind each chair when they gave dinner parties. Life was grand indeed.
Mary Pat's mother would visit the beautiful farm and gripe, "You live like a peasant."
Alicia simplified life even more, but by most standards, except for those of a Saudi prince, she lived a beautiful and blessed life.
Alicia asked BoomBoom who she wanted as her escort. BoomBoom said Alicia could be her escort. The older woman laughed uproariously at this but was flattered. Alicia had abandoned the idea of an equal number of men and women at the table years ago.
Mary Pat's idea for any party—and this held true for Big Mim and her aunt Tally—was to always have more men than women. Parties almost always had more women than men; changing the ratio ramped up the competition and energy among the men. It never failed. She'd raid the fraternities of the University of Virginia or call up a dear friend of hers who taught at Virginia Military Institute. She'd make a contribution to the group's treasury, not that she told anyone. Her parties were wildly successful because they overflowed with handsome young men, each of them coached to pay attention to the various ladies regardless of age.
Alicia, when away from her husbands, would have parties of only drop-dead gorgeous young women, many of them hoping for a film career like that of their hostess. The attention lavished on Alicia picked her up better than any combination of alcohol or drugs. She wondered why so many people in Hollywood succumbed to pills, powders, and liquid fire. As time went by and husbands went with it, she changed. Most women become stronger with age. She no longer needed the secret parties away from her husband, or a secret lover or two on the side—usually female, sometimes male—to spice up her life. The older she became, the more she realized that what she wanted was a partner, a true partner. She certainly hoped the woman wouldn't be ugly as a mud fence, but more than anything she wanted a woman in her life with a bubbling sense of humor, of adventure, of warmth and compassion. She would not turn away a gentleman with these qualities, but she found more of them in women than in men, or perhaps that was her illusion. Perhaps just as many men as women harbored these qualities. She leaned toward women intellectually, and her body gravitated toward the smooth skin of a woman. Long ago she realized there is no more reason to be gay than there is to be straight. It's not a choice. It simply is. You are what you are and it's up to you to make the best of it.
She sat at the head of the table, placing Herb at the foot. He protested that he didn't deserve the honor, but she told him how lovely it was to have a man at the table. She put Maggie on his right hand. Technically Maggie should have sat at Alicia's right as her guest of honor, but the hell with technicalities.
She also sat BoomBoom smack in the middle of the table, not considered a favorable place by those who understood that your place was indicated, literally, by your place. But BoomBoom knew her place in this community and had no need of visual reinforcement. She wanted the dinner to be a success, so she herself suggested she sit in the middle. In case conversation lagged, she could rekindle it from that position.
Jim Sanburne sat on Alicia's right. As Mayor of Crozet this made sense. His wife sat on Alicia's left.
She cleverly placed Harry on Herb's left, for Harry could be quite funny, often unintentionally so. She scattered everyone in a manner she thought would bring the best out in them, keep them alert, and she certainly kept Paul de Silva alert when she placed Fair Haristeen next to Tazio. She put Bo on Tazio's other side and placed Nancy Newell next to Fair.
By the second course the table buzzed. First of all, everyone enjoyed everyone else. They hoped a spark might be kindled in Herb and Maggie.
"They'll need the miracle of the fishes and the loaves," Big Mini commented on the crowds at Greyfriars.
"Can't the faithful brown-bag it?" Harry, ever practical, said, which elicited laughter. "Did I put my foot in it again?"
"No, it's just you." Susan smiled, happy that Ned was paying attention to her.
"Well, the Blessed Virgin Mother can bless a ham sandwich as well as fishes and loaves," Harry commented.
A moment passed and Herb said, his voice deep, reassuring, "I called Brother Handle to see if I could be of service. He thanked me but said they could manage. He did say people are giving the monks money, leaving money at the statue, leaving burning candles in glass votives, leaving contributions in the shops. He mentioned that the order does not seek wealth. I replied that surely there is no injunction against wealth seeking the order."
Maggie, who had done many commercial voice-overs, asked in her distinctive voice, "And what did he say?"
"That he would bow to God's will." Herb smiled broadly.
"Which means: take the money and run." Ned laughed.
"Susan, did Brother Thomas ever talk to you about his life in the order?" BoomBoom asked.
Susan, wearing a forest-green dress that looked good on her, shook her head. "Not much. The only thing he ever said was, people are people, and I never quite knew what he meant."
"That politics is politics and if you have more than three people in a room, you have politics," Jim replied.
"In Virginia you only need one person." Tazio, originally from St. Louis, laughed. "One Virginian can hold five conflicting opinions simultaneously."
The conversation switched to a state senator from Rockingham County who they felt would run for governor next election.
Herb, tone measured, inclined his head toward Maggie. "Conservative fiscally but quite liberal on what I call personal-choice issues, an interesting mix."
"The mix of the future." Jim Sanburne became enlivened. "This country can't continue with the kind of polarization we have now, a polarization because the extremes of both parties are controlling them. Americans aren't extremists."