"Georgia," Ro-Ro said with a nod, barely acknowledging her subordinate.
"And you must be the young man we've all heard so much about. How do you do? I'm Georgia Abernathy. I'm a great friend of the family."
Lance stood and shook her frail hand. "Lance Collins, ma'am. Nice to meet you."
All the Georgias looked at one another and giggled. Lance guessed that he had just passed their initial test. Georgia Abernathy continued to speak, introducing Georgia Burke and Miss Georgia '54, even though Lance could have easily saved her the trouble. Between Georgia B. and Evelyn Wesley, there was very little doubt which one was the former beauty queen. The former Miss Georgia could have given women half her age a run for their money, whereas Georgia B. had probably never turned many heads, even in her youth.
While Evelyn Wesley had a waiflike presence that denoted her as a woman who had probably never been larger than a size six, Georgia Burke had the large bones and wide hips of a woman who'd been born to work and breed. But what Georgia B. lacked in traditional beauty, she made up for in spirit, Lance could see. When she hugged him and said, "It's so nice to meet you," Lance felt that she genuinely meant it.
"Oh, Rosemary," Miss Georgia said to Ro-Ro, "I hope you
were telling Lance about the benefit tomorrow night." She laid one of her perfectly manicured hands on his arm, "You and Julia simply must come with Rosemary. It's going to be the event of the year."
"Evelyn," Ro-Ro cut in, "to you, they are all the event of the year."
"Well," Miss Georgia carried on, "it certainly is the event of the spring. If you've never seen Sycamore Hills in the spring, it's worth coming just for that. Oh, the dogwoods and the Easter lilies and the . . . well, it's simply gorgeous! I do hope you'll be able to come." She smiled, and Lance guessed that thousands of men before him had probably had a hard time saying no to Evelyn Wesley.
But Ro-Ro didn't let him answer. "I have no tolerance for those ridiculous affairs," she said. "I will not go. No doubt my family will have no interest in going."
"Rosemary, if you hate events like this, why did you buy a table?" Miss Georgia challenged.
"People expect a woman of my standing to contribute, so I contribute."
Georgia A. stepped in. "You can't have an empty table."
Georgia B. agreed. "It would look awkward. I'll talk to the organizers—have them take your table down."
"No," Ro-Ro snapped, then seemed to consider her options. "Although I loathe those functions, I concede they have worth." She looked at Lance as if seeing whether or not he would meet some secret set of standards. Then she straightened her back and
"So, what do we have planned for tomorrow night?" Lance asked when he found Julia, Nina, and Caroline in the kitchen. "Because I was talking to Ro-Ro—"
Caroline cut him off. "I'm sorry about that. I told Steve to keep her busy." She scanned the party for her husband"Steve," she yelled out the window when she saw him. "Isn't there someone you're supposed to be watching?" And in flash, Steve bolted toward Ro-Ro and the Georgias on the far] side of the yard. Caroline turned her attention back to Lance. "Again, I'm sorry about that," she said.
"That's okay. I kind of liked her," Lance said, and Julia] choked on her Diet Coke.
Caroline snickered. "Did you just say you kind of like| Ro-Ro?"
"She's got spunk," Lance said.
"Well, that's one way of putting it," Julia said.
"Kind of like someone else I know."
"Whatever," Julia said, dismissing him.
"Anyway, I was talking with her when the Georgias camel and, well, one thing led to another, and now I think we all have]
folded her hands in her lap, assumed the posture of a qua-n handing down a decree, and said, "My nieces will attend on in my behalf. It's time for them to learn to do their part."
"Ooh!" Miss Georgia squealed. "We are going to have a wonderful time!"
“To go to a party tomorrow night at some place called Sycamore Hills." Lance waited for the blast of steam Julia might let off, but nothing happened.
Julia shrugged. "Oh, one of those? Don't worry, we don't have to go."
"But Ro-Ro bought a table and—"
"Ro-Ro's always buying tables for whatever cause her little group is supporting that week. She never goes. We never go. Trust me, it's nothing."
"Jules, you have to go, and you have to take me!" Nina cried. "I have it on good authority that Sycamore Hills just spent a hundred grand on curtains for the ballroom. I've got to see them. I want to feel them. Please! Can you imagine the business I could drum up in that place? Those people are all gazillionaires, and I bet none of them have hired a decorator since Nixon resigned!"
"What's the cause?" Caroline asked Lance.
"It is a benefit for the Junior Symphony," he told her.
"Great!" Nina exclaimed. "Underprivileged cellists. I can get behind that."
Caroline spoke softly near her sister's ear. "Jules, no one at Sycamore Hills is going to talk to the press, if that's what you're worried about. Not even the staff. Those people are old-school. The CIA can learn secret-keeping tips from the Sycamore Hills crowd, believe me."
"C'mon Jules," Nina said, a wicked smile spreading across her face. "You can go to a big, flashy, expensive party and help out your best friend, or you could stay home. Alone. With Lance."
Julia threw back her shoulders and said, "I support the symphony."
"Cassie, what do you say?" Caroline prompted, but even Julia didn't know how to respond to the Georgias' present.
"Thank you?" Cassie tried, but one look at the child's face said that an antique porcelain doll with an accompanying semiprecious tiara hadn't been on Cassie's wish list.
"The tiara will fit you, too, dear," Miss Georgia said, removing it from the doll's head and placing it on Cassie's. "Oh," Miss Georgia sighed. "There she is . . . our Miss Cassie."
"Here, sweetie," Caroline said, grabbing the fragile doll from Cassie's grasp, no doubt already calculating how many pieces it would shatter into with even a short drop onto the hard floor. "That was very nice, ladies. Very ..." Caroline struggled for words, "generous."