"I'm not surprised. He hates her too. The only reason he tolerates her is because of me." She hangs the gown on the rack, then nods over to her bags. "Grab a couple of seam rippers, will ya? We need to separate the lace."
I do as instructed, and while we work, Cathy vents how Tiara forced d'Artagnan out of the house. "When our mother died, he was ten, and I was five. I don't remember much about her, but he remembers everything. Long story short, he was sixteen when our dad started dating Tiara. He didn't like her right off the bat, but daddy married her anyway. Bubba rebelled. Starting getting in fights at school. Got expelled. Anyway, he ended up joining the Navy."
"And the rest is history?" I finish her thoughts.
"Yes." She beams at me. "He's such a badass! Oh my god. I love him so!"
I laugh at her. "It's obvious you two love each other very much."
While Cathy helps me slip into the lace gown and pins it so that it hugs my body, she asks how long d'Artagnan and I have known each other. I answer vaguely, "Not long."
"Love at first sight, then?"
"I guess you could say that."
She laughs, "I can't wait for you to tell me all the details, but right now, you need to get your mind focused on stealing the show."
I twirl around, letting my hair fan out off my body, and she claps her hands. "Bubba was right. You are perfection!"
Chapter 10
d’Artagnan
Icheck the program. Cathy's entry is next. I sit up and begin to pay attention. The bids are flying around for a beautiful red satin ball gown worn by a beautiful brunette.
"$5,000 from Mr. Wiley. $5,500? Thank you, Mr. Carson. Can I get $6000?"
I shift in my seat. It's been a long evening. Tiara glances at me. "Bored?"
"Nearly to tears," I admit.
"You could go ahead and tell me your big news." She tries to coax it out of me.
"And spoil the surprise? No way," I laugh. I'm going to send Nancy a bonus for getting too fried to be here.
Tiara pouts then ignores me.
"Sold for $15,000 to the gentleman on the upper deck," the auctioneer shouts.
Tiara leans back, crossing her arms, and too smugly says, "Hmm, that's a high bid. Now I'm worried about our dear little Cathy. That's such a high bid to have to beat."
I glance up toward the upper deck, knowing the bidder was her plant. "Cathy's dress is next, isn't it?"
"Suppose to be," she smirks like the cat that ate the canary and the hair on the back of my neck rises. The bitch has done something to sabotage Cathy.
Fuck. That could be a problem. "Why? What happened?" I ask, hoping she's so proud of herself, she will brag.
"I heard her model was sick." She cuts her eyes at me. "I pray Cathy's done the sensible thing and pulled out of the charity to save face."
"I doubt that," I tell her. "Cathy's very resourceful."
"I know." She presses her lips together to hide her smirk. "I'm fearful that terrible girl, Zella, will convince her that she's good enough to replace a professional model." She rolls her eyes, then shakes her head. "That would be disastrous."
"Why would that be disastrous?" I control my tone and my facial expression now, realizing she hasn't sabotaged anything I don't already know about.
She tsks and adds, "Zella modeled when she was young. But she's washed up. Gotten fat. If she takes the runway with her big boobs and buttocks bouncing down the catwalk…." She shudders her shoulders. "Cathy's reputation will never recover from that fashion blunder. There's a strict etiquette that must be maintained in the fashion industry."
I laugh at her description of Rapunzel. "Mother, some of us would very much like to see bouncing boobs and big buttocks."
