Gabrielle told Dr. Stubbs when he came to see her. “We’re getting married,” she said with a big smile, “almost sixty-five years after we met in Paris at the Beaux-Arts, we were both students. Federico was only twenty, he’s eight years younger than I am. He was barely more than a child then. You’ll have to come to our wedding, since you saved me,” she told him.
“I’d say we’re on the road to recovery if we’re planning a wedding.” He was pleased with her progress. It was a much happier outcome than many he encountered in his line of work.
Chapter 17
Gwen had ordered all the flowers for the wedding herself. There were garlands of white roses and orchids on all the stairs and over the doors, and arrangements of lily of the valley and tiny white Phalaenopsis orchids on the tables. The scent of the lily of the valley was heavy in the air. Gabrielle and Federico had selected fifty of their closest friends, all of whom had accepted. There were writers, artists, actors, museum curators, gallerists, many of them well known, some not, of all ages. Gwen had organized five round tables in her dining room. The ceremony was in the living room, performed by a minister, and Gabrielle came down the stairs alone in a champagne-colored lace dress, carrying a bouquet of tea-colored orchids. Her long white hair was swept up in a perfect French twist. She looked lovely.
Olivia had come home from France a week early for her grandmother’s wedding, and Jean-Pierre was with her. They were both deeply tanned after all the places where they had vacationed in August, with the last week of their vacation on his father’s Perini Navi yacht in Italy. Olivia looked radiant, and her mother and grandmother agreed that they had never seen her happier. And they loved Jean-Pierre.
Gwen was wearing a navy blue silk Chanel suit and looked very dignified. She said that she and her mother had switched roles, and Gwen was playing the mother of the bride. Jeremy Stubbs stood next to her for most of the festivities. They had had dinner together a few times since they met in the hospital. He still couldn’t believe his good fortune to be getting to know her. And she was to start pre-production on her new movie in two weeks.
The groom looked like the happiest man alive as he watched Gabrielle come down the stairs gracefully to where he stood with a sprig of lily of the valley in the lapel of his formal morning coat. It was his first wedding and he wanted to do it right, in morning coat and striped trousers. They exchanged their vows with tears in their eyes and Federico cried openly when the minister declared them husband and wife.
The champagne flowed, the lunch was delicious, four musicians played chamber music for the ceremony and champagne after, and a livelier group replaced them, so there was dancing during and after lunch. The guests stayed so long that it became something of a thé dansant, reminiscent of Gabrielle’s youth. They had their honeymoon all planned for October, after Federico’s retrospective show.
It was the perfect elegant, intimate wedding, and Gwen’s apartment the ideal setting for it. Gwen had invited a few of her friends from the film world too, who were either major directors or big stars. She introduced Jeremy to everyone, it was a cavalcade of famous names and faces all day. And at the end of it, Gabrielle and Federico spent their wedding night at the Four Seasons like newlyweds and went back to their warehouse on the Bowery the next day.
Gabrielle was back at work that afternoon. Federico smiled at her. He loved knowing she was finally his wife.
* * *
—
On the day of Federico and Gabrielle’s wedding, Eileen drove Pennie and the boys to Boston to settle Pennie into Harvard. She had rented a van for everything Pennie was bringing with her, and Max had come along to help. The children had figured out by then that Max was more than just their mother’s assistant, and didn’t object once they got used to the idea. They liked him, he was nice to them, and fun to be with.
They had catered two weddings that summer, several dinner parties, and were doing a big charity event in New York the following week. Eileen’s business was flying, and they were the talk of Greenwich as the hot new event planners and caterers in town. Eileen hardly had time to talk to Jane anymore, but Jane understood and was thrilled for her.
Paul was meeting them in Cambridge with Mathilde after a weekend in Cape Cod, and Mark and Seth were going to drive back to Greenwich with them. Mathilde’s boys were with their father for the weekend. The five boys had been having fun together, spending the summer in Paul’s new pool and in and out of his house. Eileen was happy for him, and their divorce was going to be final in six weeks.
They got to Cambridge at eleven and to Pennie’s dorm assignment in Straus Hall, one of the best locations, near the heart of Harvard Yard. She was to be in a three-person suite, and Paul was shocked when Pennie told him that all the halls were coed. She was going to have two roommates in the suite, and had met them all on Skype. She was distracted and a little disoriented watching all the freshmen students arrive with their belongings and their families to move into the dorms. She saw clusters of boys watching them, several she thought were very good-looking. She had had a text from Tim that morning wishing her luck. She had seen him a few times that summer, and it was still strange to think that they had conceived and lost a baby and almost got married only a year before. It seemed so long ago now. Things had turned out so differently than they’d hoped or planned or feared. For all of them.
Olivia was distant history for Paul now, and Mathilde seemed like the perfect fit. Max was unexpected and an important addition to Eileen’s life, and her brand-new business was thriving. And Pennie was standing on the threshold of her future with life rolled out before her like a red carpet as she entered the hallowed halls of Harvard, which was her dream come true. Her life was just beginning with everything she brought to it from the past.
The day was exhausting getting everything hooked up, connected, and put away. Max handled the technology, Eileen and Mathilde put away her clothes, while the boys played outside and waited for them to finish. Paul assembled equipment and a bookcase, and installed a small refrigerator, then helped Max with the stereo and internet to the best of his ability.
Pennie went to a freshman orientation while they were working on her room, and they all went to the family picnic that afternoon. And then suddenly it was time to say goodbye. She clung to her mother for a moment, as they exchanged a look between mother and daughter. Eileen could almost see her take flight with fresh new wings, and prayed that they would hold her and she would make wise choices with her life.
She hugged her father, thanked Max and Mathilde, and ran over to say goodbye to Seth and Mark. Then she disappeared into the building where she would live for the next year, make new friends, and learn what she needed for her future.
The twins climbed into their father’s car and they left. Max drove the now-empty van off campus and Eileen cried for a minute. But everything that was happening now was as it should be, in the proper order. It was easier now because Max was with her.