Chapter 15
Mary Louise’s history with men was sparse, and feuled by Peggy and Madeleine in the early days. After their encounter at the Halloween party, the next time Mary Louise saw her future husband Albert was at a New Year’s Eve party, which was eerily similar to the Halloween party sans costumes. Peggy and Madeleine talked her into it. Where did they get their intel on all the rich college kid parties that went on? There weren’t a lot of rich guys hanging around the community college, and that’s who Peggy and Madeleine had their sights set on. As Peggy was fond of saying, “It’s a lot quicker to marry money than to make it.” Gloria Steinem would not be pleased to hear that, or to know about their halloween costumes three months previous. Ms. Steinem had worked as a Playboy Bunny in the New York Club, later writing a magazine article to expose the exploitative working conditions of the bunnies.
New Year’s Eve parties had never been a cause for celebration at Mary Louise’s house. They were a desperate exercise to keep her father from hearing and reacting to the neighborhood fireworks and gunshots. They turned up the television as loud as it would go and watched Guy Lombardo with his big band, The Royal Canadians, perform their annual New Year’s Eve concert, usually from the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom. Mary Louise loved that part of the evening, imagining what it would be like to be in New York City, dressed in a stylish ball gown, dancing and drinking champagne until midnight when a handsome man would plant a kiss on her. She’d get lost in the fantasy and then get a glimpse of her mother’s tense face, bringing her back to reality. After the ball drop they would play records until at least 1:00 a.m. Guy Lombardo was on the east coast, so the ball drop was at 11:00 p.m. in Texas. Things got a little dicey at midnight, but usually died down by 1:00 a.m.
The first year when there were only three of them left, her, her mother, and her brother, her mother attempted a party atmosphere with sparkling grape juice and an assortment of fancy finger foods. It was almost as painful as the times with her father. The following year, in an unspoken agreement, they all went to bed at 10:00 p.m.
Peggy and Madeleine were a bit surprised when Mary Louise agreed to the party invite immediately and they didn’t even have to play round two of “Why Mary Louise should go to the party with us.” It wasn’t the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom, but people were meant to celebrate New Year’s Eve and this year she was finally going to join in.
Peggy’s Aunt Flora was “in the theat-ah” and let them rummage through one of her spare bedrooms, which had become an enormous closet, and choose any dress they wished to wear. Mary Louise felt like she was in a dream. The girls spent hours trying on dresses and advising each other on what looked best. Most were too loose on Mary Louise, too tight on Peggy, and a perfect fit on Madeleine. Madeleine already had a fish on the line, so to speak, a pre-med student named Bennett Borden. However, until a ring was on her finger it couldn’t hurt to hedge her bets.
They settled on three dresses from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Aunt Flora had played Dorothy Shaw, who Jane Russel had played in the movie. They were a bit over the top for a New Year’s Eve party in Houston, Texas but as Aunt Flora said, “Adventure awaits those who dare to step out of their comfort zones, my dear.” It was borrowed from Auntie Mame, another character that Aunt Flora had played.
Mary Louise’s mother was not happy with the dress and even less happy about the thought of her young daughter attending a New Year’s Eve party unchaperoned. Peggy’s insistence that there would be plenty of adults there and only nice boys did nothing to quell her mother’s anxiety.
The party was in River Oaks, a far cry from the cookie cutter neighborhood where Mary Louise lived. The houses in River Oaks were majestic, surrounded by massive trees as old as the country and landscaping in front of every single residence that belonged on the cover of any self-respecting home and garden magazine.The house they pulled up to looked like it belonged in Europe, not Texas. The long driveway was all laid brick, no cement or asphalt for this place. The main house was done with small, thin bricks that resembled stone on a castle. One portion of the second story was accented with dark wood, tudor-style, which was mirrored on the stucco-covered two-story garage visible just behind the house. The remaining facade had been built to resemble turrets. The walls were straight, but rounded bay windows with triangle caps on top gave the illusion of a tower. Large, light-colored stone wrapped each corner, with similarly colored stone used to frame the arched windows and doorways on the first floor.
Mary Louise was startled out of her gawking trance when Peggy shoved her lightly in the back and said, “Come on you silly goose.”
Inside, marble floors and stone archways dominated the first floor of the grand foyer with heavy wood accents and wood railings on the second level. A massive iron chandelier hung two stories above, shining down on the elegant guests. There was even a Juliet balcony that provided a peek into an upper level room, which had a domed ceiling accented with plaster tendrils that mimicked the inside of an umbrella.
It turned out their dresses were not over-the-top for the occasion. They were perfect. The girls followed the music to a cavernous room where couches and chairs had been pushed back to make way for an impromptu dance floor. A shiny black grand piano dominated a large bay window, but still left enough room for four other musicians to join the young red-haired man tickling the ivories. Mary Louise suspected it was the most action the piano had seen in a while and the redhead looked like he was having the time of his life. She couldn’t stop her toes from tapping or her shoulders from jumping until she felt a warm breath on her neck followed by a “Meow” in her ear. She whipped around so fast she lost her balance atop the unfamiliar heels, but was saved by the strong arms of the hippie from the Halloween party.
He lightly held her upper arms as she swayed backward, then forward. He laughed and said, “Easy there, kitten. I thought cats were supposed to have great balance!”
Her head was spinning and she hadn’t even had anything to drink yet. Looking up into the soft brown eyes of the hippie, now dressed in a very stylish suit and tie, did nothing to help the situation. No words would form in her brain so there was no way they could get to her mouth. She just blinked.
“You look like you could use a drink,” he said, letting go of her arms and grabbing two glasses of champagne from the tray of a passing server. “To cats!” he said, clinking her glass.
She took a sip of the bubbling liquid, heat crawling into her cheeks from the situation, the alcohol, and the flashback to the Halloween party a mere two months ago when she’d walked in on him and Cleopatra. She suspected the incident was also playing somewhere in his brain but he showed absolutely no embarrassment while she was still slightly mortified.
“I’m Albert,” he said, sticking out his hand.
She switched the champagne flute to her left hand, freeing her right hand to lightly grasp his. “Mary Louise.”
He held her gaze and she felt certain flames would burst from her cheekbones at any minute.
“It’s a pleasure to formally meet you,” he said.
“Likewise I’m sure,” she said, feeling like she was in an old Hollywood movie.
She was taller than average, but even with the heels she had to tilt her chin up to meet his gaze, which she realized flicked down to the most cleavage she had ever publicly shown in her life. She released his hand and covered the slight swell of her breasts, then balled it in a fist and let it drop to her side. Let him look. Isn’t that why she’d worn this dress? She was a woman now. A woman at an adult party. However, her mother had warned her about boys - men - like Albert. She was expected to swoon in the presence of his good looks and confidence but she was no Cleopatra.
Across the room she spotted Justin, the panda from the patio.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said. “There’s someone I need to say hello to.”
She lifted her glass of champagne in a tiny salute and then made a beeline for Justin, who was talking with two other glamorous party goers. He looked very dapper in his suit and tie. When there was a break in the conversation she lightly touched his arm and he looked at her, a slight smile on his face turning into a broad grin when he placed her.
“Mary Louise! We meet again!”
“Hello, Justin.”
She smiled, pleased that he had remembered her.
“Wow, you look terrific.”
“Thank you, as do you. Still in black and white I see, but a much better look.”
He chuckled at her reference to his panda costume.
“Do you know Tony and Alice?” he asked, indicating the couple he’d been talking with.
“I’ve not had the pleasure,” said Mary Louise.
Justin introduced them and the quartet fell into easy conversation, continuing the debate on the pros and cons of having a peanut farmer from Georgia as the president of the United States. And he was a Democrat. Surely the country was destined for ruin, but after Watergate and then three years of Gerald Ford, could things be any worse? As Alice droned on about the energy crises, Justin leaned over to her, patting his breast pocket and whispered, “We should make our way to the patio.”
After a few more minutes of champagne and politics, Justin excused them from the conversation, wiping his brow saying he needed to cool off a bit. It was warm in the house with all of the bodies and alcohol. They made their way to a set of French doors, and the coolness of the night was refreshing as they stepped into the back garden. Square cement blocks set in rows with grass in between lined the ground just beyond the patio. A path led under a trellis that surely was covered with roses in the summertime. Even on the last day of December the landscaping looked like something out of a botanical garden, discreetly lit to cast a soft glow on the manicured foliage.
They weren’t the only ones looking for a spot to enjoy an illegal smoke. They joined a trio of two guys and one gal passing around a joint. One of the guys said, “Hey, Justin!”
“What’s up, Clark?”
The other guy looked suspiciously at Justin, although it was unclear if this was due to fear of being outed or fear of having to share his joint. He passed the joint to the young lady standing at his side. Mary Louise watched her carefully, noting the way she held it, gently inhaled, and then held the smoke before blowing it out. Her father had smoked cigarettes, but this was an entirely different technique.
Justin took a cigarette pack out of his breast pocket, fishing for the joint nestled in amongst the tobacco. A silver lighter appeared. He flipped back the top then flicked the wheel with his thumb to light it, something she’d watched her father do thousands of times. He lit the end of the joint, and when satisfied that it was properly lit handed it to Mary Louise. Her mother had warned her about the dangers of popping pills and smoking marijuana. “You have no idea where those things came from! There could be anything in them!” She was fairly confident that Justin had not purchased the marijuana on some random street corner in Fifth Ward. She held the joint with her thumb and index finger as the others had done, not crooked between index and middle as you’d do with a cigarette. She gently inhaled, the acrid smoke burning the back of her throat as she prayed she wouldn’t cough. That was one for St. Peter’s book. “Sorry Mary Louise! We would have let you in, but seriously? Praying that you wouldn’t cough while smoking marijuana?”
She held the smoke for what she hoped had been an appropriate amount of time and then gently exhaled it. She passed it back to Justin. By the time the glowing embers at the tip were close to burning her fingers, she felt she’d gotten the hang of it and was enjoying the mellow curtain that had dropped over her. She rubbed her bare arms, aware that she was getting chilled but not really caring that much about it. As she held the shrinking joint, what she knew was now called a roach - disgusting - Justin removed his coat and draped it over her shoulders.
Justin and Clark were the only two interested in conversation. Clark attended Rice University and of course Justin could not resist jabbing at Clark about Rice’s recent loss (“spanking” was the word Justin used) to the Cougars in that year’s Bayou Bucket. After offering a litany of excuses that Justin easily shot down, Clark ended the sports conversation with, “Just wait until baseball season.”
Roach clips appeared. Joints disappeared. The quintet made their way back to the party. Mary Louise’s tongue felt like it had been turned into a giant cotton ball. She returned Justin’s coat and asked one of the servers scurrying by if it would be possible to get a club soda. She followed Justin to the elegant buffet, paralyzed by the beauty and magnitude of the selections. Many simply looked too pretty to eat.
The server spotted her and brought her a glass filled with ice and club soda. She gratefully lifted it to her lips, forcing herself to drink slowly and not just chug the entire thing down. She carefully balanced a small plate on top of the glass and filled it with as much food as she felt was reasonably polite. Justin, plate filled way beyond polite, led her to one of the high-top tables that were scattered around so that they could set down their drinks and plates. At some point Justin had acquired a glass with amber liquid and a cherry - probably an Old Fashioned.
“How are you doing, kid?” Justin asked her.
Kid. He was two years older than her at the most. But she didn’t mind. She almost said, “Very well I thank you” from the ‘Where is thumper’ rhyme from her childhood but managed to stop short at “Very well.”
She felt very comfortable around Justin, Was it Justin or the pot?. She was about to pop a cucumber slice topped with a thick white cream and salmon into her mouth when she looked up and locked eyes with Albert across the room. He’d been staring at her. The cucumber hor d’oeuvre was suspended in front of her open mouth. She had intended to just pop the entire thing in, even though it would be quite a mouthful. The alternative was to try and take a punctilious bite, but what if the salmon didn’t cooperate? What if she had trouble biting through it and it slid off the white cream and just dangled there while she tried to slurp it in? All of this flashed through her brain in a millisecond before she did pop the entire thing in, and then tried to gently chew with it sitting on the middle of her tongue. That wasn’t working so she put her hand in front of her mouth, shoved it into her cheek like a chipmunk and chewed furiously until she could swallow it. Albert was still staring, an amused look on his face.
She decided to ignore Albert and focused her attention back on Justin. “This food is amazing,” she said, selecting another beautiful, smaller, hor d'oeuvre and popping it into her mouth.
“I’d rather have a nice big juicy steak.”
Mary Louise wouldn’t argue with him, but she enjoyed the dainty bites. By the time their plates were empty the dancing had begun in earnest. Peggy found her and dragged her into the middle of the floor. The ball drop in New York City was mostly ignored, except for a few party goers who crammed around a television set in a den off the main foyer hallway. When the muffled cheer went up, Mary Louise realized that midnight was fast approaching. She had gone through many dance partners in the past couple of hours. The adrenaline high began to crash as panic set in. Midnight was coming. Would she have someone to kiss? Justin had come and gone several times. Albert had tried only once to dance with her when the band said they were going to “slow it down a bit.” She excused herself to go to the restroom.
As the clock raced ahead she split her time between locating Justin and avoiding Albert. When the band announced it was almost time for the countdown, she saw that the skinny girl from the back yard had cleaved herself tightly to Albert. That was good. Then she saw a sour-faced brunette sidle up to Justin, clearly staking a claim. She laid her left hand lightly on his shoulder and there was no missing the sparkling diamond ring firmly planted on her fourth finger. Was he engaged? Was this his fiance? He leaned in for a warm-up kiss. She couldn’t be mad. He’d never encouraged her in a romantic way. If anything he’d treated her like a little sister. She was the one who had been testing out fantasies, married to a nice, easy going man sharing a nice, easy going life.
The countdown was about to begin. She weighed her options. Run to the bathroom, again, or approach the only unpaired gentleman in the vicinity - a man a good head shorter than she was with a very dismayed look on his face.
“I’m Mary Louise,” she said, sticking out her hand. The alcohol between dances had fueled her courage.
“Freddie,” he said.
“Are you here with anyone?”
“Not really.”
“Me neither.”
“10, 9, 8…!”
The countdown had begun. She smiled at Freddie and winked. Where had that come from? She’d never winked at a guy in her entire life. He smiled back. After everyone shouted “One!” and then “Happy New Year!” The band began playing Auld Lang Syne. Mary Louise put a hand on each cheek and pulled Freddie in for her first grown-up New Year’s Eve kiss. She pulled away and his eyes were wide with surprise and pleasure.
“Happy New Year,” she said.
“Happy New Year!” he replied.
He slipped his arm around her waist and they swayed along with the crowd, singing Auld Lang Syne, mumbling the second verse that no one knew the words to but that the band felt obligated to play. She pasted a smile on her face, her eyes flitting to Justin’s arm holding his fiance close to his side. She sighed. It was still the best New Year’s Eve party she’d ever been to.
Even after all of these years she could still remember that feeling - that happy feeling at the beginning of the evening when she’d let her imagination run just a little bit wild about Justin. He was so easy to be around. She’d never had that feeling again until now, with Dan. Over the years she had met dozens and dozens of men through work. She’d never had even a fleeting thought along the lines of “what if?” Then Dan shows up at her door. Hopefully there were no fiancees lurking in the wings this time.
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