Mommy and Daddy were beaming so brightly, I got chills up and down my spine.
'How is your family, Jeanne?' Mommy asked, a dark shadow crossing her face.
'Mother's got the gout on top of her arthritis. Daddy never changes. He buries himself in his business.' Aunt Jeanne smiled. 'My sister Toby's youngest turned sixteen, you know. I'll be going to another graduation soon.'
Aunt Jeanne and Uncle James had never had any children. I wasn't sure why not. If Mommy knew, she never said.
'You're coming over to the house, aren't you, Jeanne?' Mommy asked her.
'Of course. We wouldn't miss the party for the world,' she said. 'You knew I would be here, Ruby,' she whispered, but loud enough for me to hear. I saw the way the two of them gazed into each other's eyes, and I felt the unspoken words that passed between them, words I knew were all about my mother's half brother, Paul, the man in my strange dream. 'Paul would have been so proud of her,' Jeanne continued. Tears came to Mommy's eyes as she nodded. They hugged again.
Mommy turned to look for the twins, who were amusing themselves by weaving in and out among the crowd and teasing some of my girlfriends. For once, I was happy about their behavior. Mommy shouted for the boys to come along. It was time to go home and get ready for the party. Mammy threw her arm around me, and we all went to the limousine.
'I'm so proud of you,' she said.
I didn't want to tell her about the prank my so-called friends had pulled on me in the bathroom. 'I was so nervous. Didn't it show?'
'Not a bit. I told you that once you got started, the words would roll off your tongue. And they did,' Mommy declared.
In the limousine, the twins teased me about the way I had shifted my eyes after certain phrases in my speech, but Mommy chastised them, and they smothered their giggles. My stomach wasn't filled with butterflies anymore. Now it felt positively cavernous. I couldn't wait to get something to eat. I had been too nervous to eat much of anything all day.
Some of our guests were already at the house, and the musicians had already begun to play by the time we arrived. The atmosphere was festive. I hurried upstairs to change into my party dress and repair my hair. By the time I descended the stairs, the other guests had begun arriving, all bearing graduation gifts. A corner in one of the sitting rooms had been designated for the presents, and the twins eyed the pile, eager to satisfy their curiosity by tearing through the wrappings. Mommy warned them to stay away, and they shot off to play with their friends.
An army of servants began to serve hot and cold hors d'oeuvres with glasses of champagne. Daddy's business friends gathered in the ballroom, and Mommy greeted some of the important members of the art community, including other artists and gallery owners. The crowd was a Who's Who of the society pages.
My portrait remained covered on an easel, near the four-foot-high layer cake with 'Good Luck, Pearl' written on it in red icing. Both the portrait and the cake were under a spotlight. Daddy wanted to make the unveiling a special moment after all of the guests had arrived.
Claude came late with Lester Anderson and some of his other friends, and I knew immediately why they were delayed. I saw from the way they swaggered and laughed that they had already had something alcoholic to drink, and when Claude came over to kiss me, I smelled the whiskey on his breath.
'Is the punch spiked?' he asked me.
'Of course not,' I said. He winked at Lester, a tall, lanky boy who always looked as if he had just done something mischievous. Lester idolized Claude and would do most anything he suggested.
'Should I?' Lester asked me and revealed a pint of rum in the inside pocket of his jacket.
'Lester Anderson, don't you dare,' I warned. All the boys laughed. Claude put his arm around my waist and tried to kiss me on the neck.
'Claude, stop. Some of my father's friends are looking at us.'
'Let's step into the den for a few moments,' he whispered. 'I haven't congratulated you properly.'
'No. Just be patient,' I said. He was disappointed, but he retreated and behaved.
A short while later, Daddy asked the musicians to stop playing for a few moments, and he took center stage to announce the unveiling of my portrait.
'We have a special present for Pearl tonight,' he began. 'Actually, this is all my wife's doing, but one of the reasons I married her was that I knew she was talented and would be able to do these sorts of things.'
Everyone laughed. I gazed over at Aunt Jeanne, who appeared to be exchanging secret glances with Mommy. Daddy took hold of the cloth covering the painting, and I felt my heart pounding. It was almost as nerve-racking a moment as I'd had rising to make my graduation speech.
'Pearl,' Daddy said. I stepped out and the guests applauded. Mommy stayed beside Daddy when he went over to the portrait and, with a little drum roll from the band, slowly pulled away the cloth to reveal a painting that took my breath away. Mommy hadn't just painted a portrait of me in my graduation outfit. Behind me she had painted another portrait, this one with me dressed as a doctor, a stethoscope around my neck.
There was a gasp of appreciation, and then everyone applauded, some rushing over to shake Mommy's hand.
'It looks like twins,' Pierre cried.
'Just like us, there are two of you,' Jean squealed. Everyone laughed.
'It's beautiful, Mommy,' I said when we hugged. 'I hope I live up to it.'
'You will, honey.'
'You better,' Daddy said and kissed me, too.
After that, the party went into full swing. The musicians paraded around the house as if it really were a Mardi
