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Marsha sighed. “I don’t see a problem but I’ll go get it. I think you’re overreacting. The dress is perfect the way it is.”
Laura Jo looked at herself again. Was she overreacting? If so, why? Because she was going to the dance with Mark or because she was afraid she couldn’t control herself around him?
She studied the dress. It was midnight blue with the slightest shimmer to it. The material hugged her in all the correct places. Twisting, she turned so that she could see the back. It closed close to her neck so that it formed a diamond-shaped peephole in the middle. It was the loveliest detail of the dress.
“Mommy, you look pretty,” Allie said from behind Laura Jo.
“Thank you, honey.” She leaned down and kissed the top of Allie’s head.
The doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Allie said, running out of the room.
Laura Jo followed. Surely it was Marsha, returning with the wrap.
Allie opened the door and Mark stood on the other side. Their eyes met and held. Everything that had happened between them the night before flashed through her mind. His gaze slid downward and paused at her breasts.
They tingled and her nipples grew hard. Heat pooled in her middle. What was happening to her? Something as simple as a look from Mark could make her feel alive like no one else could.
Was he remembering, too?
“Doesn’t Mommy look pretty?” Allie asked, looking back and forth between them.
Mark’s gaze didn’t leave her. Seconds later, as if coming out of a stupor, he said, “Uh, yes, she looks wonderful.”
Laura Jo swallowed hard. She’d never felt more beautiful than she did right now as Mark admired her. The man was starting to get under her skin and everything about his idea of life was so wrong for her. Or was it? She’d better guard her heart tonight or he might take it.
Allie looked up at Mark. “You look pretty, too.”
He did, in the most handsome, debonair and charming way. His blond waves were in place and his eyes shone. Dressed in his formal wear of starched white shirt, black studs and tailcoat, he took her breath away. She’d seen many men wearing their finest but none compared to the man standing before her.
“Thank you, Allie.” He was still looking at her when he said, “Do you mind if I come in?”
“Oh, no, do.” Laura Jo gave Allie a little nudge back into the hall. She stepped out of the way and let Mark enter.
“Come in and have a seat. I’m waiting for Marsha to bring me a cover-up.”
“From where I stand, you look perfect just the way you are.” His voice had a grainy sound to it that wasn’t normal.
“Thank you.” When had she become such a blusher? When Mark had come into her life.
“Have a seat while I get my purse. Marsha should be back by then.” Laura Jo indicated a chair in their small living area.
There was a knock on the door and Allie ran to open it. Laura Jo trailed behind her. Her friend breezed in, breathless. “I couldn’t find it. I must have given it away at our last clothes drive. Hi, Dr. Clayborn. You look nice.” Marsha let the last few words spin out.
“Thank you. I was telling Laura Jo she looks great just as she is.”
“I think so, too.” Marsha said. She offered a hand to Allie. “Come on. It’s time to go. Jeremy will be home in a few minutes.”
Laura Jo picked up a small bag and handed it to her daughter. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be picking you and Jeremy up from school.” Laura Jo kissed her on the head.
“Okay. Bye, Mark.” Allie happily went out the door.
“Have a good time and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Marsha quipped with a wink.
“Marsha!”
Mark’s low chuckle didn’t help to lessen Laura Jo’s mortification.
She turned to him. “You do understand I’m only going to the krewe dance because I need funds for the shelter. Nothing else can happen.”
“You more than made it clear that the evening has nothing to do with my company. Are you ready?”
Had she hurt his feelings?
“Mark, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so rude.” She looked down. “After the other night I just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea. I do appreciate you taking me to the dance. It’s just that I have a difficult time with the idea and I seem to be taking it out on you.”
“Maybe if you explained, I would understand.”
She looked at him again. “It’s because…I shunned that world years ago.”
“Why?”
“I fell in love, or at least what I thought was love, with a guy who my parents didn’t approve of. ‘Not of our social status,’ my father said. My parents were adamantly against the marriage. They told me Phil was after my name and money, not me. That he was no good. My father was particularly vocal about Phil being the wrong guy. He forced me to make a choice between them or my ex.
“I always felt like I was an afterthought to them. I never quite fit the mold they had imagined for their child. They spent little time with me when I was young and now they wanted to start making parental demands, showing real interest. I had always been more headstrong than they liked, so my father’s ultimatum backfired.
“I told my parents if the man I loved wasn’t good enough for them then I didn’t need them. I chose Phil. Turned out they were right about him. He was everything they said he was and more. I said some ugly things to my parents that I now regret but I couldn’t go running back. My pride wouldn’t allow that. I had to prove to them and myself I could take care of myself. Live with my mistakes.”
Laura Jo would never let Mark know what it took for her to admit her mistakes. No matter how many times or how sweetly Marsha had asked Laura Jo, she had never told her as much as she had just told Mark.
“You haven’t spoken to your parents in all that time?”
“I tried to contact them after Phil and I got back from Vegas but the housekeeper told me Mother wouldn’t take my call. I phoned a few more times and got the same response. I finally gave up.”
“They really hurt you.”
Laura Jo fingered a fold in her dress. “Yes. After I had Allie I had a better sense of what it was to have a child’s best interests at heart. But after they’d acted the way they did when I called I couldn’t take the chance that they would treat Allie the same way as they had me. I’ll never let her feel unwanted.”
“Maybe they’ve changed. They might be better grandparents than they were parents. You could try again. At least let them meet Allie.”
She shook her head. “I think the hurt is too deep and has gone on for too long.”
“You’ll never know until you try. I could go with you, if you want.”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to think about that. Let’s just get through tonight, then I’ll see.”
“I’ll be there beside you all night. We’ll both put in the appearance to get what you need and to also satisfy my father. Then we’re out of there.”
To her surprise, he didn’t sound like he’d been that excited about going to the dance to begin with. Had she made some judgment calls about him that just weren’t true? He’d never once looked down on her, her friends or where she lived. Did his status in the area truly not matter to him?
She made a chuckling sound that had nothing to do with humor and more about being resigned. “We sound nothing like two people expecting to enjoy an evening out.”
At the car, he opened the door, took her elbow and helped her in. At least if she had to go to the dance she would arrive in a fine car and on the arm of the most handsome man in town.
Mark settled behind the wheel and closed the door but didn’t start the engine. Instead, he placed his hand over hers. Squeezing it gently, he said, “I can see by the look on your face that you have no hope of this evening ending well. Why don’t you think positive? You might be surprised.”
“I’ll try.”
“Plus you’re starting to damage my ego by m
aking me think I no longer know how to show a woman a good time.” Mark started the car then checked to see if she was buckled in. She patted her seat belt and he backed out of the parking space.
“This doesn’t have anything to do with you personally.” She studied his strong profile in the dim light.
“Well, I’m glad to know that. I was starting to think you thought being seen with me was comparable to going to the gallows.”
She smiled.
“That’s better. At least you haven’t lost your sense of humor completely.” He pulled out into the street.
They rode down now crowd-free Government Street toward the port. The building where the dance was being held was located on the bay. Mark circled to the elegant glass doors of the historic building.
Mark stopped the car. He handed the keys to the valet then came around to open the door for her. Taking a deep fortifying breath, she placed her hand into Mark’s offered one. It was large and steady.
“You’re an outstanding nurse, mother of a wonderful daughter and an advocate for mothers, Laura Jo. You’re more accomplished than the majority of the people here.”
She met his look. His eyes didn’t waver. He’d said what he believed. She drew confidence from that. “Thank you.”
He pulled her hand into the crook of his arm as they walked toward the door of the building held open by another young man in evening dress. Slowly they ascended one side of the U-shaped staircase to the large room above. Mark paused at the door just long enough for her to survey the space.
People were standing in groups, talking. The room was narrow and long with a black-and-white-tiled floor. Round dining tables were arranged to the right and left, creating an aisle down the middle. The white tablecloths brushed the floor. The Mardi Gras colored decorations centered on each table were elaborate and striking.
The area looked much as it had the last time she’d attended a ball when she’d been nineteen years old and a lady-in-waiting. A month later she’d met Phil and her world had taken a one-eighty-degree turn. Back then she’d been a child of wealthy parents with her life planned out for her. When she’d broken away from her parents, she would never have guessed her life would become what it was now. Still, had she made a mistake by keeping Allie away from them? Her parents had faults but didn’t she, too?
Just as eye-catching was the dress of the active men of the krewe. They were all clad in their Louis XVI brocade knee-length satin coats trimmed in gold or silver braid. On their heads were large hats that had one side of the brim pinned up with a plumed feather attached and matched the men’s coats. Their pantaloons, white stockings and black buckle shoes added to the mystique. The women who were married to the members of the board wore equally ostentatious dresses, some of them matching their husband’s. Otherwise, men and women were dressed in formal wear.
