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“Oh, what I would pay to have witnessed that.”
We were both laughing as we stepped onto the main level and Kat led me past the formal sitting room into a dining area with a carved wood table and enough room for about twelve place settings. A fireplace roared to life behind the table. The place had been decorated tastefully for Christmas. There were poinsettias on the table and a small Christmas tree on the mantle above the fireplace. Nothing in-your-face, but elegant and classic.
Kat took a seat and I sat beside her.
“Marie is possibly the best chef in all of Chamonix, I have no idea how my mother was able to book her over the holidays. Speaking of which, here she comes.”
Kat stood up as her mother entered the dining room and I did the same.
Rose Bishop reminded me a lot of Jackie O. Classic elegance might as well have been her middle name. Her gray hair made her look more dignified and was pulled back into a low chignon. Even though she was on vacation, she was wearing a powder blue suit with a white turtleneck underneath. Her makeup was impeccable yet hardly noticeable. Her skin, well, let’s just say she didn’t skimp on the plastic surgery, but she didn’t overdo it, either. She looked younger and refreshed, but not stretched and her brows weren’t frozen in place.
“Harper, dear, I’m so glad you were able to join us for Christmas this year.” Rose, as she had always insisted I call her, reached for my hands. A thin, dainty bracelet clung to her sleek wrist, and I noticed that her wedding diamond had been replaced by a large sapphire ring. She wasn’t shaking my hands, however, she took them into hers and gave them a firm yet warm squeeze while staring me straight in the eye and smiling genuinely. Rose had the charisma and charm to make anyone feel welcome and at home, and I had always envied Kat for having a mother as loving as she was.
“Thank you, Rose,” I said, offering a genuine smile of my own. “I’m so happy to see you, and I want to thank you for paying for my travel.”
She brushed it off with a flick of her wrist. “It was nothing, dear. I’m just happy you’re here, and I know Kat appreciates spending the holidays with her best friend.”
Voices in the hallway turned our attention to the entry, as all three of Kat’s brothers entered the dining room.
“Harper, have you ever been to the French Alps before?” Nathan asked, pulling my attention to him. As soon as my eyes fell on his gorgeous, chiseled features, my cheeks flushed.
“No, uh, I’ve never been to France before, actually.”Or anywhere outside of the United States for that matter.I kept that thought to myself.
“Really?” Jackson walked over to a bar near the dining room table and poured himself a drink from a very expensive-looking glass bottle. “I would have thought a girl as well-read as you would have loved to have visited France, at least Paris. Weren’t you a fan of Les Misérables growing up?”
“I was, yes, and still am,” I said softly. Kat remembered her privilege and didn’t rub it in my face or act surprised that I didn’t live as luxuriously as they did, but her brothers, especially Jackson, seemed to forget that I didn’t come from money like they did. Either that or he simply didn’t understand what it was like for us “normal” folks.
Kat sat back down and patted the seat next to her, so I joined her, turning my attention away from the brothers. Jackson sat across from me, sipping a brown liquor. Nathan sat beside him and Aiden on the other side. Their mother sat at the head of the table, and there was an empty seat on the other end.
A man entered with two bottles of wine in hand, a red and a white. “Would you like some wine, dear?” Rose asked me.
“Oh no thank you, I don’t drink alcohol,” I said.
“Still?” Aiden asked, sounding surprised as ever.
“I tried it once; it just wasn’t for me.” My eyes fell on Nathan for a split second before I looked away, trying not to remember the reason I had given up drinking even before I was legally able to imbibe.
Kat slipped from her seat. “I think I’m just going to take a cue from Jackson and have something a bit stronger.” She walked over to the bar and poured some clear liquor into a glass before heading toward the kitchen.
“Katherine, let Gerard get whatever you need,” Rose said.
“It’s fine, I can get my own mixer,” she replied.
Rose pursed her lips but didn’t argue with Kat as she exited the room. A moment later, she was back with a bottle of juice in hand. She plopped down beside me. “Want some? The juice, I mean. It’s a tropical fruit blend, passion fruit and papaya and some other shit.”
“Katherine Jane, language, please.”
Kat laughed but apologized to her mother before holding the bottle of juice up for me. “There’s also every soda you can think of, sparkling water, other juices…”
Kat poured as Rose said, “You can have anything you want, Harper. Gerard can get it for you.”
“Tropical juice sounds good to me,” I said with a smile. I didn’t want to be too difficult, besides, Gerard seemed to be busy pouring the wine and letting the brothers taste it as they chose between the two bottles.
“The 1912 is far superior to the bottle we had last night,” Nathan said as he sipped a glass of red wine.
“Agreed,” Aiden said, downing a large amount of the wine in one sip and getting a glare from his mother. He laughed as he tapped his glass and requested more from the server standing nearby.
Having had dinner with the Bishops a few times in my life growing up, there were no surprises so far. They enjoyed the finer things in life, especially a good wine and a good meal. Kat and I looked so out of place with our pinkish orange drinks in fancy wine glasses that I had to silently chuckle to myself.
