Romantic Novelist: Los Angeles

Audrey looked pretty in a gown that Micaela had also bought her as a gift. It looked like a "prom dress" Audrey had said. It was a dark purple gown with a long skirt that dragged behind her and felt like a sort of hoopskirt from those Gone With The Wind pre-Civil War days. But it was altered to look modern as the collar was cut low, showing her breasts and it was backless and her soft back was showcased. On her slender neck was an elegant choker.Audrey talked to Micaela while Max made chit chat with Stephen.

"You know, it's like something out of Sabrina, that Audrey Hepburn film from the 50's," said Micaela, " I fell for my chauffeur but it's not the adventure aspect that attracts me to him. He's a terrific man. He is so good to me. I feel happy with him. We will live on not only love but his job as a chauffeur and my job as a fashion designer. I don't care if I am disinherited and my life will never be the same. And maybe it won't have to change, right?"

"How do you mean?" Audrey asked.

"My family might not care after all, that I'm marrying Max. Even if they feel upset at first, they might come to accept it some time later."

"That really depends on what kind of people they really are. Do you feel they will accept you and Max together?" Micaela was silent and that said it all.

Max was laughing at one of Stephen's jokes and their laughter was very boisterous, both of them making more noise than the quiet conversations of the other guests. Audrey smiled.

" Oh, Steve is telling one of his stories again. He's a writer too you know, like me, but he has actually lived quite a life till now. His stories are usually true but I know he sometimes adds some fiction. He must be telling Max about his time in Las Vegas. He had to impersonate Brad Pitt to get out of trouble with a police officer."

" Brad Pitt?? "

" Yeah, don't you see the resemblance?"

" No not really. Brad's a blonde. Steve's not. His hair is dark. And I think that Steve is meatier and more stocky in build."

"Well in Vegas, Steve was thinner and he had dyed his hair blonde. It was dark and he wore dark glasses and people assumed he was the real thing. It was hilarious."

"May I have your attention please," Micaela's mother, Bella, said.

She was a rather corpulent woman, not fat, but heavy of build and her hair was just as red as Micaela's. Her face had a stern quality and a sort of arrogance, but at the moment, in the glow of the lanterns at the terrace, she had a pleasant face. A face that would not remain so pleasant for long. The quartet of violinists were still playing, as if indifferent about the fact that this lady was making a speech, but the music was so soft and rather dull Baroque material that no one seemed to be paying attention to them anyways. Bella looked into the direction of her daughter.

"Tonight we honor the coming marriage of my daughter, Micaela and Richard Davenport - "

It occurred to Audrey that Richard had not yet arrived. What a pig. At that moment, as if scripted in a film, he arrived. He had dared to bring Andrea with him, dressed to the nines in Chanel. Micaela's expression changed.

"Here he is now, and he's brought my dear friend Andrea who helps me with the charity group I organized."

Rich smiled and walked up to the front of the terrace where Bella stood. They embraced and they kissed each other on the cheek as if they were French.

Why, they were all a bunch of hypocrites, thought Audrey. They organized charity groups but they were still very shallow and soulless people. Rich looked at Micaela who tried hard to repress her emotions. There was now a sense of anticipation, a feeling of restlessness and it was very palpable, it was in the air and the guests were all ears. Audrey felt as if she were in a vivid dream, and she felt she'd never forget this moment

"My life will change forever," Rich said, "I will marry the woman I love and you good people here tonight are all welcome at the wedding. Come over here Micaela. Why are you all the way there? Come and say something we would like to hear."

This was it. The moment had come. Micaela took a deep breath and said a silent prayer in her mind. Audrey saw that Max had walked toward the back of the terrace near the entrance back into the hotel. A clear path was there and Audrey figured Micaela would walk away on that path when she left the hotel.

"Yes, I do have something to say," Micaela said.

Rich wanted to kiss her but she tuned her back to him in a sudden cold gesture.

"Here in this beautiful hotel with you beautiful people, I found the beauty of courage to speak about love," Micaela said, "I have found the love of my life. A love that is straight out of a romance novel, like the kind my new friend Audrey Rose writes. Audrey take a bow."

All eyes fell on Audrey. She would never again feel a spotlight more intimidating than this one, but for some reason, she felt good. It was as if Micaela was trying to get everyone to remember her and her books, as if to create the allure that Audrey's books was for them to read as well.

"Her books are about love and finding not only the right partner but finding yourself. I have found myself. I am no longer the same woman. I know what true love is and what matters most in life."

"You said it honey," Rich said, " and -"

"Shut up," Micaela said to him, "I don't mean you. The man I will marry is right over there. He has been loyal and good and kind to me for years. He has been a pillar of support, an attentive listener and now a lover. He is Mr. Max Brynner."

Everyone gasped. There was a sudden silence and soft murmuring. Stephen seemed to be enjoying this scene, as if it were a soap opera come to life. Audrey was quiet and began to walk toward Stephen.

"When they leave the hotel, we leave, too," she said to him.

"I love Max with all my heart. The fact he is "not of my class" as you would all think or my mother and father, does not mean a damn thing. Love has no conditions, no prize tag, no labels. I love this wonderful man who would make a fine husband to any woman here. He was a good son, a good brother, a good professional driver to my family and to me. He will make me the happiest woman in the world."

"Micaela have you lost your senses?" said her father.

"No, dad, I've come to them," she said, "you see dad, Richard has something to say too. Tell them Richard, tell them about you and Andrea. Let's just find happiness with other people since we are not suited to one another."

All eyes were on Richard and Andrea.

"I have no idea what she's talking about. How dare you cheat on me Micaela," Richard bellowed. She slapped him and the sting echoed through the air. She then spit on him and he was repulsed and moved back a step. Andrea was pale and frozen, even feeling guilty after seeing Micaela behave as she did.

Micaela retrieved a folder and threw it at his feet. The photos of him and Andrea in the pool were scattered about. Then Micaela got the photos and threw them in the air, as if they were confetti, spreading them everywhere within the sight of the guests. Shock and surprise filled the night air. "Look! Look and see the evidence and truth," she said, her voice choked with emotion, "it's he who cheated on me. Max and I have never given in to our desires..not till recently after I found out about you and Andrea. These two are lovers and have been for a long time. She's a student at UCLA and probably using him." Bella's brows were furrowed and her white face became a livid red color. She put a hand on Rich's shoulder and she cast a spiteful glance at her own daughter. Micaela had never seen her mother look that way.

"We did not raise you to be this way, Micaela," she said, "you have caused the family much shame. I disinherit you."

"I don't care. What about Rich? He's shamed me by having a mistress. How can you expect me to marry a lying cheating pig?"

"O Micaela put up with it. I had to endure your father's indiscretions with women and I never reacted this way -"

"You knew didn't you mother? You knew all about Rich and his whore? Well you're as much a bitch as she is if you knew and didn't tell anyone and expected me to live as you did, with only a love for money and class and no thought to my real happiness. A dirty cat in the alley in the poorest slum of Los Angeles would make a better mother than you. Goodbye to you all, goodbye Beverly Hills. Max, ready the limo. We're leaving for the airport. This man and I will be married and we will be living in Seattle. It's up to you to call me if you wish or visit me and come to terms with this."

"We will not," Bella said, " you're an ungrateful daughter -"

"And you a heartless mother," she said, "goodbye."

She walked down the path to the back of the terrace and Steve and Audrey followed, walking quickly, almost running and everyone was still aghast and murmuring.

The quartet began to play a romantic melody and one of the violinists, a rather chubby red-haired girl, smiled as if she were happy for Micaela.

* * * *

In Los Angeles, Audrey found a job as a nanny to a family who lived in Silver Lake, high on a hill overlooking the reservoir that could have passed for a real lake, only it was Los Angeles and everyone who was smart knew that it was man-made. This family was hardly home, even when they were not traveling abroad. Audrey felt they were very odd people. They were white, upper middle-class folk whose blood was mixed with Jewish and Mediterranean blood. The head of the family, Jack Wynn was a screenwriter who claimed to have written a few films in the 1970's and 1980's but who had not written a film in a long time. He wrote for television now, and he did not want to admit what the program was. Audrey felt that could only mean the show was pornography on late night cable.

Mrs. Wynn was a stay-at-home mom who was raising a little girl when she was not pursuing her bourgeois interests such as making friends over tennis who had connections with Hollywood. She adored traveling and did too much of it. She never took her daughter to school,never picked her up, and although she signed her up for all kinds of physical and mentally stimulating activities - piano lessons, ballet, fitness for children and karate, she never took the little girl to any of these places. It was Audrey's job to do that. It got to the point people assumed that Audrey was the young mother of the little girl.

Some mother, Audrey thought, I could be this girl's mother. She's adorable and good. Audrey did not like her employers but she felt she would be smart and keep her mouth shut so as not to lose another job. Audrey had not heard from Micaela and assumed she and Max were engaging in a sort of pre-wedding honeymoon. After all they had just discovered the joys of lovemaking with one another. She knew how that was. When she and Stephen first became intimate, she craved him all the time.

And now, she thought, she felt as if she were focusing on herself too much but she also knew that he was doing the same. They were both busy trying to make it in LA, trying to become writers. But she felt secure in the love that tied them together. Certainly this love was better and stronger than the "comfortable" rut the Wynns had. Why they were only married traveling companions. And the little girl was nothing more than a product to them, a vehicle with the capability of earning more income for them. Before long, she would be taking drama classes and training to become an actress. Thus was LA.

Audrey was preparing some food for the girl one afternoon when her cell phone rang. Somehow, she felt that it was going to be something bad. She didn't know why she felt this way. The little girl became restless as she sat down to watch television, which her parents forbade her to do. What was that all about, Audrey would think, they work for TV, made a living off TV and they wanted her to be an actress which could mean TV work but they did not want her to watch TV?

"Audreee, I'm hungreeee" the little girl said in a baby-like, sweet voice.

"In a minute, Cora," Audrey said, then answering her cell, " hello?"

"Audrey," it was Steve on the other line.

"Yes? What is it, Steve?"

"Audrey you won't believe it," he seemed emotional and sounded hurt.

"Stephen what is it??"

" I got in a fight at the Lava Pit last night. Some drunken guys saw the manuscript I was working on during break and stole it. They said they were going to make it their own. I just finished it too. Then I went after them in my car and the chase ended all the way to the airport. They were going to fly off somewhere! I physically fought them but they overpowered me and knocked me unconscious."

"O my God!" Audrey said, dropping orange juice which was to be Cora's drink.

"I'm badly hurt. They have me tied up. I don't know where I am. O my God here they come."

A man's voice replaced Stephen's on the phone. It sounded dark and tinged with a menacing quality. "Yeah, if you wanna see your boyfriend alive again and if you wanna see that manuscript of his safe with him again, come to Seattle where we've took him and bring six thousand dollars in cash."

Audrey fainted and Mrs. Wynn found her that way in the kitchen not long afterward when Cora called her to tell her that "nanny died".