There was a burst of laughter and the rustle of people rising and collecting papers. Julia stopped just inside the door, taking in the magnificence of a huge mural. In the style of Chagall, it seemed to be a Native American scene, with teepees and a red-haired woman on a horse surrounded by vivid yellows, blues and greens.
Behind Julia a voice said, “Excuse me.”
She stepped out of the way and—wow. Big wow. It was Dina Rowland. My God she couldn’t believe she’d gotten this assignment. Dina Rowland walked like a goddess and Julia had to roll her tongue up off the carpet.
The young woman beckoned to her impatiently. She didn’t seem phased at all. Julia supposed she was used to being around Dina and Christabel.
Mickey shoved past her and started taking pictures. He got a beaut right off, capturing Dina’s first look at Christabel herself in the flesh.
The head of the multimillion dollar fashion machine sat on the end of a large desk, swinging her denim-clad legs and reading some papers.
Click and Mickey caught the transformation of her face as she looked up and saw Dina. From beautiful to rapturous. Jesus Christ. It had been ten years, and Christa looked at Dina as if she had just fallen in love.
Click and Mickey had a shot the tabloids would pay a fortune for. Julia would burn the negative herself. He swatted at Julia’s hand as she covered his lens, preventing any photos of the next few moments.
Dina took Christa’s face in her hands, and Christa wrapped her legs around Dina’s thighs. The kiss was pure magic. Nope, Julia thought, I am never going to find anyone who loves me like that.
Then they were apart, and Mickey shoved Julia and went on taking pictures. The young woman was quite impatient now, so Julia stepped quickly toward the desk.
“Christa, this is Julia Rodriguez from Fortune. The ten-year anniversary article?”
Christabel nodded, and the young woman faded into the background, at least for Julia. Because then Christabel, in the flesh, smiled at her as she hopped down off the desk.
She was frozen in place. Dina held out her hand and Julia automatically shook it.
“Don’t worry,” Dina said, her tone friendly. “She does that to me, too.”
Julia reminded herself that she was writing for a financial magazine. She had a long list of questions about the phenomenal success of Christabel/Phoenix, or CHRIX as it appeared on stock tickers. She was supposed to revisit how Christabel had decided to carry on with the initial designs created by her then-husband and surrounded herself with talented designers from around the world. How she had helped design this building over the ashes of the one that had burned down with her husband in it.
Julia’s next questions were to deal with the business and personal partnership with the woman who had convinced a number of gun-shy investors to stick with the company even though the person at the helm had changed. As CHRIX expanded, Rowland’s ability to manage capital and set up international partnerships had brought the haute couture Christabel line to Europe and had put upscale mass-market Phoenix designs in women’s closets worldwide. Not only that, she had led the industry in setting workplace standards for suppliers in developing countries, and CHRIX was one of the first fashion-based corporations to Go Green. Just interviewing Dina could take days.
Mickey was snapping pictures. Christ, he was on his second roll already. Julia sat down, recorder on, notebook poised, and steeled herself to look across the small conference table. It was overwhelming.
There’s beauty that is mostly make-up and hair and nails and clothes that say, “Look at me, I’m beautiful.”
And there’s the kind of beauty that just is. Julia thought suddenly of the timeless oak tree in the atrium, and she thought of the last time, way too long ago, that she’d stood all by herself in the open air, and heard the wind moving through the trees.
Christabel said, “I believe you have some questions for us.”
Their fingers were intertwined on the table, as if they were never really parted.
Julia was supposed to ask about the next ten years and their business projections in the field of women’s attire.
Instead she asked, “What’s it like to be so in love?”
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