RAZZLE DAZZLE

by Lisa Hendrix

  “You’re going to marry Raine?” asked Sam.

  “I certainly am.”

  “Yay.” She hugged her dad, then gave Raine a quick squeeze, too. “I like you better. You make Daddy laugh, and I never saw Caro make anyone laugh.”

  “Thanks, kiddo. I like you better than Caro, too.”

  Sam giggled.

  “Just out of curiosity, is Mr. Wickersham here, too?” asked Raine, as they started for the door.

  “Yep,” said Sam. “He and Gran and Aunt Randi and Caro are all out on the terrace. Are we going to tell them now? I want to watch.”

  “Not a chance, squirt. This is a matter strictly for adults. Actually, strictly for me.” He took Raine’s hands. “Do you mind going into hiding for a bit?”

  “No. As much as I’d like to see the look on Caroline’s face when I walk out there, it wouldn’t be very kind. I don’t see any reason to humiliate her more than necessary.”

  He kissed her on the cheek. “Which proves which of you has more class. Sam, please take Raine upstairs with you.” He glanced at Raine and grinned. “Maybe you two can think of something fun to do this weekend. I’ll come get you as soon as things are settled, so we can share a toast.”

  “Champagne?” asked Sam. “Can I have some?”

  “One tiny sip,” said Mason.

  “Goodie. Come on.” Practically dancing with excitement, she led Raine upstairs.

  Mason shook out the tension in his arms, then straightened his tie, and walked out to face the music. A lively conversation stopped cold as he walked out on the terrace.

  “Mason.” His mother looked pleased that he was alone, as did Angus, while Miranda looked stricken.

  Caro just looked like Caro, cool, collected, in charge—the same as she had in his office, and probably the same as she would in bed after sex. He suddenly couldn’t remember why he’d ever thought that was tolerable, much less appealing.

  “Good evening, everyone,” he said. “Caroline.”

  “Mason.” One precisely shaped black eyebrow arched up. “How was the evening with the old college roommate?”

  “Wonderful. Don’t let me interrupt. What were you talking about?”

  “Your little friend,” said Caro.

  “I was just explaining to Caroline and Angus what happened while she was away,” added Tish.

  “Were you?” asked Mason. “And what would that be?”

  *

  “This way.” Samantha led Raine down the hall and through a door into a room done in shades of lavender and gray. She crossed straight to the windows and carefully drew aside the heavy draperies. Sunlight poured into the room.

  “This is a very grown-up room,” said Raine, looking around.

  “It’s Aunt Randi’s.”

  “Samantha—”

  “It’s okay. She showed me a secret. Come here and be really quiet.” She reached beneath the pale lavender sheers and silently opened the window.

  The voices from the terrace below came drifting in, faint but clear.

  “We shouldn’t be in here,” whispered Raine.

  “Don’t you want to know what happens?”

  “Of course, but I’m trying to be the adult.” Except she didn’t want to be. She wanted to hear. She leaned forward to see. Through the sheers, the tableau below had the hazy look of an old Italian movie, and she knew she was going to watch how it played out. “Fine stepmom I’m going to make.”

  “Shhh. Listen.”

  *

  “They hexed you, son,” said Angus, with such total conviction that Mason wanted to laugh. “Your mama and sister. They mixed up some love potion for you and Caro, and you and that Hobart woman drank it by mistake. Tish says she’s a witch of some kind—apparently a pretty good one, if she can get you to put so much at risk over a landscape designer.”

  “Is that what she told you she was?” asked Caro. “She’s a gardener, Dad. A very dirty one, when I saw her.” She glanced up at Mason. “I’m still not happy that you took her out in public, but at least I understand what happened now.”

  Mason looked to his sister. “You didn’t tell them?”

  “I figured you’d want to,” Miranda said. “Unfortunately, it looks like it doesn’t matter.”

  “Tell me what?” asked Tish. “What doesn’t matter?”

  “Later, Mother. Caroline, I think you and I should talk in private.”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

  “Tell me what?” repeated Tish.

  “I knew about the damned love potion all along, Mother. It never worked.”

  “Of course it worked, darling. You were head over heels for that girl until Miranda and I started reversing the spell.”

  “I still am head over heels.”

  “You are?” said Miranda. She started grinning.

  “It’s because we haven’t been entirely successful,” said Tish quickly. She reached out to touch Angus’s hand and assured him, “It will be fine next week.”

  “Yes, it will,” Mason said. “But not for the reasons you think.” He looked at Caro and Angus. “I can’t believe you two bought that crap.”

  “Don’t dig yourself back in, boy,” warned Angus. “Your mother has us inclined to forgive and forget.”

  “Forgive, anyway,” said Caro.

  A feeling of deep sympathy made Mason offer again, “You might want to reconsider that private conversation.”

  “We already did that, Mason. You know my position.” She leaned back in the chair, folding her arms and crossing one leg over the other. “Besides, I think everyone is going to enjoy this. I know I am.”

  Mason shrugged. “Have it your way.”

  He proceeded to tell the story, starting with the kiss on the terrace, right through the five thousand dollars and bailing Raine out of jail.

  “So you’re saying it was all pretense?” interrupted Tish. “No. I don’t believe it. I saw you two. You were under that spell. We just need to reverse it, and you’ll see what a state you’ve been in all this time.”

  “He already sees, Mother,” said Miranda.

  “For the first time in a long time,” added Mason.

  “But—”

  Angus tugged at his cuffs. “You mean to say, you were pretending to be in love with that girl?”

  “Initially, yes. But somewhere along the line it turned real.”

  “Aha,” said Tish.

  “So, you are in love with her,” said Caroline.

  “I am,” said Mason. “I’m sorry, Caroline. I know this is not the way this should have been handled. I intended to approach you later, alone. And I did try to warn you.”

  “Well,” she sniffed. “It doesn’t really matter. She screwed you over, and you told me you’re not seeing her anymore. It may be harder to ignore since I know you actually developed a tendresse for the creature, but the rules haven’t changed. As long as you don’t see her again, we can operate under the terms we discussed at your office.”

  “Now there’s the problem,” said Mason. “It took me a while to figure out, but I don’t like the terms. You see, Caro, I intend to be faithful to my wife, which is apparently a concept that’s foreign to you.”

  “Then be faithful. I don’t care.”

  “Exactly. You don’t care because you don’t love me. And that’s fine, because I don’t love you, either.”

  “Mason, don’t,” warned Tish.

  He ignored her. “Caroline, you are a beautiful and brilliant businesswoman, and our companies can probably make several billion dollars together over the next ten years with that power cell, but as a couple, you and I…” He searched for a word, and found inspiration in the video arcade, of all places. “As a couple, you and I suck big-time. A marriage between us would never work, and it would be best if we don’t even try. I withdraw my offer.”

  “You what?” Caroline, Angus, and Tish all came up out of their chairs.

  “The engagement is off.”

  “Good boy,” said Mir
anda.

  “Don’t be stupid, Alexander,” said Angus. “It’s just hormones.”

  “Damn it! If I hear that one more time, I’m going to become violent.”

  “We’ll fix it,” Tish said. “Just give us a few more nights and we’ll have the moon in—”

  “Mother, listen to me. I’m in love with Raine, and it has nothing to do with love potions or hormones, and everything to do with finding a woman who knows that life is for living. I’m going to marry Raine. Next week, if possible.”

  “You bastard.” Caroline stepped past Tish to get right in Mason’s face. “I’ve told people. I’ve already hired a goddamn wedding planner.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll reimburse all costs, of course, and you can tell your friends anything you like about why you broke it off.”

  “Like your airhead mother and half-wit sister? Or should I say half-witch?”

  “I never!” said Tish.

  “Look, you bitch.” Miranda came up out of her chair.

  “Caroline.” Angus took his daughter’s arm.

  It was as though he had touched a bigger. Caroline jerked away from her father, screaming. “No one screws me over like that. No one.”

  “Caroline! Get ahold of yourself.” Angus stepped between her and Tish. “There’s no need to run down the ladies.”

  “Ladies? Ladies? It’s their damned dabbling in witchcraft that’s the root of all this. Three stupid bitches are screwing things up for you, Mason. I’m giving you one last chance. Tell me it’s a bad joke.”

  “It’s no joke,” Mason said, sounding remarkably calm considering how close he was to throwing her bodily over the cliff. “I’m marrying Raine.”

  “Then I hope she’s worth it, because that little slut is going to cost you a fortune. You can forget ever seeing the development money for the power cell. You may feel alive, but I guarantee your company won’t be by next year. You pathetic bunch of inbred—”

  “That’s enough, Caroline,” said Mason.

  “It certainly is,” said Angus. “Time to leave, honey.”

  He took Caro’s arm again, but this time he held on and marched her out the door, with her sputtering and squawking all the way.

  The silence after their departure was deafening. Mason looked at the stunned faces of his sister and mother.

  “And that was the woman you wanted me to fall in love with.”

  “Oh, Mason, darling, I’m so sorry. Your marriage would have been a disaster and you would have had no way to get out of it. Thank goodness you didn’t share the potion with her and get tangled up in some god-awful situation.”

  “I’ll second that,” he said.

  “I’ll third it.”

  Mason spun toward the voice and saw Sam and Raine as they came around the end of the house. They must have come down the circular staircase and out by his room. Sam rushed into his arms. He spun her around once, then set her down so he could do the same with Raine. “I love you.”

  “Me, too.”

  “Caro’s not very nice,” said Sam. “I’m glad you picked Raine.”

  “Me, too. Wait a second—how much of that did you hear?”

  “All of it,” said Sam. “I took Raine to Aunt Randi’s room.”

  Raine looked at Miranda and shrugged. “I’m sorry. I just followed her.”

  “It’s no problem,” said Miranda. “I understand the temptation. I’ve been known to listen there myself.”

  Mason turned to Raine. “I can’t believe you let Samantha listen to that diatribe.”

  “What can I say? I wanted to hear, too. But I did cover her ears when it got too bad.” She demonstrated, and Sam started hollering.

  “See, I can’t hear anything, Daddy.” She lifted Raine’s hands away and spun off. “I’m so happy.”

  Raine slipped her arms around his neck and gave him a long kiss. “One down, one to go. How are you doing?”

  “Amazingly well, considering the future of Alexander Industries just walked through that door.”

  “It’s okay, Daddy,” said Sam, spinning by. “I’d rather have Raine than a bunch of Caro’s nasty old money, anyday.”

  “So would I,” said Miranda.

  “It’s too bad we can’t have them both in one,” said Tish. She sighed. “However, if we get right down to it, I’d rather see you happy with Miss Hobart than miserable with Caro’s money.”

  “Thank you,” said Raine.

  “I knew it,” said Mason. “Now you just have to start calling her Raine.” He kissed his mother, then kissed Raine again for good measure.

  The sound of someone clearing his throat made everyone turn. Angus stood just outside the French doors, looking harried and uncomfortable.

  “I want to apologize for my daughter,” he said. “The girl went way off the deep end on this one.”

  “She was angry,” said Tish.

  “She was rude and disrespectful, Titania. You didn’t do anything to hurt her, other than try to help your own flesh and blood. She had no call to speak that way. Not that she wasn’t right to be mad at you, Mason.”

  “I know, sir.”

  “You played fast and loose with my baby girl. It makes me long for the days of buggy whips.” He glared at Mason and let the words sink in. “However, there’s personal and there’s business, and it sounded to me like Caro just might have the two confused. Is that power cell of yours any good?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “I want to look at the specs on it.”

  “Caroline has them.”

  “I’m going to go around her on this one. You get them to me directly, and we’ll see if it’s worth me overriding her or not.”

  “First thing Monday morning,” promised Mason. The sky seemed three shades brighter, despite the setting sun. He squeezed Raine’s hand and she beamed him a smile that made Samantha giggle and spread to Miranda and Tish.

  Angus walked out onto the terrace a few steps and, to Mason’s surprise, his mother went to him.

  “Thank you, Angus.”

  He dipped his head. “There’s no use letting personal problems interfere with making money.”

  “I suppose not,” said Tish.

  “Just like there’s no reason to let Mason and Caroline’s problems interfere with our going to that concert next week.”

  “No use at all.” She reached out and touched his cheek. “You’re a very sweet man.”

  Angus blushed, all six feet, two inches of him. “Good night.” He disappeared back through the house.

  Mason looked from his mother to Miranda.

  “Don’t ask me,” his sister said.

  “Mother?”

  Tish looked at him as though he were the silliest child on earth. “We’re going out again. We had a good time and decided to see how far it goes. Really, darlings, you need to grow up. See how well Miss—pardon me, Raine is taking the news.” She beamed at Raine. “You really are a charming thing, you know. I just was trying to do what I thought was best for Mason. I hope you’ll forgive Miranda and me.”

  “I already have,” said Raine, and Mason was certain she meant it. “So you really don’t mind that I’m not rich or the right class and all that?”

  “It would be lovely if you were, of course. But other things are more important.”

  “Like what?” asked Miranda.

  “Love, of course, darling.”

  “Oh, of course,” said Miranda. “I knew that. And while we’re on that topic, sit down, all of you. I have something to tell you about Paul.”

  *

  Epilogue

  « ^

  All of Fremont turned out for the dedication of the new Canal Place

  building, drawn by great weather, a hot R&B band, and enough free bagels and iced lattés to sink a lifeboat. Tish moved through the raucous, happy crowd on Angus’s arm, letting him maneuver them up near the speakers’ platform, where some city official was already at the microphone.

  “Oh, no, we missed Mason’s speech.”


  “It’s what we get for coming late,” said Angus under his breath. “I told you we should have skipped the hospital until later.”

  “We’ll go back later, too. Those are my granddaughters, and I’m going to see them every chance I get.”

  “Miranda’s timing was sure off.”

  “Twins come when they come,” said Tish. They were such beautiful little things, with the perfect mix of Paul’s features and Miranda’s. She could hardly wait for them to be big enough to come home.

  The official finished speechifying, and Mason stepped forward to introduce a woman from the Fremont Business Alliance.

  “I have a great privilege today,” the woman said. “I get to present a community service award to a young woman who represents the finest ideals of our neighborhood. When she realized the negative impact of the original design of this development, she took her concerns to the parties involved, and when that didn’t work, she took her efforts to the street.

  “Some of you may remember the ‘Berlin Wall’ of a couple of years ago.” A murmur of amusement rippled through the crowd. “Well, I have it on the highest authority—Mason Alexander’s—that the Wall, and the efforts of the woman behind it, led directly to the redesign of Canal Place

  . Without her, we would not have this beautiful sculpture walk, or the breezeway and stairs, or the fountain, or any of the other features you’ve enjoyed today. Canal Place might have ended up an ugly, ordinary office building, completely unsuited to Fremont. Instead, we have a beautiful addition to our community, and the Alliance wants to recognize the efforts of the woman who made that possible.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ms. Raine Alexander.”

  Tish beamed and applauded with the rest of the crowd as Raine stepped to the podium to accept her award.

  Angus leaned over and put his mouth close to Tish’s ear. “I’ve been thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “With Paul’s dad being dead, those babies need a grandpa. What do you say, Titania?”

  “Are you asking me to marry you, Angus Wickersham?”