The Arrangement [Box Set]

by Abby Weeks

—You have no choice.

  —What if I wear something underneath it? Some leggings or something?

  —You’re wearing it as it is, and that’s the end of it.

  Walter stormed out of the bedroom and went to make sure the girls were ready.

  April looked at her watch. They’d have to leave soon. She went into the bathroom and showered and shaved. Then she did the best she could with her makeup and hair before Walter came in to hurry her up. She had a sick feeling in her stomach as she put on the dress. She was absolutely terrified of wearing it in public but she put on the bravest face she could and came down the stairs with her hands straight by her sides.

  The girls thought she was wearing pajamas and she had to correct them. Walter brought the cadillac around to the front door and she helped them into the back before getting into the front with Walter.

  —April, you look perfect.

  —I don’t feel perfect.

  He rolled his eyes and sighed. —If you could just go with the flow for once it would be greatly appreciated, he said.

  She didn’t understand why he was being so hard on her. It wasn’t like she had forced him to wear something he found humiliating. She appreciated Herb giving her a gift but he didn’t know what women wore. This was underwear, not a dress. She felt like she could do nothing right with Walter though. Nothing she did seemed to please him.

  She looked back at the house as they went down the driveway and was amazed at how grand it looked. There were lights in the law shining up at it and at the trees around it and it looked like a castle from a fairy tale. She vowed to correct her attitude and be more grateful. After all, she had Walter and Herb to thank for everything she had.

  XI

  AT THE DOOR THEY WERE MET and welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Prentiss. Midge Prentiss was a charming and attractive woman with light-brown hair and April couldn’t say why but she was relieved to see that she was older. She was about forty-five, maybe ten years younger than her husband. She kissed April on the cheek and then her husband Pete welcomed her and kissed her too.

  Midge then bent down to say hello to the children. She was warm and friendly to them and they lost a little of their shyness. Midge said that the children were having their own separate party in another part of the house and a maid came to escort them away. She gave them each a small box wrapped in colorful paper and tied with a ribbon. They looked at April before accepting their gifts and she smiled and nodded and told them to say thank you.

  She watched them follow the maid across the hall and they were so excited they didn’t even look back to her. Maybe they’d be better off at the boarding school. It might even be the best thing for them.

  There was also a man in a tuxedo standing by the wall, as straight as a fencepost. April didn’t know what to call him and the closest she could think of was butler. She didn’t even know butlers existed outside of books and movies. This certainly was a different world to the one she was used to. The butler offered to take her coat and it was with some reluctance that she gave it up to him. She was afraid of what Pete and Midge might think of the dress she was wearing. It was so short that she’d been forced to wear a g-string under it. Anything else might have shown. To her relief, no one raised an eyebrow at it or said anything.

  Midge wasn’t wearing anything nearly so risqué. She had on a full length silk gown that was low cut around her bosom but draped all the way to her ankles. It was fabulously glamorous.

  She shot a look at Walter and he returned a genuinely warm smile. He was having the time of his life. This was a dream come true for him. She would try to remember that from now on, and try not to allow her own insecurities to get in the way of their happiness.

  When they arrived at the dining room, April gasped. It was the most beautiful thing she could have imagined. The table was long and set so elegantly with silverware, glass and tall candlesticks that she almost cried. There were bouquets of white lilies in the center of the table. There were also two chandeliers hanging above and they were lit entirely by candlelight. It was spectacular. Beyond the table the room opened through a series of arches onto a huge balustraded balcony overlooking the valley. She could see the lights of the city twinkling below in the distance. She had never imagined that places like this really existed. She almost let out a squeal of delight but restrained herself.

  The Wellingtons, Pete and Charmaine, were already seated at the far end of the table and they rose to greet them. Pete was about the same age as Frank but his wife was a little older than Midge. She was about fifty, April guessed, but what an extremely attractive fifty it was. Her face was as smooth as porcelain and she also had on a full length gown in a style similar to Midge’s.

  April squirmed a little in her skimpy dress and wished she could have been as comfortable as the two ladies in their gowns but that couldn’t be helped. If anything, she should have been glad Herb had sent the dress because if she’d worn anything from her own closet she’d have been terribly under-dressed.

  The butler, if that’s what he could be called, escorted April to her seat and she was surprised when Walter was shown to a seat at the opposite end of the table. Their hosts each took a seat at either head of the table and April gathered that it must have been something of an honor for her to be to the right of Frank Prentiss. Walter was sitting at Midge’s right hand. Next to her on her own right was Pete Wellington. His wife Charmaine was sitting opposite him. The two remaining seats were facing her and Walter and she realized that Herb would be sitting opposite her, and his wife Kit would be opposite Walter.

  There was something very charming and sophisticated about the seating arrangement, which ensured that the couples were all spread out and would have to get to know each other. But she also couldn’t help but notice that she was surrounded by Herb, Frank and Pete while Walter would be surrounded by Kit, Midge and Charmaine.

  —Now, we’re just waiting on Kit and Herb, Midge said.

  —They’re always the last to arrive, Charmaine said. I’m sure they do it on purpose.

  —Well they’ve earned it, Frank said. They’ve been here longer than any of us. In fact this whole place, everything for miles in all directions, has belonged to Herb’s family since the Civil War.

  That was news to April. She knew Herb was the senior partner at the firm and came from blue blood but she’d never realized just how wealthy he was. She was impressed. In fact, she could feel the excitement from all that wealth and power oozing through her veins like a drug.

  They were drinking a very dry, white wine as an apéritif and it was going straight to April’s head. She hadn’t eaten a thing all day and she was beginning to feel giddy before she’d even finished her first glass. They waited for half an hour and Herb and Kit still hadn’t arrived so the chef sent them out a round of amuse-bouches. Frank explained to April that amuse-bouches were a sort of appetizer that a chef would select for his guests to demonstrate what he had in mind for the evening’s dining. Judging from the little plate in front of her, April thought they were in for quite a treat. It was a very thin slice of some kind of cured ham, served with a piece of grilled peach and a white cheese. She popped it in her mouth and it was delicious.

  By the time the Kingsleys arrived April was having a lot of fun. She couldn’t help drinking the wine, it was so good, and everything was so pretty. Frank and Pete were as charming as they’d been at the restaurant and when she checked on Walter he seemed to be having as much fun as she was with Midge and Charmaine. Then the butler came in and announced Herb and Kit Kingsley and everyone stood up. All the men were dressed formally, but Herb took the cake, dressed in tails and a top hat he looked like an aristocrat from another age. But when Kit walked into the room everyone went silent. Kit was about Herb’s age as far as April could tell, that put her in her mid-sixties, but again she was as beautiful and stylish as any woman could be. She wore a long white gown that actually trailed on the ground behind her and she had white silken gloves that extended past her elbows. An in
tricate bead-work on the bodice of her gown made her glitter in the candlelight like a chandelier and to top it all off she was wearing a tiara. She looked like a queen.

  April didn’t know what to say when Kit came around and kissed her on both cheeks and told her she looked beautiful in her black dress. She certainly did stand out against the three white gowns the other women were wearing.

  —Don’t be shy, child, she said. You couldn’t be more adorable.

  April didn’t know what to say.

  —I picked it out, you know, kit said and winked.

  —Thank you, was all April could manage before Herb came around and kissed her on both cheeks.

  As she’d expected, Herb sat in the chair opposite her, and Kit sat at the other end of the table, opposite Walter.

  The conversation over dinner covered many topics, and April found it all very enjoyable. At one point she started to feel the need to reconnect with Walter but it was difficult to get his attention. She found herself getting a little jealous that he was with all the other women and was too engrossed in his own conversation to notice her but then another course was served, accompanied by another delicious wine, and she was able to enjoy herself well enough without his attention.

  She also couldn’t complain about her own company. While Herb, Frank and Pete were all quite a few years older than she was, they were charming and handsome men and they couldn’t have possibly given her more attention than they did. April also found that she was becoming intoxicated by the wealth and power that they all enjoyed. It made them all so sexual and sensual in her eyes, they way they talked about things that most people could only dream of. They asked her how she liked the new house and how the move had gone but they also asked her more personal questions. They wanted to know about her career before she got married, about her views on the private school they’d selected for her children, which they assured her was world class, and her taste in art, literature, film and music.

  She was delighted when she brought up her favorite poets and found that the men could hold a conversation on the topic. She was amazed when Frank went to the library and brought back a signed first edition of The Bell Jar, secretly brought in from the United Kingdom. The book still hadn’t been published in the United States and she was thrilled when Frank said she could borrow it. She was also impressed by the music they were listening to. The Prentisses had one of the finest collections of jazz recordings she’d ever seen.

  She was starting to really see how a life in this world could be and she was delighted at the prospect. She could start collecting art and books and music like she’d always dreamed of doing. She could read and write and learn new things. She and Walter would have time to go to concerts and art openings in the city and she was sure there would be many pleasant occasions shared with the other three couples around the table. She wondered with a twinge of guilt what traveling they might do now that the girls would be away at school.

  As far as she could see, the other wives were good mothers, involved in their children’s lives and concerned with their wellbeing. Apart from the Wellingtons, all their children were grown-up, but their lives and families arose frequently in the conversation and it seemed like they had all maintained healthy relationships with happy, well adjusted and successful children. Boarding school wouldn’t be such a bad thing, she told herself, and a little guiltily she thought of all the time it would give her to learn new things and develop an appreciation of the finer things in life.

  She’d never dared to dream about a life like this but now that it was being offered to her she realized just how completely and utterly enamored she was by the possibilities.

  After the final desert course had been served the waiter brought out a bottle of Drambuie for the men and a cocktail of champaign and Drambuie for the women. Then Herb stood up and asked the ladies if they would excuse the men. The ladies smiled and nodded and April felt relieved that she would have a chance to talk to the other women alone for a while, but that was not to be.

  Herb, Frank and Pete as well as Walter stood up, but Herb came around to April’s chair and put his hand out for her.

  —Am I coming too? she said, surprised.

  Herb just smiled and nodded. She looked around the table at the three women still seated and saw that they were smiling at her too. She didn’t know what was going on. She looked for Walter. He was right there next to Frank and Pete and he was smiling at her also, as if he knew as well as everyone else what was going to happen.

  April stood and was reminded just how short her dress was. She tried to pull the skirt down lower but it made no difference. She took Herb’s arm and allowed him to escort her through the drawing room, which was decorated beautifully, out into a wide hall. It was not the hall they had entered through and she wondered just how large the house must be. There were doors across the hall and they took one that led to the library. The library was obviously Frank’s domain, it was very masculine with dark leather chairs and oak and mahogany shelving. At the other end of the library was a set of double doors and they made their way toward them.

  —My goodness, April said. Where on earth are you taking me?

  —Just to Frank’s private den, Herb said.

  April was beginning to get a little apprehensive. They were a long way from the dining room now and she wasn’t used to being alone with so many men, in such a skimpy dress, even if one of them was her husband.

  As they walked through the library, something else happened to surprise April. She and Herb were walking ahead of the other three, and she was already highly conscious that they would practically have a view of her bum from where they were. But then, as they made their way through the library, Herb’s hand, which had been gently guiding her at the small of her back, crept down to her bum and then stayed there. The skirt of the dress was so short that he had no problem getting his hand under it so that it was directly on her bum, and he gave her a little squeeze. And it wasn’t just that his hand was on her bare bottom that was so strange, but the fact that Frank, Pete and Walter were right behind them and would be able to see it.

  What’s going on? she thought. What is this? It was like nothing she’d ever experienced, and she realized that she’d allowed herself to be led off by four men, one was Walter but the others were practically strangers, and now she didn’t know where she was or what was going to happen.

  They went through the final set of doors that led from the library to the den and the room was just as impressive as the rest of the house. If she’d thought the library was masculine, this room was even more so. It had a string of french doors leading off to yet another balcony but this balcony faced a lawn that ended with tall trees. On the walls were stuffed animal heads that men who liked hunting often used to decorate rooms. There were deer, bears and even some more exotic animals like gazelles and zebras. The effect was a little unsettling. There was also a large billiards table with two green lamps hanging down over it from the ceiling. There was leather furniture similar to what was in the library, and there were more book shelves, a bar, and some framed documents on the wall.

  —What are we doing here? April said.

  She looked at the four men and there was no doubt they were expecting something from her. She recognized the look in their eyes. They weren’t exactly leering, they were still being perfectly proper on the surface, but there was a sparkle in their eyes of happiness mixed with anticipation. And then there was something else too, could it be, fondness?

  April couldn’t deny that she felt a twang of excitement herself, mixed with pride that these four successful men all wanted to be here with her. But there was another big part of her that was frightened. She wasn’t afraid of the men exactly. She got no feeling of aggression or meanness from them at all. If anything, they were treating her better than she was used to being treated when she was alone with Walter. They were attentive, generous, complementary and kind. They were looking at her like they liked her and found her beautiful.

  Bu
t there was also the unmistakable fact that they had brought her here without ever asking her permission, without ever seeking her consent or agreement to the arrangement. She didn’t even know what they had in mind—what it was they wanted to do with her—and how could she know she would like it when she found out? She’d heard of terrible things happening to girls alone with groups of men. This seemed like exactly the kind of place where such things might happen, with the faint trace of cigar smoke in the air and the stuffed animal heads on the wall.

  As if on cue, Frank took a box of cigars from a humidor and offered it around. The men selected their cigars and cut them while April watched, feeling awkward. Then they lit the cigars and April watched as Herb had a quiet word in Walter’s ear. She hoped something would happen soon as she felt distinctly uncomfortable standing there with the four of them watching her.

  It was Walter who broke the silence.

  —April, would you be so kind as to climb up onto the billiard table.

  He said it as naturally as he could but she could tell there was embarrassment in his voice. It seemed, now that they were here, all of them were a little embarrassed. They weren’t quite as sure of themselves as they’d been up to this point. April realized these men were more than comfortable giving her gifts and attention, things they knew she would like, but now that it was time for them to ask her for something they were less sure of themselves.

  And despite the strangeness of the situation and the embarrassment she was feeling, that thought comforted her a little. Really, they were just boys, she thought. The same as all the other boys she’d ever known in her life. They always wanted something from a girl, and when it came time to take it, more often than not they let their nervousness show.

  Never in a million years would she have pictured or imagined herself going along with a situation like this but before she knew it she found that she was climbing onto the billiard table, giving them a nice long look at her bare bum in the process. The g-string she had chosen was black and she thought that was bold now but was glad that at least it would be attractive.