cost a fortune. Both of Eleanor’s parents had no doubt that what Charles had paid was worth it. Madame Lanvin had outdone herself, and Eleanor would do honor to her design.
They went home to the house on Nob Hill, and both women were happy to be back. Wilson disappeared quickly to go downstairs before going to Louise’s dressing room to unpack her bags. She told the other servants about her week in Ireland to visit her relatives when she got to the servants’ hall and had a cup of tea and some warm biscuits the cook had just taken out of the oven. She had been seasick on the ship, but they envied her anyway for the trips she was able to take with the family, and she had bought herself a stylish new black hat in Paris too. They all asked if she had seen the wedding dress, and she admitted she hadn’t, but had seen the sketches of it and a sample of the lace and it looked beautiful.
She went upstairs after that with two of the maids to help her unpack Louise’s trunks and then Eleanor’s. The wedding dress was to be left in its special box and put in a guest room, which would be kept locked. Louise and Eleanor were having lunch in the dining room with Alex and Charles, who looked happy to have their women home. They had been gone for a long time. The engaged couple couldn’t keep their eyes off each other, and held hands at every opportunity. Charles went back to his office after lunch, after kissing his wife, and Alex stayed to walk in the garden with Eleanor. They sat on a bench for a few minutes, talking about their honeymoon. Alex was planning to take her to Italy, and they were excited about it. She had never been there, only to France with her mother for her debut dress and her wedding gown, and this would be her first trip with Alex, as his wife. It sounded like a wonderful adventure to both of them.
“I missed you terribly,” he admitted, with an arm around her as they sat on the bench. “Are you happy with the dress?”
“Ecstatic. I hope you like it too.”
“You could get married in a sack, and I would be happy, as long as you’re my wife at the end of it.” He knew the wedding was going to be an enormous production, and had heard wisps of it from Eleanor and Charles. Charles was content to let his wife plan it, and make all the decisions, and he would pay the bills. Planning a wedding was a mother’s job, and Alex was content to be surprised on the day.
Eleanor told him a little of what she’d done in Paris with her mother, the museums they’d been to, and the chateaux, and she caught up on his news. They had written to each other daily while she was in France, and had sent countless telegrams. She had saved all of it, and was planning to put them in an album as a souvenir of their love for each other during their engagement, to show their children one day. They hoped to have many of them, and had spoken of it shyly a few times. Eleanor had confessed to her mother that she hoped to get pregnant on their honeymoon. They were so in love that they didn’t want to wait, and wanted to start their family immediately and Louise approved. Alex would make an excellent father and she knew he would take good care of Eleanor. She and Charles both felt confident entrusting their precious daughter to him.
“Your father says you’re leaving for Lake Tahoe in two weeks,” Alex said with a sigh. He had never seen their estate at the lake, and he was looking forward to it. “He very kindly invited me to come and stay with you. I can take a few weeks off in August, since almost everyone does, and the office is quite slow then, but in July I’ll have to go back and forth a bit.”
“Papa does too,” she reassured him, “and he spends all of August at the lake with us.” They invited other friends too, and often had big house parties over the weekends. People loved visiting them there, in the healthy mountain air. They took long walks, played badminton and tennis and croquet. The men went fishing, and everyone loved going out in the