The meeting of her two worlds was w

The meeting of her two worlds was wild, to say the least, Margot thought, gazing at the double parlor. With Charlie’s arrival, the space was utterly transformed. The rugs were rolled away to expose the lustrous parquet, the paintings removed to highlight the intricate moldings and Corinthian columns, the furniture cleared until only a few pieces remained: the chaise longue, a petit-point-covered bench, a marble-topped side table, and a silk-upholstered armchair. Towering klieg lights and reflectors were positioned to illuminate whatever areas captured Charlie’s eye.
Keisha and Evan had spent the past hour and a half setting up the room with Charlie directing. When Jade and Jordan came in, he explained what he was aiming for in the shoot to them and Margot.
“Ralph Lauren will be coming into these rooms a couple of weeks from now. I’m trying to create the absolute antithesis of Ralph’s look. I want lots of mood and drama. Empty space filled with ghosts. I want to see the grand architecture of this place brought into high relief and the three of you decked out in these incredibly beautiful gowns. It’ll be a modern take on a lost past when life was full of balls and soirees, a life the three of you are descended from. We’ll start here in the parlor first. Then I want to move to the front hall so I can play with that incredible circular staircase. Tomorrow we can head outside onto the porch and the grounds. And we gotta do something with those chestnut trees, right, Keisha?”
“Absolutely, Charlie.”
“Hey, guys,” he called to Kristin and Palin, who were chatting on the chaise longue. “Let’s get Margot gorgeous. And while I’m photographing her, you can start on Jade and Jordan. I want romantic, soft looks—updos that show off their killer bone structure. Palin, what do you think about leaving a few hanging strands for Jade?”
“Definitely,” Palin said, nodding. “Mix in a little spice with the nice.”
“You’ve got the idea. Kristin, I want big, dramatic eyes. You all know what you’re doing? Okay, let’s rock it.”
Margot made to follow Palin to the station he’d set up next to Kristin, but paused when Jordan plucked her sleeve. “Margot, I’m not sure I can do this. I don’t know how to pose or anything and I’m not beau—”
“Stop,” she commanded softly. “You are beautiful and you’re going to be amazed at how you look once Kristin’s through with you. She’s a magician. I’ve plunked myself down in her chair looking like something the cat dragged in. Forty-five minutes later, abracadabra. In the hands of a true artist, I can look pretty darn stunning. Have fun with this, Jordan. Remember when we were little and played with Mom’s dresses? This is just like that, only the dresses fit.”
“Not mine. Richard said I was getting hu—”
“Sweetie, I am not going to spoil the afternoon by telling you what I think of Richard.” She took Jordan by the shoulders. “You are beautiful, and when Richard sees you looking absolutely stunning on the pages of Vogue, I hope he chokes on every small, crappy thing he’s said to you.”
“I love you, Margot. And thanks for asking Charlie to include us in the shoot.”
“A profile of me here at Rosewood without you and Jade in it wouldn’t have made any sense.”
Jordan bit her lip as if debating what she was about to say. “Margot, I don’t want you to be unhappy about—”
“I’m not.” She shook her head. “I’m not even thinking of Travis.” She said his name deliberately, as if that might exorcise him from her soul. “And maybe when he sees how beautiful Kristin, Palin, and Charlie are going to make me, he’ll feel pretty rotten.” Unlikely, though, as Travis was the last man on earth she could imagine buying a copy of Vogue. Even if he did, what would he see but what he’d always seen?
“Margot, he—”
“Can’t talk anymore.” She would cry if she did. She stepped back, pinning a saucy smile to her face, a smile that felt as heavy as her leaden heart. “Now let’s go show Charlie what we Radcliffe girls are made of.”
Margot had told Jordan the absolute truth. Palin and Kristin were gifted artists, and when they were finished, Jade, dressed in a gauzy, clingy, beaded chiffon dress by Alberta Ferretti, and Jordan, in a raspberry satin and tulle dress by Badgely Mischka, looked absolutely spectacular.
The shoot was intense, Charlie totally absorbed in capturing the images he was seeing in his mind’s eye. Despite their inexperience, Jade and Jordan quickly got into the spirit of the thing, striking the poses and donning the expressions Charlie called for with far more ease than Margot herself did. No matter that Palin had the Fine Young Cannibals blasting out of his Bose speakers, Margot felt like she was the one being driven crazy. Perhaps it was Charlie’s mention of Rosewood’s ghosts. She certainly had her own phantom. Travis haunted as superbly as he did everything else. And her yearning and wanting was as sharp as a knife.
Charlie’s decision to quit for the day was met with a unanimous sigh of relief. At dinner they gathered around the long dining room table, consuming a vast salad Ellie had prepared, assorted reheated casseroles, and piping-hot rolls. Jordan’s killer brownies disappeared just as quickly, with only Margot abstaining, contenting herself with a cup of blackberry tea. By the time the dishes were cleared and put away, it was past midnight.
After kissing everyone good night, she crawled into a bed she hated because it lacked what she needed most: Travis’s body curled about hers. She lay staring up at the ceiling, willing herself to sleep and praying that sometime during tomorrow’s daylong shoot, when Charlie’s camera would be focused exclusively on her, she would be able to summon a smile.
Charlie tossed the idea out over a breakfast of Jordan’s mouth-watering blueberry pancakes—Margot’s own breakfast consisting of oatmeal sprinkled with walnuts and chunks of apples. “How about using one of your horses for the shoot, babe?”
She toyed with her spoon. She didn’t know how to explain her reluctance to bring the horses literally into the picture because by doing so Travis would be right there with them. She didn’t want Charlie to know how badly she was hurting. “Sure, Charlie. I’ll have to go down and talk to Ned to find out when the best time would be. He’s kind of particular.”
“Actually, babe, he already gave it the A-OK. I had Jade go ask him. I understand the horses come first here.”
“Ned said it was all right?” It was true, Ned had been incredibly kind following Travis’s departure, not uttering a single word of blame for her failure to keep him at Rosewood. But she hadn’t forgotten how offended he’d been by her decision to use Rosewood and its horses in a shoot. She’d hate for him to think she didn’t care about his opinion. “Um, maybe I should just go down to the barn and make sure,” she said.
“That’s fine. Meanwhile, I’m going to charm your sister into whipping up another stack of pancakes. She’s got real talent.”
“Jordan’s good at everything she does. But you should make your appreciation known, Charlie. She needs to hear something nice from a cute guy.”
“Well, I am that.”
“Yeah, you are,” she agreed. “So use that charm for good, cute guy.”
“Will do.”