He married you only because you were pregnant!

At least I gave him a son! You gave him a brat!

Don't you dare call my child a brat!

As soon as he knocks up the nanny, he's going to dump you!

He will not! We're a family!

No! You stole my husband and you're a home-wrecking cow!

"Ladies! Ladies! Please!"

"Mom! Stop!"

Bob rushed over and grabbed Maritza's arms from behind, concealing her nakedness. Daniel rushed over and grabbed Colette, holding her back. Bob's footing was unsteady as he held a wildly gyrating Maritza away from his ex-wife. She tried with all her might to break Bob's hold. All she wanted to do was punch Colette in the face.

"Now, let's calm down, ladies. This is a wedding, not a gutter . . ."

The word gutter so infuriated Maritza that she broke free, fell backward, and toppled the table with the cake and fell into it. Everyone froze. The music stopped.

"Oh my G.o.d!" Kitty screamed. "Oh my G.o.d! You wrecked my f.u.c.king wedding cake!"

"Yeah! You crazy b.i.t.c.h! And you attacked my mother!" Daniel said.

Kitty's uncle Ernest stared as if he had never heard that kind of language until then. He stumbled over to a chair, clutching his chest, and collapsed. Betty hurried over and fanned him with the handkerchief tucked in the bosom of her dress.

The crew scrambled to clean up the cake. Bob struggled to help Maritza up and save her dignity at the same time. She pulled her dress around her to cover that which was hanging out that the sun seldom sees. Her entire body, including her hair, was splotched with cake and icing.

"It's okay," Betty said in between reviving her brother and wiping her own brow. "Kitty! It's okay. It's just a cake. It's just a cake." Boy, these rich people are truly not like us, she thought.

Kitty inhaled and exhaled quickly, starting to hyperventilate, and then she centered herself and found a moment of Zen that calmed her right down. She resumed normal breathing and looked at her mother.

"You're right, Mom. It's just a cake. And guess what? I have extra layers in the kitchen and more b.u.t.tercream too. Maybe someone could frost them?"

"Of course! Right away!" The chef who was slicing the ham dropped his knife and sprinted toward the kitchen.

"That's my girl!" Betty said. "Ernest? Ernest? Shall I get a doctor?"

"I'm okay," he mumbled and seemed to come around. "Maybe a little shot of O Be Joyful might bring me to my senses."

"Get the music going!" Bob said.

The musicians began to play again.

Olivia and Nick finally made it to Maritza's side and said, "Are you okay?"

"I'm very disappointed in you, Maritza," Bob said. "Very."

"She started it," Maritza said and began to cry.

"Oh G.o.d. Here come the famous waterworks!" Bob said and walked away.

Maritza looked around to see if the world was staring at her. They were not. The others had turned away as if her distress was not important, except for Colette, who stood there smirking.

"You're a nothing," Colette said. "Bob regrets the day he met you."

"Excuse me," Maritza said. "I'm going to change."

Olivia said, touching her shoulder, "I'll come with you."

"I'm fine," Maritza said, pushing her hand away and left.

Olivia froze. Her instincts were correct.

She went to Nick and said, "Maritza's upset that I'm working on Colette's new house."

"Come on, now. That's ridiculous. It's just business. Besides, Maritza loves you to pieces."

"Yes, but I think she sees this as fraternizing with the enemy."

"Let's not worry about that now. And if you need me to talk to her, you know I will."

"Oh, Nick. Thank you," she said, thinking, No man is getting into my business. Not even Nick. "You are so wonderful. Do you know that?"

"That's true," he said and kissed her hand.

"I'm worried. We need the business, Nick. You know we do."

"Olivia, my precious pet, if I walked away from a university every time I was made to work on a committee with a disagreeable, jealous, or politically compet.i.tive colleague, I could not have kept a position for more than a year. She's not walking away from you."

"But women think differently," Olivia said. "Decorating your home is so personal."

"I imagine there is a strong element of that in your work, but still, I wouldn't panic quite yet. Let's not let a little spat ruin the night for us! Come dance with me. They're playing our song!"

"What song is that?" Olivia didn't recognize the melody.

"The one they're playing." Nick laughed at pulled her into him. "All the music is ours."

"You are an incurable romantic."

"Guilty. G.o.d, you smell good!"

Everyone went back to dancing and eating, and the new cake was brought up frosted and ready to cut. Daniel and Kitty took the first slice and fed each other. The photographer took some shots and everyone applauded. Minutes later, the crew was pa.s.sing trays of cake and forks.

"She might look like a freak, but she can sure make a cake," Dorothy said.

"Yes, she can," Sam said.

"I don't think she looks like a freak," Olivia said. "Her mother's gown is retro Grace Kelly's wedding in Monaco."

"Oh, now you're a fashion maven too?" Dorothy arched an eyebrow and had another bite of cake.

"I watched that wedding a hundred times," Olivia said.

"I'm sure," Dorothy said.

Later as the party continued, Olivia and Nick began to realize they had not seen Maritza in quite a long while. Dorothy said she saw her come back on deck in another gown. Sam was less sure about that. Colette claimed complete ignorance. No one seemed to know anything for sure.

The crew, even those on duty, enjoying champagne along with the wedding party made for a crowded deck, and with all the alcohol that was consumed, everyone seemed hard pressed to be certain of anything. By midnight the newlyweds said good night and Betty was going to bunk with her brother in the stateroom that (of course) had twin beds. The musicians and the photographer were long gone.

At first there was no sense of alarm or serious concern but as the night grew later, Bob finally checked their room. Nick and Olivia went with him. There was no sign of Maritza, only the frosted remains of her Bob Mackie gown on the bathroom floor. This was not a good omen.

"How could this be?" Nick said.

"I feel terrible!" Olivia said.

Bob called the captain, who got the crew going on a search. Nick and Olivia looked everywhere too. Two hours later, after every square inch of the yacht had been thoroughly gone over, it was decided that Maritza had somehow simply vanished.

"She'll turn up," Bob said. "She's just being dramatic."

"She's probably hiding in the crew quarters," Mich.e.l.le said.

"Why would she do that?" Buddy asked.

"Because that's where she came from and that's where she belongs," Colette said. "Only on someone else's husband's yacht."

CHAPTER 13.

Gone

Bob walked the circ.u.mference of his yacht with Captain Jack, as did other crew members, shining hurricane-strength flashlights into the water, slowly and painstakingly looking for any kind of clue, any trace of clothing, anything. Nothing.

"I can't believe she jumped ship," Bob said. "Why would she do that? It doesn't make any sense!"

"I don't know, sir. It seems very out of character for Mrs. Vasile."

The night was as still as death itself. The only sound was the gentle lapping of the water against the hull. It was around two in the morning, and those not dead asleep in their beds were suddenly very sobered by the terrible news. They were anch.o.r.ed at a place in the harbor where the water was quite deep. It was too far to swim to sh.o.r.e unless you were a gold-medal-winning Olympian. If Maritza had jumped overboard, she could never have made it to dry land.

Some of Bob's family and guests had gone to bed before it was generally understood that Maritza was actually missing. Betty and Ernest would have recoiled in horror, thinking that she was captured by pirates or that she'd jumped in despair, given what happened with the cake and her dress and the terrible things Colette said. And if Maritza didn't turn up, Ellen would be delighted to hear the news in the morning. Mich.e.l.le and Colette announced that there was nothing they could do, so they might as well turn in. Colette was so smug, Olivia wanted to give her the good noisy smack she deserved.

Finally, after all the walking and peering into the water produced nothing but a fear of the worst, the chef made a pot of strong coffee and the remaining guests gathered in the living room, including Olivia, who was pacing the floors, blaming herself for a least a part of what could have put Maritza into a state of mind to do something rash.

"Okay, okay. Let's think this through," Bob said. "Someone said they say her on deck in a different gown."

"Dorothy. She thinks she did, but lemme tell ya, she also drank enough champagne to float this boat," Sam said. "And she told me I saw her too, but I don't really remember seeing her for sure. But let's be honest, she's always telling me what to think. I couldn't swear I did see Maritza, at least not with any certainty."

Bob said, "Do you remember what time that might have been?"

"No. I'm sorry. Maybe ten o'clock? Ten-thirty?"

"I never saw her come back," Olivia said. "But then, I didn't expect to see her again last night."

"Why not?" Bob said.

"Good grief! Bob! You're not serious, are you?"

"Yes, I am," Bob said. "Do you think she was so embarra.s.sed she would just chuck the wedding and stay in her room?"

"I would have!" Olivia said. "I wouldn't have trusted myself not to give Colette a good slap!"

"No, you wouldn't. Besides, she had plenty of other clothes to wear. About what time was it when the band stopped playing?" Bob asked.

"Midnight, I think," Nick said. "I remember looking at my watch."

"Captain Jack? Did you or any of the crew see any other boats approach besides the ones bringing the musicians and the photographer?"

"No, sir. I can tell you absolutely no other boats came within twenty meters of us. We were on alert for paparazzi with those horrible long-lens cameras they all have these days. And I ordered our own launch and the Zodiac to patrol the area all night, just for that reason."

"That's just what you want, a tabloid wedding," Olivia said.

The chef pa.s.sed a tray of steaming mugs and everyone took one, hoping the caffeine might jar a memory.

"Thanks," Buddy said.

"And you searched every hold on the boat? Every closet? Anywhere that she might have been able to hide in?" Bob said.

This remark was so ludicrous it sent Nick up the wall. He could stay quiet no longer. "Bob? Sit down." Bob did as he was told. A first.

"Why would Maritza hide herself? She's not a child," Nick said quietly. "Unless, G.o.d forbid, she came to some great personal harm."

"She is as healthy as a horse, so even if some maniac from the band attacked her, she could defend herself. Besides, there's no sign of a struggle anywhere," Bob said, throwing any notion of foul play out of the window. "I could never believe someone would actually hurt her."

Olivia could think of more than one person who would've liked Maritza gone. Why wasn't Bob asking that question? And Olivia was racked with guilt. And feeling terrible. After all, she considered Maritza to be more than a client-the daughter she'd never had. If she had done anything that would contribute to Maritza's doing something rash, she would never be able to forgive herself.