"The blond lady in the glittery dress. Wow, I'd just die to have a

dress like that. Jane Palmer. She's your mother, right?"

"Jane." She focused on the other woman now. The old fear came back,

just as real, just as ripe as it had been ten years before. Just as

stunning as it had been when another girl had shown her a smuggledin

copy of Devastated with Jane's picture on the back cover.

It was Jane. Bev was fighting with her, and Dad was there. What could

they have been fighting about? Hope flashed through the fear. Perhaps

Dad and Bev were together. Perhaps they would all be together again.

She shook her head to clear it and focused on the text.

Those of the British upper crust who paid two hundred

pounds a head for salmon mousse and champagne at a charity

dinner at the Mayfair in London got more than their money's

worth. Beverly Wilson, successful decorator and estranged wife

of Brian McAvoy of Devastation, went head to head with Jane

Palmer, McAvoy's former lover and author of the best-selling

romana clef, Devastated.

What prompted the hair-pulling match is up for speculation,

but sources say the old rivalry has never cooled down. Jane

Palmer is the mother of McAvoy's daughter, Emma, age thirteen. Emma

McAvoy, who inherited her father's poetic looks,

attends a private school somewhere in the States.

Beverly Wilson, who has been estranged from McAvoy for

several years, was the mother of McAvoy's only son, Daffen.

The child was tragically murdered seven years ago in a case that

still baffles police.

McAvoy did not attend the function with either Miss Palmer

or Miss Wilson, but with his current flame, singer Doly Cates.

Though McAvoy separated the wrestlers personally, few words

were exchanged between Wilson and McAvoy before she left

with date P. M. Ferguson, drummer for the veteran rock group.

Neither McAvoy nor Wilson were available for comment on the

incident, but Palmer claims she will include the scene in her new

book.

To borrow McAvoy's own lyrics, it seems "old fires run hot

and run long."

There was more, talk about others who had attended and the comments they

made about the incident. There was a description of the clothes and a

tongue-in-cheek remark about what both Jane and Bev had worn, and torn

off each other. But she didn't read any further. Didn't need to.

"It's neat isn't it, the way they were ripping each other's dresses,

right out in public?" Teresa's eyes shone with excitement. "Do you

think they were fighting over your father? He's so dreamy, I bet they

were. It's just like in the movies."

"Yeah." Since strangling Ttresa would only get her suspended, Marianne

vetoed it. There were other, subtler ways to deal with idiots. She

picked up the needle. She'd pierce Teresa's flappy ears all right. And

if she forgot the ice, it was an honest mistake. "You'd better get

going, Teresa. Sister Immaculate's going to be coming through any

minute."