A New Vista

Chapter 40

Being stuck in the middle of Manhattan wasn't fun at all. Paul refuses to give me cash because he insisted on me staying until he gets things sorted out. Marlon, however, gave me enough cash to go out shopping.

Walking down Fifth Avenue, I looked at the various stores that cascaded the street. At each window I'd stop and look inside, but never actually go in to purchase anything.

It was a warm day, people were walking calmly down the street. Come children held onto the hands of their mothers as they passed by. The flowers bloomed on the trees that cloistered the sidewalk. Everything was peaceful.

All was well until I stopped in front of a specific bridal shop. A young woman with dark locks looked in the mirror in front of her. She wore a beautiful gown for the time, it had frills and eye catching material. The long, lace sleeves were pinned between her forefinger and middle finger.

She looked like royalty, someone regal and important. That is until she turned around. I was looking directly at Essie through that store window. I figured she was trying on wedding dresses for the wedding Paul secretly loathed. She didn't notice me as she stood in the shop. People sat around her and gawked at her as she stood proudly in the wedding dress.

All to get married to Paul, something that I'd never get to do. In my heart, I always knew Paul was going to marry Essie no matter what feelings he claimed to have. She had so much more to offer him, he'd be a fool to let her go.

"Elizabeth?" A voice asked. When I turned, there stood Millie from college. The motherly figure that looked after all of us girls was watching me over once again. She was much more mature in the face and wore elegant white gloves Her brown hair was pinned back by two combs on either side of her face.

"Millie!" I smiled and walked over to her. She wrapped her arms around me in a warm hug. "Didn't expect to see you here!"

"Well, I was just passing through. What are you doing all the way down here?" She asked out of curiosity.

"I was just... shopping." I said in a strained voice. Mildred furrowed her eyebrows at me and looked at my body language.

"Is everything okay?" She asked me. Well, the man I'm in love with suddenly is marrying someone else but claims he really loves me plus I have no money to get back home even if I wanted to and now I'm having a full blown affair with his friend, Marlon who I'm living with in Paul's fiancé's family's hotel suite and has a strange fetish for spanking people.

"Of course, everything's great." I nodded back with a smile. It was definitely a lie, but what else could I have said?

"You seem a little tense." Millie lifted her chin as her eyes looked me up and down. "How are you and baby blue?"

"Who?" I asked with a risen brow.

"You and Paul. How are you two?" Millie asked with a giggle. "I wouldn't be surprised if you tied the knot."

"Knot? Oh no, we aren't. We haven't even really— ha no." I awkwardly answered. My embarrassment was shooting through the roof.

"Good! I was going to be so angry at you if I didn't get an invite." Millie smiled, but I couldn't laugh back. She suddenly got the drift of what was going on. "Why haven't you? He was writing you the whole time he was away. I thought you two were soul mates..."

"I thought so too, but..." I sighed. Suddenly, a bell rang behind me. When I turned around, it was Essie was exiting the bridal shop.

She paused as she recognized me, squaring me up as she looked me up and down. Then she held onto her black purse in front of her.

"Well, if it wasn't the common whore of Manhattan." She said with a risen brow.

"And who is this?" Millie snorted, walking to stand next to me. She squinted, then finally recognized exactly who it was. "Estelle Dubois?"

"Who else would it be?" She said with a smile. "Of course you two would be together. Common people watching the lives of the people who matter."

"Since when did you matter more than anyone else, Essie?" Millie asked with a hand on her hip. "You boasted to everyone how you'd head to the Big Apple and become a star. I've yet to see it."

"I'm getting there, trust me darling, you don't have to have any concerns about me." Essie spat back. Then she looked to me. "I don't know why you're even still in Manhattan, but all I know is that you'd better stay away from Paul."

"Or what?" I asked her bravely.

She laughed. "Have you met my family? You'll be a distant memory."

"Is that a threat on her life?" Millie asked in concern.

"No, but she'll want to die once we're through with her." Essie shrugged. Her blue eyes bore into me once again. "Keep your legs closed toward my husband, got it?"

"He's not your husband yet." I rose my chin up. "And who says he's so invested in you?"

Essie got uncomfortable by my comment, looking in my eyes for whatever narrative made me say that. "If I find out you've touch Paul in anyway, I'll strangle you myself."

"Why don't you walk off, Essie? Before we squabble and you break a nail." Millie mumbled to her. Essie looked to Millie, then to me again, only to walk off without another wood.

"So that's what happened." Millie observed. "I don't know when she became such a skank."

"When I got in the way of her and her beau." I laughed, then Millie laughed with me.

"How is it living with your family again?" Millie asked me. I have her a smile, but silently didn't answer back. Millie lowered her face as she looked at me. "Oh, come on, another secret? What's going on, Liz Campbell?"